France European

How has other European countries such as France and Germany managed to get out this recession but the UK '?

has not?
What are the causes and reasons, i dont understand it.
What caused the crash in the banking system?

Because France and Germany, unlike the UK, still have a large manufacturing base. Most of ours was exported to the Far East so we've basically got nothing to sell.

75% of the British workforce is employed in the services sector and we are heavily reliant on imported goods which means a large proportion of British money ends up in the pockets of foreign companies.

Because the Government spends more than it makes the national debt of the UK increases year on year. If you go to your bank for a loan they will assess whether you are bad financial risk. Investors do the same with the UK - we are an extremely bad financial risk, hence lack of investment. With less people in work, and therefore claiming benefits, the debt will rapidly increase until the situation improves - nobody in their right mind wants to put money into a country where there is little chance of the debt decreasing.

The banking crisis started with deregulation of the banks by New Labour in 1997. That allowed the UK banks to gamble with their customers money in high risk foreign markets. This included the USA housing market which was rapidly expanding. The banks were lending money to people who were obviously unable to meet repayments. The problem arose when the USA slowly entered recession. People were handing back the keys to their houses and walking away because, unlike in the UK, the banks had no recourse to the borrowers for the shortfall. Hence the banks were stuck with properties they either could not sell or sold for a loss. Now of course British customers of those banks are paying the penalty via higher bank charges, low interest rates and extortionate loan rates because of their reckless gambling and greed.