The euro's death rattle

[bedsit]

That's why most people lose money

The world is gone mad right now and the USD is the leader of the gang. Mark my word: us dollar is so gonna crash sooner rather than later

The Euro is also a shjt hole but still much better than USD

I wouldn't say right now - see this article from 7 years ago:

'One big difference is that under the original Bretton Woods system America ran a current-account surplus and the value of the dollar was officially pegged to gold. No wonder, perhaps, that today’s “system” is already starting to creak as some Asian central banks start to worry about the value of their dollar reserves. To sustain the current arrangement, they will have to keep buying more and more dollars as America’s current-account deficit widens. Asian central banks are already exposed to enormous potential losses in local-currency terms should their currencies appreciate against the dollar. It would be prudent for them to diversify their reserves, but that could send the dollar tumbling. Larry Summers, a Treasury secretary under President Clinton, calls this the “balance of financial terror”: in effect, America relies on the costs to Asian central banks of not financing its deficit as assurance that financing will continue indefinitely.Where the dollar has failed is as a store of value. Since 1960 the dollar has fallen by around two-thirds against the euro (using Germany’s currency as a proxy before 1999) and the yen (see chart 1). The euro area, unlike America, is a net creditor. Never before has the guardian of the world’s main reserve currency been its biggest net debtor. And a debtor may be tempted to use devaluation to reduce its external deficit—hardly a desirable property for a reserve currency.

Those bearish on the dollar are asking why investors will want to hold the assets of a country that has, by its own actions, jeopardised its reserve-currency position. And, they point out, without the intervention of central banks, which have been huge net buyers of dollars, the dollar would already be lower. If those same central banks were to begin to sell some of their $2.3 trillion dollar assets, then there would be a risk of a collapse in the dollar. However you look at it, America is likely to find it increasingly hard to finance its huge current-account deficit.'

 

[TheBramble]

Biological disposal systems figure large on this forum. It must be a trading related phenomena.

No sh!t...

 

[Sang Froid]

No sh!t...

.

 

[Pat494]

Although democracy has many good aspects, it also has its own "achilles heel". And that is the choice of the majority tends to elect very average sort of people ( lowest common denominator ) whose main interest is to please the voters with the next election in mind. This self serving sort of person hasn't been able to and doesn't want to tackle complex problems like foreign policy and financial stability very well. They pass the most difficult ( vote losing ) parts of these problems down the line to the next lot to solve. A good recent example is the Blair/Brown govt hopelessly overspending, deregulating bankers, giving away billions to dodgy overseas handouts, getting involved in costly foreign conflicts on a moral basis - Iraq, Balkans, Afghanistan, Africa etc

How to get people into the top jobs who have ability and integrity has yet to be devised imho

 

[Shakone]

Although democracy has many good aspects, it also has its own "achilles heel". And that is the choice of the majority tends to elect very average sort of people ( lowest common denominator ) whose main interest is to please the voters with the next election in mind. This self serving sort of person hasn't been able to and doesn't want to tackle complex problems like foreign policy and financial stability very well. They pass the most difficult ( vote losing ) parts of these problems down the line to the next lot to solve. A good recent example is the Blair/Brown govt hopelessly overspending, deregulating bankers, giving away billions to dodgy overseas handouts, getting involved in costly foreign conflicts on a moral basis - Iraq, Balkans, Afghanistan, Africa etc

How to get people into the top jobs who have ability and integrity has yet to be devised imho

Yes, but don't you also think that it's the majority who are self-serving too. Perhaps that's why they vote in these average people, precisely because these are the leaders who will promise to keep things bearable for now and the next 8 years or so, and delay the disaster until it can't be delayed any more and it's someone else's problem. The self-serving population might want to keep doing that for as long as possible.

 

[Pat494]

Yes, but don't you also think that it's the majority who are self-serving too. Perhaps that's why they vote in these average people, precisely because these are the leaders who will promise to keep things bearable for now and the next 8 years or so, and delay the disaster until it can't be delayed any more and it's someone else's problem. The self-serving population might want to keep doing that for as long as possible.

I think you have a point here.
On another slightly different tack - I was shocked to find out recently that ALL the elections in Britain since the 1960s were actually won by the candidates supported by Rupert Murdoch. The people voted the way he wanted with News Int papers etc. brain washing us. Perhaps more than just the UK too as Murdoch has papers around the world.

 

[BeginnerJoe]

I think you have a point here.
On another slightly different tack - I was shocked to find out recently that ALL the elections in Britain since the 1960s were actually won by the candidates supported by Rupert Murdoch. The people voted the way he wanted with News Int papers etc. brain washing us. Perhaps more than just the UK too as Murdoch has papers around the world.

You have been brain washed by the gov that all your troubles are caused by Rupert Murdoch, and the gov had nothing to do with it. Why, it is not even their fault to destroy the economy by engaging in endless and expensive wars.

 

[YouAreNotFree]

I think you have a point here.
On another slightly different tack - I was shocked to find out recently that ALL the elections in Britain since the 1960s were actually won by the candidates supported by Rupert Murdoch. The people voted the way he wanted with News Int papers etc. brain washing us. Perhaps more than just the UK too as Murdoch has papers around the world.

