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Guest Post: Greece: What I Learned From A Vietnamese Rickshaw Driver
Submitted from Lighthouse Investment Management
Greece: What I learned from a Vietnamese Rickshaw Driver
Traveling through Vietnam provided a few valuable lessons for life.
You arrive, armed only with a copy of the Lonely Planet. Any map turns
out to be pretty useless, as street names are frequently changed or the
street layout completely altered (this is mid-1990′s). You are being
inundated with offers from “cyclo-” (bicycle rickshaw) drivers. Rule
number one: negotiate the fare before hopping on the seat. The
Vietnamese being excellent sales people expect further price
negotiations while you are riding (“Okay, price was per person” “Sir,
luggage is extra”).
“Cyclo-” rickshaw in Hanoi, Vietnam
One particular cyclo driver left me with a memorable experience. Once
given his destination he claimed the hotel was closed (“I know much
better hotel”). Over the entire ride he insisted my hotel was said to be
either under construction, on fire or simply full. And I insisted, too,
so we actually ended up at the hotel. The pure existence of the hotel
should have refuted most of his statements, but did not lead to any
signs of embarrassment or repentance on his part. To my surprise he
followed me into my room, still trying to lure me into changing hotels
(“This room not good”). Later, I found him haggling with the hotel owner
over a “finder’s fee” (which was customary for cyclo drivers bringing
in hotel guests).
Lessons learned: (A) When you are standing inside a hotel it does
exist, no matter what someone else might say. Accordingly, when a
country is burdened with a debt level approaching 160% of GDP it does need a restructuring.
(B) The more often someone with (supposedly) local knowledge repeats
an untruth, the easier it is to identify the lie. The more EU and ECB
officials insist that a Greek debt restructuring is “not on the table”,
“unthinkable” or “would have dire consequences”, the more likely it is
to happen.
Sure, the consequences are dire, since the Greek banking sector and
government have assured each other’s mutual destruction. If the
government goes down, Greek banks owning government bonds also bite the
dust. As FT’s Alphaville kindly pointed out[1], Alpha Bank owns EUR 4.6bn government securities compared to EUR 5.3bn of equity.
If the banks go down, the government will join them as there are no
more purchases of government bonds (and subsequent regurgitation at the
ECB sewage station).
The banks go down if depositors flee, as there is no other funding
option available. Unfortunately this seems to be exactly the case as
reported by German newspaper FAZ[2] (my translation):
Fearing a government bankruptcy Greek
savers are pulling deposits from local banks. According to the Bank of
Greece household deposits have declined by more than EUR 31bn to
165.5bn. A portion of the money is apparently brought to other
countries; customs officers have repeatedly caught people with large
amounts of cash in their luggage. Speaking on national television on
Tuesday, Giannis Gortsos, Secretary General of the Federation of Greek
banks, assured savers their deposits were safe.
An analysis of data from the Bank of Greece (h/t Tyler Durden) indeed reveals an accelerating outflow of deposits:
Household
deposits are currently falling by 14% compared to a year earlier, or
18% if annualized over the last three months. The data is from March,
and is likely to have significantly worsened since then.
A year ago, German, French and UK banks were caught with too much
exposure to Greece. After pushing most of the debt on to taxpayers,
Deutsche Bank CEO Ackermann[3] finally seems to have given the “green light” to cut Greece free from their debt harness:
Deutsche Bank’s Ackermann says Greece sovereign debt largely written off on books
Deutsche Bank’s Ackermann says bank should withstand Greece haircut
If only there was a way to justify cutting the lifeline after a daily
barrage of denials. And who is to blame? The EU? The IMF? A volcano?
Thankfully there is JC Juncker, president of the Eurogroup. He
elegantly tees up the excuse “the IMF may not release tranche for Greece
next month” as the IMF needed a 12-months financing guarantee and EU
governments were unable to make up for the IMF portion.[4]
In case there was any doubt regarding Greece doing it’s homework
(not!) he added that “Greece won’t reach its 2011 budget deficit goal”.
There you have it. You (Greece) don’t do your part – we (EU) don’t do ours.
The rhetorical pathway for the EU out of their web of denials is
being crafted. It’s about time. The Greek population is suffering.
