Never Here Posted October 8, 2008 #1 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Britain offers to bail out banks, rate cuts sought By Keith Weir 45 minutes ago LONDON (Reuters) - Britain offered to pump up to 50 billion pounds ($87.2 billion) into its biggest retail banks on Wednesday to help them survive the worst international financial crisis since the 1930s. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the global financial market had ceased to function after bad debts stemming from a collapse in the U.S. housing market poisoned the system. The Bank of England, Britain's central bank, came under pressure to cut interest rates from 5.0 percent this week in response to a crisis that has left people around the world worried about losing their savings and their jobs. Hong Kong followed Australia's lead in slicing a full point off interest rates amid increasingly strident calls for a coordinated, global monetary policy response. The U.S. approved a $700 billion package last week to rescue its ailing banks -- although its stock market continues to plunge -- and governments across the globe are now pushing ahead with their own emergency measures. "There is a failure of responsibility by many in the banking system," Brown told a news conference. "It has become a problem in the whole banking system, we have got to deal with it." Shares in Europe and Asia plunged on fears that frozen money markets will stall business activity and send industrialized nations spiraling deep into recession. Shares in Tokyo lost more than nine percent, the biggest decline since the 1987 stock market crash. European shares tumbled more than seven percent to five-year lows. U.S. stocks had tumbled for a fifth straight session on Tuesday, completing a record five-day point loss. "The deteriorating outlook for the economy and the deepening financial crisis are pushing fears to their limit," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management in Japan. BRITISH BAILOUT Britain's offer of 50 billion pounds of public money to take stakes in some of its best known high street banks follows a slump in which some have lost nearly half their value on the stock market amid investor fears they could collapse. In an effort to kickstart stalled money markets, the Bank of England will offer at least 200 billion pounds in short-term lending. Britain is also guaranteeing up to 250 billion pounds to help banks refinance debt. The cost of borrowing sterling on interbank money markets eased slightly on Wednesday after the British move. The Bank of England delivers its latest interest rate decision on Thursday and finance minister Alistair Darling dropped a heavy hint he would welcome a rate cut. "Let me remind you of the remit ... yes it's to target the government's inflation target, but it's also to support the government's wider objectives of economic stability," he said. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday the U.S. economy was being battered by a financial crisis of "historic dimension" and that the risk for inflation has eased with the falling prices for oil and other commodities. His comments were seen as paving the way for a deep cut in U.S. rates, possibly before the Fed's end-of-month meeting. Fed fund futures have priced in a half-point Fed rate cut this month, with a 75-basis-point cut an outside possibility. Expectations have built that a weekend meeting of Group of Seven officials in Washington could set the stage for coordinated rate cuts. ICELAND SUFFERS, TOYOTA TOO The crisis has caused turmoil in once flourishing economies. Facing financial meltdown, Iceland has taken over two of its largest banks -- Landsbanki on Tuesday and now Glitnir -- and is seeking a 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion) loan from Russia. In the latest sign of gloom, corporate bankruptcies in Japan jumped 34.5 percent year-on-year, a research firm said. A company source said carmaker Toyota Motor Corp may cut its annual profit outlook on sluggish global demand and a weaker yen. U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama sparred over taxes and the economy on Tuesday in Tennessee, during a head-to-head debate ahead of the November 4 election. "Americans are angry, they're upset and they're a little fearful," said McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona. "We don't have trust and confidence in our institutions." Obama, a Democrat senator from Illinois, said the financial crisis was aided by financial deregulation supported by McCain and Republicans. He said middle-class workers, not just Wall Street, needed a rescue package that would include tax cuts. "We are in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and a lot of you I think are worried about your jobs, your pensions, your retirement accounts," Obama said. (With reporting by Reuters global bureaus; Editing by Mike Peacock) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Monkey Posted October 8, 2008 #2 Share Posted October 8, 2008 At least the yanks had an elected leader who sent the bill to the senate and congress to be passed before confirming their bailout. This should guarantee that the non-executive directorships remain waiting for the Labour party grandees after they lose the next election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevewinn Posted October 8, 2008 #3 Share Posted October 8, 2008 (edited) Its ****ing stupid, 50Bn with 200Bn at the ready. its a ****ing joke, this is the result of not factoring in the housing prices with inflation. If the housing prices where included in inflation figures we'd have seen inflation going up has early as 1999 and action could have been taken back then to try and prevent this current problem. now we see this problem is spreading from the housing market to the proper economy. next we'll see unemployment going up. Kick start the economy by government giving everyone 1million each, everyone could pay their debts and all banks would get their money back. meaning they can start loaning money again to people and each other, cost to the tax payer 60 million. Edited October 8, 2008 by stevewinn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chemical-licker Posted October 8, 2008 #4 Share Posted October 8, 2008 more and more money being magically brought into existence, but the way these reporters are spinning it. cant see the truth if it was staring at them in the face Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevewinn Posted October 8, 2008 #5 Share Posted October 8, 2008 more and more money being magically brought into existence, but the way these reporters are spinning it. cant see the truth if it was staring at them in the face your right chem, am waiting for the reporters to reporter the truth, the same truth that you know and i know, but do