Here comes Austerity again

[BillyStubbsTears]

https://mobile.twitter.com/PriapusIQ/status/1438594552244342787

The same obsession with Govt debt.

 The same fear that interest rates might rise. (That was the fear in 2010 that was used to justify Austerity. Interest rates on Govt debt fell for a decade, as they had done for the previous 2 decades.)

The same fixation with prioritising looking after the future rich people and leaving the present poor to take the pain.

Nothing learned. Same problems about to be self inflicted again.

[normal rules]

I could do with some high interest rates about now. My savings are doing shit all.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Here's how interest rates have gone on UK Govt debt for the past few decades. But we are about to slash public spending once again, because they might rise.
https://datahub.io/core/bond-yields-uk-10y

It's like saying you have to reduce your water usage because the price of water might go up in the future. While ignoring the fire that is burning the house down.

[BillyStubbsTears]

NR.
You will not get higher interest rates until the economy starts to grow strongly. We've just had the worst decade of economic growth since the Napoleonic Wars. And this obsession with debt will turn that into two decades.

The truly stupid thing is that this was all predicted. Because it happened in Japan 30 years ago. They had high Govt debt. So they cut Govt spending. And the economy tanked. So tax income to the Govt went down. So the debt went UP. The lesson is there. We are just choosing over and over and over again to ignore it.

[normal rules]

That’s fine.I can hold out for some time yet.I’ve made a pretty penny on crypto.

[normal rules]

As have some of my mates that listened to me two years ago when I told them to lump on ethereum when they were just £170 each.

[SydneyRover]

That’s fine.I can hold out for some time yet.I’ve made a pretty penny on crypto.

You need to make an appointment with selby to discuss building a diversified portfolio, give the Turkish time share a big miss though.

[Glyn_Wigley]

That’s fine.I can hold out for some time yet.I’ve made a pretty penny on crypto.

I don't blame you for not investing in this country at the moment.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

That’s fine.I can hold out for some time yet.I’ve made a pretty penny on crypto.

I don't blame you for not investing in this country at the moment.

More fool you.  My UK investments have shown 30%+ growth year on year.  The UK has been massively undervalued an an investment opportunity.

[selby]

  Bang on BFYP.

[belton rover]

That’s fine.I can hold out for some time yet.I’ve made a pretty penny on crypto.

I don't blame you for not investing in this country at the moment.

More fool you.  My UK investments have shown 30%+ growth year on year.  The UK has been massively undervalued an an investment opportunity.

This post will soon be forgotten about.

[BillyStubbsTears]

That’s fine.I can hold out for some time yet.I’ve made a pretty penny on crypto.

I don't blame you for not investing in this country at the moment.

More fool you.  My UK investments have shown 30%+ growth year on year.  The UK has been massively undervalued an an investment opportunity.

As a Nobel Prize-winning economist says regularly in his Twitter feed, the stock market and the economy are two very different things. In the recession of the early 1990s, GDP fell by 1% in 1990/91 and unemployment went up by 1.5 million. The FTSE100 rose by 10%.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

I am well aware hence these not being FTSE 100 investments. The FTSE being quite international focussed. Indeed again today I have been reading about anticipated improvements in GDP forecasts at the next budget. There is huge potential in a lot of UK based companies not just internally but internationally too.  A lot of the big risks being international as opposed to brexit.

[River Don]

It's quite interesting, the international nature of things...

Take for instance the UK labour market. Through Brexit and the pandemic it's becoming undeniably apparent that much of the lower paid and manual work has been done by immigrants from the EU. And now. No lorry drivers and so on.

I always thought the EU had a problem because it was a nation state without being a full nation state. the U.K. was usually sat on the end of it picking and choosing which parts of the EU it liked.

So is it possible that one reason why the rights of the lower paid in the UK are so commonly ignored is because, well many of the lower paid weren't actually UK citizens and didn't have the right to vote?

Wouldn't it be ironic if Brexit were eventually to lead to Labour getting a higher share of the vote? I don't suppose it'll happen because the Tories will probably find another way to work the system.

[Nudga]

Physical gold, silver and stainless Steel for me.

[River Don]

Physical gold, silver and stainless Steel for me.

Makes sense if you believe there will be high inflation.

I think there is going to be some inflation but I don't think it'll be high or last for long. Interest rates have been on a downward trend since the early 80s because inflation hasn't been an issue.

In one sense interest rates represent growth, the profit that can be taken from growth.

I don't believe there is a lot of growth in the system bar fuel prices, for a time, I think now fuel prices act as a natural stabiliser and we aren't able to push interest rates up.

Before inflation becomes a problem we will see demand destruction. Like shutting down fertiliser plants because they can't afford natural gas.

In one sense interest rates represent growth, the profit that can be taken from growth. There isn't a lot of growth, it's been falling for decades.

I'm investing in a sofa electric blanket, so we can cut down on the heating bills this winter. And I'm getting some more insulation foam to make sure the door and window frames are air tight.

And I've held some physical gold for years now, it's not been a bad investment or a particularly good one either. It's insurance against inflation, and the inflation is never really there.

The biggest laugh was last month when the BoE said we were going to see blistering growth. Oh dear.

[River Don]

Ooompf,

I know I'm always pessimistic but nobody has yet tried to put me right and cheer me up.

Time to put my Joy Division records on...

[belton rover]

Ooompf,

I know I'm always pessimistic but nobody has yet tried to put me right and cheer me up.

Time to put my Joy Division records on...

I’ve been to see Milton Jones tonight, River. He was very funny but I can’t remember any of his jokes. I hope this cheers you up!

Here’s an old one of his:

“As a child I had a medical condition that meant I had to eat soil three times a day in order to survive. Lucky my older brother told me about it really.”

[BillyStubbsTears]

Sunak was criticised yesterday on his Austerity measures, specifically the £20/week cut to Universal Credit.

See if you can guess which Marxist snowflake said this about the UC cut.

“Universal credit levels-up because it gets people back into work, back into the sense of work. We’ve got ourselves caught, with the Treasury now demanding that we start getting the money back from Covid. We should treat this like war debt. We can’t go back into a massive cutting exercise. Ultimately, that will affect the worst-off in society.”