Financial Crisis

[jacnl2000]

“The Queen of Versailles” is a documentary about the idea of a house as the ultimate expression of the American Dream. America’s current biggest home is for sale now (costs approx. 75M dollars). Content of the virtual tour at the real estate agency not really differs from the documentary: an attractive outside which hides quite a large unfinished emptiness which potential buyers still need to fill in themselves (additional costs approx. 25M dollars). The Siegel family was not capable of just achieving that yet said to be due to the current economic crises but IMMHO mainly due to what may be called a major flaw in the original design. Then especially in contemporary really super large and much more expensive designs (e.g. by OMA in China) more people need to be involved/invited to let large places really live and develop itself uncontrolled in its fullest detail. Having such a big place only defined as family home is quite dysfunctional irrespective of the personalities living inside. That’s why I believe this documentary never ever got a fair chance of developing itself into a meaningful narrative of a string of pearls but could become an unreal popular opposite. The economic crises may have mattered more to the creators of the documentary and its spectators afterwards but not really to the billionaire and his wife and children who still have at least plenty of millions of dollars to spend. Assuming the timeshare king Mr. Siegel is still running a maybe questionable but successful business, why didn’t Mr. Siegel not spend only an additional 25M dollars? Why does he want to sell his home? I guess he and his family probably do no longer want to live inside their American dream house. The director of the documentary Lauren Greenfield explains her ideas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRDC0pMj30I

During the 80s of previous century I was confronted with the time-share principle while being a regular vacationer in one of the hotels on Phuket island. On the street I was told by a fellow Dutch guy I had won something and only had to come and collect the prize inside one of the brand new hotels within easy reach near the beach. That’s just what I did, out of curiosity. However they forced me to wait quite a long time, almost all afternoon. While doing my own bit of thinking about timesharing, making myself less susceptible to what may be called greed, I told them first to pay me back half my holiday before being willing to listen to them and consider their offer… They didn’t, so I didn’t listen and was not offered a glass of their finest champagne, and so never knew for sure whether it turned out to be a first class scam or not. It certainly felt that way. The prize must have been something silly because I cannot remember anymore what exactly it was. I think it was most likely a voucher for a future discount for renting one of the many empty rooms of that newest hotel near the beach. Following video (whether real or just a short piece of satire) of an angry French lady not really surprises me:

[mania]

“The Queen of Versailles” is a documentary about the idea of a house as the ultimate expression of the American Dream.

Thanks for that it was interesting & had more videos at the end of the one you posted.

I had never heard about that house.

Edited November 29, 2012 by mania

[mccw]

The Bank of England has taken its most intrusive step yet to regulate Britain's financial system, ordering an audit into whether banks are overstating the health of their balance sheets.

The Bank's Financial Policy Committee has asked the Financial Services Authority to go into the major UK banks and determine whether their capital positions are really as healthy as they publicly declare.

The Bank said that the country’s four largest banks could need up to £35bn in extra capital because they had understated the riskiness of the assets they hold on their balance sheets.

It added that the proportion of capital banks hold - which is regarded as the key bedrock to their financial stability - could also be distorted upwards because they overestimate the future value of their assets conduct costs and underestimate future conduct costs from Payment Protection Insurance and other activities.

The Bank's Governor, Sir Mervyn King, said that the FSA would "take action to ensure that the capital of UK banks and building societies reflects a proper valuation of their assets".

Although he denied that the Bank was implying that banks had fiddled their accounts to escape regulation, the announcement will likely spark criticisms that institutions are manipulating their accounts to flatter their balance sheet positions.

But while British banks will potentially need tens of billions of pounds of extra capital, Sir Mervyn revealed that the Treasury had refused to countenance any possibility that the Government itself would have to provide any of that money - in other words, further nationalising the banks.

- from sky news app

I like- seriously "over stating value" and "understating / under evaluating costs" , to the tune of needing billions of extra pounds does not = "fiddling the books"!!! Let alone fraud

[jpinx]

The Bank of England has taken its most intrusive step yet to regulate Britain's financial system, ordering an audit into whether banks are overstating the health of their balance sheets.

The Bank's Financial Policy Committee has asked the Financial Services Authority to go into the major UK banks and determine whether their capital positions are really as healthy as they publicly declare.

The Bank said that the country's four largest banks could need up to £35bn in extra capital because they had understated the riskiness of the assets they hold on their balance sheets.

It added that the proportion of capital banks hold - which is regarded as the key bedrock to their financial stability - could also be distorted upwards because they overestimate the future value of their assets conduct costs and underestimate future conduct costs from Payment Protection Insurance and other activities.

