Bank of England's attitude to savers: Let them eat cake

Mr Bean - Hows about keeping inflation in the agreed range like you and the rest of the useless economic "experts" at the BOE are meant to be doing. Thanks for your "advice" but i'll decide how and when I spend my savings.

Shame on you - setting policies that rob the old and prudent to give to your morally and ethically bankrupt banker friends.

and by the way not everyone has benefitted from rising property prices you pompous idiot!

If i did my job half as bad as you lot at the BOE i'd never work again.

Another, very simple, interpretation of Mr Bean's comments is that he wants the retired and elderly to become poorer by spending their savings on things they don't need or want (all in the national interest, of course). I don't think he is being deliberately offensive, just unusually frank. Still, he won't have much to worry about when he retires.

It is no use appealing to any sense of justice or morality when dealing with these apparatchiks. Why don't savers get together and have no expenditure weeks? These would make nonsense of one part of their alleged strategy although it would havelittle effect on their Weimar Republic like "destroy the currency to eliminate debt" scheme.Following on the arrogant display by the boss of HMRC the detachment of these powerful individuals from real life and any form of accountability is frankly terrifying.

Why leave money in the bank ? its loosing value and will be paid out as big fat bonus payments, if in retirement and can live off your pension income spend the lot you cant take it with you . Perhaps you should leave a little for disposal purposes and then your relatives will have a good argument about who gets what when you are gone . that s my plan

The aptly named Mr Bean should have stuck to silent comedy, in opening his mouth he has put both feet in it!

"let them eat cake" led to watch my head roll. Please can I see his head roll as well as the rest of the MPC.

It makes a total mockery of everthing we have been told is good behaviour.

My recommendations to my children (twenty somethings) are

1, Don't save, it will be devalued by inflation and rubbish rates

2, Borrow what you can, if it becomes a problem just default.

3, once you have built up a nice debt EMIGRATE.

Fed up savers should get together and organise "bank run" days. Were enmass we all withdraw £100, then the next time £200, then £300 etc. With the ongoing threat of increasing "bank run days" untill something is done to protect the prudent.

Anyone interested?

Perhaps the BofE is trying to encourage people to spend their money and get the economy going, rather than squirrel it all away.

Just a hunch.

Can someone explain why we need Banks/Financial institutions in an open market economy - surely it's simply a matter of matching lenders and borrowers so you cut out the middleman (the Bank). Businesses can issue Bonds (as indeed they do at present) or raise money through VCT's, and people needing loans to buy houses and cars can use a 'co-operative' like ZOPA that matches lenders to borrowers directly. In this way, interest rates are determined by the market's supply/demand mechanism and not by some institutional monetary policy. Government/Bank of England might then act more like a 'Corporate UK' raising money through 'Bonds/Gilts' to balance the books during one part of the economic cycle, and lending money to all and sundry during the other part of the cycle. Bank of England would then become, in effect, the only 'Bank', but interest rates would be determined by the market and not by them. Seems like a good system to me?

thats genius that grant - did you think that hunch up all on your own?

or was there a few of you?

good advice avenger! - good 3 point plan!

A revolution of the prudent is required. I feel the need to at least protest if not throw a few stones.

If the older generation have savings that they expected would supplement their pensions I suspect that we are speaking 10s of thousands. If the older generation do not want to touch their savings what on earth are they going to do with them?? You can't take it with you so spend it and have a good time while you still can for gods sake. I see it as pointless to save, save and save then pass away without spending it. All these retired people did not seem to complain when they were getting the massive financial gains on house price rises which allowed a lot of them to downsize with a handsome profit when they retired (paid for by the younger generation who now have the mortgages). There are always winners and losers depending upon how the economy is performing and not every section of society can have it good all of the time.

PAYE owrkers ,especially those in the public sector never had these boom times that we are always hearing about. I know I didn't. I could just about afford one house bought on a"Micky Mouse " endowment scheme.I daren't access my pension due to punishing actuarial reductions. I can't get work because there isn't any for young people never mind someone my age. I have to live on a modest redundancy payment supplemented by rapidly diminishing savings. I can see no appreciable moral difference betwwen the political classes of all parties and the late unlamented Cap'n Bob Maxwell.

Who on earth is advising idiots like this? This is the sort of daft comment we are hearing rather a lot recently. Even if what Mr Bean says is true (and I very much doubt it) what sense is there in saying it?