Unemployment is exploding. With youth unemployment reaching almost 50%
in Spain it is only a question of time until the powder keg of
discontent boils over.
The Euro has reached its final destination. It is time to quit
repeating the same nonsensical denials on a daily basis. The passengers
(readers of this blog) are seeing through the thinly veiled lies of
their drivers (politicians) since a long time.
Alexander Gloy is founder and CIO of Lighthouse Investment Management
[1] Joseph Cotterill: A journey around Alpha Bank’s ECB collateral, in: FT Alphaville, May 24, 2011
[2] “Furcht vor Staatsbankrott – Griechen ziehen ihr Geld von Bankkonten ab” – FAZ, May 24, 2011
[3] Statements by Ackermann according to newswire RAN, May 26, 2011
[4] Statements by JC Juncker on May 26, 2011 according to newswire RAN
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Not according to Buddha, although Buddha may not qualify as "someone."
Buddha was no one.
ORI
One for all and all for one?
Buddha is no more.
Buddah is no less.
if you see the Buddah on the road, kill him...
Buddhism doesn't deny the existence of things but points out that their existence is contingent, dependent, they are compounded of parts and subject to change (impermanent). The "truly" existent would not have such qualities.
Also our perception of things is distorted, partial. So what we perceive as "existent" is more or less illusory
Yes, my eyes deceive me, and all that bollocks...
"Buddha is dead"
~ Nietzsche
"Neitzsche is dead"
~ Buddha
Silver, bitchez
I want to point out that the unemployment numbers are rigged in Germany.
1) People on the dull for more than one year don't count as unemployed.
2) People older than 58 and jobless don't count as unemployed.
3) People without a job on every kind of government-sponsored fake-job (eg additional cook in kindergarden) or qualification program don't count as unemployed.
It's not goldilocks in Germany. We have severe youth unemployment, too. We have a new layer of great unwashed or white trash not seen since pre-WWII, I guess.
Re-Frame your concept of Germany.
edit: all these groups excluded from unemployment numbers are called "Hartz IV".
Can you give me an average physiognomy of new German "white trash"? Where are the trailer parks in Germany? How do they dress? What do they believe in? What do they eat? How do they make ends meet? Who do they vote for? What music and TV do they like?
Did they know Kinch had a radio in his teapot?
They live in satellite towns (cheap condo skyscrapers). They love to overdress, especially stuff where the brand names are big & clearly visible (D&G, Kappa, Jetlag, Ed Hardy). Their most precious belonging is a XBox or PlayStation 3 which frequently visitis the pawn shop. They live off the minimum welfare ("Hartz IV"), which pays you the rent for a small apartment, heating + 367,- EUR in cash per month. Plus roughly the same amount for every child in your household (including non-cashable stuff like zoo entrance etc.).
They smoke a lot, but they roll the cigarettes themselves (cheaper). They love cellphone flipping schemes (you get someone, e.g. your ex-girlfriend, to sign up on a cellphone plan and promise to pay the bills, take the two new iPhone 4, sell one and leave your ex sitting with the cell phone bills) - you need her in this scheme because you have a bad credit rating. Or you just "tokkan" someone's cellphone in the subway (for reselling at second hand cell phone shops). It's turkish for robbery.
They eat Döner, more or less some kind of taco, but when they have money they go to McDonald's or Burger King. They don't vote at all. They don't get very old, too much alcohol and tobacco abuse, especially in Eastern Germany. Read an article a while ago how there are very few really old guys (>80 years) in Eastern Germany because of alcohol addiction.
They love gangsta music (YouTube for Bushido, some arab douchebag rapping in German). Originally they were pretty anti-foreigners, but that changed somehow. They are mixing more and more by means of teenage pregnancies and so forth.
And their favorite TV station is RTL II.
One more thing. Once you are on minimum welfare you can stay hooked on it forever. Nobody will bother you to work again, after a while. So, as long as they get their monthly check, they are quite content.
Sounds like heaven. lol This type of shit is just everywhere, Canada does funny things with it's unemployment numbers since Mulroney (94ish).
You pretty much described Ottawa and Toronto as well. High youth unemployment, shitty apartment block/welfare housing.
