BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

[PanBiker]

The last bank in town (Barclays) closed last week. I noticed this week on one of the local Facebook sites that Barclays will shortly be offering an "advice service" from one of the rooms in the Rainhall Centre. No cash will be available so you can well imagine the response to the announcement! Chocolate teapot.

[Stanley]

That's in keeping with their current advertising campaign Ian. They are trying to disguise themselves as a bank for the High Street and not a predatory investment hub for wealthy people.

[plaques]

The BofE openly announce that people are getting poorer. Wages falling behind inflation, interest rates hitting home owners and investors. Now we hear that that quantitative easing has added £100 Billion to the 2023 bill.

The Bank of England has estimated that it will require the UK Treasury to transfer a total of £100bn by 2033 to cover expected losses on its bond-buying quantitative easing programme.


Apparently the tax pay need not worry because the bill has been 'factored' in. Yes, well that's all right then. Nothing mentioned about selling government bonds at rock bottom prices because interest rates were low and then raising interest rates and bond prices to slow inflation. Between the government and the BofE with one letting prices rip and the other increasing interest rates to slow prices that's another £100bn down the tube and handed over to the 'Markets'. Without this mismanagement all the service industry strikes could have been settled.
Quantitative easing has always been a con job where one way or another the tax payer pays and the banks profit. The government would sooner talk about £61m a day sorting out boat people, another problem of their own making, rather than a £100 billion which is totally down to their incompetance.

[Stanley]

Quite right Ken. What is just as horrendous is the reason they get away with it. On the whole the voters are so badly educated in economic matters. The great institutions talk in millions and billions (even trillions0 and we have no grasp of what it actually means. It's quite true to observe that we get the governance we deserve because we vote them in but what isn't addressed is why we are so badly educated in making the choice.
I have always said that the key lies in primary education. We have historically underfunded it. We will not change the basic standards of education of the masses until we address this mistake. We invest the money at the top end when it should be going into the base. You have to have a good foundation if you are to build strong!

[plaques]

Surprise, surprise, Inflation is still rampant but now under the heading Greedflation, ie: those in a position to increase their profit share will do so. What to be done?. The US, EU have increased their bank rate, no prizes for who's next. We are told that increasing the bank rate doesn't increase inflation because it takes money out of you pocket before you have chance to spend it. This is largely true except for Greedflation where the added cost becomes an excuse to raise profits with no extra effort involved.

PS. Keep an eye on the number of rubber boats crossing the Channel while we are distracted with the Coronation. I'm told that Braverman and Farage will be on small boat watch 'counting them in and counting them out.'

[Tizer]

PS. Keep an eye on the number of rubber boats crossing the Channel while we are distracted with the Coronation.

It's also a good day for criminal activity while 11,000 police are involved in the coronation and the rest will be watching it on their smartphones!

[Stanley]

As usual you hit the nail squarely on the head Ken..... Think of the billions that has been handed out to mask the scale of the mismanagement of energy in the UK and them ask yourself who will pay for this in the long run. Yes, that's right, Joe Public will be footing the bill again.
Peter is right as well. I noted that police had been drafted in from all parts of the country to guard against breaches of security in London. What did that do for police coverage in the donor areas?

[plaques]

Banks are no longer banks in the traditional sense of collecting small savings to fund major projects with the advent of quantitative easing, inventing digital money when it doesn't exist, the banks can ignore the hoi polloi and buy back their own shares increasing their apparent value where in truth nothing has changed. the stock market sores dragging in more suckers trying to get on the gravy train. This incestuous activity between banks ultimately collapses like all Ponzi schemes leaving the tax payer to bail them out, too big to fail, and the game starts all over again.

[Stanley]

To which criticism the banks always respond with the words of Old Bill:- "If you knows a better hole, go to it" They have us by the short and curlies and only a complete remodelling of the system will alter this.
(Or possibly effective regulation but governments don't like that because it inhibits their chances of joining in the Ponzi.)

[Tizer]

British bosses, like some of our government ministers, have learnt to employ Trump's lying tactics...
`Horizon scandal: Post Office boss to pay back part of bonus' LINK
`The chief executive of the Post Office, Nick Read, will return part of his £450,000 bonus for last year, after a rebuke from the chairman of the inquiry into the Horizon computer scandal. In its financial accounts for last year the Post Office said its executives had met all their obligations to support the inquiry into the system. But the inquiry is still taking place. They also wrongly said inquiry chairman Sir Wyn Williams had approved bonuses relating to that support. Mr Read apologised for what he described as "unacceptable errors". In a letter to the inquiry chairman, Mr Read admitted the firm had made an "incorrect statement" in its accounts.

Another thing I note from the article is that we are now doomed to face yet another weasel business word: metric and sub-metric.

[plaques]

Another thing I note from the article is that we are now doomed to face yet another weasel business word: metric and sub-metric.

Its another case of... pro bono publico, no bloody panico” . Make sure that any lies you tell are said with sincerity and conviction. Boris Johnson was particularly good at it.

[Stanley]

Very timely Peter, the comment about Read, the Post Office and Horizon. I noted the news about him losing part of his bonus. This is simply more evidence of the rot that pervades our systems. I forecast this over ten years ago when Cameron and Osborne started to hack away the funding for key elements of our public services and of course benefits. They were of course destroying the roots of our society. We see the results in business like the PO Horizon scandal. in politics like the churn we have seen with the departure of Johnson and the Truss disaster and in things like the way the blood enquiry is being treated. Did you see that Sunak has refused to follow the advice of the chairman of the enquiry, to pay out compensation to victims immediately as many of them are in desperate need. He says nothing can be paid until the enquiry has reported officially. No doubt there will then be a further delay for administrative reasons. The end result will be a smaller payout because so many of the victims will have died. It would be hard to think of anything more cynical than that.
The bottom line is that ethics, principles and honour in public life now count for nothing. The situation will only get worse and God knows where it well end.
Later.... I see that Skipton Building Society have re-introduced the deposit-free mortgage. Shades of Northern Rock, what could possible go wrong.....