Welcome to the weimar republic. Read 'When Money Dies' Adam Fergusson. It's those on fixed incomes that always get screwed, meanwhile the financial manipulators and allies maintain their lifestyles and the unions keep their people reasonably up to scratch.

Jon Gallagher, Mind your own business and we oldies will manage our own affairs; quite how the younger generation is supposed to have paid for the appreciated value of my property I cannot see, and why pick on houses the same argument of appreciation applies to any real assents. The reason us octogenarians bought such things is because they are the only things that hold value in the face of inflation, of which we have seen a great deal. However even these things are subject to valuation bubbles when everyone piles in and this was more recently brought about by uncontrolled excessive lending by the finance people with their rocket science financial instruments and complicit banks pursuing greedy profits.

Now the banks have discovered the consequence and are in process of setting their books straight following a timely bail out by the general public and it makes a great deal of sense to them to have the government print more money and reduce their real deficit; and to blazes with the ordinary people. Spending our capital may prove to be a necessity but it ain't appreciated; and Jon Gallagher what I intend to do with any capital I have left when I 'snuff it' is no business of yours; there is always the younger generation to provide with a helping hand.

Anyone with an annuity is spending capital along with interest all the time. We pay insurance companies to cover ourselves against misjudging how long we will live and running out of cash. All Mr Bean is suggesting is a one person version of this. It is also practical advice.

I prefer to try my skills on the stock market. Inflation has made saving in deposit accounts a mug's game in almost every year since the 1960s.

The economy will stagnate or shrink until either the government, companies or individuals spend money, preferably on our run down infrastructure. Everyone cutting back simply results in endless rounds of beggar my neighbour. Does any sane person want a rerun of the 1930s?

We the bank go bust and force ZIRP onto the Government so you get to pay for our mistakes twice. Then we moan when you don't spend all that money you don't have any more thanks to ZIRP.

The bloke doesn't get it, none of them get it, and they will never get it. This latest Bernanke scam from the US in just another brick in the wall of fudge and indifference from these ghastly people.

http://nbyslog.blogspot.com/2010/09/revealed-how-bernanke-propped-up-stock.html

Agree, Agree, Agree. Please shout louder and as often as possible. This no more than legalised robbery.

Equitable Life has made a mockery of saving for one's old age. and the government is doing its best to ignore the fiasco.

He's missed a real point (or failed to note it) - houses may well have appreciated in value but unless you have downsized or raised finance agaisnt the property you can't spend it!

Come on guys, has the Government or the Bank of England ever done anything for "prudent savers"???

What they want is to get the money out into circulation so they get their soon-to-be 20% VAT and Corporation Tax.

Savers - you're on your own . . . . . . . If you put money in a bank deposit account and it earns less than inflation, you are NOT saving, you are losing money. Looked at from that point of view, a bank deposit account is now about the riskiest investment you can choose.

Did you ever think you'd see the day when emerging market equities were less risky than UK bank deposit accounts?

This Mr Bean, Is this a pseudonym or for real? He is certainly a poor comedian. Spend capital? What happens to the pooor sods who do this when it runs out? You can be sure Bean will be OK and saying things like "Tough!" for there will be no help from there. He's just a stupid con artist. Due for the sack as we do not need idiots like him at the BOE.

P.S. Tell him to spend some of his capital on a razor or grow a proper beard. Idiots are bad enough but scruffy ones are beyond the pale>

If Mr Bean didn't have a 6 figure salary he might not be inclined to such patronising remarks.

Booked a world-wide holiday for 6 months to clear my savings.

Donated my house to charity. When I return, where do I claim supplementary benefits and housing that I am currently precluded from?

If this bean parasite and the rest of his bunch had to endure 6% annuity rates or less, like normal savers he wouldn't utter such crap

Let them eat cheaper cake?

Apartheid is alive and well, same time zone, different hemisphere.

The lunatics are indeed now in charge of the asylum.

Mr Bean now works for the Muppets.

I am lost for words, hence the incomprehensible rubbish.

Mr Bean must have a primitive mind and should be sacked as incompetent. Does he not realise that a large proportion of discretionary spend goes on imports, foreign holidays and the like ?

So his suggestion would clearly lead to further impoverishment of the UK. We may employ a few more shopkeepers and importers for a while, but in the longer term, with a worsening trade deficit, sterling would devalue further and inflation would rise out of control, especially as so many public employees have index linked salaries and pensions.

