This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
What The "Porsche Indicator" Tells Us About The Greek "Recovery"
As the "Big Mac Index" is to global purchase price parity levels of inflation, so when it comes to the state of the "recovery" if not for everyone, then certainly for the 0.1%, there is no better metric than the "Porsche Indicator." Recall: "Porsche Reports Record Sales in 2013; 21 Percent Increase Over 2012" which certainly didn't come on the back of yet another year of declines in real incomes for the middle class (spoiler alert: it came on the back of some $10 trillion in liquidty injections by the world's central banks).
Yet one place where the "Porsche" recovery forgot to make landfall, is none other than the biggest casualty of Europe's artificial monetary, political and wealth-transferring union: insolvent Greece.
The chart below, from the Greek department of transportation, hardly needs an explanation or commentary, suffice to say that far better than any revised, annualized, seasonally-adjusted non-GAAP GDP it captures the true state of the Greek "recovery"...
- 13408 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -



Someone needs to post this same chart for every other country ... telling indeed.
Let them drive BEEEEEMERS!
AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!
This is a bit of a side bar, but maybe ZH can answer it for me. Despite being professionally employed, when I moved to Alaska several years ago I had up to three jobs (two part time) to make ends meet for a while. One of those jobs was at a Mc Donalds. I have an observation that I can't quite explain.
If one orders a "double cheese burger" one gets two piececs of meet, two pieces of cheese, pickle/onion, ketchup/mustard, and a bun. If one orders a "big mac", one gets two pieces of meet, one piece of cheese, pickles/onion, mac sauce, and shredded lettuce. and a three part bun.
The difference is a bun part, condiments, a piecec of cheese, and lettuce.
However, if you modify the "double cheese burger" to remove the mustard/ketchup (free), and add mac sauce/shred lettuce, the differnce is much closer; a piece of cheese and a bun part. What is much more different is the price.
So, is the Big Mac index really reliable when a Big Mac can be custom ordered from a cheaper menu item? Mc Donald's isn't stupid, so they won't lose money on modifying orders (in fact I suspect they overcharge for the changes due to the overhead to modify it).
Regards,
Cooter
What percentage of customers do you think actually make these considerations? Or try to add Big Mac sauce to a different burger?
IOTW, these are likely negligible considerations, given the "billions sold." People who like Big Macs order them for that reason, because they like them.
It goes back to the idea that "you don't sell the steak, you sell the sizzle." Product differentiation is as much an emotional process as it is a logical one.
So, I don't see this as having much of an influence on the index as you might think. My guess is that anyone who does this math never orders Big Macs in the first place.
*WAIT*
They sold only 8 Porsches *TOTAL* last year?
Holy shit.
Their dealer network (2 total, one in Athens and on in Thessolonika) has a GRAND TOTAL OF
http://www.porsche.com/international/_greece_/approvedused/usedcarlocato...
ZERO USED CARS FOR SALE.
Although, I guess it goes without saying the Greeks are challanged. They continue to blame their politicans instead of the EU and the currency.
What the chart doesn't tell you is whether there were any changes to the tax regime in Greece for luxury cars or fuel.
For example, it would be very easy to introduce a 100% tax surcharge on luxury cars that would have popular support since it would only hit/scapegoat the "rich".
In an environment of "rich hating" with the price doubled then most people would see it was better to stick with their current porsche or trade down for a while.
For the truly rich a congestion charge to enter cities is fantastic since it clears the roads and means you can sweep into the city, nearly as good as having a police escort :-)
They probably buy their porches in Albania, register them there, then drive back to Greece...
So how is the supply of used mules and donkeys?
ATHENS, Greece (JTA) — Lawmakers in Greece passed a law that bans Holocaust denial and imposes stricter penalties for hate speech.
The government had been trying to enact the bill for more than a year in an effort to confront the rise of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party and a surge in anti-immigrant violence.
Passed late Tuesday with 55 of the 99 lawmakers present in the 300-member Parliament voting in favor, the measure criminalizes the denial or trivialization of the Holocaust or other recognized genocides.
It also increases jail time for instigating racist violence from two years to three years and imposes fines on individuals and groups. Groups found inciting racism can be barred from receiving state funds.
The Greek Jewish community and international Jewish groups have long pressed the Greek government to take a tougher legislative stance on hate speech.
Many of Golden Dawn’s leaders are awaiting trial on charges of running a criminal organization. The party, which has 18 seats in Parliament, frequently uses Nazi imagery. Its leaders have denied the existence of Nazi death camps and gas chambers.
Read more: http://www.jta.org/2014/09/10/news-opinion/world/greece-passes-law-banning-holocaust-denial#ixzz3Db2819V8
Define -
"hate speech"
Because if "hate speech" results in criminal liability, then the definition of that term (and perhaps more importantly who defines that term) becomes supremely important.
Hold onto your hats folks. This is gonna get way worse before it gets better.
