katchytitle

But aren't we just paying that social rent to the top 1% as income on land and estates? What we need to do is stop the cronyism that is clear in our supposed "3 party" system. They all do as they are told - as prince charles' letters will reveal at some point when they are released. The PM still meets the queen every week for goodness sake do you really think they doesn't push an agenda? The most powerful people exert their power through others and are invisible themselves. Its a classic kleptocratic structure. Its easy to know what to do but everyone knows it won't happen due to vested interests Tax second/3rd homes on a sliding scale of value Use the hot money flowing into london to fill our boots with capital investment plans e.g if foreign companies buy in britain they should invest in capital projects in the local council and beyond. Clearly tax land that has not in a planning process and use the money to build social housing Start re-classifying green belt to allow for an expansion of london

The hindujas made their millions by laundering money for the shah of iran through their minor businesses in the 70s. They opened Swiss bank accounts for him so governments couldn't freeze his assets. In return they got to keep the interest off billions of dollars -I'm talking oil revenue/%GDP billions. Then they went around buying stuff. Certainly helps when you can go from 100K in the bank to $300m in the bank in a few weeks. Always be pals with a king or a despot - that's how you get rich. Same as the Ruben brothers, who mysteriously decamped out of the Russian metals business when they started getting heavies attacking them from their oligarch friends.

This isn't fraud its economics. IF regulation and taxation sets arbitrary limits in a free market then it creates a market dislocation at this points. For instance, stamp duty causes sales of 249-259K houses to collapse. Brokers have long known when "good" bank mortgage deals are coming to an end so they fill out "incomplete" forms in their broker submissions to get the best rate deals and then hope to fill them with real customers over the next few months. If you fill in an app before the deadline you get to keep the deal past the deadline. They will fill their boots for the next 20 days and that will carry on as deals close at those rates over the next 90-120 days. Now the governor of the bank of england used to "raise his eyebrows" at bank chairman at this type of perfectly legal behaviour and it would stop, but now we live in a world post big bang where American style business rules the roost i.e Make as much as you can as fast as you can forget about sustainability (their country is only a couple of hundred years old remember...). Every time a BoE governor says anything in public they always have an agenda. Carney's recent comments on increased rates will drive people to fix their rates on a longer term basis protecting more people from rate rises but also giving the banks a larger profit in the short term.

The 2,5 year swap rates do show an interest rate uplift. But the BoE is the last people you can trust a forecast to. Having never actually managed to predict a single number correctly either with inflation or the crisis, they are professional economic politicians who don't really say anything at all whilst they open and close their mouths. In the background they fix LIBOR and allocate funding for lending to repair bank balance sheets - their interest in the "real" economy is real but they don't really wield any power to actually shift rates - the market does that for them and then they follow. If there was another crisis in the next 3 years you can bet your hat they would just change their forecasts again and blame it on "the weather" or "structural changes" etc...

Selling to attract funds Selling to attract "expert networks" e.g insider dealing Selling in peer group networks to attract kudos which attracts funds See- Madoff, SAC Capital etc....its all one big scam because the politicians lie to the people to retain power and the bankers aid their lies through magic funding taking their 1% by lending and borrowing from the taxpayer to the taxpayer. Any other business that suffers a "liquidity problem" is bankrupt. Any other business where all counterparties go bust is bankrupt. If all bankers get carrots for managing risk and are rewarded for it, what is the stick for not managing it properly? Unemployment? Lack of capital? Failure? Also - I don't believe that banks actually contribute to the UK on a long term basis they are net debtors - loans aren't paid back. Loans continue on the government balance sheet until depreciated. Why is our government and corporate debt so high after 1981? Because the system incentives capital growth through debt to minimise tax and maximise leverage.

This just doesn't seem possible. The median private sector worker can't possibly earn less than a public sector worker (excluding pensions). I have a feeling there is a lot of undeclared income in the private sector and 1/2 man companies who pay themselves through dividends and a very low salary. Even the BBC were forcing senior presenters to do this to save national insurance, a large salary bill and show a smaller headcount (people didn't look at expenses as much which the accounting line for paying for professional services).

