Finance & Fury Podcast

Welcome to Finance and Fury, The Furious Friday Edition Today - Lesson from the past – Story of Financial alchemy in its early days Specifically – turning debt into equity – i.e. financial alchemy Story Starts - In 1700s the English Crown had amassed massive debts – all from fighting wars with the French and Spanish, also a massive civil war – along with colonialist intentions – When in August 1710 Robert Harley was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer Position - senior official within the Government of the United Kingdom and head of Her Majesty's Treasury When he took over – got a bit of a shock - £5,000 in assets - £9,000,000 in debt – to give an idea of this size – that debt is still being paid down – last announcement in 2015 Politically – things were also a mess - At the time – two parties – Tory’s and the Wigs – very bipartisan who couldn’t get anything done – raising taxes to pay this was out – so turned to the Bank of England The government had already become reliant on the Bank of England – bac