Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Jeremy Warner: Inflationary nemesis awaits gilts investment

Friday 27 March 2009 01:00 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Outlook After Wednesday's gilt auction flop, yesterday there came a rip-roaring success in government debt issuance, with the latest offering 2.7 times subscribed. So is the buyers' strike over before it had even properly begun? It would be unwise for the Debt Management Office to assume so. Yesterday's issue was an index-linked gilt, and if you think what the Government is doing by borrowing so much is inflationary, that's the only form of government debt you'd be interested in buying. There are two ways of defaulting on your debt. One is simply not to pay. The other is to inflate it all away. Post-war British governments have been particularly good at this latter form of default, and that's what's going to happen this time too.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in