Thank you for that very complete portrait of the new German white trash. How much longer can Germany afford Hartz IV?
Maximum 10 years.
The bigger problem is the German SS equivalent (Rentenkasse) which is a much worse Ponzi than in the US (not talking health costs here). Even though the German SS tax rate is 19.9% (that's employee and employer parts), the entry level is being increased (to age 67 in 2030), and the payouts lowered (based on last wage before retirement), and the pension system has been heavily subsidized since the late 90's (by Ökosteuer and mix of other tax incomes), it is set to implode the federal budget within the decade or so.
That will also put a stop to endless Hartz IV.
Thanks misterc for the succinct description, too!
"The bigger problem is the German SS..."
For a moment I thought of something else than pension funds when I read this.
yeah sorry, but I got used to all these American acronyms...
Yikes. Think twice about taking that Starbucks job after retiring from some high paying gig.
They are pretty comparable to your average Mexican in the USA only they don't have to work like the Mexicans and get everything for 'free' from the government
"How much longer can Germany afford Hartz IV?" - With the tax system here a loooooong time
Every working German supports 1 not working German(or immigrant) go figure, yes the ration is 1 to 1 or maybe even worse
thats some scary shit
Are you describing people from Massachusetts? " Massholes"96
You talk of "Turkish" gang slang, Arab Rap, are you sure these are GERMANS?
Are you saying these alleged Whites are the German equivalent of American Wiggers?
In the city I live in 500k ppl, the Wiggers are almost as many as the turks, the recent influx of 'refugees' puts the turkish influx in shame, at least the turks tend to work(selling Döner) most 'refugees' just collect government dole
"Arbeit macht frei"
Are you saying that Germany is the only country that fudges unemployment numbers? The fact is that the US Bereau of Labor Statistics plays far worse games than the Germans.
I recall seeing a report on teevee a while back about dumpster-diving in Germany. It is illegal, of course, but these determined individuals knew when and where the best finds were. They "shopped" the best stores, got the ugly fruits and veggies, the just-expired loaves, etc...and made out fairly well all things considered.
Are they not counted as unemployed as well...I suspect so. They would not be unemployed here in the states. Enterprising, but not unemployed.
lebst du etwa im Ruhrpott oder vielleicht Rostock? Vielleicht erinnerst du dich daran, wie es hier vor zehn jahren mal war... "HARTZ IV: Arbeitest du noch, oder bettelst du schon" stand auf Transparenten. Damals gings uns echt dreckig - heute sehe ich das ganz und gar nicht mehr.
Don't Junkify.....Translate!
Do you live somewhere in Ruhrpott or Rostock? Perhaps you remember there, how it was here ten years before..."HARZ IV: Work now, or you'll be begging soon" stand auf transparentin?? Those times we were seriously skrewed? Nowadays I can see the whole thing und gar nicht mehr??
(OK that's the best I can do)
The Euro is surely doomed. The question is "when" does it completely disintegrate, not "if."
How much longer can the world go on like this, with the elite propaganda of all's well while entire societies and nations crumble.
I give it less than six months, but these fuckers (banks and politicians) apparently can keep the game going for quite some time.
what does it take? Sorry I only have questions, because the real answers involve a complete restructuring of just about everything, from what is money to wholesale sackings of governments.
German industry bosses like it..
I've come to the conclusion that the end game for the banks is to take ownership of sovereign assets. I can't see the banks offering any kind of reset or jubilee. I guess that this is the game the Orld Bank, IMF, and BIS have been playing in the third world without scrutiny. Now that it's so pervasive in US/EU that it is painfully apparent.
Comments?
OT: How can one track China's purchases of Fed paper I would like some sources, I've looked at the TIS page but cant fidure it out. Help? Anyone?
"From each according to his means, to each according to his needs."
They're here...
The Euro was just another name for Deutsche Mark all along. One after another will get forced out painfully. Greece first, probably Portugal next, closely followed by Ireland, though it is neck and neck for those two racing to the exits. Eventually Spain has to be bailed out but they better hurry because if they don't hork down on the EU bailouts before the first defaults they will find they are too late, the bailout window will close the moment one of the PIGS returns to their own currency. And of course the EU issues threats and preposterous posturing about it all, if you default and leave the common currency we will kick you out of the EU and void all treaties so you languish like the pariah you should be for not wearing your yoke properly. As a dual citizen of the US and Ireland all the excitement I can muster for Junker and Merkel and Sarkozy, is a polite lifting of my middle digit. ..|..
