controversial dig at savers

tarotwoman_2

There is no question of any savers being 'greedy'. Any saver, whether they have £30, £3,000 or £300,000 has worked hard, sometimes for a lifetime to accumulate it. At the moment, taking into account inflation the interest they receive is negative. Money is scarce and as such should be expensive to borrow. When anything becomes scarce its price goes up. The natural way of things would mean high interest rates. The government and BOE are swimming against the tide by setting interest rates artificially low. Don't be surprised if the floodgates burst and they start to rise rapidly.

EdInvestor

Entertainer wrote: »

No, the government sets interest rates through it's state organ the MPC by varying the minimum lending rate. There is not a free market in interest rates.

Not any more - indeed there are some fortunate folk who have mortgage rates which are set at levels below the base rate, eg BR -1%. At the rate we are going the bank will be paying them.

But probably these days more mortgages are attached to LIBOR, rather than base rate and that is certainly not under the Government's control (more's the pity!)

libra10

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bazn
i particularly like the view that those sitting on a cash pile complaining about the interest should use it and be reminded how lucky they ae compared to many people suffering through this recession.

I have to disagree with the use of the word lucky. These people have saved, it's not just appeared in their bank/savings account. Lucky is when you win the lottery. oxenryd
_________________________________________________________

Thank you oxenryd for pointing out to Bazn the error of his way of thinking.

Lucky, indeed? We are now being patronised for being prudent!

cloud_dog

A couple of comments...........

At the moment the world economy and economic cycles are in a state of flux, i.e. we've had a rapid lowering of interest rates (for obvious reasons). We need to allow time for rates / inflation to stabalise in order to get a clearer picture of realistically whether interest rase (low as they may be) are realistic in relation to low inflation (hopefully), although it may be short lived.

Another, slightly antagonistic comment, no one was worried about the high interest rates they were earning on their savings when rates were high and inflation was low (2.1% etc). These things always go in cycles, and they will return.

So lets thank all those people who spent their money to drive the economy forward so others, with savings, could earn a high rate of interest. As others have posted relying solely on interest is risky - interest rates etc go in cycles.

..........and duck........

tradetime

cloud_dog wrote: »

..........and duck........

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

chambta

KorkyKat wrote: »

I take it that this is the nomination for the Daft Post Of The Year award in April?

The average saver - especially the retired - don't have access to the money markets nor have any control over the greedy b******ds that got us into this mess. Because the banks and the international capitalist robbed people blind why should savers be punished for their actions? What ever happened to that old banking principle (as used by the likes of Beverly Building Society) where your expenditure ratio is matched by your income and by the security of your loans.

We have a right to scream from the rooftops and where possible give the banks a good screwing as it was they who screwed others and abused the trust of their customers.

Take RBS as an example. One of the oldest banks with a solid reputation decides to get greedy with that piece of s***t Fred Goodwin. First they try to take over ABN then a Chinese Bank and give out money to wasters and mortgage ninjas and hey, they are almost bankrupt. "Please help us Mr. Darling as our Fred The Shred as runaway with his money after turning us over."

And you wonder why savers shouldn't be angry as Goodwin and his ilk walk away with millions of depositors money?

Darling and Brown made one big mistake. They should have nationalised the lot of them and imprisoned the likes of Goodwin for malfeasance.

I'm sure you'd find many RBS rank and file staff members agreeing.

Masomnia

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7824338.stm

To say this is supposedly the worst financial crisis we've had in a long time, and people have been predicting financial armagedon... I'd say that a five year low isn't too bad!

cloud_dog

Masomnia wrote: »

I'd say that a five year low isn't too bad!

From a stock market / equity perspective I'm not sure we're out of the woods yet, possibly further lows to be made - or is it opportunities to be had

LesU

Masomnia wrote: »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7824338.stm

To say this is supposedly the worst financial crisis we've had in a long time, and people have been predicting financial armagedon... I'd say that a five year low isn't too bad!

Of course what the BBC don't show in their survey, is where the money actually is. I'm sure there are very low paying accounts out there, but have they got any customers? If they do have customers, what is the average amount in each account?
The survey may also be doing what The Times did on Sunday, which was to claim that there are 0% paying accounts around. Conveniently ignoring that all of the people with those accounts also have a 2% bonus added to the rate at the moment.

tradetime

cloud_dog wrote: »

From a stock market / equity perspective I'm not sure we're out of the woods yet, possibly further lows to be made - or is it opportunities to be had

I'm pretty sure we haven't seen the lows yet, I'd expect further lows by the summer I'm just not too sure what sits in between.