khiori
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The real victory will be how the rest of the EU peoples (not leaders) view their situation after watching all of this unfold.
The only thing we know about Greece right now is that there are a lot of conflicting statements out there!
Nestle, like WalMart, is evil.
It’s hard but try to eat as little as possible from unknown sources (i.e. not farms nearby). I feel very bad for the inner city Americans without access to fresh farm foods. When my grandparents lived in Philadelphia, into the 1960’s, farmers from New Jersey used to come down the street with HORSE and WAGON, vegetables piled high. We called him “the huckster” and you could hear The Huckster calling out “bloooooberrrries….fresh strawwwwberrries….” all down the street. Fish mongers, butchers, and of course bakers delivered to your door. And the milkman! I liked running down in the morning to open the door and see what had been “left” on the stoop. SIGH.
Agree about Buffet. Did you know he has a real estate firm now? I can’t believe all the signs around me, everyone is using him! I see Berkshire Hathaway sale signs and wonder WHY these people all want to give him a commission?!
Food additives is my soapbox. Did you see the recent research on emulsifiers? Dietary emulsifiers impact the mouse gut microbiota promoting colitis and metabolic syndrome in Nature? I will email you the article. They tested 2, but there are at least a dozen emulsifiers used in processed foods. I am surrounded by people with colon problems, who are having portions removed. It’s agonizing. If this is the cause then the food companies should pay, but first I predict they will fight it like Big Tobacco.
On another food issue, Be glad you are in the EU and don’t have to have ractopamine with your bacon. Those bacon whoppers can be a killer!
Read those 2 Tyler pieces last night. At least I tried. At my level the only take-away is ‘keep an eye on emerging markets to see if one blows up’. What does “blow up” look like one wonders? You had me convinced that deflation would come to all of us (I thought the EU was just “first”) but now I’m thinking the US might get inflation? Well we already have it just not where they count. But I’m still not sure, both arguments seem good. I can’t see the inflation with zero velocity, as you explained. But a book I just read said we have been “exporting our inflation”. Could it come back home? Will China start charging us more?
BTW, I really liked the Morally Bankrupt EU piece. Where’d you get the 2 cute little NSA bots? Are they permanent (like “Keepers” in Babylon 5)? Or do random ones simply appear every time you type P U T I N?
Thanks for the “Inheritance” article from Bloomberg! Sent it to my son. 🙂
They really bury all the interesting stuff on that site. Hate the new format.Years of reading this type of article, nothing has been done, and the situation is just getting worse and worse. Bigger mounds of debt, governments, individuals, companies, the superlatives are getting stretched now. Even in some news sources I find most comments agreeing, where they used to argue more. The pile is so big most everyone can see it! And it’s SO global! When this massive build-up goes it will feel like “This Is The End” with Seth Rogen. Big holes will open up and swallow whole banks and companies. Maybe countries. Should be interesting.
If you read some of what the insiders write it’s like they are pleading with people to “Someone innovate something!” They want US to turn it around. Fat chance. It can’t just go up forever. The higher they push it up, the farther it will have to fall.
You had it right first. Now it’s all over, as you predicted. It’s just creeping in slowly like the Blob. But they don’t really believe it, or they think they can ward it off with garlic or something. In the USA I get the feeling it’s something they think happens to other people but not to us. I find it hard to understand how we are supposed to keep standing when everyone else falls down? On the other hand I don’t think it’s getting here tomorrow. The holiday buying season should be interesting!
Heh, I had the same thought when I read about Tsipras. Sad but inevitable.
I do NOT know how we get around nothing but millionaires running for office in the USA?! We had 7-8 people eying the Gov of Penna job, then Tom Wolf jumped in. I don’t think he’s a bad guy actually. But when someone can say “Gee, lets buy advertising, do you think $10M will be enough?” and then pulls it out of his own back pocket, who can compete? Everyone else gave up and went home. Takes the point out of voting.
I only have one question about the “inevitable crash” and that’s the date.
We’ve been talking about it for 2 years+, here and everywhere.
