Financial Crisis

[mccw]

Actually I don't mind the fiat paper one bit. If anybody has a problem, then just send it right over. You see, its one of my hobbies, collecting this intrinsically worthless paper stuff. And as long as I can still go and have somebody exchange beer, food and fuel for these bits of paper, I reckon that's just fine.

Rhinos are not a good choice. They are a protected species, so I couldn't slaughter them and sell off the bits. And what happens when they become sick? My worth in gold Dirhams would suddenly fall off a cliff.

So sorry Naam, I recognise I'm in the system and by and large have to remain in it.

nobody has a problem with fiat paper 12! neither the resident fiat haters nor the odd clowns who appear sporadically here to present a little worthless fiat wisdom. the situation would of course change should Midas decide to retire in Kelantan, embrace Islam and trades free roaming organic goats against chicken reared with organic brown rice against halal Dirhams and Dinars. needless to mention that he will also pay his "zakat" in coins made of precious metals.

In all seriousness- if this is really catching on it could have some significant effect on demand?

[Naam]

In all seriousness- if this is really catching on it could have some significant effect on demand?

if you are referring to "Islamic" Dinars and Dirhams why should it catch on? take an islamic gold coin to a goldshop in Nakhon Nowhere, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Zürich or London and you will get a smile and "Sorry Sir, we sell neither goats nor chicken."

take a Krüger Rand or a Maple Leaf and you will get cash.

[midas]

In all seriousness- if this is really catching on it could have some significant effect on demand?

if you are referring to "Islamic" Dinars and Dirhams why should it catch on? take an islamic gold coin to a goldshop in Nakhon Nowhere, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Zürich or London and you will get a smile and "Sorry Sir, we sell neither goats nor chicken."

take a Krüger Rand or a Maple Leaf and you will get cash.

but surely as a scientist you would agree these " conditions " cannot last forever

and based on deteriorating economic fundamentals every day

the risk of a total breakdown is growing exponentially?

[Naam]

In all seriousness- if this is really catching on it could have some significant effect on demand?

if you are referring to "Islamic" Dinars and Dirhams why should it catch on? take an islamic gold coin to a goldshop in Nakhon Nowhere, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Zürich or London and you will get a smile and "Sorry Sir, we sell neither goats nor chicken."

take a Krüger Rand or a Maple Leaf and you will get cash.

but surely as a scientist you would agree these " conditions " cannot last forever

and based on deteriorating economic fundamentals every day

the risk of a total breakdown is growing exponentially?

surely a [former] scientist believes in facts and acts according to prevailing facts even if he thinks the value of these facts might change sooner or later. he will not deny himself to enjoy today, next week and for months to come a big charcoal grilled steak for dinner inspite of other "scientists" prophesying that it is only a matter of years till bovine spongiform encephalopathy has infected all cattle globally.

[mccw]

In all seriousness- if this is really catching on it could have some significant effect on demand?

if you are referring to "Islamic" Dinars and Dirhams why should it catch on? take an islamic gold coin to a goldshop in Nakhon Nowhere, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Zürich or London and you will get a smile and "Sorry Sir, we sell neither goats nor chicken."

take a Krüger Rand or a Maple Leaf and you will get cash.

If it catches on in the Islamic world; i mean given the political upheaval, currency fluctuations, lack of transparency etc I can see why many would prefer it; then presumably many more "dirhams" will be getting minted- ie more demand. If really taking on the role of a kind of back up or alternative currency that could be 100s of millions of coins. There are many Islamic people and I don't think they'd care if it can't be exchanged for euros in Switzerland.

[midas]

In all seriousness- if this is really catching on it could have some significant effect on demand?

if you are referring to "Islamic" Dinars and Dirhams why should it catch on? take an islamic gold coin to a goldshop in Nakhon Nowhere, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Zürich or London and you will get a smile and "Sorry Sir, we sell neither goats nor chicken."

take a Krüger Rand or a Maple Leaf and you will get cash.

but surely as a scientist you would agree these " conditions " cannot last forever

and based on deteriorating economic fundamentals every day

the risk of a total breakdown is growing exponentially?

surely a [former] scientist believes in facts and acts according to prevailing facts even if he thinks the value of these facts might change sooner or later. he will not deny himself to enjoy today, next week and for months to come a big charcoal grilled steak for dinner inspite of other "scientists" prophesying that it is only a matter of years till bovine spongiform encephalopathy has infected all cattle globally.

enjoy your charcoal steak while you can

" I do not believe, any longer, that the catastrophe can be avoided and I would begin to immediately plan for an event that will eclipse the American financial crisis of 2007-2009 because this one will be far worse. "

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/mark-grant-i-do-not-believe-any-longer-catastrophe-can-be-avoided

[Naam]

In all seriousness- if this is really catching on it could have some significant effect on demand?

if you are referring to "Islamic" Dinars and Dirhams why should it catch on? take an islamic gold coin to a goldshop in Nakhon Nowhere, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Zürich or London and you will get a smile and "Sorry Sir, we sell neither goats nor chicken."

take a Krüger Rand or a Maple Leaf and you will get cash.

