The great interest rate rip off part 1

[interestrateripoff]

Families to foot bill for £2.5bn floods - Times Online

 

Hundreds of thousands of homeowners will be hit with higher household insurance premiums as a second wave of flash floods gives insurers their biggest ever claims bill......

 

Competition in the general insurance industry has kept rates steady for the past 13 years, despite the wettest autumn since records began in 2000 and the 80mph winds that caused widespread damage last year.

This weekend’s flooding could easily take the cost of claims past the £2.5 billion mark this month, according to leading analysts.

 

Great this can feed into inflation and Merv can put up interest rates again, helpfully interest rates don't count towards inflation!!!

[interestrateripoff]

Strong growth boosts chances of rate rise - Times Online

 

The economy powered ahead in the second quarter, growing by an unexpectedly strong 0.8 per cent, data revealed yesterday, strengthening the chances that interest rates will hit 6 per cent by the autumn.

The announcement from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) means that GDP has now grown for 60 successive quarters – an achievement unrivalled since the emergence of Britain as an industrial economy.

The 0.8 per cent growth between March and June beat expectations and compared with a 0.7 per cent increase in the first quarter. Over the year to the second quarter, GDP expanded by 3 per cent, unchanged from the first quarter.

Economists noted that GDP had now expanded at or above its “trend”, or long-run average, for six successive quarters and bet that the Bank of England would have to take swift action to prevent the economy from overheating.

[interestrateripoff]

Surprise on economic growth adds to fears of interest rate rise - Independent Online Edition > Business News

 

The British economy completed 15 years of uninterrupted growth during the second quarter of 2007, figures published by the Office for National Statistics revealed yesterday.

The ONS said gross domestic product increased by 0.8 per cent from April to June this year, compared with 0.7 per cent in the first quarter and ahead of City forecasts. The year-on-year growth rate was 3 per cent, the same as during the previous three months.

If that performance is sustained, 2007 will be the best year for growth since 2004. A robust performance was recorded by most sectors, with services (representing three quarters of the UK economy), industrial production and construction all contributing.

Manufacturing companies also bounced back, despite the strength of the pound, which rose to a 26-year high against the dollar yesterday. Utilities output was the only category to show a decline.

GDP growth was in line with the Bank of England's forecasts for the quarter, though inflation was 0.5 percentage points higher, the ninth consecutive quarter in which price rises have overshot the Monetary Policy Committee's forecasts from a year earlier. The ONS warned that private sector output, the measure that the MPC cites as its principal guide to underlying inflationary pressures is running ahead of the overall GDP figures.

City economists also pointed out that provisional GDP numbers are often later adjusted upwards by the statisticians.

The general picture is of inflation and growth running a little ahead of where the Bank of England might wish them to be. Pay awards rose 3.2 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier, a survey by Industrial Relations Services showed today, slightly slowing from May, though the impact on consumption has been muted by higher taxes and mortgages.

[interestrateripoff]

Greenback to the Future

 

The euro, the pound, the Canadian dollar, oil and gold have been pronouncing a judgment of their own this week - all soared against the dollar. And yet not a whimper is to be heard from the great American masses. The dollar may be in trouble abroad, but at home its reputation is still spotless. Gas may cost more, heating bills may be higher, but so far milk, eggs, and beer have not soared beyond the budget of the masses. The people may have mortgaged their futures for the roof over their heads and sold their souls for a mess of credit, but with home prices still holding up and stocks pushing at all time highs, the devil has not come around for repayment yet.

Helping to postpone the day he does, the government also quietly stopped reporting M3 money in March 2006. M3 is the broadest measure of the "money supply" in the U.S. economy. As the supply of money increases, typically, consumer prices go up. Independent analysts who keep an eye on these things tell us that the green stuff is being pumped in at one of the highest rates ever - 12% per year, or four times the rate of GDP growth.

"Then why has it not gone to swell the prices of groceries yet?" you might ask.

