UK Downgraded from LOL to LMAO

[meanig]

It's game over for the Pound Sterling.

Huge budget deficits, pyramid scheme housing market, mounting inflation, massive real unemployment, suppressed interest rates, financial repression.....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/georgeosborne/9889605/George-Osborne-no-let-up-in-plan-to-cut-deficit-after-AAA-downgrade.html

Moody's said it had acted to downgrade Britain for the first time because of “continuing weakness in the UK's medium-term growth outlook”, the risk that the Government will fail to hit its targets for reducing the deficit and the UK's “high and rising debt burden”.

No government has the balls or the incentive to make the reforms necessary for a recovery. Their only plan is to stick with QE. To keep the plates spinning for just a little bit longer they'll keep the Bank of England pumping ever more worthless pounds into the economy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9886554/QE-may-need-to-be-raised-by-175bn-says-BoEs-David-Miles.html

QE may need to be raised by £175bn, says BoE's David Miles
The Bank of England has a case for restarting its asset purchase programme, and may need to increase it by up to £175bn if the economy is running substantially below capacity, a senior policymaker has said.

Raising QE by £175bn would mean the Bankrupt of England controlling more than 40% of the entire government debt market. Any small bump in interest rates and the whole sorry mess will go straight down the toilet.

Be prepared! Dump your pounds and start stocking up on food, gold and bitcoins. I dread to think what the country would look like with petrol at £5 a litre.

[lucif]

Yeah, we will all die. Hehe. Earlier or later.

[meanig]

Yeah, we will all die. Hehe. Earlier or later.

If rates on gilts were to double, debt servicing would approximately equal spending on government health services.

We could be dying a lot sooner than we think.

[cptmooseinc]

The only part I disagree with is stocking up on Bitcoins. Bitcoins are nice, but you NEED internet to use them. In the event that the UK were to collapse and inflation jumps through the roof, most people will choose to abandon paying for access to the internet over being able to buy a loaf of bread to feed their family.

Bitcoin works as long as the system at least somewhat works. Not to say it won't go on somewhere in the world, as the whole system is unlikely to break all at once (and if it were to, then all out chaos would ensue and the internet would matter little as it is), but if one of the world's superpowers were to drop into anarchy, I suspect limited internet access would be a casualty of such an event, making bitcoins quite useless in that state until such a time things normalized.

[Killdozer]

That's a nice title, man!

[Offthechain]

Lol that is a little bit sensationalistic if you ask me! The Pound will be here for a long time yet.
"George Osborne has warned there will be no let up in his plans to reduce the deficit"
Well that's a good thing isn't it? We are high in debt, at least they are sticking to plans to get us out of it.
Our credit rating has been reduced a little? Not massive news, we are among many other large countries in the same boat.
Bitcoin is never going to replace the £.
Bitcoin potentially could be a large player in digital online commerce, or simply be relegated to the grey / black market digital currency only.
A bit premature to tell everyone to stock up on Bitcoins and Gold... you can hardly buy any of life's necessities with Bitcoin in the UK yet!

[solex]

Bitcoin is never going to replace the £.

Yes, and PC word processors would never replace typewriters, and email would never replace letters, digital cameras would never make film obsolete, online video would never kill off high-street video rental. Yes, very good that we have all those long-standing things still with us...

[Gabi]

we are among many other large countries in the same boat

Yes, the Titanic  unsinkable.

[Offthechain]

OK... Bitcoin is going to replace every major currency in the world, Governments are just going to give up and die, a perfect free market Utopian economy will just replace them where we all agree and decide laws and provide everything society needs based on supply and demand.
(Meaning corporations run justice and care for disabled people etc. for profit)
 
My Mum is going to learn about private key encryption, trust online or local wallets with her net worth, and we are all going to be rich. And I will be able to buy a car for 0.00000012 Bitcoins.
It's going to happen.  

A list of things which replaced things hardly wins your argument. The £ (and other currencies) will become more 'digital' (liquid and easier to use online) to compete with Bitcoin and the majority of people prefer to stick with what they know.

Bitcoin has flaws... in your world the price of Bitcoin would keep inflating until only one currency remained (BTC), nobody would spend any money for fear of its value growing the following week! Why buy a car this week if its cheaper next week?

Arguably superior alternates for things are invented all the time... doesn't mean they gain mass adoption, so your list is meaningless.
Bitcoin has a big future, its just not what some dreamers let themselves believe. (In my opinion)

[mintymark]

Printing money is the way out of this recession both for the US and the Uk. The Us is not in a particularly good place either.

But the Us and the Uk both have a massive advantage that our debts are denominated in the currencies we print, so as long as it is done fairly slowly, over a few years, they can print as much as they like and will do so. Many countries can live easily with inflation rates as high as 20% with out chaos. Hell, Turkey used to have 100% inflation, and although it was chaotic, people still worked, lived, ate, etc.

My advice is buy Gold and Bitcoins, and Desireable property which will always be in demand. Get the biggest mortgage you can afford, and watch THAT get inflated away too!!

[Offthechain]

Yes, the Titanic   unsinkable.