I dont see it that way. It's more like a drug dealer and drug user. The dealer is happy to sell and doesn't care where the money comes from. The junky can steal... whatever it takes.
Same thing with the banksters: they offer the debt to junky politions of all strips. Just sign over your tax base or soverign holdings. The last thing the bankers want is a reponsible government.
Ahh, perhaps you've seen a certain, ah shall we say "classic film" on the theme? Hold on a sec there's someone banging on my door...
Which movie? Sounds interesting.
I was recalling the the Ammendment creating the Fed was preceeded by the Income Tax Ammendment. Once the bankers had the tax base, they had the nation by the balls.
kind of a misplaced and clumsy allusion, but the point is clear and well stated. the consequences of a financial and social edifice built on illusions are dire and irreversible.
Who cares. Stocks are up, bonds are up, no one cares the US is over the debt ceiling, no one cares QE2 is "ending", Banker bonuses are set to be at all time highs, commercial reits are at highs, the Jersey shore is open for business. And the world didn't end.
You do not want to go to that roach motel (ES).
It has burned down.
It has very bad beds.
I know a much better hotel (PMs).
Generally speaking it is MO that U.S. Vietnamese are hagglers without the flair for graceful maneuvers. Aside from that and the gang problem, they are good folks. A SoCal police man told me that the normal process of a fight is words, push, hit, fight, club or knife then shoot. He said the Viet goes from word to shoot. I have them across the street and in the area. I like them and think they are good folks. Look at the honor rolls of any school they are in and you will find them at the top.
The American Vietnamese are o.k. Hard workers, proud, don't cause trouble for their neighbors.
If you LOVE the Vietnamese in America, make that post-American America, then you will enjoy the Hmong also.
Brilliant anecdote.
That's the famous Greek stubborn pride. The Eurozone (Those 17 out of 27 countries that utilize the Euro currency) might fragment as everyone now suggests or it might kick Greece out. I think the latter option is more likely. Getting out of the common currency does not mean they won't be a part of the EU - UK, Denmark and Sweden use their own currencies, two new ones have yet to convert, and the others are city states like Monaco, Vatican City, and San Marino. Once kicked out of the monetary union, the Greeks might hail it as a victory of sorts, as they watch the teetering dominoes in the next chain to fall.
Common currency was a manipulative fraud from the beginning. A simple solution would have been to keep one's own currency and use electronic money transfers for transactions. Denizens would have been immediately and perhaps painfully aware of their currency evaluation.
Then againn the banksters would be able to get their get.
I live in the UK and I know a lot of people who believe that the common currency was a manipulative fraud with dark political undertones (Nigel Farrage, for example). I am not one of them, but I understand the sentiment of the euroskeptic. Personally, the only reason I'm fond of the EU is because it stands as an economic rival to the US, and that has to be a good thing.
Here's a bit of relevant history for you: In November 1944, after Greece was liberated from Germany, old drachmae were exchanged for new ones at the rate of 50,000,000,000 to 1. Only paper money was issued. I look forward to changing my Pounds into Drachmas on holiday as I did when I was a kid.
As I posted above, the EU might not carry out it's threats but they are threatening Greece and Ireland with expulsion from the EU if the countries leave the Eurozone. So many Americans think that the terms are interchangeable, even here at ZH there seems to be some confusion. The EU is a confederation built upon hundreds of treaties that do everything from standardizing passport and visa regulation to defining voting power and requiring human rights laws across borders for things like treatment of minorities and gay folks. It distributes power and and sets a goal of eventually creating a nation out of Europe that has distinct regional differences just as South Carolina is different from Hawaii or Wisconsin, it would end wars by replacing regional alliances with allegiance to a greater EU. It was to be a state where smaller countries that suffered disproportionately in war are raised to the same standards of living as the major western powers till they are able to fully participate, and the ideals were admirable, till the EU became a toy for bankers who raped it blind. Now it is about enriching German and to a lesser degree French banks at the expense of the average person in what are now being called peripheral nations. Instead of kindness and egalitarian largess they operate from panic and an unspoken priority of German financial hegemony.
