I thought I'd post an entirely useless article for all you busy folk. Yes, it's about that country about half the size of an Istanbul or New York. Or whatever the exact proportion is. So sorry to bother those who expect more insight from the articles on this site.
I've been busy getting my garden allotment up and running, so that's part of my answer to what's going on ALL around us. I don't give a flying about making the best timed trade in gold and think there are other productive things to do with my life. Sorry to be the contrarian on a contrarian site and being so trite.
I don't know what to write, I don't do this for a living. So why am I on the site? Again, same answer. I just want to talk about a piddly little country that has always had to fight for every alliance to keep it from being wiped out.
And that means it is working hard on the German alliance right now, that should be clear. Whether the Germans will stab us in the back and bring those truckfulls of DMs to the light of day is a serious question I hope we're not gullible enough to ignore. Once in a while there's talk of transfers however no more serious talk about eurobonds. This as the death ball of financial market speculation picks off one lame duck after another. The Germans are not going to be opening up their wallets to buy an extra vacation so the other euro partners have a tiny chance to stave off collapse. They've shifted their focus by dumping their top rated gear on the rest of the world. But it is generally acknowledged by the political elite that the euro breaking are rantings by paranoid and insane attention grabbers. Until it happens. Kind of reminds me how those who warned of what might happen and did happen in the fall of 2008 were treated. So we're doomed to go through another black swan crisis unprepared with plenty of mistakes when the lights go out and we don't have an action plan. OK, there might be a miracle and the euro is saved. I don't want to claim I can see into the future.
So I don't have many insights for you. I'm writing to vent my spleen. Thanks Tylers.
So the political situation is in limbo. We have no idea what the budget compromise is going to be, it keeps getting delayed. There's a good chance foreign aid is going to be cut as a little sweetener for the PVV to justify it's own volk wearing the ever tightening hairshirt. There's almost no chance for a rational approach to mortgage interest rebates.
See that's this country's worst kept secret. We have the highest per capita mortgage debt and no walking away from your mortgage by mailing the keys. Sorry to repeat myself. The 'solutions' to this imbalance are to reintroduce higher guaranteed mortgages, allow dual earners to borrow more so they can 'afford' a house that would more reasonably fit their needs, keep the transfer tax on home purchases at the low 2 per cent which hasn't been able to restart the housing market since it started decelerating. So money is sucked out of the rest of the economy to start the housing market back up to stimulate the rest of the economy. Yes, that's the policy that is going to have to save us apparently. Sounds like a plan to keep banks solvent at all cost. There's lots more to be entirely cynical about.
The 'social work' system is being torn down because it's cheaper to send the assembly work to Poland and China. Those with disabilities have proven themselves, or will have to prove themselves because what once seemed to work well by keeping the disabled in secure and productive jobs now can't be afforded anymore. They are fit for the regular labour market, with far less encouragement for businesses to take them on. Because we like to blame the individual for not trying hard enough, for this unique system creating false price signals etc. And where does it all leave investment and jobs for the generation that is supposed to afford the houses that so many others are dying to unload so they don't have a residual debt after they sell? Well, maybe a priority should be made for the young, those who are the promise for the future, at least we have to believe they are, so they can afford those gold bricked houses.
And then there's the report on the period of the depth of the financial crisis, and the mistakes made there. I'd like to come up with a bit less vitriol and a bit more analysis of that for a later article. Or maybe not. And it might not warrant an article, not sure. But as my concentration can move from Owner's Association duties and gardening and plenty of other things, I may write something insightful on that that might at least be considered not a complete waste of time for you cutting edge financial crisis folk. And I'm one, I admit. Sometimes I just have to step back and have a fresh look at things, because the focus of my series is a bit beside the point anyway.