If it catches on in the Islamic world; i mean given the political upheaval, currency fluctuations, lack of transparency etc I can see why many would prefer it; then presumably many more "dirhams" will be getting minted- ie more demand. If really taking on the role of a kind of back up or alternative currency that could be 100s of millions of coins. There are many Islamic people and I don't think they'd care if it can't be exchanged for euros in Switzerland.

Kelantan is the "Islamic world"? give me a break please. even there it did not catch on.

[Naam]

the resident experts are whistling like little boys in a dark forest and refuse to acknowledge the fact that gold can flucutate like any other asset/commodity, e.g. certain service fees charged in Walking Street or Soi Cowboy according to offer and demand.

[Naam]

by the way, the "Islamic" gold coin has a purity of only 22 karat. in the Islamic country where i lived for quite some years a shopkeeper would have lost his right hand during my time if he dared to sell 22k and call it "gold".

[mccw]

In all seriousness- if this is really catching on it could have some significant effect on demand?

if you are referring to "Islamic" Dinars and Dirhams why should it catch on? take an islamic gold coin to a goldshop in Nakhon Nowhere, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Zürich or London and you will get a smile and "Sorry Sir, we sell neither goats nor chicken."

take a Krüger Rand or a Maple Leaf and you will get cash.

If it catches on in the Islamic world; i mean given the political upheaval, currency fluctuations, lack of transparency etc I can see why many would prefer it; then presumably many more "dirhams" will be getting minted- ie more demand. If really taking on the role of a kind of back up or alternative currency that could be 100s of millions of coins. There are many Islamic people and I don't think they'd care if it can't be exchanged for euros in Switzerland.

Kelantan is the "Islamic world"? give me a break please. even there it did not catch on.

No

I thought it was an effort to be alternative currency for all Islamic people's. Not saying it will happen but I can see why it could.

[mccw]

Regarding fluctuation - of course values of everything can and do fluctuate; don't know why you keep coming back to this.

My bet is my gold will fluctuate plenty on the way to long term up- where as currencies will fluctuate plenty but long term devalue massively. What is number 90% drop in dollar value over last 100years or so?

I guess even if I'm wrong I still like gold as a place to keep my money because gold will always be gold; currencies can come and go, get frozen in banks and vanish in the wired ether, same like company stocks , etfs and all the rest of it. All of it fluctuates but golf and land can't so easily disappear.

Good luck with your wizardry but I'm choosing what I think to be the safety long game 10-20-50years.

The mark twain quote is spot on

[12DrinkMore]

the resident experts are whistling like little boys in a dark forest and refuse to acknowledge the fact that gold can flucutate like any other asset/commodity, e.g. certain service fees charged in Walking Street or Soi Cowboy according to offer and demand.

Better keep your indepth survey and research in those two areas of BKK away from Mrs Naam.

She would be MOST unhappy.

[Naam]

the resident experts are whistling like little boys in a dark forest and refuse to acknowledge the fact that gold can flucutate like any other asset/commodity, e.g. certain service fees charged in Walking Street or Soi Cowboy according to offer and demand.

Better keep your indepth survey and research in those two areas of BKK away from Mrs Naam.

She would be MOST unhappy.

no she wouldn't. during the last three decades, before we settled down, we spent numerous times a part of our holidays in Thailand during which she gained quite some indepth information. that same information is available for people who have never visited the Land of Smiles by reading TV or any other forum.

[Naam]

What is number 90% drop in dollar value over last 100years or so?

this kind of milkmaid argumentation, repeated over and over again, has become so boring that it doesn't make me laugh anymore.

only brain-amputated investors buried their dollars for a hundred years in the backyard, in the basement or kept them under the mattress. there's no doubt that the nominal purchase value of a dollar has indeed gone down but that same dollar has generated during said hundred years quite some returns when invested or put to work in various other ways.

none of today's billionaires became billionaires because the grandparents bought gold a century ago. it was always $$$ which generated exponentially more $$$.

