Post: #276

(07-08-2015 01:45 AM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

(07-07-2015 07:19 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  What real time site do they use there like zillow?

I'm with Mech on this.

How does one buy some land over there?

While it's cheap as fuck obviously.

Don't count on it. The Greek government will be scrambling for cash from any source it can get, and land taxes or transfer taxes are a juicy target because you can't hide land from the government -- especially since the government knows there'll be an influx of foreigners looking to pick up Greek property at low prices. Even on a quick Google search you have to have a special "permit" (likely: a bribe) from "regional administration" to buy property in certain border areas like Crete. That said, the same quick Google search reveals 2,150 square metres in north Crete going for about $54,000 US.

Post: #277

(07-08-2015 01:57 AM)Paracelsus Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 01:45 AM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

(07-07-2015 07:19 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  What real time site do they use there like zillow?

I'm with Mech on this.

How does one buy some land over there?

While it's cheap as fuck obviously.

Don't count on it. The Greek government will be scrambling for cash from any source it can get, and land taxes or transfer taxes are a juicy target because you can't hide land from the government -- especially since the government knows there'll be an influx of foreigners looking to pick up Greek property at low prices. Even on a quick Google search you have to have a special "permit" (likely: a bribe) from "regional administration" to buy property in certain border areas like Crete. That said, the same quick Google search reveals 2,150 square metres in north Crete going for about $54,000 US.

The key to buying land during an economic crisis is buy too little for them to notice. Owning thousands of acres will backfire, if everything collapses, whereas owning a little land is less likely to cause issues.

Still, most of us here haven't seen across-the-market nationalization, like what happened to begin the Soviet Union, so maybe some people buying Greek land only to completely lose everything will be useful lessons as to what happens when you don't stand up to the left.

Post: #278

Greece may be turning into flames but China is seeing economic troubles as well.

China

So along with the EU undergoing a painful episode you have the Chinese markets going into a spasm which has yet to be arrested. It is so bad they're hunting down those "hidden" powers who are causing it.

Hidden forces


This has hit oil prices; China panics Asia

If you think the debt Greece owes is astronomical there is evidence to say China has seen 2.5 trillion dollars wiped out. How did this come about?



Not a good time to be a socialist and communist eh?

Post: #279

(07-08-2015 09:43 AM)Foolsgo1d Wrote:  If you think the debt Greece owes is astronomical there is evidence to say China has seen 2.5 trillion dollars wiped out. How did this come about?

The Chinese stock market is up 70% YoY due to a tremendous surge in April-June, despite minimal GDP growth in China (4-6%). Economic growth has been slowing in China, yet the stock market surged this year. Why? Because it has been easier to borrow than ever. Retail investors are now panicking to sell and lock in their gains or cut their losses. The articles you posted seem to gloss over this stuff or hide it in one throwaway line.

Stocks are still overvalued there and have a ways to fall.

Post: #280

The NYSE is currently down due to "technical difficulties".

Post: #281

(07-08-2015 11:13 AM)portofmanteau Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 09:43 AM)Foolsgo1d Wrote:  If you think the debt Greece owes is astronomical there is evidence to say China has seen 2.5 trillion dollars wiped out. How did this come about?

The Chinese stock market is up 70% YoY due to a tremendous surge in April-June, despite minimal GDP growth in China (4-6%). Economic growth has been slowing in China, yet the stock market surged this year. Why? Because it has been easier to borrow than ever. Retail investors are now panicking to sell and lock in their gains or cut their losses. The articles you posted seem to gloss over this stuff or hide it in one throwaway line.

Stocks are still overvalued there and have a ways to fall.

Don't know when people will learn that any market that uses a large proportion of borrowed money to finance asset purchases WILL develop into a bubble. And in asset bubble's the majority of players will lose when it pops. If you're Joe Blow you will have to be straight up lucky NOT to lose money. The majority of money made in bubble prone sectors will be made by people smarter and better connected than 80+ % of players.

This includes stock markets which allow high margin accounts to dominate, and much more important, residential real estate. It is just frightening how much debt the average poor bastard has to take on to buy a house. And the leverage he has to endure. 10% down on a $500,000 heap of bricks/cement/plywood. A small move in the market and his entire $50,000 is wiped out. A month or three to remove what may have taken years to accumulate. Way too much risk in easy lending environments.