From 18 months ago in the London Telegraph:
Even the European Central Bank admits that the euro may be in trouble (hat-tip, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard). “Recent developments have, perhaps, increased the risk of secession (however modestly), as well as the urgency of addressing it as a possible scenario,” it concedes in a new document, Withdrawal and expulsion from the EU and EMU: some reflections.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100022574/what-would-happen-if-a-state-left-the-euro/
That's a fair assessment, and many thanks for the link.
Considering the history, political alliances, and "investments" the EU has in Greece, it's doubtful Greece will be expelled from the EU, and I take that ECB threat of expulsion from the EU and EMU with a pinch or two of salt. Besides, the ECB doesn't make the decisions on the political operation of the system, that's the politicians' job. I can see how Turkey will rub its palms with glee over that humiliation, but it isn't going to happen. Leaving the Eurozone, yes, and going back to their crummy Drachma is much more likely instead. imo.
I was at the Laundromat the other day and found three Euro coins in the washing machine......IS THIS AN OMEN???
I was at the Laundromat the other day and found three Euro coins in the washing machine......IS THIS AN OMEN???
So many Black Swans circling; so little time. The Obama Administration is waiting until after he is re-elected to fully trash the 2nd Amendment. There is a rumor that they will attempt a curtailment of, or heavy tax on ammo sales. Unfortunately, I fear that events will move faster than Barry's timetable.
Well, they know that the market must be up in 2012 if they want to get Obama elected. But to do that, the financial ammo must be depleted (QE N, Fed balance sheet to GDP 40%, Fed will have actual junk real-estate on books, DXY will be 60, etc. etc.). Which means that the government will institute mutiple austerity measures in 2013 to pay the bill for Obama's re-election, confiscate gold/silver, freeze 401ks...
The 4th amendment is already shredded thanks to the 9/11 demolitions and the "Patriot Acts." It is now legal for police to break into your house illegally, and it is illegal to try to resist them. These judges have all been brain pithed. The write their decisions in Orwellian NewSpeak.
That only applies to federal citizens , not a sovereign citizen , police and the sheriff are not even allowed on your land when you have allodial title , if they do under the constitution (which only applies to sovereign citizens ) you may use any force necessary to defend your home and land from invading army's or foe, so you can carry on been a Federal citizen or you can take the red pill by reading (on the net) The errant sovereigns handbook by Augustus Blackstone , your choice be a serf or live free.
I'm sorry, but try explaining that to the judge when you decline to pay your speeding ticket because you are a 'sovereign citizen'.
Private property vs. public land where you got the speeding ticket, and broke their law.
Pick your battles.
Obama: “I’m working on gun control under the radar”
Gun Control Through Democratic Executive Legislation?
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."
--Rudyard Kipling
"The Gods of the Copybook Heading"
How about that Patriot Act?
Rand Paul's Last Stand Against the Patriot Act
Not sure where the Final Destination of the Euro is...I do find the journey interesting in that it was a politically driven event, it did not come into existence because of dire economic necessity, crisis or emergency. Pure politics. Living in Europe at the time, it was fascinating to hear politicians proclaim that the potential economic clout of a unified Europe would instantly dominate the dollar. Eventual political union was a matter of course until they tried to get a European Constitution going and could not work out the wording of the first 3 sentences and the French were pissed that it did not have the dominant language at meetings. Finally, coming full circle to todays crisis, the Greeks and Irish were routinely in trouble for violating economic guidelines in the run-up to the launch...maybe Italy too. The Germans were pounding the table demanding that GDP, and debt levels were manageable and at one point the delegations of the countries in question just changed the numbers....fine, happy now? There was no mechanism to back out of the Euro Currency Agreements and there is no way anyone can be surprised at the current Greek situation. I thought the dollar was bad, I cannot imagine what those clowns are going to do now to save face.
