BBC Headline #9

Headline from the BBC website.

Bogus PPI Complaints “Hit 6000”

My issue with this as a headline is that it is plain wrong. I know that they put the hit 6000 in quotes and therefore can pretty much say whatever they want because nobody believes anything in quotes, but quite clearly the text in the article states that it is 5661 bogus complaints. I’d argue that this is not 6000.
Perhaps I’m being petty but I always assumed the BBC had particular standards but it is clear they do not and are quite willing to “lie” to make a headline. In reality the real story is that there has been such huge miss-selling of PPI and that the banks are now making massive losses to cover paying people back thier own money. There were just more that 157,000 complaints last year (from the article) and so the bogus claim level is running at 4%. Whether that is a lot or not I’m not sure. There are probably people out there who don’t understand finance and also some people out there are complete blaggers.
I think the BBC should campain and help people understand the real story of our capitalist banks rather than sensationalise such a small part of the PPI scandal.

Financial Crisis Prediction

The date is 16 August 2011. A few days ago I had a chat with a friend of mine in Washington D.C. and we discussed the downgrading of the USA’s credit rating by Standard and Poor’s. We both agreed that there are at least two or three more years of finacial repercussions of the 2008 financial crisis.
It looks as though the Euro might implode and other countries might find themselves being downgraded. I don’t think the Euro will disappear it is too important for that but I do believe that there is going to be a whole lot more of hurt for the whole world as markets realign the worth of everything. Ministers and world leaders aren’t allowed to speak the truth about the markets for fear that it will make things happen quicker. Those who we expect to speak for the countries are largely self interested and afraid of completely wrecking what is seen as a broken system (by me). This inability to speak of more financial pain is leading to a protraction of the crisis.
I am glad that I work for the state in a roundabout way and not in the service sector. I think the next few years are going to go from pretty bad to worse. Such is life.
It would be nice to see governments finally reigning in corporations and banks so that there is more regulation. It appears that those in charge of these institutions over the last few years have made their cash and are now nicely retired in their gated homes.
Oh for the good old days of stability!? When was that?