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Fire Safety Doug posted:I took his post to mean he was continuing the joke, but you Visigoths aren't known for your sense of humor... Well, sorry then. I guess I just don't know what to expect after witnessing the mud slinging contest in the European media, where the popular media outlets of several countries vilify Germans as renazified European dictators and such (just as a part of the German media vilifies their populations in turn). Edit: Also what do you mean about Germans having no humour, Schweinhunds?  
SavageGentleman fucked around with this message at Jan 20, 2012 around 16:39 |
| # ? Jan 20, 2012 16:02 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 22:44 |
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Fire Safety Doug posted:I took his post to mean he was continuing the joke, but you Visigoths aren't known for your sense of humor... Yep.
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| # ? Jan 20, 2012 18:18 |
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SavageGentleman posted:Many Germans believe they can just return to the D-Mark and survive the collapse of the Eurozone with their high standard of living untouched (nevermind that almost half of Germany's exports go into the Eurozone and that we are therefore quite dependant on their economical survival). Once the Euro currency inevitably collapses, I suspect whatever national currencies come next will be devalued vs the Neu-Mark (or whatever) to such an extent that German exports to traditional European markets will fall flat on their collective arse. The single currency was poorly thought out in the first place - a whole raft of problems were ignored in a vain, futile and half-baked attempt by the European political elite to somehow deal with the globalisation of capital markets. Attempting to centrally administer the monetary policy of several different countries, without some sort of parallel effort towards federal central political control, was a terrible idea to begin with. But ahead they all pushed, masking all their incipient failures with platitudinous populist bollocks about how much nicer holiday travel would be without having to change your Marks/Pounds at Sparkasse or whatever other poo poo they could dream up. Now that it's turning into a disaster for everybody involved, only the Germans get a temporary reprieve - the final guttering of a dying flame that's about to be choked completely by the incoming evaporation of liquidity and exports. The response to this from the political elite here in the UK is to take money directly from the most vulnerable and poor sections of society, in order to ensure the continuing profit of those who need it least. An incoming tidal wave of suffering, poverty and death is no doubt going to be ignored by the hoarders, their consciences soothed by a Murdoch-esque mantra of "bootstraps", "immigrants" and "we're all in this together". Personally, I don't see any way out of this and I sometimes find myself wondering if justice would be best served by a massive orgy of violence and bloodshed directed at those responsible. The sheer stupidity, greed and banality expressed by our government and their backers in the media and elsewhere leaves me with zero faith in them and I don't see the European apparatus recovering either. Could somebody find us a nice big island we can move to, so that we can have another try at this "society" stuff again, please?
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| # ? Jan 21, 2012 04:56 |
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Kippling posted:Once the Euro currency inevitably collapses, I suspect whatever national currencies come next will be devalued vs the Neu-Mark (or whatever) to such an extent that German exports to traditional European markets will fall flat on their collective arse. The single currency was poorly thought out in the first place - a whole raft of problems were ignored in a vain, futile and half-baked attempt by the European political elite to somehow deal with the globalisation of capital markets. Attempting to centrally administer the monetary policy of several different countries, without some sort of parallel effort towards federal central political control, was a terrible idea to begin with. But ahead they all pushed, masking all their incipient failures with platitudinous populist bollocks about how much nicer holiday travel would be without having to change your Marks/Pounds at Sparkasse or whatever other poo poo they could dream up. Now that it's turning into a disaster for everybody involved, only the Germans get a temporary reprieve - the final guttering of a dying flame that's about to be choked completely by the incoming evaporation of liquidity and exports. The response to this from the political elite here in the UK is to take money directly from the most vulnerable and poor sections of society, in order to ensure the continuing profit of those who need it least. An incoming tidal wave of suffering, poverty and death is no doubt going to be ignored by the hoarders, their consciences soothed by a Murdoch-esque mantra of "bootstraps", "immigrants" and "we're all in this together". Personally, I don't see any way out of this and I sometimes find myself wondering if justice would be best served by a massive orgy of violence and bloodshed directed at those responsible. The sheer stupidity, greed and banality expressed by our government and their backers in the media and elsewhere leaves me with zero faith in them and I don't see the European apparatus recovering either. Could somebody find us a nice big island we can move to, so that we can have another try at this "society" stuff again, please? Can I quote you? Thing is, I only come back to read this thread to find out whether I should start building that bunker or what.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2012 13:53 |
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Is it just me or did the European left and right wings suddenly do an about face on who supports the Euro?
