BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

[Stanley]

I noted both those reports Tiz. It says something about the state of the wicket in financial matters that such news causes no surprise and is now accepted as the norm. The big accountants are found to be wanting over and over again and than we see in PE that they have been awarded another big government contract. Think of service suppliers who have been found wanting and still left in place. The same firms that contributed to Grayling's probation cock-up are in line for renewed contracts. Add your own examples. All crystal clear cases of incompetence and cupidity but ignored. Don't even think about politics and public service. Whatever happened to ethics and honourable behaviour?

[Tizer]

`Peugeot owner in merger talks with Fiat Chrysler' LINK
Sometime in the future there will be just one car manufacturer worldwide dominating the market and charging as much as they want. Sceptics will say that can't happen, monopoly rules will prevent it. They're wrong, companies will be so powerful they will be able to ignore governments and regulators. Just look at the the big tech companies even now...

[Stanley]

Agreed Tiz.
Did you see the latest reports on pensions yesterday? Here's a sample. (LINK)
We all agreed this was a bad idea at the time, it gets even worse now as people feel more insecure. Someone is making a fortune out of this.

[Tizer]

..They're wrong, companies will be so powerful they will be able to ignore governments and regulators. Just look at the the big tech companies even now...

I know it's bad form to quote oneself on web forums but it was only a few days ago I wrote the above and now I see this news...
`TikTok and Apple decline to testify over China' LINK
`..."I've invited Apple and TikTok [US] to testify on Tuesday about their business in and with China and the risks to American consumers. So far, they are both refusing. Something to hide?" tweeted Republican senator Josh Hawley, who has organised Tuesday's session. It is unclear which other companies, if any, have been invited to testify. In an interview with news website Axios, Mr Hawley said he did not trust any of the technology giants.

[Stanley]

That's the second time in 3 days that Tik Tok has impinged on my consciousness.....
The senator is right to be wary about big tech. Janet told me years ago that a small number of them were planning to take over the world, this was in the days before we first heard about 'Big Data'. She was working on cracking access to them and their data right up to her death. I doubt if the work has stopped, there may be hope yet! (Think of the benefits of a quantum computer on the kitchen table if you had a tool to interrogate all the data bases. That's what Janet was working on and she reckoned they were getting there.)
I heard an interesting discussion on R4 yesterday about the validity of spending plans being proposed as election bribes. (Sorry, sensible incentives!) They looked back at the history of 'boom and bust' economics and came to the conclusion that the same old mistakes are being made over and over again. Surprise surprise!
My mind went back to the pre-war depression when the top steel strategist in the world said that Jarrow was one of the best three sites in the world for a major integrated steel works based on availability of raw materials, transport links and markets. What happened? Get Ellen Wilkinson's book 'The Town that was Murdered', read that and remember the Jarrow March. For purely political reasons the evidence was ignored and Jarrow was closed down. Late the wonks decided the best place was South Wales and the plant was built there. Then Harold Macmillan realised this meant the death of Scottish Steel so he pushed for, and got built, the Coatbridge steel plant which guaranteed over-capacity and uneconomic running for them and the South Wales plant.
I could go on..... Sorry, I got carried away but any mention of political strategic planning of industry tends to do that to me!

[Stanley]

See THIS for news of the troubles Clark's shoe shops are getting into.

[Tripps]

Email from the bank today included -

At the moment, your available balance includes your arranged overdraft limit (if you have one). In the next few weeks, you’ll notice that your arranged overdraft is no longer included in this amount.
It’s nothing to worry about. You can still use any available arranged overdraft if you need to. It’s just a simple change to make it easier for you to see what money is yours and what money you’re borrowing – so you can avoid unnecessary interest charges.

Good of them to tell me how to avoid interest charges.

[Stanley]

Note the weasel word 'unnecessary'!
See THIS BBC account of the latest report by the FCA on pension fraud. I wouldn't trust the buggers to clean my boots let alone my pension! (I have a degree in crap detection.)

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report of the potential buy out of British Steel by Chinese firm Jingye Group. It's only a deal in principle at the moment but could be better news for the workers who have been living on a knife edge. At £70million it sounds cheap.....

[Tizer]

They'll be wanting to cut costs though. Letting it go to the Chinese is a way for Greybull Capital to avoid doing it themselves.

[Stanley]

I think that goes without saying Tiz but at the moment everyone is concentrating on the good news factor, God knows it is thin on the ground at the moment.
Much is being made of the fact we narrowly escaped falling into technical economic depression but this leaves aside the fact that it is miserably low and declining overall slowly. Wait until Brexit hits!

[Tripps]

At £70million it sounds cheap.....

From Sky news -

"After all, at present, not a single blast furnace in the whole of Europe is making a profit. Scunthorpe, which is currently losing £1m every day, is among the more heavily loss-making."


It's a puzzle isn't it. The reason they are in difficulties is because of Chinese over production and dumping. So why would a Chinese company want to buy it? Explanations welcome.

