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| | | | | | | | Notices | PLEASE HELP US TO KEEP THIS SITE RUNNING Every pound donated to this site helps us to keep on helping others. Click Here to Donate | PayDay loans An essential way of making ends meet? - or just another expensive way climbing onto the spiral of debt?
The British Cheque Cashers Association says that it receives very few complaints from borrowers. | 
9th March 2009, 22:03
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#9301 (permalink)
| | Royalties Account Holder |  Re: The great interest rate rip off
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Deflationary Depression Returns To Haunt America Quote:
David Rosenberg, North American Economist at Merrill Lynch is talking about a "Depression-Style Jobs Report"
We cannot rule out the loss of 1 million jobs in March
Judging by the leading indicators – 600,000+ jobless claims, Challenger layoffs up an eye-popping 158% from a year ago, the 78,000 plunge in temporary employment, the record-low workweek – suggest that we will have to endure an 800,000 employment slide when the March data roll out, and a 1 million loss cannot be ruled out. We may have to redefine yet again what a ‘new normal’ is at that point. The bottom line is that a recovery in domestic economic activity is, at best, a late-2009 story, but at this stage, even that could be a fairy tale.
One in seven individuals unemployed or underemployed
Suffice it to say that the unemployment rate that is most inclusive in terms of accounting for all forms of “underemployment” such as this shift toward part-time and away from full-time work is the U-6 measure, which soared from 13.9% in January to 14.8% in February, a record high for this particular series. So, we have a situation where not only 1 in 11 homeowners with a mortgage are now either delinquent or in the foreclosure process, but we also have 1 in 7 individuals who are either unemployed or underemployed. We’re not sure how to classify
such a macroeconomic backdrop, but it certainly is not a garden-variety recession.
How we get any sustained inflation is totally beyond us
In addition to credit contraction, asset deflation, profit compression and employment destruction, we are also in a vicious inventory reduction phase in the manufacturing sector. If our forecast is correct, this would then suggest that the capacity utilization rate in manufacturing will make a new all-time low of 66.6% from 68% in January. The employment data also tell us that there is a very high probability that wages and salaries deflated -0.3% in February as well. How we end up getting any sustained inflation pressure, or backup in bond yields for that matter, as the economy moves further and further away from any semblance of “full employment” in either the labor or product market, is totally beyond us.
| Continues at the link.
Still no where near bottom. | 
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10th March 2009, 08:56
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#9304 (permalink)
| | Royalties Account Holder | Re: The great interest rate rip off
Japan bankruptcies soar by 10 per cent - Telegraph Quote:
As many as 1,318 cases of corporate bankruptcies were recorded across Japan during February, marking a rise of 10.4 per cent compared to the same month in 2008.
The rise in bankruptcies marked the ninth consecutive monthly increase, with the total debt incurred by insolvent firms jumping by 240 per cent to £9.5bn (Y1.3 trillion), according to Tokyo Shoko Research, the research firm.
Among the February bankruptcies were seven listed companies, including the moneylenders SFCG, whose combined debt accounted for just over 50 per cent of the total amount.
Last month's collapse of SFCG, which focused on lending to small businesses, marked the largest publicly traded Japanese firm to seek bankruptcy protection in nearly seven years and the tenth listed company this year to fail.
"There is the reality of the worsening Japanese economy and anxiety over increasing bankruptcies ahead of the end of Japan's fiscal year," Cosmo Securities equities strategist Toshikazu Horiuchi told the Kyodo news agency.
Asia's leading economy is struggling with what economists have declared are the worst financial conditions since the end of the Second World War.
Japan yesterday recorded its first monthly current account deficit in 13 years for January, causing Asian share markets to tumble and Japanese stocks to dip to a 26-year low.
While Japan has historically run a large current account surplus, the export-dependent economy has been hit hard by plummeting global demand for cars, high-tech goods and machinery.
Toshihiro Nagahama, a senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute in Japan, said: "Because we can't expect that the US economy will hit a trough in the near term, Japan's exports will very likely remain very weak."
| The world economy is in serious trouble. | |
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10th March 2009, 08:59
|
#9305 (permalink)
| | Royalties Account Holder | Re: The great interest rate rip off
RBS moves to support pension schemes with £800m injection of taxpayers' cash - Times Online Quote:
RBS moves to support pension schemes with £800m injection of taxpayers' cash
Funds slide from surplus into deficit of £2bn
Patrick Hosking, Banking and Finance Editor
More than £800 million of taxpayer bailout cash injected into Royal Bank of Scotland has been earmarked to shore up the bank’s gold-plated staff pension schemes, which have collapsed into deficit after investing in RBS shares.
