And lo on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:49:57 -0000, Jim Henderson  
<nos### [at] nospamcom> did spake, saying:

> On Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:54:17 +0000, Phil Cook wrote:
>
>>> What, that people have to evolve their skills?  That's the way the
>>> world is (at least in the so-called "western world") these days.  Adapt
>>> or die....It sounds harsh, but it's reality.
>>
>> Except ever since conveyor-belt style systems were introduced the skills
>> gap has gotten wider and more difficult to jump.
>
> True, but nobody ever said life was easy, either.  The problem is that
> it's often difficult to distinguish between lazy/unmotivated and when
> something's truly too difficult.

True, some people think that because they've just one type of job they  
*deserve* exactly the same type of job regardless of availabilty and  
reject anything else. I may have mentioned my father who went from TV  
repairman to shop manager to refuse collector to warehouse manager.

>>> I'm happy to talk either politics or religion.  Maybe that's why I
>>> don't have a lot of friends. ;-)
>>
>> Heh my current favourite topic is how the Conservative Party is
>> promising to either bring back or abolish things that they removed or
>> introduced last time they were in power. No-one remembers that's the
>> trouble.
>
> We've watched a bit of that discussion on PMQT (we get about 30 minutes
> of that a week on CSPAN over here).  Of course, PMQT is entertaining in
> and of itself as you watch people try to avoid answering direct questions
> directly.

for people read politicians :-)

>>>> How very true. Debt is a major problem here in the UK.
>>>
>>> Yeah, I understand that you guys are catching the sub-prime mortgage
>>> wave that hit us the end of last year.  Don't get bitten.
>>
>> Big fuss quite a while ago about banks encouraging people to lie about
>> their earnings in order to qualify for a mortgage, ah well I dealt with
>> that on my blog some time ago. But Northern Rock is still a touchy
>> subject in terms of the sub-prime wave.
>
> Yeah, ain't that the truth.  I need to read your blog entry, somehow it
> didn't show up.  That's on LJ, isn't it?

I did sign up for LJ to read your entries my actual blog's on  
http://flipc.blogspot.com

>>>  I also understand
>>> that there's been an interesting development in a bank bought by Citi
>>> over there - that they're terminating accounts for people with *good*
>>> credit because they're not making any money on interest.  Terminating
>>> accounts for people who pay their cards off every month:  What's the
>>> world coming to?
>>
>> Egg. Supposedly terminating accounts of high-risk customers (about 7% of
>> their base) i.e. those whose credit ratings have changed for the worse
>> since they applied; trouble is some of those terminated customers are
>> pointing at their perfect credit ratings. The common factors for these
>> people appear to be their status as homeowners and that they pay off the
>> balance in full every month. IOW they don't make any money for Egg and
>> instead could be persuaded to take out a big fat loan instead using
>> their home as collateral.
>
> Egg, that's the one.  We're generally like that as well (got one card
> that's nearly maxxed out at over $10K, due to the need to replace our
> boiler - but at a great interest rate; the others don't get used hardly
> at all).  Yet they keep raising our limits; it's to the point that I'm
> actively afraid to use the cards for fear I'll go crazy and max them all
> out and not be able to make even the minimum payments.  Better they just
> sit in the safe unused.

They keep pestering me to borrow money. My parents find this amusing when  
I mention it, apparently back in ye olden days you pratically had to beg  
and sign your contract in blood to get a loan; now it's - "please borrow  
money off us"

>> Not really new - MBNA added an annual charge to people who didn't use
>> their credit card enough and apparently First Direct started charging a
>> monthly fee for customers who didn't credit enough money into their
>> accounts each month.
>
> Huh, now that I wasn't aware of.
>
>> The option is simple - move companies, there's enough about.
>
> Yep, same approach we use.  It pays to be mercenary about what banks you
> do business with these days.

It's not as if it's difficult to switch these days.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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