BBC Blog Network

User Profile

Upthebarns

Listed below are comments made by Upthebarns between Saturday, 6th June 2009 and Friday, 4th December 2009.

«Newer
Older»

How HBOS escaped closure 10:28am on 04 Dec 2009 Robert,

Can you please do a blog updating us all on what stages, if any, the legal actions are at ?

There must potentially be so many of them against the directors and the advisers (accountants, lawyers, investment bankers) of various banks.

Why do we hear so little about this ?

Surely it is the shareholders (UK plc/the government) who should pursue this ?
RBS board to quit if chancellor vetoes £1.5bn in bonuses 6:06pm on 02 Dec 2009 Preposterous does not begin to sum up this situation.

The Board will have to resign because it may not be looking after shareholders' interests by paying out gargantuan bonuses.

So when the Board of this and many other banks ran them into the ground last year, were they looking after shareholders' interests ??????

RBS is completely bust, noone has stood up to them, noone has prosecuted them.

What about the rights issue last year ? How many directors and advisers signed off on that ?

Yet noone has been prosecuted - WHY NOT ?

Call their bluff, tell them to get a grip of reality as they line the pockets of lawyers giving them this advice.

Let them resign, there are plenty of others who will do the job for a good salary.
Tough times ahead 10:02pm on 16 Nov 2009 Some contributors are spot on here, others are tinkering.

We are right to think about how we should be regrowing and restructuring our economy for the future and time needs to be spent on that, however there is one area and one alone that needs a massive revamp.

Public sector pensions in certain cases are patently too generous and incredibly expensive. There is over one trillion of unfunded public sector pension liability which is not shown on UK Plc balance sheet because the politicians and the civil servants will not face up to it, partly because it has a direct impact on the feathering of their own nests.

An average private sector pension employee on the same salary as a public sector person needs to find an extra 40% of salary every year to get the same average final salary pension benefits as the equivalent private sector person. It is mind blowing.

Time and time again, various members of the public sector retire early in their fifties with generous packages that would cost well over £1M for a private sector pension pot to provide the same benefits. It has been going on for years. Civil servants, doctors, surgeons, council leaders, the judiciary - the list is endless are paid gargantuanfinal salary pensions which cost millions and overly reward them. Why do they need such large pensions, they each cost over a million and some many millions.

It has to an extent been going on in some private companies and did go on in the banks as well, however it is largely being eradicated with the closure of most private sector final salary pension schemes. And that is before taking into account the millions of self employed who receive absolutely no employer or state contributions.

If someone (and this would need to be a non self interested politician or civil servant) grasped the nettle on public sector pensions (and I have no issue with low paid public sector pensions) this country would save billions a year.

It is the single largest liability to be funded through the tax rises or spending cuts.

Somebody do something about it !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Credit crunch bites as Tour revises schedule 9:32pm on 05 Oct 2009 The Castle Course ????

Oh dear, dear, dear.

I liken it to a full course version of the famous Himalayas putting green.

It's no Kingsbarns !
BT: A blacker pension hole 9:57pm on 30 Jul 2009 Number 61,

The answers to both questions are gargantuan affirmatives.

I have crunched the numbers before.

To receive the same pension benefits at retirement, a private sector person in a bog standard private sector defined contribution scheme with no fancy enhanced contributions, would need to receive a 40 -45% higher salary than the same salaried public sector person on a bog standard final salary pension scheme.

Moving everyone in this country onto defined contribution pension schemes would save trillions.

Pensions are the greatest financial issue and expense in the UK economy.

The legislators (MPs and civil servants) all of whom are on very good final salary pension schemes have to take the lead and show some proper leadership for once in their careers.

One of the most shocking examples of this was the disgraced First Minister of Scotland, Henry McLeish, who resigned over some muddle over expenses.

For serving one year, he was awarded a pension forever of £36,000 a year.

This would have needed a defined pension contribution pot of over £1 Million to fund this. And he was awarded that for one year's service.

Complete and utter madness.
BT: A blacker pension hole 5:06pm on 30 Jul 2009 Number 22 is spot on.

Fundamentally, all final salary pension schemes need to stop. They are far too expensive and far too generous.

Virtually everyone in the private sector will be moved to defined contribution schemes, where the risk is all borne by them.

The public sector must cease all final or average salary schemes as well.

There are unreasonable expectations on pensions.

Pensions will not necessarily bring the country down but they will lead to mass poverty and inequalities.

A private sector pension pot of around £500K for someone aged 60, well beyond the means of most people, will generate a penion of only £15K (before tax) a year.

Compare this to the indecent expense of final salary schemes.

As an aside, most people would be better advised to create their own pension pots of cash ISAs and other savings, thus keeping the capital and gradually eating into it as part of their retirement - rather than passing it all to an insurance company.
Gunning for Garcia 9:26pm on 15 Jul 2009 The Open is the major that Garcia is most likely to win because it calls for more variety of shots than the other 3 majors. Also the greens in the Open tend to be slightly slower than American greens.

So there is less emphasis on putting - hence Garcia has never particularly shone at the Masters.

Garcia can hit wonderful low punched shots, a skill which many of them are not entirely comfortable.

Garcia was unlucky at the end at Carnoustie (he hit a good putt that missed by fractions) and also played well at the US PGA.
Two labour markets 9:03pm on 15 Jul 2009 It would be interesting to know the split between private and public sector job losses.

My guess is that the private sector is bearing the significant proportion of this. The same private sector that will be completely impoverished with their pension provision. This timebomb just keeps ticking.

The public sector pensions need immediate reform, a gargantuan amount of money can be saved if their pensions are reformed. A significant portion of this saved money can be redistributed towards providing support for private sector job creation.
Woods ready to light up Turnberry 7:12pm on 13 Jul 2009 Number 4, i agree with your assessment of Turnberry, very overrated.

Kingsbarns is a golf course with wonderful views from virtually every hole, far more than Turnberry.

Re who will win this week.

If calm, Tiger seems a good bet, if not and I think forecast may be a bit dodgy at the beginning, then impossible to predict - Curtis 2003, Hamilton 2004, (US Open - Campbell, Cabrera and Glover in recent years) - other than Monty having a good huff !
England left to absorb shocking defeat 10:58am on 06 Jun 2009 England lost not because of Broad's errors at the end as he actually put the ball in reasonable places with his last over but because of a safe and boring attitude to their batting.

The successful T20 teams have hitters, guys that can change a game in 2-3 overs.

Mascarenhas and Napier should have been in the team - they are both capable of smashing the ball all over the place and with pietersen out, they both should have been in. T20 games are not won by a 4th or 5th bowler, they are won by a 4th or 5th hitter who gets it right on the day.

Selection was to blame for this defeat and selection that a 13 year old cricket Captain could get right. Pitiful. Again.

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

Upthebarns