Control Freak

Good reposte by Giles Coren to Toynebees tripe: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/c...icle4488462.ece

So, I take it that thnat is what the Japanese were doing for 10 years then? Why did they not just print sh!t loads of money then - problem solved!!

But how are we supposed to continually pay for these wage increases (public sector) ?? Darling is already 8 billion in the hole (and that is assuming the economy doesn't tank). You say "inflation is live and well", yet (mass - nurses, teachers, police etc...) public sector pay rises are currently 2-3%, hardly "Hyper", in fact I would consider these to be deflationary if you compare them with the quoted RPI. And I notice that a lot of people here consider that to be a great underestimate of true inflation, so we are actually experiencing greater wage deflation!! If RPI is 4%, do you consider 4% pay rises to be Hyper-Inflationary? BTW, what would you consider to be a "Hyper-Inflationary" payrise ATM, just so when one comes along, I will know that you were right. Hopefully it will be me getting it! Oh, what is all this "Warning" stuff all about then?, that you may get a deflationary pay rise, but think that you are better off!?!?

Is it me, or are the numbers in that report REALLY confusing? Example: NE = +2.2% EM = -3.3% These numbers are seasonally adjusted (I think). Now if you peruse the % price differences by "County/unitary authority" & "Metropolitan district", there are NONE over +2%, and NONE less than -2.8%. So how do they get the +2.2% for the NE and -3.3% for the EM. This would imply one area has been SA UP, and another area SA DOWN !! How does that work?!?!

Oops! The censor monkeys won't let me say the name of the other site! Oh well, I'm sure if you google housepricecrash, then you will get an idea! Edited: Censorship blurb.

Deutsche Bank in ownership court row This if true is incredible - The HO can just stop paying the mortgage, and not get their home repossessed as ........ No one knows which bank owns the actual mortgage due to the complexities of the CDO's!! As Richard Littlejon (sp?) is fond of saying, 'You Couldn't Make It Up!!'

I'm glad that there are people like this giving advice out to our ever expanding indebted nation. Heavan help us if they didn't know what they are doing................. Former debt-help boss declared bankrupt Edit: Added Link

Pharmaceuticals is one of the only proper industries left in the UK, so if they are 'struggling', then this is very bad news indeed. So you play your violin (fiddle) while the UK (rome) burns. Perhaps one of the reasons that the asian (Chinese) profits are up is because of the cheap labour over there (sound familiar), the lack of regulation (I wonder how long it will be before the Sh!t hits the fan when someone dies taking some of their generic drugs in the west? I believe they have a problem with this at the moment, but it is contained within China............), the stealing of patents etc...... Buying cheap tat from China that falls apart after a few weeks is all well and good for toys etc, but would you have the same attitude to cheap 'Tat' drugs? If our manufacturing base is decimated, then this will be your only choice. Be careful what you wish for. CF

Third of mortgage applications denied Puts some numbers to the 60% increase...........

Oh........ I thought this was going to be a topic about Gordon Brown from the title

A VI for what?? It would appear from your cut & paste that they are a BMV specialist, and it will therefore be in their interest to claim apolacyptic scenarios to get the property on the cheap!! A VI, yes, but not for property ramping/HPI !!

They must have been doing so up till now The falling pound will actually make it cheaper for Europe to buy our goods., helping our export business. The problem will be that raw materials (and all other goods, in fact) imported from Europe etc will conversely become more expensive, which will drive up the base manufacturing costs. Thus imported goods (to the UK) will become more expensive, and home manufactured products also!

*sighs* The debt can only be be made easier to pay off if you 'yourself' have your money supply 'wages' increased.

OK then, so it will be all those Lie To Buyer´s that will get creamed? I would imagine that there may be a rather large number of them out there......................

