MoneyWeek magazine issue 374

Mar 07, 2008 / issue 374

Risky business

You can’t afford to miss out on Russia’s boom... PLUS:

• Why you must keep away from the banking sector

• The shocking truth about property investment clubs

• The British eccentric who made a killing on Wall Street

From the editor

By Merryn Somerset Webb

Some inconvenient truths

I have only just noticed something, something completely horrifying. It is this: today the FTSE 100 is currently trading at almost exactly the same levels as it was ten years ago: 5,835 this Wednesday and 5,945 a decade ago.

So during ten years of Labour rule and ten years of being told by Gordon Brown that he has abolished boom and bust, delivered endless stability, been prudent with our public funds and so on, the value of most people’s pensions and Isas has gone precisely nowhere.

Irritating, isn’t it? Still, it isn’t half as irritating as the real state of our economy. The whole thing’s a complete mess – and one there is no way that poor Alistair Darling can sort out in next week’s budget.
Read the full editor' letter here: Some inconvenient truths