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Post by Madgolfer on Aug 9, 2011 6:39:38 GMT 1
With the financial world in turmoil yet again, week Govt. leadership and several needless wars, it does make you wonder what the world is coming to. And now we have this weeks senseless riots in the UK...... Reminds us of some of the reasons we left the UK in the first place. Very sad.
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Post by ray51 on Aug 9, 2011 7:36:24 GMT 1
It's not only the U.K. ; many places have been getting uglier , more difficult and much more expensive in recent years , the oases of relative well-being and satisfaction are more and more hard to find ( well , apparently Norway is still one of them , but who'd want to move to there ? Otherwise , there's expats whingeing , from U.S. & Canada to Australia , not very many happy chappies left and look how much money has been wiped off the portfolios in the last 2 weeks ) .
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Post by Ribaric on Aug 9, 2011 9:03:00 GMT 1
I just had a large family group from eastern England (Southend) visit us here in Varazdin. They all remarked how much more peaceful and calm things are here than in the loads-a-munny rat race, even the young'ns.
They did remind me of how our cafe culture and outside life are easily taken for granted as compared to the constantly wet, windy and chilly UK. It also strikes a clear message that I have a much better living standard despite my income being considerably less than theirs. They are already planning a return trip to look at the possibility of buying property or even re-locating.
Add all this to the riot thing going down in my old manor.... it makes you happy to have decided to get out.
Thankyou Varazdin.
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Post by crojoe on Aug 9, 2011 9:06:24 GMT 1
The mighty dollar was bound to fall. How can anyone in their right mind take a debt of 14 trillion and up it to 16.1 trillion and think it's going to fix the countries financial problems? The congress of the States is all but useless in making financial cuts, with all their lobby groups, interest groups, big business groups and of course their own interests. But, it's not just the politicians fault; it's also the people who live way beyond their ability to pay back debts on their big cars, big houses and life style. It's also big business moving factories out of the West to countries abroad to make huge profits for themselves and investors. The question now is when will the bubble finally pop? Germany have just said their not interested in handing out any more money to failing economies so we will see how this effects Italy and Spain who it seam are on the brink of something.
So, my thought is the world is coming to a major show down, a crash of sorts. So, time to get your house in order, pay your debts and bunker down for a financial melt-down. Even the Great Depression didn’t all happen in one day. Once Black Monday came and went it took several years for the world to sink into major depression, in other words go broke.
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Post by ray51 on Aug 9, 2011 9:19:04 GMT 1
A mate of mine explains it like this : you kill yourself working , getting exploited and being robbed by the taxman ; or , maybe , you take risks in your own business eneterprise , again and again ? Not everone wants to work 'till they peg and spend their life swimming in an aquarium full of sharks ; eventually , if lucky , you get to save a bit of money by your retirement age ; - so because you are a positive thinker , you buy some shares and investment funds ; when those crash , you sell them all in fear and crystalise the losses ; - or you put the money in the bank , defensively ; any pitiful interest the bank deigns to pay you is a X-mas bonus ( which gets automatically taxed in most countries and so will be the case in Croatia after EU-accession ) and you pray every night before and during bedtime , that the bank will not go bust tomorrow ; - or you put the lump sum under the mattress ? you still don't sleep well , anyway , matress being on the money and look at all what can go still wrong ! ( as it indeed does , daily )
Bottom line : I now know of approx. 3 good ways of making money : politics/public service , inheritance and Lotto ( haven't tried the first as I was too old when I discovered The Truth , no luck with the 2nd one and no results yet with the 3rd one , seems the odds are desperate ? )
That's what our world has come to .
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Post by crojoe on Aug 9, 2011 10:00:10 GMT 1
Buy gold! Just jumped past the 1700 mark today and climbing. I think that’s like a climb of $400 to $500+ an oz over the period of 12 months. The other item to buy and stock is alcohol such as whisky or similar as people always take to drink during bad times (just have to make sure you don't drink it).
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Post by crojoe on Aug 9, 2011 10:02:54 GMT 1
A mate of mine explains it like this : you kill yourself working , getting exploited and being robbed by the taxman ; eventually , if lucky , you get to save a bit of money by your retirement age ; so because you are a positive thinker , you buy some shares and investment funds ; when those crash , you sell them all in fear and crystalise the losses ; or you put the money in the bank , defensively ; any pitiful interest the bank deigns to pay you is a X-mas bonus ( which gets automatically taxed in most countries and so will be the case in Croatia after EU-accession ) and you pray every night before and during bedtime , that the bank will not go bust tomorrow ; or you put the lump sun under the mattress ? you still don't sleep well , anyway , matress being on the money and look at all what can go still wrong ! ( and it does , daily ) That's what our world has come to . Yes, very true about bank interest and charges. I have been looking at my HR bank statements and notices that my bank charges each month seem to reflect the interest I make each month and the end result is zero profit.
