tinker Posted January 30, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted January 30, 2009 Globalisation is being killed by: Globalisation IMO Innovation is the key. Its the one thing that made Great Britain great, but its now missing. We will not even support our own industries, let alone fund innovation. Lets riot :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 The recession is a necessary correction. It is forcing ill-conceived and poorly run companies to collapse or restructure, and it is compelling consumers to save again. Protecting those overgrown institutions and encouraging more unsustainable consumption will only delay doomsday and make it worse. It's better to endure some pain now than to endure even more pain tomorrow. this guy would not be a right winger would he typical right wing response in a recession do **** all never mind it is right wing free market deregulated markets that caused this 'price worth paying' © Norman Lamont And the Friday afternoon quiz is: Who said this? but what is so bad about a crash, yes some people may feel poorer, some people may be stretched but a lot more may benefit due to it. Was it: a) Norman Lamont Vlad the Impaler c) George Soros d) ianrobo1 Now that is quite funny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianrobo1 Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 it is a shame he picked it I bleieve from the house price crash where I consisently argued house prices were twoo high at 7 times average wage and a correction was needed what none of us knoew at teh time was how much the banks had relied on high house prices for their lending Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Ian , do you still believe that this can be discussed without mentioning the politics of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 There's a bloke called Gordon whose job is going and I reckon that your common sense thinking makes you far more qualified than him. as long as you don't have that sh*t Nokia ringtone, you're in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianrobo1 Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 Ian , do you still believe that this can be discussed without mentioning the politics of it? to some extent yes because the deabte is about economic philsophy just parties sign up to it for example you say loads of borrowing but this was needed to stop at least 4 major UK banks from collapsing so the economic questions is in a free market do you allow them to the poltical questions is whether you should Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 for example you say loads of borrowing but this was needed to stop at least 4 major UK banks from collapsing Some Rabi in the US said recently , that instead of giving $800 bn to bail out banks that were irresponsible and failing , why not use the money to create a well run peoples bank and let the others go to the wall Interesting thought .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted January 30, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted January 30, 2009 why not use the money to create a well run peoples bank and let the others go to the wall But instead we have used all the money to re-create a badly run peoples bank and let the well run business go to the wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 with friends like these ... wonder when the leadrship challenge rumours will start again ... The Government bears significant blame for the global financial crisis, a close ally of Gordon Brown admitted today. Former Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson said Labour had failed to regulate banks "to anything like the tight extent that we should have done". He also suggested that the Prime Minister privately accepted he was partly responsible for the crisis - despite repeatedly refusing to apologise publicly for mistakes. Responding to a BBC Politics Show Poll which found 33% of people blamed Mr Brown "a lot" for the crisis, Mr Robinson said: "A third don't blame him at all which is probably too generous." The Coventry North West MP went on: "People are trying to pretend that Gordon Brown doesn't realise that a good part of the responsibility is with the Government because of our inability to have regulated the banks to anything like the tight extent that we should have done. "I think that has been a failure on our part." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMcgrathsknees Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Are bankers, economists and governments globally: A) Stupid or Greedy or C) Attempting to bring worldwide anarchy or D) All of the above? And which is the most worrying for the "normal" person? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted January 31, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted January 31, 2009 Are bankers, economists and governments globally: A) Stupid or Greedy or C) Attempting to bring worldwide anarchy or D) All of the above? A & B The beauty of a free market economy as opposed to a command economy is that it doesn't need anybody to be anything but stupid (so long as they know a little bit, the pricing mechanism of the market will aggregate information and in the end, a free market will encapsulate all information) and B isn't really such a bad thing (because markets have a way of punishing greed, believe it or not). