Who are the winners?

[Elmyn Noos]

One thing I have noticed about the ups and downs of the economy over my lifetime is that whenever there are big losers, there are usually big winners.

 

Clearly the media, being what it is, is relishing reporting on the collapse of large financial institutions, the down-turn in the housing market, the failure of this and that, but there must be some winners out there from all this, and I'll wager that on the sly, some are either winning big right now, or will do when the dust has settled.

 

Off the top of my head, I can think of a few. The fall in house prices means that someone like me, who still has shitloads of equity in their property, can see my "next step up" property dropping by a lot more money that my own house. Good news. A 10% drop in the value of my house equates to a lot less than a 10% drop in value of a house worth twice as much. Also, people attempting to get onto the property ladder won't be complaining at house-prices falling.

 

Barclays scooped up some of the tastier bits of Lehman Brothers, and LloydsTSB have sneaked in and scooped up HBoS in a move that would certainly have been vetoed before the shit hit the fan. Same goes for Santander cherry-picking the tastier morsels of Bradford & Bingley.

 

Something tells me it's not all doom and gloom out there, and some of the finer and more informed economic brains on here must know of others?

[dennis tooth]

The banks are the winners or anyone being propped up by our tax.

[Kopite]

Price of oil coming down (petrol will be cheaper, which leads to a reduction in transportation costs and perhapas cheaper food. Price of Gas is linked to oil, utility costs should come down too...)

 

Property prices falling...

 

If people can ride this out, hopefully stability and common sense will return to the economy and all of us should be better off...

 

Agree with Tactics, I've no doubt there will be bankers (I say that word whilst stretching my mouth using my fingers - try it) who will be making money out of our taxes supporting them.

[rondeco]

Public sector has a knack of doing ok in these times i think. And I'm one of them!!

[Elmyn Noos]

Public sector has a knack of doing ok in these times i think. And I'm one of them!!

 

Do you not think that with the government being forced to shell out to support the economy, there is going to be less wedge in the kitty to fund the lazy layabout public sector pay-rises next time round, and the time after, and the time after that?

 

heh heh heh - more good to come out of all this!

[stringvest]

The banks are the winners or anyone being propped up by our tax.

 

The banks will certainly have their wings clipped over this. Their potential for making huge profits on risky propositions be severely reduced. Pensions will suffer, and banks share prices will not recover for a long time.

 

The government could be a big winner if the economy doesn't completely collapse and die. If the housing market picks up, or even stabilises, within a year, the government may well see a profit from the recent acquisitions. And of course, those on the dole will continue to be propped up.

[stringvest]

Price of oil coming down (petrol will be cheaper, which leads to a reduction in transportation costs and perhapas cheaper food. Price of Gas is linked to oil, utility costs should come down too...)

 

Property prices falling...

 

If people can ride this out, hopefully stability and common sense will return to the economy and all of us should be better off...

 

Agree with Tactics, I've no doubt there will be bankers (I say that word whilst stretching my mouth using my fingers - try it) who will be making money out of our taxes supporting them.

 

Bankers make money making money for us, the 'investors', as well as their banks. Investment bankers and traders by and large are rewarded for increasing pension funds and the pots of money owned by wealthy individuals.

[stringvest]

Lots of bankers will lose their jobs over this, no doubt to the cheers of the bitter and jealous. Unlike their detractors, though, they won't sit on their DFS never-never sofas in their pyjamas watching Deal or No Deal on their 50 inch flat screen TVs. They'll go and find a job, earning their keep and no doubt paying enough taxes to keep at least a couple of the whining urchins in trainees and crack.

[dennis tooth]

Upstanding bankers. Spine of our society.

 

SPLITTER!

[Guest TK-421]

It's boom time for insolvency practicioners and debt litigators.

[dennis tooth]

Bankers do not make money for anyone but themselves. They don't even do anything but place bets. Everyone get down the bookies, put everything you've got into your bets and then society will prosper when you win some money and it filters through the system.

 

Bollocks.

[stringvest]

Bankers do not make money for anyone but themselves. They don't even do anything but place bets. Everyone get down the bookies, put everything you've got into your bets and then society will prosper when you win some money and it filters through the system.

 

Bollocks.

 

Ah. I tell you what Dennis, you go and work as a fund manager for 10 years or so then come back and talk with something other than complete jaundiced ignorance, because your recent utterances on matters financial are a hoot.

[mattyq]

Apparently there's been a lot of interest in doing PGCEs from the Lehman staff who didn't get taken on by Nomura

[Elmyn Noos]

It's boom time for insolvency practicioners and debt litigators.

