The optics of formally abandoning Five Eyes are so bad for the non-US members that they won't. Whatever Trump and Gabbard do, it'll probably roll on because of that. But it's likely to become functio… (View Post)

This has more than an element of never hating your enemies because it affects your judgement. Henry Ford didn't invent the car or the production line either. He actually wasn't that great a CEO eithe… (View Post)

And the Fed does a lot more than set the US base rate(s). American banking failures are still a feature of their system now (5 went bust last year, with combined assets of over half a trillion), but … (View Post)

Well, that the markets do (of which the banks' market traders are a part but not the only part). But overall, yes. Another way of looking at it - or an additional consideration, really - is that the … (View Post)

Because banks lend in reference to market rates. These are often tied to the BoE base rate (which is the rate the BoE returns to banks for their money lodged with the BoE), but not always. Market rat… (View Post)