The Bank's Governor, Sir Mervyn King, said that the FSA would "take action to ensure that the capital of UK banks and building societies reflects a proper valuation of their assets".

Although he denied that the Bank was implying that banks had fiddled their accounts to escape regulation, the announcement will likely spark criticisms that institutions are manipulating their accounts to flatter their balance sheet positions.

But while British banks will potentially need tens of billions of pounds of extra capital, Sir Mervyn revealed that the Treasury had refused to countenance any possibility that the Government itself would have to provide any of that money - in other words, further nationalising the banks.

- from sky news app

I like- seriously "over stating value" and "understating / under evaluating costs" , to the tune of needing billions of extra pounds does not = "fiddling the books"!!! Let alone fraud

If a private company had done a similar trick they would now be deep into a full IR investigation.

[mccw]

Talking about Detroit

"I would be willing to consider dissolving the city, if thats what it took, he added.

Many have ridiculed the senator for this proposition and even Jones believes the scenario to be unlikely. But the consideration shows how desperate city and state officials are to prevent financial catastrophe. With only two weeks left before Detroit is set to run out of money, lawmakers are desperately trying to come up with a solution before the holidays, leaving every option on the table."

RT app

[manarak]

I hope the Silver lining of all this will be the abandonment of the handouts at hardworking people's expense.

I wonder how you're going to take it as technology, IT, and robotics makes people increasingly redundant.....when, say, there is only work for 50% or less of the "working" population.

This is going to necessitate a very decisive sharing out of the world's bounty in some form or other. If properly done it might just be a wonderful step forward for mankind and a step back for drudgery.

The fact is this is already probably happening to some degree.

If you're against handouts then I hope you're not one of the unfortunate ones.....

The idea that a machine that costs a million dollars is cheaper to use than a worker is perverse and the consequence of an engineered disequilibrium between availability and cost of labour.

Robotisation is exactly the consequence of socialist policies such as handouts, minimum wages and the general rise of the cost of labour and as a consequence the general rise of costs for everything: food, services, etc. which leads in fact to a totally strange situation: in countries said to be rich, only a tiny minority still has enough money to afford staff at home, everything has become "do it yourself", no service anywhere anymore...

gun...foot...

a country needs a fair number of people that are "quite rich" and a fair number of people that are "quite poor", and many people in between.

What we have today is a tiny minority of super-rich people that get richer and richer, while the former upper class gets tax- and price-squeezed while the middle and lower class struggle to survive, but the lower class people still cost too much to be employed by upper class people.

This probably has to be the socialist dream... => failure

Reality will catch up with socialist utopia, and there will be a very hard reality check for Europe.

Edited November 29, 2012 by manarak

[kblaze]

I hope the Silver lining of all this will be the abandonment of the handouts at hardworking people's expense.

I wonder how you're going to take it as technology, IT, and robotics makes people increasingly redundant.....when, say, there is only work for 50% or less of the "working" population.

This is going to necessitate a very decisive sharing out of the world's bounty in some form or other. If properly done it might just be a wonderful step forward for mankind and a step back for drudgery.

The fact is this is already probably happening to some degree.

If you're against handouts then I hope you're not one of the unfortunate ones.....

The idea that a machine that costs a million dollars is cheaper to use than a worker is perverse and the consequence of an engineered disequilibrium between availability and cost of labour.

Robotisation is exactly the consequence of socialist policies such as handouts, minimum wages and the general rise of the cost of labour and as a consequence the general rise of costs for everything: food, services, etc. which leads in fact to a totally strange situation: in countries said to be rich, only a tiny minority still has enough money to afford staff at home, everything has become "do it yourself", no service anywhere anymore...

gun...foot...

a country needs a fair number of people that are "quite rich" and a fair number of people that are "quite poor", and many people in between.

What we have today is a tiny minority of super-rich people that get richer and richer, while the former upper class gets tax- and price-squeezed while the middle and lower class struggle to survive, but the lower class people still cost too much to be employed by upper class people.

This probably has to be the socialist dream... => failure

Reality will catch up with socialist utopia, and there will be a very hard reality check for Europe.

Nice post, I agree with the correlation between rising costs of labor and robotisation. Unless they want to give everyone a dose of mushrooms/lsd at the age of 18 to bring about a mass social awakening bent on friendliness, humility and helpfulness with one another, society needs to realize that people are driven by "greed" (i use that word very very loosely). Babies exhibit characteristics that fall more on the "greed" side of the equation far earlier than they exhibit sharing and compassion (whats the first word most babies learn.. "MINE! MINE!") To fight "greed" is to fight human nature; what we should be doing instead is finding the best way to corral the greed while not suppressing it, and utilize the greed for society's gain.