Wasn't the guy who built whatsapp on foodstamps? Isn't that USA's equivalent of working tax credit/ unemployment benefits... I never remember the weather being such an issue from 2000 - 2007....the media always need a very simple cause and effect to report. If only they were incentivised to talk about human cycles, population growth rates and the greed of the 1% status quo

The BoE is just using Funding for Lending to plug the balance sheet for all the hopelessly insolvent banks. They have been carrying assets (like loans in the Eurozone) on their balance sheet at full value pretending they will never have to write them down. The extra taxpayer money lets the extend and pretend model keep going. Banks regain capital and get closer to the higher ratios they need by 2018 and what little they lend out is at enormous margin so bonuses keep going so everyone is complicit. Hopefully, like all central planning, its too smart for its own good and we get an unlikely event occurring which this "keep the rich richer" mentality.

I remember these stories in 2006. Everyone loves to extrapolate a trend as if it lasts for ever. Since the early 80s we have devalued our currencies, that is the only reason that asset prices and the stock market have zoomed upwards. We are not materially richer; the only thing that makes our lives "better" has been technology which has consistently fallen in price. All consumer staples that have been built for convenience are probably purchased on the back of debt in one way or another. The pyramid system we created is breaking down as population growth didn't keep up so we needed immigration which has lowered services / wages / quality of life for the population but increased asset prices for the wealthy. The government now deems the wealthy to be anyone who earns over 40K - just as an aside - in 1910 the only people who paid income tax were those who earned more than £5m a year the equivalent of £80m/year today. Sure, services have improved and poverty is better than the 1900s but there must be a lot of inefficiencies there to provide the services the population needs. http://katchytitle.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/future-of-britain-uk-it-looks-bleak.html

Its a tough game but I would say estate agents want to close as many deals as possible with the least amount of effort to maximise their commission. IF they are buying and selling a property i.e they are involved in both sides of a chain; they may go against a cash buyer but otherwise it would seem odd. I would push your financial details to the estate agent and ask him to confirm in writing that he has passes these on to the sellers. Line up your solicitor too and ask them to ring the agent and let them know you have completed their paperwork and are ready to accept the sellers documentation; they should tell the agent their client is ready to proceed in the next x hours to exchange/complete. Ask your solicitor to get confirmation of when the agent will come back with a reply as you have another property you are also interested in. Your aim should be to move so quickly that its a no brainer for the agent to see the $$$ from the commission without doing too much work himself.

Isn't it risk that generates a profit? (ignoring the 1% who have co-opted the FED to destroy this part of capitalism). So they take the profit and should manage the risk. If they don't and they lose their house then that's how it should work? If they manage their rental payments and equity to be able to pay when interest rates rise then they'll be fine. The government is the largest debtor, if interest rates rise too fast they will be bankrupt so its in their political interest to keep rates down too. They have been quietly using low rates to re-finance their 2-5-10 year debts so that they can raise rates but it would destroy any chance of re-election. I think they will lift to 1% by end of 2015 and the banks will probably swallow some that rise to prevent homeowner/BTL bankruptcy. They will sweat savers until the debtors can take on more debt or inflation has washed away debts, inflation is probably running at 7-10% for the last few years so they can get pay back with cheaper £££s in the future.

They are losing money now as they can afford to. Backed by the state they can just sell off assets at cheap prices to Tory donors or remove profit making products in the interests of "fairness" become "profit" is evil. The reality will come back when they are a tiny bank floated for next to nothing by the treasury in 5 years time. Then they will have to show "quarterly growth" to investors and all the bad behaviour and sales targets will come straight back to "build" shareholder wealth. Its not easy to get a banking licence and a sticky customer base that doesn't understand how banks make money. Its a cash cow for any investor milking millions of old age pensioners of their savings whilst providing loans at 400% over bank base rate to keep their bonuses rolling in. Different rule for the prols different rules for the elites...

