renth

The govt issues treasury gilts that are bought typically by the Chinese government. If the government is too blatant with the printing money or "quantitative easing" as it is known then they risk the chance of no one wanting to buy the debt and the result would be catastrophic for the UK economy.

DunRoaminTheUK

The end is nigh....

Deutschmaster

I asked one of the Chinese fellas I work with why does the Chinese government have so much money caught up in US Dollars (and I suppose UK pounds as well) - its almost like they are held hostage to the US. If the Chinese don't keep buying western government debt then the value of their savings in US dollars will fall and screw them.

Of course this situation can't keep going on forever and one would wonder whether the Chinese would at one stage either decide to take the hit of a falling dollar, or perhaps they may not be able to buy enough US dollars and everything crashes.

the troubadour

That is an often expressed comment...get involved from the inside....sounds good but in practice being on the inside usually requires submitting to party lines...it is often better to be on the outside and that may well be a fringe group or whatever and agitate.
Oz examples to consider former singer from Midnight Oil Garret,he had a lot to say then muzzled as soon as becoming a politician where as Pauline Hanson was forced out of Liberal Party for her views and with others formed a new group.
Yes a lot of people are ignorant of politics as it became somewhat unfashionable in the eighties but times are perhaps changing we are living in very difficult times for a lot of people....it would appear that there are a lot of very angry people out there through out the UK if even a small percentage of them took to the streets the powers that be would take notice.
Yes letter writing has its place but sometimes more is required.

MartinLuther

I can't see how rioting is going to fix the problem.

lapin_windstar

There are no additional physical notes being printed! It's just an expression.

DunRoaminTheUK

For stress-relief (in hard-times) there is nothing better and given people can't afford to go paint-balling these days, it's also free....Do you see now?

Deutschmaster

Fair enough, but going back to my original thought - if the BoE 'conjures' up 100 billion or whatever it is by any means - perhaps by just adding on a few zeros electronically to an account - would they go about removing this at a later date?

MartinLuther

Ah!. And I guess the cost of rebuilding is a stimulus to the economy.

DunRoaminTheUK

You are a fellow genius-thinker also?

framac67

I was one of the organisers (of the rally not the riots) not that we didnt think anything was going to happen. NOT.

DunRoaminTheUK

Were you the one handing out the scaffolding poles?

Deutschmaster

Give Eton a buzz, their schoolboys like a good riot!

Hutch

I recall Trafalgar Square having a slightly different atmosphere to new years eve a couple of months beforehand.

the troubadour

I do not know about it fixing the problem but one can argue it does not passed unnoticed.