GET READY TO TIGHTEN YOUR BELTS.

Taken from todays Telegraph -

Savings accounts will become 'obsolete'

Savings accounts will become “totally obsolete” if inflation rises next week, experts have warned.

Latest figures suggested that not a single saver in Briton would make a real return on their cash if the cost of living continues to rise.

Historically low interest rates and the government’s preferred measure of inflation, the Consumer Prices Index, at 3.2 per cent means savers are already struggling to get an income.

There are currently no accounts available to higher rate taxpayers that provide a real rate of return after tax and inflation, and just a handful available to basic rate taxpayers. But even these could be nudged off the savings landscape, financial experts warned.

They suggested that if CPI rises to above 3.8 per cent, there will be no
point any taxpayer using a savings account to produce an income.



In this situation, savers would actually end up losing money and could end up being more than £300 out of pocket in a year on a £10,000 investment.

Darren Cook, of personal finance website Moneyfacts, said: “If inflation rises to 3.8 per cent, all savings accounts will effectively be totally obsolete.

“Savers have to fight hard to get within an arms length just to break even and avoid losing money.”

And Andrew Hagger, of personal finance website Moneynet, said: "Savers are nearing their wits end, and more and more people are going to be giving up the savings habit."

There are currently no accounts for higher rate taxpayers and there are just 34 accounts – nearly all are fixed rate bonds which require savers to lock in their money for three years or more – for basic rate taxpayers. It equates to just 0.2 per cent of the savings market.

At 3.8 per cent, higher rate tax payers would need to find an account paying 6.33 per cent to avoid losing money once inflation is taken into account and basic rate taxpayers would need to achieve 4.75 per cent.

The real return for a basic rate taxpayer once inflation is taken into account on an average no notice account is currently minus 3.21 per cent, meaning they would actually lose the equivalent of £321 if they invested £10,000 over a year if CPI reached 3.8 per cent.

Economists expect inflation to climb higher in the coming months.

Petrol prices could pass £1.20 a litre by the August bank holiday weekend, close to an all-time high.

And the price of a loaf of bread is expected to rise by 10p to 129p, which would be a record. Russia suffered from its hottest summer in a century, wiping out much of the world’s wheat harvest.

Motorists and retailers will also be hit when Value Added Tax rises by 2.5 per cent to 20 per cent in January.

Things are going to get difficult for EVERYONE to say the least.

MEP Nick Griffin Supports Leigh Lancashire Campaign To Save Our Industrial Heritage

A big thank you to all the team who went out of their way to highlight this predicament!:"The historic steel lattice headgear in the former pit village of Astley Green - the last one still standing in what was once the great Lancashire Coalfield - is in danger of collapse and has been placed on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk register"............Our Chairman's link to the report can be found here:



Anyone requiring further information on any particular issue or any other "older" issues on this blog..........then please do not hesitate to get in touch and we'll try and sort you out!

LACK OF AID TO PAKISTAN

The horrific floods continue apace in Pakistan causing havoc among the displaced people.
They were poor to start with and now many have nothing and face famine, and yet Western aid has been less than in previous disasters. We sympathise but do not give.

Why could that be? Could it be that Western people do not really like Pakistanis or muslims in general.
They have had enough cause.
We have been insulted and discriminated in our own land by people of Pakistani origin and threatened and exposed to terror attacks by people of that religion and country.
We are called infidel dogs and our women whores as well in spite of the aid which we have generously given over the years. This latter has been spent on nuclear arms while the majority of the people remain in poverty.
Muslims in general have caused trouble in many countries, the Phillipines, Indonesia, Uganda Sudan, Albania, Chechnya, China, Malaysia, Nigeria etc, and there are many more.
Whenever the islamic religion comes in contact with non islamic people there seems to be strife.
And they wonder why we don't like them?

Perhaps some of the wealthy Arab billionaires could contribute more. They have gained their wealth by sitting on top of oil wells and used our technology to extract it, but still they hate us and call us thick infidels.
But when things go wrong in their countries it is always to us they call for help. The muslim countries contribution to the Haiti earthquake was minimal in spite of Arab wealth.
The fact that a charity in this country is called islamic relief betrays their sentiments, help muslims but don't bother about infidels. BTW Christian aid helps all irrespective of religion and that is the difference.
I suggest wealthy muslims all over the world including Britain give generously to the relief but why should British people on low incomes in this country contribute when their own elite contribute so little. There are many other good causes.

I heard on the television today some of those flooded out saying it was God's punishment. Perhaps He does not like the muslim religion.

To finish, if you want help in future get people to like you. Do not be so aggessive or threaten to take over other's countries and then you may be given more help by the infidels you so despise.
But for now there are plenty rich muslims so get them to put their money where your mouths are.