Ireland would have a Spanish unemployment figures or higher but for the mobility of the workforce (Eastern European workers and the Irish tradition of labour mobility) and also high personel savings from a section of the workforce that did not incur debt and are not now claiming the dole.
misterc......interesting reminder, its why this forum is so valuable, hearing insight from people who know, revealing things you can't get in the news...awesome.
Claud Cockburn
Political unification of Europe always appeared to be the endgame and the monetary union was the first necessary step. With the PIIGS disintegrating, a political unification seems unlikely in the absence of forced continued membership in the EU, and it will be interesting to see what measures are taken to keep the club together, short of military intervention.
Desperate people will be desperate to hold the EMU together, perhaps even to hasten the political union (never let a crisis go to waste, eh...). For that reason I don't see TPTB in Euroland allowing any country to voluntarily withdraw or default, much as TPTB in the U.S. didn't allow any banks and investment banks and insurance companies fail, save a few notable exceptions, despite our expectation to the contrary several years ago.
Since we almost all seem to expect some future fragmenting of the EU and a reversion to sovereign states and currencies, it seems equally possible that would be the least likely outcome given the amount of financial resources and political capital that has been expended to date in creating and maintaining a "United States of Europe."
well said, totally agree. Think how foreign it would be to hear about Illinois and Indiana merging to increase their economic position and combine resources.....now imagine hundreds of years of history colliding as countries continue to lose individual economic and political clout. No one wants a small group in Brussels to dictate economic policy in Spain. This coming Rule Changes should be astounding.
Some people argue that the crisis was engineered to bring in political union by force, but seeing the reaction of people on the streets I think the powers that be bit more than they can chew
' it will be interesting to see what measures are taken to keep the club together, short of military intervention.'
Achtung.....BLITZKRIEG!
If we could only be so lucky as to receive an official denial by the US authorities of a currency devaluation like the one the Mexican president offerred to LoneRangerSilver in the 1970's!
If there's anything history has taught us, its that an official denial means the event is imminent!
http://silverdoctors.blogspot.com/2011/05/living-through-currency-devalu...
I don't care what anyone says. This is one of the more hilarious (and no doubt true) anectodes about Vietnam that I've ever read. I really did laugh out loud, bitchez:
Obviously, this guy's first trip to Asia. They will lie like a Progressive to get that money! No more shame than the average Welfare Queen buying steak in front of taxpayers buying peanut butter. Facts mean nothing, truth is what you can buy with it. Hey, just like life in the States!
"No more shame than the average Welfare Queen buying steak in front of taxpayers buying peanut butter."
This statement is not just urban legend. I was driving around my city with a friend who's an accountant. I was admiring parts of the city I could not afford. We passed one building where she told me many of the sports stars and other wealthy elites live. Across the street was a very attractive modern condo building, too. She told me that it was all subsidized housing and I made too much money to live there. She audits the account. It was all based on a sliding scale of how much you made versus kids and people in household, etc. If I made less I might be able to get in.
I instantly became redfaced and angry and I think I swore out loud which I rarely do publicly. It struck me that my (extremely high) taxes went to people to get housing that I myself could not afford in an area I cannot afford. So welfare-type people can use my money to live in something better than the working guy who pays their bills and my own. The world is on its head and this system must be overthrown. It is profoundly immoral and corrupted from any good intentions it may have had originally. I even find it personally insulting. It also gives me more legitimate reasons to hate collectivism and its infinite abuses.
Problem is this cannot be changed in a democratic way, the only 'solution' is for an Atlas Shrugged type event where all the productive people just sit on their hands for a few years and the system collapses on it's own
That is what I am (sadly) doing there's no way I am gonna innovate or try harder than I need to so the government can take 70-80% of what I make and 'redistribute' it, maybe if I had an online business that I could register in Singapore ..
"They" need you far more than you need "them"
The whole point of government now, has been to make you, one of "them." Misery loves company.
I seriously think you are right in the sense that "they" liberal statists want everyone dependent on government. Then we become the true serfs begging for all we need.
I had to laugh when I read these kind of notes. Oh, you poor, poor downtroden neo fascists.
Why do you laugh and do you even know the economic definition of fascism? I presume you are some flavor of socialist? You think this sort of system is great? If so, you are a colossal idiot and you should be taxed at 100% to prove your complete dedication to the collective.