[plaques]

I see that Skipton Building Society have re-introduced the deposit-free mortgage. Shades of Northern Rock, what could possible go wrong.....

It all depends on who's valuation you are using. If its the sellers then there could be a problem. If its the lenders ; ie 40% under the selling price there is still quite a sizable 'deposit' to be found.

[Stanley]

The CEO said yesterday that they are using a more sophisticated way of assessing whether an applicant qualifies for no deposit. But then he would wouldn't he.... (Oh, and it's a higher interest rate as well.....)

[Stanley]

See THIS forecast that the BofE will raise interest rates again today.
The Bank of England is set to impose another interest rate hike on the UK economy today, the 12th consecutive increase in its battle to curb rampant inflation. Both financial markets and economists widely expect a 0.25 percentage point rise to 4.5%.
Some analysts forecast that another rise is coming and rates could peak at 5%.
This does not square with Mr Sunak's continued assertions that inflation is falling.

[Stanley]

It's official.... The BofE has announced that rates are up .25% to 4.5%. Bad news for a lot of people.

[Big Kev]

My son is trying to set up a bank account for his 12 year old daughter, this requires the application to be made in person in an actual bank.
They close all the branches and you are then required to go to one to do something, you couldn't make it up...

[PanBiker]

Aye well, she could be involved in money laundering. Maybe he could go and get advise from the Barclays entity at The Rainhall Centre, another exercise in chocolate teapot production or plaiting sawdust.

[Big Kev]

Aye well, she could be involved in money laundering. Maybe he could go and get advise from the Barclays entity at The Rainhall Centre, another exercise in chocolate teapot production or plaiting sawdust.

Unfortunately it's HSBC he's going to so it's not even local 'uselessness'. Next available appointment? May 30th...

[Stanley]

And that will be Burnley Kev? How can any of them talk about customer service, it's non existent. I can remember a time when the customer was the most important part of their business. Nowadays they seem to be an embarrassment.

[plaques]

And now we know who are the real culprits behind all this inflation. The Bank of England knew all along it was the increase in wages that were the problem. Andrew Bailey has confirmed this in his statement....

Speaking to the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference in London, the BoE governor said the UK was experiencing “second-round” effects of inflation, highlighting the spread of rapid price rises from energy and food into generalised wage and price setting by companies.


From this we can take it that although energy prices and food prices have gone up the real problem is that people are asking for wage increases and firms have the audacity to put their prices up. The amazing thing is that it seems to come as a surprise that this is a second round effect. So after 18 months of 10% overall inflation and 19% food inflation people are asking for extra to feed themselves and keep warm. His thinking must be of the same mind set as Ann Widdecombe " let them do without.

The final touch is another threat that if you don't behave yourself I'll put the interest rate up again.

Was it Einstein who said "The definition of a fool is someone who does the same thing over and over again expecting different results"

[Stanley]

The irony is justified. Ken is perfectly correct. Far from being experts these bankers spend too much time talking to each other and not enough time getting out into the real world and looking at the distraught parents and hungry children. Nobody is going hungry in their comfortable world.....

[plaques]

For those who have been following the inflation saga a new term has entered the equation. Its now not plain old fashion inflation but 'sticky' inflation. Like a rocket once it reaches a certain level it becomes geostationary inflation never to come down again. Not to worry the Bank of England have a novel plan its called interest rate rises. The thinking behind this novel pan is that if they push rates up to 5.5%, ie; a 22% increase on 4.5%, as it should stabilize the economy into a recession. Jeremy Hunt thinks this is worth doing. OK he has a property portfolio on £1.7 Million town house plus a group of seven flats. There's every chance that this will reduce the value of the £Stirling sending asset prices including housing up. So where does this leave workers asking for wage increases? Those who have already settled at below inflation rates will be more than annoyed at what they have done and those who haven't settled will be asking for even more. The government will argue that now we are in a recession its the wrong time to be asking for wage rises. Job sorted.

[Stanley]

As usual, spot on Ken. It was fairly obvious that after the illusory 'fall' in inflation increase rates Sunak and Hunt would be claiming success and shouting that their strategy was working. Unfortunately the hard core of professional economists who actually know what's happening have all come out and pointed to the fact that what they call 'core' inflation has actually gone up. Food inflation is running at almost 20% and supermarket CEOs are going on air to 'prove' they are not making excess profits. Maybe not but they are screwing farm gate prices down to the point where they discourage production because it is uneconomic. They say this is to protect the customer but in fact it is to hold prices down to a point where it maintains or increases their market share which is just as important to them as profits.
These same economists say that there are worrying signs that we are slipping into stagflation and they are all saying that the recession that was expected has only been delayed, it will hit us later this year. Further they say that the small apparent rise in the level of retail sales is for two reasons, people with savings spending them on hard assets before the value of the Pound shrinks and the fact that prices have risen, not the amount of goods sold.
Yes Ken, there are going to be some very angry people out there later this year when the scale of the deception becomes impossible to hide with a few sound bites.

[Stanley]

It looks as though once more, the US senate will pass the Bill to allow the debt limit to be exceeded in order to keep the US economy going.
This is not surprising, it is an annual happening. What is surprising to me is that this is the 22nd time in 22 years that the US has overspent on its annual budget. Could a private person get away with a record like this?