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
Category: Financial arcana
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
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
Chris Dillow makes sense: "If people are prepared to lend to government at less than 1% real interest, let’s bleed them dry, because cheap money won’t last forever; infrastructure spending should be undertaken now, whilst it's cheap." The construction collapse will have the same effect on labour costs, which we can offset by removing the … Continue reading The last word on why the deficit doesn’t matter
Via Tim, Raedwald has a silly piece suggesting that the 30% collapse in new-build flat prices, rather than being the outcome of a speculation bubble, came because developers were required to build 30% social housing as part of the development. However, this doesn't fit the facts, or what we know about economics. If the new-build … Continue reading Another house price post
I've been living in rented accommodation for the last two years despite being able to afford a house/flat, because it was incredibly obvious that house prices were going to peak, interest rates rise, and the economy slow down. The fact that you did buy a house means that either you felt financially secure enough that … Continue reading An open letter to people who bought houses in the last two years
I've a slightly snarky new piece at the Sharpener, on how 'fuel poverty' isn't nPower or EDF's fault (or, indeed, a very meaningful concept). Some of the discussion about this issue has reminded me of how bloody annoying it is when hacks and bloggers take £ profit numbers as meaning something in their own right. … Continue reading Newly sharpened