neiloxford

Just wondering if anybody has a graph?

My head says Portugal...but my fear is the Euro may not last even that long...

Yeah I remember that, so does that mean my MP gets to vote on the coalition?

I don't remember voting for a big mess, I thought we were voting for a prime minister ! ! WTF do Labour think they are doing ? Shows how well PR would work here !

Banks 'face windfall bonuses tax' Alistair Darling Alistair Darling will deliver his pre-Budget report on Wednesday The Treasury is preparing to levy a £1bn a year temporary windfall tax on British-based banks, BBC business editor Robert Peston has learned. Options being considered include a super-tax on bankers who receive bonuses over a certain level. Another is to increase employers' National Insurance charge on banks that pay big bonuses - or tax investment banks directly, said Peston. An announcement could come as soon as Wednesday's pre-Budget report. Our business editor said the proposals were still being worked on at the Treasury, but he believes an announcement on Wednesday is "more likely than not". 'Serious damage' Writing in his blog, he said: "The Treasury believes that the City of London would not lose massive numbers of employees or business to rival financial centres if a super tax lasted just a few years. "However it fears there would be serious damage to Britain's financial services industry if banks or bankers based in the UK were perceived to pay much more tax than those elsewhere." State-owned Royal Bank Scotland reportedly wants to pay a total of £1.5bn in bonuses to investment banking staff, and the board has threatened to quit if the government blocks the move. Speaking on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show earlier, Mr Darling played down speculation about a windfall tax. He said the government had a "veto" over bonuses at the state-owned bank but said it had "not come to us with any proposals at all at the moment because they don't yet know what the end of year position will be". But he stressed: "These bonuses have to be reasonable and they have to be responsible and I think everyone has to accept that." 'Gifted vast profits' He said: "We are not going to be held to ransom by people who believe you can pay extraordinarily high bonuses without regard to what's going on." But he acknowledged also that there had to be "sufficient incentives" to ensure RBS got back onto a "proper footing" and off the government's books. Mr Peston said that if a windfall tax was imposed it would not just apply to UK banks such as Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, but also to the British arms of overseas firms, such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank. "The fact is that we have gifted vast profits to the banks as a result of our actions," Peston quotes one minister as saying. "If they were using those profits simply to strengthen themselves that would be okay. But what we can't accept, and what society can't accept, is that they are using those profits to pay enormous bonuses". 'Scandal' In the longer term, the prime minister and chancellor want a permanent levy on bank transactions, a so-called Tobin tax. Shadow chancellor George Osborne, for the Conservatives, said he "wouldn't rule out" a windfall tax on bonuses, but would prefer reforms to ensure banks pay tax on future profits. He told the Marr programme: "My message is clear - when the banks start making profits again they should start paying taxes again." The shadow chancellor also argued that no "significant" bonuses should be paid in cash or existing shares to bankers.

Banks 'face windfall bonuses tax' Alistair Darling Alistair Darling will deliver his pre-Budget report on Wednesday The Treasury is preparing to levy a £1bn a year temporary windfall tax on British-based banks, BBC business editor Robert Peston has learned. Options being considered include a super-tax on bankers who receive bonuses over a certain level. Another is to increase employers' National Insurance charge on banks that pay big bonuses - or tax investment banks directly, said Peston. An announcement could come as soon as Wednesday's pre-Budget report. Our business editor said the proposals were still being worked on at the Treasury, but he believes an announcement on Wednesday is "more likely than not". 'Serious damage' Writing in his blog, he said: "The Treasury believes that the City of London would not lose massive numbers of employees or business to rival financial centres if a super tax lasted just a few years. "However it fears there would be serious damage to Britain's financial services industry if banks or bankers based in the UK were perceived to pay much more tax than those elsewhere." State-owned Royal Bank Scotland reportedly wants to pay a total of £1.5bn in bonuses to investment banking staff, and the board has threatened to quit if the government blocks the move. Speaking on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show earlier, Mr Darling played down speculation about a windfall tax. He said the government had a "veto" over bonuses at the state-owned bank but said it had "not come to us with any proposals at all at the moment because they don't yet know what the end of year position will be". But he stressed: "These bonuses have to be reasonable and they have to be responsible and I think everyone has to accept that." 'Gifted vast profits' He said: "We are not going to be held to ransom by people who believe you can pay extraordinarily high bonuses without regard to what's going on." But he acknowledged also that there had to be "sufficient incentives" to ensure RBS got back onto a "proper footing" and off the government's books. Mr Peston said that if a windfall tax was imposed it would not just apply to UK banks such as Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, but also to the British arms of overseas firms, such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank. "The fact is that we have gifted vast profits to the banks as a result of our actions," Peston quotes one minister as saying. "If they were using those profits simply to strengthen themselves that would be okay. But what we can't accept, and what society can't accept, is that they are using those profits to pay enormous bonuses". 'Scandal' In the longer term, the prime minister and chancellor want a permanent levy on bank transactions, a so-called Tobin tax. Shadow chancellor George Osborne, for the Conservatives, said he "wouldn't rule out" a windfall tax on bonuses, but would prefer reforms to ensure banks pay tax on future profits. He told the Marr programme: "My message is clear - when the banks start making profits again they should start paying taxes again." The shadow chancellor also argued that no "significant" bonuses should be paid in cash or existing shares to bankers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8398189.stm breaking news The Treasury is preparing to levy a temporary windfall tax on British-based banks, BBC business editor Robert Peston has learned. Options being considered include a super-tax on bankers who receive bonuses over a certain low level. Another is to increase employers' National Insurance charge on banks that pay big bonuses - or tax investment banks directly, said Peston. An announcement could come as soon as Wednesday's pre-Budget report.

