It's a long time since the financial chaos started in the Summer of 2008, however the effects will be felt for a long time yet. Nobody could have missed the riots over job losses and the continued national debt mounting & so it is timely to remember the critical role that the retail sector plays in all of this and the potential damage that the riots could inflict on all of our purses.
The logic runs like this. Consumer retail sales accounts for approximately one third of the entire economy of the country and represents a huge revenue flow for the government through all manner of taxes not least VAT. How much the consumer spends depends on a number of factors, though most significant is not their actual wealth but their perceived wealth & perception of the security of their wealth - i.e. feel good/bad factor. If consumers believe that the economy is struggling they may fear unemployment, consequently will cut back on their spending - collectively this will itself lead to the economy shrinking and redundancies being made - so a self fulfilling prophecy. Consumers will feel bad about their economic prospects in reaction to negative press stories of economic woes or wider negative stories such as the riots. In short the riots are likely to have the reverse effect of that sought by the trouble makers.
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