The UK has come through two World Wars and survived.
 
I love Bitcoin, but man does it attract some crazy people  

[Luno]

This is the currency war everybody is talking about.

Other countries are afraid that the Pound becomes the new Yen, so to scare off people considering using the Pound as a safe currency this is known tactics. Britannia is not sinking any more than other EU countries.

Having an expensive currency is bad for exports, but it is also a weapon: You force other Euro nations to raise interest rate to stop their Euros being exchanged to Pounds.

If interest goes up now, even slightly, a lot of the the other countries like Italy Spain Portugal France will find themself in a situation similar to Greece.

Germany and the UK will be the only countries left standing!

In my lifetime, the Pound have been more than twice as expensive as it is now, and the Brits did just fine.

[Offthechain]

Germany and the UK will be the only countries left standing!

If they want a rematch...lets have it!
(Only joking German friends  )

[Luno]

Germany and the UK will be the only countries left standing!

If they want a rematch...lets have it!
(Only joking German friends  )

LOL, I thought that too when I was writing it, but it is not what I'm talking about!

[meanig]

Yes, the Titanic   unsinkable.

The UK has come through two World Wars and survived.
 
I love Bitcoin, but man does it attract some crazy people  

You think what's happening now is comparable to a World War? What's happening now is far worse (financially speaking).

When thousands of the finest men from around the land were running into machine gun fire for King and country the Bank of England still managed to keep the base rate between 5 and 6 percent. During the blitz when everyone was eating lard on sandpaper for dinner the base rate stayed at 2 percent.

Keeping base rates at 0.5 percent for the last 4 years is unprecedented and can only be seen as an act of war by the feckless and over indebted against the prudent and sensible. 

[meanig]

Printing money is the way out of this recession both for the US and the Uk. The Us is not in a particularly good place either.

But the Us and the Uk both have a massive advantage that our debts are denominated in the currencies we print, so as long as it is done fairly slowly, over a few years, they can print as much as they like and will do so. Many countries can live easily with inflation rates as high as 20% with out chaos. Hell, Turkey used to have 100% inflation, and although it was chaotic, people still worked, lived, ate, etc.

My advice is buy Gold and Bitcoins, and Desireable property which will always be in demand. Get the biggest mortgage you can afford, and watch THAT get inflated away too!!

That plan only works if wages keep up with inflation. With millions officially unemployed and millions more in minimal self employment (claiming working tax credits) there won't be any increases in wages. Also if inflation begins to pick up interest rates will eventually have to rise. Good luck servicing a jumbo mortgage!

From here until the crunch it's going to be misery all the way.

[molecular]

so the CBs (and their owners) will be in possession of ALL THE ASSETS if this continues?

[meanig]

Lol that is a little bit sensationalistic if you ask me! The Pound will be here for a long time yet.
"George Osborne has warned there will be no let up in his plans to reduce the deficit"
Well that's a good thing isn't it? We are high in debt, at least they are sticking to plans to get us out of it.
Our credit rating has been reduced a little? Not massive news, we are among many other large countries in the same boat.
Bitcoin is never going to replace the £.
Bitcoin potentially could be a large player in digital online commerce, or simply be relegated to the grey / black market digital currency only.
A bit premature to tell everyone to stock up on Bitcoins and Gold... you can hardly buy any of life's necessities with Bitcoin in the UK yet!

My friend, you've just made the cardinal error of believing government spiel without thinking about what is being said. A reduction in the deficit means the government is borrowing less than it did in the previous year. As you can see this still means that money is being borrowed and the national debt is still increasing. But don't worry, you're not alone in making this mistake.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dont-know-your-debts-from-your-deficits-youre-not-alone-8082168.html

It's not just the politicians who are in a muddle about the economy. Research published today reveals that only a tiny proportion of Britons understand the difference between debt and deficit – or know which one the Government is trying to reduce.

Now you could say, "Hey, why so negative? The government is slowly getting its act together and a reduction in the deficit is better than nothing"

Yes a reduction in the deficit would be better than nothing but seeing as the Treasury is stealing private assets to achieve this I remain pessimistic.

http://politicshome.com/uk/story/25516/

The Royal Mail pension fund will be transferred to the Government next month, in a move that paves the way for privatisation of the postal service.

Treasury officials are finalising plans which see the Royal Mail sever all responsibility for its huge pension fund, from the start of April.

The proposals, which have the backing of the Communication Workers Union, will provide the Chancellor with a £28bn windfall.

Accounting arrangements mean the £28bn of assets will show up in Treasury books immediately, while the the pension fund's £37.5bn liabilities will only show up on the books over the next 20 to 30 years.

[BrannigansLaw]

Yeah I agree quite a few members are obviously part of the 'tinfoil hat society' and have been reading too much crazy (made up) shit on the 'dark net' (someone seems to always be offended no matter what you call it).

Yes, the Titanic   unsinkable.

The UK has come through two World Wars and survived.
 
I love Bitcoin, but man does it attract some crazy people  

[Monkey1]

There is a train of thought that the Bank of England is quietly fostering inflation.  If it can successfully keep interest rates low it can inflate away the countries debt.