So this would all widen the gap between those with inflation proofed income (like his) and the rest of the Country. His slice of a diminishing xake would increase. This is typical New Labout thinking.

We need to rebuild the UK to be more self sufficient through investment (which needs savers) and reducing spend on imports. This fundamental principle is so simple it beggars belief that so many such as Bean forget it. I am sure that he would not apply this to his household income.

Bean has to understand that the massive overspend by individuals and Labour has to be paid for. The excesses spent on public employment have to be clawed back - not laid at the door of the blameless prudent. He should take a pay cut and reduce his pension benefits for a start. There is no magic pill to get us out of this mess, and if those who benefitted from the excesses do not pay something back then this will lead to further economic divide in the Country.

I have already advised my children to use every means, legal and illegal to avoid paying money to the corrupt, useless government, staffed by greedy time servers. They don't have to worry themselves about clinging on to their savings as we do, they can look forward to huge pensions, paid for by us. A pox on all of them.

Paying interest to savers will undoubtedly lead to that interest being spent and therefore stimulating the economy, after all that is exactly what we saved up to do, secure future income. Currently interest rates on borrowing are low for some, but certainly not for all, the excessive margin is simply being used to provide high profits in the banking sector. The banks should be squeezed in some way - it just shouldn't be so easy for them!

I love the idea of mass savings withdrawals - but what to do with the cash?

Mr Bean should stick to his comedy acting career and not try to rin the country's finances. He could also try to live off my pension, that might change his views.

I see he also needs a shave...

Despite all the excitement Mr Bean does have a valid point though possibly not what he intended; there is little point in saving cash to lose its value so buy things that will maintain it, a bit of a gamble admittedly requiring judgement but there are plenty of things around; gold stuff, antiques, philately, equities, not sure about government bonds and so on. Hopefully things won't get as bad as Weimer when things were bought simply for barter, cash being worthless to hold, still the principle is the same.

It is sad when prudence is not reconised as a good habit anymore.

Our leaders should encourage virtues not vice.

Well said 'an elder one'.

For my part I have removed myself from the UK to live out my life away from the idiots that run the UK economy. Only problem I have is that my pensions arise in the UK so I too am being screwed! But at least my capital is currently attracting a slightly higher rate than can be achieved in the UK! I hope it stays that way!!

I doubt he meant it in the way it has come out here. Obviously it sounds outrageous but clearly the economy is so fragile that we cannot have higher interest rates than we have. If thats the case how are savers supposed to receive higher interest rates than borrowers pay? That wouldnt work would it.

Yes I know that banks are making a wider margin than they ever have done between what they lend out to borrowers and what they pay the rest of us as depositors, and though it sticks in my craw too, this is the deliberate policy of central banks to enable the banks to recapitalise. I am as angry as everyone else here about the banks, particularly as I am still well out of pocket on a bank collapse myself, but I can at least understand that without the banks we have no civilised financial system and though this must never happen again it is for the moment a necessary evil.

Watch out for when the governments monetise all the debts and real inflation comes as that will really crush those with cash 1970's style unfortunately.

As a civil servant Mr Bean will receive a nice, fat, index linked pension. His attitude might change if that index linking were removed.

Seriously who allows these fatheads anywhere near the media? They should stay in their ivory tower in Threadneedle Street making believe that they know what's going on in the real world and that they can do something about it before drawing their fat pensions and retiring to be Master of an ivy clad Oxbridge college where they can continue to be as irrelevant to those of us who inhabit the real world as they are today.

Oh, and by the way, unless you are desperate, don't give your gold stuff away to the touts after it on the cheap, judging by all the spam one sees these days in the mail; there is always a recourse to the pawnbroker (whose shares have been a good investment to date, incidently) in an emergency, though I have no personal experience.

Specifically to Jon Gallagher,

What a load of tosh you write and I'm sorry if you find that rude but your comments hit a nerve. If we gained anything from house price rises over the years then we more than paid for it in the interest rates we paid. I can remember paying over 15% at one stage and never less than 8.5% for the duration of my mortgage. We saved very hard to find the deposit too and did not whinge if we had to forego luxuries like the latest gizmo or two over-seas holidays a year to do so. We were thrifty seeing savings as a means of avoiding flopping on to the social security if we hit a stormy patch. The current generation no doubt with many exceptions see life as one big joy ride with no feeling of accountability or responsibility so they feel free to continue sponging off the savers expecting to pay back little more than the price of a pint of beer for the privilege of borrowing a £100 for a year. A life style fuelled on massive debt which translates to legalised highway robbery of pensioners and savers no less. I paid my way every inch of the journey, never cost the state a Bean so don’t bleat to me how hard done by the current working population is. It's a myth - they never had to so good as Harold would have said.

