eBay

5129frederick · ‎25-02-2016

Further to my earlier thread I think the following example just about sums it up:

0% BANKING INTEREST!

I kid ye not. That was on page eight of yesterday's Sun. The Bank of England Guvernor hinted yesterday at a zero rate of interest.

Mark Carney suggested it may well fall from a record low of 0.5% where it has been for the past seven years, down to zero. This was said to MP's on the Treasury Select Committee and wasn't spoken in jest. There was nothing flippant in what he said. It was not a throw away comment. In all earnestness he told MP's

"If we were in a position wherethe economy neededadditional stimulus we could cut interest rates down towards zero," in an attempt to prevent outright panic where people were seen with wheelbarrow loads of money in Germany back in the thirties, he insisted the banks were powerful enough to ride any future crisis and firmly denied any prospect of negative interest rates where they penalise you for having money in the bank!

"The pound in your pocket will not be affected by inflation." Got to be Harold Wilson's most famous phrase ever.

"We must freeze wages." Was one of the first things he said but only after giving himself a 20% increase in salary, up from £16,000.00 p.a.

"We will tackle inflation by the roots..."

Only problem was, he manured it!

Buy paintings, Islands in the sun, toys, gold, anything you like, but DON'T leave it in the bank! The first mega win was £14,000,000.00 by some shop keeper up north after several rollovers many moons ago. I wonder if he's still hot it.

I rest my case.

wizilizi · ‎25-02-2016

& it could go into minus figures

5129frederick · ‎25-02-2016

GOD FORBID! (Excuse blasphemy) As I said if I had an even decent six figure win - half a million + I'd get the hell out of this country and stay out, wait until it's all gone and then return to this land of milk and honey and ~~say~~ demand: "gimme gimme gimme!"

peteryola · ‎25-02-2016

Several countries do have negative base rates, yes - but normally that is not passed on to the public; it's within the banking industry only. The idea is to try to get the banks lending again.

Carney also said he would not be in favour of negative rates in the UK because they can cause more harm to the economy than they cure; think about it - if people started withdrawing their savings they'll be using cash for everything and that's going to seriously hit tax revenues.

So I wouldn't worry about it too much as it's unlikely to happen. Not impossible, just unlikely.

5129frederick · ‎27-02-2016

Really? Remember Germany in the thirties? Classic example of a man who went into a cafe to have a cup of coffee for 5 Million Marks - when he went to pay the bill the price had gone up to 8 million. People were just counting the noughts. I can't see it happening over here where paper money becones worthless but you never know. In the Post Office in the City (London) I picked up a 20 Takka banknote. Curiosity got me to take it to Thomas Cooks. It was Bangladeshi money - it's monetary worth? Eight PENCE! Quite literally not worth the paper it was printed on.

I thought people must be mad buying a kings ransome for stamps like the Bermudan Red and tens of thousands of pounds for Diana's wardrobe outfits, costumes, but maybe they're not such fools after all. They must know what they're doing with their money. A fool and his money are soon parted - so goes the cliche - if that's the case, how do they come together in the first place?