What if it just crumbles sloooooowly over the next decade?Raul, I thought of you right away when I read 25 banks!!! How many will there be by Sunday? Saw that article in Der Spiegel, very good. Although I catch many of these on my own I do appreciate this list as there is always something interesting I would otherwise miss. Bloomberg hides the best stuff. Front pages can be so much the same!
Raul, Thank you for explaining about kings. That’s not common knowledge in America. I wonder why Ambrose thought that would be the answer then???
Unless, Diablo, he was thinking along the lines of your scenario? FWIW I didn’t think Ambrose meant MY debt, LOL. Some people speculate that how much we owe China is why they are getting some good prices on real estate. I mean the big purchases.
Boogaloo (and all) I keep hearing about this currency reset, but only on blogs. It sounds to me like something the rich people might try to fight against, so I’m not sure I see them all sitting down together. Guys like Paul Singer would start banging heads!
I know one has to take Ambrose with a big grain of salt. But a few months ago he said something that really struck me, “sooner or later there is going to have to be a debt Jubilee”. (I’m paraphrasing what I remember). A Debt Jubilee. That could be EXACTLY what they do. Write it off. Write it all off.
They could declare some sort of financial reset and everyone starts over at zero? Could be why the governments are not too concerned at the huge numbers they appear to be running up. It isn’t like our debt, which we have to pay back. Of course Ambrose didn’t give particulars as to how this would work! But I could believe it. What do you think?
You have to go after Ambrose more often!
Thoroughly enjoyed this. 😀My take is that everyone (esp. the USA) is looking around for scapegoats.
Germany Not Borrowing, Germany Exports Too Much, China Property Bubble, Russian Hackers, … after all it can’t have anything to do with Wall Street….Raul, Now don’t get mad at me, but buying property should not be a hugely risky gamble. It is quite a normal part of life. It takes education and good planning. The photos which grace your site are historic mementos, but not indicative of America today by a long shot. I love Zillow, however the numbers sound far worse than they are in reality. Was all that constant “moving up” that was taking place necessary? NO!
Several coworkers bought in the run up, just because it was the right time (marriage, young family, moved into the area, etc.). They are as you say “under water”. None have lost their job, none want to move, and no one is bothered by it. These are not starter homes, rather permanent ones. You do not want an adjustable rate mortgage, but a fixed one. It can always be changed to a 15 year, when you get further ahead, as we did. 3 years and mine is paid off, and we have not been in it 30 years.
America is BIG and varied. In my neighborhood only 3 foreclosures from ’09, 2 of which I knew well. One couple quit good jobs in law in the city (tired of rat race), then put savings and equity into an art shop and a coffee shop! Crash, all lost. Had they kept ONE job, and bought ONE shop, their house probably could have been saved. Poor planning. Lack of prudence.
Another was self employed and his business partner sadly died suddenly. HOWEVER, when his wife [close friend] told me of the profligate spending of all their income, plus savings, plus taking out a huge second mortgage, all on trips to EU, fancy dinners, etc. I was stunned. Literally dinner in Paris and worse it went on. No, we are not in the 1%, which is WHY these people were so foolish. Grasshoppers get slaughtered, ants rule.
In ’09 4 in my family lost jobs, husband, son, BIL, nephew. All are now employed. Both men found good replacement jobs, albeit longer commutes. Husband saw it coming and through hard networking and luck managed to transition literally in the last week! It took 3 of us 6 months of pounding on hundreds of doors to get my son a job. Both young men have since moved on to 2nd jobs, better ones. We were never in danger of losing our house though because ONE salary can carry it. Planning and frugality. I’ve never had dinner in Paris but I’m solvent.
Cory, I have seen your story on here, and I feel for you. It’s so hard to know what is correct and what is just conjecture on the web. Everyone and his brother gets the chance to lay out their ideas and after a while you don’t know who to believe. Checking all of them out to the nth degree is hard too. There is only so many hours in the day. But I would tell you to BUY a house. Buy it and own it. Pay it off. The safest way to live. Sorry Raul I like your website, but I would buy over rent any day!
