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Apple stopped sales in Turkey after the lira crashed 15% in a day

reuters.com

131–140 of 251 posts

Re: Apple stopped sales in Turkey after the lira crashed 15% in a day

#131
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wouldn't stealing all the foreign assets of Venezuela by US and UK also affect the Venezuela economy? There are a number of things wrong with this statement. 1. Timing is off. The U.S. didn't freeze Venezuelan assets until 2019 after Chavez died and the economy had already collapsed. 2. $342 Million in cash was frozen and 1.1. million barrels of oil were seized, the rationale being that this was a small dent to off…

> The value of the foreign assets seized by Venezuela far exceeds the value of Venezuelan foreign holdings seized in response. This sounds wrong. Do you have a source?

Why does it sound wrong? Just off the top of my head (not an exhaustive list), Venezuela was ordered to pay $1.6 Billion to compensate Exxon in 2007[1] (and that doesn't include Conoco-Phillips or other oil and gas companies). Of course that payment was never made, as Venezuela paid only $255 million.

But that's just one case.

Solely in Oil and Gas, Venezuela nationalized $30 Billion worth of investment in 2007, and paid out only $1 Billion.[3]

You can read more in this 2012 summary[3]

Of course there were many more nationalizations after 2012, e.g. the GM plant they seized in 2017[4]. You can do your own googling for more fun about everthing from DishTV to telecom equipment, gold mines, etc. Venezuela seized virtually all foreign investment in the country. They owe the international community a huge debt. The diversion of those 4 tanker ships and freezing a couple hundred million is just the first of many, many payments that Venezuela needs to make.

See also https://tennesseestar.com/2020/01/14/eight-industries-venezu...

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-exxon/venezuela...

[2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-exxonmobil-idUS...

[3] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-election-nation...

[4] https://money.cnn.com/2017/04/20/news/gm-venezuela-plant-sei...

Re: Apple stopped sales in Turkey after the lira crashed 15% in a day

#132
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did Turkey find its way to Eastern Europe?

It bridges Europe and Asia and geographically considered a part of both, according to wiki.

It is technically partly in Europe and in Balkans, but the common use of Eastern Europe does not include Turkey.

Re: Apple stopped sales in Turkey after the lira crashed 15% in a day

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, because although the Lira is the most volatile currency, a 15% one day move is a black swan. For bitcoin, it happens every couple of months.

what do you think btc's 'black swan' will be?

Next downturn when everyone wants to cash out all their investments at once so they can pay rent and such. BTC has yet to experience a downturn, I don't think it will be pretty.

Re: Apple stopped sales in Turkey after the lira crashed 15% in a day

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have a 500,000 TL note from Turkey's hyperinflation days in the early 2000s. Back then it was just about enough to buy a loaf of bread. Looks like those days are coming back.

I have a 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note, which apparently would buy 2 eggs at the time of issue. It’s actually increased 10x in value since I bought it on ebay though. :)

Or maybe the US dollar has just deflated 10x in value against the only reliable store of value: used 100 trillion Zimbabwean notes on ebay.

Re: Apple stopped sales in Turkey after the lira crashed 15% in a day

#135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same reason you cannot pay in euros in US. Lira is a legal tender. Company can peg prices internally to a spot rate to whatever, but if exchange turns to fast volatility, what else can you do?

There is no law preventing one to sell in Euro in US and there is no law mandating a seller to accept USD as payment. "Legal tender" does not mean what most people think.

That's quite a fantasy there.

Re: Apple stopped sales in Turkey after the lira crashed 15% in a day

#136
post #40
post #6

The Turkish lira has been plunging vs. the US dollar for 14 years straight. It has fallen by 90% in dollar terms. All foreign retailers must be constantly readjusting prices, right?

Actually, it was fairly stable between 2003-2013. Then the hardcore political stuff began happening, Erdogan won the political fight to become a popular autocrat assuming all power in 2017 by changing the constitution through a referandum then winning the elections - all fairly. When he got free from any checks and balances he was free to implement his unorthodox ideas on economics. He put his son in law in charge of…

The dinosaur statues made me go wtf as well: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-3253591...

Re: Apple stopped sales in Turkey after the lira crashed 15% in a day

#137
post #119
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long did it take them? Could you have gone in bought a ton of stock at old prices and gotten at least some of your 15% back? Apple stuff resells pretty well

The USD$ went from 9.50 to 12.50 in a month and I believe the last adjustment they did was at 8.5. Apple had 2 days of no online sales but the sales in the shops continued until the inventory depleted. I was also going to grab a Macbook Pro when the price dropped below the US price but I wasn't decisive enough and missed the opportunity. I bet a lot of people bought MacBooks just to re-sell. An interesting detail, in…

>Turkey even pioneered the IMEI registration process where you can't use foreign device for longer than a few month in Turkey.

This is a cool fact!

Re: Apple stopped sales in Turkey after the lira crashed 15% in a day

#138
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't stealing all the foreign assets of Venezuela by US and UK also affect the Venezuela economy?

Freezing, not stealing, because the chances those assets would be used for the actual benefit of Venezuelans is pretty much zero. They will be returned when Venezuela has a legitimate government.

Very rightous of the US. Getting to decide who does and doesn't get to self govern.

Re: Apple stopped sales in Turkey after the lira crashed 15% in a day

#139

If they priced them in Bitcoin.....

No phone would be sold because transactions take hours.

I've bought a beer ~7 years ago with btc. They just wanted for 1 confirmation (~10m), not that it mattered since we could drink in the mean time anyway.

Re: Apple stopped sales in Turkey after the lira crashed 15% in a day

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no law preventing one to sell in Euro in US and there is no law mandating a seller to accept USD as payment. "Legal tender" does not mean what most people think.

That's quite a fantasy there.

You have to ultimately pay taxes in USD and have to accept settlement for debts in USD, but otherwise you're free to accept anything else you'd like, really.
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