The "branch" definition is actually a legal one not a high street branch. Banks operate as branches when they open up in new countries. Branches are given different privileges to limited companies for instance they can move their capital to other parts of their branch around the world without paying tax etc. This is because the nature of their business is to allocate capital. Is it the fundamental requirement of capitalism to move money to where there is demand for it e.g move money from older retiree savers in california to new family home starts in the UK. Foreign banks have long used their branch structure to mitigate their losses/risks by keeping their risks in one country but all their capital in their host country .eg Lehman brothers. The PRA has finally realised this and asked that they convert from branches into real limited companies in the UK ensuring that they keep their capital in one place and do not move it back to their host country if/when they fail. What does this mean for us? Well, when you remove the free flow of capital it means that funding costs for banks go up because they cannot get the economies of scale they used to. So, the PRA has just increased the price of loans for all of us. isn't regulation brilliant? Remember, no one is in business to provide you with a service, they just want to make more money than you to have a higher standard of living for their 75+ years on the planet.

It'll all be fine. People often forget that its human beings that make the rules and we just change them whenever we deem necessary. Think of it this way, most people find a job without realising that "a job" is just work that someone else doesn't want to do - in fact they will pay you to do it. When you fit into a corporate structure the hierarchy is invented to give you some sense that you are moving forward in life e.g Gradings, Pay rises etc. None of it is real its just been created to keep you doing your job. Taking this back to government, taxes, debt, economics etc. A system has been created and when the rules don't work anymore governments just change the rules, its as simple as that. Now, throughout history the side that loses when the rules change have two options - 1. Accept it 2. Fight back. If they fight back wars are usually started which creates years of stagnation for both sides so it really has to be worth it. In the age of the nuclear bomb, drones we'll never have another full blown war as we will destroy everything - instead we have proxy wars like Ukraine and Syria etc. The bottom line is - scare stories only work when there are actual limits you cross e.g run out of air, food, water - debt is just an illusion that satisfies everyone. If Nixon can just "decide" to move off the gold standard and make gold sales illegal in the 70s then I'm sure our leaders can equally come up with something that just makes kicks their problems down the road. The road doesn't end.

I know we all have to discuss it but: 1. What if this whole system is designed to keep people discussing equality/inequality whilst the owners (and family) of the country continue to get the best lives 2. What if the system is designed so people can exist for 75 years feeling they have an idea of freedom but it ulimately is just a well worn path through a debt equity inheritance cycle that millions have done before. The debt cycle keeps people in their place whilst you pay "rent" through interest to the ultimate owners but they are far removed from payments so you don't actually know who the elites are? Am I being cynical or too matrix-ey or does that pretty much some up why we have grips? - there is a system of inequality that is far bigger than any individual. The only way to join the elites is to use those around you to provide product / or gain attention to be considered "new money"

99.999% of money is made from nothing. Same with statistics :-)

Sorry probably should have continued the point. Its not just borrowing money, but effectively less staff and cash management payments. Things aren't getting cheaper, companies are just asking you to pay upfront as money today is more valuable than money in a year's time. All insurance companies are also doing the same thing, if you don't pay up front they charge you 15% as a loan charge in your direct debits. BT is effectively doing the same thing by increasing its monthly charges. On another note - why does no one mention the hidden inflation - all processed food, crisps, takeaways, chocolate has got smaller and stayed at the same price but RPI/CPI only looks at "one item" rather than cost per weight. All super market offers have become 3 for £10 as opposed to BOGOFs too which helps shift inventory but doesn't reduce the price as much for retailers.

You are paying in advance though effectively giving BT an interest free loan so they don't have to borrow as much to provide services and payroll month to month...

As long as: 1 we don't live in a closed system i.e we print more money. 2. And the prols are not numerate i.e they believe inflation figures from government but wonder why their supermarket shop is so expensive. Then the system continues until revolution or war. Currencies will devalue over time as more people lift their living standards globally. Trade agreements between nations that had a lower standard of living and "the west" have resulted in wage and consumer destruction in wealthy countries. This was replaced by debt, but that has to mathematically unravel too. To create socially useful vibrant economies (ignoring dictatorship corruption and the West's part in propagating it), you need a good commodities base; enforced contract law and education to lift your executed ideas up the value curve. If you don't provide these; your economy slowly stagnates until it eventually collapses. On the plus side, war will reduce the population and improve innovation; and probably raise manufacturing GDP. Brilliant!