The answer is that the people with the most money are spreading it around in places far distant from the local Superfresh. The ersatz money is circulating these days in art houses and auctions, in exotic vacation houses and rental properties, in retirement funds and pensions. Securitized and derivatized, packaged and repackaged, it is lent from one end of the globe to the other, forcing central bankers all over the world to work their own printing presses night and day to keep up with it. The resulting global "liquidity" is the bilge upon which asset prices float and make this boom so great for asset owners.

But this liquidity is no different from the non-existent "consideration" that Mr. Daly received from the First National Bank of Montgomery. It was this shaky credit that was packaged into new debt instruments like CDOs that are so intricate that teams of mathematicians cannot fathom all the ramifications and complications thereof. In a miracle rivaling any by the Galilean, these same oily pretzels of debt were twisted into Triple A rated bonds and sold to pension funds and institutional investors. Now the buyers are finding that the grease has turned rancid: Last week, the three leading rating agencies downgraded debt linked to the shakiest part of the housing market - the subprime loans. And following swiftly, one hedge fund at Bear Stearns took ill and passed away altogether while a third gave up 91% of its returns.

Ben Bernanke would like to boost rates to support the dollar and help American tourists, but faced with a liquidity crisis in the $500 trillion derivatives market, he'll have to think thrice before doing so. But rates are going up with or without him. Lenders are finally growing wary.

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/dmstandard/frame.html?in_bottom=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thisismoney.co.uk%2Fcredit-and-loans%2Farticle.html%3Fin_article_id%3D422522%26in_page_id%3D9%26ct%3D5

 

Today marks the day when most Brits go overdrawn and have to rely on their bank to fund the rest of the month's expenses.

On average working Brits unable to stay in the black will go into the red on the 20th of each month. However, 2.1m individuals don't have the pleasure of coming out of debt and are constantly in the red.

 

Research from Moneysupermarket.com shows that in the past year 10 million working Britons have gone into their overdraft at least once.

 

Kevin Mountford, head of current accounts, said: 'It's no surprise so many people are permanently in the red – with interest rates having risen five times in the past year consumers are not doubt feeling the squeeze.

 

'People often dipping into their overdraft need to watch the Effective Annual Rate as some can be punitive and they may find they are better off spending on a 0% credit card in the future.'

 

He added that those lingering near the 'murky' edges of their authorised overdraft limit should be careful as unauthorised overdraft rates can be extortionate. It's not unusual for banks to charge over 30% interest for an unauthorised overdraft.

 

Surely a Mystic Merv interest rate rise can fix this. If people are irresponsibly spending more money than they should be charging them more for there mortgage will clearly stop this from going into debt!!!

 

The logic of economists, fortunately the economy is booming or is it???

[interestrateripoff]

Daily Express: The World's Greatest Newspaper :: YourMoney :: New cash ploy by card firms

 

MILLIONS of consumers face paying thousands of pounds extra in interest on their credit card debts after leading lenders cut the minimum amount borrowers must repay every month.

 

In some cases, customers who make only the minimum repayment could see the time taken to clear their debts *double, said experts.

 

The UK’s biggest credit card provider, Barclaycard, and Marks & Spencer Money have both reduced the monthly minimum repayment on their credit cards, from 2.5 per cent to 2.25 per cent and from 3 per cent to 2.5 per cent respectively.

 

Making the minimum repayment only just covers the interest, so hardly any of the capital borrowed is paid back.

 

Quite right paying interest is much more important than paying the debt off. Mystic Merv thinks so that's why none of the increased cost of borrowing goes to paying a penny of the debt.

 

Economists living on a entirely different planet than us on planet Earth.

[interestrateripoff]

UK economy motors ahead | Special report | Guardian Unlimited Business

 

The City was today preparing itself for a fresh increase in interest rates after the UK economy completed 15 years of uninterrupted expansion with a stronger than expected performance in the second quarter of 2007.Continuing a trend that has been under way since speculators forced the pound out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism on Black Wednesday in 1992, the economy grew by 0.8% between April and June.

