ECB down to 2.5%

WOW, I've seldomly seen such a stupid comment here.
What got us into this mess is over-spending and under-saving in the 'western world' encouraged by a long spell of much too low interest rates!!!

As far as comments go I'd put it in the better 50% of ones I've seen!

granted many people are over stretched and have got themselves in serious trouble.

There's many others with no mortgages and plenty of savings who not only could maintain their levels spending but could actually increase them as the things they are saving for (cars and houses) have got seriously cheaper
 
"WOW, I've seldomly seen such a stupid comment here"

WOW, you should look back at some of your own comments Chris if you really want to see stupid. Maybe you should stick to talking about cars and stuff you seem to know something about...
 
WOW, you should look back at some of your own comments Chris if you really want to see stupid. Maybe you should stick to talking about cars and stuff you seem to know something about...

Would you mind pointing out which one(s) of my comments on this site you deem as stupid? Just throwing in an accusation like that is meaningless and pointless. I'm not the most frequent poster here, but I can't remember any significant critisism of my posts or views I expressed.



I take your point, but do you really believe that there are that many people in this country with no/low mortgages and sitting on piles of cash? Surely not enough to bring the Irish economy into an upswing while economies all around us are crumbling. I for one think that those with decent savings (to see them through rainy days) and managable mortgages are very much the minority (based on what I have heard from friends and colleagues).
I don't have statisics at hand but the average savings per person in this country is very low when compared to other countries in Europe.
 
First Active and Ulster bank have announced they are reducing their variables by only .5%.

Not impressed.
 
Very hard to say, as we know a lot can happen in a month these days but i think 50 BPS at least
 
Right, so the country is going to get back on its feet by us continuing to sell houses to each other? Or by buying imported cars? Who says that's what people are saving for?

If people were saving their money under the mattress, I'd agree with you, but they are not. They save in banks. Banks take in deposits so they can lend that money out to customers (individuals and businesses) who will be able to put it to productive use. Currently our banks have loan to deposit ratios that are way too low.

But your Greenspan solution is to go out an consume? Quantative consumption - where's the quality? I suppose it's about the affordability, not about the value?
 

OK, 100% see your point that the low deposit to loan ratios indicate we've had our fun and it's time to adjust our spending habits to more sustainable levels.

But I think, as usual, people have over reacted.

Anecdotally, single males and females unnecessarily buying houses in their early 20s was a good sign that spending was getting out of hand a few years ago. Now we have people in safe jobs with no dependants or serious financial committments curbing their spending unnecessarily.

There's the herd mentailty that we've all got to tighten the belts now. In reality the prospects for 80-90% of us are no different now than they were a year ago
 
Agreed, and also people flocking across the border to do there shopping when they can well afford to shop here...the herd mentality again
 
Agreed, and also people flocking across the border to do there shopping when they can well afford to shop here...the herd mentality again

Why should we shop here when prices are far cheaper up North? I've just bought service parts for may car and they were all at least 50% cheaper delivered form the North.
 
Yeah, i know, you can't blame people at all. Its just some people I know are not any worse off then last year, maybe even better off and can well afford to spend here but choose to go North because its now the thing to do. I just feel they should spend here if they don’t need to go North. I know I am in the minority with my views and like I said its hard to blame people getting huge reductions by all accounts.