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| # ? Jan 21, 2012 16:13 |
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Dawncloack posted:Can I quote you? Yeah, personally, I think it's time to get the digging for that bunker started. Stock it with canned food, penicillin, guns & ammo.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2012 16:55 |
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Too bad that the Euro probably won't fail completely at once. I can see it coming, should Greece, Portugal and Ireland need to leave the monetary zone, those clowns in the EU parliament are probably just going to keep shrinking the zone as the countries fall over.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2012 17:08 |
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Not that capital cares what labor does, but today in Italy...Reuters posted:Italy protests spread against Monti, truckers block roads
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| # ? Jan 23, 2012 17:08 |
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I get the feeling that some in the US are not aware the mass protest are not a thing that only pops up when everything is at stake. Don't get me wrong, these protests everywher all the rime are really something to behold, but it's not like we dust off our protests only when there is a revolution around. We do that poo poo all the god drat time.
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| # ? Jan 23, 2012 17:28 |
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Is it wrong for me to want to see protests turn into a revolutions, and the fuckers at the top swinging from lampposts?
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| # ? Jan 23, 2012 17:54 |
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Jut posted:News from Romania. Could you give more information? Preferably a lot more. Dutch news has exactly 0 coverage of this and it seems important as gently caress.
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| # ? Jan 23, 2012 18:18 |
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Jut posted:Is it wrong for me to want to see protests turn into a revolutions, and the fuckers at the top swinging from lampposts? Considering they would hire someone to do it to you if it were profitable, no I don't think so.
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| # ? Jan 23, 2012 23:09 |
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Orange Devil posted:Could you give more information? Preferably a lot more. Dutch news has exactly 0 coverage of this and it seems important as gently caress. Protest have been occurring daily here in Bucharest, unfortunately they have not been huge, but they are ongoing. Here's the latest update http://www.reuters.com/article/2012...E8CO1KP20120124 If you have any specific questions ask and I'll try my best to answer. timeline articles here http://www.demotix.com/hub/bucharest-protests Jut fucked around with this message at Jan 24, 2012 around 15:20 |
| # ? Jan 24, 2012 15:17 |
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Another article from today http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/...nity/52769340/1 We had really heavy snowfall last night, and the city is covered in a blanket of snow, yet protests are still going ahead. On monday a minister was fired for insulting the protesters, and today the president came on TV, attacking the opposition and media for picking on him instead of actually addressing the issues raised by the protesters. Also in other news the romanian courts ruled that it was unconstitutional to have elections for both branches of government on the same day. This was basically a power play to increase the odds of controlling all areas of govt. Moodys jumped in too, warning that these protests could lead to another ratings cut. Nice to see them try to scare everyone into playing ball. Fuckers.
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| # ? Jan 25, 2012 16:34 |
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How has Romania been post-Ceaucescu in terms of corruption or respecting the democratic process?
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| # ? Jan 25, 2012 17:00 |
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Jut posted:Moodys jumped in too, warning that these protests could lead to another ratings cut. Nice to see them try to scare everyone into playing ball. Fuckers. Yeah, they should totally do like Portugal where there has been nary a peep from a scared shitless and chronically depressed population whose government has gone well above and beyond what the troika demanded (because they are scum and are using the current situation to enforce the policies they have always defended while saying they are being forced to do it by foreigners). As a reward for being good little boys and taking it in the rear end like champs we've had our rating cut again (this time to junk grade) and got to pay 16.8% interest rate for our last debt because it seems the cuts are going to cause a 3.5% contraction of the economy this year. Nobody could have possibly seen that coming! 