[mccw]

I hope the Silver lining of all this will be the abandonment of the handouts at hardworking people's expense.

I wonder how you're going to take it as technology, IT, and robotics makes people increasingly redundant.....when, say, there is only work for 50% or less of the "working" population.

This is going to necessitate a very decisive sharing out of the world's bounty in some form or other. If properly done it might just be a wonderful step forward for mankind and a step back for drudgery.

The fact is this is already probably happening to some degree.

If you're against handouts then I hope you're not one of the unfortunate ones.....

The idea that a machine that costs a million dollars is cheaper to use than a worker is perverse and the consequence of an engineered disequilibrium between availability and cost of labour.

Robotisation is exactly the consequence of socialist policies such as handouts, minimum wages and the general rise of the cost of labour and as a consequence the general rise of costs for everything: food, services, etc. which leads in fact to a totally strange situation: in countries said to be rich, only a tiny minority still has enough money to afford staff at home, everything has become "do it yourself", no service anywhere anymore...

gun...foot...

a country needs a fair number of people that are "quite rich" and a fair number of people that are "quite poor", and many people in between.

What we have today is a tiny minority of super-rich people that get richer and richer, while the former upper class gets tax- and price-squeezed while the middle and lower class struggle to survive, but the lower class people still cost too much to be employed by upper class people.

This probably has to be the socialist dream... => failure

Reality will catch up with socialist utopia, and there will be a very hard reality check for Europe.

Spot on. 100% agree !

[mccw]

It's incredible that the fed and US government is happy to print billions of dollars to give to banks and buy crap securities but can't find the cash to keep the nation in order:

http://rt.com/usa/news/san-bernardino-bankrupt-crime-003/

One stated aim is "QE until employment improves" seems like targeting some money to city halls might be kinda a better use of funds?

[mccw]

Why are American people not a tad more pissed off with the banks / fed?

[mccw]

"Unemployment among young people in the eurozone hit a record 23.9% in October with Southern member countries among the worst affected.

Those under-25s out of work in the eurozone is up from 21.2% year-on-year, The Guardian reports. There are now 3.6 million Europeans under the age of 25 out of work in the region. These figures vary starkly between northern and southern European countries as Spain saw 56% of its young people out of work, while in Germany only 8.1% of the young are unemployed.

Austria and the Netherlands also saw a lower youth unemployment rate of 8.5% and 9.8% respectively. For comparison, Greece reported 57% young people out of work in the third quarter of the year."

"Meanwhile the total jobless rate in the eurozone reached a record high of 11.7%, from 11.6% in September, meaning 19 million people in the bloc were out of work. The gap between southern and northern member countries is wide too, ranging from 4.3% rate in Austria to in 26.2% in Spain. Meanwhile the average unemployment rate in the 27 member states of the EU was at 10.7%."

19million people !

Danger

Edited December 1, 2012 by mccw

[Kwasaki]

Just wanted to butt in on the recent news about the Bank of England getting a new manager or CEO, it was discussed about the pound being devalued, so my question is ? :-

I live here and stay no plans to go back to England so the money I have in England now, would it be a better bet to transfer the whole lot over to Thailand within the near future.

Thanks for any advice. K

Edited December 1, 2012 by Kwasaki

[Naam]

it was discussed about the pound being devalued

who, pray tell, "discussed" that?

[Naam]

19million people !

Danger

in the 1960s unemployment in the 27 EU member states was percentage wise (fewer inhabitants then) much higher. but nobody shouted "danger!" especially not without explanation why there should be any danger.

[Naam]

Meanwhile the average unemployment rate in the 27 member states of the EU was at 10.7%.

However, during the early 1980s, [UK] unemployment rose further still - it topped three million in 1982. The January 1982 figure of 3,070,621 represented 12.5 per cent of the working population, and in some parts of the country it was even higher: in Northern Ireland, unemployment stood at 20 per cent, while in some areas dominated by declining industries such as coal mining, it was much higher still.

http://www.politics....ce/unemployment

in 1932 the unemployment rate in the United states was 23.6% - yes, people were suffering. but "danger"?

http://www.infopleas...a/A0104719.html

summary: numbers, sums, percentages, etc. mean nothing if not quantified and quoted in relation.

[mccw]

Just wanted to butt in on the recent news about the Bank of England getting a new manager or CEO, it was discussed about the pound being devalued, so my question is ? :-

I live here and stay no plans to go back to England so the money I have in England now, would it be a better bet to transfer the whole lot over to Thailand within the near future.