To ensure generous pension promises are met — including the infamous £703,000-a-year payout pledged to Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive — RBS is planning to inject £807 million into its various staff and executive pension schemes, the annual report revealed yesterday.
The pension funds appear to have lost hundreds of millions of pounds investing in shares and other securities issued by RBS. The value of RBS shares in the portfolio has slumped from £69 million a year ago to £15 million. The value of other RBS instruments in the pension funds has fallen from £606 million to £421 million.
The RBS pension funds have deteriorated from an aggregate surplus of £115 million to a deficit of £1.99 billion in 12 months because of sliding investment markets and other factors.
Related Links
* Defined-benefit pensions must be killed off
* Goodwin plans to ride out storm abroad
* RBS seeks extra £25bn as it posts record loss
Although pension funds are not banned from investing modestly in securities issued by sponsoring employers, the practice, known as self-investment, is frowned on because of the danger of staff suffering a double blow if the employer collapses, losing their jobs and some of their pensions. Under tax rules such investment is limited to 5 per cent of scheme assets.
One RBS source emphasised that the investments in RBS securities were small in relation to the size of the group-wide schemes, which in aggregate have assets of £25.7 billion.
Pension perks at RBS are some of the most generous in Britain, with most staff contributing nothing and accruing benefits enabling them to retire at 60 on two thirds of their final salary after a 40-year career. Outside banking so-called non-contributory pensions are virtually extinct in the private sector.
The RBS final-salary schemes were closed to new members in 2006 but about 65,000 UK staff continue to accrue benefits, while the main fund alone has another 165,000 pensioners and deferred members.
The RBS annual report also revealed that the lump-sum value of the pension of Larry Fish, a former director in charge of the bank’s disastrous North American operations, grew last year from $24 million to $27 million.
As already disclosed, the lump-sum value of Sir Fred’s pension rose by £8.3 million to £16.3 million by virtue of the decision to allow him to go as a good leaver and take early retirement at 50 with no penalty. RBS said it had changed the rules to prevent executive directors hired in future from being able to take early retirement with no commensurate cut in pension benefits.
In the report RBS also formally warned shareholders that it could be nationalised and they could lose everything. The balance sheet expanded from £1.8 trillion to £2.4 trillion, while fees to the auditor Deloitte grew from £31.4 million to £58.8 million. The Government has injected £20 billion into RBS and provided hundreds of billions of pounds in additional support through loans and guarantees.
| Continues at the link.
Another pension story, another one in deficit. | |
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10th March 2009, 09:01
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#9306 (permalink)
| | Royalties Account Holder
Posts: 14,292
| Re: The great interest rate rip off
What does one TRILLION dollars look like? Quote:
All this talk about "stimulus packages" and "bailouts"...
A billion dollars...
A hundred billion dollars...
Eight hundred billion dollars...
One TRILLION dollars...
What does that look like? I mean, these various numbers are tossed around like so many doggie treats, so I thought I'd take Google Sketchup out for a test drive and try to get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.
We'll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slighty fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.
| Continues at the link. | |
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10th March 2009, 09:22
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#9307 (permalink)
| | Royalties Account Holder | Re: The great interest rate rip off
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle5877561.ece Quote:
It is, on the face of it, merely a supremely ambiguous phrase of bureaucratic Japanese — but it is threatening to plunge the country's welfare system into chaos and create a national “fire sale” of everything from violins to motorbikes.
Trying to make sense of it are the burgeoning ranks of unemployed Japanese seeking to tide themselves over with money provided by the State. Their task: to pare down their lives so that their homes contain only “reasonable items”. Their problem: nobody knows what constitutes “reasonable”.
Here lies a grey area that places huge discretionary powers in the hands of the welfare inspectors, many of whom will not even hand out the application form if they believe that the benefit-seeker possesses any “luxurious” items that may be sold for hard cash.
Thus applying for welfare in Japan is much like declaring personal bankruptcy in the West. Musical instruments, cars, jewellery and a selection of non-specific “unnecessary” household electronics must be sold or the State's coffers will remain closed. At its worst, the benefit regime could provoke a severe collapse in living standards for households where the main breadwinner has lost his or her job.
To receive welfare cheques, all life insurance policies must be cancelled and applicants must show that they have total bank deposits valued at less than half the size of their monthly benefit. Air conditioners are deemed acceptable, but that is only a recent dispensation after a furious public outcry over the treatment of an elderly woman. Cars, motorcycles and other vehicles may be maintained only by benefit-seekers able to prove — beyond doubt — that they could not realistically find a new job without the means of personal transport.