MeLKoR fucked around with this message at Jan 25, 2012 around 17:38 |
| # ? Jan 25, 2012 17:34 |
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SpaceMost posted:How has Romania been post-Ceaucescu in terms of corruption or respecting the democratic process? HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... No seriously...HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA The 1989 revolution was hijacked by ion iliescu, leader of the 'transitional' government and ex-communist. He used to be chums with Ceaucescu but fell out of favour. In short the transitional govt was never supposed to run for govt, but they eventually decided that "LOL ONLY KIDDING!", and had a monopoly over all media outlets, so they were the only 'party' with any kind of exposure. When there were protests against this, and the allowance of former regime members to stand for election, he sent in miners to violently break up demonstrations in a serioes of what were know as The Minerades. Since then they followed the Russian model of "line your own pockets" and "look after your family and mates". During the last election you had two ex-commies running against each other. The leader of the opposition went to bed being told that he had won, only to wake up in the morning to find out that there had been a terrible mistake and he had in fact lost. Many believe that the election was stolen. Oh for fun let's talk about healthcare. Technically there is a free socialised health system, that is funded through national insurance. In reality, doctors are paid between 3-400 Euros a month, and if you are so unfortunate as to need to go to hospital, the only way you will get any attention is to bribe whoever is supposed to look after you, or they will happily allow you to suffer in a pile of your own poo poo. I'm not exaggerating. see http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2.../health-romania and http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/w...?pagewanted=all. Private healthcare is better, but it's still a loving scam at times. *Anecdote alert* I had some bug, typical fluish symptoms. My employer sent me to the doctors as she's a bit Gestapo like that. Anyway I was expecting the usual; look at the throat, take the temperature and send you on your way with some asprin and instructions to drink fluids. No, I was treated to blood tests, an endoscope to look at my throat, and an x-ray. This was followed by Asprin, some fever busting drug that most EU countries have banned thanks to it kiling people, antibiotics (for a viral infection) and an assortment of sprays. Why was I subjected to a battery of unnecessary and invasive procedures? Simple, the clinic gets to claim everything from the insurance company. The other scam I experienced was one trying to gently caress me instead of the insurance company. I had tinnitus for several weeks, and went to the clinic, they didn't have a specialist, but they paid for one to visit. She examined me and said everything seemed fine, but she wanted to check the auditory nerve to make sure there was not a tumor which was responsible for the tinnitus. Of course the clinic didn't have the necessary equipment, but she did at her clinic. An appointment was made, I filled in the insurance paperwork and left. When I went to her clinic I was kept waiting for two hours, then finally had the tests which were inconclusive. She then tried to charge me 200 Euros, and would not accept my insurance. Since the appointment was made through my clinic, which is covered by my insurance she was kindly told to take it up with them. Apparently it's typical to charge a gullible foreigner, and then charge the insurance. Medical ethics? ha Edit: sorry for the wall of text, got carried away in rant mode. Jut fucked around with this message at Jan 25, 2012 around 18:26 |
| # ? Jan 25, 2012 17:55 |
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Is there a deadline for when Greece needs to get the debt swap/writeoff deal finalized, or result in a default? I haven't seen any new articles mentioning it anywhere.
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| # ? Jan 27, 2012 06:24 |
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Kenishi posted:Is there a deadline for when Greece needs to get the debt swap/writeoff deal finalized, or result in a default? I haven't seen any new articles mentioning it anywhere. Though this is not going to be the last time. I'm sure they'll need more and more money over the next 2-3 years (and beyond that)
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| # ? Jan 27, 2012 07:25 |
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Jut posted:Is it wrong for me to want to see protests turn into a revolutions, and the fuckers at the top swinging from lampposts? No, not at all. Considering that our governments are now incapable of responding to crisis with any solution beside "gently caress the poor", I'm not expecting any improvement in our situation until they start to feel the threat of violent unrest.
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| # ? Jan 27, 2012 19:26 |
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really heavy snow here the last two days, I think it's killed the protests for now. It's piled up to over a meter high in my back garden.
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| # ? Jan 27, 2012 20:23 |
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This is a fun bonus event for Greece's and Italy's struggles: http://www.businessinsider.com/eu-o...1#ixzz1kh8DtRy2 Iran's parliament will this weekend vote on the proposal to preemptively fulfill its part of the EU oil embargo and just stop selling oil to Europe right away (Europe had threatened to stop buying Iranian oil in six months, allowing its member countries to figure out other supply routes in the meantime). Greece, Italy, and Spain are the EU's top importers of Iranian oil, with Greece getting about a third of their oil from Iran. You don't need to be an expert on anything to imagine the consequences of this.
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| # ? Jan 27, 2012 21:42 |
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Just saw this go up today.quote:European day of action against capitalism · 31.03.2012
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| # ? Jan 27, 2012 22:07 |
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Jut posted:really heavy snow here the last two days, I think it's killed the protests for now. It's piled up to over a meter high in my back garden. Do you think one positive for Romania is not being part of the Eurozone? You forgot to take chocolates and flowers to the doctors.
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| # ? Jan 27, 2012 22:15 |
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Shes Not Impressed posted:Do you think one positive for Romania is not being part of the Eurozone? quote:You forgot to take chocolates and flowers to the doctors.
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| # ? Jan 27, 2012 23:24 |
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Tentakulon posted:You don't need to be an expert on anything to imagine the consequences of this. Oil is oil is oil. If A doesn't sell to B anymore, but to C, then C will sell to B. That's at least what usually gets said and posted about these kinds of threats, and it makes sense. Therefore it would only be a real threat if they threatened to sell oil entirely.
