Although there was an economic boom in sixties Britain was it false?

Question

What I mean by this is was it money that had been borrowed from the US after the war to rebuild Britain, which in effect created a false economy. When Wilson became PM he was noted for saying "we never had it so good" and in a sense this is true. Britain has only just paid the US back debts from WW2 (although ,we still owe them money from WW1 which we have never mentioned or paid back). What I would like to know is was the sixties economic situation false in terms of the knock on effect it had during the seventies, ie: union strikes etc.. eighties false boom and recession etc.
I am not sure if I have this right or not so any information would be most helpful.
Regards
Natasha

Answer 1

Well, you are wrong in thinking it was Harold Wilson who said 'you've never had it so good' It was, in fact, the other Harold, Macmillan and I think he said it at the end of the 50s. I'm not sure that there was an economic boom in the 60s (which I lived through). The country definitely changed, and probably for the better. Incomes generally rose and people had more money in their pockets for disposable goods - more foreign holidays, cars, tvs etc. but Britain's economic decline had begun. The car industry merged into bigger and bigger conglomerates in an attempt to deal with global competition - but never succeeded in making the cars people wanted. Similiarly with the aircraft industry. Because the country was in such a mess there had to be a substantial devaluation of the pound - when Harold Wilson went on television and said that 'the pound in your pocket is safe'

Answer 2

Completely wrong.
The USA loan was spent during and immediately after WW2.
There was certainly nothing of it left by the 60s. In fact the debt was finally paid off last year, in the 60s we were still paying it.
It was Harold Macmillan who said " You have never had it so good". Which was true.
The boom in the sixties was due to high productivity and full employment. You could leave one job on a Friday knowing you could easily get another on the Monday.
Wages rose very quickly but this was unsustainable and led to grief in the 70s when other countries such as Japan and Germany began to outstrip us and export better products.
The British motor cycle industry was wiped out by the Japanese simply because they were producing out of date models and failed to invest in research and development.
It was a totally strike free industry. They just didn't see it coming.