The Real Victims of the Recession

British children are reeling from the effects of the credit crunch:

About 17 percent of parents had cut the amount of cash they gave to their children in the last six months, according to another AXA poll that surveyed 2,050 British residents.

"The 'Bank of Mum and Dad' has so far been quiet on the issue of how it will deal with the effects of the credit crunch, but now it has come out and shown teenagers have been hit hard," AXA's Alison Green said Thursday.

No projections yet on how reduced spending power will affect the sales of Teen Vogue, Lady Sovereign albums, or kabob. Read the whole story here. For more on British children, check out Creased Comics' short movie, "George Washington."

Comments

[Guy Montag]

Nail down the windows on tall buildings! We are heading for a 1920s worldwide crash!

LOL

[Adam]

Now just because I have a soft-spot for lady sov and kabob (uh... ok and Teen Vogue) doesn't mean I'm living off of dividends from bank ma&pa. I've gotta job sorta dammit!

[Reinmoose]

British children are already too spoiled. Let them see what it's like to live like an American child - then they'll appreciate what they have.

[Naga Sadow]

Scrooge's assistant: But sir! What about the children?

Scrooge: Bah! They shall go wanting!

[Guy Montag]

I guess the kid credit cards are on the decline too?

[Josh]

British children lol

[Guy Montag]

British children are already too spoiled. Let them see what it's like to live like an American child - then they'll appreciate what they have.

You are going to make them suit up like football players before they get on a bicycle?

[Episiarch]

If British parents previously had money to hand out to their children like a bank, why didn't they take them to an orthodontist instead?

[J sub D]

What? Did the Brits close down all of the coal mines and textile mills where the rugrats used to earn an honest shilling or two?

Friggin' whiney parasites.

[some fed]

It wouldn't be as bad if the UK unemployment rate for those aged 18-24 (12.1%) weren't more than twice the overall working age unemployment rate (5.4%). Those numbers haven't changed much over the last year or two, either.

1st Qtr UK labor statistics

The comparable US figures (for June, with some minor differences in methods, concepts, and definitions) are 11.3% for those aged 18-24 and 5.5% for the working age population.

[Guy Montag]

If British parents previously had money to hand out to their children like a bank, why didn't they take them to an orthodontist instead?

Because they nationalized the dental care system?

[TallDave]

"Recession," ha. We haven't even had one consecutive quarter of decline yet.

We haven't had an actual recession in 17 years, and we haven't had a deep recession in 27.

In 1981, we had a quarter with negative 5% growth. Now that was a recession.

You kids today and your "recessions." Bah.

[jwh]

Could we please stop redefining what a recession is? Kids getting a reduction in their allowance is NOT a recession. It's responsible parenting.......

[George Washington]

I'll save the children, but not the British children.

[Guy Montag]

George,

Can you also leave the french out of it this time, please?

[mk]

These British teenagers should go ahead and die thereby decreasing the surplus population.

Are there no poorhouses? Are there no work farms?

I have already given money to these institutions my good man, now good day.

I said GOOD DAY.

[mk]

Oh, also, are we going to tie this in with Phil Gramm calling Americans economic whiners (or whatever it was that he said)?

[No Name Guy]

Dave-

The Fed has just learned how to prop up the economy better with inflationary rate cuts that create speculative bubbles (S&L in the late 80s, tech stocks in the 90s, housing in the 00s, and now oil).

I'm curious to see how long they can keep it up.

[squarooticus]

TallDave: the government has cooked the inflation numbers so much that a recession by their definition is basically not possible. The hard fact is that the US has had negative real growth for several years straight at this point: you can easily tell this when you price the Dow (or the S&P, or the NASDAQ, etc.; pick your index) in a basket of other currencies, or when you look at real inflation, not the numbers cooked by excluding food and energy and using hedonic pricing.

[Reinmoose + British Children,]

? Every sperm is useful, every sperm is good! Every sperm is needed in your neighbor-ooooood!?

[Guy Montag as Tommie Swift]

I shall be upgrading my modest proposal to a final solution, to save the British families of course.

Now, who wants Solyent potatoes?

[No Name Guy]

If you don't think from personal experience alone that the economy is slowing, you either 1) have a government job or 2) live in an area receiving massive federal aid/subsidies (the farm states).

[Guy Montag]

NNG,

I do not fit either of those.

Have any more choices?

[No Name Guy]

You live in Northern Virginia, don't you?

You are in category two. The seat of Leviathan is recession proof. Well, at least until federal spending is cut by a good amount, which will never happen.

[Naga Sadow]

Guy,

I'm mostly Scots-Irish. No potatoes for me, please. It's a cultural thing.

[Guy Montag]

NNG,

No farming around here, sorry. But we do have those farmer's markets here and there.

Did you make a sloppy overqualification in your statement?

[Guy Montag]

Naga,

Come on! It is for the children!

Wait, did you say irish? Ah, well we have a special treat just for you . . .

