Graphs at a glance: Financial regulation in the USA and the UK: Federal Marshal versus Sleeping Policeman

Normal 0 Winston Churchill said of America: “You can always rely on America to do the right thing once it has exhausted all the alternatives” Sadly, the same can’t be said of Britain. London and New York have fought for the top “Global Financial Centre” spot for years. According to the March 2014 “Global Financial Centres Index” produced by Z/yen, who describe themselves as “the City of London’s leading commercial thinktank”: “New York is now the leading centre, although its lead over London is statistically insignificant – two points...

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Operating a profiteering cartel is a criminal offence. So if 6,000 die from fuel poverty each year, will manslaughter charges be next?

Fee, KJ and Chris wonder what will happen next to the "Big 6" energy firms...SOURCE TELEGRAPH: Energy row erupts as winter deaths spiral 29% to four year high of 31,000Office of National Statistics figures revealed "excess winter deaths" rose 29% in 2012-2013 to their highest level for four years. Mortality always rises in winter, but one in five of these deaths are because people cannot afford to heat their homes. Campaigners said Ministers talking about cutting green levies should be "ashamed" at the figure, which is worse than Sweden and...

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Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 27th March)

Defaults mean student fees hike likely to cost more than the system it replacedNew official forecasts suggest the write-off costs have reached 45% of the £10bn in student loans made each year. The 48.6% mark is the threshold at which experts calculate that the government will lose more money than it would have saved by keeping the old £3,000 tuition fee system. The coalition's decision to introduce higher fees of £9,000 shortly after it formed led to rioting on the streets and forced a dramatic decline in the Liberal Democrats' poll ratings, from...

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Opening up the Annuities market is good news for pensioners? How about fixing the annuities and pension fee rip-offs in the first place?

SOURCE BBC NEWS: Pension reform: Ten hidden consequencesA huge change in the way people fund their retirement is expected following the chancellor's "pension revolution". Under the proposals, from next year millions of people reaching retirement age will be able to spend their pension pot in any way they want. The move, announced in the Budget, will remove the requirement on many people with defined contribution pensions to buy an annuity, a financial product that guarantees an income for the rest of your life. The government says...

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Graphs at a glance: Easy mortgages and PPI compensation taught Osborne handing out cash boosts the economy. Is that why he is giving us our pension pots to spend?

Chancellors of her Majesty's Exchequer are programmed to produce fists full of lolly in the year before an election. John, Norman, Ken, Gordon and Alistair did it. George Osborne was no different in the 2014 Budget. Chancellors in the year before an election produce lolly like the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The biggest lolly George is handing out in the 2014 Budget is our pension pots. Up until this brightly wrapped idea we were required to give at least 75% of our pension pots to pension companies, by buying an annuity. Now Osborne...

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Graphs at a glance: Easy mortgages and PPI compensation taught Osborne handing out cash boosts the economy. Is that why he is giving us our pension pots to spend?

Chancellors of her Majesty's Exchequer are programmed to produce fists full of lolly in the year before an election. John, Norman, Ken, Gordon and Alistair did it. George Osborne was no different in the 2014 Budget. Chancellors in the year before an election produce lolly like the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The biggest lolly George is handing out in the 2014 Budget is our pension pots. Up until this brightly wrapped idea we were required to give at least 75% of our pension pots to pension companies, by buying an annuity. Now Osborne...

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Graphs at a glance: The great middle-income tax hustle: Since 2010 1.4 million people earning over £42k have had their marginal income tax rate doubled from 20% to 40%

Normal 0 “Find the pea” is a favourite street hustler trick. A pea is openly placed under one of three walnut shells, the shells are shuffled, and the pea reappears where it wasn't before.“Find the tax” works in the same way. You are shown the tax, then it disappears to return somewhere unexpected. A Taxpayers’ Alliance report produced in January 2013 stated the Conservative-LibDem government has implemented 2.5 times more tax rises than cuts since it came into power in 2010 (299 rises and 119 cuts). These include everything from cutting...

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Graphs at a glance: The great middle-income tax hustle: Since 2010 1.4 million people earning over £42k have had their marginal tax rate doubled from 20% to 40%

Normal 0 “Find the pea” is a favourite street hustler trick. A pea is openly placed under one of three walnut shells, the shells are shuffled, and the pea reappears where it wasn't before.“Find the tax” works in the same way. You are shown the tax, then it disappears to return somewhere unexpected. A Taxpayers’ Alliance report produced in January 2013 stated the Conservative-LibDem government has implemented 2.5 times more tax rises than cuts since it came into power in 2010 (299 rises and 119 cuts). These include everything from cutting...

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Pension pots 'can be used to buy Lamborghinis', says pensions minister

KJ, Fee and Chris get their heads round annuities...SOURCE GUARDIAN: Pension pots 'can be used to buy Lamborghinis', says pensions ministerAffluent people approaching retirement should be free to blow their pension pot on a Lamborghini even if they end up relying on the state for support, pensions minister Steve Webb said on Thursday as the government defended its far-reaching loosening of the rules on annuities in the budget. People on money-purchase pension schemes will no longer be forced to take an annuity – the income guaranteed by pension...

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Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 20th March)

FirstGroup to be handed Great Western mainline on the cheapFirstGroup looks set to run the Great Western mainline until the next decade without facing a franchise competition – having earlier handed back its contract to avoid hundreds of millions of pounds in premium payments to the government. Last September the government sparked outrage by awarding first a six-month extension and then a two-year direct award to First for rail services west of London for an annual sum of £32m – a fraction of the £800m due under the terms of the original franchise....

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Councils using lie detectors to catch benefit fraudsters? How about using them in parliament!

SOURCE GUARDIAN: Councils using lie detector tests that "don't work" to catch benefit fraudstersMore than 20 councils have used or plan to use controversial lie detector tests to catch fraudulent benefits claimants, despite the government dropping the technology because it was found to be not sufficiently reliable. Leading experts in linguistics at Stockholm University said that VRA "does nothing. That is the short answer. There's no scientific basis for this method. From the output it generates this analysis is closer to astrology than...

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