BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

[Stanley]

"Keep a couple of sacks of Chapatti flour flour - you can't eat gold."
I've almost finished my 25kilo bag of dried marrowfat peas. I ought to be ordering another shortly. Keep dry and cool and they last almost indefinitely.

[Stanley]

Look at the Financial Times for a full account of this....
"FTSE 100 chief executives’ pay soared by an average of 23 per cent this year, according to research from PwC that comes during tense negotiations with rank-and-file staff.
The rise to £3.9mn was driven by record bonus payouts, partly the effect of lower targets set during the pandemic. The new data is published as companies struggle to persuade staff to accept below-inflation pay increases. "
Remember.... We're all in this together! Or did I get that wrong.....?

[Tizer]

A long article about pollution of our rivers has appeared in The Times written by Emma Duncan who is social policy editor of The Economist and a Times correspondent. She notes that over the last decade the amount of money paid out by the water companies in dividends is equal to the amount of profit they made, £18 billion - none of their profits were invested in ending the dumping of sewage directly into rivers. Regardless of giving away profits as dividends they've been borrowing on a grand scale, £50 billion over about 15 years and yet the dumping goes on. I wonder where all that money has gone?

[Stanley]

Can you remember when the utilities were being sold off and those who protested and said it was totally the wrong thing to do were labelled reactionary and dinosaurs? Everything we have seen since proves we were right! 'Commanding heights of the economy', right?

[Tizer]

Emma Duncan's conclusion was that the biggest problem lies with the failure of regulators. Even the Environmental Agency can't do much about the problems because the regulators simply won't pounce of the water companies hard enough. They've let them get away with it for years now.

[Stanley]

Quite... because the owners of the utilities are the governments biggest supporters and you don't over regulate the goose that lays the golden egg. That's how our corrupt system of party funding works and that's where any reform should start.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the recession. It's official now I think, we are in what will be a two year recession at least. Politicians have been trying to avoid the 'R' word but all that is history.
It's all ammunition for J Hunt who can use them to justify the most draconian measures in his Autumn Statement. Tin hats on Lads!

[Tripps]

CEO of 'challenger bank' Starling - Anne Boden, was on the Andrew Neil show this evening. The other guest said that savings rates had not risen in proportion to the bank rate. Neil asked her what their mortgage rate was - she waffled and escaped. Unusual for Neil to be badly briefed. I don't think they do domestic mortgages - better would have been to ask her what their savings rate is. For the record it's 0.05 %.

Their overdraft rate goes up in steps to 35%

I enjoyed the interview since she looks a lot like Mrs Cadogan (pronounced Caydogorn) from the Irish RM. (Anna Manahan). Brought back pleasant memories from a great TV series. She'd have said "interest rates is it? Sure they're no worse than anyone else's"

[Stanley]

Looking back at two dodgy periods in the UK finances..... The inter war depression was ended by deficit financed spending on the war effort. The episodes of debt from the 1950s on were largely cured by the advent of a technological revolution, the computer age dawned and boosted productivity and growth.
Question is, what, if anything, will be the 7th Cavalry this time round?

[Tizer]

Question is, what, if anything, will be the 7th Cavalry this time round?

Elon Musk perhaps? I've just read this sentence in today's news: The eye-popping $56bn pay package that Tesla granted boss Elon Musk in 2018 is being contested in a US court.

[Stanley]

My problem with ridiculous personal wealth like Musk, Bezos etc is the same as I have with high tax takes and punitive cuts in the UK economy. Anything that takes money out of circulation where it can multiply is a bad thing and that seems to me to be inevitable when personal wealth reaches these staggering levels of imbalance.

[Tizer]

Another problem with the `ridiculous personal wealth' is that we're heading towards a real version of the typical James Bond villain (Blofeld etc) who can build private armies (think Wagner group), buy jet fighters and warships, bribe on a large scale and afford an army of lawyers.

[Stanley]

They are, in many ways, our modern version of monarchy and have much the same freedom.
The same applies to influence... Look at the way Trump acts as though he is above the law.

[Tripps]

Let's try again. . . . didn't work so deleted it. It's worth a look.

Quantitative Easing


That seems to work. I'll put the punch line up later - if you haven't already guessed it.

****************************************************************************************************************************

That was from 2015 I find.

This is from 2022 Ben Bernanke Seems his specialism is 'financial crises'


They say Economics was invented to make Astrology look credible.

