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Bank robberies are down. Figures from the British Bankers Association show 66 recorded in 2011 against 847 in 1992. There has been a steady decline. Really they were in decline well before 1992. The professionals, sawn-offs, stocking masks and all, had moved on to more profitable activities where the takings were better, the risk of detection less, and the security measures of the losers were less effective.
(The few that are committed now are the work of comparative amateurs and the takings are far less).
The US is not so fortunate. The FBI recorded some 5,000 bank robberies in 2011, 100 people killed or injured, and $830 million stolen. Not all that surprising: security in friendly American banks; ours are never friendly; appears lax. [The Times]
All cheering, is it not?
(The few that are committed now are the work of comparative amateurs and the takings are far less).
The US is not so fortunate. The FBI recorded some 5,000 bank robberies in 2011, 100 people killed or injured, and $830 million stolen. Not all that surprising: security in friendly American banks; ours are never friendly; appears lax. [The Times]
All cheering, is it not?
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Bad News.
The rob supermarkets instead.
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The rob supermarkets instead.
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Maybe bank robberies are down, but scams using computers and stealing money electronically are probably going through the roof.
Its a bit like saying the number of people knocked over by hansom cabs has dropped to a new low, when it has just been replaced by people being knocked over by cars instead.
Its a bit like saying the number of people knocked over by hansom cabs has dropped to a new low, when it has just been replaced by people being knocked over by cars instead.
I liked that cartoon where the guy with the striped jumper, face mask, swag bag and pistol is turning to look at the fat guy walking past in a sharp suit, riffling through a thick wad of notes and dismissively saying "Amateur!"
If interest rates were any measure of how hard bankers were working to make money, using our pooled money, then any one of them who continues to take five or six figure bonuses while paying customers 0.01% interest is, quite frankly, a bigger crook than the type this thread is about.
If interest rates were any measure of how hard bankers were working to make money, using our pooled money, then any one of them who continues to take five or six figure bonuses while paying customers 0.01% interest is, quite frankly, a bigger crook than the type this thread is about.
@Youngma
I only know that the Bank of England is the one who dictates base rates. Supposedly their way of 'fighting inflation'.
To my simple mind, of course, interest payments are the way of fighting inflation. Encouraging people to save means there is always a ready supply of cash which can be invested in businesses which are trying to expand. The Japanese are notoriously obsessive savers and mysteriously have (or, at least, had) a booming economy for decades because the banks (in fact the Japanese Post office had the bulk of people's savings) had to work their assess off to generate the advertised interest.
By contrast, you watch Question Time and hear business people complaining about how they ask the bank for money only be told they can't have a loan. A special case at the moment, I know. New regulations force them to have a higher capital to loans ratio and they are still in the process of bulking up to meet the target. Things will all sort themselves out in time.
By the way, unless I'm mistaken, the whole thing about the bonus system is that they are exempt from income tax. If the rest of society all demanded to have our salary reduced to 10k (or wherever the zero rate threshold currently resides) with the remainder converted into tax-free bonuses, we'd be rightly vilified.
So, as Al 'Pub Landlord' Murray demanded to know in his show, the other night "Where's our £ú(
I only know that the Bank of England is the one who dictates base rates. Supposedly their way of 'fighting inflation'.
To my simple mind, of course, interest payments are the way of fighting inflation. Encouraging people to save means there is always a ready supply of cash which can be invested in businesses which are trying to expand. The Japanese are notoriously obsessive savers and mysteriously have (or, at least, had) a booming economy for decades because the banks (in fact the Japanese Post office had the bulk of people's savings) had to work their assess off to generate the advertised interest.
By contrast, you watch Question Time and hear business people complaining about how they ask the bank for money only be told they can't have a loan. A special case at the moment, I know. New regulations force them to have a higher capital to loans ratio and they are still in the process of bulking up to meet the target. Things will all sort themselves out in time.
By the way, unless I'm mistaken, the whole thing about the bonus system is that they are exempt from income tax. If the rest of society all demanded to have our salary reduced to 10k (or wherever the zero rate threshold currently resides) with the remainder converted into tax-free bonuses, we'd be rightly vilified.
So, as Al 'Pub Landlord' Murray demanded to know in his show, the other night "Where's our £ú(
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