Strikes and panic... rail, air and Greece
Publicly, turmoil is diluting - but with dilution comes a spread, a deep-seated dismay that has caused unified uproar in the form of rail strikes in the UK and across in Greece.
Electricians at the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers union (RMT) will be striking over a pay dispute over the Christmas period. While the 12-day British Airways (BA) strike has been declared illegal by the High Court, the judge agreeing with BA that Unite had failed to correctly balloted its members, forcing it to cancel the action.
Meanwhile, resistance to Greece's social government and a second creditworthiness-downgrading in two weeks took the form of a protest on the streets. While PM George Panadreou announced spending cuts, panic spread as the workers stood in arms in panic at the country's projected €300bn (£266bn) debt. Deficit-cutting measures were announced as unemployment figures soared and the disquiet became entrenched in public form.
Looking forward... shifting figures, pre-budget reports and Ryanair
Our own budget deficit here in Britain expanded to a record-high of £20bn for November alone, with a helter-skelter of cuts and shunts; the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported the public sector net borrowing figure amidst rising spending on welfare in the light of increased unemployment. The knock-on effect of one cost onto another is the crux to why recovery is a process rather than an event, even though borrowing was actually lower than forecast by City economists.
This comes as the chanecllor set a £178bn target in last week's pre-budget report following the worst month since June. And it's apparently still too early to tell if the Bank of England's £200bn quantitative easing programme has had much effect on money-supply growth. Business investment figures estimated by the ONS are fluctuating between -0.6 and -3 percent, and it seems that no-one can figure out exactly how 2010 is going to pan out.
Caution does seem to be theme of the day though, as Ryanair announced it had pulled out of talks to buy 200 aircraft from Boeing, instead choosing to trim investment and do the sensible thing - free up cash to pay investors and boost its shares. As the low-cost carrier looks forward, it aims to reduce capacity growth and return surplus cash to shareholders.
