Information for those in the EU

[Sammich]

Avoid the (bank) holiday rush and stock up on food, water, medicines, etc. FX Markets Bracing For Major Market Event The foreign exchange markets are brace for impact after OandA announced they will shut-down currency trading on Sunday ahead of the market-moving events Last night we noted that OandA will shut-down trading on Sunday ahead of the market-moving events surrounding the Greek election (as it seems they are unwilling to take the agency risk and potentially counterparty risk on a large gap). Nowhere is this more clearly priced into the market than the short-dated FX option market. EURUSD 1 week implied vol is at its greatest premium to realized vol ahead of this weekend than at any time in the last three-and-a-half years. The last time the level of short-dated vol was near this high (in absolute and relative terms) was December 9th 2011 and EURUSD fell 400 pips in the next few days. Election Apocalypse: Greeks Hoard Canned Food (Herald Sun) Nervous Greeks are withdrawing up to 800 million euros ($1.01 billion) a day and stocking up on canned food as they fear the country will be forced to leave the eurozone after this Sunday’s election. Greek citizens fear the ramifications of a return to the country’s previous currency, the drachma, if the radical left-wing party and strong election contender SYRIZA wins this weekend. Bankers said daily withdrawals from the major banks were hitting €500-€800 million ($631.8 million-$1.01 billion), Reuters reported. Meanwhile, retailers say consumers are stocking up on non-perishable foods like pasta and canned goods.

[Christopher Jon]

Greek citizens fear the ramifications of a return to the country’s previous currency, the drachma, if the radical left-wing party and strong election contender SYRIZA wins this weekend. Our country is bankrupt, lets vote for more government handouts. I say, let 'em crash. Don't feel bad Greece, Obama and his ignorant supporters are leading our country down the same path.

[Sammich]

This whole mess was not caused by government programs for citizens. It was caused by a corrupt unregulated banking system and CORPORATE CRONYISM. Why should the citizens of Greece or any country for that matter be forced to pay for the gambling losses of the banks? Iceland is still a shining example of what should have been done at the very beginning of the 2008 crisis. Watch what happens when the $1.2 quadrillion derivatives market begins it's collapse as Italy and Spain follow in Greece's footsteps. -- -------- Post added 15-Jun-2012 at 01:47 AM ---------- Previous post was 14-Jun-2012 at 10:29 PM ---------- People complain about the poor getting welfare, but why is there silence when the rich get a $4 trillion handout? Fed Members Gave Their Own Banks $4 Trillion In Secret Bailouts Details of a GAO audit of the Federal Reserve’s eye-popping secret $16 trillion-dollar bailout reveals that Federal Reserve board members gave their own banks $4 trillion. Last Year Senator Bernie Sanders reported a long overdue audit of the Federal Reserve revealed an eye-popping $16 trillion in secret loans to bailout out Wall Street banks. Bernie Sanders has now reporting that 18 Federal Reserve Board Members gave their own banks $4 trillion of these secret bailouts in the form of loans with nearly zero interest.

[krakenslayer]

This whole mess was not caused by government programs for citizens. It was caused by a corrupt unregulated banking system and CORPORATE CRONYISM. Why should the citizens of Greece or any country for that matter be forced to pay for the gambling losses of the banks? Iceland is still a shining example of what should have been done at the very beginning of the 2008 crisis. Watch what happens when the $1.2 quadrillion derivatives market begins it's collapse as Italy and Spain follow in Greece's footsteps... People complain about the poor getting welfare, but why is there silence when the rich get a $4 trillion handout? Preach it, brother, I'm with ya! That cunt Ayn Rand was wrong. The people at the top are not heroic supermen, glittering examples of Darwinian perfection, they're basically like the rest of us; some smart, some reckless. The difference is, when one of us fucks up and ends up defaulting on a mortgage or a credit card, it only really affects us; when many of us do it, it is a drain on the economy; but when THEY (the banks, corporations, the government) screw up financially, it's utterly catastrophic. Atlas didn't shrug, the dumbass stumbled.

