The IMF reveals just how bad it is

Gordon Brown calls the recession the “world economic downturn,” but the IMF has just released a devastating report into Britain which puts things in a different perspective. It’s really worth downloading (here) and saving somewhere: all sorts of ammo is in there. Page 22 is devoted to the  “Potential Spillovers from the UK Financial System to the Rest of the World”. It’s not just Britain that has been screwed by the collapse of the British banks. The Brown/Balls banking regulatory system meant there was no proper oversight and these banks were lending like crazy to all parts of the world (including US subprime). Now withdrawal of such credit is really affecting those countries – and the IMF gives the below colour coded map to say which parts of the world are hit. I know the key is too small to read, but Brown’s hapless regulatory system, for example, allowed British banks to lend 10% of US GDP to US households.