Blame the credit-card wielding girls of Essex (you know, the ones who racked up £50,000 in debt in the days of easy credit) or the banks who lent to them, but the Anglo-Saxon consumer isn’t doing too well, notes Merrill Lynch:
One of our global macro themes is the impaired consumer in the Anglo-Saxon developed countries. The United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and (to a lesser extent) Canada all feature near-zero savings rates, high household debt levels and wealth tied to overextended housing. This means that consumption growth in these countries is likely to remain anaemic for years to come against slowing income growth, no savings buffer, less readily available credit and falling house prices. If the 2000-2002 recession featured a globally impaired corporate balance sheet, the 2007-2008 downturn features an impaired Anglo-Saxon balance sheet.
FT Alphaville wonders about the geopolitical impact.