Data from the Office for National Statistics released this morning showed that the quarterly rise in gross domestic product kept the annual growth rate at 3%, with the government claiming the longest run of quarterly increases since comparable records began.

[interestrateripoff]

C&W faces down angry investors | | Guardian Unlimited Business

 

Cable & Wireless faced down opposition from shareholders today over its controversial plan to award top executives millions of pounds more in bonuses. At its annual meeting in London today, 17.5% of shareholders who voted refused to back a controversial scheme that would remove caps on the bonuses payable to John Pluthero and Harris Jones, who head the firm's UK and international operations.

In addition, 11% of shareholders of those voting refused to back the re-election of chairman Richard Lapthorne. Earlier this year he was given his own bonus scheme which could be worth £11m if he hits his targets. Shareholders were not given the opportunity to vote on his scheme, only to register their fury by not voting him back onto the board.

 

Quite right the rich should get paid inflation busting rises while the rest of us have to suffer 2% as recommended by the government/BoE and suffer inflation busting rate rises by the BoE while the rich get richer. These people work so hard and deserve every penny.

[interestrateripoff]

Banks face mortgage ‘timebomb’ - Times Online

 

BRITAIN’s banks are expected to report a sharp rise in people struggling with their mortgages in the next two weeks, as the impact of five interest-rate hikes in less than a year starts to bite.

Analysts forecast that leading banks will announce a surge in mortgage arrears as well as bad-debt charges linked to mortgages. According to one, UK banks wrote off just £56m in the first quarter of this year. But this is thought to have more than doubled to £140m between April and June. Some analysts now predict that the losses could reach £500m for 2007 and jump to £650m in 2008.

The mortgage bad-debt charges are dwarfed by the £842m losses on personal loans and £897m on credit cards that Britain’s listed banks suffered in the first quarter of 2007. However, the sharp rise in so-called mortgage impairments will be seen as the strongest evidence yet that the benign market of the past few years is coming to an end.

“Bad debts for mortgages have been at an unsustainable low for too long. The market is now getting a lot more realistic. It’s a ticking timebomb,” said one banker.

Northern Rock, the mortgage and savings bank that kicks off the banking reporting season on Wednesday, has already indicated a slight increase in mortgage arrears of more than three months in the first quarter.

Bradford & Bingley, a big player in the sub-prime and buy-to-let markets, is also expected to announce rising arrears.

 

I wonder how many people will have to move from 25yr mortgages to 30yrs, and 30 yrs to 35 yrs etc... to keep there mortgage payments affordable?? The banks movement of interest rates only means one thing more profit for the banks, the longer it takes you to pay off your mortgage the more money the banks make.

 

The BoE is acting only in the banking sector interest at the exclusion of the consumer.

 

Mystic Merv and the MCP have lost the plot, interest rates no longer work in controlling the economy unless you call creating recessions to cool the economy effective economic management!

 

In the 21st century should be have to lose their homes to control inflation, is the misery suffered by these people an acceptable cost? All of those now struggling to meet there mortgage repayments cause stress in relationships acceptable collateral damage in order to maintain the economy?

 

Paradoxically as been noted before other stats show the economy to be booming surely if that's the case no one should be struggling to meet there mortgage repayments???

[interestrateripoff]

Politicians will hit dealmakers but not just yet - Times Online

 

OPERATE internationally and at times you have to fight a war on two fronts. That’s what the private-equity industry, with bases in New York and London, finds itself doing, as politicians in America and Britain attack its tax status. Never mind that the dealmakers, led as if by an invisible hand, have found a solution for one of market capitalism’s problems – the separation of the ownership and control of companies.

That separation is one factor that led to the current battle. The battle between the politicians and the private-equity industry didn’t suddenly flare up because a British dealmaker remarked that he pays taxes at a lower rate than his cleaning lady, or because an American equivalent threw himself a birthday ball costing $2m, or $5m, or $15m, depending on your tabloid of choice.