We live in a kleptocracy - fulfilling the needs of the few. But its how its always been - we just got in lots of debt since around 1981 and people didn't notice. Governments need bankers to allow them to borrow money for election promises. They will always do what the bankers say or their UK debt magically doesn't sell as well for a few months. Its basically a gambler (government) being extorted by the bookie (bankers). Our growth will be illusionary but the government is trying to do some of the right things. Link pensions to longevitty statistics; rebalance industry by providing grants to possible new hi tech manufacturing and space travel industries etc..But these things take a generation...in the mean time, to win an election they have gone back to the good'ol housing market to make the 50+ year old voters happy.

Debt will never be paid back so its irrelevant to government. They only have a problem when they aren't allowed to borrow more but since they set the interest rates and they are the largest debtor interest rates won't go up for a very long time...government would go bankrupt otherwise. We're foolish to believe the majority of government cares about the common man;s issues. They are a kleptocracy - benefiting the few at the expense of the many. You see it in their actions and in the actions of the rich who flock here because they are well taken care of in an impenetrable tax system which only the wealthy can navigate. Until everyone has the courage to "down tools" and force a re-think for democracy this will continue. Never before have we had the gift of instant cheap two-way communication with the masses. Surely we can use that to advance the cause of democracy (if indeed democracy is the answer....I'm not convinced)

LINK TO VIDEO: https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/the-agenda

They get given something like £200m / year from Lloyds as part of the EU settlement to divest branches. They'll turn into fat cats as per usual. Sell mortgage...Sell Sell Sell...doesn't matter what the customer needs or how much debt they end up with just get a mortgage out the door

The largest debtor is the UK government - we own much more than QE 325bn bonds which we pay the interest on ourselves...if interest rates on 10Y treasuries go up we're finished. Since the government control the figure they won't destroy themselves. Although, markets have a habit of taking matters into their own hands...same with the US. No one can raise interest rates its a stale mate but if the markets stop demanding US/UK debt as a save haven from volatility - ie they find somewhere else to go...then there will be trouble. Historically the smart money goes to tangibles like real estate/antiques though...

How long does a mortgage application take? - we started the form online two days ago and handed the relevant docs today (wage slip, etc) This depends entirely on the bank you chose, your credit and the amount you are borrowing. It can take anywhere up to 7 to 14 days from handing over your documentation. They may ask for further information or perform credit history checks that hold matters up. Make sure you are on the electoral roll where you live. Ensure you have taken some credit and paid it back to form a credit history i.e credit card (just pay the whole amount every month never borrow long term). You should continue to ring your bank and find out the latest from your "personalised broker" every few days to chase them up. When will they start the valuation? - we chose the £192 home buyer report. Given that George Osbourne has underwritten the entire UK housing market I would imagine that banks and their surveyors are incredibly busy. Again it all depends on your bank and which surveyors are on their panel. Once you know which surveyor they pick you need to chase them to book in an appointment. Always ask to be put on the waiting list for cancellations. It isn't unheard of to wait for an appointment for 2-3 weeks especially in busy spring periods or when surveyors are on holiday. What is a public notice and can someone make a higher offer whilst we are doing the application? Not sure on the public notice haven't had much dealings with repossessions. Guzumping is perfectly legal in England so people can offer more although if it is a repo bank's main priority is to get rid of the asset quickly and not lose too much money. 5-10K here or there isn't going to matter in the time value of money but more than that and they may review if you are taking too long or need to go to another mortgage provider. You should really have already completed a mortgage in principle before you start house hunting. The bank then has an understanding of what you can borrow and at what rate and keeps this offer open to you for up to a year whilst you find a house. As long as they do not perform permanent credit checks (most don't) there is nothing to stop you applying to other banks simultaneously so if one falls through you have already carried out the initial work to gain a mortgage somewhere else. Take a look at this site for the best rates consolidated http://themortgagemeter.com/#/best_buys