Now The Banks Want More Money For Homeowners

[ReggiePerrin]

Daily mail article

Bankers will today urge the Government to give a "safety net" to homeowners amid fears that repossessions could double this year. They will make the call at a meeting this afternoon between Chancellor Alistair Darling and leading banks and building societies to discuss the threat of mortgage meltdown. On their wish-list will be radical reform of a benefit that pays the interest on homeowners' mortgages if they lose their job.

If 50-100bn wasn't enough, now the banks want benefits increased for homeowners who lose their jobs. What will the banks ask for next?

[Dubai]

Daily mail article

If 50-100bn wasn't enough, now the banks want benefits increased for homeowners who lose their jobs. What will the banks ask for next?

Anything they like. They've sussed this gumment as the biggest soft touch since.... er..... anyone?

[IMHAL]

Anything they like. They've sussed this gumment as the biggest soft touch since.... er..... anyone?

Bang on buddy!

Broon should publish a new book and call it "The courage of my convictions" a sequel to "Courage".

That will show the public he means wat he says - unless a few people disagree, then he will hold a review and if more people disagree he'll change his mind.

They will have destroyed this country by the time they are booted out - having spent all our current and future money on bailing out banks, propping up house prices and pricing the young out of the market.

Now that moral hazard is in the rear window they will do anything they like - the public will be supportive - prefering short term gain over long term pain - the line has been crossed and I am pessimistic about the future of this country. The 'unintended consequenses' will escalate and at each stage this bunch of bucking bronco's will print and pour money onto it until we end up with hyper inflation, food riots and then starvation.

HAL

[claireinspain]

Bang on buddy!

Broon should publish a new book and call it "The courage of my convictions" a sequel to "Courage".

That will show the public he means wat he says - unless a few people disagree, then he will hold a review and if more people disagree he'll change his mind.

They will have destroyed this country by the time they are booted out - having spent all our current and future money on bailing out banks, propping up house prices and pricing the young out of the market.

Now that moral hazard is in the rear window they will do anything they like - the public will be supportive - prefering short term gain over long term pain - the line has been crossed and I am pessimistic about the future of this country. The 'unintended consequenses' will escalate and at each stage this bunch of bucking bronco's will print and pour money onto it until we end up with hyper inflation, food riots and then starvation.

HAL

You can bash Brown all you like, but tell me this - what would the Tories do differently?

The reality is this. The banks are central to our economy. They know it and the government knows it.

Both know that the last thing the government / country needs is failing banks.

Given the above, the banks know fine well that they can have their cake and eat it. Record profits during the artificial boom, bail outs when it all goes bang.

Instead of blaming Brown, blame the banks and the system that has put them in such a position of power.

[kiwi]

******** a country needs payment engines and lending facilities

not bail out banks

[Wait & See]

Now that moral hazard is in the rear window they will do anything they like - the public will be supportive - prefering short term gain over long term pain - the line has been crossed and I am pessimistic about the future of this country.

This is the most shocking thing about all this - most of the wonderful British public only care about their property not losing imagined value.

The government can bankrupt them by tax or inflation, but as long as HPI continues, everyones a winner, right............

[The Conveyancer]

Mortgage insurance is very expensive relative to the costs of benefits it pays out. Much of the premiums gets taken as profit by the banks. It is also very difficult to to claim on due to exclusions. That is why this private sector solution has failed.

They could abolish it and replace it with a levy on all borrowers set as a % of the loan eg. 0.1% of the loan per annum.

You would only get some Chav getting a mortgage, working for a few months then sitting on their bum and claiming benefits whilst the tax payer settles their mortgage for them.

[Da Vinci Code]

You can bash Brown all you like, but tell me this - what would the Tories do differently?

The reality is this. The banks are central to our economy. They know it and the government knows it.

Both know that the last thing the government / country needs is failing banks.

Given the above, the banks know fine well that they can have their cake and eat it. Record profits during the artificial boom, bail outs when it all goes bang.

Instead of blaming Brown, blame the banks and the system that has put them in such a position of power.

You aren't serious? surely?

1997 - "I will not allow house prices get out of control." Your friend Crash Gordon.

You would have thought as chancellor he would have brought in measures to regulate the lending authorities THEN wouldn't you think?

3.5 x salary etc??

Am I missing something ClaireInCrashingSpain ?

[chichi]

You would only get some Chav getting a mortgage, working for a few months then sitting on their bum and claiming benefits whilst the tax payer settles their mortgage for them.

There are ways of fiddling the system now if you've got family on HB

[Minos]

Oh dear. Won't this kind of response limit the nominal falls in house prices ?

[claireinspain]

You aren't serious? surely?