[midas]

Steve Keen is a professor in economics and finance at the University of Western Sydney. Steve was one of the few economists in the world to predict the financial crisis we are in now.

"Ultimately the Euro has to fail and the longer we continue the farce of believing we can make it function the larger the ultimate crash will be" is how Keen portrays the situation

Edited April 25, 2012 by midas

[midas]

What is number 90% drop in dollar value over last 100years or so?

this kind of milkmaid argumentation, repeated over and over again, has become so boring that it doesn't make me laugh anymore.

only brain-amputated investors buried their dollars for a hundred years in the backyard, in the basement or kept them under the mattress. there's no doubt that the nominal purchase value of a dollar has indeed gone down but that same dollar has generated during said hundred years quite some returns when invested or put to work in various other ways.

none of today's billionaires became billionaires because the grandparents bought gold a century ago. it was always $$$ which generated exponentially more $$$.

now it is being revealed just how much dishonesty, corruption and lies there are that what is being disseminated as " data "

for " investors " is nothing more than junk.the question is for how many years or even decades this has been going on?

in which case you probably would have done just as well by basing your decisions after throwing darts at the board

What Data Can We Trust?

Modern investing offers the promise that investors who "do their homework" and use data more intelligently than the herd can gain a valuable edge. But what if the underlying data available to the investing public is fundamentally flawed?

http://www.chrismartenson.com/blog/what-data-can-we-trust/74361

[midas]

Steve Keen is a professor in economics and finance at the University of Western Sydney. Steve was one of the few economists in the world to predict the financial crisis we are in now.

"Ultimately the Euro has to fail and the longer we continue the farce of believing we can make it function the larger the ultimate crash will be" is how Keen portrays the situation

tick tock .......

German tempers boil over back-door euro rescues

Professor Hans-Werner Sinn, head of Germany's IFO Institute, said German taxpayers are facing a dangerous rise in credit risk from a plethora of bail-out schemes. "The euro-system is near explosion," he told Austria's Economics Academy on Thursday.

Earlier this week, the Foundation for Family Business in Munich filed a criminal lawsuit against the Bundesbank, accusing the board of disguising the true scale of risk born by German citizens

The latest poll shows that 56pc of Germans want a return to the D-Mark.

http://www.telegraph...ro-rescues.html

Edited April 25, 2012 by midas

[Naam]

The latest poll shows that 56pc of Germans want a return to the D-Mark.

the latest poll more than a decade ago showed that the majority of the Germans never liked the EUR idea. and shortly after the EUR was introduced the majority of Germans were thoroughly p*ssed off for various reasons. they are still p*ssed off to this very day and want their beloved D-Mark back.

unfortunately the majority of Germans have no say, no leverage and "no nothing" that could change the situation as no political anti-EUR party exists. the advantage of the majority of Germans is that they don't read shitty biased British newspapers like "Telegraph" and "Daily Mail" which quote this clown who is raving and ranting since time began but nobody takes him seriously anyway:

[Naam]

now it is being revealed just how much dishonesty, corruption and lies there are that what is being disseminated as " data " for " investors " is nothing more than junk. the question is for how many years or even decades this has been going on?

in which case you probably would have done just as well by basing your decisions after throwing darts at the board

conclusion: those who bitch in ThaiVisa about 150 Baht ATM fees, 20 bucks SWIFT transfer fees and praying each night that the <insert currency> appreciates vs. Thai Baht must have missed the dart throwing.

[12DrinkMore]

Steve Keen is a professor in economics and finance at the University of Western Sydney. Steve was one of the few economists in the world to predict the financial crisis we are in now.

"Ultimately the Euro has to fail and the longer we continue the farce of believing we can make it function the larger the ultimate crash will be" is how Keen portrays the situation

Steve Keen is one of the guys I have time for.

Its now time for all those Eurotwats to back down from their "big fuc_king plan" and look for a workable solution. And the workable solution is surely not more of the same that put the Eurozone into the mess in the first place. The IMF, the ECB and the Eurotwats seem to be utterly isolated from the real situations developing. All they offer is endless hardship through austerity far into the future.

The straight-jacket of the Euro has to be removed.

[midas]

Steve Keen is a professor in economics and finance at the University of Western Sydney. Steve was one of the few economists in the world to predict the financial crisis we are in now.

"Ultimately the Euro has to fail and the longer we continue the farce of believing we can make it function the larger the ultimate crash will be" is how Keen portrays the situation

Steve Keen is one of the guys I have time for.