I think it's probably the case that he simply chose to support whoever was most likely to win so he could call in favors for another 4 years.

 

[Pat494]

You have been brain washed by the gov that all your troubles are caused by Rupert Murdoch, and the gov had nothing to do with it. Why, it is not even their fault to destroy the economy by engaging in endless and expensive wars.

No no no BJ you get ahead of the facts and come to the wrong conclusions. I was talking about elections, concerning Murdoch, not wars. He got them elected and then they started the wars - claiming moral superiority or national interest.

 

[Splitlink]

I think you have a point here.
On another slightly different tack - I was shocked to find out recently that ALL the elections in Britain since the 1960s were actually won by the candidates supported by Rupert Murdoch. The people voted the way he wanted with News Int papers etc. brain washing us. Perhaps more than just the UK too as Murdoch has papers around the world.

I was shocked, too. Perhaps, a good shock is what we all need. Rupert Murdoch has known, for a decade, how his reporters got their information and I cannot believe otherwise. I can forgive a paper making an apology over a news item, once, maybe twice, providing the excuse is convincing, but for eight whole years (that we know of)?

RM is a shrewd and unfeeling hypocrite and now it is clear. Do not be put of by an aged 80 year old, apologising and , for good measure, saying that his 102 year old mother is ashamed of him. I am 79 years old. Not so good a businessman as he is, obviously, but I know whether what is going on around me is working correctly, or not.

 

[Doomberg]

Anyone hoping for a gap down tonight?

 

[Splitlink]

Anyone hoping for a gap down tonight?

Sell on the rumour, buy on the news?

 

[Splitlink]

Although democracy has many good aspects, it also has its own "achilles heel". And that is the choice of the majority tends to elect very average sort of people ( lowest common denominator )

whose main interest is to please the voters with the next election in mind.

This self serving sort of person hasn't been able to and doesn't want to tackle complex problems like foreign policy and financial stability very well. They pass the most difficult ( vote losing ) parts of these problems down the line to the next lot to solve. A good recent example is the Blair/Brown govt hopelessly overspending, deregulating bankers, giving away billions to dodgy overseas handouts, getting involved in costly foreign conflicts on a moral basis - Iraq, Balkans, Afghanistan, Africa etc

How to get people into the top jobs who have ability and integrity has yet to be devised imho

And most of those entitled to vote can't be bothered to do so. If only 40% vote, what do we expect?

 

[Splitlink]

Although democracy has many good aspects, it also has its own "achilles heel". And that is the choice of the majority tends to elect very average sort of people ( lowest common denominator ) whose main interest is to please the voters with the next election in mind. This self serving sort of person hasn't been able to and doesn't want to tackle complex problems like foreign policy and financial stability very well. They pass the most difficult ( vote losing ) parts of these problems down the line to the next lot to solve. A good recent example is the Blair/Brown govt hopelessly overspending, deregulating bankers, giving away billions to dodgy overseas handouts, getting involved in costly foreign conflicts on a moral basis - Iraq, Balkans, Afghanistan, Africa etc

How to get people into the top jobs who have ability and integrity has yet to be devised imho

Anyone know a good dictator? We'll vote him in on democratic grounds and keep him in. Just like Hitler! Just one time, we'd have to vote and then no more for the rest of our lives.

Read Hans Fallada's "Alone in Berlin"--Penguin Classics.

 

[djbrathiswaite]

EUR/USD shorts from 14500 are looking good now! Hit the 61.8% Fib above the falling trend line plum, see post/chart here: http://bit.ly/pMeb9T

 

[Jason101]

And most of those entitled to vote can't be bothered to do so. If only 40% vote, what do we expect?

I live in a constituency dominated by a party I would not vote for. As I long as I live in this area why should I vote?

Our biggest problem is that our system is a sham in that the official line is we vote for a local parliamentary representative rather than a president so there is no need for proportional representation.

But the reality is very different with the whips and the rest of the machine we are run as a presidency. What a sham and we are the losers.

 

[Pat494]

I saw the "father" of the eurozone was presented on the TV recently. Probably not many people have ever heard of Signor Prodi - an Italian.
If there is a next time then may I suggest eurozone 11 is designed by a German, run by an honest Britain ( there are still a few about they say ). The French could provide the chorus line of pretty girls doing the high-kicks.

I mention this because the next Head of the ECB is - you guessed it another Italian. Although I have a great affinity for Italy - their forte is not really running complex systems except Ferrari, but fluffy products like Gucci.

 

[squall321]

I mention this because the next Head of the ECB is - you guessed it another Italian. Although I have a great affinity for Italy - their forte is not really running complex systems except Ferrari, but fluffy products like Gucci.

they ran the roman empire

 

[Atilla]

I saw the "father" of the eurozone was presented on the TV recently. Probably not many people have ever heard of Signor Prodi - an Italian.
If there is a next time then may I suggest eurozone 11 is designed by a German, run by an honest Britain ( there are still a few about they say ). The French could provide the chorus line of pretty girls doing the high-kicks.

I mention this because the next Head of the ECB is - you guessed it another Italian. Although I have a great affinity for Italy - their forte is not really running complex systems except Ferrari, but fluffy products like Gucci.

They have my vote...