The controversy began, in part, because company executives, unconstrained by the dispersed and therefore relatively powerless company owners (also known as shareholders), persuaded many supine boards of directors to award compensation bearing little relationship to performance. That created a background in which the public on both sides of the Atlantic began to wonder why inept directors exit the executive suites as multimillionaires. Since those who do not follow Wall Street or the City closely can be forgiven for failing to distinguish between corporate bureaucrats and the inventive, risk-taking entrepreneurs who run private-equity firms, public grumbling became a generalised dissatisfaction with “unfair” compensation. That, of course, attracts the attention of politicians and, when the private-equity operators proved inept at explaining what they contribute to the economy, the stage was set for a battle.

Which is a pity because, by taking over troubled companies, private-equity entrepreneurs cure the problems stemming from the separation of ownership and control. They and their partners now own and control former public companies, and have every incentive to reward only those managers who earn their pay by increasing profits and growth rates. Enter that invisible hand, and the further long-term result might prove to be job creation and enhanced value of the pension funds and other institutional investors who share the profits of these ventures.

 

Yep private equity deserve every penny they make I say give them a zero percent tax rate as they add so much productivity to the economy. They borrow up to the hilt so that any profit made is taken up by interest repayments so they get to pay no tax. Yep these entrepreneurs earn every penny and help to add so much to the economy.

[interestrateripoff]

Energy firms threaten legal action over fuel poverty - Independent Online Edition > Business News

 

A coalition of energy companies, including EDF Energy, E.ON UK and Scottish Power, have threatened to take the Government to court if, as appears likely, it misses its fuel poverty targets.

In 2000, the Government made the legally binding commitment to completely eradicate fuel poverty among the vulnerable – the elderly, disabled and families on low incomes – by 2010. Households are defined as fuel poor if they spend more than 10 per cent of their disposable income, excluding housing benefits, on utility bills.

But the number of fuel-poor households in the UK actually doubled between 2004 and 2006 from 1.2 million to 2.5 million as bills soared.

 

I wonder who many new fuel poor will be added, heat your house or make the mortgage repayment!!!

[interestrateripoff]

Labour's homebuilding plans will put more in peril | the Daily Mail

 

Gordon Brown's proposals to build 200,000 extra homes will increase the risk of devastating floods - according to the Government's own research.

Ministers are to reveal details of plans to solve the housing shortage with new homes in rural areas.

But there are fears that mass building on flood-prone countryside will stop the land soaking up heavy rains

 

More wisdom from those in charge!!!

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/dmstandard/frame.html?in_bottom=http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news

 

The Governor of the Bank of England has admitted he is 'surprised' that rising house prices are not included in the official inflation figures, according the BBC.

Mervyn King told Radio 4's Money Box programme that he wished the Consumer Price Index (CPI) – the measure that tracks the cost of goods and services – did include house prices, as the previous official measure, the Retail Price Index (RPI), used to. He said: 'Some of these issues are controversial. I wish it did include housing, but it doesn't - at least at present. Maybe one day it will.'

Since 1997 Mr King and the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England has had the task of keeping the CPI around a target of 2%. It has raised interest as a method to reduce inflation if prices climb too sharply.

[interestrateripoff]

Experts predict August rate rise | This is Money

 

Millions of homeowners are facing further mortgage misery. Economists said today another increase in the cost of borrowing is almost certain and could come next month.

It would be the sixth since last August and take the Bank of England's base rate from its present 5.75% to 6%, the highest level since February 2001. But the prospect of higher interest rates is good news for British tourists going to the US. The pound jumped to a 26-year high of almost $2.05 as a result.

Fears of an interest rate rise increased when figures were released today showing that prices are rising too quickly.

 

Yep another rate rise, that will help those people struggling to meet there repayments. Why did they borrow money they can't afford, surely they should have factored in potential increase of £160 per month within about 7 months.