A number of posts have recently been highlighting the removal of sub-prime motgages (or keeping them, but at a penal lending rate). I assume that the sub-prime mortgage is typically a self-cert, which has been at a fixed rate. There could be serious double whammy in the offing here once reset time arrives (a la ARM mortgages in the US): 1. The new fixed rate deal will be at a MUCH higher rate than the existing mortgage 2. There could be a big ooh errr if the mortgage lender starts to ask for proof of income (and actually goes to the trouble of checking it...) for a new remortgaged self-cert. So, we could have a situation where a self-cert mortgage resets to the SVR (painful), and the mortgagee will not be able to transfer to another fixed rate deal. What was that about no sub-prime lending in the UK...... It couldn´t happen here as we do not do ARM mortgages....... PS. Is there not about 2,000,000 mortgages about to be reset imminently?..............

Subprime borrowers face massive mortgage rate hike Oh dear. Looks like Ireland may be heading the way of the US soon.

Cafe Culture?? 'Greasy Spoons' surely! It never ceases to amaze me how many Eateries there are on that road: Curry houses/kebab shops/Chippies/Chinese/Thai/Nepalese/Tapas/Cafes/Burger Bars etc....................... There seems to a new one opening each week. Will the 'Take away' be one of the first things to suffer in the event of a downturn in peoples finances? I still reckon that Southsea is OK though. If you want a truly great curry, try one off the Chefs special menu (The Mirchi Kasalan(?sp?) is hot but fantastic) at Jaipur (In-Between Tesco & the church on Albert Road).

Count me in on the pub meet. The parking in Southsea is abysmal - even with parking permit, you still cannot park any where near where you live! Fortunately my current place has gated, allocated parking . It was the ONE thing I was not prepared to compromise on whilst looking for a place to rent. Getting back to the flats, it will be interesting to see what happens when the new glut of flats are completed.

Well, you did ask................ Leicester square There's even a video!!

So................. You have a salary of around 28K a mortgage of around 125K This will give you a monthly take home pay of 1734.55 and a mortgage repayment (assuming 25 years @ 5%, or have you taken out one of those 60 year ones?) of ...... 739.08 Which will leave you with around 1000 per month left. Care to let us in on your secret on squirreling away ALL of your monthly disposable income. No Food (I eat grass from my garden) No electricity (I make my own from my exercise bike) No gas - use leccy only. No council tax ...oh er..... No Water rates (see above) etc........

I would prefer it if they listed all 100 items. Then perhaps we could see if there were a few daft ideas/projects that I am sure you could justify. As an aside, I am sure I heard on the radio a while back of a Light Bulb Replacement Person (Street Lights) earning 90K per year in Birmingham. What would you consider a reasonable wage for someone who changes light bulbs?

Yes, this government has an atrocious record on civil liberties. I truly despair. However, in the last 7 years people have felt 'Rich' due to HPI/MEW/Credit/Government spending etc. When that comes to an end, there will be trouble ahead, especially when it dawns on people that they have been royally shafted. Here you go

100K in london is still a good old wage. Agree with all else you say (I never said otherwise if you re-read my posts). I think part of the stink about public employees, is in the past they have always had lower pay than the private sector, because the pension entitlements were MUCH better. Now that the wages gap has decreased (even swung the other way, depending on who you read), the Public Employees are not content to even things out wrt the pensions (early retirement etc). This is what the private employees are a bit peeved about. Our taxes will have to pay for all those super pensions (which will now be much more expensive due to the large increase in wages over the last 10 years). Link The public sector has become too bloated, which was OK (well not OK really, but it was managable) when house prices were rising, borrowing was going up etc, and the Chancellor had loads of cash to splash around on pet projects, but that time is rapidly drawing to an end. I can foresee great resentment/trouble in the near future when cutbacks have to be made and people start to ask 'Where did all the money go' and 'Why are things no better given the increases given to x,y,z'. The UK could be an ugly place to live in the next 5 years (I hope not, but it is a distinct possibility if we hit a recession). Remember we now have those wonderful PFI deals to pay for as well as public pensions for the next 30 years. What a legacy.

With the wages for the above jobs (taken at random from one of dogs' threads), which you will note are not Executive level jobs, then you betcha!! Even my boss (Head of 20 staff) nor HIS boss earns these salaries. But hey ho, its' only the private sector, its not as if they have deadlines/targets/budgets (and if the budgets don't add up people WILL lose their jobs. Fancy that eh!) etc.