[Tricky]

Individually Greeks are probably the nicest people you'll meet in Europe, but collectively they are bad with money and worse at paying their taxes, thats why they are in the trouble they are in now. The EU was always a bad idea though so the blame cant solely lie with Greece. I'm not panicking though, stocking up on food and medicines would be rather silly, and the kind of thing UK citizens havent done since the days of the cold war

[Sammich]

Preach it, brother, I'm with ya! That cunt Ayn Rand was wrong. The people at the top are not heroic supermen, glittering examples of Darwinian perfection, they're basically like the rest of us; some smart, some reckless. The difference is, when one of us fucks up and ends up defaulting on a mortgage or a credit card, it only really affects us; when many of us do it, it is a drain on the economy; but when THEY (the banks, corporations, the government) screw up financially, it's utterly catastrophic. Atlas didn't shrug, the dumbass stumbled. I still don't get the self-proclaimed "libertarians" (more like libertarian in name only) obssession with Ayn Rand. If these people had done just a minimal amount of research they would have realized that not only was Ayn Rand an elitist snob that would fit well into the neo-con circles today but she also despised libertarians and accused them of "stealing" her ideas. Then there is her hypocrisy: Ayn Rand took government assistance while decrying others who did the same An interview with Evva Pryror, a social worker and consultant to Miss Rand's law firm of Ernst, Cane, Gitlin and Winick verified that on Miss Rand's behalf she secured Rand's Social Security and Medicare payments which Ayn received under the name of Ann O'Connor (husband Frank O'Connor). As Pryor said, "Doctors cost a lot more money than books earn and she could be totally wiped out" without the aid of these two government programs. Ayn took the bail out even though Ayn "despised government interference and felt that people should and could live independently... She didn't feel that an individual should take help." But alas she did and said it was wrong for everyone else to do so. The hypocrisy extends to her biggest cheerleaders: Ayn Rand Fanboy Paul Ryan Used Social Security “Hammock” to Put Himself Through College Turns out, when Ryan was an able-bodied young lad, he used that hammock to pay for his college education. (h/t Gottalaff) On the day Paul Davis Ryan was born in 1970, President Richard Nixon unveiled his record-setting $200.8 billion federal budget proposal for the upcoming year – a budget that included a large increase in Social Security payments. [...] One day as a 16 year old, Ryan came upon the lifeless body of his father. Paul Ryan, Sr. had died of a heart attack at age 55, leaving the Janesville Craig High School 10th grader, his three older brothers and sisters and his mother alone. It was Paul who told the family of his father’s death. [...] With his father’s passing, young Paul collected Social Security benefits until age 18, which he put away for college. College costs have skyrocketed since Ryan entered Miami University in 1988, yet Ryan wants to slash the very system that he benefited from because it produces “dependency.” Figures. This is a guy who requires his staffers to read Atlas Shrugged, and we now know that Ayn Rand was a big welfare queen herself.

[Christopher Jon]

This whole mess was not caused by government programs for citizens. It was caused by a corrupt unregulated banking system and CORPORATE CRONYISM. Why should the citizens of Greece or any country for that matter be forced to pay for the gambling losses of the banks? Iceland is still a shining example of what should have been done at the very beginning of the 2008 crisis. Watch what happens when the $1.2 quadrillion derivatives market begins it's collapse as Italy and Spain follow in Greece's footsteps. How it happened doesn't really matter now. What's done is done. They are adults. They are in a mess. Hard choices and decisions need to be made to solve that mess. Closing ones eyes and hoping it all goes away doesn't work, not even in the movies. Greece could solve their problems themselves if they make the right decisions. Unfortunately, that's probably not going to happen and they'll rely on the EU or US to continually bail them out. However, pot calling kettle black, what is the US at now, 16 trillion in debt? We're kinda sucking ourselves.

[Sammich]

Like I said the countries in trouble should follow what Iceland did. I would even go so far as declaring odious debt. There was rampant fraud going on at all levels with the mortgaged backed securities, yet no one has been indicted. Bill Black one of the central banking regulators that brought criminal indictments during the savings and loan crisis, estimates in one year alone there were hundreds of thousands of counts of fraud being comitted by the banking and mortgage industries. Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? Financial crooks brought down the world's economy — but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them Here is one of the best suggestions that should have been done to that narcissist Lloyd "I am doing god's work" Blankfein: "You put Lloyd Blankfein in pound-me-in-the-ass prison for one six-month term, and all this bullshit would stop, all over Wall Street," says a former congressional aide. "That's all it would take. Just once."

[Mike70]

That cunt Ayn Rand was wrong. The people at the top are not heroic supermen, glittering examples of Darwinian perfection... Atlas didn't shrug, the dumbass stumbled. the only thing i have for "followers" of ayn rand is ridicule. i have literally laughed in the faces of these folks, seriously and no shit. i think the book "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn is an excellent examination of human culture, thought, civilization, and just what does it mean to be human. it challenges the very notion that humans are the end product and pinnacle of evolution. it provides a great opposite view to the so-called "thoughts" of folks like rand. its main argument is that human supremacy and culture are both myths that we are enacting. that we are, in effect, living inside a giant fictional story that we are building up/writing ourselves. i've posted one of the main points of the book a few times as a joke but it basically goes "with man gone, will there be hope for the gorilla?"