they know that we know, that they know? i dunno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Monkey Posted October 8, 2008 #6 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Kick start the economy by government giving everyone 1million each, everyone could pay their debts and all banks would get their money back. meaning they can start loaning money again to people and each other, cost to the tax payer 60 million. Funny thing is, the reason many individuals and companies need the loans are because of a huge, open and hidden, tax burden and therefore are paying tax and will be paying more in the furture to enable them to borrow money to continue paying their tax. Lets just be the first country to print ridiculous ammounts of money...like you say give everyone a million, and go down having a real good time. This drip-drip death is no fun at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Honeybadger Posted October 8, 2008 #7 Share Posted October 8, 2008 It's still hard for me to imagine how other countries around the world are equally ( if not more ) affected by what happened just here in the U.S. Would America be having the same type of situation happening if the market meltdown would have taken place in Europe or Asia ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questionmark Posted October 8, 2008 #8 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Funny thing is, the reason many individuals and companies need the loans are because of a huge, open and hidden, tax burden and therefore are paying tax and will be paying more in the furture to enable them to borrow money to continue paying their tax. Lets just be the first country to print ridiculous ammounts of money...like you say give everyone a million, and go down having a real good time. This drip-drip death is no fun at all. The next thing you'd know is that a pint costs 250.000... would not last long... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Monkey Posted October 8, 2008 #9 Share Posted October 8, 2008 The next thing you'd know is that a pint costs 250.000... would not last long... 200 billion quid made available which they can lend at e.g. 10:1, thats a possible extra 1 million per household out there...we just wouldn't have to pay interest. Go out with a bang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questionmark Posted October 8, 2008 #10 Share Posted October 8, 2008 200 billion quid made available which they can lend at e.g. 10:1, thats a possible extra 1 million per household out there...we just wouldn't have to pay interest. Go out with a bang. The joke is, if they did that they'd probably energize the economy to last another year through extra consumer drive... but the crash really would be something to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hill Posted October 8, 2008 #11 Share Posted October 8, 2008 (edited) Phew it's certainly been a popular campaign... now all that hard work is finally paying off! I think we all deserve to give ourselves a good pat on the back.. Edited October 8, 2008 by Bill Hill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secondhand Posted October 8, 2008 #12 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Kick start the economy by government giving everyone 1million each, everyone could pay their debts and all banks would get their money back. meaning they can start loaning money again to people and each other, cost to the tax payer 60 million. Surely it would only be £60 million if you gave everyone £1? If you're saying give everyone in the country £1 million it would be £6,000,000,000,000 . Or have I missed the point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevewinn Posted October 8, 2008 #13 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Surely it would only be £60 million if you gave everyone £1? If you're saying give everyone in the country £1 million it would be £6,000,000,000,000 . Or have I missed the point? yep. I've done what Russell Crowe did. funny thing was i realised this and still wrote it, never mind, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Monkey Posted October 10, 2008 #14 Share Posted October 10, 2008 (edited) After telling us for years that we have seen the end of 'boom and bust' yo-yoing do you think that Gordon is now praying for a return to it as we have just had the bust and surely his bank bail out is to instigate a boom ? Or is it just to slow the trajectory of the bust. Edit: I see all european markets have officially crashed this morning (10% drop in a day?). On the bright side this 10% crash would only have been a 6.5% crash a few weeks ago ...man my dad must love me i gave him all my savings and told him to cash his portfolio in 2 months ago and totally pay his mortgage off... http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle4917855.ece Edited October 10, 2008 by Moon Monkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hill Posted October 10, 2008 #15 Share Posted October 10, 2008 200 billion quid made available which they can lend at e.g. 10:1, thats a possible extra 1 million per household out there...we just wouldn't have to pay interest. Go out with a bang. lol I like it.. an excellent suggestion moon.. I wish I could explain the concept of higher finances to my local bank manager... "So, you see.. I don't have to pay back the loan because the money doesn't actually exist" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Monkey Posted October 15, 2008 #16 Share Posted October 15, 2008 (edited) I mentioned the Brown ' no more boom and bust' boast in this thread so I thought I would post his reply when he was questioned on this over the weekend. On Saturday the results of an encounter between the journalist Allison Pearson and Gordon Brown were published. After a load of the usual stuff about eating cold lamb chops with his children and so forth, they finally get down to business. Pearson asks if the Prime Minister “if he has any regrets about his boast: ‘No more boom and bust'”. And here is his priceless reply: “I actually said: ‘No more Tory boom and bust'.” Yes, that really was what he told her What a prick. This was taken from a good comment piece. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/c...icle4944288.ece Edited October 15, 2008 by Moon Monkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesspy Posted October 15, 2008 #17 Share Posted October 15, 2008 (edited) more and more money being magically brought into existence, but the way these reporters are spinning it. cant see the truth if it was staring at them in the face Ahhh so thats how they make money its magic. It just appears i thought they pulled it out of their ***. Edited October 15, 2008 by jesspy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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