I'm doubtful that RBS will fail, despite some informed commentators' beliefs to the contrary. However, in the event that it should collapse, I'd like to be the first person to suggest that the Deloitte partner who led the BCCI liquidation would be an excellent choice of administrator... Update: fail prediction FAIL. If the government is … Continue reading Just in case…
Banditry
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
...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