delboypass Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Keep paying your taxes so it can be continuously wasted.. https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/benefit-cost-highest-in-scotland/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palangot Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 If you look at the HB rates paid to different cities in Scotland, Aberdeen has the highest prices. You'd think with the amount of cuts that are going on and the fact that HB is paid out of Council budgets (?) - they'd look at revising these prices down since rents have fallen. Housing Benefit is also known as Local Housing Allowance: Sharing £327.73 1 Bed £551.41 2 Bed £703.03 3 Bed £801.40 4 bed £1022.53 That what's paid per month if you are eligible and it won't rise from 2015/16 to 2016/17. But £550 for a 1 bedroom flat? I quickly found 70 for rent in Aberdeen at or below £550 per month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCountOfNowhere Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 I'm worried," says Fraser Jamieson, an engineer who has spent the past 20 years on North Sea oil rigs. "We're all worried." Should really only be worried about what books he is going to read on his time off, some investments books maybe, for all that cash you should have banked over two decades? I look forward to ending a job...i get time off and I spent it with my Children and travel a bit. I did bank the cash over the last 2 decades tho. Debt must suddenly feel quite heavy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cashinmattress Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 (edited) Debt must suddenly feel quite heavy And not just for Fifty-k-Fraser... http://seekingalpha.com/article/3957472-weatherford-jp-morgan-bails-weatherford-collapses I am on record that Weatherford International (NYSE:WFT) is so highly-leveraged that it needs equity to stay afloat. With debt/EBITDA at 8x and $1 billion in principal payments coming due over the next year, the oilfield services giant is in dire straits. http://seekingalpha.com/article/3959978-schlumberger-will-last So revenue is directly impacted by commodity prices. The company sees revenue falling 15% from Q4 as the spending cuts by producers impacts the top line. The consensus expectations for Q1 were $6.94 billion, but Schlumberger is now forecasting $6.5 billion for the quarter. Despite cost reductions from producers, these have not led to efficiency improvements for the most part. This is in part why Schlumberger is developing one-stop shop drilling and production systems. On top of that, the company case cut over 25% of its workforce in 16 months. Further cuts are possible. I expect earnings per share to be pressured throughout 2016 and 2017. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-schlumberger-outlook-idUSKCN0WN1I2 http://seekingalpha.com/article/3959704-transocean-will-struggle-forseeable-future Transocean Will Struggle In The Forseeable Future I reckon about 30 rigs are to be scrapped in the near future. http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/03/the-oil-and-gas-fire-sale-how-bad-will-losses-to-banks-and-investors-be.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29 The Oil and Gas Fire Sale: How Bad Will Losses to Banks and Investors Be But what is new, and important, about the Financial Times article, is its effort to put parameters on the severity of the slump and how bad the collateral damage might be, particularly to financial players. Even though Mr. Market is feeling his spring oats, let us not forget that back in January, one of the causes for concern was European banks. It was widely recognized that on top of existing bad loans, the Eurobanks collectively were sitting on an estimated additional $100 billion in energy-related losses. Indeed, the pink paper addresses that concern by mentioning how Crédit Agricole, with the second largest energy debt exposure on the Continent, had to reassure investors, telling them 84% of its book was investment grade. The grim reaper tone of the article suggests that things will get worse in energy-land before they get better. The oil bust in 1980-1981, which was a regional affair in the US, was bloody and took down pretty much all of the Texas banking industry. It’s hard to know from this far a remove what the trajectory will look like, particularly since even with things his visibly dire, the incumbents all have strong incentives to make things appear less bad than they are. Any reader intelligence would be very welcome. And on property in the city... holy smokes, there are a lot of 'for sale' signs. Especially in the nice bits. And time on market is creeping up. Plenty of fingernails being chewed right down to the wood. And the town is dead. Nothing going on. Workshops full of blokes on facebook, costing the company instead of being out there earning silly day rates. Four day work weeks, reduced hours. Yet they keep building more commercial, industrial, residential property? A new shopping centre? A bypass? Fvck knows what else. Spending money with reckless abandon, immune from the prying eyes of the public seemingly. Yet still with begging bowl out to Holyrood and Westminster? Aberdeen is (was) 100% about the engineering and service community. Aberdeen is like a lobster who entered the trap... of allowing itself to operate like Houston in the 1970's. Just waiting for the pot of boiling water now. We're inches above it. Edited March 22, 2016 by cashinmattress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD14 Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 A lot of new property developments likely stem from a time when Aberdeen property, whether it be housing or commercial, looked like a safe bet. That, coupled with denial about what is currently happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diver Dan Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 And the town is dead. Nothing going on. Travelling between the