ninme

Everything you need to know about the state of European economics in one column prompted by poor Rover being put down.

Times Online - After Rover, the deluge, by William Rees-Mogg

This disaster was inevitable. Old-style manufacturing is finished in post-industrial Britain

THE MYSTERY of MG Rover is not that it has collapsed, but that it lasted so long. By the mid-1960s it was apparent that British productivity was not remotely competitive with car manufacturing in Japan, the United States or the rest of Western Europe. In 1968 Harold Wilson’s first government organised the creation of British Leyland; that did not save the car production side, but it did undermine the Leyland lorry business.

Read the whole thing. Here’s another quick highlight:

Britain is becoming a post-industrial society. In the next four years European disindustrialisation is likely to accelerate, particularly in higher-cost Western Europe. There are no answers in terms of protectionism, for Europe will be losing its global markets. At the same time, the price of oil and other commodities may continue to rise because of Asian and particularly Chinese demand. Europe faces higher prices for imports, lower demand for industrial exports, and rising industrial unemployment. Not good for the euro.

Update: Btw, Peter says the insurance companies say they can’t cover all the warrantees. That sucks.