And is now locked for Sirius to start a new one....

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Sorry Nick, you've left it too late...the cupboard is bare.... :(

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Nick, in the US, when Clemens was acquitted, I noted -- oh dear, if he isn't guilty of lying to Congress, then he isn't qualified to run for office.

Baz'....your sooooooooo right!

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The Kite Fliers

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Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

Nick, in the US, when Clemens was acquitted, I noted -- oh dear, if he isn't guilty of lying to Congress, then he isn't qualified to run for office.

Oooh Ms Merkel, before you continue to force austerity down out throats, maybe you ought to investigate your bankers.....

Germany banker admits taking bribes

I thought bankers were on a good thing in screwing over their countries & customers......

It's just not fair, why couldn't I have been born a criminal. Society has let
me down, I feel deprived, disenfranchised, the education system has let me
down by not teaching me how to take full advantage of a financially corrupt
banking system open only to a selective few.....I want the government to pay
me compensation for what has been deprived from me, "My right to sting the
system and make a fortune"...I want £1 million pounds, no, make it 2 million
so I'll at least have a million after tax. No, I'm not thinking straight here,
£2 million and off-shore it and bog-off to the tax man.

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The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

Oooh Ms Merkel, before you continue to force austerity down out throats, maybe you ought to investigate your bankers.....

Germany banker admits taking bribes

I thought bankers were on a good thing in screwing over their countries & customers......

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... and farther than it appears ...

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me@rescam.org

... the image in my mirror gets worse each year ...

heh I don't turn the light on in the morning. So I guess its not me

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

The Icelandic banking crisis didn't help either, who knew that so many UK pension funds had invested in that? Iceland

Foreign currency risk, there is a good way to multiply return on investment. Greed. Chasing above historical average return. There is the cause. No one can admit they themselves are to blame however. So there must be an external factor. Spend decades looking and never understand the cause has been staring at you every morning in the bathroom.

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Politicians, they sure know how to yap loud & write their yapping on paper.....

Full G20 declaration....Los Cabos 2012

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In good times, people tend to borrow more than they can really afford, and bankers and brokers are happy to lend it to get their commission. When bad times come then the crud hits the fan. You could say that the current troubles in Europe are our equivalent of the American sub-prime mortgage problem. But of course some of that affect a lot of other countries as well.

The Icelandic banking crisis didn't help either, who knew that so many UK pension funds had invested in that? Iceland

The government of the Isle of Man will pay out half of its reserves, equivalent to 7.5% of the island's GDP, in deposit insurance.

Put it this way. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, once that breaks the chain is repaired but is slightly weaker. When the next weakest link breaks, it is again repaired, but a bit weaker again. And so you get a knock-on effect, until the chain is unusable.

Grerat Link, thanks. One very serious issue sticks out like a sore thumb...

"Of the big economies, only Spain kept its nose clean until the 2008 financial crisis; the Madrid government stayed within the 3% limit every year from the euro's creation in 1999 until 2007. Not only that - of the four, Spain's government also has the smallest debts relative to the size of its economy".

So Germany bribed the markets then....

"Well, no. Actually Germany is the "safe haven" - markets have been willing to lend to it at historically low interest rates since the crisis began. Spain on the other hand is seen by markets as almost as risky as Italy, So what gives?"

So to fix it, do we cut or not cut spending?

Either way spells the end of the Euro.

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The basic idea of the Eurozone was good on paper. Lets form a multi-nation trading bloc, with our combined selling and purchasing power we can do good business with the rest of the world. Secondly if we scrap individual currencies for a single one, we avoid commission when trading amongst ourselves, and it might also encourage tourism. Lastly a European harmonisation should result in common standards, and a single plug & socket system.

Some countries were always going to be the weaker Members i.e.those surviving on tourism as against those with an industrial manufacturing base. But it was thought that the stronger Members would be able to support the weaker ones. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC), formed by six countries in 1958. We now have 17 countries which is far to many, and a lot do not have strong enough economies to take on their share of the responsibilities.

It worked after a fashion until we had the world recession in 2008, and now a local double dip recession, compounded by Brussels trying to interfere in other Countries financial policies. While undoubtedly incompetent politicians didn't help either, the main cause of the present crisis is not that.

There was a big build-up of debts in Spain and Italy before 2008, but it had nothing to do with governments. Instead it was the private sector - companies and mortgage borrowers - who were taking out loans. Interest rates had fallen to unprecedented lows in southern European countries when they joined the euro. And that encouraged a debt-fuelled boom.

All that debt helped finance more and more imports by Spain, Italy and even France. Meanwhile, Germany became an export power-house after the eurozone was set up in 1999, selling far more to the rest of the world (including southern Europeans) than it was buying as imports. That meant Germany was earning a lot of surplus cash on its exports. And guess what - most of that cash ended up being lent to southern Europe.

But debts are only part of the problem in Italy and Spain. During the boom years, wages rose and rose in the south (and in France). But German unions agreed to hold their wages steady. So Italian and Spanish workers now face a huge competitive price disadvantage. Indeed, this loss of competitiveness is the main reason why southern Europeans have been finding it so much harder to export than Germany.

So to fix it, do we cut or not cut spending?

The reason

A little light relief in these gloomy times.....

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Blaming Europe, that sounds so Republican. Oh right, he is a Republican -- his opponent in the coming election is a TeaPublican...

That was yesterday. Today he wants it unstable so he can blame it all on Europe.

Hmmn, you want Europe to stabilise so that yo can get re-elected? Nice way in going about it!

That was yesterday. Today he wants it unstable so he can blame it all on Europe.

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Perhaps it reflected a sense of it being a waste of time -- the heads of the four eurozone countries involved have demonstrated a great competence for wasting time.

German U-Turn?

Germany acts tough out of weakness not strength

"The dinner was cancelled between President Obama and the heads of the four eurozone countries at the summit, a clear sign of US irritation".

Hmmn, you want Europe to stabilise so that yo can get re-elected? Nice way in going about it!

German U-Turn?

Germany acts tough out of weakness not strength

"The dinner was cancelled between President Obama and the heads of the four eurozone countries at the summit, a clear sign of US irritation".

Hmmn, you want Europe to stabilise so that yo can get re-elected? Nice way in going about it!

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Speculator - "Ah come on you guys, you're delaying my lunch date with Julia Roberts. I need the bonus to pay for it!"

Volatility, the love of the speculator. Keep doing my bidding and don't fix it. I make piles on the ups and downs. Keep the crisis going and I'll make that date money.