 

Hence the opportunist Noos taking on a specialist accountancy practice consultant this week.

 

Oh yeah. Boom or bust, makes no difference to me.

[Elmyn Noos]

Lots of bankers will lose their jobs over this, no doubt to the cheers of the bitter and jealous. Unlike their detractors, though, they won't sit on their DFS never-never sofas in their pyjamas watching Deal or No Deal on their 50 inch flat screen TVs. They'll go and find a job, earning their keep and no doubt paying enough taxes to keep at least a couple of the whining urchins in trainees and crack.

 

I struggle to sympathise with many of the bankers who have lost their jobs. I emailed a mate who works in the city, and is fairly typical of the breed, to ask if his job was safe and if he felt for any of the guys he saw walking out of their offices carrying boxes. His reply was that his company had been very prudent and as a result his job was safe. As for those who's lost their jobs "it makes the queues shorter at the bar on a Friday after work".

[aws]

Anyone with cash, balls and the ability to correctly estimate when the market is more or less at the bottom can make a fortune.

[wiiksie]

Lots of bankers will lose their jobs over this, no doubt to the cheers of the bitter and jealous. Unlike their detractors, though, they won't sit on their DFS never-never sofas in their pyjamas watching Deal or No Deal on their 50 inch flat screen TVs. They'll go and find a job, earning their keep and no doubt paying enough taxes to keep at least a couple of the whining urchins in trainees and crack.

hahaha earning their keep. Love it. Because that's the goal of every fund manager isn't it?

 

Get back in your ivory tower stringvest.

[Elmyn Noos]

Here's another winner for you - Gordon Brown.

 

I said on here a while ago that despite the current polls, when push comes to shove and people have to put a tick in the box come general election time, joe public would not be able to bring themselves to trust Cameron and the tories, and Brown will probably get re-elected as the best of a very poor bunch.

 

I think this is even more true now. The current unprecedented world financial instability might just turn out to be Brown's Falklands.

[Kopite]

Here's another winner for you - Gordon Brown.

 

I said on here a while ago that despite the current polls, when push comes to shove and people have to put a tick in the box come general election time, joe public would not be able to bring themselves to trust Cameron and the tories, and Brown will probably get re-elected as the best of a very poor bunch.

 

I think this is even more true now. The current unprecedented world financial instability might just turn out to be Brown's Falklands.

 

Prays Brown's Belgrano moment involves Gillett & Hicks...

[mattyq]

Good point, Noosy. Brown's a twat but he's not as smarmy as Cameron and Osborne by a long way.

Also, after listening to what they actually want to do when/if they get in i'm seeing Thatcher MkII and am not liking it at all

[stringvest]

hahaha earning their keep. Love it. Because that's the goal of every fund manager isn't it?

 

Get back in your ivory tower stringvest.

 

Yep, that's precisely what they're doing. How can you possibly argue otherwise? What's the matter Wiiksie? are you jealous? Would you refuse to be a fund manager on moral grounds? Would you bollocks.

 

For the record, I don't have any great sympathy for those traders/investment bankers that have been made redundant either - they know the risks when they take the job.

 

Sadly the ivory tower isn't finished yet, as there's a bit of a problem sourcing the elephants.

 

Tsk.

[dennis tooth]

Ah. I tell you what Dennis, you go and work as a fund manager for 10 years or so then come back and talk with something other than complete jaundiced ignorance, because your recent utterances on matters financial are a hoot.

 

Ok then, I will.

And you keep salivating over the fine selfless job they are doing for the greater good, keeping us all safe at night as we couldn't well look after ourselves without these heros to keep our heads above water.

[stringvest]

Ok then, I will.

And you keep salivating over the fine selfless job they are doing for the greater good, keeping us all safe at night as we couldn't well look after ourselves without these heros to keep our heads above water.

 

Erm, no thanks. But someone has to work funds to grow them so that most of us can spend our dotage in a heated house. Just like someone has to empty the bins, just like someone has to sell double glazing. It's a job. Why do you hate them so much? How do you get on with estate agents?

[dennis tooth]

I don't hate them. I don't think they are necessary at all. You think they are the lifeblood and would only too willingly tell us how great they are. Up to you like but they don't give a shit about you and you won't impress them.

[Christian]

It is not a winning situation for first time buyers unless you already have a huge deposit at hand. In London, the kind of homes that would be looked at by first-time buyers haven't gone down that much anyway to be honest. A one bed place for you n your bird would be about £170k min and you'd need about £20k down payment.

 

Free economics, eh?

And seeing bankers with their boxes was fucking ace. It's not just about money, it's about laughing at people whom you know to be grade A cunts.