Televisions are viewed as “reasonable”, but wait: this is true only if the screen is not too luxurious in size, too big in layman's terms. The bizarre debate over the precise measurement differences between “acceptable” and “excessive” is expected to rage fiercely in welfare offices throughout Japan.
The forecast of widespread confusion and disarray, described last night by MPs within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, came as record numbers of Japanese are applying for state welfare benefits. In the past, one MP told The Times, Japanese would have applied for livelihood assistance only as a last resort, mainly because there always seemed to be the prospect of another job. “Now those prospects appear to be diminishing every day, people feel they have no other choice.”
January's 30 per cent rise in applications represents a deluge of financial neediness that Japanese society never expected and the system was never built to support. Although the number of households surviving on the “livelihood assistance programme” — the dole — is low by international standards, the 1.2 million figure reportedly reached in January set a record that economists expect to be beaten with each month as the year wears on.
| Our bankers would be in trouble. | |
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10th March 2009, 09:28
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#9308 (permalink)
| | Royalties Account Holder | Re: The great interest rate rip off
Every taxpayer faces £800 bill to bail out the Treasury | Mail Online Quote: Every taxpayer in the country might have to find an extra £806 a year because of a collapse in Government revenues.
Accountancy giant Pricewaterhouse-Coopers reckons the total annual tax rise needed because of the deepening black hole in the Treasury finances could reach £25billion.
Its report today, which warns that the banking crisis and recession are placing the public finances under 'severe strain', follows claims in the Commons last night that Labour's latest bank bail-out means a £50,000 gamble for every man, woman and child in Britain.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers report says Government expenditure should be frozen for the three years to 2013-14, while £25billion of tax rises are needed from 2011 on.
In the Commons last night, critics warned plans to take a 77 per cent stake in Lloyds Banking Group meant taxpayers were being asked to stand behind £3trillion in potentially toxic loans and liabilities.
Gordon Brown has faced mounting criticism over his role in suspending competition law to enable the merger of the oncestrong Lloyds TSB with crippled HBOS.
Amid anger over £80million still being paid out in bonuses to Lloyds staff, ministers were unable to say how much they expected the taxpayer to have to fork out for the latest guarantee of bank assets.
| And this figure will only go up as the number of unemployed increases. | |
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10th March 2009, 21:39
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#9309 (permalink)
| | Royalties Account Holder
Watch out, there are Claims Touts about!
Cagger since
: May 2007
Posts: 14,292
| Re: The great interest rate rip off
BBC NEWS | Business | Worst crisis since 1930s says Fed Quote: US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke says the world is suffering from the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
Mr Bernanke argues that the roots of the current global economic downturn stem from global imbalances in trade and flows of capital in the late 1990s.
In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, he argues that the US and its trading partners did not do enough to redress these imbalances.
He also says future economic recovery depends on financial stability.
| Financial stability  | |
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10th March 2009, 21:43
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#9311 (permalink)
| | Royalties Account Holder | Re: The great interest rate rip off
Bernanke says G20 should focus on regulatory principles | Reuters Quote:
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday said leaders from the Group of 20 rich and developing economies should agree early next month on principles to guide nations as they revamp financial rules to prevent future crises. Finance ministers from the G20 meet this weekend in London to lay the groundwork for an April 2 leaders summit where regulatory reform is expected to feature prominently.
"It's asking too much for a meeting like that to come out with detailed proposals in many different areas," Bernanke told the Council on Foreign Relations. "The better goal for a meeting of leaders would be, as much as possible, to establish some principles that would guide reforms around the world."
Officials hope that by revamping regulation they can erect stronger bulwarks against the kind of financial turmoil that has throttled global markets.
"In particular, we need to work together effectively to make sure that we have solutions for our banking systems that are not mutually inconsistent or create problems across jurisdictions," Bernanke said.
He said the United States should move to a system in which one regulator is charged with overseeing the soundness of the entire financial system. Currently, various agencies are responsible for ensuring the health of specific institutions.
"We must have a strategy that regulates the financial system as a whole, in a holistic way, not just its individual components," Bernanke said.
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10th March 2009, 21:58
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#9316 (permalink)
| | Royalties Account Holder
Where else can you earn 8% interest on your money?
Start your County Court claim NOW!!!
