If Alistair Darling can't read the economy, what chance have we got?
Over the last few weeks there have been more "nods and winks" to economists in the UK than you could count. The UK government was adamant that the UK economy would move out of recession in the third quarter of 2009, something which they believed would be confirmed by yesterday's GDP figures. However, they could not have been more wrong!
The concern now is that if the UK government was so adamant that the UK economy was moving out of recession how could they get it so wrong and how on earth are we expected to read the economy without the inside data the UK government has access to?
This has left the UK authorities with egg on their faces as they had already begun to pat themselves on the back and suggested the economic revival of the UK was a "job well done". It is now back to the drawing board for Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown as we approach the pre-budget speech which will no doubt incorporate massive adjustments in forecasts and an ever growing budget deficit.
It seems as though the likes of Gordon Brown had placed their reputation in the UK quickly exiting recession, following the likes of France, Japan and Germany, but oh how wrong could he be!
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