Boxes and Holes In The Ground

The politicians keep telling us that we are coming out of the recession.

I know that's nonsense.

"Are you a master of economics ?" I hear you ask 

"How do you know ?"  you say.

It's very simple.

A recession means that demand falls. 

People lose their jobs, they can't buy things.

Demand for luxury consumer products goes down.

This leads to more job losses and general insecurity on a global scale.

The harbingers of doom in the media who originally started banging on about a recession to match the great depression have managed to unsettle everybody.

Those that do have money, sit on it, to ride out the forecasted storm.

Demand falls further, factories close and the ships that deliver all the widescreen TV's with cinema surround sound aren't needed anymore.

The backwater ports get cluttered up with unwanted and  laid-up container ships like this one.

When this ship and the others like it get taken out of mothballs, I will know that things are getting back to normal.

In the meantime, the drydocks which are nothing more than holes in the ground, are largely empty.

I watched workmen working in this one and pouring cement into cracks in the ground, waiting for better times.

It seems that the only people who can afford a lick of paint and general wash and brush-up is the Danish royal family, who have their yacht in for some TLC.  

Dannebrog, built in 1932 is still the Imperial Yacht.

So, the Danish monarchs, unlike ours, still have their retreat. Mind you, the Danish pay a lot of income tax.