The United Kingdom is in a recession, one that experts expect to last until late 2023, which is bad news for the American economy. Given the tightness of the international financial markets, there’s no way that the U.K.’s economic downturn will impact the United States.
As Americans head to the polls next week, it’s a good reminder to look across the pond and see how the rest of the world is doing. Though Americans are generally insular, but the interconnectivity of the world markets will have an impact on the country’s economic future. This is doubly the case when economic hardships hit our closest allies.
The U.K. is currently in a recession that experts believe could last well into 2024.
Experts are anticipating that unemployment could double, as surging energy prices and rising interest rates squeeze wallets. This comes right after a contentious election cycle where the country saw Liz Truss only serve as Prime Minister for a month before Rishi Sunak took the role in a shakeup after the rollout of her economic plans were met with widespread criticism and ended disastrously.
As a result, the country is expected to enter its longest recession since records began in the 1920s.
Concerns are already growing about how the rising interest rates could affect mortgage and car payments, with some already seeing their payments double or triple.
So, what could this mean for Americans?
It’s unlikely that the U.S. could avoid a recession. The two countries have a close relationship and remain partners and allies on the world stage. In addition, both are dealing with similar economic difficulties, including inflation, rising interest rates, an energy crisis and other issues.
However, America is in a much better place in terms of recovery than its cultural ancestor.
While the United Kingdom is a rather small nation, geographically speaking, made up of just four states, Britain, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the United States has 50 states and even more territories. In addition, it occupies a massive amount of land, which has the potential to produce an exponentially large amount of energy to satisfy America and her allies.
Investing the country’s energy sector would not only help our economy grow and stabilize, but we could help our allies do the same.
But the Biden administration seems dead set against amending its policies and fails to even acknowledge that the country could be headed into or is already in a recession.
“We are not – there are no meetings or anything happening like that in preparing for a recession because … look, what we’re seeing right now is a strong labor market,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told MSNBC.
That type of response betrays the ineptitude of those who are leading the country. No one wants a war, but the Department of Defense should always be at the ready. If it isn’t, then America will find itself quickly behind an aggressive and determined enemy.
This idea that ignoring the problem or just citing one statistic to indicate that things are “fine” is a growing problem within the Biden administration.
But they may face a whole different one next week, as all the polls increasingly show a Republican tsunami that will whip through the House and the Senate. Perhaps then there will be a chance to address the real problems facing the United States and her allies.
For more about how the American energy industry could help the global economy and our allies, read Jon Sanders article here.