Monday 16 December 2013

'Lola' at No 11 causes panic at No 10

"I don't believe it!" Arturo almost screeched! "Look out the back window, Butch!"

So I did just that - looked out of the window. What did I see, you ask? I saw what looked like a white powder-puff on four legs prancing across the lawn. It wasn't a cat! It was a dog! At least, I think it was a dog! Then, stalking the powder-puff, I noticed the dreaded Freya, 'Georgy' Osborne's fearsome cat! She's the one who boxed poor old Larry, from upstairs, right on the nose!

"Just take a look at the 'Daily Mail' - there's some fine pictures of old Larry being knocked for six by Freya." Arturo was in full flow now. "But - to crown it all, mi old pal, there's really 'orrible news. Take a look." With that he thrust his i-pad mini in front of my eyes. I read:
Making eyes at the camera – and crying out for a cuddle – meet Chancellor George Osborne’s adorable new puppy Lola.

She may think her cute looks and fluffy hair make her top dog in Downing Street – but she’s going to have to toughen up.

Just ask David Cameron’s cat Larry.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2516467/Lola-No-11s-new-dog-handle-feisty-Freya--Osborne-tweets-picture-Downing-Streets-latest-legged-resident.html

A dog in Downing Street, I ask you! Where does 'Georgy' Osborne think he is - the White House? Dogs are a US President thing not a UK Chancellor of the Exchequer thing!!

Of course, having a dog about the house will give our Georgy all the excuses he needs for getting his figures in a twist. James Kirkup writing in The Telegraph, last week, stated:
Osborne 'used questionable statistics' to back up claim households are better off: Chancellor used "strange" figures for disposable income in his Autumn Statement this week, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says

The article went on:
In his Commons statement, Mr Osborne cited official figures for disposable income, the sum families have left after paying essential bills. The number is forecast to rise modestly, going up by 0.5 per cent this year and 1.1 per cent next year.

“Yes, real household disposable income is rising,” Mr Osborne told MPs.

No wonder Georgy was grinning when he spoke in the House of Commons. No wonder the Tory backbenchers cheered! But - hang on a bit - James Kirkup went on to write:
Paul Johnson of the IFS raised questions about Mr Osborne’s use of the disposable income figure.

“It tells us something about household incomes but it should certainly not be used in isolation to measure how they are changing,” he said.

There is “something a little bit strange” about Mr Osborne’s choice of statistic, the think tank suggested.

So there's “something a little bit strange” going on in No 11! Well - I could have told you that! So, it seems, could a Labour MP. In the same article Kirkup quoted this MP:
Andy Love, a Labour member of the Treasury Select Committee, said that Mr Osborne would have to account for his use of the disposable income figure when he appears before the committee to discuss the Autumn Statement.

He said: “There are questions over the accuracy of the Autumn Statement on this issue of living standards. The Chancellor has to be very careful about his use of statistics, since figures like this can easily be misused for political purposes.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10501097/Osborne-used-questionable-statistics-to-back-up-claim-households-are-better-off.html

Hey Ho! What a merry life - that is if you're not working on zero hours contracts or having to go to the food-bank to feed the kids! But not to worry, aye! Lola, the Bichon Frise, will bring a new reality to Georgy's life. It seems that already she's causing problems on the toilet-training front! Now that is something no self-respecting cat would ever have!

Arturo and me are going to have a sniff round the cupboards in No 11 - puppy food can be quite tasty!

'Bye'

Sunday 1 December 2013

Voodoo Economics at No. 10

"Do you remember that Carswell chap? The one who commented about “Mickey Mouse IOUs”, last year?" Arturo asked. I shook my head. "Well, he'd be having a field day now. Let me remind you what he said last year." He ferreted round under one of the desks and shoved 'The Mirror' in front of me.
Serious voodoo economics": George Osborne slammed by Tory colleague for "Mickey Mouse IOUs" to meet debt targets

The headline was big and bold, the story had been written by Tom McTague on 10 Nov 2012. I was intrigued and so I read on:
Douglas Carswell said the Chancellor must be desperate after shifting £35billion out of the Bank of England’s quantitative easing scheme into Treasury coffers. He added: “When one part of the state is printing funny money and lending it to another part of the state, we’re into serious voodoo economics.

"It’s past being ludicrous.

“It’s essentially a three-card trick with our money and it’s not going to end well.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/george-osborne-slammed-by-conservative-colleague-1428206l

Arturo eyed me closely. "So! What must this Carswell be thinking now?" He asked. "In the past few days, No 10 has been issuing unbelievable contradictory statements. Osborne's 'three-card trick' has got nothing on what 'Boy David' Cameron's pretending to have up his sleeve!"

