There seems to be little public mention of credit card debt. People must be reaching the point of debt exhaustion and many will have to resort to tearing up the cards and basically saying to the banks tough.

Charles Clarke, Chester, UK

Little by little the truth about the appalling situation is leaking out. First it was not going to be as bad as the early 90s. Then, no way was it going to be like the 70s. Now comparisons are being made with the great depression of the inter-war years. I had a hunch that our leaders were kidding us

Frank , London, UK

the banks got us into this, they should be instrumental in getting us out of it. of course it would be too much to expect the government to stand up for its taxpayers, instead, they throw good money after bad! i would love to see a list of what labour has achieved after 10 year, nothing lasting.

mat, dorchester, dorset

i cann't see how the economy will return to normal until the war in iraq ends. over spending has it's part to play in this downturn, but once the war in iraq started, it really did start a chain of uncontrolable events. the governement or the b.o.e could never publically admit this, but it's ture.

richard, gibralter,

In the 70s, 80s and 90s the tories blame the unions and claimed the "free market" was the answer. Thirty years of the "free market" and the incompetent bankers and their regulators are turning "cap" in hand to the peoples government for handouts and the people suffer. Justice ?

jfp, east twickenham, uk

In the medium to long term we risk deflation due to job losses and people scared of taking on more debt, once in this spiral it is very hard to turn the economy round as Japan found out since 1992.

lee , Worthing, uk

Time to end the scam of banking.

Reg, Sevenoaks,

It'll only get 'back to normal' if people revert to living way beyond their means like they have been doing.

If that's the only solution, then we're buggered really aren't we? If the only way the economy can grow is by people borrowing more than they can afford, then the system is truly broken...

MD, Milton Keynes,

All i know is i have lost my job as a retail manager (£16,000pa inthe south) as the company i worked for sold up! and have never seen the job market so bad in the last 10 years. oh well...min wage here i come :-)

simon, worthing,

Too much easy credit for way too long. It's as simple as that. Housing price falls of up to 20% are looking very optimistic now.

Peter Jameson, Oxford, UK

Would P Grogan like to enlighten us why he believes the frugal should be punished (by lowering interest rates) whilst the feckless get rewarded? And more importantly what signal will this send out to people?

stuart fisk, clacton, u.k

This will be a rerun of the 1970s

Perhaps one day we will have a government who can see past the next election when making economic policy. i.e. no low interest rates to boost growth through unsustainable borrowing and no placing house prices above housing needs. Labour has been a disappointment

A Harris, Kettering, UK

And it could all so easily have been prevented if the 'independent' BoE had not encouraged irresponsible lending in the first place. Both the MPC and the FSA are useless.

Paul, Coventry,

When he talks about steady growth over the past decade,does he not realise that this remark can not be directed at house prices,where the growth, certainly not steady, has simply been a catastrophic disaster.
Where is growth to come from? Surely not the City Of London! Manufacturing is now minimal

jackie, paphos, cyprus

There seems to be a consensus that another major financial institutional will go to the wall over the next six months, with the smart money on Lehman Brothers. I'm expecting US sentiment to turn around in the New Year, and US economy to begin to bounce back around March. UK should follow later.

stuart, Brighton, UK

When Mr Bean says he is crossing his fingers and hoping - it dosen't instill confidence. Far better to be in control and raise rates. The Bank's current strategy to hope that external events will conspire to bring down inflation to its target over time is risky and puts it at the mercy of events.

Jim, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Nobody forces the general population to borrow money from the banks. If the greed of a culture predicated on the philosophy of 'buy now, pay later' is finally coming home to roost then so be it. You can only financially sponge for so long. 'The value of your investment may go down as well as up'

Mike, London, UK

How alarming!!! The deputy governor of the Bank of England is Mr Bean.

Charles, Wakefield, UK

Now that we are all poorer due to Labours policy. Who is going to pay the tax bill to feed the new poor aka the old middle class.

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

It is the greed of the lending institutions that has led to this mess. You can only financially rape people for so long. The British system is based on fear and threat (pay up or else). I just cannot be surprised when Banks go bust. There is a way out, lower rates to stop people going over the edge.

P Grogan, Redditch, England

We have 10 yrs of boom, unsustainable boom... now comes the bust..It will take yrs not months for the market to fully correct itself ..

Andy Cooper, Oxford,