Hi all

Sorry to be a doom & gloomer, but from what I've been reading and watching lately I not as confident as I would like about the future of Britain PLC. If the worst came to the worst, what do you thnk we can do to protect ourselves - if anything?

Is now the time to convert those savings into a different currency than sterling for example?

Interesting point, Symbiosis. I'm not sure it would ever come to that, however.

The UK is still one of the largest world economies, and the world will always need financial services. While our natural resources may be waning and our manufacturing base is much less significant than it was, we're still in a relatively strong position. As is the nature of economics, as one product or service declines, it is more often than not replaced with another. It's about how prepared we are to deal with that change...

The current economic and financial crises are interlinked, but I think the measures the global authorities have - and will be - taking to keep things moving, should see things improve as we head towards 2010 - though it should be said that it could well get worse before it gets better.

As for converting savings from sterling - I'd love to hear what the rest of the community thinks?

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Cheers,
Graeme Delap, Community Editor,
graeme.delap@moneysupermarket.com

Vote for your Community Star: Community Stars 2009

This article helps to explain the causes and the remedies in an interesting and clear manner. ****Seems anyone contemplating transferring their Sterling to Euro's might have the decision taken for them. !

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article7526.html

Anything is possible these days so it is just possible - if unlikely - that Britain could go bankrupt. In times like these it would be comforting to think the Brits could nuckle down and get back into those trades and occupations that have fallen by the wayside, including agriculture and textiles. Be a bit more self sufficient. Trouble is, our youngsters are doing media studies or the arts, maybe even law, but not enough basic stuff. The lucky ones have been spoiled (I know for a fact that our teenage granddaughters, lovely as they are, wouldn't dream of doing anything so-called menial). The ones in disfunctional families will consider benefits as a carreer option and make more disfunctional families. Our future is with our young people, which is frightening. I don't think it is any co-incidence that the £ will soon be at parity with the Euro. This will make GB VERY price-competitive. But will we sieze the opportunity? Is it too late? If every other country in the Euro-zone is in the same boat as us, it will take a while before they start importing from GB - assuming we've got anything to export! What to do? Absolutely no idea!