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When George Soros Broke the British Pound (2014)

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Re: When George Soros Broke the British Pound (2014)

#141

Post by ClumsyPilot »

optimiz3 wrote: post #24
ceejayoz wrote: post #2

The "Soros broke the bank" framing I tend to see in discussions of this is really quite odd, as if it were some sort of illegal Oceans 11 style heist. He didn't break the bank. The bank broke itself. > What kept the pound from plummeting in value was the British government’s guarantee that it would keep the value propped up, and the market believed that it would. As long as everyone believed that England would stay i…

> If you build a house on rotten stilts, and some neighborhood kid comes and kicks one of them, it's not the kid's fault when the house collapses. Don't like this metaphor. Maybe the the homeowner can't afford to fix their house. Now they're homeless. Hurting others for enjoyment is the basis of evil. Leave the world better at the end of the day, not worse.

If you own a house/land, you must maintain it in a safe condition and can be liable for injuries to third parties that result from poor maintenance.

Simplest example: a roof tile fall off your roof and kills a passerby.

Re: When George Soros Broke the British Pound (2014)

#142

Post by Zenst »

willyt wrote: post #119
jamiegreen wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should leave the EU because it was voted for by the majority

...consisting of ~1/4 of the population. Parliament represents the interests of all 65 million of us.

The UK does not have compulsory voting, maybe it should.

Re: When George Soros Broke the British Pound (2014)

#143

Post by BubRoss »

matz1 wrote: post #125
BubRoss wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is running around and destroying healthy financial entities. Rotting posts will break eventually, a little effort can just change the timing.

Why no one ? You don't believe, out of all human in the world, that there is someone that gain satisfaction out of destroying healthy financial entities ?

If one person could destroy it, it wouldn't be healthy would it?

Re: When George Soros Broke the British Pound (2014)

#144

Post by mattmanser »

goodcanadian wrote: post #130
skokage wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So you have countries like Germany that are effectively subsidized by poorer countries. Could you explain this comment further, or have links to stories that go in depth on how that works? Not saying you are wrong, but I don't understand how germany, which is an economic powerhouse and exports a lot of goods, are being subsidized by poorer countries.

I don't necessarily agree with the grandparent comment, but I think the mechanism at work is exchange rates. Because of the strong German economy (for example), if Germany still had a separate currency, that currency would be much more expensive than the Euro currently is thus making German exports more expensive. Conversely, the Italian Lira would be much cheaper making their exports relatively cheap. An argument ca…

Not entirely, as federal dollars pay for army bases, manufacturing projects, etc. across the country, resulting in significant redistribution of wealth.

The EU has far, far less tax income, and for the last 10 years been spending all that money on the new entrants instead of Greece, Spain or Italy as it did pre-EU27. (And I would argue of course they should spend the money there for the greatest good).

So there's no redistribution through tax, and Germany benefits from a much weaker currency, while struggling countries can't use currency controls to kick start their trade.

Re: When George Soros Broke the British Pound (2014)

#145

Post by d1r1g1bl3 »

user5994461 wrote: post #100
mc3 wrote: post #88

Ah those poor boomers! Paying 15% interest on their £40,000 mortgage. These millennials don't know how easy they have it, paying 3% on their £200,000 mortgage.

At 15% the boomer could fully pay and own the property within 5-10 years. Then save or go on to buy a new one. At 3% the millennial will still not be owning their property after 30 years.

In 1923, avg wage was £260, avg house was £350, a whopping 1.3 times avg wage. Only idiots would breed to support the establishment and continue to vote for their puppets.

The UK is also on a different economic cycle to Eu, noted by the EU recession that unfolded after the Euro went live. People in Northen Ireland went south to take advantage of recession prices and vice versa. IMO the real reason for Brexit is the Good Friday agreement has failed, the gloss of Buy To Let has tarnished so some of the IRA are looking to get back to their old ways. Making Northern Ireland a gateway into Europe is similar to what the British did with Hong Kong being a gateway into communist China when it cut itself off to the world. Northern Ireland has if the current agreed Brexit deal goes through, so make NI a new Hong Kong which will force all parties to keep voting for it every 4years and keeps them all around the table something the GFA has failed at considering theres been no assembly at Stormount for a few years now. Thing is the political class don't want to give away the above info because then everyone will pile into NI property and make a packet, forcing out the ruling class who benefit from this insider knowledge.

So do you vote for Brexit knowing what you know now or not?

Re: When George Soros Broke the British Pound (2014)

#146

Post by ajxs »

blancheneige wrote: post #4
ceejayoz wrote: post #2

The "Soros broke the bank" framing I tend to see in discussions of this is really quite odd, as if it were some sort of illegal Oceans 11 style heist. He didn't break the bank. The bank broke itself. > What kept the pound from plummeting in value was the British government’s guarantee that it would keep the value propped up, and the market believed that it would. As long as everyone believed that England would stay i…

Ah yes. When it's Wall Street doing it it's "greedy evil bankers" but when it's Soros, a vocal advocate of liberalism, suddenly it's just business as usual.

