Tony Mitchell
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BEEN THERE, SEEN IT, DONE IT
30th July 2009 17:00
I have been having a bit of a clear out in the office and came across a Sunday Times article dated 6 January 1991 headed – “Bad debts batter the banks”. The article makes fascinating reading as to how the world has changed over the last 18 years but also how things are just the same.
No talk of toxic debt or the credit crunch; back in those days it was straight forward business failures that were the problem. How ironic that one building society, Abbey National, are specifically mentioned as being virtually untouched because of its largely mortgage based loan book, derived from its building Society past.
Some things haven’t changed however. Back in 1991, small companies in services and manufacturing were failing at record levels as a result of borrowings taken out in the late 1980s as business confidence soared and bankers fell over each other to offer money on ever more favourable terms. Sound familiar?
I suppose it is in our DNA that each generation thinks it knows best and believes the way past generations did things was old fashioned and out of date. It is for this reason that perhaps no amount of Government intervention will be able to stop the boom bust cycles of the future but I suppose we can all live in hope that maybe this time, lessons will be learned by the next generation of decision makers and that they will be a little more humble in their self belief that they know best.