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 The beauty of a free market economy Where is this free market economy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted January 31, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted January 31, 2009 Will modern society react more brattishly at having to forgo Sky subscriptions, 2 holidays a year and a nice car? Pew Research Center reports on what people consider necessities The two most ubiquitous products of the information era -- home computers and cell phones -- are currently situated in the middle of the consumer-necessity pack, with the public evenly divided about their status as a necessity rather than a luxury. A Pew Social & Demographic Trends survey finds that computers are deemed a necessity by 51% of the adult public, and cell phones by 49%. But both of these products are making a swift climb up the necessity scale. A decade ago, just 26% of adults considered the home computer a necessity, and back in 1983, when computers were still a novelty, only 4% felt that way. Meantime, cell phones were still so exotic in 1996 that they weren't even placed on the survey. (Actually, microwave ovens had the biggest increase in being viewed as a necessity... what connection this has to the invention of Easy Mac is a topic for further research, IMO) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetrees Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 With the pound jumping a massive 5 cents against the Euro yesterday, an unprecedented rise, it would suggest that there is far more confidence in sterling when the man controlling our economy is out of the country :winkold: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted January 31, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted January 31, 2009 Gold diggers are feeling the pain To quote a friend’s recent observation on my situation: “Getting laid is awesome. Getting off is awesome. Getting laid off? Not so much. They should change the name and call it something else. Like maybe ‘punched in the genitals’… that would be a good name.” As upset as I was about getting laid off last week, I have to admit it led to some GOOD with my FBF. He abandoned his elusive routine to play the ‘knight in shining armor.’ This whole messy ordeal has advanced my Botox start date by at least two years. Like every other DABA girl, the economy was wreaking havoc on my relationship and youthful good looks. Phone calls went unanswered, Hamptons invitations un-extended, plans canceled (including, but not limited to, expensive opening night tickets to the ballet, which were scalped instead of being graciously offered to me and a galpal), and so forth and so on. Until – the horror of all horrors – my FBF lost his job, which I guess technically downgrades him to just my BF. Overnight, he went from unavailable to downright clingy. He wants to have dinner every night. By dinner I mean staying in and cooking as Megu is no longer in the budget. AND, FYI DABA girls – chopping vegetables along side your man in a hot New York sized kitchen is NOTHING like the sexy kitchen scene between Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger in Nine and a Half Weeks. Seriously. It sucks. Anyhow, he suggested I meet his parents over the holidays and he keeps commenting that half Asian babies are by far the cutest. My take on his 180: having no steady source of income for the foreseeable future, he realized that his chances of securing another fashion industry type girl are pretty much zilch and so he is cleaving to me as the last vestige of his former high rolling lifestyle. Thanks to the recession, I now have a completely devoted BF, which is exactly what I wanted. So I should be happy, right? Wrong. I’m bored and can’t stop thinking about my perpetually unattainable Euro ex-boyfriend who is recession proof courtesy of an offshore trust account. To be honest, I’m only with my BF because I just don’t have the heart to change my facebook status from “in a relationship” to “I ain’t saying I’m a gold digger, but I ain’t messin’ with no broke banker.” Dear Nancy, I regret to inform you that I will be cutting you out of my life completely in FY09. Having just reviewed my entertainment spending for the month of December, I discovered that, while I spent an exorbitant amount on alcohol throughout the month, I spent an exorbitant-er amount when you were in my company, and or involved in the evening in some way shape or form. Please note, this is a decision I make with a heavy heart, but it is a necessity. I will be 30 years old in 2009′! The amount I am spending on Nancy-related-boozing would be better served in mutual funds, an IRA or put towards a down payment on a home. The unfortunate fact is, Nancy-related-memories don’t accrue interest. Nor are they easy to remember. Please send all formal protests to my future progeny. Thank you for your understanding in said matter and keep your chin up. Like all things, this too shall pass. It was the summer of ’08. I had just graduated from law school. He was an i-banker. We were a power couple in the making. His stats: 6’2”. Check. Ivy League Educated. Check. Apartment Owner, Dog Lover. Check, Check. Upwardly Mobile. Check. It was just a matter of time before the two of us would be strolling