Fiddling while Rome burns....
11 March 2013
The housing market is depressed and business lending is depressed, despite that a Commission of MPs and Peers want to make it a lot worse.
The housing market is depressed and business lending is depressed, despite that a Commission of MPs and Peers want to make it a lot worse.
They want to change something called the 'leverage ratio' which will reduce the amount banks can lend.
Tougher FSA rules on lending are also making it a lot more difficult for many people to get mortgages. The end of self-certification and a lot less discretion being allowed to lenders is excluding a lot of people from the housing market. Indeed people who have mortgages and are able to service those mortgage are unable to remortgage into a better rate elsewhere because of the rule laid down by FSA pen pushers.
There is no doubt that the rules did get too lax after 1998 and certainly needed tightening up but they are all going too far. Everyone is more concerned with covering their backs than doing what is right for individuals.
This is all adding to our economic woes.
- People need profit, they need the tax revenues it provides and the jobs it generates. Profit has to come first to ensure people are provided for.
- It appears you have your nose in the hymn sheet still Barry, out in the real world; once valued staff are thrown to the wolves simply to create the semblance of profit in order to distribute bonuses to the few.
- That is rot Tom.
How on earth do you think people can be secure in their jobs without profit? You speak as someone who has never had the responsibility for running a business, for employing people and keeping them and yourself in jobs, someone who has never risked his home to do so. That is the real world. Talk such as yours in cheap. - and the genral public are depressed to,one such number jumped from th qe2 bridge at dartford yesterday.
- I wonder which of us ha this in mind...
"John Lewis to share nearly £200m in bonuses after successful year"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/mar/09/john-lewis-staff-share-200m-pound-bonuses
Far better than the HSBC method. - Good for them Tom. Remuneration policy is a matter for individual companies, or should be.
- barry
john lewis are owned by the staff so they get paid bonuses on the profit, no-one decides remuneration policy. - I am aware Howard. I am all in favour of employees owning shares in businesses and, indeed employee buy-outs as well.
- That is frightfully broad of you Barry. You have given me a good idea.
We often are told of our Nation's debt in terms of so many pounds per household, sixteen hundred or so.
Why then do we not each get our hands upon a share certificate for HSBC and other Banks and concerns backed by public cash?
This would drive the problem (literally) home and I am sure we could all do with the extra money down the line.
On the other hand many of us might wish to hang on to the shares for the regular dividend payments. - Tom - there is talk from the government that they might do just that.
The problem with that idea is that it will not repay the bail-out cash to the Treasury. I, personally, would prefer the bulk of the shares be offered for sale, at a discount on market price, in tranches to all taxpayers with the balance then being offered at full market price to the institutions. The market price would be affected by a discount but it is not beyond the wit of those responsible to work out a formula. The timings of each tranche would need carefully planned as well. - Incidentally - you mentioned HSBC - they did not get a bail-out of course so this would not apply to them, RBS and Lloyds only.
Although putting profit before people always seemed to be putting the cart before the horse.