Analysis: Riots shake faith in UK austerity, stability

LONDON (Reuters) - In the eyes of the financial markets, Britain was supposed to be a model of successful, sustainable austerity and a safe haven in which the world's rich could buy houses and stash their savings.

The riots that turned London and some other English cities upside down this week have undermined that model, raising questions about the sustainability of spending cuts and a widening gap between rich and poor.

From many of the dealing rooms and offices in the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf, traders, wealth managers and analysts could see billowing smoke in several directions this week as rioters torched buildings and looted shops.

Order was restored in the capital at least on Tuesday night with a massive show of force by police, but they too face the drastic spending cuts that will affect everything from the military to social benefits and inner-city services.

Britain's coalition government says it remains committed both to cutting a record budget deficit and staying in power until elections due by 2015.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE77953X20110810?irpc=932

Thanks Pacalao for sharing. I decided to make it an OP


Whoever wrote this at Reuters, GETS IT.

Necessary disclaimer, getting it does not mean one condones the riots.

in the day, when Britain had an empire, there were wars to be fought so you could keep your angry young men busy with them if only you promised them a little beer at the end of a day.

as useless shiftless youth. I hope I am wrong, but if they go down the path of poor laws these kids are fucked and stability my ass. They don't have colonies to send them to.

But after WW II it was all in this together. It is the last thirty years of thatcherism (for us Reaganism) that have led to this.

made those people hopeless. And then they just walked away. I'm not into thugs but if the only way you could possibly ever have a flat screen tv is to follow thugs into an anarchaic event, I'm not surprised so many people are following.

Jewelry stores.

Electronics... and not just for the flat screen TV... a lot of Cell Phone stores have been hit.

Food.(Tesco, their Wally World equivalent is getting hit everywhere)

Pharmacies

And of course sneaker stores.

And for the there is more to this than meets the eye... car batteries. That one REALLY got my attention last night on the blog. In private I have told people what I think this is... suffice it to say... it starting to strike me as more organized than it seems.

Yes, the furniture store was a WTF moment... but hey... what can I say?

but that is what we are seeing, I believe.

from one of the paper blogs yesterday... people are stealing car batteries. I am sorry, they are heavy and hard to pawn... so I have started keeping tabs on the actual targets, some seem WTF... but the rest, it is a clear pattern.

for those who can't pay bills and need to run fans or heaters? or is it for something else?

Not something you can move easily.

From an auto repair place. They probably get somewhat more from manufacturers who recycle cores.

That's what's spooking me about this. The electronics are a given, but there are pics of people posing with bags of rice and sodas. There have been anecdotal accounts of people making a beeline to the food, bypassing some of the more expensive stuff.

We recently had three aluminum heads to a screen press stolen. Huge, awkward, heavy and useless except as meltdown. Somebody probably got $20 bucks for $500+ worth of equipment.

in their bubble word - they don't know one fuck about history and the reasons for social good programs. The business schools are as disastrous as Friedman and Hayek's bullsgit,
They will learn.

Kids don't respect my Authority... that is not good.

I 'get it' but i don;t necessarily condone the violence, etc... but i understand the WHY behind it and in many ways, i support those who are desperate to be heard...

I am sure a few in them ruling elites might get it, SOMEDAY

that the police could put this down with force. I hope they do not - it will only drive this movement underground and then it will truly become violent in the most dangerous ways.

the US. Unfortunately they did not realize the connection between the financial communities of the world would likely tank them all. I think they should look into buying an island somewhere they can all move to and enjoy their ill gotten gains. However, with their greed there is no place they will not end up tearing each other to shreds fighting over the last of the spoils.

I too hope that our leaders will realize that the answer to our national mess will never work unless it is a good answer for all its citizens and not just the few. Otherwise I do not see how this is going to end without some kind of violence.

a few other posters have said they feel WW coming in their bones.

At this point I am afraid we will see some violence... I just hope it is not the World War or HOT civil war extent.