And don't tell me how or when to spend my savings. Its my decision and in a democracy a free one too. I can weather most storms ahead through my savings unless the £ hits the rocks. Prudence its called - something Mr Brown can't have any claim to have practiced.

Bring back the stocks and put Charlie Bean (and his colleagues on the monetary policy committee) in them for a few hours and be careful not to get caught in the stampede to throw the first rotten egg.

David Moore

Angry? you bet!

Brought up in a lifestyle of never having to want. Brought up on the back of his parents and ancestors' wealth. Brought up networking with the toffs at University so when they're out they're riding high in the gravy train. Brought up in the extravagance and arrogance of business. Brought up in the full knowledge of how the lower classes make them their money while they literally laugh all the way to their bank.

Seething with anger that they are being asked to cut back on bonuses. Laughing like hyenas that the lower classes insult them that the banks and financial sector have got us into the mess we're in and it's guarantee'd that it's the lower classes that'll have to work like they've never worked before to get the country out of the recession.

Ladies and gentlemen of this board, are you going to sit back and let them walk over us? George Osborne does'nt give a toss as his wife's heiress to a fortune and he doesn't give a toss about how damaging to us his policies are going to be. It was always going to be about the Tories and Labour coming first and second in the election. This is the answer we have been left with. Are we going to accept it?

Thanks Lorna for your statistical analysis. I try to reduce the impact of inflationary impingements by adjusting by outgoings accordingly . I am not a group think person. I try to avoid being a pawn in someone elses game. You can call me a lone ranger if you like, but the fact is if your money runs out all your so called friends will desert you anyway, no matter how justified your case is, and how loud you protest.

Statistical inflation is one thing, Individual personal inflation is something quite different. I am retired living on a modest fixed income so it is absolutely vital to me to concentrate on controlling my outgoings rather than taking risks to boost my income.

I have managed to reduce my personal inflation rate to ZERO for the past three years.

I have achieved this in the following way:

(1) I designed my own interactive segmented cash-flow chart using the microsoft exel programme. This tracks my personal spending against a forecast which I draw up at the commencement of a new year.

By following my chart it quickly becomes apparent when spending is running ahead of the budget.

In order to bring finances back into balance I have economised in the following way.

Supermarket shopping: I have switched to "own brand" goods on some items, took advantage special offers and bulk buys.

Clothes: The overall cost of clothes has reduced considerably over this period. Add to that "give away" prices in sales. My outgoings on clothes has never been less.

Car: I changed my car three years ago for a second hand, low mileage, super-mini model. Greater fuel efficiency has more than offset the increase in the cost of fuel at the pump. I have had no repair bills, it has past it's test each year with no faults being found, and I have had cheaper tax and insurance to boot.

However as has been pointed out earlier in this thread. They do not put pockets in shrouds so I have spent some of the money which has been surplus to requirements on holidays. i.e. Going to places where I can learn something and educate myself.

Hotrod, I've the morals of a cat and usually buy used clothes out of ebay at a fraction of the cost of "sales" clothes. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I've bought two cars from ebay (one for my daughter, the other for me) that I'd probably have paid a good grand extra if I had bought them out of a garage. Oh, and I'll be looking for a wife or partner from ebay as well. You can pick up a bargain and they're usually a lot cheaper.

Lorna -Are you able to contact Mr Bean because it would be quite interesting to ask him what he has done to run down his own capital over the last six months to help the economy. No need for actual figures just a broad percentage. You often find that the words don't match the actions - do as I say, not do as I do.

You know, on reflection, we should not be too hard on Mr Bean, as Lorna implies he lives in a similarly rarified circumstance to that dwelt by Marie Antionette, he thus speaks from a position of ignorance of the facts of life that govern the rest of us. He is in his way benign, by trying to be helpful by stating what is to him obvious and we should all take note; he could be indicating that things will yet get worse.

