Negative interest rates suggested by the bank of England.

[downbeatplumb]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21589128

[My imaginary friend is GOD]

Well, that sucks. Boo.

[Jackalope]

What could possibly go wrong?

[pocaracas]

I hear Germany's been doing it for a while now...

[Cato]

I'm no economist, but will give my interpretation of what's going on:

Money today is dirt cheap. The article makes it sound like banks are sitting on it for no reason. The reality is that household debt is astronomically high, particularly in the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. Essentially people have maxed out available lines of credit; meaning, that their debt to income ratio prohibits them from opening new lines of credit to buy more shit.

Now, the CEOs of companies that make shit don't like this since it is interfering with short term financial goals. The amusing bit here is that business could raise wages in order to affect the debt to income ratio, This will never happen since they fear the consumer will use the added discretionary income to pay down debt incurred from having just bought the previous generation of their shit; ignoring of course the consumer's insatiable appetite for more shit.

Negative interest rates will only serve to 'incentivize' lenders to lower risk profiles. As long as consumers can afford the minimum monthly payment, they will galdly line up for the immediate gratification of acquiring new shit.

The Dutch Boy is out of digits so the solution is to jam his wanker in the dike. Dike's aren't fond of being dicked so it will eventually explode and wash away all the shit.

[fr0d0]

So I take out a loan, and with negative interest it pays itself off?