BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

[Whyperion]

The RPI measure (used for govt index linked bonds) is about 7.1percent this month, way above interest rates, wage growth or any kind of triple lock pension uplift. Inflation is also high in the USA and the cost of container box shipping has gone up again THIS month.

[Tizer]

This was in yesterday's news. An epic blunder - and they call Santander a bank!...
`Santander: Bank hands out £130m in Christmas blunder' LINK

[Whyperion]

This was in yesterday's news. An epic blunder - and they call Santander a bank!...
`Santander: Bank hands out £130m in Christmas blunder' LINK

Santander On-Line banking down today. thats a pain I had bills to pay. (the eleccy is getting expensive)

Nationwide reported by BBC as not crediting wages etc payments today ( resolved just after lunchtime apparently ). Anyone doing payroll remembering taking the tape spool from the office to the bank for processing ?

(Edit- Santander now also fixed, wonder if it was similar issue to nationwide)

[Stanley]

I struggle to see how the clerks at the old style banks could make that mistake in their ledgers Peter! The marvels of modern computerised banking.....

[Stanley]

Amazon have announced that Visa Credit cards will be honoured. Surprise surprise.Who do they think they are kidding? I wonder how many swapped to a debit card with lower charges for Amazon.....

[Tizer]

Note that Amazon has `postponed' the plan while it holds further discussions with Visa.

[Stanley]

Market forces.....?

[plaques]

Inflation has hit a new high as measured by the CPI (Consumer Price Index). This index has always had problems because it tries to cover the full population spending from the riches to the poorest. Giving a true weighting to this basket of goods is an impossible task that tries to equate everything a millionaire may buy along those where food and basic necessities may cover 90% of their income. The old RPI is still used as a base for some increases such as rail fares and is normally 1.5% higher than the CPI. A new index. CPIH is basically the same as CPI but includes housing costs such as rates and mortgage payment plus general repairs. Some resistance is being met from using the CPIH since this will lift the CPI to a higher level. Whatever index is used those at the bottom of the pile are going to have a tough time.

[Tizer]

The big tech sector headline at the moment is Microsoft buying the `game maker' Activision Blizzard for $75,000,000,000 (I like to write the figure in full because I think we've lost contact with the real numbers ever since billions took over from millions). All that money just for computer games! At the same time I read that a young US woman has made over $17,000,000 in a year from her TikTok videos, much more money than the CEOs of companies like Delta Airlines, McDonalds, Boeing etc made. And the WHO tells me that there are 820,000,000 people starving on this planet. Have we got the wrong priorities, perhaps?

[Whyperion]

17million anything is basically 25p from 54million world wide viewers, with hardly any costs its all net income. two ways to make money, lots of small amounts, or a few big amounts from a few customers. (Did you see the selling of Islands in Dubai at a few million each on the telly ?)

[Stanley]

Ken, the inflation figures are a joke to those on the lowest incomes as the essentials have gone up far more than the average and you're right, things will get much worse. And then you get a dose of Sunak telling us we are the best performing economy in the G7 or Europe, whichever is favoured by his spin doctors.
Peter, yes, definitely! The criteria of social value is wealth and the ability to consume. Values used to be different, look at Clarion House and ask yourself where all that brother/sisterhood of man went.

[Tizer]

This needs a better response from police and the banks.
`Police response to £3.9m fraud branded woeful' LINK
`...Criminals pretended to be from the legitimate private bank Kleinwort Hambros, convincing victims to transfer money to them using branded documents and names of real employees at the bank.'...

[Stanley]

I listened to Martin Lewis yesterday and it's an unbelievable story of simple neglect and incompetence.
I noted that fraud is the biggest category of crime and the least well policed. They said, if you are planning a criminal career, go for fraud. You are more certain to get away with that than anything else.

[Tizer]

From the BBC News Chief Political Correspondent on a 2-part programme starting this evening...
`‘They were like bandits’ - how did the rich get richer?' LINK
`There is a perception that - since the financial crash 15 years ago - the wealthiest in society have become wealthier, yet everyone else hasn't. Could one policy in particular - aimed at helping all sections of society out of financial trouble - be to blame? Sometimes you just need someone else to join all the dots.'...

[Stanley]

Shock Horror! The wealthiest people are being made more wealthy by government policies. Why is this such a surprise? Wealth means power if you have politicians greedy for cash for party funding. Look at who is funding the Tory Party, mainly hedge funds and developers. In an era where ethics and principles are not seen as of paramount importance in politics, the situation created by a misbegotten policy like austerity and the dumping of the consequences on the poorest in society created the ideal climate for asset holders. Then policies like QE made the situation worse.
The bottom line is that anyone who has read the history from 1900 onwards knows that the biggest single problem has been the growing gap in the distribution of wealth. There is plenty of money in the system, more than enough to alleviate poverty and underfunding of key services, but those in control direct the flows of capital upwards to the most wealthy, the ones with the control. Exactly the same as it was in the first Feudal Societies.

