Saturday, February 28

Britain is heading towards sub zero levels again.

Now here’s an interesting aspect, inflation rates in the UK might actually head towards negative territory, just look how it fell off the cliff

Here’s some extracts from this very interesting article.

SAVERS

In a deflationary environment, there is little question that savers get a bad deal on interest rates. Mervyn King, Bank of England governor, said as much recently when he expressed “sympathy” with those who had done the right thing and not spent too much.

PENSIONERS

Pensioners whose income provider is secure could be some of the big winners from deflation. Helen Ball, a partner at Sackers, the London-based pensions law specialists, says that at the very least they are unlikely to lose out.

INVESTORS

Investors in almost every asset class bar government bonds are likely to be worse off in a deflationary environment, according to Graham Secker, equities strategist at Morgan Stanley. “Deflation is not good news for equities markets generally,” he says. “It is a signal that the economy is very, very weak and that sales and profits are going backwards.”

WORKERS

Pay is likely to be one of the most contentious issues debated during a bout of deflation.

Alistair Hatchett of Incomes Data Services, which tracks pay claims, says employers and workers are in uncharted territory. For decades, the rule of thumb was that salaries edged out inflation by 1.5 to 2 percentage points, allowing wages to grow in real terms. But in recent years, national average earnings have been subdued and lower than inflation, he says. A number of employers in the UK have already announced pay freezes, while others are discussing pay cuts as a jobs-saving measure.

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Friday, February 27

Lord Ahmed jailed over fatal crash

I agree and it is, in a way good that even Lords can be jailed just like ordinary citizens, but still feel that the sentence was too short. He actually killed somebody and for what? sending texts? But then, what is curious is that this woman is now jailed for 21 months for the same crime. Hmmmm, I wonder what the difference is? Any ideas?

 

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