After GBP's taken a beating this week... check this concept out...

I reckon (and in some ways hope, given much of my assets are now in Oz - excepting a retail business from which I no longer draw a salary and some shares) - that very soon it'll be AUD$1 = GBP1... not because the Aussie economy is so much more productive than a nation with 3 times the population... but because all its hard assets and piggy bank into which to dip... is in the ground.

The UK by contrast has nothing - no manufacturing - no real mineral wealth - just financial services and tourism... and partial control (just) of the World banking system thanks to the old-skool relationships between US Fed, BoE, ECB and Rothschild.

In the meantime here's a jolly ditty - they've been talking about it for some time... negative interest rates for all... (already happening due to inflation at 4%+ and interest rates at sub-3% of course, not that a dumb sheep-like population would take to the streets with pitchforks over such an exotic concept...) which for us stackers also has serious implications - for the better when considering concepts of real money vs fiat currency... plus a lot of instability globally in financial systems, stock, bond & commodity markets - that goes with this... an interesting read:

"In theory, if the Bank of England were to cut its interest rate to below zero, and your bank were to start charging you to keep cash, you might choose to withdraw everything and keep the cash under your pillow. This would annihilate the banking system and cause an immediate depression. "

http://www.cityam.com/article/negative-interest-rates-are-last-thing-economy-needs

VRS x

 

there's no such thing as coincidences... don't forget there's a referendum coming

 

I agree. Britain really does have nothing. I was there last in the 2000's and the whole thing seemed fake. Just basically people getting rich pushing pieces of paper around. What get's done in Britain?

I understand that they used to have a lot of industry. You can tell by the pollution alone. I remember that from when I was a kid. Now much of the pollution has gone and it seems the only thing Britain had left was running a property ponzi. The welfare state of course just grew and grew siphoning off from the remaining productive side of things.

The mining there could not compete with the big open cut mines in places like Australia. Britain needed to do something a few decades ago to change it's economy, but imo, had too many people pining for the days of empire and drunk on the money that could be extracted from the state. Alcohol is a huge problem over there also, I think.

It's interesting to compare Japan and Britain. Both small island nations off the Eurasian continent with limited natural resources. Probably comparable populations. Now looking like they may be the two with real currency problems emerging first.

EDIT TO ADD: I think it was the North Sea oil that kept Britain going as long as it did. Otherwise, it would already have been in trouble.

 

Am I the only one who read that and laughed?

 

even if they started charging you to keep your money you'd have to have an account well most people would reasons:

- most of us get our pay through the banking system
- paying many bills and transfer of money often done today through banking
- to be able to get a loan you need a credit history
probably few others i cant think of at this hour but all point to how banks have been pushed into our lives so that we think we cant function without them kind of like most people without a mobile phone would be lost today.
Banks allready (for years) charged you to keep your money through fees and we didnt complain (enough) they would have to start taking large percentages for ppl to start moving it out of the accounts and leaving it under your pillow gives you other problems (theft, still have problem with inflation which is much bigger than the their charges)

People havent woken up yet and have goten used to diminishing value of their money and i think for majority it will stay that way as in the end someone has to pay all the bills so even if they woke up another scheme would be introduced to get 95+ of the people to pay for it and select few to keep their wealth the ones that know about the scheme and can position themselves to avoid it.

If people suddenly started stacking and they made it illegal like they did in usa in 1930's and then couple of years later they allowed it again but the price of gold was double you pretty much lost 50 % of your wealth if you were a stacker and you paid someones debt at the time.