How Much Is My Pound Worth After £200 Billion Of Quantitative Easing?

[AB Editor]

Quantitative Easing devalues the value of money. If my £1 was worth 100p yesterday, and today we've been "eased" what is my pound now worth?

Asking for a friend!

Ed.

[swilliams75]

I don't know. Are you drunk? :/

[sandyRoe]

" From now the pound abroad is worth x% or so less than other currencies. It does not mean, of course, that the pound in your pocket..."

[douglas9401]

One Euro until Greece runs out of tear gas. It'll not matter soon, we'll be back to bartering.

[craft1948]

My groats are starting to look good...............

[rojash]

I believe that we all have a duty to aid in the process of QE.
With this in mind, my laser printer is currently going 10 to the dozen printing new notes.

[Gromit]

It will be worth about 2 wheelbarrows of Turnips.

[jno]

it'll only get really bad when a turnip is worth two wheelbarrows of pounds.

Which has happened

http://justforsneaks....llar-bill-obverse.jpg

[JMR27]

2 wheelbarrows? don't you mean a bucket of turnips?

[douglas9401]

Don't know about turnips but the Swedes seem stable.

[Buenchico]

Accusing the Editor of being drunk is possibly a dangerous course of action, Swilliams75!
;-)

Ed:
As Eddie states, there's no immediate impact on the money in your pocket. Foreign exchange traders might see the pound as worth slightly less; if so, you'll get slightly fewer euros or dollars for your pounds when you travel abroad. However foreign exchange traders might view the Bank of England's cash injection as a boost to the UK economy, which would increase the value of the pound (rather than decreasing it). In practice it will probably not make much difference either way.

However the risk of quantitative easing is that it can lead to inflation. If so, the pound in your savings account will be worth less in the shops next year than it is now. (Obviously that's likely to happen anyway, but the effect would be exaggerated).

The trick with quantitative easing is to inject exactly the right amounty of money into the economy and then later (when things are improving) to start calling that money back in. If quantitative easing is overdone it can lead to hyper-inflation, such as happened in Germany, when people had to fill a wheelbarrow with banknotes just to buy a loaf of bread
http://www.arabianmon...wheelbarrow-money.jpg
and children were given bundles of banknotes to play with (as they had little other value anyway)
http://1.bp.blogspot....laying-with-money.jpg

Some of us have long memories (with associated cynicism!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIQnpoGBS1I

[askyourgran]

About two conch shells. Or half a rabbit at my butchers shop.

[swilliams75]

Buenchico, it was not an accusation. I'd put my life on it ;)

[Gromit]

We'll be fine.

As long as they don't devalue the Turnip.

[DaisyNonna]

Would somebody please put Quantative Easing into plain English. It sounds like an elephant's laxative.

[Buenchico]

Sorry, SW75, but I have to state categorically that the Editor is NEVER drunk! (The Editor is occasionally 'happy', sometimes 'merry' and frequently 'tired and emotional' but never, never drunk!)

[starone]

Thank goodness I have already done my 'big shop' for the month and my fridge and freezer are full to bursting.

[Buenchico]

For Daisy:
http://www.theanswerb.../Question1064078.html
(No elephants were harmed in the provision of that answer)

[Old_Geezer]

Well Daisy, it's simple. They just print more money to buy stuff with.
Since the county's wealth is the same, effectively each £1 you have now buys you less, since there is more cash chasing whatever's for sell. You have just been robbed by the government - but that's not so uncommon.

[Buenchico]

The Bank of England has been independent of political control since 1997, O_G.