Saving is a mugs game

[grafikhaus74]

Watched the appalling Question Time last night. On the panel were 3 MPs (if you can include Diane Abbott) and a banker Niclola Horlick. They had the nerve to spout about how they would get us out of the financial crisis - you know, the one they got us in to.

 

They said that 'if the Euro collapsed, it would be cataclysmic for everybody.' Well, thanks for that, folks. We never had a say in it, ditto the bank bailouts but now we're being asked to take the pain. Again.

 

Leaving aside the stunning hypocrisy of all this (and the fact that Abbott and Horlick hardly look as if they had seen a famine lately), I reckon we're reaching the endgame for the 'system' the way 'they' have set it up.

 

Take 'saving for a rainy day'. Long and rightly regarded as an important part of society, where one becomes less of a burden on the state, allows people to spend and help the economy and the primary reason for going to work in the first place.

 

But what if you've worked hard, saved and become redundant? 'Sorry, you have savings so will get nothing. However him over there who has never bothered/hasn't paid anything into the pot. He'll get everything.' Or 'That 17 year old girl over there. Never even thought about working, but she's just had a bay-bee so will get both money and a council flat.'

 

Or if you or a loved one has to go into an old people's home? Ditto.

 

And how about the 2-year 'freeze' on interest rates for savers (so that people who have borrowed are spared the pain)? £43 Bn lost in interest so far and counting.

 

And we may be facing the ultimate sin of being a saver. The feral, corrupt banks (i.e. all of them) may well fold and, as they head off in their limos, the savers will have lost everything.

 

So is it worth saving? Sure, you need a bit in case your cooker blows up etc. but it seems to me that you are a bit mad to save (or declare savings...) that affect your right to services that those who haven't bothered currently enjoy.

 

All I know is that it can't go on. As people get older and face later and diminishing pensions will have less to leave to their kids. Therefore the age when people 'get on the housing ladder' will get later.

 

In 20-odd years, I'll probably have to go into a home. By that time, I'll have made sure I've spent the bloody lot. Selfish or sensible?

[Jeffrey Shaw]

Worse still is the insidious effect of inflation. Other than Index-Linked National Savings Certificates (lately withdrawn from sale, due to over-demand) and a couple of similar issues branded 'Post Office' but in fact from Bank of Ireland, savers find that no interest rates (net of tax) 'beat' either of the inflation rates: RPI and CPI.

[L00b]

but it seems to me that you are a bit mad to save (or declare savings...) that affect your right to services that those who haven't bothered currently enjoy.

Ah, but then, these days, if you tax avoid (or evade, depending on the circumstances), you're branded worse than a professional scrounger, if not a banker (). Can't have your cake and eating it I'm afraid

Selfish or sensible?

Eminently sensible so long as the 'system' remains the same.

 

Will become selfish if, as and when benefits are eventually -and effectively- stripped from ne'er-do-wells.

 

Admittedly, it's a big "if". But it could happen, if things don't start turning around for good soon.

 

Out of the entire panel on QT last night, the Labour and Conservative reps were by far the most farcical/useless/true-to-form-politicking-politician/least-inspiring speakers. They were each as rethorical as the other, but the Labour one was worst as she was quite a bit less articulate. To my utter surprise, the Sinn F rep did quite well compared to these two.

[Alien52]

How is it possible for a bank to be feral?

[rickiethecat]

Market forces mean you have good times and bad times in the financial market. Just as the last recession was followed by boom years, so will this one. In a few years time we'll all be wondering what the fuss was about the credit crunch.

[L00b]

Market forces mean you have good times and bad times in the financial market. Just as the last recession was followed by boom years, so will this one. In a few years time we'll all be wondering what the fuss was about the credit crunch.

If the € tanks, you won't for a good while longer than a "few years time".

 

Horlick was right last night when she said that the UK would suffer as much as everyone else in the €-zone, if that happens.

 

It has nothing to do with the fact that the UK did or didn't get into the €-zone

 

("They said that 'if the Euro collapsed, it would be cataclysmic for everybody.' Well, thanks for that, folks. We never had a say in it" = that's a misrepresentation/strawman argument, grafikhaus74...and I'd wager that you know it ),

 

but everything do with the fact that the UK does most of its overseas business in the €-zone.

 

In the whole € crisis affair, the UK is collateral damage. Because the UK does so much more business with €-zone than, say, the BRICs, the damage would be (proportionally-) extensive.

[grafikhaus74]

How is it possible for a bank to be feral?

 

From Wikipedia:

 

"A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of banks plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer."

 

Yup. Sounds a lot like banks to me!

 

("They said that 'if the Euro collapsed, it would be cataclysmic for everybody.' Well, thanks for that, folks. We never had a say in it" = that's a misrepresentation/strawman argument, grafikhaus74...and I'd wager that you know it ),

 

Explain, please. Don't remember any vote on it.

[wednesday1]

From Wikipedia:

 

"A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of banks plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer."

 

Yup. Sounds a lot like banks to me!

 

 

 

Explain, please. Don't remember any vote on it.

 

 

 

Having some wonga saved up for as you put it, if the cooker blows up etc is

sensible, but unless you're an old git who can't afford the time to take a hit, if things go wrong, then it makes more sense to do other things with your money eg buy another house perhaps and rent it out or buy premium bonds or buy some oil / mining exploration shares (which have potential to make great gains) Having savings in the bank at current rates just ain't worth it IMO.

[Cyclone]

You want to buy another house with the money you've saved to buy a replacement cooker

[Cyclone]

From Wikipedia:

 

"A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of banks plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer."

 

Yup. Sounds a lot like banks to me!

 

 

 

Explain, please. Don't remember any vote on it.

 

You think you should have got a vote about what some other countries do with their currencies... Do you really think that they have to respect our wishes with regards to what they do... You're lucky that it didn't work the other way I suppose and that they didn't get a vote about scrapping the pound...