city centre and Westhill this morning at peak hours and saw barely a hint of traffic congestion. It was chocka a couple of months ago. I notice also that one of the independent schools on the Queen's Road is buying a big house to install boarders. I guess that a lot of expat parents are moving away or else the school feels the need to cast their net for potential customers even wider because of a slump in admissions next year. FiftyK Fraser can't find the fees perhaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babo456 Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 So much debt taken on in the good times with oil riding high.A few articles over the last few days mentioning some companies are having the squeeze put on them by banks and that some are worried that debt repayments that are maturing may be unpayable! Surely the clock is ticking ever louder? Still seeing houses listed that have been up for ages not having a single discount? Some that have still not sold? When does that kicking of the can down the road stop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babo456 Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Sorry should read some that have had discounts applied still not sold. Some houses have been on market for nearly a year now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palangot Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Discounts? You must be joking. They're not giving them away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oily Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 ACC still working the long term structure plan (as if Aberdeen is still going to be booming for the next decade): "1,000 new affordable houses to be built in Aberdeen An additional 1,000 new affordable houses are to be built in Aberdeen following a landmark deal signed today (Tues 22 March) by Aberdeen City Council and housing developer Places for People. The £300million partnership deal will see the formation of a limited liability company which is a Scottish first, and will help to deliver a "step change" in the supply of affordable housing in Aberdeen and address the shortage of housing in the city. The deal follows a commitment in the local authority's Strategic Infrastructure Plan (SIP) to build 2,030 homes by 2017. The partnership company will build, own and manage housing for rent targeted at a range of needs, which include key workers on modest incomes. Aberdeen City Council Leader Councillor Jenny Laing said: "This project will support and is additional to ACC's own building programme in support of Registered Social Landlords and low cost home ownership which has already delivered 1,081 affordable properties in the last four years. "These new homes will help to address a shortage of housing in Aberdeen, which has become a barrier to the continued economic growth of the region. "We look forward to the sites being developed and so we can welcome residents into their new affordable homes." The objective of the deal is to develop an initial 1,000 affordable homes and 1,000 private development homes, with the potential for a further 1,000 properties. David Cowans, Group Chief Executive at Places for People, said: "Creating 1,000 new affordable homes for rent will help to transform Aberdeen and the lives of key workers such as nurses and teachers. "This deal is also transformational for how new homes are delivered in Scotland and provides a blueprint to show that new housing can be built without any Government subsidy or cost to the taxpayer. "In order to tackle the housing shortage in Scotland and the rest of the UK, public and private sector organisations need to explore new models and new ways of working together. "The fact Places for People has been chosen for this pioneering partnership is a testament to our track record of delivering attractive, aspirational and sustainable new neighbourhoods." The Partnership Company will purchase council-owned sites and develop these for both affordable housing and private development for sale. ACC will receive a land value for each site, and in addition, through its 50% ownership of the partnership company receive a 50% share of the development profits. Places for People will provide development and housing management experience to minimise costs and increase the speed of build. Places for People Group Limited has assets in excess of £3.3billion and is one of the largest property, leisure management, development and regeneration companies in the UK. It owns or manages more than 150,000 homes across all housing markets and tenures, of which 10,000 are in Scotland. Castle Rock Edinvar is part of the Places for People Group and is one of Scotland's largest social landlords with more than 7,600 properties across eight local authority areas. Places for People takes a placemaking approach to its business, which means it considers the infrastructure and services, like shops, schools, leisure facilities, transport links and healthcare facilities, when designing developments. It works with local communities to plan and design mixed-tenure places, with energy efficient homes, a range of facilities and carefully designed public spaces. In Aberdeen, eight sites are initially committed for the project, including at Summerhill, three at Tillydrone, Craighill, East Woodcroft, Kincorth and Bucksburn Farm (Greenferns). The partnership will help ACC deliver the short, medium and long-term housing objectives contained within the Strategic Infrastructure Plan (SIP), which focusses on delivering the infrastructure needed to support the positive economy of the city. A key goal of the SIP was to create a step change in the supply of housing as a priority and in particular increase the supply of affordable housing to meet the city's housing needs. The SIP committed to procure a suitable delivery partnership to help meet the short and medium term affordable housing commitments of 2,030 by May 2017. It includes a need for and the opportunity to increase the range, type and tenure of houses across the city. The developments will consist of a housing mix of social rent, mid-market rent, shared equity/low cost home ownership and private sale depending on site location and regeneration objectives." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboypass Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Oily, a 1-bedroom flat is a rough part of Aberdeen will set you back £120,000... How can a single person on £16k start life on their own? I know ASPC is awash with property but prices are still very unaffordable. Why do you not think Aberdeen requires affordable property? Read the post further up on how much the council is paying for HA (Housing Allowance) This is the most house building I have seen Aberdeen complete in a very long time.. they should have done this 20 years ago.. I am glad they are doing it now to give the young people of Aberdeen something realistic to aim at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oily Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Oily, a 1-bedroom flat is a rough part of Aberdeen will set you back £120,000... How can a single person on £16k start life on their own? I know ASPC is awash with property but prices are still very unaffordable. Why do you not think Aberdeen requires affordable property? Read the post further up on how much the council is paying for HA (Housing Allowance) This is the most house building I have seen Aberdeen complete in a very long time.. they should have done this 20 years ago.. I am glad they are doing it now to give the young people of Aberdeen something realistic to aim at. I take your point delboypass - in the early 1980's I was one of those who couldn't afford even the most basic of properties so I understand the problem. I also remember the severe house price crash that followed the oil price crash in the late 1980's and think a similar crash is about to happen.... you correctly state: "I know ASPC is awash with property but prices are still very unaffordable" but therein lies the 'solution' to the unaffordabilty problem! If the market crashes the last thing the city needs is additional unsellable housing stock. I didn't mean to sound flippant but, like many on this forum, I genuinely think the perceived housing shortage will recify itself fairly soon. Let's see! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboypass Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53405665.html Wow..amazing to trace the history of this sale.. Now gone up for auction.. http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/branch/auction-house-scotland-glasgow-58374/?page_size=100&results_sort=lowest_price http://www.stronachs.com/property/property/29-north-silver-street-aberdeen-ab10-1rj/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboypass Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 I take your point delboypass - in the early 1980's I was one of those who couldn't afford even the most basic of properties so I understand the problem. I also remember the severe house price crash that followed the oil price crash in the late 1980's and think a similar crash is about to happen.... you correctly state: "I know ASPC is awash with property but prices are still very unaffordable" but therein lies the 'solution' to the unaffordabilty problem! If the market crashes the last thing the city needs is additional unsellable housing stock. I didn't mean to sound flippant but, like many on this forum, I genuinely think the perceived housing shortage will recify itself fairly soon. Let's see! Ye seen the same Oily but you have been around more than me When i went to uni in 2000, a flat in Old Aberdeen cost £19,000 , a 2 bed 70m2 new build cost £60,000 15 years later and the 1 bed costs £110,000 and the 2 bed costs £242,000 Some thing needs to break and even a gigantic crash will only take it back to affordable levels. Just tired of these pokey 60m2 new builds that they continue to tell us are great value and affordable starter homes. I would rather have volume to drive down costs than Government interference in markets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oily Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Ye seen the same Oily but you have been around more than me When i went to uni in 2000, a flat in Old Aberdeen cost £19,000 , a 2 bed 70m2 new build cost £60,000 15 years later and the 1 bed costs £110,000 and the 2 bed costs £242,000 Some thing needs to break and even a gigantic crash will only take it back to affordable levels. Just tired of these pokey 60m2 new builds that they continue to tell us are great value and affordable starter homes. I would rather have volume to drive down costs than Government interference in markets. l think we're agreed that the housing situation in Aberdeen has been pretty unhealthy for some time and it would be good to see some reasonable balance restored. I must admit I'm surprised house prices have remained stubbornly high in spite of escalating supply and weak demand. Perhaps the dam will burst soon? As an aside, and to put things into perspective, I bought my first (fairly grotty) one bedroom flat in 1982 for £19k when mortgage interest rates were around 14%. Most of my 7 grand salary went on mortgage payments. Around that time I borrowed 2 grand from my folks to buy a car and it took me almost 10 years of scrimping and saving to pay it back. On a positive note I'm loaded now!