Cagger since
: May 2007
Posts: 14,292
| Re: The great interest rate rip off
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10th March 2009, 22:56
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#9317 (permalink)
| | Gold Account Holder
Is your bank avoiding its debts
Data disclosure poll
Cagger since
: Apr 2006 I am in: bottom of the heap
Posts: 4,009
| Re: The great interest rate rip off
Quote:
Originally Posted by interestrateripoff  | Not that I don't believe you, but what makes you think it's a bluff? | |
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11th March 2009, 08:54
|
#9318 (permalink)
| | Royalties Account Holder | Re: The great interest rate rip off
BBC NEWS | Business | Bank to use 'newly created' money Quote:
The Bank of England is to launch its latest attempt to boost the supply of credit and stimulate the UK economy, using £75bn it has, in effect, created.
It will offer to buy up to £2bn of government bonds from investment institutions and individuals, in the first of a series of auctions.
The aim is to get the Bank's newly created cash out into the wider economy and encourage greater lending.
The policy, known as quantitative easing, has never been tried in the UK.
The Bank said last week it would pump £75bn into the economy, having cut interest rates to an all-time low of 0.5%.
It has government permission to inject a further £75bn into the economy if it wishes.
The first "auction" will take place at midday when the Bank will invite offers from investment institutions and individuals to sell government bonds, known as gilts.
Two hours later there will be a second stage of this so-called reverse auction, allowing banks to participate.
Similar auctions will then follow twice weekly.
Deflation
The hope is that those who sell the government bonds will use the money from the Bank to lend to individuals or companies or invest in business activity.
Gilt prices have surged over the last few days in anticipation.
Such an approach is unprecedented in the Bank's 315-year history but is now considered necessary as interest rates approach zero and deflation becomes a growing possibility.
Deflation - or falling prices - is bad for the economy as it encourages consumers to delay spending in the expectation that prices will soon be lower, potentially worsening an economic downturn.
The governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has admitted he does not know how long quantitative easing will take to have an effect but claims it will "eventually work". | So we kick off at midday today.
If we get hyperinflation will Mystic Merv still claim it's worked?
And the aim to get the cash out into the wider economy and encourage greater lending!!!! So the aim is to increase debt in the system.
Seriously is there anyone who can make an argument that more debt will solve our economic problems? | |
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11th March 2009, 08:57
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#9319 (permalink)
| | Royalties Account Holder | Re: The great interest rate rip off
Quote:
Originally Posted by un1boy Not that I don't believe you, but what makes you think it's a bluff? | They are cheerleaders trying to gee up the markets. Jobs are still being lost, more bad debts will hit this year, I really can't see anything positive happening this year.
Exponential growth is impossible at a certain point you reach the limits, we are at those limits now. Chris Martenson | chapters - The Crash Course - chapters, Crash Course, Economy, Energy, environment, Peak Oil, videos
See this for a quick overview. Chapter 3 | |
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11th March 2009, 09:14
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#9320 (permalink)
| | Royalties Account Holder | Re: The great interest rate rip off
China suffers record fall in exports - Telegraph Quote:
The Chinese customs bureau said exports had dropped by 25.7pc to US$64.9 billion in February compared to last year.
Imports dropped 24.1pc to US$60.1 billion. It was the fourth straight month of falls for Chinese exports, which dropped 17.1pc in January.
China is facing a "grim" outlook, said Chen Deming, the trade minister, adding that Europe was a particularly weak market. He said more than one third of the goods produced in Chinese factories are sold overseas.
"There are still uncertainties in the downturn, many issues have yet to emerge. There are difficulties in European countries, we will still see a grim picture in the coming months," he said, at the National People's Congress in Beijing.
The steep fall in exports resulted in China's smallest monthly trade surplus for three years: US$4.84 billion, down from nearly $40 billion in January.
The trade figures were far worse than the median forecasts of six economists of a 6.7pc drop in exports and US$30 billion trade surplus.
"Exports are very weak," said Yu Song, an economist at Goldman Sachs.
"Exports growth after Chinese New Year tends to be weak because many exporters traditionally have extended holidays after the official break.
However, underlying growth is undoubtedly weak."
Wang Qian, an economist at JP Morgan in Hong Kong, said: "There's no hope for export demand to recover any time soon." Analysts at China International Capital Corp, an investment bank, said they expected the trade surplus to remain blow US$20 billion for the next six months.
| And there PM predicted 8% growth this year only a few days ago? BBC NEWS | Business | Chinese plans boost Asian shares Quote:
Asian shares jumped on Thursday after Chinese premier Wen Jiabao gave details of his stimulus package and predicted 8% growth for China this year.
The Shanghai Composite Index closed up 1.0% while in Japan the Nikkei index ended the day 2% higher.
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