[interestrateripoff]

£1bn cost of waiting to see a GP | Politics | The Observer

 

Business leaders are to deliver a tough warning to the government that employees are spending millions of hours a year sitting in doctors' waiting rooms during office hours because of the lack of weekend GP clinics.Three and a half million working days were lost last year because employees had to see a doctor during working hours, according to the Confederation of British Industry. This was more than four times the number of days lost to industrial action in 2006.

 

But the economy is booming isn't it???

[interestrateripoff]

Buyers get the upper hand as rising interest rates slow property sales | Cash | The Observer

 

Rising interest rates and an oversupply of houses for sale are turning parts of the country into buyer's property markets, according to recent reports from estate agents and surveyors.Outside London and the Home Counties, house price growth has already slowed sharply. The latest regional breakdown by the Nationwide shows that in Liverpool, prices have been flat for a year, and in Newcastle and Birmingham they have risen by just 3 per cent.

The latest monthly survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors also points to a weakening UK housing market, with the result that buyers have been able to negotiate prices down in some areas for the first time in months.

In Didcot in Oxfordshire James Scott-Lee, who represents Chancellors estate agency, says: 'A lot of property on the market [is on] at inflated prices. It is becoming a buyer's market as they have a lot of choice. Clients are having to be a lot more realistic with prices.'

The story is similar further north in Lincolnshire. 'There are tough market conditions with buyers having a lot of properties to choose from,' says Philip Barnatt of Lincoln-based agents Mundys. 'Correctly priced properties, however, still have a chance of a quick sale as there are still buyers out there. Asking price is therefore crucial.'

[interestrateripoff]

BBC NEWS | Politics | Flood plain homes 'not ruled out'

 

The government is expected to announce on Monday that it is rejecting calls to stop building houses on flood plains, despite the recent extensive flooding. A draft of the Housing Green Paper, dated 18 July, was leaked to the BBC ahead of of its formal publication.

The document suggests it is "not realistic" to prevent all future development in flood-risk areas.

The government has refused to comment on the document but said it would hold an inquiry into the leak.

The Tories said building on flood plains would put more homes at risk.

 

Yep put more homes on a flood plains, that will help keep everyone premiums down, with the inflation busting rises coming we can expect Mystic Merv to put interest rates up!!!

[interestrateripoff]

BBC NEWS | UK | Food prices on the rise and rise

 

As more doomsday predictions emerge about the price of staple foods, the BBC has taken an in-depth look at what is pushing up the costs.

 

They've been baking bread at Bonnett's in Somersham, on the edge of the Cambridgeshire Fens, since 1803 at least.

The shop, with its venerable green and gold Hovis sign above the entrance, is packed with a mouth-watering selection of bread and buns, cakes and cold meats.

The bakehouse at the back supplies a small chain of seven other Bonnett's shops in the towns and villages round about.

But life for independent bakers has been getting tougher.

There's the competition from the supermarkets. And then there's the rising cost of raw materials.

In the past year the price of a loaf of bread in UK shops has risen 15 per cent. Soon it'll go up again.

'Frightening'

In common with the rest of Britain's flour millers, David Bonnett's suppliers have told him to expect increases of around £40 a tonne or more in the price they charge.

That in turn will mean another four or five pence on the price he charges his customers for a large loaf. He calls the rises "frightening".

Bread isn't the only staple food whose price has been rising rapidly.

According to the research company TNS Worldpanel, in the 12 months to June, the supermarket price of milk has gone up 11 per cent, eggs have gone up almost 18 per cent, butter has gone up five per cent and meat six per cent, all well above the rate of inflation.

 

Wow that's a bit higher than the govt 2% inflation target. But consumers don't worry Mystic Merv will sort out he'll put up interest rates again, that will help to reduce the price of food, consumers must learn to spend more wisely, bread, milk, butter must only be for the rich will low income households please stop buying them.