Its now time for all those Eurotwats to back down from their "big fuc_king plan" and look for a workable solution. And the workable solution is surely not more of the same that put the Eurozone into the mess in the first place. The IMF, the ECB and the Eurotwats seem to be utterly isolated from the real situations developing. All they offer is endless hardship through austerity far into the future.

The straight-jacket of the Euro has to be removed.

agreed and he is in a different league from bloody Paul Krugman

and as Steve Keen says if they try to keep pushing this austerity there will be some military coups

Edited April 25, 2012 by midas

[12DrinkMore]

Modern investing offers the promise that investors who "do their homework" and use data more intelligently than the herd can gain a valuable edge. But what if the underlying data available to the investing public is fundamentally flawed?

http://www.chrismart...-we-trust/74361

In a climate where the central banks and governments are causing massive distortions, banks create bubbles by dishing out debt to people who cannot afford it and then refuse credit to those that can, and large institutions are using HFT to gain an edge, the whole investment arena has turned into a game of chance.

Its a big mess.

[12DrinkMore]

agreed and he is in a different league from bloody Paul Krugman

and as Steve Keen says if they try to keep pushing this austerity there will be some military coups

Krugman doesn't seem to understand how banks and economies work.

He is still in the world of the gold standard and fractional reserve &lt;deleted&gt;, and has not opened his eyes and mind or produced anything significant in the last 20 years. He should step down and mow the lawn and take care of rose bushes.

[12DrinkMore]

Curbing the bankers

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-24/bankers-on-a-different-planet-face-bonuses-backlash-from-eu.html

Looks like public opinion is finally driving the politicians to get off their &lt;deleted&gt;.

Bankers (SX7P) face a backlash from European Union lawmakers determined to cut their bonuses as part of a quest to reshape lenders as utilities like water and electricity providers rather than money-making machines.

[Naam]

Looks like public opinion is finally driving the politicians to get off their &lt;deleted&gt;.

unfortunately the banKsters will win. there are a zillion ways to pay bonuses unfettered by political decisions.

[Naam]

Steve Keen is one of the guys I have time for.

Its now time for all those Eurotwats to back down from their "big fuc_king plan" and look for a workable solution. And the workable solution is surely not more of the same that put the Eurozone into the mess in the first place. The IMF, the ECB and the Eurotwats seem to be utterly isolated from the real situations developing. All they offer is endless hardship through austerity far into the future.

The straight-jacket of the Euro has to be removed.

it's not as easy to remove the straight-jacket without huge implications as is removing garbage in Nakhon Nowhere. €UR-Land is not Kansas Dorothy!

[midas]

Steve Keen is one of the guys I have time for.

Its now time for all those Eurotwats to back down from their "big fuc_king plan" and look for a workable solution. And the workable solution is surely not more of the same that put the Eurozone into the mess in the first place. The IMF, the ECB and the Eurotwats seem to be utterly isolated from the real situations developing. All they offer is endless hardship through austerity far into the future.

The straight-jacket of the Euro has to be removed.

it's not as easy to remove the straight-jacket without huge implications as is removing garbage in Nakhon Nowhere. €UR-Land is not Kansas Dorothy!

at this point a musical interlude is appropriate

[midas]

Steve Keen is a professor in economics and finance at the University of Western Sydney. Steve was one of the few economists in the world to predict the financial crisis we are in now.

"Ultimately the Euro has to fail and the longer we continue the farce of believing we can make it function the larger the ultimate crash will be" is how Keen portrays the situation

Steve Keen is one of the guys I have time for.

Its now time for all those Eurotwats to back down from their "big fuc_king plan" and look for a workable solution. And the workable solution is surely not more of the same that put the Eurozone into the mess in the first place. The IMF, the ECB and the Eurotwats seem to be utterly isolated from the real situations developing. All they offer is endless hardship through austerity far into the future.

The straight-jacket of the Euro has to be removed.

A month after the elections on May 6, the Troika inspectors will return to check on progress in meeting the conditions spelled out in the bailout memorandum—only to leave angry again, as they’d done so many times before. The frustration is already breaking the surface. Poul Thomsen, head of the IMF representation on the Troika, warned on Friday that Greece would not be able to fulfill the conditions and fingered once again tax evasion. So far, he said, efforts to improve tax collections have failed.

http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2012/4/21/drachma-clauses-for-greeces-exit-from-the-eurozone.html

[flying]

Eric Sprott- Global Shocks Coming, Investors Need To Prepare

April 27th 2012

[midas]

i wonder how bad things can get ?

Greece gives emergency cash to avert energy meltdown

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/55223