Economy
In reply to the discussion: STOCK MARKET WATCH - Tuesday, 17 January 2012 [View all]Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Ilargi: There is a relative silence in the international financial press when it comes to Britain. The economic situation of continental Europe gets almost all the attention. Every now and then someone in France or Germany states that Britain, too, should be downgraded, like when S&P cut the ratings of 9 European countries, but such statements attract hardly any interest at all. This might not be overly wise, though...
... The magnitude of the blow suffered by the UK economy since the beginning of the financial crisis is very considerably minimized by not presenting it in terms of a common international yardstick. Gauged by decline in GDP, using a common international purchasing measure, dollars, no other economy in the world has shrunk even remotely as much as the UK...
/... http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2012/01/january-16-2012-quo-vadis-britannia.html
See also:
... And QE3 will play a determining role in the worlds great geopolitical swing in 2012 because this year will, in particular, see the last attempts of the worlds dominant powers of before-the-crisis to maintain their global power, whether it be in strategic, economic or financial matters. When we use the term last we want to stress that after 2012 their power will be weakened too much to still be able to claim maintaining this privileged situation. The recent S&P downgrade of the majority of the Euroland countries is a typical example of these last chance attempts: pushed by Wall Street and the City, and because of their insatiable financing needs (6), the United States and United Kingdom have arrived at the point of engaging in open financial warfare with their last allies, the Europeans. Its geopolitical suicide because this attitude obliges Euroland to reinforce and integrate still more and whilst dissociating itself from the United States and United Kingdom; whilst the vast majority of the Eurozone leaders and the populations have finally understood that there really was a transatlantic and cross-Channel war being conducted against them (7)...
/... http://www.leap2020.eu/GEAB-N-61-is-available-Global-Systemic-Crisis-2012-The-year-of-the-world-s-great-geopolitical-swing_a8770.html
Edit (after a little searching), eg:
German conservative advises UK downgrade
KIEL, Germany | Fri Jan 13, 2012 6:38pm GMT (Reuters) - A senior German lawmaker Friday accused ratings agency Standard and Poor's of playing politics, saying the U.S. agency should also downgrade Britain if it downgrades France as expected.
Michael Fuchs, deputy leader of the parliamentary group for Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, said S&P had a distorted view of the euro zone and that downgrades of its member states were politically motivated.
"This step is out of order," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a party meeting, in reference to reports S&P would cut the ratings of several euro zone states later in the day.
"Standard and Poor's must stop playing politics... why doesn't it act on the highly indebted United States or highly indebted Britain?" he said, pointing out that Britain has higher public debt and deficits than France...
/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/13/uk-germany-ratings-britain-idUKTRE80C1UA20120113
(I'll be heading up to UK, by the looks of events, on an extended research road-trip during this bleak midwinter. Will maybe post notes).