I remember these 'sell and rent back' schemes were big in the immediate aftermath of the 07/09 crash. Distressed homeowners unable to meet their mortgage repayments would sell their homes to these firms, obviously BMV, and rent it back to them. Of course the danger was no security of tenure or guarantee that these companies wouldn't rachet-up the rent after a year. So, fair play to the FSA for kicking this lot in to touch, although of course these sharks are simply symptoms of the problem.

Posted by sibley's b'stard child @ 03:43 PM 11 Comments

Having shown its impotence over Hester's bonus (its face saved by his waiving it) the government went for popularity by stripping an already discredited banker of his gong. Will this lead to an exodus of talent? Martin Taylor, former CEO of Barclays, said they pay themselves from imaginary profits - spreads on credit taking no account of default possibilities (done on a much bigger scale in recent years), unrealised profits on illiquid instruments on the trading book and calculating the net present value of non-existent future income streams. On the last two there's no income, merely 'booked revenues'. (Main link leads to the full Taylor quote.) Then of course they measure return on equity, which can be high when there's little equity and dangerously high leverage.

New figures reveal Liverpool was the fourth worst authority in the North West for non-collection, witrh more than £7.3m left outstanding in 2010/11. Sefton was the second worst offending council on Merseyside, failing to collect £5.4m, while Knowsley had the lowest non-collection rate of all six authorities, failing to bring in £1.4m. The worst performing authority in the North West for failure to collect council tax and non-domestic rates was Manchester, waiving more than £18.4m in the previous financial year.

Posted by mark @ 10:10 AM 18 Comments

UP TO 150 jobs will be lost at glassmaker Pilkington, it was announced yesterday. The St Helens firm’s parent company, Nippon Glass Sheet Group (NSG), plans to stop manufacturing at two sites in the town by the end of April.

"The idea is to cut income and business taxes while introducing a land value tax to end our obsession with property and to encourage paid work". Inevitably, some Home-Owner-Ist wades in with the usual Poor Widow Bogey nonsense: "When a government imposes a land value tax, aka "property tax" the government becomes the real owner of the land with the "owner" who bought the land becoming the equivalent of a renter, and the tax represents their rent payment to the government. If the tax is not paid, the "owner" is evicted by the government... which has become the REAL owner of the land. Imposition of property / LVT is confiscation of wealth without compensation. In addition, imposing an LVT takes away land as a secure investment option for the lower classes. {blah blah blah]"

Posted by mark wadsworth @ 04:55 PM 37 Comments

Mr Wrigley said: "Unlike Mary Portas, I don't think we can continue to try to muddle through supporting the traditional high street model." He said deserted High Streets were victims of an irreversible trend to shopping malls, supermarkets and internet retailing and the government should relax planning laws instead to allow the mass conversion of failing town centres into housing.

Posted by phil @ 12:28 PM 8 Comments

Salford council is slashing 400 jobs as part of a £24m cuts package that will hit the young, old and vulnerable. Town hall chiefs have been forced into a second year of huge savings after the government reduced its grant by a total of 19.6 per cent.

Landowners and farmers are to be paid £1,000 each to allow contractors involved in the high speed rail project onto their property. The payment will be to allow the company to carry out environmental surveys along the route. [So there'll be another, bigger whack of money when they actually come to build the thing.] If further inspections are needed additional payments will be made. [Of course.] In the case of tenant farmers, the money will be shared with the owner of the land. In addition HS2 will pay for any damage caused to the land as a result of the survey work. [It's beyond a joke now.]

Posted by drewster @ 11:40 PM 27 Comments

"Several former Credit Suisse traders manipulated the books on mortgage-backed securities when the U.S. real estate market slumped in 2007 and 2008, two of the former traders at the investment bank said in court on Wednesday". ""While the residential housing market was in free fall and shock waves were reverberating throughout the economy, these defendants decided they were above the rules of the market and above the law. As alleged, they papered over more than a half billion dollars in subprime mortgage-related losses to secure for themselves a big payday at the same time that many people were losing their homes and their jobs." (and what about all the others?)

So disappointing...I never even read the content