through the West Village in matching peacoats with our adopted Asian children in tow. As he stressed over the dropping Dow, and I stressed over the Bar exam, our stress started pulling us in opposing sexual directions. See, I required regular sex to stay focused on the Bar, but he was either preoccupied with work, or drinking to forget work. Neither facilitated the sex life I craved. At first we were just getting down to business less frequently, but, after awhile, his performance started to suffer in both artistic and technical merit. When our sex life was reduced to 10-minute bimonthly sessions of jackrabbit thrusting in the missionary position, I sat my FBF (Finance guy Boyfriend) down for a tete-a-tete. Lovingly, I explained to him that either he put the polish on my Britney the way he used to, or I would find someone else to do the job. I then gently reminded him that although he now walks around Manhattan like the big man on campus without a trophy girlfriend such as myself on his arm testifying to his coolness, everyone would see him as the math and chess club member he once was. He clearly appreciated my candor and promised to rectify the situation. I had made my demands known and was keeping count. When 60 days passed without me having a real orgasm (ladies you know the difference), I decided he had been given fair notice and that this was no way to go through my twenties. I packed his cuff-links and sent him to live on his buddy’s couch. Fortunately, I had the Bar to focus on and no mental room left to lament the demise of my relationship. I took the Bar, drank myself into oblivion, and headed to South America for a much needed vacation. Evacuating the city was the best thing I could have done. I missed being aggressively pursued. I wanted to feel desirable again. The men of South American did not disappoint. There is nothing like the machismo culture to make you feel like a hot young thang. Feminism be d*mned. Anyhow, I was out to dinner with my girlfriend in Buenos Aires and accidentally caught eyes with a man at a table across from mine. Before leaving the restaurant, I stopped by the ladies room to touchup my makeup. Unbeknownst to me, I was being followed. I walked out of the ladies room and he was standing there waiting for me. Bypassing formalities, he deftly pinned me against the wall, pulled my hair back with just the right amount of force, and kissed me like I had never been kissed before. Eventually, I extracted myself from his clutch and asked if he spoke English. He did. Feigning indignation, I said, “Listen, where I come from you don’t stick your tongue down a stranger’s throat. Just who do you think you are!” He coolly retorted, “My name is Ricardo, and where I come from if a man makes eyes with a woman like we did and doesn’t approach her, he’s gay.” We obviously were going home with each other. I had to see how this sort of aggressiveness played out in the bedroom. We merged our respective dinner parties for a round of Speedballs (champagne and Redbull). There was dancing. There were drinks (and then some more drinks). Finished with foreplay, we went back to his place and let the Speedballs work their dark magic. We were still entangled when the sun came up and as I peacefully drifted in and out of sleep, I had just one lucid thought, “Damn it feels good to dump a banker.” Next time you are stressing over some finance guy remember that he is just a math club nerd with cash and that there are some things money just can’t buy a woman, and a mind blowing orgasm is one of them. So relax, as evidenced by the existence of this blog, none of your girlfriends are marrying rich banker types any time soon. You are not going to be the last of your friends to marry well. This recession just bought everyone an extra two years of the single life. SAVOR IT. Go, have a steamy affair with some Latin lover who spends his free time thinking up new bedroom positions instead of trading positions. Relish that for the here and now you don’t have to be seen in public with a guy who wears black shiny shoes with jeans. Carpe diem my loves. I lulz'd The Lost Boys from Peter Pan were allegedly lost by their nannies. Having gone unclaimed for seven days they were whisked off to Neverland, which is commonly regarded as a metaphor for immortality and escapism. This is what came to mind, when I was leaving my apartment for work and found a man sleeping in the doorway of my building. Even from a distance, I could tell he wasn’t a homeless person (or, as is more appropriate in New York, an apartmentless person). Like any true New Yorker, I can tell when a fresh shipment of some illegal substance hits the city based upon the number of people sleeping in the streets that don’t really look homeless. Initially, I suspected that this was such an individual, but closer inspection revealed that it was a twenty something man in a suit accessorized with a Breitling watch and black shiny shoes, using a backpack for a pillow and sleeping on top of a cardboard box. He didn’t look homeless. He looked like he worked in finance. One of the Lost Lehman Brothers Perhaps? If this is your FBF, please contact the DABA girls to claim. See Picture above. P dot S There are no lost girls in Neverland because as Peter Pan explains, girls are too clever to ever be lost in this manner. Obvi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted January 31, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted January 31, 2009 Priceless I couldn’t comprehend why people were so insistent that America’s automobile industry had to be saved. We import safer more fuel efficient cars from Asia. No big deal. Survival of the fittest, that’s my motto, or was, until my FBF broke up with me. He explained my termination as follows: “Princess, we need to talk. How do I explain this? You are a costly investment. During better economic times, I was happy to spend a little extra to buy American, but now we are all being forced to make tough decisions and, well, bottom line: I can quite literally get more bang for my buck if I invest with a foreign model instead. