The UK is/is not skint thread

[Miss Adventure]

Grrrr the UK is not skint

       

  eh?   I shall plot my next move carefully

What would you call a country with £1.6 trillion debt (not including unfunded liabilities such as pensions) then?

Wonga's favourite kind of customer? 

It could be worse, at least we arent America...

BBC Newsreader refers U.S. Shutdown crisis as"BUDGET SHIT" Live on AIR

Yes!! they have been printing 85 billion a month(!!) (Cyprus' whole bailout was 10 billion) for the past 3 years and it has made no difference except to wipe out savers and make their bonds worthless.

[Steve]

Yes not many realise that the UK is rated AAA and the US only AA

http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/sovereigns/ratings-list/en/us/?subSectorCode=&start=100&range=50

Cyprus is CCC, Greece is B-

To be fair Cyprus national debt is actually about the same per capita and as a % of GDP as the UK but is not ranked as junk debt just on a whim.  The Cyprus ratios have been accelerating to worse and the UK slowing down toward better and crucially we have been part of helping bail outs not asking for them

Stories of "wipe out savers and make their bonds worthless" are for want of a better word: fanciful.  No bank has failed to honour in full and the bond based gilts market climbed even faster than the FTSE over the last 4 years.

[Miss Adventure]

Yes not many realise that the UK is rated AAA and the US only AA

http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/sovereigns/ratings-list/en/us/?subSectorCode=&start=100&range=50

Cyprus is CCC, Greece is B-

To be fair Cyprus national debt is actually about the same per capita and as a % of GDP as the UK but is not ranked as junk debt just on a whim.  The Cyprus ratios have been accelerating to worse and the UK slowing down toward better and crucially we have been part of helping bail outs not asking for them

Stories of "wipe out savers and make their bonds worthless" are for want of a better word: fanciful.  No bank has failed to honour in full and the bond based gilts market climbed even faster than the FTSE over the last 4 years.

We are talking at cross purposes, I am not defending Cyprus over the UK, I believe that the monetary policies of the US, UK and Eurozone as a whole are well and truly ****** in equal measure. However, if the UK hadn't been able to engage in QE, it would be in the same state as Cyprus.

Anyone who lives on or depends upon interest on savings has seen their income drop 60 - 80% over the last 4 to 5 years in any of the above jurisdictions, so to say it is fanciful is an insult. And whilst bonds have been strong, we are now well and truly at the end of a 30 year bull bond market with very probably a 30 year bear market ahead.

If you want to see real ratings, take a look at http://www.weissratings.com/help/how-do-i.aspx

[Steve]

I could never understand why people thought that cash interest rates would always be positive in real terms.  That said my main cash accounts are still getting 3% tax free and 6% tax to pay.

And the UK is not skint even though Ed Balls and that Mr Farage would like to make it so

[Baldy]

Oooooheeeer Mrs. 

[Miss Adventure]

If you say so, worth bearing in mind though that S&P had the US Subprime debt rated AAA before it went T*ts up as well

[Steve]

If you say so, worth bearing in mind though that S&P had the US Subprime debt rated AAA before it went T*ts up as well

indeed, good point

IIRC Cyprus and Spain were rated very highly too with then government surpluses, economies can be very fragile with huge interdependencies.  The UK should have been well placed to ride it all out but the idiots had been spending money hand over fist on more and more welfare we could not afford

[Miss Adventure]

At last - we agree on something

[Steve]

 

I just don't like seeing the UK run down here, there and everywhere.  It's not perfect, far from it but it goes OTT sometimes.

[Miss Adventure]

I just don't like seeing the UK run down here, there and everywhere.  It's not perfect, far from it but it goes OTT sometimes.

Saying that the UK has debts isn't knocking it, that's on the record. I love the UK, I just can't stand the weather and my taxes paying for the inflated part of the welfare state. My other comments apply to the west equally, not just the UK.

I can't find the other threads about interest and haircuts, but to continue our previous conversations, banks need deposits to lend and if you don't reward depositors with adequate interest on a 'supply and demand' basis then they won't save. Equally so, haircutting deposits causes savers to lose trust in banks so they withdraw deposits and put them under the bed. Cyprus is a prime example of this, there is no liquidity because everyone is getting their money out. No money=no lending=no growth

Real growth and therefore wealth for everyone is created by deposits being used for entrepreneurial enterprises, either by the saver itself or by the bank lending it out, not by governments printing money.

All that said, I am having a lovely time in London, just come back from a walk in Hyde Park - fab!

[Steve]

Hyde Park

Have you tried Regents Park or James Park? 

[Miss Adventure]

Hyde Park

Have you tried Regents Park or James Park?

Not on this trip unless I get a bit of time before Thursday - I love the fact that a city like London has such marvellous parks - and great monuments

[Barman]

I just don't like seeing the UK run down here, there and everywhere.  It's not perfect, far from it but it goes OTT sometimes.

Saying that the UK has debts isn't knocking it, that's on the record. I love the UK, I just can't stand the weather and my taxes paying for the inflated part of the welfare state. My other comments apply to the west equally, not just the UK.

I can't find the other threads about interest and haircuts, but to continue our previous conversations, banks need deposits to lend and if you don't reward depositors with adequate interest on a 'supply and demand' basis then they won't save. Equally so, haircutting deposits causes savers to lose trust in banks so they withdraw deposits and put them under the bed. Cyprus is a prime example of this, there is no liquidity because everyone is getting their money out. No money=no lending=no growth

Real growth and therefore wealth for everyone is created by deposits being used for entrepreneurial enterprises, either by the saver itself or by the bank lending it out, not by governments printing money.

All that said, I am having a lovely time in London, just come back from a walk in Hyde Park - fab!

Under your bed you say....?