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Pound BELOW parity?


NormanH
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And the first effects of this are being seen,   with prices having fallen last month in France to give an annualised inflation rate of 1.6% or thereabouts,   whereas in Britain they have continued going up,  albeit more slowly,  to give an annualised rate of 4.1%

Many prices are "sticking" in England,   kerosene has stuck at 42 p per litre in the same time that oil has dropped from $70 to $40  a barrel,  and that can't all be due to the £/$ slide.    Calor Gas 47 kg cylinders are at their highest price ever (£49) whilst for comparison last time oil was at even $60 a barrel the same cylinders were £22.50.

Cutting interest rates has fuelled inflation and trashed the £,  as many of us thought it would.

Poor poor Britain,  under the so-called leadership of our wretched prime minister.    Didn't he say a few years back that a weak pound was a sign of a weak economy and a weak government?    Along with his remarks about no more boom and bust.

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[quote user="Martinwatkins"]Cutting interest rates has fuelled inflation .

[/quote]

 

..................and I believe is entirely planned.

 

Look, the level of debt is so high, and getting higher by the day as the UK borrows its way out of today's pickle, that the only way to repay it is to let inflation rip, so that the value of the debt is devalued - and this easier to pay back..

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The only way to restore value in the pound and restore the UK finances is to adopt sensible policies such as used in the 1930s - cut civil servants/military and then cut public sector and military pensions by 40%.

MP's should show solidarity by forgoing all pay and perks until the economy is on its feet.

Gordon Brown and cronies don't care they have their pensions, security and free amoured cars for life. They most think it amusing as they copy what Argentina did when faced with a money crisis.

I would also be chasing the bankers to get back the bonuses over the last 7 years from all the bust banks.

I would also imprison Patricia Hewitt until she repaid the billion she doesn't know how she lost when at the DTi. Famously saying it didn't matter as it was a small sum.

That's for starters...

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[quote user="NormanH"]The roots of the problem lie in the Thatcher years.[/quote]

And this being clearly the case, what an astonishing and convincing inditement you make upon the abilities of Tony, Cheri and their successors, that in the course of eighteen subsequent years they have been totally ineffectual in righting the previous misrule.

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Dog wrote

"I would also be chasing the bankers to get back the bonuses over the last 7 years from all the bust banks.

I would also imprison Patricia Hewitt until she repaid the billion she doesn't know how she lost when at the DTi. Famously saying it didn't matter as it was a small sum.

That's for starters..."

 

If that's for starters bring on the main course!!

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Who is Cheri? I don't recall her as being responsible for anything.

New Labour have been there for 11 years, and have made the mistake of continuing Free market policies inherited from the Snatcher.

The problem is now coming to light, but it is in being too 'Conservative' that they have failed to keep check on the greedy and the guilty.

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[quote user="Dog"]

I would also be chasing the bankers to get back the bonuses over the last 7 years from all the bust banks.

[/quote]

Not all bank directors had massive salaries etc.  I was shocked to hear that the sacked senior social worker responsible for the baby P affair was on the same salary as most of our exec directors.

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[quote user="Martinwatkins"]Inflation at 27%.   £ falling 12 cents against the $ in one day.   IMF banging on the door.

1975-77.   Who was in charge? 

Oh yes,  labour.    Long before Mrs T.

[/quote]

Haha, excellent.  And not to forget 1967 either when, with unemployment at a 27 year peak and industrial production in a state of utter stagnation, the excellent Wilson with characteristic and grandiose daring proclaimed himself our Economic Overlord.

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I'm with NormanH on this one.

I am far from convinced that a Tory led government would have handled the British economy any better in the past decade, especially as it's my theory that the roots of the current situation lie in the deregulation of the financial services by the Conservative government in 1986  (anyone remember the Big Bang?).

Labour's problems seem to stem from it's timidity in tackling the excesses of the free market as it was scared of what the leader writers of the Daily Mail and the Murdoch owned newspapers might say. It lacked the courage of it's convictions (assuming TB ever had any that is).

The present government has failed the electorate badly but heaven help us if the other lot get voted in.

Brian (again)

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I agree, Brian.  They've been much too faint-hearted and have concentrated too strongly on vote-catching.  But, hey, that's nothing new.  Just been reading about the French political scene and was especially interested in the last 3 decades or so.

