dr ray

Glad you worked it out for yourself. Yes gold maintains its value better than fiat. And if history is any indicator a year on year increase in value relative to fiat and gold at $1,000,000/oz is perfectly possible, even in our lifetimes.

Any idea of the date of that broadcast? He talks about Zimbabwe inflation being trillions % but that hasn't been true for a few months AFAIK. History suggests he may be right but it could be different this time. I think it would be foolish not to have insurance even if there is a 5% chance of what he is predicting being true.

Depends what you measure and don't forget that all major fiat currencies are devaluing so the inflation of imported goods is less evident. There are massive price rises in soft commodities - sugar, cocoa, wheat coming through. Just because you can buy a car cheaper for now doesn't mean there is no inflation.

I think it's simple. As others have pointed out the supermarkets previously liked this because it reduced the cost of handling cash but now they would probably have to have cash delivered at their cost to maintain the service as more people pay with cards.

The BOE set base rates but this seems to have no effect on market rates apart from allowing banks to rip off savers. The BOE has entered the market to manipulate market rates by lowering gilt yields and has also reduced the risk premium a depositor would demand by not allowing banks to fail. Without BOE intervention I would want at least 25% pa return on a bank deposit and that would be only money I would be prepared to lose. Without QE the BOE would not have much effect in the markets and I think whether banks hoard the QE money or not is irrelevant. The effect of QE is not to increase supply of money but to depress yield.

Don't you think the politicians are setting deposit rates now? The BOE is buying gilts which the government issues using money the government creates out of thin air. Having such a big gilts buyer in the market boosts gilt prices artificially and reduces yield. The yield on gilts is what determines deposit rates.

Risky. I agree with Dr Bubb Look at other countries where the SHTF. The safest thing to do is flee, as you and Dr Bubb have done already. You can't take your land with you, You won't be able to sell it and when the SHTF property ownership rights are waived. Even in the UK land can be taken off you against your wishes if a social need is said to exist. We had an old farmer in our village who had a very valuable piece of land which he could easily have developed as residential or sold it as residential but at his stage in life was happy keeping a few pigs. Land probably worth £2-3 million. Had it taken off him to build a school and was offered a few thousand for it - take it or leave it. Didn't have the knowledge, will or money to fight it out in court. Poor guy died soon after. During WW2 farmers who would not accept ministry of agriculture instructions had the land taken off them. The most transportable asset is inside your head. Make sure you are employable in another country if needs be. The Jews who escaped to UK and US prospered more due to their education than to the gold and diamonds they managed to take out.

There is a touch of "beware the yellow peril" about this but its not just the Chinese we are in hock to. The oil producing states we have not actually invaded are owed a large amount of money too and the uk population will essentially be working to pay off these loans for decades. If they decide to tighten the screws and demand the money back sooner rather than later it will be a case of work or starve in the UK with all the proceeds of your endeavors being taken off you to pay the debt. A subtle shift from carrot to stick to encourage people to work and essentially become slaves to the people we have been sold to. Thank you Gordon Brown. The man who sold the UK population into slavery. You will be honoured with Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot when historians look back on what you have done.

That is because you are, from what you post, a well-to-do speculator yourself. I wouldn't expect you to agree with me that I find trading homes for profit slightly distasteful and like child pornography, best not discussed in polite circles Having said this I was a bit harsh on my comments to Mike and made the same mistake I criticised him for by slipping in that I have a large house ( which could have been left out). Apologies all round.

Said with great grace. Forgiven

Mike, I don't mean to be cruel but there is a degree of smugness about your posts. Over the last few months we have been told how much you earn, have seen pics of your house, what sort of car you are thinking of buying and now this post informing us how much of a shrewd property speculator you are. WTF Mike - a monkey could have made money on property in the last 10 years. The people who read HPC are fed up of dinner party conversations revolving around how much money they made on the house and come on here to get away from it. Do you want to know my more recent housing history? Bought an 8 bedroom Grade II listed mansion with 80K mortgage and 110K of my own savings from income in 1993. Paid off mortgage in 3 years Still live in same house. I don't know what its worth and I dont really care. I dont spend money on it and when it becomes unmanageable I'll move into a flat. I could afford a bigger or more impressive house but I really can't be arsed. There are rooms we haven't even decorated since I bought it!

Its coming and its highly sinister. I've seen people argue that cash is only of benefit to people involved in illegal activity but trade is exchange between individuals using whatever they both accept as currency, whether it is pigs, potatoes, gold or shells. The government involvement in this is unnecessary and has become oppressive already. The removal of cash takes that a step further and means that not only can negative interest rates be imposed but the government will be able to monitor and control what you buy. In a cashless society don't expect campaigns telling you not to take drugs, smoke or eat too much. With a simple filter on your account you won't be allowed to spend money on any of these. It would have to be coupled to making the holding of gold and silver coins illegal and it would also have to be illegal to use other forms of currency in exchange. Taxation will be simplified of course. There could easily be a graduated tax so that VAT increases the more you earn or have saved. This would counter the argument that VAT effects the poor disproportionately and would coincidently raise some more revenue. It could even be sold as a sustainablility levy as the affluent consume more. The possibilities for oppressing the population are endless and could be done with no more than a civil servant with a laptop.