1997 - "I will not allow house prices get out of control." Your friend Crash Gordon.

You would have thought as chancellor he would have brought in measures to regulate the lending authorities THEN wouldn't you think?

3.5 x salary etc??

Am I missing something ClaireInCrashingSpain ?

The banks' position of strength hasn't just materialised since 1997. Going back further maybe we should never have left the Gold Standard blah blah blah. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

And yes you are missing something. An alternative to what Brown & Co should do. Because there are a lot of people on here who seem to have no real idea of what life would be like if banks did start failing.

[IMHAL]

You can bash Brown all you like, but tell me this - what would the Tories do differently?

The reality is this. The banks are central to our economy. They know it and the government knows it.

Both know that the last thing the government / country needs is failing banks.

Given the above, the banks know fine well that they can have their cake and eat it. Record profits during the artificial boom, bail outs when it all goes bang.

Instead of blaming Brown, blame the banks and the system that has put them in such a position of power.

Did I mention the Tories? I like some of their policies and dislike others they have.

At every turn there is a decision to make - and at each turn this government has chosen the easy path that gains them more votes - they pay little head to the consquenses just down the road. They just want to win the next election.

We need a strong government that looks to store up wealth during the good time (the last ten years for example), one that does not employ more public sector workers just to buy up votes, one that contains spending and then uses it wisely when there is a down turn, one that does not encourage us into debt, one that believes in a free market and does not prop up house prices, one that recognises that houses are not speculative instruments and that the current and next generations need somewhere to live at a fair price, one that has effective control over imigration, one that does no take so much tax from us to spend on worthless and failed project (e.g. ID card, NHS computer systems, etc etc etc) and above all one that does not try to control every aspect of our lives and constantly lies to us.

I have no respect for this government - it does not mean to say that I have every respect for the opposition - but it does say I have greater respect.

HAL

[alabala]

[Converted Lurker]

once again we get the different twist from the government mandarins as they obviously batter the media to put their version across - "Darling is dragging the lenders in to number 11 to demand they do more to help beleagued home owners and stay off repossession." as opposed to lenders pushing his arm further up his back and demanding that he revises a benefits package to pay mortgage arrears. Question; why didn't Darling demand these apparent concessions before handing over 50bil?

[Da Vinci Code]

The banks' position of strength hasn't just materialised since 1997. Going back further maybe we should never have left the Gold Standard blah blah blah. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

And yes you are missing something. An alternative to what Brown & Co should do. Because there are a lot of people on here who seem to have no real idea of what life would be like if banks did start failing.

...so Golden Boy Gordon is not a liar then?

None of us today know what the 30's depression was like, but we're heading towards it regardless.

Edited April 22, 2008 by Da Vinci Code

[claireinspain]

Did I mention the Tories? I like some of their policies and dislike others they have.

At every turn there is a decision to make - and at each turn this government has chosen the easy path that gains them more votes - they pay little head to the consquenses just down the road. They just want to win the next election.

We need a strong government that looks to store up wealth during the good time (the last ten years for example), one that does not employ more public sector workers just to buy up votes, one that contains spending and then uses it wisely when there is a down turn, one that does not encourage us into debt, one that believes in a free market and does not prop up house prices, one that recognises that houses are not speculative instruments and that the current and next generations need somewhere to live at a fair price, one that has effective control over imigration, one that does no take so much tax from us to spend on worthless and failed project (e.g. ID card, NHS computer systems, etc etc etc) and above all one that does not try to control every aspect of our lives and constantly lies to us.

I have no respect for this government - it does not mean to say that I have every respect for the opposition - but it does say I have greater respect.

HAL

No you didn't mention the Tories but had they been in power - and the reality is either Labour or the Tories form the government - what would they do differently? If nothing then demonising Brown while not even mentioning the banks is to miss the bigger picture.

As for Labour always taking the easy path, taking away the 10p tax band is hardly an example of that is it?

Personally I have no respect for this Labour government or the spineless opposition.

But by blaming Labour and only Labour for our current predicament shows a total lack of understanding of both our political and economic system.

[claireinspain]

...so Golden Boy Gordon is not a liar then?

Did I say that? Learn to read before putting words into others' mouths.

[alabala]

The banks' position of strength hasn't just materialised since 1997. Going back further maybe we should never have left the Gold Standard blah blah blah. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

And yes you are missing something. An alternative to what Brown & Co should do. Because there are a lot of people on here who seem to have no real idea of what life would be like if banks did start failing.

Japan Claire , Japan ....Zombie banks forever ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/25/business...amp;oref=slogin

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...753C1A961948260

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...;pagewanted=all

''The government is not going to be hard on the banks,'' said Brian J. Waterhouse, senior Japan analyst for HSBC. ''The zombies are not going to get beaten up.''

