Why can't people like this keep their gobs shut.

Loss of confidence is the reason the markets are in such turmoil, and that confidence isn't going to be bolstered by people who should know better saying things like this!

... take a lesson from the way Sterling crashed when Darling Alastair opened his big mouth and *not* trigger another plunge for our currency?

You're probably right, it's just "talking the market down" that's the root cause of all this. Not the £1.5 trillion of personal debt. Not the flood of cheap money after 2001. Not the unsustainable housing boom, nor the obligatory housing crash that was bound to follow. Not the reckless lending. Not the record levels of national debt. Not NuLabour's "economic miracle" based on the back of a bloated public sector. Definitely not Gordon Brown's very existence.

Nope, it's probably just Merv's fault for uttering the 'r' word.

Back in the real world, the good governor has been one of the few sane voices in this whole worldwide debacle. He should be Chancellor.

So, the sudden dip in the currency rate isn't anything to do with his comment, despite coming immediately afterwards? I agree that the underlying problems are all that you have stated, however, sitting around and making comments that have immediate obvious negative effect certainly do nothing to help the situation.

Keep your mouth shut - don't tell anyone about the dangers and slim chance will be avoid purely on will power (and be a thought incompetent for failing to predict it)

or

speak up and do your job - even if it is several years too late and just as we are falling through the ice

I knew I should have paid off the balance of that american trip sooner.

That the British markets and currency are both down today is undoubtedly from Mervyn King's comments (and his holiness Gordon now, it would seem). Whether the news that we're in a bit of a pickle comes from the governor or whether the markets find out for themselves (and markets are very good at that) as events unfold the overall effect is much the same.

It's the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. I reckon we're somewhere between stages three and four (God knows there's been enough denial). Perhaps Merv is just helping us along the process, and surely sooner is better than later?

In short: don't shoot the messenger.

We should have tried a bit harder to keep JVC and Freescale semiconductor open in East Kilbride and made all that junk ourselves instead of importing it.

Mines the one with the P45 slip in the pocket and the footprints all over it.

I moved to this country in 2004 and have been unemployeed for a total of 5 working days, that was when I first moved here.

During that time I have seen house prices double and triple in certian areas based on the idea that people were getting between 4-10 times thier annual salary.

If you wanted something and did not have the money then get a credit card and put it on that. Then when the interest free period ran out change to a different card.

It is these policies that have caused this issue. It is not just the gov't or banks to blame but everyone for wanting it all now without having to wait a little while so you can afford it.

Buy a house and you can make a load of money by doing a little work and selling for an inflated price. Thing is there is a limited amount of credit and it will dry up but noone beleive me when I stated that.

I stated 3 years ago that the housing market would crash and had people at my last job laugh at me. They kept saying that the immigrants will need houses and that is why the market is growing so quickly. Wrong the market was growing so quickly because they were giving mortgages to people who should not have gotten them.

And he is just stating that we look like we may be heading for a recession, a depression is a lot more like it. Only difference between this and the 90s' is that this is global and not down to one or two countries.

The dollar is in the process of being watered down to the tune of 700 billion thanks to the US Gov and Fed.... wont be long before it starts falling again.

What annoys me is that it is meant to be a free efficient market but in times of trouble governments step in and bail out the people who caused the problem and ends up dumping the problem on the taxpayer (you dont actually think that the government actually has this money really? They create it out of nothing and it is paid for out of future debt).

Either they markets should be left to run efficiently without interference and let the greedy bastards fall when the markets fall or else nationalize the lot and we can all walk around in fur hats and queue for bread with our food coupons (because the government is incapable of running a nationalized economy without FUBARing it.