BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

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Re: BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

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Not bank news but housebuilder news...
The FT reports today: `An independent review, prompted by complaints about Persimmon’s work and a pay scandal, said in December a “fundamental change in culture” was needed as the report uncovered problems at the builder that ranged from insufficient fire protection to a lack of consistent building standards. The UK’s second-largest housebuilder was told to overhaul its culture, improve its homebuilding and rethink executive bonuses. The report, by barrister Stephanie Barwise, laid bare a corporate culture driven by greed, with a focus on buying as much land as possible and quick sales. Its former chief Jeff Fairburn’s total remuneration in two years had come to almost £85m, prompting angry investors to clamour for the independent inquiry.'
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Re: BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

Post by Stanley »

D'Israeli was right when he wrote Two Nations. They still exist and the report on Persimmon is just the latest piece of evidence that our corporate culture contains pockets of pure greed. I am sure that there are good CEOs out there who read things like this and despair, but from what we see they are in the minority.
Read Private Eye and see where Tory Party funding is coming from, the vampire squids of the financial world, the people who are syphoning Billions out of the economy each year and squirrelling it away in beneficent climates like the Cayman Islands. What chance is there of the Party turning round and biting the hand that feeds them. Ask yourself why organisations that have been found guilty of scams continue to get lucrative government contracts.
Of course people like me who raise these concerns are accused of being guilty of indulging in 'The Politics of Envy'. I have no problem with the concept of capitalism but it is a mistake to allow the major players to self-police. Friendly remuneration committees and blind eyes abound, just as long as the gravy train keeps rolling.
If you want a concrete example, see THIS and then go to Private eye and find the results of their investigations into the man. Then take your choice of who you believe. Would you choose him to be Party Treasurer?
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Re: BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

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Those people are also the ones who have denied man-made climate change over the decades when we could have been solving the problem more easily and safely. They didn't want their lucrative investments threatened and they had the power to prevent change.
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Exactly Tiz, It's a failure of governance on a massive scale and the root cause is the erosion of principle and ethics at all levels. We live in a meaner, nastier and more greedy world. The policies that are winning out at the moment are those of the lobby based on financial advantage. This is global, ask yourself why Thomas Piketty's 'cure' of a global wealth tax hasn't been implemented. Why do dodgy off-shore tax regimes and administrations survive and prosper? How is it that large companies can get away with tax avoidance strategies that are obviously unfair? Why is nobody cracking down on the 'brass plate Lld partnerships that foster secrecy in financial affairs? Add your own items to the list. The really sad thing is that it is not just the poor who will suffer, erosion of systems on the scale we are seeing today means that everyone will suffer, even the capital holders. Look at what is happening to the stock markets and global capitalism as we speak.

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Re: BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

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See THIS TIME report on the unease in the US stock market. It is yo-yoing up and down despite the Fed cutting interest rates and supporting the markets.
These are extraordinary times and prospects are not good. There is still the chance that a global recession could be triggered by fear of the unknown.
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Re: BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

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`Facebook 'rethinks' plans for Libra cryptocurrency' LINK
`Facebook is reportedly rethinking its plans for its own digital currency after resistance from regulators. It is now considering a system with digital versions of established currencies, including the dollar and the Euro, according to Bloomberg and tech site The Information. The Libra Association, which Facebook founded to create the currency, will continue its work, the reports said. The plan will include Libra, the company said in response. The social network's digital wallet is now expected to launch this autumn, several months later than initially planned, according to the reports....In October, the world's biggest economies warned cryptocurrencies such as Libra pose a risk to the global financial system. France has said it threatens the "monetary sovereignty" of governments; others have warned it could be abused for money laundering and other nefarious purposes..'. [What? You mean like the banks? - Ed. :extrawink: ]
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Re: BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

