Skinflint's City Diary
Not long ago I expressed sin prise at the number of pocket electronic calculators that are being sold. Many are bought, surely, as no more than executive playthings. A Sinclair Pocket Calculator I acquired a few weeks ago is the smallest on the market and a fine British-made machine. So far I have done little with it except to not altogether surprise myself with compound interest calculations. Would you guess, tor instance, that £5,000 at 10 per cent compounded annually for 100 years produces no less than £68,902,951? However, €5,000 at 4 per ceni. (an interest rate making for stability between the rentier and the industrialist, in my judgement) for 100 years, produces only £252,524.
Perhaps someone who loathes the idea of Britain paying tribute for ever to Middle East potentates and such like with tax-free Swiss bank accounts will send a Sinclair Calculator to help the Chancellor of the Exchequer and those who were responsible for suggesting a £4,000 million requirement' at around 10 per cent (proposed in the last budget), who seem utterly to _reject any scheme that will fundamentally reduce interest rates.
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