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News last week that house prices fell by 2.5% last month (and 5% in the West Midlands) was probably the moment the penny dropped for most people that the credit crunch really is serious.

Indeed, the sub-prime fuelled financial crisis engulfing the world is seen by many as the worst since the 1930s. The US Federal Reserve has had to organise a bail-out of one major US bank and the government there will later this year inject a $150 billion fiscal stimulus package into the economy in an attempt to get it moving (and let's leave aside the fact that the absurd Stability and Growth Pact would probably constrain most Eurozone governments from engineering such a fiscal boost).

Britain shares some of the worst features of the US economy (a house price bubble, some reckless bank lending and a consumption binge that has seen savings rates fall and the trade deficit widen), albeit perhaps in a less intense form.

I spend much of working life trying to keep track of two key strands to the industrial and financial life of this country.

Wearing my Birmingham Post automotive correspondent's hat I report on a manufacturing sector that, despite what the cynics and doom-mongers say, is still a vital element of the manufacturing base both of the West Midlands and the UK as a whole as well as the regional and national economy.

There are some out there who simply cannot understand why Britain is still making motor cars in the 21st century.

Yes, we have lost Longbridge, Ryton and Browns Lane as major carmaking sites. But Jaguar and Land Rover (albeit perhaps soon in Indian ownership) remain at the heart of the industry.

Business authors

David Harte

David Harte - Digital Central project manager at Birmingham City University
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Mohammed M-Hasan

Muhammad M-Hasan - Managing consultant
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Ruth Ward

Ruth Ward - Independent PR Consultant and Director of Creative Republic
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Mik Barton

Mik Barton - Head of PR company Actuality Media
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David Bailey

David Bailey - Professor of Economic Policy and International Business, University of Birmingham
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Nick Lockey

Nick Lockey - New Media Producer, Maverick Television
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Sam Smith

Sam Smith - Head of content development for Freestyle Interactive
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Stuart Pemble

Stuart Pemble - Construction Lawyer, Mills & Reeve
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John Cranage

John Cranage - The Birmingham Post's automotive correspondent
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John Newbold

John Newbold - Co-owner of Birmingham creative company 383 Project
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