Well, they might just as well be blamed for it, since they are being blamed for most of the country's woes since the credit crisis began in earnest last year. Most recently, The British Plastics Federation said 6,800 jobs are going to be lost "as firms struggle to obtain credit insurance". I am presuming here that companies involved in supplying plastics have pulled out of doing business with clients when credit insurers have pulled cover on them, on the basis that these clients represent a high risk of defaulting. In other words, without the blanket of insurance, they themselves consider the risk to be too high to trade uninsured. If plastics companies thought that credit insurers had got their assessments wrong......... why, they 'd go ahead and do business and take the risk on regardless, right ? If this were the case, no jobs in the industry would be at stake.
Lets face up to the facts, credit insurers will not take on "known risks", otherwise their business model would be totally suicidal.
Packaging News magazine recently claimed that 86% of firms wanted government help to obtain credit insurance, but the government won't take on these risks with taxpayers money either....its hardly a vote winner!
The fact is that there are large numbers of companies struggling in this recession that do not represent viable credit risks at the moment. All I'm saying is that in the midst of this particular economic storm, don't expect credit insurers (who have suffered more than most incidently), to back them all with their money.
In all recessions, there will be casualties. FACT. Those companies that survive the downturn usually come out stronger as a result.