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| # ? Jan 28, 2012 00:01 |
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Jut posted:Honestly, I really don't know. I don't even think Romania should be in the EU as it stands. Corruption is way to high and they flaunt EU rules and regs as suits them. Are you a Romanian or foreigner located there? The Romanians that I know (through girlfriend's family and friends) in Bucharest speak of Ceausescu nostalgia and pro-communist people becoming more prevalent. Do you find this to be true? I remember reading through the criteria reports by the EU on Romania and it was blatantly obvious that corruption was an ongoing, systemic problem. I'm guessing the people in position to gain from it (ex-Securitate on the Romanian end) played some nifty maneuvers. I've been told (haven't had time to really research so it's purely anecdotal) that economic growth isn't exactly feasible right now because domestic industries are limited already, but I'm not sure if this is true or not.
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| # ? Jan 28, 2012 00:21 |
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flavor posted:Oil is oil is oil. If A doesn't sell to B anymore, but to C, then C will sell to B. That's at least what usually gets said and posted about these kinds of threats, and it makes sense. Therefore it would only be a real threat if they threatened to sell oil entirely. Then why did they plan 6 months to get a new supplier. It seems if someone needed oil badly that the price would rise. If C bought surplus oil from A to sell to B. Why wouldn't they also sell it at a profit?
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| # ? Jan 28, 2012 00:52 |
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flavor posted:Oil is oil is oil. If A doesn't sell to B anymore, but to C, then C will sell to B. That's at least what usually gets said and posted about these kinds of threats, and it makes sense. Therefore it would only be a real threat if they threatened to sell oil entirely. There are different grades of oil depending on where it is pumped from, and if the refineries in Southern Europe are configured to crack Iranian Oil they won't be able to crack different grade oil from other suppliers without a lengthy re-configuration process. e: And then you have the problem of limited global supply and the need for oil to enable economic growth. The likely upshot is that Europes economic growth and oil consuption will shrink, allowing India and China's consupmtion and economies to grow. NoNotTheMindProbe fucked around with this message at Jan 28, 2012 around 01:15 |
| # ? Jan 28, 2012 01:10 |
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:There are different grades of oil depending on where it is pumped from, and if the refineries in Southern Europe are configured to crack Iranian Oil they won't be able to crack different grade oil from other suppliers without a lengthy re-configuration process. All I can say is that in every single thread and newspaper article I've seen on the subject, the general consensus has been that there's something like a world oil market with essentially all suppliers putting the oil into a big pool and the buyers buying out of that pool. It's probably a nice bonus to be able to buy oil directly from a given country, but there seem to be enough alternatives. I highly doubt that even Europe would let it come to being dependent on just one type of oil that can only be supplied by one country, but if you can link me to something that shows that, I'd be interested. And this story is completely unrelated to limited global supplies. If country A stops selling to country B but does still sell to country C, the global supply is unaffected.
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| # ? Jan 28, 2012 01:35 |
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There are different benchmarks for oil depending on where it comes from and its quality. Examples are Brent (North Sea oil), WTI (Continental USA), OPEC and TAPIS. Each of these benchmarks operate as a separate market or collection of ongoing contracts (though all markets are arbitraged against Brent). Most European refineries are rated to refine OPEC or Brent oils. In Greeces case, a third of their refining capacity is configured to use Iranian grades of oil. In the case of a sudden supply shock, they will need to find oil from other OPEC producers or a similar benchmark. While the global supply of total oil exports is unaffected, Europe now operates in a separate oil market. Iran represents about 5% of total world oil exports. So now China and India buy oil from a pool of 100% of the world export market, while Europe buys its oil from a pool of 95% of the world market. In order to get the oil they need, European refineries will need to bid up the price of oil for themselves and everyone else, while China and India face less competition to buy oil from Iran. NoNotTheMindProbe fucked around with this message at Jan 28, 2012 around 03:50 |
| # ? Jan 28, 2012 02:10 |
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I don't think anyone said these embargoes will disrupt global supplies. It may however affect the West, specifically Europe. As far as I can tell there's not a huge surplus of oil supply versus demand. So while other countries may still be able buy Iran's surplus. Europe may have to pay a premium to purchase it off another nation. The only evidence I have towards this is the IMF's statements and certain local politicians. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012...E80O1LH20120125
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| # ? Jan 28, 2012 02:18 |
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Flavor, how you see it is really far far away from how it works. There are frighteningly brittle, alternativeless supply routes for oil all over the world. China for example has just recently realized that they are dangerously dependent on exactly one (1) water way for a large chunk of their oil imports, which is the strait of hormuz, so they're against the Western sanctions. There is no such thing as a global pool of oil, but in fact bilateral, individual trade deals that follow very limited, physical, fragile support systems. It is surprising that the EU would bring a deal like this embargo to the table, given its potential to backfire, but I guess we just have to assume that Brussels is either a) fantastically ignorant or misinformed (which is a plausible assumption given many of the absolutely unrealistic regulations they're passing) or b) has been hijacked by finance-people who give zero fucks about the well-being of the populace and are only after the quick bucks, to a degree where they consider deliberately ruining a country is an option for them. Option b) sounds extreme, but one look at the policy of installing We're dealing with a degree of abuse of power that is hardly understandable, and many measures that seem like really bad policy might in reality be deliberate acts of destruction, from which someone somewhere profits.
