Quantitative Easing in UK is ....

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

... very badly handled and a con according to Simon Jenkins

he has been saying this consistently for some time now and i find his arguments persuasive ...

why , for example, did we not pay off all the PFI deals we are saddled with?

i saw him debate this on Newsnight once with Oona King where he advocated giving every person in the UK £1000 to boost the economy .... [he is building the case, hope he does a book or lecture series] ... she could not bring herself to agree, indeed she writhed to find ways to spend the money he suggested without giving it to the people ... yet he argues that when they did give it to the people in Sweden it boosted jobs and the economy ....

in any case the numbers involved are huge ...some £3375bn


and of course it is the gangsters who still run the City and Banks who are pocketing the profits from these obscene transfers ...

time parliament at least held a televised hearing or two eh?

[pastoralguy]

£10 billion here, £5 billion there - it soon adds up to big money.

Let's not pretend it's really politicians who call the shots. The real power is with those who we've never heard of.

[teamsaint]

£10 billion here, £5 billion there - it soon adds up to big money.

Let's not pretend it's really politicians who call the shots. The real power is with those who we've never heard of.

True it is, Pastoralfellow.
Quantitative easing is a con trick, which seems to me to be boosting the banks balance sheets at our expense.

[MrGongGong]

True it is, Pastoralfellow.
Quantitative easing is a con trick, which seems to me to be boosting the banks balance sheets at our expense.

Does ANYONE believe that this nonsense will "stimulate the economy " ?
why not give out £100 cash to random people ?
they will SPEND it , in shops, cafes, buy presents, travel, do things with it, save some , lend some , give some away, do something useful with it

[teamsaint]

Does ANYONE believe that this nonsense will "stimulate the economy " ?
why not give out £100 cash to random people ?
they will SPEND it , in shops, cafes, buy presents, travel, do things with it, save some , lend some , give some away, do something useful with it

nobody has to believe things, if the powers that be want them to happen. The Iraq War, student fees trebled, QE, whatever.
Strange days indeed.

your point about cash is a good one. Noticed how public spending is being concentrated on things that give contracts to big companies?
Every bridge round here is having major repairs, it seems...

[Frances_iom]

...Noticed how public spending is being concentrated on things that give contracts to big companies?
Every bridge round here is having major repairs, it seems...

check donors to Tory party - much about the present government is beginning to smell of corruption - but the Star chamber starts next year with Liberal approval.

[Petrushka]

Does ANYONE believe that this nonsense will "stimulate the economy " ?
why not give out £100 cash to random people ?
they will SPEND it , in shops, cafes, buy presents, travel, do things with it, save some , lend some , give some away, do something useful with it

I think many people will pay down debt with any so-called 'helicopter money'. £375bn of QE equates to something like £8500 for every person in the UK.

As for QE, I think the chickens will come home to roost before long with this one when the policy has to be unwound.

[MrGongGong]

£375bn of QE equates to something like £8500 for every person in the UK.
.

I could by a really nice microphone for that much

[Petrushka]

I could by a really nice microphone for that much

Just think of all the boxed sets I could get.

[Flosshilde]

I think many people will pay down debt with any so-called 'helicopter money'. £375bn of QE equates to something like £8500 for every person in the UK.

As for QE, I think the chickens will come home to roost before long with this one when the policy has to be unwound.

While I agree very broadly with the 'give it to people & it will do more to boost the economy' theory, I do have some doubts about it - I wonder if the things most people would spend it on (assuming they don't just save it) will actually contribute much, given that so many consumer goods are made outside the UK. Even a lot of our food is imported. Or, if it's spent on holidays, most will be abroad.

[Pabmusic]

Just think of all the boxed sets I could get.

And what a pleasure it is to see "boxed sets" rather than the usual "box sets".

[MrGongGong]

While I agree very broadly with the 'give it to people & it will do more to boost the economy' theory, I do have some doubts about it - I wonder if the things most people would spend it on (assuming they don't just save it) will actually contribute much, given that so many consumer goods are made outside the UK. Even a lot of our food is imported. Or, if it's spent on holidays, most will be abroad.

So how do these things get to you ?
and how do you go abroad ?

Giving our money to the banks so that they can have more seems to be rather daft given that we are supposed not to have any in the first place !
At least if you have everyone £100 quid there would be some positive benefits for everyone not just another Porsche for Dave's mates

[Flosshilde]

Well, imports are got to us either by ship or plane, which might or might not be British-owned. Once here they are distributed by road or rail. I'm not saying that it will have no benefit: obviously if more people were buying more stuff then there would be more jobs for transport workers, shop staff etc. But most of the profit/income would go to the manufacturers - ie out of the country.

I did say that I agreed with the idea very broadly.