BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

[Stanley]

I am taking counter measures......

[Tizer]

So am I - I've backed up our computers and will do it more frequently now.

[Stanley]

I never thought I'd see it again Peter but these are very uncertain times. Almost anything is possible whan you have got madmen running round with weapons....

[plaques]

Ukrainians are drawing as much cash out of the banks as possible and stuffing it in their pillows. They are expecting a rash of burglaries. Won't happen in Barlick no banks and no money.

[Stanley]

That raises the interesting theory that the withdrawal of High Street banking could be a ploy to prevent future runs on the banks a la Northern Rock. If there is no bank you can't besiege it and demand your money. If so it comes under the 'Cunning Wheeze' heading!

[Tizer]

Apparently cryptocurrency has become even more popular for shifting money about among Russians and Ukrainians. I wonder if the Russian oligarchs have already shifted their money into it?

[Stanley]

You can bet they haven't been twiddling their thumbs. This government is still going easy on Russian money, especially if it goes into party coffers as a donation. Notice they have never denied this.

[Tizer]

There's a big photo of an oligarch's super yacht in The Times (almost as big as Kev's cruise boat! ). Might be Abramovich's. Whoever owns it they've sailed it away and no-one seems to know where.

[Stanley]

Whatever. Be sure that anyone with dodgy money has been given enough time to stash it somewhere safe....

[Stanley]

I'm listening to the latest fantasy land increases in fuel and gas prices and asking myself what is happening to the profits being taken from the public by the large energy corporations. Is it all going on energy purchases or have the accountants factored in a generous rise in profits and dividends?
Would there be a difference if, rather than 'the market' having control of the energy sector, the governments had a measure of control?

[Tizer]

Moody's Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings have already slashed their assessments of Russian sovereign debt. Now Fitch follows on...
`War in Ukraine: Fitch Ratings warns Russian bond default 'imminent' LINK
...It means the country's sovereign debt is now considered to be below investment grade, or in "junk" territory, by three of the world's major ratings companies....If Russia did fail to make payments on its debt it raises the possibility of the first major default on the country's sovereign bonds since the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution....

[Tizer]

We've seen big companies like BP and then, after a lot of persuasion, Shell pull out of Russia. But in the meantime the big global commodity trading companies such as Glencore, Trafigura and Vitol have continued shipping stuff out of Russian ports. They have revenues in the 100s of billions of dollars and they're not going to be upset by a little old war. They keep their heads down and aren't fussed about what the public thinks of them - in fact almost all the public don't know about them. So they're not put off by reputational damage like BP and Shell were.

[Stanley]

Bully for them. I wonder what their staff think about it?

[PanBiker]

HSBC are closing hundreds more branches. Won't bother Barlick as they shut our branch down years ago. Since then it's been a bookies but has now been empty for the last three years and is now just part of a development companies portfolio of properties. Tried to buy it but they won't accept a perfectly reasonable cash offer for the state that the property is in now.

[Tizer]

In the Saturday edition of The Times the paper's Money Editor lambasted HSBC for it's stance on Ukraine, it's support fro China in Hong Kong, it's poor response to fraud etc. It was a scathing attack from someone who usually writes in more moderate tones.

[Stanley]

One of the consequences of a social system based on deference is that large organisations, and particularly financial institutions, are, in effect, given carte blanche to operate as they think fit. If you doubt this, look at the corrupt money laundering that goes on in the City and the gaggle of highly paid lawyers who, for a consideration, will defend anyone regardless of any ethical constraints.
If you doubt that, have a look at THIS, only one of numerous instances of the London courts being used to attack those who are hindering the most powerful people in the world. (Because they can afford the lawyers!)

[Tizer]

There was something on the front page of the FT this morning about Volkswagen now being more of a China business than a German one. China now accounts for half of VW's 5 million a year car sales.

[Stanley]

"Volkswagen now being more of a China business than a German one"
I'm sure that applies to many US companies as well. We are going down the same route, anyone with money to invest is welcomed aboard.

[plaques]

The Banks are out to get you. and when they do they do it big style. NatWest have just payed £1.2b on a buy back of their shares. "£2.20 per share. Fantastic you may say until when you look back the government paid £5 per share. A straight loss of nearly £3 per share and that's ignoring any interest on a 14 year loan. Then the Tories say they are good at business, I suppose it all depends on which side of the fence you sit on. Certainly not Robin Hood more like the Sheriff of Nottingham. Robbing the poor to give to the rich.

[Stanley]

Quite right Ken but you know as well as I do that what I said the other day about Tories always siding with big business is true even if it is covertly as in the case of P&O Ferries. The great unwashed have forgotten what caused the collapse of the credit system in 2008. You and I haven't.....
PS, Did you notice that P&O put two fingers up on receipt of Grant Shapp's letter? The Tories will wring their hands and bluster but nothing will be done. The unions are right when they say a precedent has been set.

[Tizer]

`Ronin Network: What a $600m hack says about the state of crypto' LINK
Anybody who still thinks cryptocurrencies are the way to go should read this bit of the article...
Economist and author Frances Coppola says: "This is pretty typical of crypto companies. "We've seen so many hacks and exploits caused by - to be blunt - frank carelessness and lack of concern for the safety of people's funds. Crypto companies are sometimes so anxious to make 'loadsamoney', or simply accommodate high demand, that they put out badly designed and tested code, compromise security, or place too much reliance on infrastructure."

[Stanley]

I wasn't sure where this should go, in computers or here. See THIS BBC report that Elon Musk has offered over £30billion to buy out Twitter.
I can't get my head round the fact that one man has this amount of power. What if he decided to buy a country? Is it defensible that one man can have this level of power? If it is, where does it end? We have seen a trend develop where capital tends to move uphill to existing wealth holders when in order for the poor to survive it should be moving in the opposite direction. The biggest threat to society today is unequal distribution of wealth and this does nothing but make it worse.
Later at 06:30. I have just heard an estimate that Musk is worth over $260billion.......

[Tizer]

He's the richest person in the world at $273 billion and followed by the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, with an estimated net worth of $188 billion. Musk recently questioned whether or not Twitter rigorously adheres to the principle of free speech, but I wonder what Musk considers to be `free speech'? After all, Trump believes Twitter doesn't allow what he considers to be `free speech'!
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This British man has admitted taking more than £1.5m in bribes in exchange for helping favoured companies win lucrative contracts. He was probably already on a big salary but was obviously greedy...
`Coca-Cola Enterprises boss admits taking £1.5m in bribes' LINK

[Stanley]

I read the link Peter. Greed is never pretty but that story is shocking. As you say he was obviously greedy. How much is 'enough' when you are already getting a more than adequate salary?
As for Musk and Bezos.... those figures are quite simply obscene.

[Tizer]

It looks like Twitter is rejecting Musk's bid to buy the business. Rejection might be a new experience for Musk.