0%, the stench of the sugar and lard as they approach the counter overwhelms the brain to the point that they can only utter a meal #. Like reverse aroma therapy.
The drive through window, on the other hand are "customers" who can no longer walk either because of obesity combined with diabetes, drugs and alcohol or all of the above combined. No special orders on the drive through.
Happens all the time in mass-produced stuff.
Cars are my hobby and I can tell you that I and my friends are always researching where "white box" or "house brand" performance parts come from. Sometimes (often) they are Chinese-made knock-off junk. But every now and then you find out they're made by a reputable manufacturer and you can get some good quality parts for a bargain-basement price.
'Fer instance, Summit Racing's house-brand intake manifolds are mostly made by Holley (same people that make Holley carburetors) under the Weiand brand name and then rebadged with Summit's logo on it. Jegs house-brand cylinder heads are made by Canfield, with Jegs logo on it and some bucks knocked off the price. Etc.
Most people are creatures of habit. They want a Big Mac, not a tarted-up double cheeseburger, even if they are almost identical.
Spock, quick! Look: Greece has also found a way to travel back in time!
Driving around in a Porsche looking for garbage cans is not a winning proposition?
As the algos know all too well, speed counts.
So Greece is fucked to the point where even oligarchs are seeing hard times? That sucks bro.
The rich have fled the country.
Porsche ich the Upper-Middle-Class car not the truly rich guys car, how about we look at Bentley sales
Brits drives Bentleys. Greeks drive S-Class Mercedes AMG models.
Doubt they drive a Daimler Maybach though -- THE Ultimate Luxury car, not Rolls Royce or Bentley. After stopping its production in 2013, the Maybach is coming back in 2014 under the S-Class label. The original Maybach was a model built for Adolf. Maybe the Neo-Nazis in Kiev will buy them? Or the Neo-Nazis in Greece, if they had any CIA money.
Bugatti
bugatti.com - HomeThis chart should have an overlay...the Greek Corruption Index, which probably shows an early warning or time predictive correlation...up until 2009 the corruption index was high.
The Corruption Index crashes with Greek insolvency, and the Porsche Index then lags/follows a year later.
I'm betting the same behaviors would hold in the U.S., but we have the world's reserve currency, so the game goes on.
This chart should have an overlay...the Greek Corruption Index, which probably shows an early warning or time predictive correlation...up until 2009 the corruption index was high.
The Corruption Index crashes with Greek insolvency, and the Porsche Index then lags/follows a year later.
I'm betting the same behaviors would hold in the U.S., but we have the world's reserve currency, so the game goes on.
Obviously transferred purchases to the domestic luxury car producers.
"domestic luxury car producers" ROTFLOL Greece doesn't have any car producers other than maybe a couple of very small outfits.
Why would you buy a Greek car when you could buy a german, french, british, italian, japanese, korean ... car ??
This is it, if you have to declare your profits and pay taxes in inland..
The shrinking used Porsche registrations could partially be the result of the car theft ring that had been supplying Greece with low priced stolen used Porsches going out of business. As in, caught smuggling high end stolen cars into Greece. Or maybe the car thieves moved to America, where they became hedge fund operators, a job more lucrative for thieves than trying to sell Greeks stolen cars.
Depopulation underway in Greece.
Thanks for your cooperation.
I prefer to see this as a bearish indicator on the sales of Porsche et al. once the SHTF. Completely normal that after years of over-spending there are years of austerity. AFAIK, this is completely accepted by the greeks as long as no one is spared.
Not a measure of the economy, but a pretty good measure of income gouging and rentier economics of that country's 1%.
They should build a entry level model called
Poorche?
Porshe Shmorshe...everyone knows the health of the real economy is charted with BMW leasings.
How many Amish buggies were sold? I am sure there was a spike in animal drawn carts..
Do current/existing owners get full insured value if their cars somehow blow up like they magically did in Iceland circa 2009/2010?
I'm only partially /sarc on that one.
Then again, a car like that has plenty of metal and spare parts which could make for useful barter to the right person...
When the people of Greece saw their democratically elected Prime Minister George Papandreou forced out of office in November of 2011 and replaced by an unelected Conservative technocrat, Lucas Papademos, most were unaware of the bigger picture of what was happening all around them.
Similarly, most of us in the United States were equally as ignorant when, in 2008, despite the switchboards at the US Capitol collapsing under the volume of phone calls from constituents urging a “no” vote, our elected representatives voted “yes” at the behest of Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen and jammed through the biggest bailout of Wall Street in our nation’s history.
But now, as the Bank of England, a key player in the ongoing Eurozone crisis, announces that former investment banker Mark Carney will be its new chief, we can’t afford to ignore what’s happening around the world.
Steadily – and stealthily – Goldman Sachs is carrying out a global coup d’etat.
...
clip
...
What’s happening here goes back more than a decade.
