Barnett warns 2011 worse than Lehmans

Invesco Perpetual's Mark Barnett has warned the present financial crisis is worse than the turmoil seen in 2008 when Lehman Brothers collapsed.

Barnett – the top performing manager of the £170m UK Strategic Income fund – said there is a risk European nations will fail to bail out peripheral regions, adding today nations have far less firepower with which to tackle a crisis. “In 2008-2009 companies went bust and needed bailing out – now it is the governments. Can the system cope if peripheral Europe needs a bail-out? I am not sure it can,” he said. “In 2011 we have less policy flexibility and stimulus has been used up. Politics has become entwined with economic decisions and it is all about how much they can get away with without...