#1 – buy the neighborhood. Go the best location and buy the smallest house. A condo in the best neighborhood is better than a big house in the ghetto. My neighborhood is one of the best in our county, and houses here did not drop all that much. Not like NV or CA. A stable older neighborhood that doesn’t change. The best schools. It will still be worth something. Make it a place you want to live for 30 years and you’re fine even if it does drop. It will come back up! Just be aware they are making it harder these days credit-wise to get a mortgage. Get a 30-year FIXED rate. Nothing else!
If you are staying in it, and you have the income to afford it, so what if it drops in value? The only problem is if your job causes you to move frequently, in that situation I would not buy. Otherwise I cannot begin to imagine why you would rent.
If you have cash there are foreclosures out there. It takes patience but I know regular people who buy them so it is possible. You don’t have to be Black Stone. You need to read Zillow religiously, and KNOW the value of property in your area. LEARN IT. You also need a list of the top 10 things you and your wife want in a house, 5 each. You will NOT find a house that has everything, It’s best to decide beforehand what you can give up and what is Paramount to each of you.
Last but not least, be prepared to walk away when they won’t meet your price.
Good luck and happy house hunting! 🙂Raleigh – (late reply) Front line on NSA is amazing! Stunning to see so much truth on American TV in one program. Sadly most are watching sports or reality TV. I hear the talk around me at work (science) and it’s all about which team traded who. Talking about things like NSA makes people uncomfortable. At least where I live.
CPG and John Day, recently found another blog with a possible answer to what’s next. Ever read JC Collins? He has a theory laid out in 10 posts on SDR’s and the New Bretton Woods. It could explain a lot of things. Controlled collapse coming to a country near you!
https://philosophyofmetrics.com/category/sdrs-and-the-new-bretton-woods-2/
Or do you think he’s really “out there”?
I don’t know whether I’m going crazy, or the world is any more. I read most of the same articles you do. Why does it seem so few of us notice? Or care? There are less than 10,000 reads on most Zero Hedge articles. A really good one gets 30,000. I feel like part of a very small subset of people who notice all of this. It’s better than being a lone tinfoil hatter. I guess mostly it happened because the people in charge got so good at propaganda. If a nice looking person on TV smiles and says it, then it must be true. Very few people question anything they hear. One keeps wondering how much longer it can continue? Or are we the crazy ones thinking it has to collapse?
It is more common than most people know for banks to limit withdraws of cash. Although those seem like smaller amounts. We all use checks and cards and the internet so much most don’t experience it. I took out $400 increments (atm limit) to get a sufficient store of cash in the house safe for a long emergency.
Deflation. Heard it first here! (Had no idea back then what you were on about either…) Since about October it’s been cropping up in many economic articles. No one seems to want it, but I’m getting the feeling it’s coming anyway.
Practical Question: If one is stock piling, will one be sorry later when prices go down? Should one simply save cash? (I do not see developed countries going total “Argentina”, they make a special hobby of that.) If only one knew what might be in short supply later!
Thanks for delineating these discrepancies so well. I too notice the inconsistencies in many economic articles. It leaves one puzzled when the title/opening paragraph talks about improvement, then further down are statistics that totally belie that (like rising unemployment numbers). Often only a couple data points are used from distant points in time with nothing in-between (i.e. a 0.3% recent increase that is “up” from a 0.4% decrease “last year” in some quarter???). Seriously.
As a scientist I want to chide them for not providing a complete set of data points, arranged in a graph, covering the whole timeline (even 5 or 10 years!) so that readers may judge “trend” for themselves. Bloomberg is guilty of this daily. If I tried to publish a paper with figures like that it would be rejected instantly.
Do most people only read the first paragraph? Am I too OCD? Parallel universe is good description. This comes under “Things That Make You Go HUH?”
Thank you for this information. Grant Williams recently gave a seminar on the same, so it’s not just you and MW. Will now be watching state of IL to see how their pension reform vote goes (although I am not from there). Hoping for reforms!
Just wanted to add that perhaps HFT’s have had an impact on the poor performance of some of these pension funds? Saw a video that makes me wonder. If the HFT’s truly have been skimming off all the pension funds, plus many of the services themselves by introducing fees that eat up all the gains, that really is criminal to me. Yet these people at the top so pride themselves on their ability to make so much more money than the rest of us! What pride is there in theft? If that is what they are doing?
