Quantitative easing = printing money = creating money out of thin air = increasing the money supply = inflation = hidden tax on monetary assets = theft!
For more information see this:
– Bank of England Governor Mervyn King: World Facing Worst Financial Crisis In History – More QE Justified!
– Private pensions worth 30% less than three years ago (Guardian, Oct. 8, 2011):
Stock market turmoil and record low interest rates have left workers nearing retirement with private pensions worth substantially less than those who finished work three years ago, new figures show.
Overall pension incomes are now 30% lower than they were three years ago when the government began attempts to boost the economy through quantitative easing, according to accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Peter McDonald, a partner in the pension practice at PwC, warned that those retiring this year would be left “between a rock and a hard place”, forced to defer claiming a pension until the market picks up.
“Compared to only three years ago, a money purchase pension is now worth 30% less than it was,” he told the Telegraph.
With stock market turmoil set to continue and this week’s resumption of the Bank of England’s quantitative easing programme, injecting another £75bn of new money into the economy, annuity payouts are set to shrink further.
The FTSE has fallen by about 15% since May, which has cut the value of many workers’ private pensions schemes.
Falling shares have boosted government bonds, known as gilts, driving up the cost of purchasing an annuity and pushing down the interest paid out to owners of gilts.
Based on this week’s gilt figures, PwC calculates that someone with a pension pot of £300,000 would have a pension income of just £18,500 a year – £4,000 less than three years ago.
McDonald said: “This huge reduction is due to a double whammy of higher annuity costs and a smaller pension pot.”