I'm honestly aghast at the attitude of some of the posters in this thread, with their "The Bank of England had it coming" and "It's fair game." posts.

Re: When George Soros Broke the British Pound (2014)

#147

Post by Despegar »

Reason077 wrote: post #139
Despegar wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Eurozone is fatally flawed because they share a currency but have no transfer payments between rich and poor members. So you have countries like Germany that are effectively subsidized by poorer countries. It's been a great setup for 20 years if you've been in the German capital class, not so great for anyone else.

> “The Eurozone is fatally flawed because they share a currency but have no transfer payments between rich and poor members.” This is incorrect. The EU has substantial transfer payments. Wealthier EU countries (like Germany) subsidise poorer ones (like Poland) on the order of tens of billions of Euros annually. Regional development (subsidies for poorer areas) is the second largest EU budget line item after agricultu…

How much each member contributes to the EU budget is a drop in the bucket compared to the transfer payments I'm talking about (healthcare, social security, defense).

The Eurozone should either go all the way like the US, or they should scrap the currency union. This halfway step only serves the wealthy.

Re: When George Soros Broke the British Pound (2014)

#148

Post by ClumsyPilot »

nostrademons wrote: post #61
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "A generation of lazy people who don't work hard" I am sorry for derailing, but how does that happen, did they come out like a faulty batch from a factory? The mantra of "It's important to work hard" needs to die. Today we have fewer friends than ever, population is unhealthy and the biggest killer of young men is suicide. Please don't perpetuate this nonsense. It should be: "Work smart, and look after yourself/ yo…

It's one of many mutually reinforcing factors. I'm not trying to assign blame here (of which there is plenty to go around), but observing a dynamic. That dynamic is essentially that success begets success. If you have a population that has the experience, from an early of age, of teams where everybody works hard at an uncertain goal and accomplishes their objective, it builds more than just the objective. It also bui…

> "If there is no national economy, but a bunch of independent producers who search for whatever personal advantages they can get for themselves"

I am surprised to see you argue against it, as its the first tenet of capitalism.

I am not clear what you mean. How is the person that "works hard" in your understanding contributing to national economy above an beyond working at a place where he creates the most value, and gets the highest pay?

I allege those precious hours are better spent helping the community / the homeless / whatever. It would probably benefit the national economy more and teach you valuable skills.

A friend of mine has a pretty successful career in London city, he works at a charity that monitors marine animals in his spare time. It probably leaves him happier as a result.

Re: When George Soros Broke the British Pound (2014)

#149

Post by p1necone »

wheels wrote: post #126
skokage wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So you have countries like Germany that are effectively subsidized by poorer countries. Could you explain this comment further, or have links to stories that go in depth on how that works? Not saying you are wrong, but I don't understand how germany, which is an economic powerhouse and exports a lot of goods, are being subsidized by poorer countries.

The gist of it is that if Germany were still on the Mark, then the Mark would be significantly stronger than the Euro is today. Having weaker economies on the same currency causes Germany's currency to be artificially weak, which makes its exports artificially cheap on the world market. In contrast, the poorer Eurozone countries have an artificially strong currency, which makes their exports more expensive than they…

Even though it's the same currency, wouldn't the buying power and cost of living be higher and lower respectively in the poorer countries and somewhat balance it out? Separate currencies are just an abstraction - what really matters in the local economy would be things like the cost of wages or the cost of living expenses.

Edit: _delerium answered my question pretty well in a reply to another commenter.

Re: When George Soros Broke the British Pound (2014)

#150

Post by Zenst »

skissane wrote: post #116
devtul wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, we should do a second vote, maybe even a third vote in case the second vote result is wrong again as the first one. Sometimes democracy doesn't work you know, so we have to try harder.

A majority of people voted to leave the EU. They didn't (at the ballot box) express any opinion on how to leave the EU – deal or no-deal, hard Brexit or soft Brexit, etc. If having an initial referendum on whether to leave was the right thing to do, why would not a further referendum to decide how to leave be equally right? It could take the form of an up-down vote on Johnson's deal; or, it could take the form of pre…

Yes the whole aspect that a democratic result done upon proportional representation could be overturned by split votes and more so a voting system that is regional. Does make you wonder.

Since the referendum we have had a GE a EuroMP election and now...another GE. With only the referendum and the EuroMP being done on the proportional representation system.

Sad thing is, had David Cameron got the EU to agree to reform, things would of been much different. Which is ironic as Mr Macron is keen to see reform, with even Donald Tusk not long after the referendum saying that the EU needed reform. Ironic as that reform is on hold, until the UK leaves. That's sad as in all this time, the EU could of outlined some reforms and the whole reason to have a revote upon the leave/stay would of been more palatable as things had/was changing. Bit like saying your going to quit a game due to some imbalance that has gone on for ages that you don't like, and before you quit, they say they are going to address the issue. So you may well change your mind.

However you look at it though - a lot of people got way more politically educated over the past two years. Be interesting how that pans out over time.

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