Since Christmas we have published a number of blogs looking at everyday interest rates in the UK. Long before even the Governor of the Bank of England claims he heard that the big banks were rigging the now famous LIBOR, we were pointing out how the banks were squeezing us all. Savers in the . . . → Read More: Interest rates being rigged – what the Parliamentary Banking Commission should be looking into
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While squeezed living standards have been the norm in the UK now for a good many years, the lastest news indicates that the global downturn is taking the pressure off food and energy prices – until the shrivelled US harvest takes effect. Rental prices for housing are still edging upwards although purchase prices are . . . → Read More: Housing reflation and housing inflation – Alternative inflation … The UK has now gone into recession, with the national income having shrunk for 2 successive quarters. Classical economics has always suggested that an important part of fostering growth in such circumstances is for interest rates to be reduced. Our Bank of England have again told us that their policy rate of interest is . . . → Read More: UK in recession – but the highest interest rates in Europe Gordon Brown was talking about bringing in regional pay around the time we were doing some of the original work on our prosperity and inflation project. This is explained more fully in this article I wrote for the Birmingham Post at the time. One of the main reasons Brown flinched from it, was that . . . → Read More: George Osborne’s regional pay plan – and picking up on our Regional Prosperity and Inflation Project Practical proposals emailed to us by our founder member Colin Hines: *** NEWS RELEASE *** EMBARGO: 00.30am, Thursday 9 February 2012 INVENTOR OF QE AND GREEN MP CALL FOR UP TO £70BN GREEN QUANTITATIVE EASING TO STABILISE FLAGGING UK ECONOMY Economist Professor Richard Werner, who proposed the term “quantitative easing” in Japan in the 1990s, . . . → Read More: Inventor of QE and Green MP call for up to £70bn Green Quantitative Easing to Stabilise Flagging UK Economy The Bank of England should now be recommending a savings rate of about 2 % and maybe a lending rate based on 4%. They should discard the fictional rate of 0.5 %. This would boost the £, and therefore bear down on inflation. But it would also safeguard domestic purchasing power and do a much needed something for confidence. . . . → Read More: Time for interest rates to be sorted – Alternative Inflation Report With UK inflation now over 5% on both the headline indices, the way this is threatening hopes of ‘growth’ is beginning to be commented upon by increasing numbers of broadcast journalists as they reported on the recent inflation figures. The government now needs to take note. People are cutting back their consumer spending in . . . → Read More: Consumer spending and ‘growth’ undermined by inflation With the recent disappointing GDP growth figures, the government’s hopes for growth are clearly in difficulty. . This is largely due to people feeling that they are going to have increasing difficulty making ends meet, given the rising prices of food and energy. …. The government and the Bank of England saying this is just . . . → Read More: Failing Growth – it’s the prices stupid ! Since the end of 2007 the value of the Pound has fallen by about 20 % as can be seen in the chart below. This is a fall not against either the Dollar or the Euro, but against them both as they stand in proportion alongside the other currencies with which we have transactions: currencies . . . → Read More: Governor Mervyn’s failed £ devaluation Interest rates paid by UK households are however, already some of the highest in Europe. Despite all the talk of record lows you will hear from the mainstream media. Given how our economy has evolved, any monetary policy other than safeguarding domestic living standards makes less sense than ever before. . . . → Read More: Our mythical low interest rates – Alternative Inflation Report |
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