News about Spain June 2012

[mrypg9]

Originally Posted by Solwriter

Ok.... Ive read the article (and the comments).

My first thought was that this read like a rather earnest PhD students paper. It opened a debate by taking a rather one-sided view, hoping that others would fill in the blanks!
I also thought that the case regarding the loss of private property to government subsidised institutions (subsidised by the taxes of ordinary people, who then in theory became the owners of that property) wasn't well argued (hence some of the comments).

Mary,
you picked out the two most pointed statements in the whole article.

I agree with the first statement absolutely, but the second (I think...) is muddled.

I can see that the writer is stating that those who invest their private property in banks are doing so at their own risk and therefore, should not expect to be helped by a bail out when things go wrong. After all, we live in a democracy where the decisions we make on the use of our property should be ours, not the states.

But the writer appears to assume that it is only the rich who do this.

As at least one person commented, to let the banks collapse would hit the poor and particularly the people in the middle, whose pension funds are invested there, much more than it would hurt the rich.

Perhaps more later....

Lilico is a hard-line free marketeer. I like to read from both 'sides' to try to get a balanced picture.

The problem is that by going overboard for free market policies we've backed ourselves into a corner. The central issue is simply that by allowing banks and other such institutions to be 'too big to fail' because as you rightly point out the 'little people' and indeed the whole economy would be hurt we have created a situation where these institutions know they have total immunity, no matter what they do, what risks they take as the taxpayer will bail them out.

I cannot for the life of me see why banks that are saved by taxpayers' money should not be immediately nationalised. That would guarantee liquidity and allow for some democratic control over them.

At the moment our 'leaders' seemed to be paralysed....decisions have to be made and inevitably these will hurt some people. Far better to hurt those who can stand the pain.

[mrypg9]

Spain now downgraded to triple B....100 billion euros said to be needed for bank bailout.

[Muddy]

Writing off mortgages can't be good for the banks either, but at the same time the people are keeping them up and running.
Saw this story last night. It pulls me in both directions. Yeah sure it would be nice to walk away from 90% of my mortgage, but at the same time it doesn't make sense to kick people out of their home adding to all the other empty property stock!
I would hope they don't do this with everyone. I think it better to offer people to pay back half, or maybe double the length of the term but not add interest.
Everyone is a different case of course.
Spain House Evictions: Homeowners In Battle With Banks Over Unpaid Mortgages - Sky News Video Player

[mrypg9]

Originally Posted by Muddy

Writing off mortgages can't be good for the banks either, but at the same time the people are keeping them up and running.
Saw this story last night. It pulls me in both directions. Yeah sure it would be nice to walk away from 90% of my mortgage, but at the same time it doesn't make sense to kick people out of their home adding to all the other empty property stock!
I would hope they don't do this with everyone. I think it better to offer people to pay back half, or maybe double the length of the term but not add interest.
Everyone is a different case of course.
Spain House Evictions: Homeowners In Battle With Banks Over Unpaid Mortgages - Sky News Video Player

If I were still involved in social housing provision I would call on Aytos to put Compulsory Purchase Orders on empty blocks where owners are bankrupt or for whatever reason cannot use them commercially.
I would then allocate units to homeless people and charge affordable rents to help pay for repairs and general maintenance.

Whilst it is true that many homeless people are so because of taking bad decisions, the punishment for stupiduty should never be loss of some kind of decent roof over your head, both for the sake of the individual and his/her family and for the wider community.

[Muddy]

Some news I found today. This guy is making the case for how Europe can easily fix its problems and what it shouldn't be doing! 11 mins long so go make a cupa and sit back and listen

'Budget cuts for Europe like pouring gas on fire'...

[baldilocks]

Originally Posted by mrypg9

Spain now downgraded to triple B....100 billion euros said to be needed for bank bailout.

Now when I see that they have downgraded the USA (which is where downgrading is really deserved seeing as they caused all this mess), then that will be news

[Pesky Wesky]

Originally Posted by Muddy

Some news I found today. This guy is making the case for how Europe can easily fix its problems and what it shouldn't be doing! 11 mins long so go make a cupa and sit back and listen
'Budget cuts for Europe like pouring gas on fire' - YouTube

Thanks for posting this. I heard about this guy on the radio about a week ago, but it wasn't very easy to find any material on him. Will hopefully find time to watch tomorrow.

[Muddy]

Originally Posted by Pesky Wesky

Thanks for posting this. I heard about this guy on the radio about a week ago, but it wasn't very easy to find any material on him. Will hopefully find time to watch tomorrow.

I've only been watching that news channel for a couple of months and it makes for a refreshing change over the usual sanitized versions of news on most other channels IMO. They spend much more time interviewing people usually.
A must watch is the "Keiser Report" He's an ex stockbroker and seems to know what he's talking about and does it with a certain sense of style. Not everyone's taste but IMO he holds no shots and puts the boot in big time!! Very funny at times but he gets serious matters across really well.
Stacy Herbert his co-host keeps him in check lol and she usually covers the fine detail.
See what you think..

Keiser Report: Paper Money Collapse (E297) -...

[Pesky Wesky]

Originally Posted by Muddy

I've only been watching that news channel for a couple of months and it makes for a refreshing change over the usual sanitized versions of news on most other channels IMO. They spend much more time interviewing people usually.
A must watch is the "Keiser Report" He's an ex stockbroker and seems to know what he's talking about and does it with a certain sense of style. Not everyone's taste but IMO he holds no shots and puts the boot in big time!! Very funny at times but he gets serious matters across really well.
Stacy Herbert his co-host keeps him in check lol and she usually covers the fine detail.
See what you think..
Keiser Report: Paper Money Collapse (E297) - YouTube

I watched the Mark whatsisname video and the first part of the Keiser report, and they were well worth watching!!
Took me a while to get into the Keiser report as he's sssoooo - American I suppose is the word, but yes, it was informative and he did make me laugh too

So, if you have time I recommend the first part where they make some good points about .4%, Dixons, Richard Branson, arsonists, the role of corporations...

[Muddy]

Originally Posted by Pesky Wesky

I watched the Mark whatsisname video and the first part of the Keiser report, and they were well worth watching!!
Took me a while to get into the Keiser report as he's sssoooo - American I suppose is the word, but yes, it was informative and he did make me laugh too

So, if you have time I recommend the first part where they make some good points about .4%, Dixons, Richard Branson, arsonists, the role of corporations...

Glad you liked it. And... there are much funnier vids than that one if you have a search around. Mr Keiser always gets a bit carried away but I do enjoy a good laugh and he seems to be on a bit of a quest to show things how they really are.
Just in case anyone thinks he's only just all over the UK and Europe he isn't. He comes down very harsh on US bankers and such so hard I'm amazed with some of the things he says he hasn't been locked up yet lol
If I can find a really funny one I watched a few weeks back I'll post it up.