So who does have their finger on the pulse of the UK economic climate? Alastair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer? Gordon Brown, our beleaguered Prime minister? Mervyn Allister King, Governor of the Bank of England?
The combined economic know-how of these three ‘experts’ should ensure they really know what is happening to our economy in these troubled times. Alas they seem too preoccupied with the demise of the bankers who have dragged Britain into the economic mire with their reckless gambling on insecure futures and they are far too high above the self-induced mire to understand what is happening in the real world of independent traders and small businesses.
As corporate world-wide companies queue up to receive their government handouts the people who really matter, the entrepreneurs, the small businesses are struggling, yet fighting hard, against the economic downturn, the unhelpful bankers who refuse to allow them overdrafts and a public who are tightening their belts and economising.
At this point, as Shakespeare would write: Enter stage left the real barometer of the economic climate. The window cleaner, the man who really knows just how things are in the 'real world' not the corporate world of almost bankrupt big business, the world of you and me, of the High Street.
I asked our economic forecaster, not the 'man with a plan' the man with the chamois leather in his hand and a bucket of water at his feet, just what was the true state of business on Every Street in Local Town. This is the man who cleans the windows of all the independent trading outlets. If the micro economy is as bad as King Brown Darling keeps saying then surely the window cleaning business would be in as dire straits as RBS, General Motors etc.
Amazingly window-cleaning-man was upbeat about the economy. He has not seen a downturn in income. He still covers the same area as before, North West from Manchester to Liverpool and Warrington to Macclesfield, and nobody he services has closed down their business. Indeed, he has seen an increase in trade as his customer base has actually increased over the last year!
He admits that some traders drive a harder bargain when contracts are being negotiated but puts that down to the good business acumen of the small business man. He also senses a deep resolve in the minds of the independent outlets not to succumb to the gloom and doom.
He says that there is a justifiable anger at the position his customers find themselves in with regards to lack of help from bankers. Many are being cajoled into swapping overdrafts for secured loans yet the majority are refusing to be browbeaten and thus reshape their business accordingly. Our independent traders are becoming leaner, meaner and ever more determined to succeed regardless of the lack of help from Government departments especially the Rt Hon. Lord (Mandy) Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform who, as far as they are concerned has done, and will do, nothing to help them.
It was good to talk with an expert on the micro-economy, a man who cleans away the dirt to reveal a shiny new view sparkling with optimism. A man who reveals just how traders are getting on with what they do best 'trading' not in made up financial will o' the wisp get-rich-quick schemes but the bread and butter of our economy, the local High Street shops. Our ‘economists’ final words were, "The government is blinkered as to the state of the High Street. Traders are going it alone; they will survive despite the government." If only this window cleaner lived at 11 Downing Street!
.
The combined economic know-how of these three ‘experts’ should ensure they really know what is happening to our economy in these troubled times. Alas they seem too preoccupied with the demise of the bankers who have dragged Britain into the economic mire with their reckless gambling on insecure futures and they are far too high above the self-induced mire to understand what is happening in the real world of independent traders and small businesses.
As corporate world-wide companies queue up to receive their government handouts the people who really matter, the entrepreneurs, the small businesses are struggling, yet fighting hard, against the economic downturn, the unhelpful bankers who refuse to allow them overdrafts and a public who are tightening their belts and economising.
At this point, as Shakespeare would write: Enter stage left the real barometer of the economic climate. The window cleaner, the man who really knows just how things are in the 'real world' not the corporate world of almost bankrupt big business, the world of you and me, of the High Street.
I asked our economic forecaster, not the 'man with a plan' the man with the chamois leather in his hand and a bucket of water at his feet, just what was the true state of business on Every Street in Local Town. This is the man who cleans the windows of all the independent trading outlets. If the micro economy is as bad as King Brown Darling keeps saying then surely the window cleaning business would be in as dire straits as RBS, General Motors etc.
Amazingly window-cleaning-man was upbeat about the economy. He has not seen a downturn in income. He still covers the same area as before, North West from Manchester to Liverpool and Warrington to Macclesfield, and nobody he services has closed down their business. Indeed, he has seen an increase in trade as his customer base has actually increased over the last year!
He admits that some traders drive a harder bargain when contracts are being negotiated but puts that down to the good business acumen of the small business man. He also senses a deep resolve in the minds of the independent outlets not to succumb to the gloom and doom.
He says that there is a justifiable anger at the position his customers find themselves in with regards to lack of help from bankers. Many are being cajoled into swapping overdrafts for secured loans yet the majority are refusing to be browbeaten and thus reshape their business accordingly. Our independent traders are becoming leaner, meaner and ever more determined to succeed regardless of the lack of help from Government departments especially the Rt Hon. Lord (Mandy) Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform who, as far as they are concerned has done, and will do, nothing to help them.
It was good to talk with an expert on the micro-economy, a man who cleans away the dirt to reveal a shiny new view sparkling with optimism. A man who reveals just how traders are getting on with what they do best 'trading' not in made up financial will o' the wisp get-rich-quick schemes but the bread and butter of our economy, the local High Street shops. Our ‘economists’ final words were, "The government is blinkered as to the state of the High Street. Traders are going it alone; they will survive despite the government." If only this window cleaner lived at 11 Downing Street!
.
No comments:
Post a Comment