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Post by ray51 on Aug 9, 2011 10:20:15 GMT 1
Buy gold! Just jumped past the 1700 mark today and climbing. I think that’s like a climb of $400 to $500+ an oz over the period of 12 months. The other item to buy and stock is alcohol such as whisky or similar as people always take to drink during bad times (just have to make sure you don't drink it). Gold ? I remember it being $850/0z in late 70s/early 80s ; oh , but then it went all the way down ( read : capital loss , no interest either ) ; and our brilliant Gordon ( Brown ) sold tons of it at only 200-odd ! so now it is 1700 and might go to 2K , maybe ( for how long ? ) ; all about the sentiment of the moment , I remember the punters in 2000/2001 telling me that it was stupid to accept 14-15% safe-ish returns when many Nasdaq IPO-launches were going up by hundreds of % ; very funny , that most of those either don't exist anymore or their shares are 75 and 80 and 90 % down . The favourite last words of the hopefuls : " Yes , but this time , it's different "; and then it turns out , in due course , that it ( again ) was not !
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Post by ray51 on Aug 9, 2011 10:48:57 GMT 1
As for the rioting in the U.K. : can anyone throw in an informative explanation ( since there appears to be so much contradiction in the media and I'm not there ) is it the gang culture , one bungled act by the cops , the police being too politically-correct over too many years , what else ? Going shopping with a brick , instead of a credit card ? I don't get it ! And I am due in London and Surrey , 1st week of September .
( But I do remember my first time in New York : the policemen were walking in threes , helmets on heads and armed to their teeth ; I was astonished ; any normal person wouldn't dare to cross them and the others would get shot , finished . )
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Post by anton on Aug 9, 2011 10:58:03 GMT 1
Can we get things in perspective.
Last Saturday went out for a lovely pub lunch then saw a production of Hamlet in the gardens of one of the Cambridge colleges. Perfect!!
And this was in the UK where everything is supposedly going up in flames and everyone is ready to top themselves.
I realise I'm one of the lucky ones and have some sympathy with disillusioned youths living in urban areas but again remember how well off we in the West are compared with the other 90% of the world's population.
So cheer up we've all been here before so just count your blessings and look forward to better times.
Here endif the first lesson.
Yours sincerely.
Pollyanna.
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Post by crojoe on Aug 9, 2011 11:50:31 GMT 1
Buy gold! Just jumped past the 1700 mark today and climbing. I think that’s like a climb of $400 to $500+ an oz over the period of 12 months. The other item to buy and stock is alcohol such as whisky or similar as people always take to drink during bad times (just have to make sure you don't drink it). Gold ? I remember it being $850/0z in late 70s/early 80s ; oh , but then it went all the way down ( read : capital loss , no interest either ) ; and our brilliant Gordon ( Brown ) sold tons of it at only 200-odd ! so now it is 1700 and might go to 2K , maybe ( for how long ? ) ; all about the sentiment of the moment , I remember the punters in 2000/2001 telling me that it was stupid to accept 14-15% safe-ish returns when many Nasdaq IPO-launches were going up by hundreds of % ; very funny , that most of those either don't exist anymore or their shares are 75 and 80 and 90 % down . The favourite last words of the hopefuls : " Yes , but this time , it's different "; and then it turns out , in due course , that it ( again ) was not ! True, it does go up and down, but more up then down and while it may fall, well so does the USA currency. All the US currency has been doing for years is devaluating. Gold is a long term safe haven, not good if you want to make profit fast.
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Post by crojoe on Aug 9, 2011 12:10:33 GMT 1
Can we get things in perspective. Last Saturday went out for a lovely pub lunch then saw a production of Hamlet in the gardens of one of the Cambridge colleges. Perfect!! And this was in the UK where everything is supposedly going up in flames and everyone is ready to top themselves. I realise I'm one of the lucky ones and have some sympathy with disillusioned youths living in urban areas but again remember how well off we in the West are compared with the other 90% of the world's population. So cheer up we've all been here before so just count your blessings and look forward to better times. Here endif the first lesson. Yours sincerely. Pollyanna. As the saying goes, you never know how good you had it till it's gone. The UK does have a major problem with its youth, more so then many countries I've lived in or visited. A great deal of that is loss of respect (I'm not talking the Ali G type), but respect for elders, family, authority and in this case the police. This is not about equality, race or want of change, but rather disregard or respect for others. It's the ugly head of the mob spirit. Sure, they say they have no jobs and they get treated worse then others, but the problem is many would rather apply for benefits then go around and find a job. Instead they would rather cause problems and moan and grown about how "bad they have it". Many immigrants to UK seem to find work, as do many Eastern Europeans. Is it because they know desperation, have a can be done attitude or are we just sympathetic to foreigners? Maybe this is the fault of the system in the UK, way to easy to just get onto the benefit line. If they only came over to Eastern Europe and see how good they have it then they might count their blessings. I do believe one of the problems is stems from the huge influx over the years of immigrants from many of the newer EU countries (namely Poland) who take on the jobs often the youth would have taken such as working at fast food joints, hospitality work etc. We are talking an influx in the millions, so this is bound to have a negative effect. Nothing is ever perfect, but as free as the UK is, these youth need to see they have it good.
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Post by ray51 on Aug 9, 2011 12:52:07 GMT 1
Riots or not ( I still have not understood the bottom line , on these ones ! ) , he situation is pretty much equally bad or worse in Spain , France , Belgium and the Netherlands , with the ever-increasing minorities who don't ( want to make an effort to ) fit and the crime and unemployment ; the Danes and the Swedes are getting out of the politically-correct frame of mind , as are the Finns and some others . Makes me ask : and if Croatia gets in the EU , with all that crazy legislation ? Then again , I think : naaah , what could the attraction be , for dodgy immigrants - as not much well-paid work and low social benefits...
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