Thanks for any advice. K

Personally I'd move most if not all of it over and spread it around a few different banks and/ or buy physical gold and silver.

[mccw]

19million people !

Danger

in the 1960s unemployment in the 27 EU member states was percentage wise (fewer inhabitants then) much higher. but nobody shouted "danger!" especially not without explanation why there should be any danger.

DANGER = shouting

danger = statement of opinion

I thought the reasons who be obvious and have previously been talked about. That is large numbers of unemployed and increasingly desperate young men are the historical precursors / conditions under which extremism takes root and at such numbers for sure can be extremely dangerous. I think the number of bodies to control does matter more than a % of population. Example, historically only a small % maybe turn violent, but in the 30s or 60s that =10s or 100s can proportionally now be many thousands.

[Naam]

Euro-zone finance ministers will need to go back to the drawing board before the ink dries on

Tuesday's deal to bring down Greece's debt if a debt-buyback operation misses targets,

a senior European Union official said Friday.

He said euro-zone finance ministers would hear details of that operation at their meeting ...

http://online.wsj.co...=googlenews_wsj

danger!

[Naam]

EU approves Spain bank restructuring

Approval of the Spain bank restructuring plan is a milestone, EU competition commissioner says.

http://www.livemint....oor-to-aid.html

danger!

[Naam]

Spanish Bonds Advance on Greek Deal; Bunds Gain on Fiscal Cliff

Spain’s bonds rose this week, with yields falling the most in almost three months, as an agreement

by euro-area ministers to ease the terms of aid to Greece boosted demand for the debt of so-called

peripheral nations.

Italy’s government securities gained for a third week as signs the region’s financial crisis is easing

pushed down borrowing costs at an auction.

http://www.bloomberg...scal-cliff.html

big danger!

[mccw]

EU approves Spain bank restructuring

Approval of the Spain bank restructuring plan is a milestone, EU competition commissioner says.

http://www.livemint....oor-to-aid.html

danger!

""The European Commission said Banco de Valencia would be sold and integrated into Caixabank, and the other three banks would need to "cut their balance sheets by more than 60%" over the next five years.""

How does that happen?

[Naam]

Bloomberg News

All Bonds Rally First Time Since 2008 With Portugal Up

For the first time since the financial crisis in 2008, all 26 markets tracked by Bloomberg and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies are poised to generate positive returns on an annual basis. Gains this year range from Portugal’s 47 percent to Japan’s 1.78 percent.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-05/all-bonds-rally-first-time-since-2008-with-portugal-up

Portugal bonds up 47%? three times the appreciation of Gold year>today?

danger!

[Naam]

Investors pile in as Irish bonds are the hottest ticket in town

€2.5bn raised in eight days and €14.5bn more on offer – the markets are clearly

indicating that this country and the eurozone have turned the corner...

http://www.independe...wn-3302152.html

very big danger!

[Naam]

this rubbish was auctioned a few days ago for 10.3 million €URos. a clear indication the €U-land is in big danger decaying.

[churchill]

Analytical Conference - Understanding Cycles

by Martin Armstrong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCFF5v_68hg&feature=youtu.be

[Kwasaki]

it was discussed about the pound being devalued

who, pray tell, "discussed" that?

Maybe discussed was the wrong word to use but it was talked about on Russian TV Max Kieser program he was saying the guy coming from the Canadian bank to the Bank of England will probably devalue the pound.

Hence my question.

Edited December 2, 2012 by Kwasaki

[Naam]

it was discussed about the pound being devalued

who, pray tell, "discussed" that?

Maybe discussed was the wrong word to use but it was talked about on Russian TV Max Kieser program he was saying the guy coming from the Canadian bank to the Bank of England will probably devalue the pound.

Hence my question.

Max Keiser =

[mccw]

it was discussed about the pound being devalued

who, pray tell, "discussed" that?

Maybe discussed was the wrong word to use but it was talked about on Russian TV Max Kieser program he was saying the guy coming from the Canadian bank to the Bank of England will probably devalue the pound.

Hence my question.

Max Keiser =

He's a bit of a clown but raises many serious points

[mccw]

It's like his persona gets more ridiculas as a reflection of the madness in the system he is talking about. Like his brains just going to explode with how incredible the level of fraud / injustice/ corruption/ idiocy etc etc etc ; quite comical some times

[mccw]

Did you see this latest one?

http://rt.com/programs/keiser-report/episode-374-keiser-max/

I watch all them and the capital account also