Yes, the Cypriots.

But it all backfires and somehow Merkle/Germany/EU/Euro* gets the the blame.


*Delete or circle as necessary.

 

Can anyone explain to me in simple terms why, when there is pressure on the Euro, the £ continues to flounder against it?

IS the £ being held artificially low?

And if so, or even if not, is it not in our interest as a nett IMPORTER to have it a bit higher?

 

Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem was, only this morning, saying that it was a joint decision.

 

I hope Cyprus defaults, not because I want to see any person or country suffer, but just in the hope in puts an end to the EU.

 

Do you have sources for that ? I find it very hard to believe that a few property deals that went sour managed to have such an impact and I don't recall seeing any news on a Spanish style property crash in Cyprus. As far as I was aware the problem was largely due to poor choices they made lending money to Greece.

 

Not alot of demand for the £. If you had the choice of 6% interest in Cyprus, so buy Euros, or..............not quite 6% in a British bank which would you choose?

Our economy is also not a bed of roses at the moment, so there is some risk involved, hence losing the AAA rating.

Cheap imports is great for the consumer, but cheap exports is good for manufacturing, and they employ people.

It's a bit of a simplistic overview.

 

Orderly or disorderly default...........surely the options are narrowing, its all actually
Bollox?

Are they actually any better off than Zimbabwe

 

Well the russkies couldn't give a toss about their oil or gas........

Now what

 

We do property and finance and we talk to the banks.

We used to sell 5-8 properties per year on Cyprus East coast up til the crash. Knew almost all the decent developers in the region, virtually all have gone bust. Tons of empty apartments, villas standing empty. Been a great buyers market for 3 years.

I have Euro accounts with 2 Cypriots banks and used to get their deposit rate offers with my statement. I'm off out there in 3 weeks but not sure what currency we'll be using.

 

The value of a free floating (as opposed to artificially fixed like China's yuan) is fixed by what the market thing your prospects are.

Right now, even though the markets think Eurozone prospects are poor it thinks the UK's are worst because they see us as inextricably linked to the EU as well as having our own issues in addition.

Our govt is happy with the devaluation (c.25%) as it prices our exports cheaper.

 

The EU's one of the greatest social, economic and political ideals that's come to be since World War 2. It isn't perfect, but I for one will be doing my best to make sure it doesn't come to an end.

 

Well I am sure that will make all the difference

dl

 

In an ideal world it would work,

 

Totally agree. It's currently a bit broken, on a lot of levels, not just economic, but it should be fixed not abandoned.

 

How many times does humankind have to prove to itself that you cannot make disparate tribes of people all behave in the same way, at the same time, before they give up and realise that instinctively, it just ain't gonna happen?

This Cypriot farce is moving the markets every time there's a new headline. Herd mentality for a country worth 0.2% of the EU. Utter madness.

 

Make a big fuss about the sacrificial lamb that is Cyprus, sweep much bigger economic doom under the carpet for a while. I half expect the Cypriot government are actually being controlled by some EU bigwigs.

 

... cos, well, as we all know you're pretty damn good at what you do, you're kind of a big deal

 

I did think that the Ruskies would do a deal on gas rights as they had Cyprus over a barrel (forgive the pun) on pricing and it would have given them a foothold in Europe. dl

 

yes, interesting

tell that to the American taxpayer who bailed out failed industries (banking, insurance, motor) to the tune trillions and trillions of dollars.

not what they signed up for as americans -- hence the tea party

capitalism may well work at the "quantum" level, but you would struggle to argue it works at the "newtonian" level


if america was a company it would be declared insolvent and wound up

 

Talking to a Cypriot guy I know tonight, he reckons it will either explode, or fizzle out within the next two weeks.

I'm firmly of the belief that it IS being used to mask something else.

 

For those of you who like a flutter:

 

What did Cypriot banks do with all the offshore funds they received? Bad loans presumably but anyone know who to? Was there a property bubble and did some money end up in Greece?

dl

 

There was a property bubble, but the main cause was that the banks held very large amounts of Greek Government debt, that has effectively been defaulted on.

 

So very few hard facts to explain where the banks lost all that money then ? 17 billion is what they need so they must have lost well in excess of that. I would like to know where it all went.

 

I am simply amazed that someone could hold that view with all evidence to the contrary that is available. Anti-democratic, bank account stealing, you voted the wrong way, vote again, ever closer union totalitarianism is what you are supporting. Shame on you

 

I'm welling up here: what a great spiel.

However, I think it's about time to give that economics degree back if you have one. Anyone got a shredder handy?

 

Why is the latest Troika agreement not subject to Cypriot parliamentary approval?

dl

 

The Cypriot banks haven't 'lost' the money. They know where it went/is.

They are INSOLVENT ie. they don't have the cash to meet their immediate commitments.

They've lent LONG and foolishly (e.g. 25 year loans, Greek loans) and borrowed SHORT and expensively (1 and 2 year cash bonds at 4.5%+ when NatWest are paying 0.10% on deposits) and they've not retained sufficent reserves. And because they're considered risky they've had to pay high interbank rates to borrow from other banks. Eventually other banks decided they're not worth the risk at any interest rate.

The bailout monies are cashflow injections to allow them to service their commitments and give them time to liquidate some of their assets in a 'fire sale'. Trouble is everyone knows their desperate for cash so won't pay full price.

And few, if any bank can survive this sort of loss of trust.

 

I know, it must be really difficult with your narrowness of vision to see that not everyone follows the backward-looking, little-Englander, anti-EU herd mentality.

Wales has been in 'union' since 1536. 'Sppose that makes all Welshmen English here in 'totalitarian Britain!


__________________________________________________ _____________
Time for some pro-EU agitprop.

 

Even if I shredded every piece of paper I've acquired, I'll still be qualified...

... and analytical, and I'd continue to march to my own tune.