Interesting

From YouGov

YouGov asked if the current historically low interest rates were good or bad for respondents’ own finances. 23% said good, but 36% said bad (with 31% saying they made no difference) [and 10% 'don't knows'].

As one might expect there was a heavy age skew here – people between the ages of 25 and 59, that is, people most likely to be taking out mortgages, were most likely to be positive about low interest rates. People over the age of 60, that is, people most likely to be living off savings income, were most likely to be negative about low interest rates. None of this is surprising and we’ve seen results like this before, but it’s good to have a reminder that low interest rates are not a good thing for a large chunk of the electorate.

I'm pleasantly surprised, with all the propaganda about low interest rates being good for us, and in particular the Big Fat Lie that "low interest rates are good for the housing market and what's good for the housing market is good for all of us". They never say exactly what they mean by "the housing market", they certainly don't mean lots of turnover/activity; efficient use of available land; or new construction, so by process of elimination, all they can mean is "keeping prices as high as possible".

On a related note, there was an interesting battle of the Home-Owner-Ists on Channel 4 News (starting at 4 minutes into that clip) yesterday regarding the Bank of England's decision to keep interest rates artificially low and to do more Quantitative Easing .

Ruth Lea, of Arbuthnot Banking Group, looking as pale as death, stuck to the party line that "low interest rates are good for the housing market etc" and that QE was a good thing "because it pumps money into the economy".

On the other hand, Ros Altmann, of Saga (the oldies pressure/targeted marketing group, not the rock band), whom the make-up team has sprayed dark brown for a giggle, was slightly more nuanced about it. She at least pointed out that the Bank of England buying up new issues of government bonds is not pumping money into the economy into any way shape or form, it's just shoving bits of paper round, and on behalf of pensioners, and she said that she'd like interest rates to be much higher so that pensioners get a higher return on their savings and higher annuities, and it would get inflation down as well.