Randomness

[Weeble]

Kotik,
You are certainly in a position to know best re: Euro. I would only concern yourself with Brussels deciding to supplant the individual nation's sovereignty. Whether here or there or anywhere else there are lots of government types that love power. They usually don't handle it well.
By the way i am up to three mice. The Raticator works superbly.

[Alelou]

I'm with Weeble. Thank goodness for small favors. The euro may be a great deal for German industry but it sucks for the countries that can't take advantage of a deflated currency to fix their debt problems (by doing exactly what you said -- flooding the market with their cheaper wares). Not to mention some of them, like Spain, only got into trouble because of a bubble caused by easy Euro credit. And if any of those countries actually do tank, Germany's taxpayers will get stuck with the bill.

So the UK looks absolutely brilliant for refusing to adopt the Euro.

Any fallout from your memo? I thought it was a good example of speaking truth to power (and pretty tactfully, for you), but you just never know how that is going to work out. In my experience, the less competent your boss is, the more likely he/she is to fire the messenger.

Congrats on the mice, Weeble.

[Kotik]

I'm with Weeble. Thank goodness for small favors. The euro may be a great deal for German industry but it sucks for the countries that can't take advantage of a deflated currency to fix their debt problems (by doing exactly what you said -- flooding the market with their cheaper wares). Not to mention some of them, like Spain, only got into trouble because of a bubble caused by easy Euro credit. And if any of those countries actually do tank, Germany's taxpayers will get stuck with the bill.

The Euro is great for most of Europe. The British have only one reason to reject the European Uniion and the Euro. They want to protect the the crooked London financial marketplace. Her Majesty's idiots have nurtured a completely crooked financial system in London with anti-competative tax excemptions for decades. I think the global financial crisis showed what that leads to. Corrupt and completely perverted American and british bankers nearly re-enacted the late 20's. Banks that did business with them, mainly German, Spanish and Icelandic banks followed suite and the taxpayer was left with the horrible bill. There is nothing wrong with the Euro - Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers et al - that's what's wrong.

So the UK looks absolutely brilliant for refusing to adopt the Euro.

No they don't. They look like blithering idiots. Nominally the Pound looks stronger than the Euro, but in reality it is inflated. The only thing that does is making British industry uncompetetive, because their exports are too expensive in comparison. Soon all they've got left ids the London financial district, which will be ruined by the 'murricans. Everything else was long ago bought up by the Indians, Chinese and the Germans. People tend to forget that Britain once had a car industry. They don't have one anymore as it is all owned by foreign powers.

Any fallout from your memo? I thought it was a good example of speaking truth to power (and pretty tactfully, for you), but you just never know how that is going to work out. In my experience, the less competent your boss is, the more likely he/she is to fire the messenger.
Congrats on the mice, Weeble.

No fallout from the memo yet. In fact I got many calls from people saying: "Thanky you for writing that. I didn't dare to for fear of losing my job." I think the silence of the management is telling. I hit a nerve somewhere.
At the moment I couldn't care less. 5 hours ago I arrived at the Black Forest mountain resort I worked at last year. Just starting my first week of vacations since April 2012. If they feel a need to fire me, I'll have to choose between Volkswagen, Audi, Airbus and German Postal Service. All four of them offered me a a contract starting on March 1st.

[panyasan]

Interesting discussion about the euro € €€€€€€€ here comes the spider....

I work in Finance, so I work with the euro every day. The whole idea of one common market is a good idea. The only thing they went overboard with, is that the founders of the coin did not have strict rules how to stay economic sound. Every body knew that countries like Spain and Greece were doing a bad job on keeping their economy sound and stable, but nobody did anything about it or very European said anything about it.

I don't mind the whole one market idea, I do think the political power should be in the hands of the parliaments of the member states.