I venture that our society today has been ill served by the increasingly micro management of our lives and livelihoods by the state and it behoves us all to reflect on that and to think for ourselves - as many clearly do judging from this commentary - especially those that have been reliant on government alms and patronage, not including the truly needy. Mr Bean and his ilk - e.g. professional poiticians with their cultivated dogmas - are what we get in the manner of governance. The generally poor standard of education in this country needs urgently to be addressed as a start.

Well, we all say stupid things at times, but some people are absolute experts in putting their foot in their mouth.

She did not say let them eat cake

Trouble is, the sanscullotes got their heads but it didn't do much for them.

sorry, sansculottes

Looks like an idiot, talks like an idiot, Must be a bureaucrat.

I'd really like to kick Mr Bean's stupid head into next week. Sorry about this but what planet are these people on?

Little wonder the country is in a mess with guys like this in charge.

I do hope the bankers are doing the 'spend, spend' spend' thing with their lovely fat bonuses! Now that kinda money would really help to stimulate economic growth ... new Mercedes, BMW anyone???

Jon Gallagher is a twerp.

It matters not a jot that you house may be worth 500,000 or 250,000. You can't eat it.

And forget the downsizing. By the time the agents, solicitors and GB's super sized stamp duty have been paid, most ordinary folk would actually find themselves out of pocket.

Mr Dean is a schmuck.

He has verbal diarrhoea, and foot in mouth disease.

If he had engaged brain before he spoke, he would realise that what the good savers have been doing has been to keep them off the poverty line.

A number of sage comments have been made, namely if there was a decent rate of interest being paid on savings, the pensioners would be able to do exactly as he is advocating, spending some of the money that they get rather than spending capital which will in turn reduce the income in due course. There is only so much capital that can be spent before it runs out and then what happens to the economy? His implication.

And then there is the comment about benefiting from the increase in house prices, until you sell an asset, there is no benefit to be obtained, it is just a set of figures on a piece of paper which are not "coin of the realm", unless you are going to borrow against it, and in which case in a couple of years time the interest rates are going to rise and there's going to be an even bigger hole in the pensioner's budget.

Mr Bean, like his namesake, is clearly a joker. His morals are those of the gutter, and it is like the policeman who prosecutes the victim and pats the criminal on the head and allows him make off with his ill gotten gains and fines the victim to benefit the pocket of the state and not cost the state the cost of keeping the criminal, who doesn't pay tax on his proceeds of crime. Perhaps charge Bean of aiding and abetting?

The bank was in the pocket of the last set of criminals who stole millions from the taxpayers and then claimed that it was within the rules. They have been allowed to go scot-free (no tax paid on the proceeds of their crimes).

This government isn't doing very much else and continues to punish the prudent (who vastly outnumber the imprudent) so as not to upset the imprudent borrower and to subsidise them to allow them to make a profit and to enhance the profits of those that are paying their way, and to allow them to continue spending, whilst depriving many more of the ability to spend because they are not getting a decent return.

As for the comment about Mr Bean reducing his capital, perhaps even charging it, maybe that question should be addressed also to Mervyn King and anyone else who sits around the table on the first Thursday of each month. How have they increased their personal spending to benefit the economy?

I do not absolve the banks, or their directors, or their managers and for those that got themselves into trouble, and were paid bonuses, even in the present circumstances, they should have those bonuses clawed back and paid to the savers.

looking at the bigger picture,how do these people get employed,thats a no brainer.

The Old Boys Network,they control the complete financial system world wide,it takes various forms but it all boils down to GREED and INCOMPETENCE.

Governments would have us believe they control our financial destiny ,no way ,they are just the cover for the financial power houses to manipulate the masses in any way they wish.Mr Bean you are a disgrace to your profession .

There again,can you call STUPIDITY a profession

I am spending mine, but not here in Britain. There is no point in leaving life savings to be confiscated by the state. So why not enjoy yourself while you are still standing. Go to S. America, New zealand Australia California, Far East. Avoid Brit Airways like the plague. We have given up on STUFF. We never go to the shops except for the bare necessities, its all made in China anyway. No, have a bit of Foreign Luxury where they are pleased to see you and have not forgotten the Word "SERVICE" which no longer exists in Britain.