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?” And that my fellow DABA girls is more or less how my girlfriend services were outsourced to an underage Russian model who was willing to provide services substantially equivalent to my own but at well-below market value and without the regulatory hassle. **** mercenary. I hope the government earmarked some bailout money for ex-DABA girls. Without my FBF subsidizing my lifestyle, I am seriously over leveraged with Saks and I’m not talking about Goldman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 In the interview Mr Brown said: "This is the first financial crisis of the global age. And there is no clear map that has been set out from past experience to deal with it. ... "We're learning all the time about how to deal with what are real problems for which we have no historical analogies to fall back on, because when the 1930s problems hit them, they did not have the global financial markets that we have today." Which basically sums up the view of those that this happens to be a do something, do anything approach to govt. They don't know if it's going to work, but as long as they're doing something they hope people will buy it. Of course you have to do something. Are they doing the right things? Recent history would cast doubts on that. * Many experts predicted the housing collapse would echo across other sectors - even some fools here on VT made the same point, but the govt ignored the issue and pushed forwards with spending plans * Some commentators said this was going to be a serious downturn - even some fools on VT said the same, but the govt continued with short and shallow, failing to address what was coming up * In retrospect. or hindsight as some prefer, many have talked about the failure to regulate as a cornerstone of this collapse - even some fools on VT have said the same, but the govt denies any responsibility for what has happened. The house is falling down. It is too late to repair the roof. What to do? Do something, Do anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Elect VT!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 All 19,745 of us? With all the bickering we'd never have time to review the legislation. Oh wait, they never do that anyway. Roll on BIAD_EVT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drat01 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Point scoring Gringo? Funny how you still fail to mention any sort of global impact while you keep on with your crusade against the current government. I wonder if you are so vociferous about the Spanish gvmt or is there less impact in a small taverna? You would prefer nothing to be done, the same policy that a certain political party (quite a isolationist view compared to nearly all the countries in the world it's worth adding)? Or do you say that the gvmt should do something here? It's funny when you quote these "experts". These are the same "experts" who have basically allowed this all to happen and are unable to impact anything? Maybe their criteria for being an expert is that wonderful thing that you allude to called hindsight. Maybe you are the expert and maybe you can enlighten us with the gems of wisdom that nearly every country in the world is missing? It's funny that some in the media and man in the street is expecting some sort of miracle cure, when no one has ever promised that and anyone who actually looked beyond the political soundbites of those striving to get their 2 minutes of power would see that while we can do so many things here in the UK (and Spain for those non-fools on VT who live there!) all of this is still a global issue. Workers all around the world are starting to protest. In Russia, in France, are these because of the actions and policies of teh UK gvmt? People are now getting fed up with moaners and want to see doers. Obama made a great speech in the last few days, but interestingly little comment from those who see this all as a UK only issue. You may say you don't but interestingly there are little indications of what you or others would like to see from the world policy makers You get the impression that some are not happy unless they are unhappy - this incident in world politics is certainly showing that certain people in the UK (and Europe) fit into that category. Never mind though those nice chaps in the banking and counting world will still keep making a few quid and the "oiks" will be put into their place, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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