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venger Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 l think we're agreed that the housing situation in Aberdeen has been pretty unhealthy for some time and it would be good to see some reasonable balance restored. I must admit I'm surprised house prices have remained stubbornly high in spite of escalating supply and weak demand. Perhaps the dam will burst soon? As an aside, and to put things into perspective, I bought my first (fairly grotty) one bedroom flat in 1982 for £19k when mortgage interest rates were around 14%. Most of my 7 grand salary went on mortgage payments. Around that time I borrowed 2 grand from my folks to buy a car and it took me almost 10 years of scrimping and saving to pay it back. On a positive note I'm loaded now!! Here's some alternative perspective. Affordability Backwards .....In the slightly extreme example where the buyer commits more than half of their salary to mortgage payments to begin with, the initial interest payment on a £100,000 repayment loan at a 15 per cent interest rate is the same as that for a £300,000 loan at 2 per cent. Bear Hug: Becomes more interesting when capital repayments are considered. £15k wipes out 15% of 100k loan and only 2% of £300,000k. Or very roughly, doubling payments compared to interest-only will clear your debt in 6 years at 15% or 50 years at 2%! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboypass Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Exactly Venger. Interest rates have been too low in this country for far too long. I just really dont understand how all these highly paid respected individuals cant see what they are building up. Low interest rates are forcing people to invest capital into bricks and mortar as rental in the only return on their money. If they put savings interest back to a normal level of even 3% a lot of people wont invest in homes. Instead now we after this budget about 40 different ISA types alone to consider in the next financial year and thousands of rules that keep changing every 6 months in the budget.. The simple one for me is: Increase interest rates... Okay a broken economy isnt going to like it but there is no other medicine.. Quantitative easing only funnels into the 1% rich pockets anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfr Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 (edited) Exactly Venger. Interest rates have been too low in this country for far too long. I just really dont understand how all these highly paid respected individuals cant see what they are building up. Low interest rates are forcing people to invest capital into bricks and mortar as rental in the only return on their money. If they put savings interest back to a normal level of even 3% a lot of people wont invest in homes. Instead now we after this budget about 40 different ISA types alone to consider in the next financial year and thousands of rules that keep changing every 6 months in the budget.. The simple one for me is: Increase interest rates... Okay a broken economy isnt going to like it but there is no other medicine.. Quantitative easing only funnels into the 1% rich pockets anyways. They are fully aware what they are doing. But hedging they won't be in power/close to the problem/dead when it all blows up.Coupled as I said before about the Aberdeen papers above. No one wants to upset the applecart. Especially when it pays so well. A politician thinks of the next election, a statesman thinks of the next generation. We have no statesmen anymore. Edited March 23, 2016 by sfr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venger Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Exactly Venger. Interest rates have been too low in this country for far too long. I just really dont understand how all these highly paid respected individuals cant see what they are building up. Low interest rates are forcing people to invest capital into bricks and mortar as rental in the only return on their money. If they put savings interest back to a normal level of even 3% a lot of people wont invest in homes. Instead now we after this budget about 40 different ISA types alone to consider in the next financial year and thousands of rules that keep changing every 6 months in the budget.. The simple one for me is: Increase interest rates... Okay a broken economy isnt going to like it but there is no other medicine.. Quantitative easing only funnels into the 1% rich pockets anyways. Only partly agree delboypass (yes re interest rates and ISA confusion and flip-flopping budget). It's a choice to buy a house at ever higher prices, and especially so for BTL in an affordability and inventory squeeze. And much of that has happened already, onto the broadest shoulders to take the crash, and losses, rather than the banks. Their own money/position locked into it. House prices are utterly loopy, and we've got a situation where people refuse to cash in (sell) for fortunes, and still many eager to buy (but MMR and, in some parts, the beginning of doubt in prices). And I like the measures, behind the scenes, to tackle BTL/housing financialisation, with many complacent buyers/owners thinking all good at 0.5%. US taper and one rise. And we've been through much of the phase where easy money pushed up prices/commodity prices, now having fallen back. That's a tell for me. They've already bought the homes and BTLs at higher prices in a runaway QE/0.5% surge. Some areas topped out, having doubled down their bets, and now having to deleverage. Soon the owner side may come under siege from tapped out younger people and renter-savers unwilling to pay "what itis worth". It can collapse in on itself even at 0.5% imo. Would welcome higher rates and seemingly you would, but still think it's on without it. Although yes.. savings rules and new ISA complexity... not welcome by me. Confusion. Still, I'll take the low rates vs these house prices, and BTLer beginning to squeal. What annoys many people is rachman (the hpcer) - like many in London - are literally lottery winners. (Being given £1-1.5 million pounds for nothing can most definitely be classed as a lottery win) And are not even cashing it in !! There is also the belief that they are somehow deserving of it - which is ********. And some on owner/buyer side expect even more HPI. Market. I see it as Roubini in 2009/10. Buy/hold in house prices, if you want to... to chase the HPI 'return on money'. Roubini: You're not getting much from savings these days but