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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · 1d

False hope about what? That things could possibly get better? Labour telling on themselves here

Reposted by Simon Youel

Carsten Jung @carsjung.bsky.social · Aug 29

NEW: UK taxpayers are losing £22 billion every year from losses at the Bank of England - the same as the entire Home Office annual budget. This is the result of a flawed implementation of the BoE's quantitative easing programme. We propose two steps to fix this leak. (1/4)

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Reposted by Simon Youel

Positive Money UK @positivemoneyuk.bsky.social · Jul 23

“High interest rates are a form of economic rent and should be kept as low as possible."

Our @youellog.bsky.social pushes back on the misguided suggestion that the Bank of England should be setting interest rates well above inflation in @thetimes.com via ‪@georgenixon97.bsky.social
bit.ly/3IITWen

Poor savings rates and inflation wipe 11p off every £1

There are calls for the Bank of England to act to protect our cash from the damaging effects of high inflation

www.thetimes.com

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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Apr 22

I thought this was about life insurance

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Reposted by Simon Youel

Josh Ryan-Collins @jryancollins.bsky.social · Apr 19

In 2020, Brazil launched Pix, a public digital payment system during Covid. It is now dominant, undercutting credit & debit card providers, reducing transaction costs, enhancing productivity & increasing financial competition.
Don't tell me the state can't innovate.
www.economist.com/the-americas...

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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Mar 4

The return of 'moral suasion'?

www.ft.com/content/b3a1...

BlackRock to buy Panama Canal ports after pressure from Trump

Deal worth $22.8bn involves sale of bulk of ports owned by Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison

www.ft.com

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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Mar 3

Excited to have joined the University of Manchester's Law and Technology Initiative as a Visiting Research Fellow

Looking forward to building the future of public money with @johnhaskell.bsky.social and the talented fellows I am lucky to be working with
www.law-tech.manchester.ac.uk/research/vis...

Visiting Research Fellows | Manchester Law and Technology Initiative | The University of Manchester

www.law-tech.manchester.ac.uk

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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Mar 3

Sad I am only just finding out about your exquisite music taste now

Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Feb 21

Either way banks could more reasonably use cash isa funding to increase loans to business, if increasing investment and growth is the goal here. The government seems to be signalling they don't trust banks to intermediate an optimal allocation of capital

Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Feb 21

Yes basel would make increasing allocation towards equities more expensive for banks for good reason. The government seems to want to pass risks onto consumers

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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Feb 21

what is stopping banks using cash isa funding to increase their allocation towards stocks if it's such a good idea for ordinary savers?

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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Feb 20

The government instead wants savers to prop-up a record high stock market. Presumably banks could use cash Isa funding to buy more stocks - is it that they don't want to take those risks themselves, and would prefer savers hold the bag?

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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Feb 20

Struggle to follow this reasoning from the government - do they think cash Isas literally function like cash under the bed?

What is stopping banks using Isa funding to invest? Is the government saying they don't trust banks to optimally allocate capital?

www.theguardian.com/money/2025/f...

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Reposted by Simon Youel

Jo Michell @jomichell.bsky.social · Feb 19

What could possibly go wrong. t.co/se9BwENDAr

Rachel Reeves' quest to kickstart growth in Britain's economy will see her holding talks with leading investment bankers and asset managers this week, the latest in a series of summits with senior financiers.

Sky News has learnt that the chancellor has called in executives from companies including Abrdn, BlackRock, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Schroders on Wednesday morning.

Sources said the meeting was intended to feed ideas into the forthcoming Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy.

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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Feb 11

Maybe this new 'Office for Value for Money' could look into this arrangement?

Or will the government continue to focus on trying to squeeze piecemeal sums out of victimising people on benefits, while quietly handing much larger amounts to bankers?

www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/dwp-pla...

DWP Plans for Bank Account Surveillance Likely to Breach Privacy Law

www.disabilityrightsuk.org

Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Feb 11

Assuming they stick to their fiscal rules (for better or worse), if the government just did something about this they could quite easily rebuild public services without needing to raise people's taxes. Perhaps they could even win the next election?

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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Feb 11

These transfers to the Bank of England appear to outweigh the savings the government hopes to make from cuts to departmental spending, and could perhaps even cover Labour's previous public investment target of £28bn a year

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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Feb 11

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure I will ever get over how the government talks so much about the need to reduce 'wasteful' public spending while effectively funneling tens of billions of pounds a year to the banking sector

www.bankofengland.co.uk/asset-purcha...

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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Jan 28

Didn't manage to get a screenshot, but the 'correct' answer to the question of what the BoE does was something about setting interest rates to manage savings which is...interesting

Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Jan 28

At first I wondered what the Bank of England is trying to achieve here...but then I realised that this is their strategy for dealing with inflation - guilting people into cutting back on spending

Like the squanderbug for today's boring dystopia

www.ladbible.com/news/bank-of...

Take the BoE quiz now for a chance of winning £1,000

To be in with the chance of winning up to £1,000, take the Bank of England quiz to test your money IQ here.

www.ladbible.com

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Reposted by Simon Youel

Positive Money UK @positivemoneyuk.bsky.social · Jan 21

⚡ NEW BLOG ⚡

tldr: financial markets caused temporary turmoil for the government this month, in a move that has likely now triggered public spending cuts, just to make "a quick buck"

(but you really should read it 👇)
positivemoney.org/update/how-d...

How deregulation may have worsened Rachel Reeves’ bond market headache

If Labour wants to win the next election, they may have to depart from the failed orthodoxy that favours free-reigning financial markets coupled with cuts

positivemoney.org

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Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Jan 15

Allowing hedgefunds to dictate fiscal policy by shorting sovereign debt doesn't strike me as a good idea, but I suppose it's a necessary sacrifice we must make to increase the Competitiveness and Growth of the financial sector, the Crown Jewel Of Our Economy

Simon Youel @youellog.bsky.social · Jan 13

It was easier to get away with when you had growth and no 2% inflation target

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Reposted by Simon Youel

Jo Michell @jomichell.bsky.social · Jan 9

Good example of what is often wrong with journalism about economic issues.

The report takes as given the statement “spending cuts is the most economically viable option”.

It is far from established fact that, under current circumstances, further cuts are more “economically viable” than tax rises.

In practice, given the significant increase in employers National Insurance rates in October, it would mean spending restraint - Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, practically said as much in the Commons today.
To be clear, spending restraint would not necessarily mean spending cuts, just much lower spending increases than would otherwise happen.
This is where economics could collide with politics fast.
It's all very well for the Treasury to take measures to soothe the bond markets, where government debt is traded.
But just because a strategy is the most economically viable available, that doesn't mean it is politically viable in a Labour Party made up of MPs who have spent the past 14 years decrying Conservative austerity.

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Reposted by Simon Youel

Jo Michell @jomichell.bsky.social · Dec 18

Indeed. This is only 'bad news' because the central bank is compelled to aim for an arbitrary number that will become ever less feasible as climate effects and geopolitical tensions intensify.

Andrew Sissons @acjsissons.bsky.social · Dec 18

I know this just isn’t how the politics work (and wrote a thing about that recently), but…
… 5% wage growth and 3% inflation just sounds ideal to me.

After the stagnation of the 2010s, we should be loving this!

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