In 2001, Goldman Sachs secretly helped Greece hide billions of dollars through the use of complex financial instruments like credit default swaps. This allowed Greece to meet the baseline requirements to enter the Eurozone in the first place. But it also created a debt bubble that would later explode and bring about the current economic crisis that’s drowning the entire continent. But, always looking ahead, Goldman protected itself from this debt bubble by betting against Greek bonds, expecting that they would eventually fail.
Ironically, the man who headed up the Central Bank of Greece while this deal was being arranged with Goldman was – drumroll please – Lucas Papademos.
Read the full article here (you should read this)
'registered'
I'm sure the Greeks are compliant with all registration requirements.
Tax as a weapon of mass destruction.. Tested in Greece before going Global?
The controversial tax, passed into law in August by parliament, replaces the temporary property tax (haratsi**) that had been included on homeowners’ electricity bills as an emergency measure to boost revenue. The initial measure caused a major outcry forcing the government to make modifications to the law.
Legal suits are expected to be filed challenging the constitutionality of the tax
The government projects that the measure will bring in 6.1 billion euros in revenue. However a number of legal suits are expected to be filed challenging the constitutionality of the tax.
It is believed that representative legal challenges will end up before the Council of State, the country’s supreme administrative court which will conduct a ’pilot trial,’ the outcome of which will provide a guiding precedent for the lower courts.
The first petition against the ENFIA tax was submitted to the Council of State by a lawyer who argues that the property tax is unconstitutional as it will cause his financial ruin. Specifically according to the petition, on declared total income of 19,578 euros for 2013, the revenue service sent him a tax bill demanding a total of 16,440 euros in taxes: 7,998 euros in income tax and 8,442 euros for the ENFIA, leaving the lawyer with only 3,138 euros net income. This, it is argued, violates fundamental articles of the Constitution rendering the government responsible for the protection of citizens and their property. Full article: http://www.thetoc.gr/eng/economy/article/new-single-property-tax-to-face...
The Troika is pushing for changes to make it harder for labor unions to call strike action and for legislation allowing for mass layoffs in the public sector.
Sources state that Greece’s financial lenders are pushing for changes to make it harder for labor unions to call strike action and for legislation allowing for mass layoffs. Specifically, international creditors are calling for the retrenchment of 4,000 employees in the public sector by the end of the year.
The Labor Ministry is preparing studies to show foreign creditors that proposed changes are unfeasible.
In order to prevent Troikas suggestion, Greece argues that the legislation of the ILO (International Labor Office) is already preparing a study which states the approval status of redundancies under the auspices of the Supreme Council for employment which guarantees durability, efficiency and reliability measures, as required by Troika.
Other issues being discussed and will top today's meeting as well is the streamlining of the civil service and more pension reforms.
Sources state that the troika has yet to agree to planned changes for the new single property tax (ENFIA).
Troika doesn’t seem to be taking a step back on the matter of the group redundancies.
**HARATSI(2011) Haratsi is a word used by Greeks to describe the latest tax grab. It is a property tax based on location and surface area (square footage) of all properties that are connected to the electrical grid. Churches and graves are not taxed but everything else is, based on location (municipality) and age. The newer the building the higher the tax. I am not sure if parking lots are included in this new tax but I do not see why not. The tax does not take into consideration income or ability to pay but is attached to the hydro bill and if not payed on time... the electric is cut off. Another world first here in Greece, people who can't pay their taxes having their hydro disconnected. You can't imagine the tumult this has brought on. The mayors who have intervened so that this is not enforced as well as the hydro union that has played cat and mouse with the riot police in an attempt to shut down the billing office. There is also a little detail of European law that forbids members from using utilities as a weapon to collect taxes. The first court hearing is coming up on December the second. The lawyers associations of various locations have taken the government to court. I withheld my haratsi from my landlord and paid it. Sure that works fine with rentals but most properties in Greece are not rentals. So pro bono takes over and we will see what happens. I do not expect a return for those of us that already paid but maybe some will be let off the hook. Funny to be living in a country with a pirate government... Pro bono Sam I am green eggs and ham... Haratsi-a head tax enforced by the Ottoman empire on all Christian citizens. I will say thanks here to the mayor of New Ionia who took action against this measure. It only makes sense since a couple of children fainted from hunger in his municipality's schools. Hunger is knocking on the door of many households these days. We are all hunkering down for the worst. I live in a rural are where the haratsi is 3 euros per square meter. In Athens I have property in a medium priced zone that is charged at eight euros per square meter. One square meter is nine square feet. This is the base price and newer homes get charged more. At the same time wages and pensions have been slashed in half over the last two years, believe it.
The Great Putsch: welcome to post-democratic EuropeHaving pushed through “technocratic” regime change in Greece and Italy, the EU is paving the way for the diktak of an unaccountable clique of bankers.
Well, at least one country where useless spoiling crap is no longer, egh, popular. And the rich Greeks register their cars in other countries.
BTFPorsche
Driving a Porsche in Greece is just waiving a red come tax me flag. Unlike the people who let Greece into the EU, the Greeks aren't stupid.
let Greece into the EU,It's a lot harder to hide a house.