Bean and all the rest in the Bof E dont know the Answers.,and certainly none of the cretins in Parliament have a clue. The arrival of Red Ed and what he represents is enough to make even the most gullible amongst us shudder, It is I am afraid every ma(and woman) for themselves now. Dont listen to any of their witterings,claims, pronouncements. Trust in your own judgement and look after yourselves, because when YOU need the state they wont be there to help you. Have a little bit of GOLD tucked away as a standby should you need it. Train yourself for austerity. It is great when you discover what you can do with out.Between 1940 and 1950 the British were pass masters at survival take my word for it.

What a brilliant idea from Anonymous1 to organise a "bank run" day to screw up the financial system and make these unbelievably incompetent and insensitive people wake up to the reality of life. After all it was the regulators, bankers, and politicians who screwed up and they have been completely unaffected by their actions.

The internet is a powerful tool and surely it must be possible to do something. I can think of nothing better than causing problems for these fools, and for them to realise that good old Joe Public has had enough of them lining their pockets with our money!!!!. You can count me in if this can be organised!!

To DJM. Jon Gallagher raises points worth airing whether liked or not.

Today's younger working generation are suffering financially in a way a large swathe of today's retired generation did not.

Final salary pensions no more. Endowment policies that matured for far more than envisaged no more. House price inflation boom no more. Trade unionism no more. Free NHS no more. Free dental no more. Job security for life no more. Simplistic yes but just wanting to point out that today's retirees lived through a perfect storm of financial circumstances unlikley to be repeated in the UK.

Why shouldn't retirees downsize to release capital? After all what did the majority of them actually do personally to contribute to the growth in house prices?

Yes inflation was higher and as a result interest rates were higher but the inflation eroded debts far faster than today. Also wage price spirals that helped that generation afford higher mortgage payments through the 70's and 80's also decimated British industry to the point today's youngsters have no car industry / steel industry / coal industry to provide lifetime employment thus offering a far greater feeling of job security. Union activism and confrontational employment practices practiced by a large swathe of pensioners forced British jobs abroad never to return.

Pensioners can be selfish and blinkered too.

Well done John Gallagher for raising this. It will become increasingly topical over the next few years in particular as the retired poulation outnumbers the working population in the UK for the first time.

Not forgetting MIRAS (mortgage interest relief at source) and council house RTB reliefs both of which enabled an awful lot of todays's pensioners to benefit financially in ways no longer available today.

With the average age of a first time buyer in the UK being 38 it is far harder for today's youngsters to acquire wealth.

When todays retirees start moving upstairs who will offer the asking prices for their large 1930's and 1950's properties? Even more reason for today's pensioners to spend their equity because it is likely to suffer a significant reductiion in real terms over the next 20 years due to the demand / supply equation altering dramatically.

I think the older baby boomer generation has benefitted from the recent hyperinflation in house and asset prices and historic sale of houses to the younger generation from the availability of cheap credit, regardless of whether the financial system was inadequately regulated for this. In this way, a lot of wealth has been passed back a generation because of the advent of sophisticated banking products providing readily available capital. Significant debt is now burdened on the shoulders of the younger generation as a consequence. This recent banking/economic globalisation effect, has allowed the baby boomers to cashed their chips in over the right time, and create savings, leaving the younger generation to shoulder substantial financial debt and stagnating or deflating real-estate values. Where were the wise elders to look after the next generation in our nation?

The problems of property purchase now, uncertainty in the ecomomy, employment and our currency cast doubts in the minds of young people whether families are or will be affordable, as a result of the crisis.

The older generation should not complain about the dosh they roll in not yeilding a 'living' through banking interest, while 50% of the UK population have never had any savings due to economic or personal circumstances. The younger generation has contributed to the wealth of the now savers and a minor rebalance through low interest rates, is similar to the wealthy handing a bit of slack back to the mortgagees because they sold the original assets at prices that were too high.

The wealthy should realise that they are not the only people that matter and the young now leveraged generation and young families and the future generations are at greatest risk if there is now a surge in base rates (which the wealthy are calling for) which would put down disposable incomes and increase exposure to default. Some from the older generation are accountable for the current situation by not taking adequate safeguards in regulating the economy appropriately for the last 20 years and preventing credit-driven asset overinflation. The rate-setters will have some sense in considering the effect on the wider UK population, all UK businesses, including the stabilisation of the banking sector (although bankers are still overpaid for 'all the hard' work they do), and not decide to have pity on the wealthy savers not getting wealthier, whilst putting the bulk of population into bankruptcy.

