Night Owl

http://netcastdaily.com/broadcast/fsn2006-0805-1.mp3 (one too many zeros in the date on: http://www.netcastdaily.com/fsnewshour.htm ) Haven't listened yet, so no comment to make.

Ah ha! I keep hearing people talk about interest rate futures and am glad to have a link - although I don't understand what is being shown. I would appreciate any tips about how to read it. I have been taking an occasional look at Gilt yields: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/fds/hi/...ilt/default.stm Basically I was assuming that a 2 year maturity would give a rough idea of what the bond market thought was a reasonable return. I do not find it surprising that the short end has fallen in price/risen in yield a bit as the rate move seemed to have taken most by surprise. Oddly, the long end has fallen even more. I don't get it. I thought we had an inverted yeild curve because the bond market was expecting a recession/slow growth/low inflation. Surely an increase in rates would dampen the economy more, so why did the long end fall? Are they expecting more of an inflationary recession? Is it hedge funds/pension funds doing something weird? I dispare about markets, they always seem to go the opposite way to what I would expect.

2.5% isn't much but it's also totally bogus. House prices certainly count as inflation if you don't own one. About everything I need to pay is sky rocketing - rent, electricity, gas, council tax, petrol, services, in fact everything that isn't made in China. The stuff that is made is China is a bit of a wild card for me. If consumers start to cut back on the non-essentials then we could see the prices of plasma TVs, cameras, perhaps even clothes really come down (I can't get over how cheap clothes are right now) - the Far East has massive capacity on these things. If Far Eastern production slows then producer prices might come down. Hmm round and round, I have no idea what will happen.

Wow! Thanks for flagging that one up. It never occurred to me that we went to war over more than just a barren rock that might be in a vaguely strategic position (strategic for what, I don't know). Were oil reserves mentioned at the time? Where did you hear about this? Is it widespread opinion among peak oil types? Although I've heard about peak oil for a while, I'm only now beginning to give serious thought to what it means for our way of life.

Out of control? You just go bankcrupt and then get a loan from a sub-prime lender - problem solved.

That is an interesting map! For some reason I assumed the birth rate in Eastern Europe would be quite high and certainly not that low.

Ta Lurker, That'll stop my ironing getting too boring. More mp3s on the site: http://www.mises.org/media.aspx

That's what I meant. I think of myself as a FTB, even although I'm not buying now - or ever, if this insanity keeps on going.

I'm doing a run of bitter and cynical posts: even if our food intake dropped and the female population suddenly shaped up, you can bet your house that fashion would change to fully covered up baggy clothing - you'll be lucky to see an ankle.

Definitely, I've heard a bit of grumbling about costs going up and wages not keeping pace - at least some household budgets are being squeezed. After years of basking in soaring house prices, home owners are finally waking from their slumber and start to complain that they don't feel as wealthy. Tough, this crazy credit expansion feels much worse from where I'm sitting and I'm certain I can moan better than any of them. Personally I will be very angry to see big wage rises if interest rates do not rise in tandem - call me bitter. Unfortunately, I can't help feeling the government / central bank will come to the aid of reckless borrowers and screw FTB even more. I fully expect calls for big, juicy wage rises to get louder and more widespread.

Grrrr, I hate this kind of thing! Wherever there are ugly numbers, the first measure is to pull some kind of accounting trick to make the numbers look better, instead of deciding what needs to be done and focusing on getting best value. Whenever there is a nasty statistic, the first approach is to change the way the statistic is compiled, instead of tackling the underlying problem. Grumble, grumble.

Wonderfully cynical - you might be right!

This is nothing to do with the economy. Gordon Brown wants to be PM and he is worried that he's just a bit too Scottish. By telling us to celebrate being British he is trying to tell us that he is proud to be British and would therefore be a suitable candidate to represent us all. I find the idea of Brown trying to celebrate anything quite difficult to imagine - he's a total sourpuss and lacks the charisma to have mass voter appeal. Working as Chancellor is a bit of a poisoned chalice as everyone ends up blaming you for the state of the economy, deserved or not (probably partly deserved in GB case). If he really coveted the top post then I think he would have done better to have insisted upon being Home Sectretary or something. I think there is a chance that by the times he gets his shot at being leader, the wheels will have fallen off the economy and his reputation will be in tatters.

I assume Dr B was making the suggestion to Suzsanna, as it might save her a move. I think you would be nuts to buy in city centre Manchester at the moment, I hear there isn't exactly a shortage of flats.

WOW! Only 99 pounds and I can move in - just try and stop me. And to think I was deluded into thinking houses were expensive. Yipee, we can all join the party! Ha Ha Ha! Thank you so much, those photos have made my day (and I don't have many good days in this interminable, credit-fueled mania). I like how the 'your own space' advertisment has a yellow 'great rental returns' slapped over it - they know their true market. Just look at that 7th image. They have pulled every trick to disguise the shear scale of the block. It steps up from the edges towards the centre, so you don't have so much of a shear drop at the sides. The top level is stepped back, so it doesn't register as another story. They have also stepped in the corners and broken up the frontage, to help disguise the width and length. I'm afraid it reminds me of council estates - give it 10 years and I would half expect to be side stepping the needles and be holding my breath in the stair wells - maybe it's a nice area though. What is going on with that white estate - does the camera not expose all pixels at once?