The worthless debts of the banks are so large that there is an understandable fear that any serious effort to shut off the lending spigot risks turning Japan's latest recession into something much worse. Officially, Japan's bad loans add up to $348 billion. Unofficial estimates run two to three times higher: Teikoku Databank, a Japanese credit research agency, estimates 200,000 financially troubled companies in Japan owe about $1 trillion, or one quarter of the gross national product.

But doing nothing means that Japan's financial wounds will simply continue to fester, blocking hopes for the central bank to ease monetary policy and preventing the nation from recovering its economic health.

Japan ''is a losers paradise, a country where inefficiencies are rewarded,'' Jesper Koll, chief economist for Merrill Lynch Japan, wrote recently. ''These zombie companies neither have good balance sheets nor operating performance. All they have is solid, old-style feudal lords who can get access to more revolving credit due to their political connections and their club memberships.''

Edited April 22, 2008 by alabala

[Da Vinci Code]

No you didn't mention the Tories but had they been in power - and the reality is either Labour or the Tories form the government - what would they do differently? If nothing then demonising Brown while not even mentioning the banks is to miss the bigger picture.

As for Labour always taking the easy path, taking away the 10p tax band is hardly an example of that is it?

Personally I have no respect for this Labour government or the spineless opposition.

But by blaming Labour and only Labour for our current predicament shows a total lack of understanding of both our political and economic system.

They caused it.

The tories left this country in pretty good shape when these w%%%%% took over.

At least we had some cash in the coffers, Brown and Brown alone blew the bloody lot, easy path i would say.

He needs stringing up.

[claireinspain]

******** a country needs payment engines and lending facilities

not bail out banks

Back in the real world, the banks provide both payment engines and lending facilities. Hence the need for the bail out.

[Da Vinci Code]

Did I say that? Learn to read before putting words into others' mouths.

You seem to think Labour hasn't helped to cause this nightmare uk plc finds itself in.

He lied.

If he had done what he'd said we wouldnt be up to our armpits in debt.

He needs stringing up.

[claireinspain]

1. You seem to think Labour hasn't helped to cause this nightmare uk plc finds itself in.

2. He lied.

3. If he had done what he'd said we wouldnt be up to our armpits in debt.

4. He needs stringing up.

1. Not true

2. True

3. Not true

4. Grow up

[IMHAL]

No you didn't mention the Tories but had they been in power - and the reality is either Labour or the Tories form the government - what would they do differently? If nothing then demonising Brown while not even mentioning the banks is to miss the bigger picture.

As for Labour always taking the easy path, taking away the 10p tax band is hardly an example of that is it?

Personally I have no respect for this Labour government or the spineless opposition.

But by blaming Labour and only Labour for our current predicament shows a total lack of understanding of both our political and economic system.

No - I get the bigger picture.

We elect governments to put frameworks in place and to regulate - they have failed to do that. Give any institution in a capitalist society free reign and they will hold you to ransom if they can - this is where we currently are. First with banks, next it will be with utilities and then with supermarkets.

I cannot blame a scorpion for biting me because it is a scorpion - and we cannot blame the banks (or any other industry) for making a profit because that is what they do.

We can and should blame the governemt for not putting in effective controls for societies best interests. To stop them from holding society to ranson. They do this by controlling how much power they excersise over us - banks hold power by vitue of debt, encouraging people to save and you reduce their power over you, regulating how much you can borrow also reduces their power over you. Banks have been quietly encouraged by this government to keep the party going and now we are in trouble - simple as that.

Allowing banks to become usury is a failure of regulation and policy - each government has control over that.

HAL

[beans on toast]

You can bash Brown all you like, but tell me this - what would the Tories do differently?

The reality is this. The banks are central to our economy. They know it and the government knows it.

Both know that the last thing the government / country needs is failing banks.

Given the above, the banks know fine well that they can have their cake and eat it. Record profits during the artificial boom, bail outs when it all goes bang.

Instead of blaming Brown, blame the banks and the system that has put them in such a position of power.

The tories have never created a boom-bust economy. There was no HPI under 15 or so years of tory rule. This whole bubble has been created by Labour.

When Labour came in they took over a economy which could be compared to a Ferrari, now they've managed to turn it into a clapped out Reliant Robin.

Brown is directly to blame for installing a light touch regulation system which allowed banks to do as they please.

[Da Vinci Code]

1. Not true

2. True

3. Not true

4. Grow up

1. ok

2. ok

3. questionable

4. i'm serious

Edited April 22, 2008 by Da Vinci Code