Do they know something we don't ?

Just when you thought the interest rate on your savings couldn't go any lower ....yep !  you guessed it , email from a major  (no longer on the )   high street bank  announcing a drop to  0.20 %  .   Thats about nine years  now of low interest rates   yet we are told we are  the  7th most affluent country in the world ............I pity those below us . 

Evans Electric said:

Just when you thought the interest rate on your savings couldn't go any lower ....yep !  you guessed it , email from a major  (no longer on the )   high street bank  announcing a drop to  0.20 %  .   Thats about nine years  now of low interest rates   yet we are told we are  the  7th most affluent country in the world ............I pity those below us . 

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It's at times like this you will be so glad you are earning  £108,000 pa,  (at £90 per hour, 30 hours per week, 40 weeks per year)…...

{ AND....  getting ready to give the TaxMan another handsome payment }

Awe Sorry....  

you are "Old Skool"....   :shakehead  

Its only the 5WW brigade who can earns these figures once they complete the Part-P + PAT course...  

So The Advert Said..  :Chairfall

So It Must Be True?

:coat

Germany is teetering on negative interest where you pay the bank to keep your money.

FIAT currencies (look it up) have nothing physical to back them up and are in a precarious position.

SPECIAL LOCATION said:

you are "Old Skool"....   :shakehead  

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How do the 5WW s  cram in a 6 year apprenticeship  from 15  to 21   ranging from  drop stamping , pressworks , car factories , breweries , hospitals , schools , overhead cranes , cable jointing , fire alarms ,  Arctic exploration ships ,  industrial breakdowns , MOD , BT Towers ,  etc  into 5 weeks  I ask . 

Tony S said:

Germany is teetering on negative interest where you pay the bank to keep your money.

FIAT currencies (look it up) have nothing physical to back them up and are in a precarious position.

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Not just us then Tony  ?      Never mind   Brum has got the Commonwealth Games .....we're all gonna be rich !!    (I'm told)   

Evans Electric said:

How do the 5WW s  cram in a 6 year apprenticeship  from 15  to 21   ranging from  drop stamping , pressworks , car factories , breweries , hospitals , schools , overhead cranes , cable jointing , fire alarms ,  Arctic exploration ships ,  industrial breakdowns , MOD , BT Towers ,  etc  into 5 weeks  I ask . 

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Virtual On-Line....

You can do anything....

Fly a Jumbo Jet to New York JFK....

while sitting in your bedroom!!!

Guinness  

It is also looking likely the BOE are going to cut base rates.

A major problem is looming, I am sure I have mentioned this before.

We (they) never did manage to restore interest rates to "normal" levels after the last recession, so this time when you need to cut rates to boost the economy where do you go?

Welcome to the scary world of negative interest rates, already a reality in Denmark, where you can get a mortgage that pays you money so you pay back less than you borrow, and the bank will charge you interest to keep your money in the bank

ProDave said:

A major problem is looming, I am sure I have mentioned this before.

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Brexit of course, and subsequent impact on the economy....

binky said:

Brexit of course, and subsequent impact on the economy....

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Sitting on the fence, I think its more about the world uncertainty ............ car sales are down around the globe pretty much and car production does drive sentiment to an extent

I was listening to an episode of Wake Up to Money earlier and they were on a new ferry ............ which had just entered service from the UK to Ireland ......... and it was made in China ............. unless the world wakes up to the fact that exporting production to China isn't helping the west, there are going to be many problems for the developed world in the future ...........

As for interest rates, there is no scope to lower them (much) and even less appetite to raise them ............. so that "lever" is now well and truly in the bin

I was watching that very ferry take on its first lorry and have the ribbon cut. Yes made in China. Like everything now. we cant compete.

revjames said:

Yes made in China. Like everything now. we cant compete.

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We can compete on a level playing field, but the Chinese state doesn't work that way, and our own government lets them get away with it. 

binky said:

We can compete on a level playing field, but the Chinese state doesn't work that way, and our own government lets them get away with it. 

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so what do you think the British government can do? 

Sharpend said:

so what do you think the British government can do? 

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enforce the same standards as British manufacturing work to on imported goods,  and stop doing ****e like buying from abroad becuase it's supposedly cheaper. Our free market government doesn't factor in that China does not work to the same standards, eg, does not comply with all the legislation about environmental protection / employment laws / safety standards, so it's no wonder they are cheaper. The government also seems to fail to factor in loss of an industry and the cost of paying benefits to unemployed workers.

binky said:

enforce the same standards as British manufacturing work to on imported goods,  and stop doing ****e like buying from abroad because it's supposedly cheaper. Our free market government doesn't factor in that China does not work to the same standards, eg, does not comply with all the legislation about environmental protection / employment laws / safety standards, so it's no wonder they are cheaper. The government also seems to fail to factor in loss of an industry and the cost of paying benefits to unemployed workers.

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I quite agree BUT the majority of the rest of the world are happy for China to have an "advantage" so they can afford to buy things............

Until the Chinese currency floats properly on the exchange markets they will continue to have an advantage. They are in a similar position to Germany - who benefit from the Euro - where the weaker european currencies keep the exchange rates low so making the German exports "cheaper".  Germany is the only real benefactor of the Euro 

the fake non-floating of Chinese currency is also a big issue for competitors. No point having cheap goods if you have no job to buy them....

binky said:

the fake non-floating of Chinese currency is also a big issue for competitors. No point having cheap goods if you have no job to buy them....

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Quite correct ........ but slowly the whole world would become outposts of communist china .............. without firing a bullet or dropping a bomb

the whole world is becoming dominated by China....

Well I hate to tell you but it is inevitable. I think you’ll find India will be next in line after China. 

binky said:

We can compete on a level playing field, but the Chinese state doesn't work that way, and our own government lets them get away with it. 

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they dont care about human rights or the environment or any of the other constraints that the western world plays by so not a level playing field.

revjames said:

they dont care about human rights or the environment or any of the other constraints that the western world plays by so not a level playing field.

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And they have little respect for copyright or intellectual property rights

revjames said:

they dont care about human rights or the environment or any of the other constraints that the western world plays by so not a level playing field.

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keep up Rev , that is exactly the point I was making , perhaps I could have worded it better  :^O

 I used to work in manufacturing, and even got involved in a project to 'outsource' some components to China. I was surprised by how little difference there was on price of parts, so if they were forced to comply with the standards we have to work to, they wouldn't be competitive. Plus, on top of that, they steal designs and technology on everything outsourced to them. The main problem though is our corporate bosses, who sent the work to China in the first place to make a few extra quid for shreholders, and no doubt gained a huge bonus in the process.