 

Mystic Merv

You don't know what your doing

You don't know what your doing

You don't know what your doing

You don't know what your doing

You don't know what your doing

You don't know what your doing

[interestrateripoff]

Looting, panic buying - and a water shortage - Times Online

 

Food and drinking water shortages, panic buying and the threat of looting have followed the worst flooding to hit England in 60 years.

Amid concerns that the government-run Environment Agency acted far too slowly in responding to serious flood alerts from the Met Office, parts of the West Country woke up this morning to another day under water and the Thames Valley now faces being inundated.

An estimated 90,000 gallons of water a second was surging down the swollen River Thames last night towards Oxford, Reading and Windsor.

The Environment Agency fears that the Thames Valley area will now suffer a similar fate to Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire, where flooding has bought misery to thousands of people. Opposition MPs are seeking an emergency statement from the Government today.

[interestrateripoff]

Why it will cost more to phone your GP - Times Online

 

Millions of patients could be paying more to telephone their family doctor as surgeries switch to numbers that are more expensive than the traditional local call, The Times has learnt.

Even though the telephone watchdog Ofcom is critical of the idea, about 1,200 practices have abandoned their area code numbers and now use numbers that have an “0844” prefix which may allow them to earn money from patients booking appointments.

Although not officially classed as “premium rate”, the new numbers are up to 4p a minute more expensive to call from a standard BT landline, and can cost up to 40p a minute using a mobile phone or other price plan. GPs’ practices can also receive a rebate of up to 2p a minute on incoming calls.

Suppliers of the new lines argue that they ease congestion and cost patients less overall because they do not spend as long on the phone. The suppliers deny that doctors make money from the calls because it is used to pay for the installation of the system, and is ploughed back into the practice.

But patients’ groups told The Times that the 0844 code put an “unfair financial burden” on pensioners and others with chronic illness or disability who have to contact their surgery regularly. Those taken ill abroad may have difficulty contacting the doctor back home on an 0844 number, as many foreign networks will not connect to them.

Ofcom said that use of the numbers by public sector bodies was “not appropriate” and there were cheaper options.

 

Helping to put your cost of living up, but don't ask for a wage increase as Mystic Merv will take it off you with a interest rate rise, which doesn't appear on either of the figures to calculate inflation.

[interestrateripoff]

Bank concern on ONS move is backed by watchdog - Times Online

 

Bank of England warnings that the quality of key economic data may be damaged by moving the Office for National Statistics and reducing its staff numbers were backed yesterday by the Statistics Commission.

The commission used its annual report to throw its weight behind the Bank’s concerns that relocating the ONS from London to Newport risks damaging vital economic figures used to make decisions on steering the economy. It feared that the move, with other pressures and demands facing the ONS, meant that the quality of the data produced could be eroded.

“The commission believes that the confluence of the various risks, including the published goal of cutting 700 jobs and relocating a further 850, threatens the delivery of statistical products and services,” it said.

The commission called for ministers to ensure that the ONS had adequate funds to carry out its work effectively.

 

There is no quality of data as it doesn't include the COST OF A MORTGAGE IN THE FIGURES!!!! Even the figures that are used are meaningless if there is any regional disparities it doesn't matter as we all get to pay the same rate any way!!!

 

Interest rates DO NOT WORK!!

[interestrateripoff]

ONS to launch personal inflation calculator - Times Online

 

Anyone who suspects that their own personal inflation rate is closer to 16 per cent than 2.7 per cent may soon have their fears confirmed, following the launch of a personal inflation calculator.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) will launch an online tool on January 15 that will enable individual households to work out their own true rate of inflation, based on what they are personally buying.

There are currently two measures of inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Retail Price Index (RPI). They are calculated using the rise in cost of a basket of 650 goods, designed to represent the average household spend.

The CPI rose to 2.7 per cent in November from 2.4 per cent in October as the cost of rising rents and utility bills began to bite.

The basket is regularly updated. Items such as MP3 players and flatscreen televisions were recently added to the index, while chocolate-coated biscuits were removed.