Now there is a lot of talk about the Euro crisis, but I am positive we will found our way out of this. And the Euro debt isn't that bad. People still don't seemed to realize that the EU is larger than the USA in terms of land, but also has about 100 mio inhabitants more than the USA. Still the total debts of all the countries of the EU combined is three times less than the total debt of the USA. The rating agency still give the USA an A-status (which means you have to pay less rent on your loan and with billions worth of loans that an awful lot of money), so that's good for the American economy, thanks to the American based rating agencies.

For me the way out the crisis is: the economy of enough: cutting down on your expenses while stimulating economic growth by creating jobs and industry. New Deal any one?

[Alelou]

Anyone who takes what the ratings agencies says on faith after how they did before the crash is insane. And the US would improve faster if our currency would lose some value, since it would increase our exports, so if the ratings agencies are lying in this situation and countries are actually buying that they're just hurting us in the process.

The EU makes perfect sense IF the EU has the power to control member countries' political decisions about spending and revenues (and whether countries like Greece actually collect their supposed taxes instead of letting people not bother). It doesn't. It would make more sense to have a free trade agreement and forgo the common currency. And Britain's current economy is the result of excessive austerity during a downturn (that, yes, was caused by out-of-control finance, but that's surely a multinational phenomenon at this point -- in fact, the banks love to play the countries off against each other, claiming they'll just go elsewhere if we don't let them do whatever the hell they want). The UK would only be worse off it it also had to worry about bailing out countries even worse off.

The New Deal was not cutting down on expenses. It was temporarily increasing expenses to create jobs and industry. And it worked brilliantly, until the deficit hawks started cutting, and the US slid back into depression. The unfortunate jobs and industry program known as WWII, along with that brilliant program the GI Bill, were what finally got things back on track here.

Personally, I don't think the US will ever recover fully while businesses here have a growing incentive to hire people only on a part-time, less-than-30-hours a week basis in order to avoid the costs of benefits that are already covered at lower cost by the governments in the EU countries.

[panyasan]

Yet, even with the past of the rating agencies, their rating still carries around a lot of weight.

The euro was created to promote free trade. Instead of having all kind of calculations between the different currencies you can simple pay and buy in the same currency. That it didn't work out like people thought, doesn't change the fact that the euro has been of value for the economy.

As for the New Deal: the fact that I pointed that out, was because it was a program that stimulate the economy. Sometimes governments have to take action, for example to improve the infrastructure of a country. It creates jobs plus a good infrastructure is necessary for a good economy.

Economy is really a fascinating subject.

And now my son, who is begging me to choice a smilie gets to pick a few:

[Alelou]

I like the smilies. Economics, rah rah rah!

JustTrip'n would enjoy this conversation if she ever noticed it. She edits this stuff for a living.

[Kotik]

that's just like Kotik. Go on vacation for the first time in 8 months - arrive in the middle of carnival season. Damn am I fucking pissed outta me skull Shit, if the cops took a blood sample, they could stage a party with 'at.
Kotik is hazing fuuuuun



Eu já lavei o meu carro, regulei o som
Já tá tudo preparado, vem que o brega é bom
Menina fica a vontade, entre e faça a festa Me liga mais tarde, vou adorar, vamos nessa

Gata, me liga, mais tarde tem balada
Quero curtir com você na madrugada Dançar,
pular até o sol raiar.
Gata, me liga, mais tarde tem balada
Quero curtir com você na madrugada Dançar, pular
que hoje vai rolar.

Tchê tcherere tchê tchê, Tcherere tchê tchê, Tcherere tchê tchê,
Tchereretchê Tchê, tchê, tchê, Gustavo Lima e você

Se você me olhar vou querer te pegar
E depois namorar, curtição Que hoje vai rolar...
Gata, me liga, mais tarde tem balada
Quero curtir com você na madrugada
Dançar, pular até o sol raiar.

Gata, me liga, mais tarde tem balada
Quero curtir com você na madrugada
Dançar, pular que hoje vai rolar.

