Mark W has an excellent idea for getting the bank bail-outs off the government's books: Gummint invests £50 billion in new bank shares. AIH, gummint spending is about £50 billion per month. Solution: for the next one month, all public sector salaries, welfare and pensions payments etc will be paid in bank shares! Truly, a … Continue reading Modest proposal
Author: John B
John Band is a London-raised, Sydney-based strategy consultant, data analyst and writer. He has experience ranging from blue chips to start-ups across the media, business information, strategy and technology consulting industries.
...rates are still looking pretty good on UK government bonds, so even after the financial bail-out the government has plenty of room to borrow for infrastructure investment. The only danger is if politicians bow to the pressure from "let's turn this recession into a depression because we hate Keynes" maniacs and don't take advantage of … Continue reading In other ‘don’t panic’ news…
Individuals who lost more than £50,000 in the Landsbanki collapse certainly let greed get in the way of good sense, and certainly don't deserve the generous bail-out terms that the government has given them. However, that pales into insignificance compared to the 20+ local councils who've lost tens of millions between them in Landsbanki deposits. … Continue reading Anything the global financial system can do, local government can do worse
So, when I said "don't bother switching banks," what I actually meant was "don't bother switching banks unless your bank, instead of falling under the UK compensation scheme, falls under the compensation scheme of a small, rainy, historically very poor island which crazily overexpanded over the last five years and has absolutely no chance of … Continue reading End of the world update: time to buy tins and shotguns?
Executive summary: If your savings are deposited in a UK retail bank, they are safe, and if you're wasting your time transferring your money into UK government-backed savings or Irish banks you're a muppet. Although if you're super-paranoid then Ulster Bank might be worth a punt... Rationale: 1) If your savings below £50,000 are deposited … Continue reading Don’t bother switching banks
The excellent Rachel North is back. Hurrah! She's been in New York addressing the UN on terrorism. Hurrah! However, I had a bit of a double-take moment when I read her 'I'm back' post: "...went to Turkey for 2 weeks with J, read a lot, chilled a lot, went to the Turkish baths a lot, … Continue reading On misreading punctuation
You know what to do (read this if you don't know what to do...)
Right. I've sorted out a bizarre WordPress permissions issue, and now have full control over this blog again. Hurrah. In other news, apologies for not posting anything for a while. I've been in Canada and San Francisco not working, and therefore my blogging threshold/time has been limited. In particular, apologies for not posting anything much … Continue reading Back, and an apology of sorts
I'm deeply annoyed that I work for a company that places onerous restrictions on my ability to trade shares, even on my personal account - if I didn't, then I'd pile some serious money into HBOS stock right now... September 17 update: Fuckery. That's £3,000 I would have made, buying at 150 yesterday and selling … Continue reading Another get-rich-quick scheme thwarted
US house prices have collapsed, making mortgage loan portfolios somewhere between impossible to value and valueless. As a result, the investment banks have been devastated. Lehman Brothers has just gone bust, and Merrill Lynch has just been sold at a knockdown price. Bear Stearns went under, and UBS took a massive write-down on its investment … Continue reading In praise of loan securitisation