Exhibitions

• Bottle members are currently exploring topics for our next exhibition as well as working on a www.bottlecollective .com

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• CA$H exhibition shown at the Quay Arts Gallery on the Isle of Wight from Sat 19 Sep – Mon 2 Nov 2009

Over the last 6 months no one could have ignored the effect the global credit crunch has had on international economies and closer to home the downturn of the UK money markets plunging the country into a recession.

Philip Booth, of the Institute for Economic Affairs, said: “This is already a pretty serious recession. There are two aspects that make it worse than in the 1990s. The first is that there is a banking crisis; which begs comparisons with the 1930s. The second is a labour market issue: in the 1990s employment bounced back very quickly, but this time the greater burden of regulations, taxes and restrictions on labour might mean there is no easy recovery.” (1)

During the last recession 1990-91, 600,000 homes were repossessed and the jobless total hit 2.6 million. In UK on the 21^stJanuary 2009 1.92 million people were jobless, The Ernst & Young Item Club reporting on the BBC website stated that by early 2010 UK unemployment could be 3.4 million. Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at New York University claims the recession will last at least one and a half to two years.

References:

1. E.Conway & A.Monaghan, Telegraph News Paper, 24 Jan 2009

Questions:

• Is this the inevitable outcome of a capitalist society, it does seem to be a recurring theme every ten to fifteen years within the UK?
• What is money in 2009, are there gold blocks in the bank of England?
• Is the media responsible for scare mongering people into not spending?
• Should we be spending and do you have savings? What is the concept of debt?

Relevant websites:

• Wikipedia: Wall Street Crash of 1929
• Wikipedia: Recession
• Times Online: Recession and repossession: surviving a great fall