I’m a Pundit

Whether you are in the Uk, USA or mainland Europe chances are you will have seen some aspect of the financial crisis in the guise of troubled banks being bailed out by the government.  But what exactly does this mean, why does it happen and more importantly why shouldn’t it happen?

We have seen on many occasions banks being given tens to hundreds of billions of dollars.  These staggering sums keep banks in business, allow people to spend more.  But at the same time people are taking the money out of the banks they are paying more in taxes, all for it to bail out yet another bank.

It is infact a vicious cycle, the governments in charge a the moment dont wan’t the economic crash to happen so are pumping in moneyto the banks,while raiseing taxes to compensate for the loss.

It sounds pretty terrible, the truth is though our economy is still actually quite strong, and yes we are still paying too much, infact if you look at actual inflation vs wages you will find that even if the market drops a further 20% we will still be poorer than we were 30 years ago.

The truth of the matter is that a crash has to happen, people will lose jobs, banks will go bankrupt and people will lose money.

In other news Boy George was arrested for handcuffing a male ‘escort’ to some rails, I will avoid making the obvious ‘do you really wan’t to hurt me’ song reference here and instead go on to mention that you have to be careful forrockstars who may sem loveable, but often use their on stage personalaty as camoflage, rather like a karma karma karma karma chameleon.

I’ll get my coat.

written by Oli \\ tags: Bail-out, Banks, Celebrities, Recession

For a lot of people the recession brings tidings of woe, house values are dropping like stones, business are going broke and people are suffering from bankruptcies. There is however a silver lining to the recession.

It has been more than acknowledged in passing that house prices in the UK are insanely high. Not even 60 years ago a house could be bought for 3 times annual earnings, hence why mortgages have usually been given at 3 times annual earnings. Today however people earning around £20,000 ($40,000) a year are expected to spends between £200,000 ($400,000) and £500,000 ($1,000,0000) on a home in Britain. How can people afford this?

Well quite simply they can’t, interest rates will keep increasing what is owed to such an extent that nearly a fifth of new mortgage buyers are expected to never pay off the loan themselves, instead leaving the remainder as something for the kids.

For this reason the incoming recession is a good thing, house prices should be brought back into the realm of the reasonable and affordable. Houses that once cost £15,000 shouldnt, half a century later, cost £150,000.

As recession bites strings will need to be tightened, but a lot of things that have grown in price will fall, while the basics become more expensive. It does however need to happen, for too long Britain has stood in the shadow of a false economy, a problem which has haunted it in a million different ways.

written by Oli \\ tags: Depression, Economy, Recession

Despite multiple cash injections around the globe the stock markets finally slumped as the major banking institution Lehmen filed for bankruptcy. While the global economy crisis itself is not unexpected it seems amazing to me that those in charge remain so blind as to the effect it has on the world.

Hell American Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said today that;

“Americans could remain confident in the “soundness and resilience” of the US financial system.”

Now excuse me for just a second her, saying the American Economy is resiliant is like saying the George Bush is going to be President again, completely unrealistic.  Seriously the US economy has been floating on thin air for a long time, and it has been long overdue for a crash.

The first step to fixing problems is admitting tehm, and this seems to be something that neither the American or English Governments are willing to do yet.

written by Oli \\ tags: Crisis, Depression, Exconomy, Gobal, Recession

Equality minister Harriet Harman has today been laying down plans in England for a Law which I am heavily against.

Currently in the UK there are laws that say a persons ethnicity or religion should not affect a job application, for Harriet Harman however this does not seem enough.

Let me point out right here and now that I am 100% against ethnic and religious tolerance, I believe what the world needs is ethnic and religious indifference.

In Harmans speach she spends a lot of time segregating groups, even promoting discrimination, saying that if a company is short on blacks, men, women, muslims whatever they should try and balance things up.

In my view religion, race or cultre should have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on someones job unless it would physically affect their ability to perform the functions of the job.

If a black person got a job over me because he was more suited to the role I would not complain, if he got the job because he was black I would be annoyed.

This planned segregation is the pure fantasy afforded by those who do not have to deal on a day to day basis with the problems encountered in the working world.

How can an equality Minister hold her job when she is actually promoting the discriminiation of  people, isshe seriously that stupid?

I thought the worst part of her entire speach was when she noted

“Official figures show that the gender pay gap has been declining, but for every pound a man earns, a woman still earns just 87 pence. Female part-time workers also still earn as much as 40% less than their full-time male counterparts”

Ok, hold on one second Ms Harman, did you just compare FULL TIME male workers against PART TIME female workers?

Of course the women in that group are getting paid fucking less you stupid fucking bitch, they are part fucking time.  If you want equality, since you are the ‘equality’ minister why the fuck are you not comparing men and women who are both part timers ratehr than trying to swing the statistics your way.

I apologise for the language but she does, fucking, deserve it.

written by Oli \\ tags: Bigotry, Bitch, Equal Pay, Equality, Harriet Harman, Racism, Sexism

Executives of the top companies, most notably banks, have always had ludicrously high pay packets. But after Antoine Zacharias the chairman of Vinci had a salary of millions, a hefty pension and a stock option scheme worth a staggering 250 million Euros, thats around $500 Million!

Now there is the argument that  they do a hard job, that deserves high pay.  After all they run companiesof significant size, comparable to people who have started companies that have risen to huge success. Should their paypacket however be enough to keep a small country going for a year?

Several countries have begun to implement limits on exective pay, with several northern countries bringing in a 500,000 euros limit on Executive pay.

So should there be this limit?

It’s a close call, should the goverment really have this kind of power over individual companies?

With the governments track record in America or the UK in managing their own affairs I find it worrying that they are dictating how to business how they should be run.

written by Oli \\ tags: Businesss, Excessive Pay, Executive Pay