Europe Really Is In Recession

Despite the credit crunch or crisis - depending upon your lexicon - politicians around the world have been clinging to anything positive and trying to avoid the word “recession” in any form.

Those brave souls that do use the word recession are playing it down in the hope that it will only last a few weeks. In economist terms, they are hoping for “short and shallow”.

I have bleating on for a couple of years that this will not be a recession, but will in fact be a depression - something that destroys economic value and cripples companies, governments and economies. I know, I must be a great companion for dinner…

But it seems at last that the statistics are showing what is really going on. This article:

BBC NEWS | Business | Europe hit by economic slowdown.

from the BBC - using information compiled by Eurostat - suggest things are pretty bad right now. Eurostat, for the record, is part of the European Commission and compiles data on the many subjects that relate to the European Union.

In the previous quarter, the eurozone economy has shrunk by 1.5%. Not an inconsiderable amount when you think about the size of the eurozone!

This is very serious stuff. Tighten your belts. Stop shopping. Pay down the credit card and get your finances under firm control.

Tags: credit crunch, depression, european union recession, recession