Money Blog: Recession Watch

By Nic Cicutti
20 days ago

The language used to describe measures to combat the economic crisis is beginning to assume military overtones. For example, the reports describing the Fed’s base rate cut to 0.25% as part of a “shock and awe” tactic, which for the armchair generals among us, is a military’s use of overwhelming power and spectacular force to paralyse an adversary’s perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight.

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By Annie Shaw
20 days ago

Gordon Brown made a name for himself as Chancellor of the Exchequer by plundering private pensions to the tune of £5bn, by removing the tax reliefs that they previously attracted, leaving many schemes to fall into deficit today.

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By Nic Cicutti
25 days ago

Following today’s shareholder vote Halifax Bank of Scotland will be no more, swallowed up in a so-called merger with Lloyds TSB. And I can’t help being both desperately sad and angry at the decision. Sad, because so many thousands of good people in Scotland and branches all over the country will lose their jobs. They did nothing to deserve this. Angry because this move will definitely be bad for consumers.

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By Nic Cicutti
33 days ago

A few years ago, I wrote a story about a Bank of England base rate cut in which I pointed out that rates were now down to the lowest levels seen since the 1966 World Cup. And now rates have fallen even further. The real question, of course, is that of what it really means for all of us – and whether we stand to gain from such a reduction.

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By Nic Cicutti
36 days ago

Could we at last be reaping some of the benefits of a semi-nationalised banking system? That, at least must be the hope, following the announcement this morning that Royal Bank of Scotland is guaranteeing not to repossess the properties of customers who fall behind on payments for at least six months. And it’s a move that could make a real difference to the housing market.

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