Steve Parks

Economic Analysis from a top Entrepreneur and VC

Luke Johnson, the entrepreneur who made Pizza Express a hit (among other big success stories) and is now Chairman of Channel 4, has written a very gloomy column for the Financial Times.

Here are some excerpts:

...this downturn is very bad indeed. It will sear itself into a generation's memory and scar lives. It may well be the worst slump most of us have ever experienced.

Business must adjust to the idea that this stagnation could last for many years.

This vast reordering of our economic system has only just begun. We shall have to cancel all the self-indulgence of endless welfare spending and cultivate rather more of a work ethic and a sense of self-sufficiency. Expectations must be modified and attitudes altered profoundly. Expect years of negligible growth, permanent high unemployment, declining property prices, higher taxes, crumbling currencies and falling living standards.

We shall look back on the last decade and think: we never realised what we had until it was gone.

I interviewed Luke a few years ago and found him to be a very very smart man, and extremely financially astute. He's also been an optimist about the credit crunch until recently, so this change in heart is significant. It's well worth taking him seriously.

Read the full article at: Luke Johnson's FT column

• Steve Parks's blog