Danger Signs

Some clues that you might be living in an economy that is overheating:

You are constantly surprised about the jobs that people are getting and the money that they are being paid to do them.

The staff at fast-food restaurants seem incapable of getting the simplest of orders correct.

People are buying and selling places on the waiting list for that expensive sports car.

It is easier to organise major surgery than have a plumber fix a leak in your central heating.

It takes an hour-and-a-half to travel the three miles home in the evening in your car.

You know people with company cars who cycle to work.

You know somebody who has decided to leave the country because, even though they have a good job, they can't afford to buy a house in a place they would like to live in.

You have been told you have to wait three weeks to get your eyes tested by a high street optician who used to offer a same-day service.

You have just paid the best part of £2 (€2.5) for a cappuccino in a paper cup from a sandwich shop.

You are reading a 78-page edition of a national newspaper of which 33 pages are job advertisements.