earning 0% is better than losing 50%. ------- When the volume of credit is large, investors can perceive vast sums of money and value where in fact there are only repayment contracts, which are financial assets dependent upon consensus valuation and the ability of debtors to pay. IOUs can be issued indefinitely, but they have value only as long as their debtors can live up to them and only to the extent that people believe that they will. The dynamics of value expansion and contraction explain why a bear market can bankrupt millions of people. At the peak of a credit expansion or a bull market, assets have been valued upward, and all participants are wealthy — both the people who sold the assets and the people who hold the assets. The latter group is far larger than the former, because the total supply of money has been relatively stable while the total value of financial assets has ballooned. When the market turns down, the dynamic goes into reverse. Only a very few owners of a collapsing financial asset trade it for money at 90 percent of peak value. Some others may get out at 80 percent, 50 percent or 30 percent of peak value. In each case, sellers are simply transforming the remaining future value losses to someone else. In a bear market, the vast, vast majority does nothing and gets stuck holding assets with low or non-existent valuations. Well, a spike in unemployment would be a relatively short term and necessary corollary of liquidation of malinvestment in higher order goods including real estate (and all the artificial satellite industries feeding off it) on the back of artificial credit expansion. These people would need to find a more useful service to the rest of society. You can't have the cake and eat it, something has to give. To me you seem to be trapped into the notion that central planners can decree away market realities - if it were possible, there would be no Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and even the USSR would have turned out to be an economic miracle. And Charles Fourier would have succeeded in turning seas into lemonade. Heck, even the Roman empire would have survived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venger Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Idlewild, on 11 Jan 2016 - 8:01 PM, said: Many boomers bought the houses that they'd live in for the rest of their lives, and raise their families in, at the beginning of their working lives, before they had families. I feel that the kind of laddderism that you're assuming here is part of a perhaps unwitting attempt by society at large to turn a blind eye to the failure of the boomers to build sufficiently to ensure that their children, and pretty soon their children's children, enjoy the access to housing that boomers did nothing to earn but enjoyed nevertheless. I think the other rather insidious idea lurking in your thinking is that it is somehow a problem if somebody pays too much for a house and ends up stuck in it. When so many hard working young people are totally excluded from even having the option to purchase property expecting any sympathy for people who not only had that option but acted on it is a dog that won't hunt as far as I am concerned. We cannot have a housing market where there is no downside to paying too much, that way lies madness. If these people paid too much and were relying on calm economic waters forever so that they could build up some equity and trade up, f**k 'em. Houses are for living in. Taking on debt is about making and keeping promises. Some people will have bad luck; we can't protect people from the vagaries of chance, the idea that we can is stupid fantasy. The whole idea of starter homes and ladders strikes me as total boll0cks, cut from the same idiotic cloth as much of the rest of the apparently endemic HPI+++ for-f**king-ever madness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palangot Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 The old high oil price and the low interest rates meant that there has been a massive over-investment in all things Aberdeen. There are now a lot more hotels available, offices to let and houses for sale. House prices are an extremely slow indicator, lagging behind the reality. Anyone buying a house takes their time about it and if you are losing your job and are broke, you'll maybe hold on to the house for as long as you can We care about prices and the industry cares about volumes. Anyone who was thinking of buying today would need to look at present prices and say "I'll have 20% off that". You'd be an idiot not to. But fundamentally, I don't think that anyone can say that their job is 100% secure. But the higher paid oil jobs are maybe more insecure than others and unemployment, reduced hours or wages are a real reality. If you are looking to sell now, you've missed the boat. The best time was before the referendum, after that you were just playing chicken. Read what the pish and jizz and the MSM say but don't believe a word of it. They have only their interests (and their advertisers) at heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oily Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Exactly Venger. Interest rates have been too low in this country for far too long. I just really dont understand how all these highly paid respected individuals cant see what they are building up. Low interest rates are forcing people to invest capital into bricks and mortar as rental in the only return on their money. If they put savings interest back to a normal level of even 3% a lot of people wont invest in homes. Instead now we after this budget about 40 different ISA types alone to consider in the next financial year and thousands of rules that keep changing every 6 months in the budget.. The simple one for me is: Increase interest rates... Okay a broken economy isnt going to like it but there is no other medicine.. Quantitative easing only funnels into the 1% rich pockets anyways. I couldn't agree more - near zero interest rates (and QE) have only caused a bubble in asset prices, especially in the housing market. Debts taken on at low interest rates will become painful/ruinous when rates start to rise, so there is pressure to keep them low for fear of triggering another recession. Also people looking for a positive return on their savings turn to the the stock market (or btl) causing a bubble in share prices (and exacerbating house price inflation). During the boom years, when interest rates were used as the main tool to control consumer price inflation, no account was taken of house price inflation which is always presented in the media as a good thing....and the higher the better! I'm not convinced the economy is in much better shape than it was at the start of the crash and there is no clear solution :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babo456 Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Does anyone else think George Osbourne was getting his excuses in early when he said at the start of the year 2016 would be a year of a cocktail of threats? The thing is we COULD return to normality if we actually played the game by the rules. We are in a world where the big guys have no risk and cheap money. The financial world has been deregulated over years starting in the 80's and its just got worse and worse. Look what happens the words interest rate rise are mentioned the whole market goes shakey. Drunk on cheap money. No one with balls to actually say you know what sod this. Labour had to go cap in hand to the IMF in the 70's I think? The PM at the time made a telling speech. The UK is 1.7 trillion in the red (and thats only the stuff actually on the books). We have had austerity and our debts actually doubled since the Tories got in 5-6 years ago!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babo456 Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 I couldn't agree more - near zero interest rates (and QE) have only caused a bubble in asset prices, especially in the housing market. Debts taken on at low interest rates will become painful/ruinous when rates start to rise, so there is pressure to keep them low for fear of triggering another recession. Also people looking for a positive return on their savings turn to the the stock market (or btl) causing a bubble in share prices (and exacerbating house price inflation). During the boom years, when interest rates were used as the main tool to control consumer price inflation, no account was taken of house price inflation which is always presented in the media as a good thing....and the higher the better! I'm not convinced the economy is in much better shape than it was at the start of the crash and there is no clear solution :-( I totally agree also. Really nothing much has been fixed. One thing that has been fixed is that they now have the power to use your bank deposits to shore up another 2007/8 type crisis! Basically they will class your bank deposits as shares, say your a share holder - pass the vaseline - totally shaft you. And the 75k safety net? On gov/banks terms and they would struggle to pay everyone if we had a huge crash. Oh wait they'd just type some numbers into a PC? So why don't they just do that to save the banks again? Oh wait they already sorta did that? Do you get my point? This is madness. They want your REAL wealth that you have worked and earned. Not the pretend push of a button money.Although the idea of cash/money is also pretend really..... well I do hope that rant makes sense! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cashinmattress Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 The UK is 1.7 trillion in the red (and thats only the stuff actually on the books). These guys say its closer to £5 trillion. http://www.nationaldebtclock.co.uk/ And we are drowning in debt as individuals, at 111.9% of income! Plus £180 billion credit debt. http://themoneycharity.org.uk/money-statistics/ Even the oil producers are looking at wonky solutions.... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/03/22/north-sea-firms-urged-to-create-a-bad-bank-for-aging-oil-rigs/ North Sea firms urged to create a 'bad bank' for aging oil rigs The UK’s North Sea oil explorers should spin off older assets into separate companies to defuse the “decommissioning time bomb” that threatens to send costs spiralling by the end of the decade. Independent producers can expect to pay $3bn (£2.1bn) annually to dismantle old platforms and pipelines as North Sea reserves decline, but by pooling aging assets in a separate company - similar to a ‘bad bank’ - the operators could save $7.5bn. In the past operators have offset their decommissioning liabilities against tax payments. But a report from consultancy Oliver Wyman has warned that costs are rising just as tax receipts plunge, meaning “radical” measures must be taken to defuse the decommissioning crisis. “The bad banks create strategic options. They can work with many different buyers or consolidation partners, and make use alternative forms of capital or risk transfer. An oil and gas decommissioning company could see similar benefits,” a report from the advisory said. Ok. So they don't want to pay for their mess, just like the banks. So is the 'bad' bank really the public purse? Story to follow IMO. And non-existent growth? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-35878950 Suppliers to the oil and gas industry predict five-year growth Scottish companies that supply to oil and gas producers expect to see continued growth over the next five years, but at a much slower rate. The annual Scottish Enterprise survey of the sector found growth expectations over five years of only 4% in the UK sector. That figure is down from 25% in the survey published last year. When will somebody in the 'impartial' media talk down post a realistic view on housing in such a manner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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