Chiswickite - formerly The Croydonian

"Could any country be more exposed to the current credit crunch than the U.S.? You bet, and that place is Britain...."Britain is likely to suffer more severely than the U.S." if the current market turmoil continues, says Danny Gabay, director of Fathom Financial Consulting in London....As in the U.S., consumers are another key driver of the economy-and today they're among the most indebted in the world. British consumers owe $2.7 trillion on credit cards, mortgages, and other consumer loans-or more than the country's entire economic output. Household debt as a percentage of gross disposable income is 166%, compared with 127% in the U.S. So it's hardly surprising that in the past year, British banks have had to write off $18 billion in bad debts, mostly consumer borrowing.Such write-offs could be just the beginning if housing prices start to fall".