Hi, am very new here, and got severely burnt with the Greek fiasco (Grrr) so now the world economies are of great interest to me, and I am far from expert I might add.
I thought readers might also be interested in the attached (via Wikipedia) of what country actually owes what to foreigners ( I subscribe to a morning email of whats going on and this came in from them)
Forget Greece. Forget Spain. And forget Dubai… (Oh, you’ve already forgotten Dubai) The biggie could be just about to hit the fan. Not the real big one (USA) But one of the other big ones, the UK.
According to ratings agency Fitch - (sorry this is boring but)
[I]“The scale of the UK’s fiscal challenge is formidable and warrants a faster pace of medium term deficit reduction than set out in the April 2010 Budget. The rise in public debt ratios since 2008 is faster than for any other ‘AAA’?rated sovereign and the primary balance adjustment required to stabilise debt is amongst the highest of advanced countries. The primary deficit is nearly twice as large as that seen in previous episodes of fiscal deterioration in the UK in the 1970s and early 1990s.”[/I]
I hear the UK government takes 36.1% of the economy’s GDP in taxation. A number forecast to rise to 38.3% by 2015. But worse -the UK government has been spending a lot more than it takes in taxes. The expenditure accounts for a massive 47.9% of GDP.
In other words, nearly 50 pence of every pound spent in the UK economy is spent by the government.
Oh dear.
Anyway, thought traders might be interested in what could be around the corner
Cheers