"It struck me that my (extremely high) taxes..."
Oh, YOU are the one. Now that taxes (at least for the top half of household wealth) are at their lowest level in generations if your taxes are too high you better get a new accountant.
You spend too much time on liberal sites. Almost half the United States pays no income tax. I am not wealthy enough for the big specialized breaks. The problem is that without family and home I pay pretty much the full tax rate. Cashing out a 401k results in even larger taxes as the government actually assesses a penalty to access your own money. The point remains though that people who earn and are taxed much less if at all can get housing through government redistribution that a person earning much more and at the higher tax rates cannot afford. Does this strike you as moral, fair, equitable, righteous, good?
Fear not! The Borg will come for you too.
So "resistance is futile", lol? I love those episodes. I think the Borg are here trying to plug all of us in. They are pretty much the modern liberal-statist-collectivists.
Next time ask your accontant what that low-income (likely tax credit) project cost to build in vcomparison to a "market rate" deal built "on spec"... you are getting pissed, but you only see the tip of the iceberg.
Not sure exactly what you mean but I think I get the gist of it. I also learned how subsidized housing goes to relatively wealthy elderly because it looks only at income and not assets such as huge bank accounts. The farther you get into it as far as I can see the uglier, more rotten and more abused the system gets. I assume you are making a similar statement.
Looking around for a home and tax deduction I notice lots of subsidized housing. It was beautiful stuff at least by my middle class standards. However, I noticed the homies were already beginning to trash their government housing. I decided not to buy on the border of that. Will be hard to impossible to resell once it is all trashed.
Collectivism never has and never will work or prosper either the people who receive it or who pay for it.
and Americans will make the right decision..when shit truly hits the fan!
moved to intended "reply" space, above.
The Vietnamese are wonderful people, but they have a flawed national character.
Americans look up to Washington and Lincoln as national icons. Here are leaders who represented "I cannot lie" and "Honest Abe". American society is built on a trust element that even American themselves sometimes overlook. 9/11, for example, exploited a sacred trust among American citizens.
If you travel, you know that the underlying problems in everyday life in other cultures is a basic lack of trust across all relationships. A lack of trust between customer and cashier, rider and cab driver or cyclo driver, client and sales agent, and so forth. A few years ago, a popular book in Japan (not translated into English) was by a Japanese man who had lived for several decades in the Arab world. His theme was how much distrust there was in the ordinary Arab existence, and he identified the source as the Arab dictator and the arbitrary terror of his reign. He wrote the book as a warning to his countrymen and the japanese society which he saw as having a high degree of trust. Distrust in Russia is so ingrained that Russians suspect anyone (selling anything) who smiles must be cheating them. McDonald's has been instrumental in getting ordinary Russians to understand 'service with a smile' is a quality, not a crime.
Who are the national characters who the Vietnamese look up to? A leader who gained power by deception; one who was victorious (over the Chinese invaders) who won by deception; Ho Chi Minh, who preached deception. So that the cyclo driver can bend the light with no shame or even recognition is no surprise. This facet of their national character will have to be remedied in the decades ahead for Viet Nam to truly succeed as a nation. Other emerging nation cultures which place greater emphasis on trust will do better.
All warfare is based on deception.
-Sun Tzu
No taxpayers. Poof. Taxpayers who exist, Poof, off the books. Issue is top to bottum as something for nothing since they are willing to pay for it with anothers work. Fail as always just like the States. Dear taxpayer's who are left are cheerfull idiots to no usefull ends. We have no issue funding true needs. They have issues saying you have no clue what they are since we have a gun in your face so give to our noble cause. No person has a issue with a honest gatekeeper, and that has nothing to do with local politics
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According to Swiss journalist Myret Zaki (google her) the doomed currencies are... the British Pound and the USD. She thinks the U.S. and the U.K. have their neck far too up in debt that a recovery is impossible.
"swissinfo.ch: What will happen if the dollar collapses as predicted?
M.Z.: Europe is the planet’s biggest economic power and it has a strong reference currency. Unlike the United States, it is also expanding. In Asia, the Chinese yuan will become the reference and China is Europe’s biggest ally."
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/Dollar_faces_collapse.html?cid=3001...
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