But concern has been growing that the measures do not accurately reflect the rising cost of living in the UK.

 

Does this mean Mystic Merv can work out inflation is even higher when he calculates in his own interest rate rises!!!! Wow that will mean we'll have to have more interest rate rises to curb inflation pressures.

 

Catch 22

[interestrateripoff]

Household tax payments have risen 10 per cent in a year, says ITEM club - Independent Online Edition > Business News

 

Households are being squeezed by a pincer movement of tax and interest rate raises, according to the latest Ernst & Young ITEM Club economic forecast, based on the Treasury's own model of the economy.

The report points out that fiscal drag (where allowances and tax bands don't keep up with inflation) has helped to push the tax burden "towards record levels". Household tax payments rose by 9.8 per cent in the year to the first quarter, far ahead of pay rises. Given this background, the forecast warns that "the Chancellor and the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee have to tread a careful line between keeping an eye on an over-exuberant City and a housing market that refuses to dampen down, without panicking into a series of damaging interest rate rises".

ITEM is predicting strong GDP growth of 2.9 per cent in 2007 and 2.5 per cent for 2008, and expects interest rates to rise further, to 6 per cent, "possibly as soon as August".

Peter Spencer, chief economic adviser to the ITEM Club, said: "The Bank has acted forcefully, but it now needs to be careful not to squeeze the UK economy too hard. The MPC needs to rebalance the economy and cool the housing and financial markets, without jeopardising exports."

The uneven performance of the US economy is a cause for concern for ITEM, particularly the US housing and mortgage markets. ITEM warns that the UK "could just be lagging behind the US" and that regulators and the MPC will need to monitor these developments "very carefully". However, Spencer adds: "The UK should be able to withstand a slowdown in the US and wobbles in its housing market. Currently, these problems are US specific and should not spread. Our worry is that the buoyancy of the business and financial sectors will continue unabated, and that rates will need to be raised further to subdue this. If that happens, the housing market and the high-street will be very exposed. These developments have the potential to cause a major slowdown in the consumer sector.

 

10% that's higher than the govt's 2% inflation target, Mystic Merv had better act quickly and put up interest rates. O wait a minute that might not work???

 

It's a good job interest rates aren't included in any official figures!!

[interestrateripoff]

Thousands without fresh water as floods bring chaos | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

 

More than 350,000 people are facing days without fresh water supplies and a clean-up operation lasting months as devastating floods this weekend left communities cut off across central and southern England.Last night waters were still rising in several parts of the country as the Severn and Thames threatened to burst their banks in Gloucester and Oxford, bringing more chaos to a region where hundreds of people have been evacuated after downpours which began on Friday and swept the country over the weekend.

 

I wonder how much food has been lost. But don't worry it will only mean higher food prices, ahh does that mean Mystic Merv will put up interest rates again???

[interestrateripoff]

British manufacturing exporters bear up under a less mighty dollar | | Guardian Unlimited Business

 

Hard-pressed British exporters hoping for relief from the problems of a $2-plus pound will find little cheer in US economic data this week. Figures from the US housing market, rattled by the sub-prime loans debacle, are unlikely to provide any support for the greenback. But Britain's manufacturing exporters are proving surprisingly resilient in the face of the continuing weakness of the dollar.Companies and their industry associations acknowledge that the decline of the dollar is causing concern but protests have so far been muted. It is a far cry from the beginning of the decade, when sterling's appreciation against the euro brought demands for Britain to sign up for the single European currency.

One explanation is the relative importance of the two markets. The US accounts for only about a quarter of the level of manufacturing exports that Britain sends to EU countries. Nor is a weak dollar entirely a problem. Many companies incur costs as well as sales in dollars.The reality, however, is that over the past decade and more British exporters have been faced with the strength of sterling if not in one market then another. They have either developed a strategy to cope or simply had to withdraw. Take JCB, which last week unveiled record results.

 

Well we know what we need, another interest rate rise that will help.