Eugene David<br>...The One-Minute Pundit

Posted 11:48 AM by Gene

I wonder:

It is poignant to recall that in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's time there was the serious possibility of Britain's being able to abolish its income tax and pay off its entire national debt. This was not an inconceivable feat--indeed, the U.S. actually retired its national debt during Andrew Jackson's presidency.

Which proved very helpful to us in the long run. But anyway:

During the boom years London's financial center, known as the City, expanded to become the leading such center in the world. But the financial sector--by far the country's biggest industry, both in terms of value and in the numbers of people employed--is contracting fast. There are more unemployed bankers in London than anywhere else on earth.

TRANSLATION: Just as all those bankers nearly allowed Iron Lady to abolish the income tax, so said same bankers have plunged the former United Kingdom into a depression. Any nation where number crunching and asset swapping is the country's biggest industry is a house of cards.

But here, for readers of Forbeslist, is the real killer:

The consumption of champagne in Britain has dropped. Luxury restaurants are closing.

Little Malcolm must have gone on a crying jag when he saw it. (If he saw it.)