I am sharing rent with my girlfriend so we manage ok, we pay about 20% of our gross pay. It would be impossible if it were just me paying... I guess the rent increase will be a reset of their mortgage rate or a sales pitch. Its a frustrating situation...two people who graduated 5 years ago, one getting a first from Cambridge still unable to actually buy a decent house.... I can't understand people who defend these house prices...its going to make for a different society in the future....

I must say I am very happy in Jericho :-) I have just started renting a 3 bed house in central Jericho with off street parking and a garden for less than £1000 pcm ! Why on earth would I buy when I can rent so cheaply with no risk? This property has recently been discounted from £1,375 to £1,000 pcm http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-26942888.html If rents continue to drop, what does this mean for house prices? Do people really think they will continue to go up?

Buy To Cry

£5

GM, auditor express doubts over survival By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch Last update: 6:45 a.m. EST March 5, 2009 LONDON (MarketWatch) -- General Motors and its auditor, Deloitte & Touche, on Thursday expressed doubts over the automaker's ability to survive, which in part will depend on car sales rising next year. General Motors said in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that bankruptcy was a possibility if its Viability Plan, as submitted to the U.S. Congress, didn't succeed. The automaker is seeking up to $30 billion in loans from the U.S. government, and loans from foreign governments including Canada, Germany, the U.K., Sweden and Thailand for up to $6 billion more. Vehicle sales, which have dropped 40% in the U.S. from their peak, need to recover next year under the plan submitted to Congress. GM's survival also depends on its ability to obtain liquidity and financing to establish an appropriate level of debt, cut costs and have consumers convinced of its viability -- as well as partly-owned GMAC's ability to obtain funding from both wholesale and retail financing. Deloitte & Touche made a similar analysis: "The Corporation's recurring losses from operations, stockholders' deficit and inability to generate sufficient cash flow to meet its obligations and sustain its operations raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern." The markets share those fears as well: GM shares have dropped 90% over the last 12 months. End of Story

"The average UK house price declined by 2.3% in February. This monthly decrease more than offset January's 2.0% increase. Prices in the three months to February compared to the previous quarter, which provides a better indicator of the underlying trend, were 3.6% lower. Whilst market activity remains at very low levels, there are some tentative signs that activity may be beginning to stabilise. The house price to earnings ratio – a key measure of housing affordability – has fallen to its lowest level for six years. Continuing pressures on incomes, rising unemployment and the negative impact of the dislocation of the financial markets on the availability of mortgage finance are, however, likely to mean that 2009 will be another difficult year for the housing market." Key facts • House prices declined by 2.3% in February. This fall more than offset January's 2.0% increase (revised from 1.9%). Historically, house prices have not moved in the same direction month after month even during a pronounced downturn. For example, prices fell for seven successive months in 1989 but subsequently increased in three of the first ten months in 1990 even though the overall trend in prices was downwards. • Prices in the three months to February compared to the previous three months - an indicator of the underlying trend - were 3.6% lower. This is slightly below the quarterly rate of decline of 5-6% recorded consistently between June 2008 and January 2009. • House prices in February were 17.7% lower on an annual basis. The annual rate of change (measured by the average for the latest three months against the same period a year earlier) fell from 17.2% in January to 17.7%. The UK average price has returned close to the level in August 2004 (£159,799).

Confirmed on bbc news

Thought you were asking about the DOW...so said around 5000