I published this short video this morning:
The video can be viewed here.
The transcript is:
Why is no politician talking about interest rates at this election?
They should be. They matter to so many UK households.
Everyone who pays a mortgage.
Everyone who's got a car loan.
People who pay rent because interest rates are closely related to rent demands, which have been going up heavily as interest rates have risen.
And yet, you would think that this is a matter of no concern at all to our politicians because there's a conspiracy of silence between them, not to mention them. And that's because, by implication, they're all saying, “This is beyond our control. This is in the domain of the Bank of England. They set interest rates. Nothing to do with us, Governor” - literally referring to the Governor of the Bank of England - “Therefore, we can't comment.”
And that's nonsense. Because the Bank of England Act 1998 gives them the power to intervene on interest rates, if they so wish. They can overrule the Bank of England whenever they want.
So why are none of them saying they will, for your sake and for the sake of everybody else who borrows money in the UK?
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Richard,
Your link is wrong – it goes to the long video on Nationalisation.
Corrected now
Sorry
Given that the full impact of the interest rate hikes wont really start to feed through to mortgage borrowers untilk the new Government is in power I would have thought that this should be a big issue for Labourf
Both of the main parties know that high interest rates funnel money to the more well-off.
Who advises the parties? The more well-off.
This is “trickle-up” economics gaslighting you into believing there is “trickle-down” economics.
Worse; it is “monetary dominance” – steering the economy with interest rate tinkering by unelected “technocrats” and compliant fiscal policy by govt – that redistributes upward, whether interest rates are high or low.
Again, their real job is the establishing and maintenance of a two-tier society, with them in the upper tier. Trouble with that is, it hands control over to idiots, and that leads to collapse, which approaches. Ho hum…
Why are not of the politicos saying this?
Trite answer: Wholly-owned subsidiaries of the BoE which is a creature of finance. The situation is identical in the EU, & when the Commission or any other EU org (ECB excepted) is challenged, there is dead silence – or contentless burbling.
Other answer: Politicians have decided NOT to control the money supply because they have been conditioned to believe that the banskters can make better decisions – UK, EU – the same both places.
In the case of the UK – “take back control” – should mean, politicians taking back control of a key lever of the economy – the ability to set interest rates. Thus the door step question to for voters to ask is: why won’t Labour do this – take back control of interest rates? If I had a mortgage it is what I would want an answer to.
It is clear that the Tories, Labour, LD and SNP are content to let the heavy drift of wealth to the richest people in society continue at a faster rate since Covid and have no interest in genuine levelling up or a fairer redistributioin of wealth. They are all Liz Truss style politicians who believe the “free market” is more “efficient” than an economy based on public accountability. The huge corporations are out of control with their maximising profit greed and they fund the political parties to maintain their stranglehold on the population at large. If this continues the UK will become a third world country with a masive increase in beggars crowding our streets and a huge increase in homelessness….. dont mention climate change……..
Bill says “the Tories, Labour, LD and SNP are content to let the heavy drift of wealth to the richest people in society continue at a faster rate since Covid and have no interest in genuine levelling up or a fairer redistributioin of wealth”.
I’m not sure it’s right to chuck the SNP into the same category as the Tories, Labour & LD. In Scotland the SNP, acting within the highly constrained economic and fiscal powers afforded it under the devolution settlement, has introduced more progressive fiscal tax bands (the only tool it has available), although it could conceivably have introduced higher bands for the ultra-wealthy.
On another tack, the BoE’s maintenance of high interest rates is not only contributing to inflation: it’s also pushing more children into poverty through the impact of these high interest rates on rents, mortgages and other bank loans on middle-class families. In discussions on BBC Radio 4 in The World This Weekend at 13:00 hrs, it was being suggested that England needs to follow the Scottish Gov’s policy of making child benefits available to all. As I’ve said here may times before “if Scotland, with its economy largely controlled by Westminster, can afford universal benefits, then clearly Westminster can too”. The fact that it doesn’t implies that child poverty (and all that goes with it) is de facto government policy. Class warfare isn’t uncommon in the UK, but this is surely class warfare in its most egregious manifestation?
You’re right Ken. All too often I hear “Politicians are all the same”. It’s a lazy argument. The SNP are not “the same”.
Not perfect either, but way better in terms of progressive policies and social conscience. Mostly despite actively hostile Westminster governments.
“..interest rates are closely related to rent demands.”
I can attest to that. I used to own a couple of flats which I let out, but which I sold when I retired in 2014. Then, I was getting £625 a month for one of them. I was chatting to my erstwhile letting agent a couple of days ago and he told me they are now getting £900 for it.
It is shameful that none of the Parties are talking about this, but my guess is that they reckon that the general public is too taken in by the false notion of a “wise and responsible” BoE striving to control inflation. The public don’t have a clue about the 1998 Act and even less idea about how perverse and unnecessary the BoE’s rates are.
What’s really bizarre at the moment, is the most progressive challenges to establishment fiscal policy are coming from the God-awful Farage. Decrying the huge ripoff interest payments to banks on CBRAs, calling for income tax thresholds to be raised to £20k, and scrapping the two-child limit, FGS. (Thresholds are the principal other topic studiously ignored by the main Parties). Although, of course, Reform are at the same time advocating the nasty, bonkers proposals for net-zero immigration and punitive NI rates for foreign workers.
The worst thing about all this shitshow is that the media, even the more enlightened, are abjectly failing to point the public to the reality, and explain it to them. Gawd help us.