Arturo is right. There have been shenanigans 'aplenty in these parts. Just take a look at what Jeff Randall wrote in The Telegraph:
Help to Buy is nothing but an election ploy

In commenting on recent events in the world of banking, Randall referred to "inappropriate adult material" and he continued:
... the offending content, known to some as “property porn”, can be ogled on the government’s Help to Buy (HTB) website. The HTB scheme is designed, it seems, almost entirely to please those with a prurient interest in house-price bubbles: builders, estate agents and local solicitors. It is nothing more than populist, short-term electioneering posing as a cure for Britain’s chronic, long-term housing headache.

'Property porn'? It sounds to me as though 'builders, estate agents and local solicitors' are beginning to sink as low as bankers in the poll of public opinion! They'll soon be plummeting the depths reached by Osborne and Cameron!

Randall continued:
Buyers are able to tap state-funded assistance up to a value of £600,000. This is emergency aid for the huddled masses of Kensington and Chelsea. When property prices are rising and real wages (inflation-adjusted) are falling, as they are, only the suspension of disbelief will bridge an ever-widening gap. HTB may well help to buy votes, but it will end in tears.

...HTB is fiscal chicanery that prompts irrational behaviour by making the unaffordable appear within reach. In the short run, it rewards the Treasury with a bonanza of stamp duty payments. But how much of those receipts will be lost when the taxpayer is called upon to bail out delinquent mortgages?

...Handing out funny money to bid up prices is simply weasel economics.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/10471564/Help-to-Buy-is-nothing-but-an-election-ploy.html

That sure is telling 'em, Jeff! But will those pig-headed buffoons in Nos 10 & 11 Downing Street listen? That's what Arturo and me want to know? Now there is a man in the City, one Canadian by the name of Carney who after a somewhat embarrassing grilling at the Treasury Select Committee admitted:
... he is "more than mildly offended" after being criticised by Labour MP John Mann that he is too close to the Chancellor, George Osborne. Mr Carney was being quizzed by the Treasury Select Committee on the November 2013 Inflation Report. ITN
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/video/mark-carney-more-mildly-offended-175229943.html

Guess what? A few days later, this same Carney bloke announced:
The Bank of England has moved swiftly and unexpectedly to puncture a new housing bubble, as it diluted a joint programme with the Treasury which has been boosting mortgage lending.

The Bank has announced that the so-called Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS), which has helped to drive the UK’s recovery, will no longer cover new housing loans extended by banks from next year.

This was from an aricle by Ben Chu in The Independent under the headline
Bank of England curtails Funding for Lending Scheme amid fears of housing bubble

Ben Chu wrote:
Until this week the Bank had seemed relatively relaxed about the state of the housing market in recent weeks, with senior officials repeatedly pointing out that the monthly rate of new mortgage approvals was still low by historical standards.

But Threadneedle Street abruptly changed its tune.

“Risks to financial stability may grow if there are further substantial and rapid increases in house prices and a further build-up of household indebtedness” said the Governor, Mark Carney, at a press conference. He added: “It is no longer appropriate to have our foot on the accelerator”.

So, he 'abruptly changed his tune', did he? Well done, Treasury Select Committee!

Ben Chu's article also commented:
Yet the government has come under fire from economists for its separate Help to Buy programme, which, from last month, provides a state guarantee for 15 per cent of new mortgages extended by banks. Critics have likened Help to Buy (which will be unaffected by today’s changes) to the institutional American government mortgage subsidy infrastructure, known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which helped to blow up the US housing bubble that burst with catastrophic consequences for the global economy in 2008.

Ministers have claimed at various times that the Bank of England can cancel Help to Buy. But the central bank confirmed earlier this week that it merely has the power to make recommendations to the Treasury over the scheme rather than a right of veto. Today, Mr Carney said it was “still early days” for the controversial programme.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bank-of-england-curtails-funding-for-lending-scheme-amid-fears-of-housing-bubble-8970619.html

While 'Funding for Lending' is out of favour - 'Help To Buy' is not quite the flavour of the month it once was! One wonders what scam they'll think up next!

It seems that personal debt in the UK is at an all time high. Jerin Matthew wrote in International Business Times:
UK Personal Debt Almost Equivalent to 2012 GDP Amid Cost of Living Crisis

The article stated:
Personal debt in the UK is nearing an all-time high as Britons increase their borrowing to meet rising living costs amid low wage growth and high inflation.

A study by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) revealed that total personal debt in the UK has risen to £1.4tn ($2.26tn, €1.67tn), with average household debt standing at £54,000 - about twice the level seen a decade ago.

UK households currently owe the equivalent of 94% of the country's economic output in 2012.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/523694/20131120/uk-personal-debt-centre-social-justice.htm

What country can remain solvent under such conditions? Surely it's reckless nonsense to encourage people to take on more debt! Some time, in the not to distant future, interest rates will go up and when they do .... THE BUBBLE WILL BURST!

Talking of bubbles - me and Arturo are going to mosey on down to a fast food place tonight - the aroma of fried chicken is most enticing - and we're NOT borrowing money to get some. No siree, Pablo the black cat from Whitehall is treating us! 'Bye'