[No Name Guy]

Way to play dumb, Montag.

Ethanol was an example of federal subsidies that can prop up an areas economy. Its not the only one. Theres also the subsidy of, you know, being right next to the nations capital (they very center of Big Government) where most people are government workers with lifetime job security.

[TallDave]

TallDave: the government has cooked the inflation numbers so much that a recession by their definition is basically not possible.

The definition has not changed much from 1981. If anything, the inflation rate is overstated because so many tech-heavy things become cheaper so fast.

The hard fact is that the US has had negative real growth for several years straight at this point: you can easily tell this when you price the Dow (or the S&P, or the NASDAQ, etc.; pick your index) in a basket of other currencies

Weaker dollar =/= recession.

Have you looked at what's happening to GDP in the farm and export sectors?

If you don't think from personal experience alone that the economy is slowing,

Accelerating faster =/= slowing.

[J]

Guy Montag | July 11, 2008, 12:56pm | #
If British parents previously had money to hand out to their children like a bank, why didn't they take them to an orthodontist instead?

Because they nationalized the dental care system?

Yup!

[TallDave]

Accelerating faster =/= slowing.

Oops s/b accelerating more slowly =/= slowing.

[kevrob]

TallDave, you are one of the 4 Yorkshireman, AICM?5!

Guy, you are Jonny Swift , not Tom.

Kevin

[TallDave]

If you don't think from personal experience alone that the economy is slowing, you either 1) have a government job or 2) live in an area receiving massive federal aid/subsidies (the farm states).

Or 3) you work in an area of the economy that is growing, of which there are many.

[Guy Montag]

Well, okay. Seems the 'recession' is going to be invisible to me as long as I just hang around this area, no matter what work I do.

Very well.

I certainly have not noticed any increase in true bums around here, just the same ones for the past 4 years.

So, keep us informed on how the country falls apart out there, k?

kevrob,

Yea, that guy. I was typing that out too fast and got sloppy. Have been saving it for months for just this type of occasion.

[Guy Montag]

BTW, the new epidemic is the misuse of the word "recession".

[john c jackson]

My personal economic situation has nothing to do with my local area or local economy at all ( If anything, the worse my local economy is the better off I am). And overall I do not feel any recession. I can't be the only one.

[Hedonics]

In 1929 Jay P Morgan didn't own an iPod and his Hispano-Suiza didn't even have AC, much less satellite radio.Today everyone is richer than Morgan.

[Substitution]

If filet mignon becomes too expensive consumers can substitute Freezer Queen Salisbury steak patties in delicious brown gravy. As the price of Salisbury steak is less than even the old price of filet mignon this is actually a deflationary price cut

[TallDave]

I don't know about an iPod, but I bet old J.P. would have paid billions for the equivalent of a modern $1,000 PC.

[Core Inflation]

Motor fuel, heating oil and food are volatile and have wide swings in price so they only count in the CPI when the price drops.

[J sub D]

In 1929 Jay P Morgan didn't own an iPod and his Hispano-Suiza didn't even have AC, much less satellite radio.

Or television, or a computer, access to lasik surgery, LSD ...

[Imputed Rent]

We are thinking of changing this one to reflect the actual purchase price of condo conversions with no water views in Florida

[TallDave]

Don't forget antibiotics, MRIs, nuclear power, and the Internet.

[TallDave]

If filet mignon becomes too expensive consumers can substitute Freezer Queen Salisbury steak patties in delicious brown gravy.

Those would be part of the same beef index, actually.

As background, all three of the CPI indexes are built in two stages. In the first stage, prices for each of the 8,018 item-area combinations (211 item categories X 38 geographic areas) are averaged together to form 8,018 basic indexes. This stage is often referred to as "lower-level aggregation" as it involves averaging the prices within item-area groups. For example, price changes for apples within Chicago are averaged together to produce the Chicago-apples index. In 1999, the BLS introduced a geometric mean formula for averaging prices within most of these item-area combinations, in order to approximate the effect of consumer response to changes in relative prices within these item categories. The geometric mean estimator is used in the C-CPI-U in the same item categories in which it is used in the CPI-U and CPI-W.

[Art-P.O.G.]

just the same ones for the past 4 years.

I remember visiting D.C. with my family as a teenager, and we walked past a vagrant we called "Captain America". We called him that because he was wearing some sort of metal helmet that had 'U.S.A.' written freehand on it, a shirt with a bald eagle on it, surfer shorts, Chuck Taylors and a long, red cape. I nearly assumed he was a performance artist, but he was unshaven, leaning against the wall in an alley. He took a swig from a tall can of beer and let it fall slowly to the ground. And as we passed he gave us a chilling stare.

To this day, he is the most awesome bum I have ever seen, and to this day he is one of the greatest shared memories my family has.

[JW]

BTW, the new epidemic is the misuse of the word "recession".

I thought the new epidemic was the misuse of the word "epidemic."