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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)

#241

Post by zajio1am »

Despegar wrote: post #163
_visgean wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not true at all. I am from Czech republic and we benefited massively from these contributions. If I compare for example general state of infrastructure it is much better than in UK where I currently reside. All the train stations were rebuilt using EU funds. Also not sure what you are talking about "This halfway step only serves the wealthy.", not not really. Look at quality of life and GDP rise in post soviet EU cou…

The Czech Republic isn't in the Eurozone and doesn't face the structural disadvantages that Greece or Portugal do.

Slovakia was in similar position to Czechia, but joined Eurozone in 2009. From that time, it has similar or better GDP growth than Czechia.

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

#242

Post by martinlaz »

wheels wrote: post #222
martinlaz wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If the Euro was stronger, which it would be if it were only the currency for Germany, I'd get less Euro when that conversion happened, and I'd have less local currency for things like rent, groceries, etc. But wouldn't you be able to still buy exactly the same stuff with less (but stronger) Euros?

No. My rent won't go down in Euro just because the Euro is strong. The strength or weakness of a currency mostly dictates how it interacts with goods and services from outside of its currency zone. So I might be able to buy more consumer electronics (which mostly aren't produced in Germany) with a strong Euro, but rent, milk, bread, which are internal to Germany, will stay approximately the same in their Euro denomin…

The point is that these extra Euros, if they were any significant amount, in the local market would drive the demand for goods up, along with their prices. And then we'd be buying the same amount of stuff, just more expensive.

Surely things like rent take longer to reflect an increased demand but they do eventually catch up.

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

#243

Post by baud147258 »

devnulloverflow wrote: post #101
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…

>> "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? One generation is unlikely to be much lazier than the last. But the economic policy of post-war Britain was dominated by nationalised industries and, rules made by and for the unions etc. Workers toiling hard in make-work industries or workers refusing work th…

Also you can add the unions propping up outdated industries like coal mining

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

#245

Post by diffeomorphism »

jamiegreen wrote: post #237
diffeomorphism wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now for years the UK can't figure out how it wants to leave, which people had no vote on. - Do you want to have a border in Ireland? - Do you want a border between Ireland and the rest of the UK? - Do you want to lose money for the NHS even though we had a bus saying the opposite? - Are you just going to say "no" to everything, but not have an idea what to do instead? Then maybe, just maybe it would a good idea t…

Well given we have a deal with the EU that has addressed the first two points, I think we do know how we want to leave. Having another vote just because politicians didn't like the way the first one went is not democratic. We can have another vote, but lets leave first.

For some definition of "have".

> Having another vote just because politicians didn't like the way the first one went is not democratic.

Sure, which is why nobody is proposing that.

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

#246

Post by jayalpha »

PeterisP wrote: post #114
jk27277 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"we import more than we export. " Doubt that. Before you answer with a statistic, Google "dark matter in accounting" regarding the deficit. If apple sells an iPhone to Germany. In what export balance does it appear? What company makes the profits?

Without putting much analysis into it, IMHO whenever Apple would sell an iPhone in Germany the effects are as follows: Goods export worth the "wholesale price" from China to EU; An EU company (Apple entity in Ireland or Netherlands? the 'double Irish sandwitch' arrangement which IIRC is still used is a bit tricky, but one of these) earning almost all of the profits of that deal; The shares of publicly traded USA comp…

It does not matter if you use Germany or the USA.

iPhones or whatever gets produced in China, likely by Foxconn. Profit margins are small.

I iphones get sold to Apple HK, apple HK sells them to Apple US or Apple Germany for a huge mark up. iphones are sold in the US or Germany for a small mark up.

I don't know if this is apples setup but profits would be accrued in HK tax free. In the end it does not matter since.

On the balance sheet China or HK is exporting goods to the US or Germany but all the profits land at a US company - apple.

Amazon, Google, eba, Microsoft is big in Europe. Where do you see their products in the trade balance sheets? YOU DON'T. Microsoft is not shipping Windows CDs from the US to the UK or France or Germany.

The bottom line: While the huge trade deficit of the US is not healthy, it is highly distorted and probably much lower than you think.

"IMHO that sale wouldn't have any direct effect on USA trade balance and on USD supply/demand."

People buy stocks in the US. They buy them with US dollars. Why are they buying US stocks? Because these companies are highly competitive. Why are they highly competitive? Most pay hardly any taxes and their products don't appear in any trade balance sheet.

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

#247

Post by [deleted] »

jamiegreen wrote: post #237
diffeomorphism wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now for years the UK can't figure out how it wants to leave, which people had no vote on. - Do you want to have a border in Ireland? - Do you want a border between Ireland and the rest of the UK? - Do you want to lose money for the NHS even though we had a bus saying the opposite? - Are you just going to say "no" to everything, but not have an idea what to do instead? Then maybe, just maybe it would a good idea t…

Well given we have a deal with the EU that has addressed the first two points, I think we do know how we want to leave. Having another vote just because politicians didn't like the way the first one went is not democratic. We can have another vote, but lets leave first.

[deleted]

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

#248

Post by jamiegreen »

diffeomorphism wrote: post #245
jamiegreen wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well given we have a deal with the EU that has addressed the first two points, I think we do know how we want to leave. Having another vote just because politicians didn't like the way the first one went is not democratic. We can have another vote, but lets leave first.

For some definition of "have". > Having another vote just because politicians didn't like the way the first one went is not democratic. Sure, which is why nobody is proposing that.

> For some definition of "have

The regular definition of two parties that have agreed something

> Sure, which is why nobody is proposing that.

Apart from the Labour party and the so called Peoples Vote campaign. But apart from them nobody is I suppose

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

#249

Post by diffeomorphism »

jamiegreen wrote: post #248
diffeomorphism wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some definition of "have". > Having another vote just because politicians didn't like the way the first one went is not democratic. Sure, which is why nobody is proposing that.

> For some definition of "have The regular definition of two parties that have agreed something > Sure, which is why nobody is proposing that. Apart from the Labour party and the so called Peoples Vote campaign. But apart from them nobody is I suppose

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit

Parliament passed the second reading of the new agreement allowing it to move to the committee stage for further scrutiny, but they rejected plans to pass it into law before the 31 October deadline, and forced the government (through the 'Benn Act') to ask for a third Brexit delay. This was followed, on the last day of October, by an act providing for an early general election on 12 December.

"Have", kinda but not quite.

They are also not proposing that. If you have to misrepresent other groups instead of arguing against what they are actually saying then you are not discussing but just talking to yourself.

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

#250

Post by dragonwriter »

bArray wrote: post #180
Torn wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it should be overall beneficial to the UK once trade agreements are in place after a number of years It probably won't. I don't know why leavers think the UK will be able to negotiate better trade deals than a bloc of 27 countries.

This is going largely off topic, but I'll indulge. > I don't know why leavers think the UK will be able to > negotiate better trade deals than a bloc of 27 countries. Other than shear volume, what does the EU offer that the UK is not capable of? And is what the EU offers worth ~£9 billion a year? The UK doesn't have to make better trade deals, they can even afford to be slightly worse and still be of a net benefit. T…

> Other than shear volume, what does the EU offer that the UK is not capable of?

Shear volume is a big part of why Communist China has better trade deals with the US than Communist Cuba, I wouldn't discount the importance of volume in trade negotiations.

> I highly suspect that the UK will receive very good trade deals in a medium/long-term gamble by other super powers to destabilize the EU.

Very few of the UK’s potential trade partners are superpowers where the actors necessary to negotiate and ratify a trade deal have consensus around destabilizing the EU as a goal. With a generous definition of “superpower”, you have China and Russia and that's it.

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