Immediate-termism

T

TSSeasider

Well-known member
Was briefly looking at the currency markets and it highlights how we generally have news cycles dominated by immediacy.

On 21st September, before the 'special fiscal event' the markets closed on GBP/USD $1.1254 GBP/EUR €1.147

They are currently at $1.117 and €1.1409 which would be well within the normal fluctuations of a currency.

Now, they may not close there by the end of the day and we shouldn't underestimate the real chance one of the current crop in government could cause another fire sale etc, but we aren't going to hear of this in the same way when the currency was being sold off as it's not immediately newsworthy.

The more telling issue is the long term devaluation of the GBP, but, we don't really create the space to look at this in our 24 hours cycle. Not sure what the answer is given the shorter and shorter attention span of the population.
 
But those currency valuations don't tell the story. The Pound has had to be shored up by the BoE. Pension funds remain in a difficult position, property values are at risk and the supply of mortgages has taken a hit - which is a double-whammy for first time buyers as inflation rises.
 
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I think you are underestimating how many people are paying attention to the cost of living crisis and economy in general. This isnt a short attention span population distracted by shiny things, for a large majority of people, what is happening to their money is what they think about every day, and have done for months now.

In regards to the hourly fluctuations of the pound, there is a lot of uncertainty. If it went down and back up again, but with that reversal at the cost of higher mortgage payments and forthcoming cuts to public serviced and capital investment, that's not a return to where we were two weeks ago, that's taking money from homeowners and infrastructure just to curtail the effects of a self-made crisis.
 
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The cost of mortgages is the killer for the government along with the threat to pension funds.
A woman on QT last night explaining that her mortgage offer at 5.5% (or something) had been pulled and replaced with one at 10.5%
People reporting potential mortgage payment increases of £800 per month
This sort of thing is what really matters to people and the government have just made things a lot, lot worse for millions of people.
Housing Market is in complete turmoil.
 
The maths of those mortgage payment rises on top of everything else are dangerous.
I can only assume that many, many people are going to lose their houses, or have to reschedule their debt over several more decades?
 
ElBurroSinNombre said:
The cost of mortgages is the killer for the government along with the threat to pension funds.
A woman on QT last night explaining that her mortgage offer at 5.5% (or something) had been pulled and replaced with one at 10.5%
People reporting potential mortgage payment increases of £800 per month
This sort of thing is what really matters to people and the government have just made things a lot, lot worse for millions of people.
Housing Market is in complete turmoil.
Click to expand...
I've always wondered if it would be better if mortgages were made illegal. It would drive house prices down, encourage saving and houses would be sold at prices people could afford to pay. No middleman would be able to create large profits from interest.
 
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