Continuing with the Reagan inspired Misery Index, it seems the country got a little happier in the last few months but things have taken a downward turn again. Given the budget deficit is the biggest economic challenge the country faces today, Guido’s Misery Index adds the government’s deficit divided by the GDP to RPI and the number of people unemployed, all taken from the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Retail Prices Index + Unemployment rate + ( Public Sector Net Cash Requirement / GDP ) = Misery Index
The
latest available figures for December 2010 give you:
4.6% + 7.9% + (2.4 / 331.4 x 100) = 13.30
The Misery Index was steadily increasing since the beginning of the year. People got happier as Danny Alexander and Osborne took their axes to the deficit, however the latest rise in unemployment has reversed this trend. And that’s before the regressive VAT rise…
