181–190 of 252 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Iceland lost 50%, but they put their corrupt bankers and government ministers on trial. Cyprus lost 10% and they still have the exact same cancer.
Some of them. Don't think that Iceland's problems are all resolved. It's still unsure if the new constitution will pass, lots of people in power do not want change.
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We should have let them default when the crisis started, but no because our government are traitors to the people whom they have to protect.
You should definitely have done that. But you'd won much less out of it. Now you can gain more.
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If you think that Greece and Cyprus are sovereigns, think again. And Iceland chose not to receive "economic help". Greece and Cyprus were forced to receive "economic help".
Greece and Cyprus were forced to receive "economic help". Not AFAIK. Their alternatives were just worse.
Party A was in power until 2009.
During the 2009 elections party A said: "Oops! We're screwed! No more money!". Party B said: "No! Party A is lying! There are lots of money!".
Guess who won? That's right: Party B.
0.0000001 seconds later
Party B: "After all there is no money as we thought... But hey! We're in charge now! We'll save you! It's what we do best!". Nobody said that what they do best isn't very nice...
Forward to 2012.
Party B: "Vote us, so that we'll keep saving you with our great plan and our great banker friends!"
Party A: "Noooo!!! Don't vote for Party B! Their plan and their banker friends are baaaaaaaad!!! We have a better solution! A magic solution!"
Guess again who won? That's right: Party A.
0.0000001 seconds later
Party A: "Shit! Actually Party B's plan is the only real plan... But we are in charge now! Why bother to bring back Party B to keep going with their plan? We can do it as well! Probably even better!"
The End.
Desperate people? Yes. Retarded voters? Yes. Incompetent government? Not really. Corrupted government? Most likely.
Even after the tax is taken out there will be a huge run on all banks in Cyprus. If I was in Cyprus, I would be buying gold and burying it somewhere safe :)
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No doubt you know your trade. The problem is that it's more of a witchcraft and the way you smoothly lay things out here in the complex intricacies of the financial sector evades people from the simple fact that the banks fucked up. And the question of who bears the burden is only a question for the banking industry, in how to leverage public funds to cover their losses.
> "the simple fact that the banks fucked up" The banks are run by citizens and funded by citizens. So when the banks "fuck up", it's going to end up on those same citizens. There is no way to isolate losses to some "bank" entity.
If I were in Greece, Italy, Spain, or Ireland, I think I would pull out all my bank deposits but the bare minimum cash needed to cover obligations.
I've been thinking about this lately, and, at the risk of sounding like a doomsday kook, this seems to make sense to me (perhaps in a milder sense) no matter where one lives. My plan is, if I ever get over $X in my account, where X is some reasonable buffer to pay bills, etc., that I'll just buy gold with the overage[1]. Back in the day you'd at least get reasonable interest by keeping money in a bank, but nowadays i…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been thinking about this lately, and, at the risk of sounding like a doomsday kook, this seems to make sense to me (perhaps in a milder sense) no matter where one lives. My plan is, if I ever get over $X in my account, where X is some reasonable buffer to pay bills, etc., that I'll just buy gold with the overage[1]. Back in the day you'd at least get reasonable interest by keeping money in a bank, but nowadays i…
> "Back in the day you'd at least get reasonable interest by keeping money in a bank, but nowadays it's really only the convenience of direct deposit and online bill pay that draws me." Back in what day? You mean, like, 5 years ago? We're still amidst one of the worst recessions ever and rates are at all time lows. No, you don't get riskless real returns right now. But you can also borrow at exceptionally low rates.…
When a sovereign fails, its banks fail, and private sector losses are virtually assured. The question is who bears the burden. Roughly half the deposits in Cypriot banks, with assets five times its GDP, are of Russian, Greek, or British origin [1]. They were attracted by high deposit rates (roughly double EMU average) and a system tolerant of likely tax evaders. >" This whole thing is entirely unfair for the people l…
Personally, I don't have a clue as to the answers to those questions, and I doubt that those who are imposing this tax have a clue, either.
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Real estate is proven value store and investment. Personally I'd just buy bitcoins.
when credit collapses (which is what this is) then the price of things bought on credit will collapse. Real estate will not be a good store of value in the short term. Long term it is an excellent asset but don't think it will hold value though this. Bitcoin....you have seen the volatility on it lately? And the other week the miners were all asked to rollback a recent build because the crypto broke? Bitcoin is for sp…
I agree.
> Long term it is an excellent asset but don't think it will hold value though this.
Do you expect people will stop needing roofs over their heads?
I agree that real estate seems silly. But I don't mean swapping houses. I mean buying few properties over course of your life, renting them and passing them to your children. That never was a bad strategy and fortunes of few most wealthy families come from that.
You don't care how much property costs if you never intend to sell it. You just have to find poor bloke to live there and give you better part of his pay whatever it is.
> Bitcoin....you have seen the volatility on it lately?
Sure I bought bitcoin near its peak 2 years ago just before it crashed. Guess what. Today, I'm still having a profit on them because I never sold them.
> And the other week the miners were all asked to rollback a recent build because the crypto broke?
Oh my! That surely must have cause the price to plummet! No? Huh. I guess it's not such a fragile eggshell.
> Bitcoin is for speculation, not wealth preservation.
Trading bitcoin is for speculation. Buying and holding bitcoin is wealth preservation. Bitcoin is as durable as useful p2p network. Which have pretty decent track record.
When a sovereign fails, its banks fail, and private sector losses are virtually assured. The question is who bears the burden. Roughly half the deposits in Cypriot banks, with assets five times its GDP, are of Russian, Greek, or British origin [1]. They were attracted by high deposit rates (roughly double EMU average) and a system tolerant of likely tax evaders. >" This whole thing is entirely unfair for the people l…
Nonsense. The EU just made the depositors junior to the bondholders of the bank! On what planet does that not have permanent implications for trust in the banking system?
Every EU depositor (esp in Greece, Spain and Italy) should start thinking about where to store their money besides the "insured" banks. Hell, with 0% interest in US banks, the FDIC should at least make some high-profile statement saying this would never happen in the US.
Edit: As near as I can tell, Nemo gets the real rationale correct - https://self-evident.org/?p=962