The Great Debate UK

Economic outlook remains fragile

-John Monks is general secretary at the European Trade Union Confederation. The opinions expressed are his own.-

One year on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, we can see that that wreckage was the first of many.

The crisis in financial markets has spread like wildfire into the rest of the economy, despite often skillful effort by many Governments and central banks to keep afloat the banking and credit supply systems.

The sheer scale of recklessness in the banks and the vast rescue plans needed to bail them out is impoverishing western societies – to different extents, it is true, but no-one is untouched by the firestorm.  Unemployment is rising quickly and will reach 11percent in the EU over this winter.