[EvilNed]

What we're seeing in greece is just a miniature version of the scenario that's going to strike the entire western world within 10-15 years. And then China after that, in 40-50.

[Tricky]

What we're seeing in greece is just a miniature version of the scenario that's going to strike the entire western world within 10-15 years. And then China after that, in 40-50. Somebodies military will step in before things completely collapse into anarchy, whether that cures it or turns it to Syria/Libya/Egypt is anyones guess. I expect Bundeswher and French troops under an EU flag will be on the ground in Greece over the next few years if politics fails, which of course the Greeks will not like one bit...

[Mr. Clean]

Somebodies military will step in before things completely collapse into anarchy, whether that cures it or turns it to Syria/Libya/Egypt is anyones guess. I expect Bundeswher and French troops under an EU flag will be on the ground in Greece over the next few years if politics fails, which of course the Greeks will not like one bit... Why French troops? I ask out of curiosity.

[SymphonicX]

This whole mess was not caused by government programs for citizens. It was caused by a corrupt unregulated banking system and CORPORATE CRONYISM. Why should the citizens of Greece or any country for that matter be forced to pay for the gambling losses of the banks? Iceland is still a shining example of what should have been done at the very beginning of the 2008 crisis. Watch what happens when the $1.2 quadrillion derivatives market begins it's collapse as Italy and Spain follow in Greece's footsteps. -- -------- Post added 15-Jun-2012 at 01:47 AM ---------- Previous post was 14-Jun-2012 at 10:29 PM ---------- People complain about the poor getting welfare, but why is there silence when the rich get a $4 trillion handout? Fed Members Gave Their Own Banks $4 Trillion In Secret Bailouts Details of a GAO audit of the Federal Reserve’s eye-popping secret $16 trillion-dollar bailout reveals that Federal Reserve board members gave their own banks $4 trillion. Last Year Senator Bernie Sanders reported a long overdue audit of the Federal Reserve revealed an eye-popping $16 trillion in secret loans to bailout out Wall Street banks. Bernie Sanders has now reporting that 18 Federal Reserve Board Members gave their own banks $4 trillion of these secret bailouts in the form of loans with nearly zero interest. Spot on...absolutely true... -- -------- Post added at 10:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 AM ---------- Somebodies military will step in before things completely collapse into anarchy, whether that cures it or turns it to Syria/Libya/Egypt is anyones guess. I expect Bundeswher and French troops under an EU flag will be on the ground in Greece over the next few years if politics fails, which of course the Greeks will not like one bit... Isnt that assuming that the Greeks a) suffer a complete and utter breakdown of their entire infrastructure and b) assuming they're still near the Euro when that happens ?

[Tricky]

Isnt that assuming that the Greeks a) suffer a complete and utter breakdown of their entire infrastructure and b) assuming they're still near the Euro when that happens ?[/QUOTE] Well a few articles I've read say that is exactly what is happening in places like Athens, but I guess time will tell! They can pack it in anyway, I'm going there in a few weeks & don't want to catch a bullet or molotov on my holidays! Seems they don't like Microsoft either http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise...rosoft_greece/

[Mike70]

Isnt that assuming that the Greeks a) suffer a complete and utter breakdown of their entire infrastructure and b) assuming they're still near the Euro when that happens? Well a few articles I've read say that is exactly what is happening in places like Athens, but I guess time will tell! They can pack it in anyway, I'm going there in a few weeks & don't want to catch a bullet or molotov on my holidays! Seems they don't like Microsoft either http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise...rosoft_greece/ dude, i have been to greece many, many times. the problem in greece can be narrowed down to one single entity: the greek press. the press in greece are among the WORST on planet earth. the press in greece doesn't even have a pretense to the truth. the only thing it does is blame greece's problems on others, whip up nationalistic fervor, and generally spread warped information or outright lies. greeks for some reason just lap it up. wait there is a reason: it is far easier to blame your problems on someone else than it is to take responsibility for your own actions. greece needs to take a long look in the mirror, stop the fucking whining, stop reading and listening to the garbage in greek newspapers and greek tv and do what is necessary. that's what life ultimately boils down to: doing what is necessary.