It’s tragic…in my country (Italy) taxes+bills have gone up exponentially in a very short time…I think in the region of 400%… People become desperate and business owners commit suicide… What sort of life is that?
Yeah, the uglier side capitalism perhaps.
Ireland suffered similarly in recent years, thankfully they pulled themselves from the pit so I suppose there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
I am often surprised at how opportunity seems to appear in the midst of gloom, so my hope is that such will happen yet again, all we can do in the meantime is wait and see 
Yes, and I remember how the PM came out saying that Ireland was Britain’s closest trading neigjbour etc
so there would be good will and a juicy bailout handout…
British taxpayers funded Ireland’s £14bn bail-out - Telegraph
The Celtic Tiger was handed a milk bowl…
Yep, what he actually was saying was that it was in the UK’s best interest to loan money outside of what was termed a ‘bailout’ by the EU.
There was no handout and far from juicy, as the Irish people will testify, it was money that required to be repaid, both to the UK and the ECB - with interest.
The reason for the PM’s action was the exposure to the Irish market risk by UK banks, the reason for the ECB forced ‘bailout’ was the exposure of the German banks - many in Ireland were pushing for bondholder write offs, the view was that as gamblers they took the risk - capitalism rules dictated that the Irish taxpayer must pay, and they did through severe austerity measures, many of which remain today.
In Oct 2013 HM treasury reported that Ireland had missed two payments on two days, apparently the payment day in both cases fell on a Sunday.
By that same date, the treasury reported that they had received interest of £67,410,122.43 - on a paid out loan of 3.2bn.
In fairness, the government reduced the rate of interest which reflected the lowering of rates in the market.
There were no milk bowls, just good business on both sides, not so sure I can say the same of the ECB.
Edit: the Telegraph headline can be misleading, Ulster Bank was very heavily involved in the Irish market and notched up massive debt, the UK nationalized RBS and by doing so took on Ulster Bank’s problems being a subsidiary of RBS.
They are still selling off their portfolio, one headline from the Telegraph in Dec 2015 referenced ‘RBS sells off 1.6bn of Irish real estate loans’.
Just like the Celtic Tiger, they are making a comeback:
RBS sells £1.6bn of Irish real estate loansrbs, royal - Telegraph
Thanks Peterma,
my rather vague memory of the facts hung hazily to my mind, like foggy dew…
The Irish people fought colonisation with weapons; now that colonisation is done with austerity, what weapons can people use to defend themselves?
A.crash may be a business opportunity, but for how many?
I have just been watching a film, Charlie’s Journey, about the Aboriginals in modern Australia…it was utterly depressing.
I don’t know what the hell is wrong with the world, but sure as hell.sometimes I think.if we humans disappeared the Earth and all.its creatures would say ‘good riddens’.
And with that cheerful thought, let the new trading week begin…
…and to the North American peeps, happy Independence Day tomorrow…
Yeah, echoes of 2007
The one to watch is Legal & General, they say that they hold around 20% in cash - if they pull the shutters down on withdrawals then …
All the Boe talk of capitalisation is for show, all are agreed the problem with credit is demand, not availability, still it looks good to be actually doing something.
.
Is the market incredibly in denial? - Jeff Greenblatt / Futures
Excerpt:
“All you really need to know is the market is virtually at all-time highs while the economy is in the tank. Some people are doing okay but 1.2% [Q2 GDP] doesn’t cut it. That’s not supposed to happen and I can’t think of a time in the 20th century when we had those conditions. Meditate on that for a few minutes.”
.
Great article, Clint…
‘Pop’ indeed!
The S&P500 marked another all-time high, but its daily AND weekly trading range has narrowed ever more, with
the VIX at all-time lows: all of these should ring alarm bells, as classic reversal conditions.
Furthermore, crashes have happened in August a few times before, including last year (fine, it was more a correction than a crash, but still).
Keep your eyes peeled on all ‘risky’ currencies, e.g. Yen pairs, commodity dollars, etc.
Interesting opinions from all of you, always trying to keep an open mind.
Today the FTSE100 broke back below 6800; a year ago it was below 6000: will history repeat itself this month?
Well, it did not last…
Yesterday, however, it broke again below 6800; this morning, on the Frankfurt open, it shot back up above 6800, but now it is loitering around this level, without conviction…
