Brown's spend, spend, spend during his Chancellor's days has brought us into the current economy we are facing today. His appeal at a Downing Street meeting for the lenders to pass on cuts appeared to fall on deaf ears with HBOS, which owns the Halifax, increasing its rate on some mortgages from 6.09 to 6.59 per cent. Borrowers taking out this type of deal will now pay 46 more a month. On a two-year tracker, the rate will increase from 1.49 points above base rate to 1.99 points, giving a current rate of 6.99 per cent.

Other lenders are expected to follow Halifaxs lead.

If the Government wants the banks to lower mortgage rates to home owners - why not just offer them through Northern Rock? Everyone would rush to the Rock to get the loans forcing banks to match the rates or lose the business? Or maybe the government would then run into bigger credit crunch?

Sure, sterling has already fallen 25%, but that's because the market had already sussed out that there was a problem way before Brown and his stooges on the MPC recognised it.

Then, with it already having fallen that 25%, last week Brown, King and Sentance started talking it down even further and Osbourne was really only reacting to their comments from last week imo. Maybe Osbourne isn't the man to revive the country's fortunes, but I think he was stitched up by Mandy in Corfu and I think he's right now to speak out against further declines in sterling below these current levels given that every mineral/commodity is traded in USD and we will always import more than we export because we're a small island.

Osbourne was just stating the obvious and weather he said it or not will make no difference. Sorus has been saying it for months and it is his opinion that has more weight. I have no doubt that Mandy will come unstuck again at some point. Osbourne was stupid not to have given him a wider berth and not tried to mix it.
He will learn.

I agree Gus at last someone is speaking out for the truth its a fact that Sterling is probably falling another 20% from here and Osborne knows the economy is going bust due to the idiot Brown.

Although not a supporter of GB it should not be overlooked that many currencies have fallen against the usdollar probably because there are so many us$s held outside the US. Sooner or later the market will wake up and after Obama takes over the true state of the US economy will emerge.

The dollar also went up under GB for a period of time. Wasn't 2$/1 a few months ago.

There isn't enough room in the Dustbin for Ossie, Cameron is already there.

Don't the pair look lightweights, scratching around for something intelligent to say.

What a pair, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb.

The question is which is the dumbest.

I reckon we may go 1 to 1 very soon and the same with the $dollar.

HI MITZY JUST a small question ARE YOU ONE OF THE SAME TEAM ( THE TALK down the pound) then say it ALL POOR OLD GORDON? WHO DROVE DOWN THE POUND?????SHAME ON YOU ALL////

well its 1.10 to 1 at the moment for the tourist and its a godsend to me .

I hate you Butler..lol.

You seem to have your ups and downs upside down, Fred. The greenback actually went down which resulted in cable going over $2. But that was all about prolonged dollar weakness and nothing to do with either sterling or Brown.

.....Meanwhile Mr Brown will today outline his latest plan to kick-start the British economy with a series of tax cuts funded by "starlight, sunbeams and happy, happy thoughts".

He will also unveil dozens of multi-billion pound infrastructure projects, including a state-of-the-art hospital for damaged fruit and a high-speed rail link to the undersea kingdom of Atlantis.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/

Fred1 , you are right - the performance of the opposition is alarmingly poor , they are letting Gordo off the hook when they should be raising a lynch mob!

hil, I suppose it is not due to weakness. I think when the full effects of Bank "debts" in Europe and the rest of the world are understood, the will again increase in value. I think the actions of one man do not have the effect that is supposed.
But this is capitalism at its best.

Maddoctor, the present bunch of "Tory Toy Boys" couldn't find a tree, and if they did find the tree, couldn't tie the noose.

Actually, I think you'd be amazed at how the rhetoric of key individuals can influence currency markets, Fred. There's so much more that hinges on them than just the price of fags'n'booze in Calais.

The problem here is that Brown and the MPC are so far behind the curve that it's unreal. The market is far smarter than anyone in Downing Street and had the measure of things nearly a year ago. For Brown and co to be spouting off at this stage in the game is dangerous as they will probably cause sterling to overshoot and that's what Osborne was warning against last week when he broke the unwritten rule.

There's only one member of the MPC who's got any idea whatsoever imo, and that's Prof Blanchflower who happens to reside 3,000 miles away in New Hampshire.

Hil, No, I can see the effect of Share betting and Hedge Funds and "informed" financial opinion in the media.
Does MPC refer to "unit of length used in astronomy"?

There were people in the market calling the problems in the market 18~+months ago, but the "MARKET" ignore their calls and hence the present "chaos".

The market relies and "emotion" as much as "reality". The movement of money likewise and probably always will do.

My main contention is that many of the so called "leaders" of industry did not and are not taking their responsibilities leading up to the present chaos and "demanding" rather than asking for bailouts for their own imprudences.

These worthy individuals have the responsibilities for their own misconceptions.

Lower GBP is good for British business and discourages the consumption of imports.

High GBP has been killing our manufacturing industry over the past year or so ( those not already dead).

If you re-read my post, Fred, you'll see that I was referring to currency markets and not stck markets which nearly always lag.

Currency markets hang on the exact wording of sentences from the likes of Bernanke, Paulson, King and Weber. One word slightly out of place in a Fed statement can shift the buck 2 cents in 15 minutes as the market tries to pre-empt where they will go 1 month out. The words of Brown and the MPC last week were ill-timed quite frankly.

You're right, but we're always going to import more than we export, Dilbert, and this is a very fine balancing act which needs to be performed. Strangling sterling further will not help mineral and energy price falls to flow through as they are traded exclusively in USD.

I just happen to think that a softly, softly approach would be better at this stage. Talk of further interest rate cuts will just kill sterling further, but the cuts themselves will be of no benefit until the banks themselves are ready, willing and able to start lending again.

Can you honestly say that you think zero rate finance and high borrowing is going to do us any good? Look at Japan a decade ago.

I would like to say more fool them.

The Stock market, Currency market and economic of various countries are all interwoven and driven by intelligent guesswork. They reflect each other at different time scales. I would prefer to look at what I have in my hand than that on the bush.

At least I will have one meal!

The interesting remarks by the "tory" spokes is that the "roof" was not repaired for "troubled" times. Who the hell allowed the roof to be fill with infrastructure holes?

Having an over valued currency would be more detrimental in a recession than an under valued one and imo it isn't under valued at its current level.

Mineral and energy prices are falling across the board so effect is probably slightly worse than neutral but the real effect is on the import and export of manufactured goods which is positive.

If the pound had risen to $2.50 then I would have been worried.

I'm inclined to agree that at $1.50 it's probably at a sensible level now, Dilbert. Looking at my monthly cable chart back to 1978 (as far back as it will go), the average price in those 30 years looks to be around $1.68, so realistically it's not too far below that avarage now. It's ranged in that time between $1.04 and $2.45, however, so there is still plenty of scope for an extension of this current move.