View Full Version : Are things looking up?
percy toboggan
08-May-09, 18:03
...or is it a false dawn.
The stock market is enjoying something of a recovery.
The case for coal which I put to the .org some time ago seems to be being heard in the right places with new contracts at better prices for suppliers being signed.
Banks too are staging a mini-recovery - admittedly from a low base.
I had three hundred & fifty quid saved up for my grandaughter which has earned the princely sum of seven pounds in the last twelve months. A punt on RBS shares this morning has already eclipsed that meagre gain for her and the share (todays biggest riser, co-incidentally) in the long term will be a useful asset by the time she is eighteen.
I don't offer advice and if I did you'd be mad to take it but there are opportunities out there. If you have had savings in an account or an ISA that have been there for more than a year you may well be getting ripped off.
Careful management (I've had more time lately) has seen us ditch poor paying accounts and increased interest by several hundred quid a year.
Margaret M.
08-May-09, 18:51
I feel like we're on the upswing -- stock market is looking healthier here too and like you say, there are some good buys out there. I am kicking myself for not buying some Capital One stock a couple of weeks ago when it was at $13, today it's up over $30.
cuddlepop
08-May-09, 19:22
In the real world away from the stock market shares,there are still know local jobs.Food and fuel is still expensive and I'm still counting the pennies not the £'s, so no I dont think we're on the upward journey yet.
Cedric Farthsbottom III
08-May-09, 21:36
Yep things are looking up.Looking good.Thats because Gordon Brown is the best Chancellor of the Exchequer we have ever had,in my days.He wisnae meant to be a Prime Minister.In these days,he is the best we have at the moment.Who's gonnae do better?The Tories with their down puts with no solutions,the Liberals,who?The SNP,Independence,when Alex I'm still waiting.The Greens?The Mad Raving Looney party?
In these times of recession,ye want a Chancellor in charge,not a Prime Minister.Brown was the best in my eyes.
...or is it a false dawn........
The stock market is enjoying something of a recovery.........
Careful management (I've had more time lately) has seen us ditch poor paying accounts and increased interest by several hundred quid a year.
It's a false dawn.
Anything beyond negative equity is a bonus.
We've always carefully invested for our future.
Kevin Milkins
09-May-09, 00:11
I bought a tin of beans today and got one free,yipeee we have turned the corner.
You'll be paying for that 'free' bean down the road, in a few years, mark my words.....
Ive still got my five magic beans I got for my car.
Ive still got my five magic beans I got for my car.
FIVE beans for a Lada!! The bean seller was done!! ;)
percy toboggan
09-May-09, 19:34
On balance I agree with cuddlepop...the financial crisis is past it's worse...now it's up to us mere mortals to pick up the pieces as it affects their own lives. I see doldrums ahead for at least eighteen months. Even the current resurgent stock market will stall, and then surge again. My wife has been out of work for five weeks and there is little work about here either---- even Supermarket jobs are allotted by 'invitation' only.
I'm unsure as to whether I can go back to my own line of work in July - with climbing involved and a modicum of a heavy mauling - perish the thought of looking for a new line for lucre at the grand age of 58 !
Incidentally , in a single deal last week someone (or institution) sold six million RBS shares at 46 pence....I'm assuming they didn't lose money and may well have bought them at twenty odd pence a month or two ago...that's a cool profit of about 6 million pounds...nerves of steel required of course but this is how fortunes are amassed...you can probably bet the same gadge made money when the share was falling too. I just hope it was my pension fund manager.
Improvements in employment figures usually lag behind other indicators. I don't see why it should be different this time.
percy toboggan
09-May-09, 19:54
Improvements in employment figures usually lag behind other indicators. I don't see why it should be different this time.
Given the erosion of our manufacturing base then they may be even more laggardly.
Undoubtedly so far, returning migrant labour has eased the pain a little but three million plus half as many again on false incapacity benefit claims means a staggering proportion of the UK workforce will be idle.
I fear only harsh Tory economic policies will pull us out of this - not something I relish - nor will they welcome a tax rising agenda.
Given the erosion of our manufacturing base then they may be even more laggardly.That's one reason why employment lags behind. I don't think the maufacturing base has been eroded as much as it was during the first recession of the 1980s but I don't know the figures.
Undoubtedly so far, returning migrant labour has eased the pain a little but three million plus half as many again on false incapacity benefit claims means a staggering proportion of the UK workforce will be idle.Yes, returning migrants will alleviate the situation in the short term. I don't know how many 'false' incapacity benefit claimants there are. Where do you get your figures from?
I fear only harsh Tory economic policies will pull us out of this - not something I relish - nor will they welcome a tax rising agenda.Why call harsh policies Tory? Many harsh regimes have been imposed by Labour governments because of the messes the Tories left behind. Anyways, you're probably right unless the public finances improve for reasons we can't anticipate at present.
percy toboggan
09-May-09, 20:12
[quote=crayola;546375]
Yes, returning migrants will alleviate the situation in the short term. I don't know how many 'false' incapacity benefit claimants there are. Where do you get your figures from?
quote]
A mixture of instinct and common sense.
750,000 claimants under 35 for instance many for 'depression' and stress related illnesses. If many of these people did not have the comfort of a safety net then they would strive to work. I do not think this many people of this age, in a wealthy western democracy can possibly be too 'ill' to work.
The system is a good one but it is exploited by the bone idle and the feckless. The latest recession is a good time to weed a some of them out and reduce benefits for all but the very genuine.
A mixture of instinct and common sense.Instinct and common sense may be enough for you but I would like to see sources for at least some of the figures you quoted.
750,000 claimants under 35 for instance many for 'depression' and stress related illnesses. If many of these people did not have the comfort of a safety net then they would strive to work. I do not think this many people of this age, in a wealthy western democracy can possibly be too 'ill' to work.Where does the 750,000 come from? I hope it's not just 'instinct and common sense.'
percy toboggan
10-May-09, 12:37
Instinct and common sense may be enough for you but I would like to see sources for at least some of the figures you quoted.
Where does the 750,000 come from? I hope it's not just 'instinct and common sense.'
Countless references to the figure on BBC Radios 4 and 5 over the last twelve months.
Instinct and common sense is always enough for me.
Lies, lies and damned statistics bow down before my instincts and my common sense everytime - for me.
You Crayola, are free to follow who or whatsoever you have faith in, and good luck.
Countless references to the figure on BBC Radios 4 and 5 over the last twelve months.
Instinct and common sense is always enough for me.
Lies, lies and damned statistics bow down before my instincts and my common sense everytime - for me.
You Crayola, are free to follow who or whatsoever you have faith in, and good luck.I don't listen to Radio 4 very often.
I'm faintly amused by the implication that you deem your instinct and common sense to be superior to my 'faith' in quantitative analysis.
percy toboggan
16-May-09, 09:21
I don't listen to Radio 4 very often.
I'm faintly amused by the implication that you deem your instinct and common sense to be superior to my 'faith' in quantitative analysis.
Good: Keep smiling, if only inwardly.
I like to bring light, and smiles in equal measure.
I've kept my ear to the gorund for many a long year
and have generally been proved right on my instinctive hunches.
Quantitative analysis? It's for students and those who teach.
Quantitative analysis? It's for students and those who teach.
It's evidently not for those who don't need to know their markets quantitatively. :roll:
It's not like you to eschew the objective. :confused
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