In my view, rates ought to remain low until we and the rest of the world have grown and carefully inflated our way out of this mess and we can move our leveraging to adequate next-generation refinancing tools, which the banks need to come up with, but probably post-inflation, or tools we have never seen before. Keep up the good work King and co. ;) I trust you will do the right thing for the the majority of the people in this country. Wealthy people, enjoy life or the casino!

The younger one is obviously too young to understand what the baby boomers have been through.

We had roaring inflation in the 70s which eroded any saving we may have had then. Whilst house prices increased generally (but many of us lost our homes when they crashed) interest rates went sky high and mortgages were astronomic in comparison with to-day.

The value of houses now is irrelevant unless one is selling up and not buying another. Even downsizing often releases little capital what with stamp duty, agent and solicitor's fees and so on.

Our endowment policies went south leaving us to find additional cash when they matured.

Our standard of living was well well below the young ones of today. We drove old cars without all of the gadgets, no ipods, fewer holidays - most in Blighty. We rarely ate out and fashion was only for the rich. Fitted carpets and central heating was a luxury. We were pleased with second hand furniture, I could go on and on.

The simple fact is that the young ones would not put up with the basic standards we enjoyed. They want everything now and new - witness the hoardes in our fancy new shopping malls. Look at all the expensive food in the shopping trolleys. Look at all the young Brits jollying in Spain, the far East and the many other tropical resorts. Look at all of the designer handbags, clothes and shoes.

We also worked longer for companies and showed commitment (apart from the lefty union workers who got nowhere other than exporting our manufacturing jobs). We concentrated on adding value rather than looking good and wasting resources on PC projects.

So we baby boomers were generally prudent, did not use our credit cards (other peoples' money) or large loans to lead extravigant lifestyles. And now our personal pensions have crashed 50% owing to the current economic situation.

So let us not blame the baby boomers. Blame those who borrowed beyong their ability to repay and caused the banks to go under. Yes - the bankers were unaccepatble greedy and they still are (few of the greedy ones are not baby boomers) but the cash they put in their pockets was paenuts compared with the value of bad loans. And blame the last Government for spending other people's money again, creating an extra 1m public service jobs, many of which will have to go as we come to our senses.

The austerity to come will not be strange to many of us baby boomers - just a return to sensible living and less greed.

In our day your first job was often very poorly paid - now outlawed under the minimum wage and the 48hour weekly working limit. In some extreme cases you had to pay to work during an apprenticeship. You worked hard and slowly rose through the ranks as your experience grew. You were around long enough to be responsible for all of your decisions, Changes were thought through in depth so that they yielded true benefits. Loud mouths were shunned as substance was more important than image.

Quite simply the life many of the younger ones now lead is superficial, with instant gratification the aim. We were brought up to entertain ourselves, make our own props and invent.

But all of the wealth we tried to create and the high standard of living we gave to the next two generations are being frittered away. The UK population fails to understand the consequences of global competition, yearns after services and goods from abroad and expects to have well paid jobs with guaranteed pensions. Look at the BBC for example !

The only consolation is that we baby boomers will probably not be around when the UK finally joins Greece, Ireland and others as a holiday province of China.

The austerity to come will not be strange to many of us baby boomers - just a return to sensible living and less greed.

The commentator just before me is more or less on the mark. Today's voters are not giving a strong rnough message that the banks have to come under a greater dgree of social control. Making fortunes by sucking money out of the system (after all bankers don't make any 'product' apart from money) has to come under social control and out politicians still have much to do before the situation possesses any elemt of morality. Charlie Bean is the guy we the nation deserves: he is self-serving and should be removed from his post for what he said, with pension removed. Those who live by the sword should expect to die by it, so I doubt if he'd mind too much. Let's try it.

Mr Bean, has missed the key point that it was the BoE mistake to keep interest rates artificially low for too long that has got us into theis position and that they are already raping savers to re-capitalise the banks and cover their mistake / set us up for another fall with artificially low rates and QE feeding the bankers grand Ponzi scheme to fund bonuses.

Bankers really are the most unethical breed in this country and we will go hungry because of them. They contribute nothing to the greater good of our society and leech from our hard earned pay.

"Let Them Eat Bankers" the quote should say.

Charlie Bean stew on the menu !

Metaphorically speaking of course :-)

Seriously, perhaps Charlie would like to subsidise my earnings from his guaranteed final salary pension.