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| # ? Jan 28, 2012 03:15 |
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Shes Not Impressed posted:Are you a Romanian or foreigner located there? I'm a dirty foreigner. Some people are nostalgic, others not so, and others don't remember what it was like under Ceausescu. The thing about Ceausescu that people are nostalgic about is that everyone had a job, a roof over their head and he is perceived to have kept Romania strong in the face of USSR and US interests. My personal opinion is that he was a stinkyhole, but he gave the post revolution govt a nice basis from which to start, which was ultimately squandered. The country was crippled during the 80's with Ceausescu's obsession about paying off the countries debt, to the point where as he was kicked out, Romania's foreign debt was zero. Two decades later the IMF are knocking at the door and there is very little to show for it. This time though, the country can't just ramp up production and increase exports as thanks to a massive privatization program, many of the state run industries are now in private hands. A lot of these industries were sold off at rock bottom prices, and include things like Romania's oil industry, mining, manufacturing etc...
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| # ? Jan 28, 2012 08:30 |
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flavor posted:All I can say is that in every single thread and newspaper article I've seen on the subject, the general consensus has been that there's something like a world oil market with essentially all suppliers putting the oil into a big pool and the buyers buying out of that pool. It's probably a nice bonus to be able to buy oil directly from a given country, but there seem to be enough alternatives. Well, the thing is, Greece doesn't have to pay Iran for their oil at the moment, they are given some time to do so at a later point. It's about 30% of the oil Greece currently imports, and good luck finding somebody else who is willing to sell to Greece without wanting to see cold hard cash upfront.
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| # ? Jan 29, 2012 12:46 |
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Jut posted:I'm a dirty foreigner. "Deșteaptă-te, române!" I'm not even sure what can be done immediately. I know after the fall of communism that most professionals just left for the West (if they weren't able to or on the Securitate's list before). I think they still do because of the lack of industry and reasons you discussed. The vacuum will just stay in place if there is no new opportunities and I'm guessing the ex-communist oligarchs want to keep private and not publicly invest to invigorate Romania's economy.
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| # ? Jan 29, 2012 16:17 |
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Shes Not Impressed posted:"Deșteaptă-te, române!" The typical response when I say I came here of my own free will is along the lines of "are you loving crazy", which makes sense from a Romanian perspective, but then again foreigners are paid much much better than locals. Most locals aspire to leave for greener pastures, and there is a real brain drain problem at the moment, not helped by micky mouse universities with dodgey accreditation. Romania could have went the same way as Czech Republic and Slovakia, but instead chose the Russian and Ukraine route...once you figure out how to fix Russia and the Ukraine, then you'll know how to fix Romania. The protests against the givt are pretty much dead...I saw 20ish people at universitate yesterday but there were protests about something else on the kind of issue which is kind of typical for here http://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...0,5497943.story In short, people in Bucharest don't want a goldmine opened because it will apparently be a ecological disaster, and ruin a village. The people in the village want the mine opened because they have no jobs or money. In short people in Bucharest telling poor people they have to stay poor. There are similar protests with things like "save the dogs" in a country with the kind of stray problem you would expect in India's slums or something, when over 6000 people are year are bitten by strays. Protesting over petty issues while being raped by the govt. The thing is about the mine issue, is that no one is focusing on the fact that the govt sold 80% of the mining company to a canadian firm at rock bottom prices along with mining rights. This mine *could* be used to benefit Romania, but it's going to line the pockets of an overseas company, and people are worried about ruining a village instead. Jut fucked around with this message at Jan 29, 2012 around 17:22 |
| # ? Jan 29, 2012 17:14 |
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Sarkozy pretty much confirmed that France is going through with the financial transaction tax, beginning August. I'm curious how that's going to play out, and who's going to pull out of the Paris stock exchange.
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| # ? Jan 29, 2012 22:31 |
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http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper.../breaking4.htmlquote:
I can't see how this ends well.
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| # ? Jan 30, 2012 08:35 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 22:44 |
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Fkin posted:http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper.../breaking4.html
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| # ? Jan 30, 2012 10:08 |
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