[plaques]

There is plenty of money in the system, more than enough to alleviate poverty and underfunding of key services, but those in control direct the flows of capital upwards to the most wealthy, the ones with the control. Exactly the same as it was in the first Feudal Societies.

Guy Shrubsole's book on Who Owns England? spells it out clearly that land ownership in England is one of those darks secrets that will remain a dark secret. Many of the Tory MP's are big land owners and actively block any digital mapping system that may disclose their holdings. This also applies to the big corporations, the Dyson's and Utility firms of this world, who just happen to be big party donors. Even Churchill could see that these people just sat back waiting for the tax payer to build all the infrastructure and then profited from the increased rent potential that they gave. The 'Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' come to mind.

[Tizer]

I wonder if foreign owners of land in the UK now have a greater acreage than the Tory landowners. The foreigners having been buying up vast areas of land in recent years.

[Stanley]

Peter, have a look at THIS Informative resource that Private Eye created in 2015.

[Tizer]

And as far as I can see that only covers property owned by a company and doesn't include property owned privately by rich individuals. It's a pity it doesn't cover Scotland - large tracts of Scottish estates, especially in the far north, have been bought up in recent years by, for example Chinese.

[Stanley]

I was premature when I said that Jarndyce v. Jarndyce was nearing a conclusion. Now I find that it has to go to HMRC for assessment for tax..... Deep Joy!

[Stanley]

Have a look at THIS NY Times report. The US owes $30trillion. Doesn't sound much if you say it quickly. $90,000 for each American.....

[Stanley]

A thought for you to ponder on. In Parliament and in a newspaper article over the weekend Rishi Sunak has talked about the conservative approach to public finances, getting debt down and encouraging 'Sound Money'.
I would remind yo0u that the last time I heard that language was after WW1 in the 1920s when we were crippled with war debt and suffering from the aftermath of a flu pandemic and a collapse in world trade. In July 1920 it was noted that world commodity prices were rising and the response of the Treasury was to chase 'sound money' and eventually return to the gold standard. The result was the inter war depression which lasted 15 years and was only halted by the industrial activity needed because of WW2.
Recognise any similarities?

[Stanley]

Is anyone taking notice? Could we be sleepwalking into another depression made worse by government policies?

[plaques]

Is anyone taking notice? Could we be sleepwalking into another depression made worse by government policies?

Perhaps depression is too strong a word for what is happening. Gradually the heat is being turned up on those at the bottom of the income scale, the boiling frog analogy. At some point the JAM category as Theresa May labels them. (Just Able to Manage) will become 'Can't Manage' and another group will become JAM. With the cost of living set to rise over £1000 this coming year there will be some serious cut backs in spending. Statistics show that 6.5 % of people have no savings and the average bank saving for the over 21 age range is £9000 which includes those expecting to use this as a retirement fund. I've long said that Pendle, Burnley, Blackburn are dying on their feet and what is happening will speed up the decay faster than ever. The big cities and more prosperous areas will survive but will see ghetto areas develop while places in the south may slide into genteel poverty becoming God's waiting rooms.

[Stanley]

All right Ken, let's call it a 'severe recession', the result will be the same. One of the best sources of information is THIS, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on UK poverty 2020/21.
Here's a quotation:
There has been little change in overall poverty levels for more than 15 years. In 2018/19, 14.5 million
people were in poverty in the UK (more than one in five of the population), made up of:
• 8.4 million working-age adults
• 4.2 million children
• 1.9 million pensioners.
Most worryingly, even before coronavirus, incomes were falling – and falling fastest – for people with
the lowest incomes. Average income After Housing Costs (AHC) was slightly lower in 2018/19 than in
2016/17 after taking account of inflation. There was a bigger fall in incomes for people in the fifth of the
population with the lowest AHC income. This reduction is being predominantly driven by reductions in
people’s income from benefits, due to the freeze in benefits rates between 2016 and 2020.
The period since July 2020 has been marked by a gradual reduction of government support through
the labour market and benefit system, with much of the support planned to be withdrawn by April 2021.
This means relative poverty is likely to be higher than before the coronavirus outbreak, with families who
are already struggling to stay afloat becoming even worse off financially. These increases in poverty will
be mainly among working-age families as they will be affected by the negative labour market changes.
The Government needs to do the right thing and keep supporting people on low incomes. If it takes the
lifeline away, people will be cut adrift and pulled deeper into poverty.
There is much more of course but this gives a good idea of the gist of the report and note that it was done before energy prices spiked and that effect is expected to hit in April to coincide with the full blast of cuts in benefits.
So we can say that for over one in five of the population it feels like a recession now and it's going to get worse.
Time to look at deficit financed spending to re-energise the economy. Telling us that it is 'the best in the G7' is sophistry, we need positive action.
(And what have we got? A Prime Minister wallowing in a pit of problems he dug for himself.)