UK contraction worse than thought

Generali

A change from 0.5% to 0.6% is a rounding difference.

AD9898_2

Blacklight wrote: »

Merv must be thanking his lucky stars. First oil price rises he can blame inflation on and now another 0.1% off the GDP figure.

Interest rate rises are unlikely to materialise now until much later in the year.

In the meantime the banks are returning to profit and it won't be long before they return to lending either.

It almost sounds like you're happy about the bad news just so IR's stay low, no surprise I guess if you've borrowed heavily, I guess that's all that matters.

As far as lending is concerned, it's a third more or less of peak, so no chance of that £200 billion being found anytime soon. And if it was no bank will lend like 2007 again especially with IR's that can only go one way.

I think if you've bet heavily on property between 2005-2007, the 'tide' is going to be out for you a long long time, and rightly so.

Thrugelmir

AD9898 wrote: »

As far as lending is concerned, it's a third more or less of peak, so no chance of that £200 billion being found anytime soon. And if it was no bank will lend like 2007 again especially with IR's that can only go one way.

LloydsHbos has repaid £61 billion of Government funding in 2010 and a further £13 billion this year to date. So the banks are on the mend in terms of refinancing themselves from a capital viewpoint.

RBS is shrinking its balance sheet nicely as well. Though still has around 40% in what it regards as non core assets which either will be sold off, liquidated or allow to terminate naturally. So a couple of years behind Lloyds in restructuring.

Wookster

Sir_Humphrey wrote: »

All the people hand-wringing about borrowing passing the problems on to the young, obviously haven't seen the latest youth unemployment figures.

Thanks for pointing that out.

Labours solution was to send everyone to uni to do degrees in 'media studies' and 'david beckham' studies, merely deferring the problem.

AD9898_2

RenovationMan wrote: »

Is it any difference than people wanting IRs to rise so that they can get a cheaper house? I guess thats all that matters to them. Even worse are those delightful few who want high rates to 'punish' people who had to borrow large amounts to house their families. I guess if low paid, struggling familes get thrown into the street, that's all that matters?

Not really sure what you mean, most young people i speak to just want the same opportunities that were afforded to the population before the boom started in 2000.

The second and third points you make are really part of the first, I don't personally know of anyone who wants to punish people who over borrowed or want people thrown onto the street for the sake of it, however for me the needs of the many (the whole next generation and some of the current) outweigh the needs of the few (the people who borrowed too much, committed mortgage fraud, MEWed etc..), these people had a choice not to do those things.

People who were just born later had no choice.

AD9898_2

RenovationMan wrote: »

The 'however' being the salient point here, the word that undermines all the empty rhetoric that came before it.

I don't get ya, regardless of what I've said you seem to be adamant that 'I' want people like 'you' to lose their home. I don't think anything, it's horses for courses, you makes your bed then you lie in it.

Individual's circumstances don't make any difference to me, but I do hate the housing boom as a whole and what it has done to the economy, I also think there are many idiots out there who over borrowed, MEW'd committed mortgage fraud who are now being propped up by government policy and low IR's at the expense of people who just want a home at a reasonable price.

These 'idiots' should burn in my opinion, they gambled and lost, it shouldn't be upto me and the tax that I pay, the inflation I now pay, the interest on my savings I'm losing to bail them out.

posh*spice

doire wrote: »

Didn't Germany have just as much snow? If not more?

and the US, they had lots of snow too...

worldtraveller

I'm still expecting a........



.....this year.

Graham_Devon

AD9898 wrote: »

It almost sounds like you're happy about the bad news just so IR's stay low, no surprise I guess if you've borrowed heavily, I guess that's all that matters.

As far as lending is concerned, it's a third more or less of peak, so no chance of that £200 billion being found anytime soon. And if it was no bank will lend like 2007 again especially with IR's that can only go one way.

I think if you've bet heavily on property between 2005-2007, the 'tide' is going to be out for you a long long time, and rightly so.

Turnaround? Property optimists hoping for a recession, while property pessamists, hope the economy gets back on track without stimulus.

Strange how things change.

RenovationMan

AD9898 wrote: »

I I also think there are many idiots out there who over borrowed, MEW'd committed mortgage fraud who are now being propped up by government policy and low IR's at the expense of people who just want a home at a reasonable price.

These 'idiots' should burn in my opinion, they gambled and lost, it shouldn't be upto me and the tax that I pay, the inflation I now pay, the interest on my savings I'm losing to bail them out.

So, in a nutshell, your saying that you hope interest rates go up in order to punish this group of people who you feel are over indebted?