You need to define interest rates before embarking on such an analysis. I can find credit card rates of 80% pa in the USand unauthorised rates of over 3000% from a government controlled bank in the UK If you mean base rates - thats largely political and nothing to do with supply and demand. The risk premium drives interbank loans and consumer loan rates. The interbank rate has fallen because the taxpayer carries the risk so there is no risk premium. Unfortunately this shafts the taxpayer good and proper so no one will lend to him without a massive risk premium.

If health care providers dealt directly with the population prices would fall. We charge around £950 for a CT body scan for insured patients but only £300 for self pay ones and £850 vs £200 for MRI . The insurance companies are happy to see us charging high prices because it scares the patients into buying insurance and the patients are happy to claim on insurance for trivial things because they feel they are getting something for the premiums they (or more commonly the employer) have paid. Its not a benefit until a claim is made. What they are proposing in the US AFAIK is that the taxpayer funds the insurance companies. I would anticipate a vast feeding frenzy at taxpayer expense if this happens. At least in the UK most doctors dont have a financial interest in doing unnecessary investigations and treatments. The opposite in fact- it just means more work for same pay. As the costs escalate the insurance companies try to limit physicians payments but then they do like me and offer the services directly to the patients, which in a free market cuts the premiums to the insurers. If the taxpayer was paying the premiums we could all party.

Brown has become like a baddy in a Bond film. "If I go down I'm taking you all with me"

It stands to reason. The last remaining reserves of money are in individuals accounts. They have tried to inflate away the value of that money and so far failed so more blatant forms of theft become necessary. Call it a green tax or a climate change levy to fool a few gullible souls but the effect is the same. Transfer of wealth from the many to the few. Same in the UK.

WRT Daddybear stalking the forum. Didn't he buy recently? He'll be up to his neck in DIY or being dragged around IKEA on a Saturday so I doubt the wife lets him sit at his PC. Isn't home ownership wonderful

She saw the funny side. What shocked me after the prank is that a good 50% of people believed it. I photocopied the CEOs signature on the bottom of a letter I typed myself the old fashioned cut and paste way and used a lot of the trendy bullsh1t jargon about skill mix, stakeholders and shared mission. The staff had been overwhelmed with this sort of stuff for weeks and many just accepted that doctors having to do the laundry was just part of the job. Seems unbelievable but some of the real directives were unbelievable too.

It looks like they will be less poor in future. They are only poor because of the debts they have been allowed to run up.

It is a problem I suffer from. People take what I say seriously far too often. Some of the spoof management directives I circulate at work have almost had me sacked. I once circulated a letter asking staff to take dirty laundry home and bring it back washed to help out the hospital and one of the doctors wives believed it and came in to work to have a row with the CEO.

You think I'm joking don't you? The Tobin Tax is being openly discussed. I think it was a kite flying exercise but most people thought it was a good idea (even on this forum) because it was sold as preventing nasty bankers making money on currency speculation. Little do folk imagine that you will have to hand over some of your money to the revenue when you use your credit card abroad or change currency for a holiday.

Seems reasonable to me. We have everything you might possibly need in the UK so what is the need to travel abroad and enrich Jonny Foreigner. Nulabour are just showing how enlightened they are and using the capitalist route to ristrict travel abroad. Had Gordon really been like Mugabwe he would have just banned travel abroad but Nulabour are leaving the option open for people with money. Can't say fairer than that. What we need next is a hefty tax on foreign exchange transactions. We have a perfectly good currency. Why would anyone want to change it (without Gordon having first dips)

Certainly there was political interferance in granting subprime mortgages in the US and lack of regulation allowing the same in the UK but I don't see what this has to do with public sector employees losing their jobs. If anything the regulation industry will be a big beneficiary of tax handouts over the next few years. Also you seem to equate the unskilled and the unemployed with the public sector. Its not the work shy and unemployed that are being culled - its likely to be front line staff delivering services like health care and policing who will be replaced by unskilled people with a shiny badge, an important sounding title and an impressive looking certificate. (eg community support officer, nurse consultant, physicians assistant)

Usual suspects on here relishing the sacking of public sector employees. How exactly will they benefit from lower standards of education, policing, health care and social services. Its not as if they will be getting a tax rebate as these services are withdrawn. In fact taxes are going up to support the private sector industries who cocked up. There is certainly excess in the public sector but it won't be tackled. In fact they will employ more people at higher wages and pay them bonuses if they sack front-line staff. Look at the Royal Mail which has two of the highest paid public sector employeees in the UK. I don't see their jobs on the line.

I bought a 3 bed semi in a posh part of Leeds for 18K a little over 20 years ago. Probably worth 350K now. So what point are you trying to make?