posted
Looks like this is the start of a global recession then. Or something. I don’t know. I’ve got a big loan with Northern Rock and I’m not really totally sure what any of this means. Apparently I should just keep making payments and if it all goes tits up then someone might buy the debt or something.
Meh. Are we really all fucked then or is this just a hiccup?
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posted
Yeah I think so, but only if they go totally bust. Then maybe I might be in a possition to cash in on other people's misery. But actually I think it would just be a case of paying someone else instead, I doubt it's anything worth getting too hopeful about.
I wish I was one of those clever money people who knew how to exploit situations like this to my advantage. I'm sure there's some scope here for getting rid of some of my debt.
Thing is though it's not just Northern Rock. I bank with Barclays and on their login page they show the current share price. About 3 months ago that share price was hovering fairly stable at around £7.30. It's now down to about £5.75 after the whole sub-prime debacle, but rather than start to level out or pick up again, it's still dropping appreciably.
posted
Maybe we'll get our wish and the economy will collapse at just the right time for a zombie plague. So not only will you enter the apocalypse debt-free, you'll be able to impale a zombies head on your free pen and slap him repeatedly in his mush with a cheque book.
posted
It seems crazy but thinking about being suddenly debt free is like some kind of wonderful dream. like winning the lottery or something. i could jack my job in and actually go to university to study motorsports technology. That would be incredible.
Having a few zombies to smack around would be the icing on the cake, of course.
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posted
Just out of curiosity, is your money in the back secured?
The reason I ask is because our banks in America have FDIC insurance which basically means if the bank goes tits up, your money (up to $125,000) is guaranteed.
Seeing people queue the last 3 days to withdraw their money from Northern Rock suggests to me that there is no such insurance?
Also, doesn't it make sense that if the bank was in trouble and needed a loan from the Bank of England to stay solvent... Going in and removing all the money in its reserves is pretty much the nail in the coffin?
-------------------- Evil isn't what you've done, it's feeling bad about it afterwards... Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again. Posts: 3793
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posted
There is, I forget what it's called but it's essentially the same sort of scheme. But if the company were actually insolvent, it'd be a hell of a lot less fucking about if you can take your cash while funds still exist, than wait till you have to go through the legal process of claiming etc. Plus people are sheep and a picture of a few idiots withdrawing their savings in a panic is generally enough to cause the kind of queing round the street we're seeing now. Because basically people don't really understand the ins and outs of this kind of situation and operate a 'better safe than sorry' policy.
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Basically Northern Rock borrows money from the markets (rather than savings deposits) to lend out to people like Ringo. The money available in the market was running a bit short or was expensive to acquire because of sub-prime, so NR went to the BoE to make sure it had a line of credit available in case it needed to borrow any more in order to lend it on/support its current lending. It hasn't used it, so far.
The panic savings withdrawal might mean that NR has to go looking for alternative sources of money to sustain its current lending (although its customer deposits are a relatively small source of such funds) - this might be the market or might be the BoE facility.
Its ability to borrow in the market is governed by market confidence and NR's credit rating, and the more that people take out their money and the share price falls as people sell their shares in NR, the worse its credit rating becomes and the more likely it'd actually have to use the facility that it only really asked for in the first place in case of emergencies.
Upshot is - the bank won't fall over, but it's likely to get taken over and might have to put its rates up.
The guarantee thing covers up to £35k of savings: £2k in full then 90% of the next £33k.
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TeeMO International, or something. It could be a shady front for, er, something else that we do, like diamond construction or arms mining or heroin consumption or something. We would all own shares and would trade them with each other, like Panini football stickers or Monopoly properties.
Darryn and Femke would keep all our money, in real notes, in their kitchen, in a bi teapot. Chair of the board would be, say, Octavia, or Elvis. Or me. Or someone else. Or we could rotate. Get dizzy. Zygote would obviously be our market trader. Jonesy would write our promotional material, power-managed by Scrawny. Herbs would be the pretty girl at the counter, while ralph would be the young trainee who has to fill the cash machine up ("it's like a photocopier, only the paper's worth a lot more!") and do all the filing.
RickJ would run the Swiss side of it all. Bit dodgy. Best not to ask.
Vikram would be the bank's image person, like that guy for the Halifax. Only swanky and shagging slebs and stuff.
And, er, other people would do other things, and it would be really funny, sort of, only, y'know, not, coz it's a stupid idea that's just rehashing loads of other wank conceptual TMOniverses that we've all thought up before and flogged to death.
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posted
It's because you're over there and not used to the bombardment of jealousy...
I live in the thick of it... Surrounded by "America is evil" but if you listen carefully, what they are really saying is, "God, we're shit, I wish we were like America".
A theory supported by the amount of American telly, autos, refrigerators, clothes, starbucks, mcdonalds, vocabulary, guns, etc that the Brits have adopted.
Jealousy man, jealousy.
[ 17.09.2007, 11:33: Message edited by: sabian ]
-------------------- Evil isn't what you've done, it's feeling bad about it afterwards... Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again. Posts: 3793
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I was at my staff induction day on Friday and the chaplaincy had a stand with teapots which had 'more tea vicar?' written on the side. I wanted one of those. But not enough to get religious for.
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posted
I think, Ralph, without wishing to further your frustration, that this is a little bit the US' fault. Quite a little bit. Sorry and all.
I was watching our girls earlier, putting six past the Argies, etc., and I had a mug of tea and I felt horribly like a Sun reader.
Has anybody else felt lower class recently? Ugh. Fortunately we can all rest easy on the Internet. I'm thinking of getting some t-shirts made up with 'I heart the digital divide'. Can I put you all down for one?
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quote:Originally posted by 69 Comeback Elvis: I think, Ralph, without wishing to further your frustration, that this is a little bit the US' fault. Quite a little bit. Sorry and all.
A lot of things are the fault of my nation. I can accept that. What I cannot tolerate is Ringos continual the US sucks and is to blame for everything bad that happens in the world rhetoric.
Hello 69 Comeback Elvis. It's a pleasure to finally meet you.
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quote:Originally posted by 69 Comeback Elvis: I'm thinking of getting some t-shirts made up with 'I heart the digital divide'. Can I put you all down for one?
I'll take two.
Welcome back Elvis..
-------------------- my own brother a god dam shit sucking vampire!!! you wait till mum finds out buddy!
posted
Thanks Darryn. I'm proactive and a team player but capable of working under my own steam when necessary. I will bring a strong sense of purpose to this role because I have accepted Jesus into my heart.
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posted
I am. I am. It's cold but bright blue, which is my very favourite weather. Although I wish I was outside walking rather than inside working. I don't think that I'm alone in this.
posted
The boiler is currently being fixed at my office, so it's fucking freezing. I'm drinking a coffee per hour, and making regular visits to the toilet to run my pulse points under the hot tap, in a vein attempt to keep warm.
As the air-conditioning is turned off, it's eerily silent here. I miss the whirr.
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H1ppychick
We all prisoners, chickee-baby. We all locked in.
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I wish I was outside pootling about in my convertible.
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H1ppychick
We all prisoners, chickee-baby. We all locked in.
posted
or, yeah, walking. anything but this slow onward march.
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