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xraspecs

Listed below are comments made by xraspecs between Monday, 6th October 2008 and Friday, 31st October 2008.

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Barclays protects its bankers' pay 12:29pm on 31 Oct 2008 I think Barclays are very wise to avoid any dealings with HMG. It is difficult to overstate the damage that can (will?) be done by incompetent meddling in Bank's affairs by the unqualified rank amateurs that run this country.

I for one am very, very pleased that Barclay's and HSBC have avoided the tar-pit of part nationalisation. Over the coming years, I am quite certain that these two will vastly outperform the rest.
How will the Chancellor repay debt? 7:11pm on 29 Oct 2008 Mr. Darlings boss should have been saving for a rainy day during the good times. But due to a toxic combination of arrogance, stupidity and dishonesty - failed to do so.

The plan now has to be to cut taxes, cut interest rates, and cut public spending on all of Labour's pet projects (e.g. ID cards).

The best plan of all is for Mr. Darling, his incompetent boss and the whole Labour shower to resign and allow a Conservative government to take over.
The responsibility of borrowing 10:21pm on 27 Oct 2008 Nick,

Cut taxes and interest rates - people will increase spending immediately and we start pulling out of the mess now.

Increase public spending - and money will find its way into the economy only after budgeting processes, political turf wars, the planning system, public enquiries, civil service inefficiency, EU tendering processes, etc, etc...

Labour ideological incompetence trumps common sense every time...
Sterling shunned 2:39pm on 25 Oct 2008 If you can't find anything positive to say then perhaps it might be best to say nothing.

I am getting heartily sick of this diet of unremitting gloom. Yes. I get the message things are going to be tough, but we are all just going to have to get on and make the best of things.

Bye-Bye Robert - I won't be reading your stuff again until things improve.
What Mervyn didn't say 1:07pm on 22 Oct 2008 There is a lot of common sense in this article. However there is one vital ingredient to the boom in property prices that I hear no-one mentioning.

The supply of property in the UK is highly restricted by the planning system. As such supply and demand would have been out of kilter anyway, however, a huge net increase in immigration has stimulated demand to a huge extent.

There is indeed nothing that the Bank of England can do about the supply of housing, however, there is a lot that the Government should have been doing. Unfortunately, they just didn't get it. They wittered on about the need to build affordable housing (a.k.a. Slums), when if they had de-regulated housing, more houses could have been built, supply and demand would have balanced and good quality housing would have become more affordable.
Banks still not lending 07:05am on 16 Oct 2008 Hi Robert,

I think that the situation is a little more subtle than this. You ask:

"what chance that they'll lend at a keener rate to consumers, households or businesses?"

The answer to this question is that it depends upon the the type of finance you are talking about. I have been pleasantly surprised by the deals readily available for business asset finance - 5.28%.

I can imagine that unsecured debt is deeply unfashionable at the moment, but it still looks as if you can borrow readily and at reasonable rates, provided that the borrowing is secured against something tangible.

As someone who runs a medium sized business and has an old fashioned attitude to finance. This looks to be a rather healthier policy than has prevailed in the past.

I can imagine that there are plenty of debt junkies out there who will have difficulty adjusting to the new reality, but in general, the switch to stricter and less adventurous banking is a welcome development in my book.
Banks' most pressing problem 2:49pm on 07 Oct 2008 Robert,

The Banks Most Pressing Problem..

Could well be Robert Peston. In general, I am an avid fan, but I think that you have to face the fact that you have significant responsibilities and I don't think that you are helping the situation any.
How close to capitulation? 6:25pm on 06 Oct 2008 I feel a bit happier now that I have worked out where this will end...

The crisis is now being driven by depositors who are utterly determined to place their funds where they will be the safest. The inability of national Governments to exactly co-ordinate changes and levels of protection means that there is an inadvertent bidding war developing.

The end point will have all banks in the developed World in the hands of Governments and primarily backed by tax receipts - not deposits. Once this point is reached, I don't see any way back to the old system.

The faster we get to this point the better for the rest of the economy.

The economic slow-down is happening because people and businesses are scared witless by what is happening in the Banking sector. The faster we get to a stable equilibrium - whatever that is - the better for us all.
42-days is dead 12:19pm on 06 Oct 2008 Excellent!

ID cards are next on the hit-list.
Monday morning feeling 09:29am on 06 Oct 2008 Dear Robert,

I would be prepare to make a small wager that most European banks will be in public ownership within a month. At which point the acute phase of the banking crisis will, most likely, be at an end.

I think the speed with which the situation is developing will, in time, come to be regarded as a good thing.

If this is the end game, then the sooner Governments seize the initiative the better.

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