This government is laughing at saver!

Lokolo

But Brown doesn't control interest rates? He currently puts a tax on normal interest which is 20%... hardly going to make a huuuge difference in the scheme or things, considering there are already ISAs.

sons_2

scrooge2008 wrote: »

:rolleyes: Must be from me - mine was -0.8%

Mine was-4.2%

sons_2

bjorn_again wrote: »

I would prefer a savings account paying 6%, and take my chances on what I was told inflation was and how it affected me. Regardless of what Brown/Darling tell us the rate of inflation is, they cannot say how it affects us as individuals. Inflation can be seriously influenced by the price of a single commodity - heating oil say - if I as an individual don't use that commodity it is nonsense to tell me that I am better-off because inflation is down. We (savers) are all better-off having a higher rate of interest with the equivalent higher rate of inflation, as we have control over what we spend our money on.

You most prob like the inflation that they are suffering in Zimbabwe then.

Inflation has to be kept under control for the good of the country.

LesU

You may have pondered on the BBC personal inflation calculator, around such things as expenditure on foreign holidays this year. Are you going abroad this year with the pound so low? If the answer is 'no', but last year was 'yes', then how can they measure your personal inflation in comparison with last year? Therein lies the vast problem of how to measure inflation. If a commodity rises in price to the point where nobody is buying it, then can it still be counted, and if it is, what weighting to put on it?
All the myriad of personal lifestyles and the movements and changes in the marketplace are all conveniently distilled into one very precise (one decimal point) number. They won't of course add what they should do, which is + 5 or 6%, because that would make the decimal point look ridiculous.

apt

A lot of rise in inflation last year came from sharp rises in food, oil, gas, and commodities. I'd like to know anyone who choose to avoid buying these goods directly or indirectly. These prices are now falling, often sharply. So over the next year even those savers who did not take advantage of the repeated opportunities to fix their interest rates at 6% or more will not be worse off. Savers don't lose out in a recession. It's those that lose their businesses and jobs that pay the price. And those that want the government and Bank of England to make the recession worse by keeping interest rates or the pound higher for the sake of their savings income or foreign holidays are either selfish or stupid or both.

Milarky

LesU wrote: »

Therein lies the vast problem of how to measure inflation. If a commodity rises in price to the point where nobody is buying it, then can it still be counted, and if it is, what weighting to put on it?

All the myriad of personal lifestyles and the movements and changes in the marketplace are all conveniently distilled into one very precise (one decimal point) number. They won't of course add what they should do, which is + 5 or 6%, because that would make the decimal point look ridiculous.

The 'inflation' measure used has itself been systematically debased by use of the CPI. Yes, Brown will say it's the 'internationally agreed' standard for measuring price changes but what he won't admit is that is systematically flatters those increases

See 'Fuzzy Numbers' for a quick run down. (Now is inflation really 3% already - as dunshtonh says - or is it more likely to be in upper single digits? Any confirmation that ONS doesn't use exactly the same 'price strainer' approach as the US BLS would be welcome...)

LesU

apt wrote: »

And those that want the government and Bank of England to make the recession worse by keeping interest rates or the pound higher for the sake of their savings income or foreign holidays are either selfish or stupid or both.

Keeping the pound low will help our export trade and the companies involved in manufacture, it obviously won't help anyone who is selling imports. Where is a lot of the current unemployment coming from? The retail sector. This, as the shops restock, will get worse. Followed closely by haulage companies, holiday companies, ferries and shipping, airports etc., and then all the companies that those unemployed people used to buy things from.
Of course to take advantage of a low pound the manufacturers will need to buy in raw materials and gear up their output, but that needs extra money from the banks which they don't have (no savers' money or mortgage income) or won't give (no confidence).
I don't think we are looking for a return to 5-7% rates, but are we totally convinced that the lowest BoE rate in history is our saviour?

john.xs

we havent got a manufacturing industry any more have we??????????????

Just_landed

jon3001 wrote: »

I keep saying this: don't rely on interest from savings to bolster income.

But I for one cannot find the seeds to grow a money tree.:rotfl:

shindigger

dunstonh wrote: »

There is a lot of truth in what you say but savers rarely get much more than inflation historically. With RPI as low as it is, savers are generally getting what they always get in real terms.

Savers are no worse off than a year ago when the rates were 5-6%. Only those using savings for income are worse off but there are alternatives to that which pay more so its not really an issue.

Utter rubbish.
Ive lost £3k on my savings interest, 6k on my pension pot in a year. Im gonna have to put A LOT of cheaper diesel in my car to get that back.
Checked your supermarket bill lately?:rotfl:
While my train fares have gone up a minimum of 6%, in some cases 11%.
Youve clearly bought the deflation bug. Its a lie.