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I saw that report Tiz and what struck me was that it is a symptom of our modern attitudes in the financial sector. The decisions that will be made are all to do with greed and profit and not the efficiency of the system perceived by the consumer.
See THIS BBC report on the final collapse of FyBe under the pressure of the fall in passenger numbers due to Covid19, at least, that is the reason that is being given but I suspect that there is more to it than that. The Bail-out earlier in the year was conditional on the government revising flight surcharges and that hasn't happened.
See THIS BBC report on British Steel.
"A Chinese firm has finally confirmed plans to invest £1.2bn in British Steel. Jingye Group said it would save 3,200 jobs in Scunthorpe and Tees-side and modernise the towns' steelworks. The company, which is reported to have offered £50m to buy the company, said the deal was due to be completed on 9 March. Union Community described the takeover as "welcome news" but said around 400 people faced losing their jobs."
Is this a bright new dawn for the company? Time will tell....
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FlyBe is causing some problems. Letting it fail doesn't say much for the Johnson slogan of improving regional connectivity and it was noticeable that a junior minister was put up to make a statement. I wonder where moon face was? I would have thought he would have been the obvious safe pair of hands to deliver an anodyne response.
Breaking news but not on the web yet reporting a general fall in the Asian Markets. The speculation is that this is caused by fears of Covid19 triggering a global recession.
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The Flybe problem shows what happens when companies push down the price of flights to unsustainable low levels. One blip in the economy and they go under. Those cheap flights have also suppressed other modes of transport. Boris now wants a tunnel between England and Ireland - why not fast hydroplane ferries like they have in other countries?
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Why not simply spend the money on Social Care?
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Flightradar24 reports that commercial air traffic fell 4.3% during February. A significant straw in the wind with many operators working on a knife edge of profit. Global traffic and trade is falling and this is another depressing factor for the markets to consider. I get the feeling that something bad is coming....
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The general opinion is that we're back to 2007/8 but with the addition of Covid, Brexit and accumulating climate change.
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I heard a minister saying yesterday that the banks had been stress tested and so we could be sure they had plenty of funds to deal with anything that happens. Why am I not fully reassured?
See THIS breaking news from CNN. Asian markets are showing a big drop this morning but mainly on the slump in oil prices which of course is a good indicator for levels of trading activity. The markets are nervous and teetering on the brink of a more serious fall which could make 2008 look like a picnic. Events Dear Boy. (Just in time for the financial statement on Wednesday in the UK)
See THIS breaking story in the Guardian. Oil prices have dropped to 1991 levels and we are told this is only a start as the Saudis increase production and drop prices and Russia has followed.
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With oil prices dropping like a stone and Russia refusing to cut production to keep prices up is this payback time for all the sanctions that America has placed on Russia. At these low prices a lot of the American oil and fracking industry will no longer be viable. Just imagine if America had to import Russian oil. I wonder how Trump is going to react to this change in fortunes?
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I suspect with considerable private dismay P but he will try to put a good gloss on it. One of his most used subjects is how good he has been for the US economy. I hadn't thought about the role of his sanctions on Russia and think you could well have a point!
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He's also proving himself incapable of dealing with the current virus problem. Senators from both parties are complaining he's not doing enough.
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To be fair, no public figure can 'do enough'. My problem is that they don't even attempt what is possible.
Take Johnson's visit to Bewdley after the floods had receded, why not East Cowick where the floods are still up and will be rising again after all the rain we are having at the moment. While he was there he said he was going to 'fix Bewdley'. Really? Remember Cameron after the floods on his watch (after SE England was hit of course) "Money is no object" was the phrase I think.... Hollow laughs all round.
Remarkably little comment about the worst day on the 'changes since 2008 and possibly worse to come. One 'expert' said that some pension providers lost 25% of their assets. I suspect we will hear more of this in the days to come. We might even get a reaction from our brand new chancellor on Wednesday!
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UK bank rate dropped by ½%. The banks will be able to borrow money for less and more likely lend it out at the same rate as before. Meanwhile it is almost guaranteed that the saving rate will drop taking money out the ordinary savers pocket. End of austerity, I think not.

Will it do any good? See this extract... I like the all-tome low bit.
"This takes the Bank base rate back to its all-tome low at 0.25%. They're loosening rules around capital buffers for banks and estimate it will be worth £290bn in extra funding. The key question is whether banks will simply lend more? It needs to come with genuine commitment."
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Jim O'Neill on Today this morning said the rate drop won't help. When your rate is so low to begin with you've got no scope for lowering it by a significant amount anyway.
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All budgets are political and yesterday's was no exception. Note the mantra about 'getting it done' repeated ad infinitum. I was also struck by his slightly unusual use of a new word 'Conzervative'.
Jim was right, I listened to him as well. All the fiscal stimulus shots were fired in 2008 onwards, none left in the locker now except QE. What struck me was the fact that pension funds could lose as much as 25% of income. God help anyone just reaching retirement age now, looking back I was incredibly lucky. Nobody is getting a 3% annual rise compounded like I do. Can they afford me? Is Covid19 a blessing in disguise as it kills off my generation? :biggrin2:
(Banks being fairy godmothers? Pull the other one!!)
Later... See THIS BBC report on current market movements. It becomes more and more likely that this is a systemic fall and the 20% fall from the recent high in the US will not aid confidence, it is Bear Market territory. I also noted that the Pound is only worth $1.28 this morning, the lowest I can ever remember.
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Re: BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

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Lots of vox pops yesterday asking pertinent questions about how the concessions to trade announced in the budget are going to be accessed and how quickly. A general distrust of the Treasury, promises, bureaucracy and the banks which is entirely understandable.
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Re: BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

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INTO PROPERTY LTD. Nothing on the web yet but this firm that owns some of the biggest shopping centres including the Trafford Centre is looking for investors to bail them out as they are having a cash flow crisis due to the downturn in retail and the effects of Covid19.
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Post by Wendyf »

Try INTU Stanley, it was on the BBC news website yesterday.
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Re: BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

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Tizer wrote: 06 Mar 2020, 16:57 The Flybe problem shows what happens when companies push down the price of flights to unsustainable low levels. One blip in the economy and they go under. Those cheap flights have also suppressed other modes of transport. Boris now wants a tunnel between England and Ireland - why not fast hydroplane ferries like they have in other countries?
I went on one of the fastish ferries Holyhead to Dublin , back on a slow one, It was a free (or £5) crossing I 'won' on a competition scrachcard - they used to put them out effectively for companies to sell cheap travel deals, then upsell insurance etc or hope you spent money onboard food, bar, games etc.
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Re: BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

Post by Whyperion »

Stanley wrote: 12 Mar 2020, 04:28 I also noted that the Pound is only worth $1.28 this morning, the lowest I can ever remember.
Year
Average Price Year High Year Low
2019 1.28 1.34 1.20
2018 1.33 1.35 1.43
2017 1.29 1.23 1.36
2016 1.35 1.47 1.49
2015 1.53 1.54 1.59
2014 1.65 1.64 1.72
2013 1.56 1.63 1.66
2012 1.59 1.57 1.63

Spread is a lot more at retail at present, even at M&S that used to have good rates , and my local london favoured dealer.

It does mean the Dollar drop in Oil prices is not reflected in the Pound cost of oil for consumers.
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