[Stanley]

Put that way.......

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the bankruptcy proceedings against Sam Bankman-Fried of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
"Troubled crypto firm FTX collapsed after being "run as a personal fiefdom of Sam Bankman-Fried", a US bankruptcy court has heard. The former FTX boss led the firm once valued at $32bn (£27bn), but lacked basic money controls, a lawyer leading the bankruptcy proceedings said. The true state of FTX's finances was only now being understood, he said. He also claimed Mr Bankman-Fried's team spent roughly $300m on holiday homes and property for senior staff. Only now do we realise that "the emperor had no clothes," attorney James Bromley said, describing the situation as "one of most abrupt and difficult collapses in the history of corporate America."
Are we surprised?

[Stanley]

Have a look at THIS BBC report about the troubled crypto firm BlockFi which has filed for bankruptcy in the US, as the dramatic collapse of FTX continues to reverberate across the industry. The company had already halted most activity on its platform, citing "significant exposure" to FTX.
Remember Rishi Sunak as Chancellor saying he was going to make London a major player in the Crypto Currency market? I wonder how that policy is faring?

[Stanley]

See THIS report on UK food inflation.
Prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages in the UK jumped 16.2 percent year-on-year in October of 2022, the highest rate since at least 1989 and picking up from 14.5 percent in September. It was one of the drivers of the increase in the overall CPI during the month, with notable price growth in oils and fats (33 percent vs 28.1 percent in September); milk, cheese, and eggs (27.3 percent vs 24.3 percent); and bread and cereals (15 percent vs 14.5 percent). source: Office for National Statistics
This of course hits the poorest hardest as food is such a major proportion of their spending. The pressures are buiulding. For many, talk about Xmas spending is useless. They will have enough problems just affording basic foods.

[Stanley]

The CBI warns today that the UK will fall into a year-long recession in 2023 as the “stagflation” combination of rising inflation, negative growth and plummeting business investment weighs on the economy, according to Britain’s largest business group.The CBI warned on Monday that gross domestic product would fall by 0.4 per cent in 2023, a downgrade from its previous forecast of 1 per cent growth set in June. It said consumer spending would drop throughout the year as inflation remained above the Bank of England target. The lobby group gave a particular downbeat forecast on business investment, which it said would start to fall from the middle of next year when an existing “super deduction” tax allowance scheme designed to boost investment came to an end.
The economic outlook for the UK is among the weakest of the advanced nations covered by the CBI forecast, with only GDP in Germany set to fall at a slightly faster pace next year.
What's the betting that Mr Sunak doesn't mention this....

[Stanley]

Today I'm sat here listening to those with an axe to grind assuring us on the air waves that deregulating the banks is essential to enabling them to compete in a modern global economy. Exactly the same arguments that were used at the end of the last century when a bonfire was made of the protective regulations built up over generations and the Lords of the Universe took the hint and gamed the system to the max leading to amazing expansions, wonderful profits and bonuses and exactly the result they wanted. Until.... Remember Lehman's collapsing and the mortgage market going into self destruct. We were only saved by public money being injected into the banks and are still dealing with the aftermath.
All this is recent history and yet seems to have been forgotten. Once more the Lords of the Universe are being unshackled and encouraged to go for growth. As David would say, what could possibly go wrong.....?

[PanBiker]

My bank has just sent me a statement with part of the calculations showing a figure of -£0.00 that is minus £0.00 I had to look twice. Are these people safe with my money?

For the context of this it is reference a small savings account for which they have awarded me £0.06 in interest.

[Stanley]

Don't spend it all at once.

[PanBiker]

The really stupid thing about this is that they sent me two pieces of A4 paper to explain all this. One to tell me what it was and anther with the inept calculations on. I have the mobile app on my phone for this account as they closed our branch then moved to Nelson, closed that as well and moved to Burnley. I have selected that I don't want any printed statements as I can check my account anytime. It cost them a minimum of 78p to send it to me plus the printing and production costs. So by my reckoning they have lost a minimum of 72p, probably a bit more sending me something I didn't ask for and didn't want!

Any wonder the banks are in bother, unsolicited mail must be costing them a fortune. I would rather have a better interest rate with no paperwork.

[Stanley]

Thinking of my current struggles with BG... I'd just like a minimum level of competence.

[PanBiker]

You can get that easily by swapping supplier but I think you already know that.