Earlier this year, Lombard Street Research estimated the U.K.'s total net debt excluding the financial sector at 237% of GDP, slightly higher than Japan's and nearly as high as Spain's.

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Wedged into a triangle where Lombard Street meets King William Street, around the corner from the Bank of London, St.

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As Michael Taylor, of Lombard Street Research points out in a recent note, it was the consumer who disappointed the economic forecasters in 2011.

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Right in the City of London, in a beautiful Grade II-listed building, is 1 Lombard Street.

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Charles Dumas of Lombard Street Research is one who thinks that Greece would be better off defaulting AND leaving the Euro.

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