Tchê tcherere tchê tchê, Tcherere tchê tchê, Tcherere tchê tchê,
Tchereretchê Tchê, tchê, tchê,
Gata, me liga, mais tarde tem balada
Quero curtir com você na madrugada
Dançar, pular que hoje vai rolar.
Gata, me liga, mais tarde tem balada
Quero curtir com você na madrugada
Dançar, pular que hoje vai rolar.
Tem Gustavo Lima até de madrugada.

[Kotik]

Life is good

Just back from an evening of playing Skat with the local and against all odds, ol' Kotik creamed 'em . Wasted like two dozed Russians, but mucho fun was had. Won a rare Grand Hand, Schneider announced . Maybe it was because them boys didn't look all that fresh after 10 Vodka and 12 beer. Never drink with a Kotik

[lfvoy]

Anyone who takes what the ratings agencies says on faith after how they did before the crash is insane.

It's funny I ran across this post today, Alelou, because we had a fairly interesting conversation at work today about the ratings agencies. It seems that (at least where I work) at least one of the major ratings agencies never gives a rating above a certain threshold except to companies that have purchased their business directory product. They've couched it in a way that makes it look like the two aren't related -- but someone ran a comparison between the rating agency's clients and their rankings and found something very interesting.

Given that it's a breach of fiduciary duty for an insurance rep to recommend coverage through a financially unsound carrier (at best that can cost you your license), that's a pretty scary thought. Just how do you determine financial stability if a company isn't publicly held? Many of the largest insurance carriers out there are not.

Personally, I don't think the US will ever recover fully while businesses here have a growing incentive to hire people only on a part-time, less-than-30-hours a week basis in order to avoid the costs of benefits that are already covered at lower cost by the governments in the EU countries.

Just for the record, in the small group market, two part-timers can add to a full-timer when it comes to penalty eligibility.

[Alelou]

Is this something new? I certainly don't see any sign that the many part-timers at my college are being counted in that way now -- if we want insurance, we have to pay for the entire cost of it. But then I don't expect to be working there in any significant way next fall since enrollment drops and a catastrophic cut in our funding are going both to be hitting us at the same time. I'm job-hunting.

Yes, it would appear that the ratings agencies are about as useful as the Better Business Bureau, which won't give you a good grade unless you pay them off. This is indeed very scary not only for insurance agents (who could probably use the ratings bureau as a reasonable explanation for their sales and recommendations), but for the consumer, who is utterly screwed if his insurance company goes belly up.

And just because a company is publicly held doesn't mean you're safe, either. There's an accounting trick of buying another company and using the transaction to hide your actual mediocre performance through write-offs and such. At least back in my day, there were some publishing companies that were notorious for doing this practically on an annual basis. Add in the incentives to the deal-makers who want their big bonuses no matter how crappy the deal is for whoever gets left holding the bag and the whole system is rigged.

[Cogito]

I'm job-hunting.

[Alelou]

Oh, it's all right. Depressed as I am on the college's and my students' behalf, I'm also ready for a change. Worst case scenario, we sell the too-nice house and find something that allows us to live on the cheap, maybe even flip it. So far in my life real estate has been the only way we've ever really made decent money. (Though I'm also aware we've been incredibly lucky to avoid the bubbles and the busts.)

[Kotik]

I must admit, I'm shocked. To me what Alelou writes sounds almost like an existential crisis. How the duck is it possible for a teacher to be forced to sell the house? In one of the world's richest countries? Shouldn't social security soften the blow for at least a time? Without knowing your exact age, the fact that you are a teacher with a house and a hubby (and one or two bambini IIRC), would mean that you've been employed in one capacity or other for at least 10 years. That'd mean social security would pay between 73 to 77% percent of your last wage for at least a year (18 months if you're over 55) over here. Surely a country as wealthy as the US of A have something similar Wouldn't that be ample time to find a new job without having to sell you home?

[putaro]

I haven't been on unemployment since back in the early nineties but as I recall, unemployment insurance in the US is useful if you're a low income worker but if you're making a professional salary it's kind of a joke. In California, the maximum you can receive is $450/week or $1800/mo, no matter how much you were making before.