[Whyperion]

I would suspect a number of reasons.
To curry favour with the UK administration for favourable trade in other stuff in the future
The acquisition of Technology (despite modern plant Chinese production can have deficiencies for specialist uses)
Indeed the market for some of the English plants is specfic products rather than a generallist steel lump, if there are any buy british criteria it is better to have a source that can push that button than not get the supply contract at all.
Land- it has a potential value that is not China, ownership of western real estate is important to chinese business people.

[Stanley]

Easier access to markets in Europe? Are they taking a gamble on Brexit failing?

[Stanley]

Much is being made in comments on the economy about the falling inflation rate. Is it so much of a puzzle that despite ever increasing employment (well, nearly...) prices and demand are falling? Could it be anything to do with low wages, domestic poverty, uncertainty and increasing aversion to taking any more debt on?

[plaques]

There is inflation and inflation. It all depends where in the queue you stand. If we look at average figures ie: a total basket of goods and services that the average person would spend on then its probably true. So we are looking at an average wage of £470 per week. Once you drop below this threshold your basket changes and so does your inflation rate. A pensioner with £200 per week will be faced with bills from the Council, Insurance, food etc: which even if they increase at the official declared headline rate it would be proportionally higher than the rate quoted. For the pensioner this could produce a inflation rate double that of the average £470 earner. Its one of those measures like GDP, all smoke and mirrors.

[Stanley]

Dead right P. I have long argued that. The fact remains that in economists terms full employment should equate to a tendency for inflation to rise but it isn't. it's actually falling and that's what is puzzling theoretical economists. I am suggesting that the solution is simple, people are poor! It's as good an explanation as any other that has been suggested.

[plaques]

I am suggesting that the solution is simple, people are poor! It's as good an explanation as any other that has been suggested.

That can't be right Stanley, think of all those people on minimum wage and zero hours contract all itching to buy new cars, go on foreign holidays, buy new houses, max out on their credit cards but are being held back by the uncertainty of Brexit. Once we have crashed out these people will release a flood of money which they have been hiding under the mattress and the economy will go into overdrive. It must be true because I think I've seen it in the Express, Daily Mail, Telegraph and other completely reliable papers.

[Stanley]

I think an irony alert is indicated!

[Tizer]

`Google set to offer banking current accounts' LINK
`Google has become the latest big tech firm to move into banking by offering current accounts. The firm said it plans to partner with banks and credit unions in the US to offer the "smart checking" accounts. It said the service, to be launched via Google Pay, will allow users to add Google's analytic tools to traditional banking products. The move follows offerings of credit cards, payment systems and loans by Facebook, Uber, Apple and Amazon. While the products and arrangements differ, the tech giants entering the world of banking share an underlying motive: making themselves indispensable, says Gerard du Toit, a partner at the Bain & Co consulting firm. "They're all competing for consumer attention and for their ecosystem and platform to win," he says....Wading into financial services will also provide Google and Facebook information for their advertising business, helping to track what ads lead to purchases, Mr du Toit said....The moves into banking are likely to add to the debates over the tech giants, which are already facing probes related to competition, data protection and privacy. Some officials have also expressed worry about gaps in financial oversight as growing activity occurs outside of traditional banking. And in recent days, New York announced it would investigate Apple, after accusations that its credit card relied on "sexist" algorithms.'

[Stanley]

I heard discussion of this yesterday and the people concerned were unanimous in saying that they didn't trust Google with the data as it would strengthen their already dominant position. They said it would be almost impossible to police usage no matter how many assurances were given. Exactly the same objections as opposition to Google getting hold of medical data. Janet was right all those years ago about the tech giants wanting to take over the world. So far nobody has stopped them!

[plaques]

Dropped on a You Tube video which demonstrated that clicking onto a health site automatically sent your details to a number of other sites including Facebook. This transfer was before you accepted their Cookies and data sharing plan. This is on a subject of Health where the laws are supposedly tighter than any other subject. Every click involves even more sites which in turn sells the data to other sites into a never ending network that finishes up that they know more about you than you do. Add your banking to sales and personal preferences and you will be subject to the biggest brain washing that's ever been dreamt up.

[Whyperion]

I dont know whatever UK Financial Services regulator is , or up to at present, but one would have thought a Banking Licence would have severe restrictions on client confidentially. Quite where payment transfers are covered as a bit of jurisdiction dependent. I imagine the EU will take a fairly restrictive view, Brexit or not I would imagine that UK regulators and institutions will fall into line if they want to do business with , if not within, the EU.

[Stanley]

And the amount of data theft is increasing. It definitely is seen as 'The New Oil'.

[Big Kev]

A blanket approach using a PPI mis-selling service has paid off. Got a cheque today for just over £2k for PPI on a Barclaycard from 1997. There's still another 'in the pipeline' so we'll see how that one goes