well it is gonna affect us all so I thought I'd start a topic about it.   What's your thoughts on the financial crisis?  Can we recover from it or are we all doooomed?   What do you think about the $700bn bailout? Alternative options?   The Americans keep saying "Why should the US tax-payer pay for this?" and the answer is simple - "Because Americans caused the entire problem for world economy in the first place by not controlling their spending".   To put things into perspective... 3rd world debt is only $40bn!                                                                                                                                                                             

It will recover.....its all rigged so a few can make a killing.   Personally I'm not going to panic.                                                                                                                                                                             

It'll recover eventually, but a lot of us are going to fall foul of it in the meantime while a few, as you say, will be raking it in.   Our suppliers want to make an interim price increase of 35% for 2009 and, instead of agreeing the price for 12 months as usual, they'll be reviewing it in March... Joy... of the deep variety!                                                                                                                                                                                 

exasperated by rising fuel costs it dont look good on the jobs front!i i have a sipp's pension plan which has dipped by about 15% i'm on me own an dont need much, i would hate to be in a young family's position strugglin along in negative equity on there house an rising costs on food an energy bills!! but goin out wkd you wouldnt think fuel was exspensive rds were chocker!!

That's probably because they've all been duped into thinking "Ooooh... 107,9p a litre? That's not bad is it?" after months of paying flippin' £1.19 or thereabouts...                                                                                                                                                                                 

an bad new's is it will be goin up again by all accounts !!!                                                                                                                                                                              

I keep telling Mr Bush that I don't need the full 700bn!! That would be just greedy .... I honestly can make do with just one or two billion .... seriously.                                                                                                                                                                             

hee hee, nice one Geoff!!!    If theres 5bn going spare, can I have 1% of it please, Bushey old boy?!!!!                                                                                                                                                                             

I'd only spend it on supercars,bikes,mansions and a lovely lady....the rest I'd just fritter away.....pmsl   Oh nearly forgot me helicopter and me Butler called Cumstaine                                                                                                                                                                             

Having pondered the issues carefully, I have drawn the following conclusions:   If you had purchased £1000 of Northern Rock shares one year ago it would now be worth £4.95. With HBOS, earlier this week your £1000 would have been worth £16.50. £1000 invested in XL Leisure would now be worth less than £5. If you bought £1000 worth of Tenents Lager one year ago, drank it all, then took the empty cans to an aluminium re-cycling plant, you would get £214.   So based on the above statistics the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and re-cycle.                                                                                                                                                                               

You ain't quite right in the head Wannabe... but i love you to bits. that made my day and it has quickly gone round the office too.                                                                                                                                                                             

lol well done, very funny.   I'm relying on stocks to pay for my house in 25 years (Thats how it works over here) so - DAMMIT.                                                                                                                                                                             

  well it is gonna affect us all so I thought I'd start a topic about it.   What do you mean 'it's going to'? I've been in a poverty trap for years, it's just getting worse is all. Nothing new here.                                                                                                                                                                                

These things usually sort themselves out after a few years... with 25 years to play with, you should be OK, but if there are options to take out some sort of additional annuity plan and you can afford to, then go for it.   If the share-based policy covers the outstanding mortgage (I'm thinking it probably works along the lines of an endowment policy mortgage in the UK?) at maturity that's great - any other savings you've put into an annuity will just be yours to spend... if it doesn't prove to be enough to cover it, (as has happened in the UK with a great number of "mis-sold" endowment policies) then you've got the extra savings *just*in*case* you need to make up a shortfall.   I don't know what the housing market's like in the Netherlands, but it certainly needs a serious shakedown here... Going back to the 70s and 80s, when house prices first started going completely mental and it became the "norm" for both partners of a couple to have to work full time in order to keep the roof over their heads... It's wrong, all wrong... A man, if he so chooses, should be able to afford to provide for his wife and children, by working in just a "regular" job. In these days of equality, a woman should also be able to provide for her husband and children in much the same manner.   But both partners now have to work, just to be able to keep the roof over their heads and food on the table. There's no choice in it.   The "average" UK income is in excess of £25,000 p.a., yet that includes all the 6 figure salaries for the executives, bankers and share dealers etc... For a "regular" job, (e.g. van driving / secretarial type jobs) you're looking at £14,000-£16,000 p.a. in the South East... Yet a studio flat will set you back a minimum of £140,000... 10 times your salary??? Private rental works out more expensive than mortgage repayments, so even though you can't get a mortgage because they won't hand over 10 times your salary, you end up having to spend out more each month in any case!   I am so grateful I bought when I did...                                                                                                                                                                             

Ooops sorry... I'm obviously in uber-waffle-mode                                                                                                                                                                              

You carry on mate                                                                                                                                                                              

 Nooooo!   *clambers down from soap box and STFU*   At last! BM collectively breathes a sigh of relief...                                                                                                                                                                              

Oh actually... I do have more to say (there's a novelty!)   Buried amongst all this *big* international news is the fact that UK unemployment is at its highest level for the past 9 years... and only set to get worse by the look of things...   Labour will probably blame this on the Tories' legacy like they have everything else for the past decade plus.   Anyone who wants to be a politician should automatically be barred from ever becoming one   *time to shut up again*   *ahem*                                                                                                                                                                             

Had to fold my business last week.   So many other tradesmen i know have had to do the same, it's really sad. Gone from self employed to unemployed just like that.   Gizza job someone                                                                                                                                                                             

Dammit!!   Sorry to hear that, Arfur - hope something comes along soon...