whyohwhy

So surely, if you can afford to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity you should do so, no? The only thing that is going to change people's behaviour is tax

You have first hand experience, did you read this somewhere, or is this some mal-formed conjecture? Ironically, if all the guff in the media is to be believed, more employee (executive already was) compensation will be paid in shares, and I don't see this as applying just to banks... I'm intrigued what your philosophy is... can you expand? Personally, if we're going to start messing around with people's compensation, it should apply equally to all businesses and all levels of payment. Oh wait, I don't believe that - that's called socialism ! I have a chuckle every day about the way people are reacting to and talking about emotive subjects such as this. You rarely hear about people complaining what footballers earn - indeed, people aspire to become one. An interesting article was posted the other day on this subject which compared top financial earners with their sporting brethren.... (Bove) What's even better is the amount of money clubs pay for transfer fees nowadays, and the number of mugs who pay £50 for 2 hours entertainment to watch these guys. They work for about 15 hours a week.... unbelievable

I can't believe the amount of bile posted on this topic - some HPCers are showing themselves up for the ugly, nationalist, xenophobic, biggots they are.

That appears to be the logic

I love the way this has all turned out ... My mortgage is dirt cheap (I can now overpay by a factor of 3 times) and my "equity recovery" investments are earning more annualised than my job ever would This is probably once in a lifetime stuff. Ride it while it lasts.

Sibley is needed on this board, otherwise it's like debating with yourself - you see no other side of the argument. Or have I missed the point of this whole site????

My Dad taught me that too - it's a good adage

It just proves how the FSA and it's regulatory practices have become highly politicised and subject yet again to the 24 hour media machine. Let's start taxing "socially useless" reality TV stars and channels for their depravity which corrupts the nation's psyche Turner is out of his depth and the FSA isn't fit for purpose

Great idea Company X wants to borrow £100m from the markets. Investment Bank Y says "OK, I'll help you do that. Our fees are £Z but we'll add 15% onto that because of the new tax we face." Company X says, "Oh, where will that money come from to pay the extra fees", and promptly cuts spending/costs. Taxation always affects the worker and consumer

Come on Injin. I respect many of your views, but referring to banks as Casinos is simply wrong - it's a trashy phrase that sells news. If you want to start that analogy, then any form of investment is gambling, from a farmer investing in a combine harvester to the government investing in a new high speed rail system as neither can guarantee it will definitely turn out right, so everything is a casino. The commercial underwriter at a bank who lends the money puts in the same degree of diligence as the other two project managers, but his net exposure far outweighs the individual projects that you or I see.

But there was a HPC Sibley, it's just that the magnitude expected on here hasn't materialised in all but some of the most precarious parts of the country (Midlands new builds and Thamesmead) I think QE and "zero" rates killed the theory of a crash similar to the 90s when there were high rates and little government involvement. I've been saying for several months that I think we hit the bottom for both equities and property, except this time I've invested in equities to catch the rise as so many property sellers are playing a game of show and hold out. It's so obviously not in the country's interests for property prices to fall by 50% unless we decided to do a Fight Club and wipe people's debts overnight to avoid neg eq. I for one am applauding the fact that there is some stability returning which will hopefully lead to a shorter recession and a shorter dole queue. Call me selfish, eh

I was chatting to some locals in Hong Kong last month who told me about Hang Seng bank's equity mortgage products where they lend up to 90% of the value of an IPO order. It's driven the market crazy. However, it's not as bad as China - I saw a teacher in China who lost $10,000 in one day when the markets fell 8% - her salary was about $500 a month !! Personally, I'm doing the same as the OP now - volumes are really quite thin now An interesting thing to watch today was AIG - it rallied by over 30% at one point (to March 2008 levels), and is up an incredible 145xs from it's low !!

That equally applies to most businesses I can think of. At the moment commercial banks can afford to lend less as margins are greater and until default probabilities stabilise and loss severities fall (which they are starting to do) it makes sense to restrain lending The role of Central Banks has been discussed ad nauseam here, and I find myself in a small part agreeing with Injin regarding their role, but they are what they are. Know your enemy and turn their weaknesses to your advantage

As opposed to own house outright, never be accountable to a landlord again, and relax? Afterall, if the inflationistas on the forum have it, you're money will only become worthless but your sacred spot on earth won't

Marie Antoinette !