NS&I claim "we're all about saving"

London7766551

george4064 said:

eskbanker said:

No disagreeing with the sentiment about their mainstream savings products, but their Premium Bonds are increasingly competitive for those in a position to hold enough to make it worthwhile....

Out of interest, how much PBs does one have to buy to make it worthwhile?

I currently have about 13k and since I purchased 12k worth when Covid started I have won at least £25 each month.


However previously I held 10k in different bonds over nearly two years and didn't win a penny. Perhaps one £25.

A._Badger

steampowered said:

A._Badger said:

If you don't understand the flaws in CPI (and why governments use it) you might learn something from reading Emile Woolf. This would be a useful starting point for a beginner: http://www.emilewoolfwrites.co.uk/2017/08/12/consequences-inflationary-folly/
John Williams' Shadowstats might also be helpful when you've absorbed that..

How on earth does any of that make CPI a "lie". Nothing in the article you posted suggests that CPI is an inappropriate measure of inflation.

Your article notes as follows, also known as "stating the bleeding obvious". What are you suggesting the government does with that. Measure by inflation by setting a different interest rate for each individual person in the country? You would like to give the government a full record of absolutely every pound you spent over the past year so that the government can calculate an accurate personal inflation rate, would you? And I have faeries at the bottom of my garden.

The CPI is itself a structure of selective averages that purport to reflect the habits and preferences of the population as a whole, disregarding the fact that the population is made up of individuals who, to a greater or lesser degree, are at liberty to defy those averages every day. None of us spends money by purchasing the goods and services that happen to be in the statistician’s basket; in precisely the same proportions; or at the same prices; or at the very time specified by the CPI compilers.

As Woolf says:
'The most deceitful ploys of all are, however, those perpetrated by government statisticians whose masters will resort to any device to demonstrate that their economic policies are under control and working effectively. Their favourite weapon is, of course, the index of consumer prices (CPI) and they remain unshaken in their determination to convince the public that the economy is bubbling along nicely within the Treasury’s inflation target of 2 per cent.'
And as he goes on to say: 'As well as wishing to portray an illusion of knowledge-based control, government is aware that its own bureaucratic machinery entails massive pension and social security liabilities that would escalate out of control if the currency’s true loss of purchasing power were to be publicised.'

Perhaps you have some other definition of the word 'lying'? For me, deceiving people by telling untruths covers it quite well 

Notepad_Phil

A._Badger said:
As Woolf says:
'The most deceitful ploys of all are, however, those perpetrated by government statisticians whose masters will resort to any device to demonstrate that their economic policies are under control and working effectively. Their favourite weapon is, of course, the index of consumer prices (CPI) and they remain unshaken in their determination to convince the public that the economy is bubbling along nicely within the Treasury’s inflation target of 2 per cent.'
And as he goes on to say: 'As well as wishing to portray an illusion of knowledge-based control, government is aware that its own bureaucratic machinery entails massive pension and social security liabilities that would escalate out of control if the currency’s true loss of purchasing power were to be publicised.'

Perhaps you have some other definition of the word 'lying'? For me, deceiving people by telling untruths covers it quite well 

So what alternative measure does Woolf suggest we use instead of CPI?