Saturday, October 6

Bank Runs, very highly taxed, high in corruption rankings, welcome to the UK

Bank Runs happen in banana republics, such a high tax rate (see here and here) is making people squeak, we are high in the corruption rankings and now HSBC, one of the biggest British banks in the world is warning about the exodus of money from the UK. I quote:

Britain faces a stark "de-rating" by investors in coming months as growth slows and funds begin to lose confidence in the country's economic management, triggering a mass exodus of "hot money" from the City.

David Bloom, HSBC's head of currency research, said signs that the Bank of England's monetary framework was "starting to fray at the edges" had begun to unsettle investors, tarnishing the City's reputation. Both the Northern Rock debacle and the decision by the Monetary Policy Committee to overrule the Governor in setting interest rates have inflicted damage.

Hot money deposits in Britain have ballooned fourfold in a decade to £4,000bn. "What we have is an enormous liability. People have been very happy to park their money in Britain because of the high interest-rate culture and the country's reputation for sound management, but if you start to unpick that, it can go very fast. These investors are fickle," he said.

And with Gordon Brown mucking around with silly sod trips to Iraq and worrying about his political life, the current Chancellor Alistair Darling being as much use as an ice-cube in the Antarctica we are in trouble if we don’t do something quickly.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

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