Monday, September 27, 2010

Bank of England to Wealthy Savers: Start Speculating in the Equity Markets or We Will Steal What You've Saved

At least that's my translation of this story, which is posted up at Calculated Risk.

Anybody in the UK who can live off his monthly interest income is sitting on a big pile of cash that cannot be "spent" in a single month or even a single year.  If reducing interest rates is enough to cause this kind of saver to start spending his principle, the saver must chase higher yield and, therefore, become a speculator in the secondary bond and equity markets.

The BoE is basically demanding the lower rungs of the wealthy subject themselves to predation by the upper rungs.  You know, the ones that have "dark pools" and HFT algos that selectively cause flash crashes to their advantage.

What ultimately saved capitalism back in the mid-1930s is that the lower rungs of the wealthy realized they were just as at risk as the middle class.  The Bank of England is just begging for a new reform era by behaving this way, which is a great thing.