In many ways in France, as in the UK, both right- and left- wing politicians have had to duck and dive in order to get voted in.

Who was it who said that "Politics is the Art of the Possible"?  Apart from short-lived periods of idealism, much of politics has been a much besmirched game. 

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Labour's problems seem to stem from it's timidity in tackling the excesses of the free market as it was scared of what the leader writers of the Daily Mail and the Murdoch owned newspapers might say. It lacked the courage of it's convictions (assuming TB ever had any that is

And there is the rub - who knows what Labour would have done if they had not become 'new' Labour, thus depriving the voter of any real choice and just battling for the middle ground

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[quote user="Russethouse"]

Labour's problems seem to stem from it's timidity in tackling the excesses of the free market as it was scared of what the leader writers of the Daily Mail and the Murdoch owned newspapers might say. It lacked the courage of it's convictions (assuming TB ever had any that is

And there is the rub - who knows what Labour would have done if they had not become 'new' Labour, thus depriving the voter of any real choice and just battling for the middle ground

[/quote]

The voters had a choice when labour were 'old labour';  they chose not to elect them!

Mr Cat

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It amazes me how we continue to blame past regimes for the inadequecies of our current leaders - smacks of African leaders blaming colonialism for ALL their woes!!! It's going to take a party with a lot of ""B***S" to fix Britian's problems - the overloaded Benefit system,  the "Inter"National Health Service and the huge salaries, bonuses & gold plated pensions paid to Govt. & Local Govt.chiefs (no matter how useless) just for starters.

And then, what happened to all our manufacturing and agriculture? Lets get rid of them, it's cheaper to import, I heard them say! Well watch this space!!!!

A very disillusioned Mrs Postie

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[quote user="NormanH"]So you agree that 'There is no such thing as Society" and 'people must look to themselves first'?

Isn't it precisely this attitude of dog eat dog that has led to the mess in the Financial Sector?

[/quote]

....   ah,  the Mrs T "quote".    A bit of a hoary old chestnut that.

We had a friend who banged on with this one for years until I looked up on the Net what was actually said.

Try it.    Seems to me that the words were plucked out of context and the complete utterance is full of common sense.

But I know that agreement on this sort of thing is quite impossible,  so I'll leave it there.

Incidentally,  and less politically,   I do agree about the de-regulation fiasco.   It seems extraordinary that all these highly paid financiers and regulators appear not to have understood,  or cared about,  the vehicles and ethics of their trade.

Back in 1984 I read a book called "THE DOWNWAVE" by Bob Beckman.    Now he got his timing completely wrong as he foresaw this collapse happening in the mid 80's   but the message that one should carry off is that there is virtually nothing we (ie governments) can do about the crisis,   every 70 or so years the lungs of economic activity simply collapse,   and then the bees start re-building from scratch.   His predictions for the current crisis are uncannily accurate (people are queuing up to borrow my copy of the book),  and he explains all about credit bubbles and the vicious deleveraging that occurs once prices of assets start to fall.   And all about how banks are able to conjure up thousands of £'s of credit when someone deposits a mere £100.   That internet film that was mentioned elsewhere on this forum about banks and credit came as no surprise after reading the Downwave.

I was grateful for his advice back then as it made me confident about selling up in London in 1989 when everyone else was scrambling to buy up property at any price,  and who screamed with laughter when I suggested that they might like to think about what would happen to their mortgages if prices started to fall.

Sadly he died last Christmas and hasn't had the earthly satisfaction of seeing his predicitions (widely ridiculed at the time) come horribly true.    Let's hope his rewards are in heaven.

I ought to add that he considered the Barber boom one of the shabbiest episodes of post war economic management (I hope people will feel I'm being even-handed with that comment!)

Happy Christmas to everyone,  regardless of what they believe!

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Possibly,  although I think only en passant.

However,   there is a school of thought that believes that the € may fall apart as the Greeks Portuguese Spanish Irish find their uncompetitive chickens coming home to roost.    I suspect that the powers that be will make sure the € carries on,   but the price to achieve that might be horrendous and might bring the € down.

After all,   a similar scenario to the begger-thy-neighbours currency plicies of the 1930's   (on which I am NOT an expert!).

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