Anyway, the Chinese market has much further to fall. Unless you are directly affected, and the result will be you having to survive on a packet of noodles a day I wouldn't worry too much. There's no way that current prices can be maintained over the long term, so the market may as well get it over with and get rid of the excess in as short time as possible. The Chinese government seem to have some reason to want to stretch it out, but ironically the suspended trading will only make it worse. Suspended trading rules are in place to avoid the consequences of irrationality - run on the bank type situations. But this drop is completely rational. In fact they should have been suspending trading earlier this year when prices were going UP irrationally. Interesting that regulatory authorities don't seem to think it is worth their while to suspend trading when the market is going up...

Post: #282

Seems like it would be best to be sitting in the US Dollar until things settle a bit.

If anyone doesn't mind sharing, what are you doing investment wise (equities, bonds, re, commodities, etc.)in regards to all this Greece/China stuff. I know there is a stock market thread but that tends to be more individual stock picking.

Post: #283

(07-08-2015 12:54 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  Seems like it would be best to be sitting in the US Dollar until things settle a bit.

If anyone doesn't mind sharing, what are you doing investment wise (equities, bonds, re, commodities, etc.)in regards to all this Greece/China stuff. I know there is a stock market thread but that tends to be more individual stock picking.

The second that "Oxi" won last Sunday, I pulled everything out of my mutual funds and converted it back to a savings deposit.

With the market instability in Greece and China, the increasingly likely prospect of Grexit leading to potential contagion in the eurozone, crude oil prices about to crash once more, and with the looming spectre of the Fed about to start unwinding ZIRP/QE leading to the credit bubble deflation, the last place anyone should be investing in is stocks.

The Great Correction is coming, folks.

Post: #284

delete

Post: #285

(07-08-2015 12:54 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  Seems like it would be best to be sitting in the US Dollar until things settle a bit.

If anyone doesn't mind sharing, what are you doing investment wise (equities, bonds, re, commodities, etc.)in regards to all this Greece/China stuff. I know there is a stock market thread but that tends to be more individual stock picking.

Only indirectly related to your question, but I am considering shorting the Canadian $ later this year. May be too late by then, but we'll see. Canada's currency is tied to resources, especially oil. Much of its economy not tied to resources is tied to the residential real estate market which is in a bubble so massive it is beyond crying about. It is so gigantic, and so obvious, the only option is to laugh, despite the very, very serious economic and social effects that will be wrought when it pops. Seriously. Prices will have to HALVE, and halve NATIONALLY, just to bring them down to the long term trend line. May well fall more in hot markets (Vancouver and Toronto), and obviously could also overshoot in general.

Economic circumstances, and an upcoming election in Canada, will force further rate cut by Bank of Canada. The US Federal reserve will likely increase rates at about the same time and has a much stronger relative economy right now. Result... Canadian $ falls to multi decade low against US$.

Post: #286

^^^ Grrr I am holding like $400 Canadian in my closet somewhere. Need to make a trip.

Post: #287

(07-08-2015 01:45 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  ^^^ Grrr I am holding like $400 Canadian in my closet somewhere. Need to make a trip.

Haha. Better spend it fast before it loses 10% + relative to USD.

Post: #288

(07-08-2015 01:00 PM)HighSpeed_LowDrag Wrote:  With the market instability in Greece and China, the increasingly likely prospect of Grexit leading to potential contagion in the eurozone, crude oil prices about to crash once more, and with the looming spectre of the Fed about to start unwinding ZIRP/QE leading to the credit bubble deflation, the last place anyone should be investing in is stocks.

Not if you only care about dividends

Post: #289

Isn't it already too late to get out of stocks? The markets may have a ways to fall but then again, with a lot of the dips in the market investors have used them as buying opportunities and pushed prices back up. But then again I'm a simple dollar averaging investor.

Post: #290

(07-08-2015 01:53 PM)Bad Hussar Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 01:45 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  ^^^ Grrr I am holding like $400 Canadian in my closet somewhere. Need to make a trip.

Haha. Better spend it fast before it loses 10% + relative to USD.

What you you suggest investing in, in that case? All my savings are in CAD, and it'd be nice to avoid getting hit by the CAD losing value.

Post: #291

(07-08-2015 02:31 PM)HighSpeed_LowDrag Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 01:53 PM)Bad Hussar Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 01:45 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  ^^^ Grrr I am holding like $400 Canadian in my closet somewhere. Need to make a trip.

Haha. Better spend it fast before it loses 10% + relative to USD.

What you you suggest investing in, in that case? All my savings are in CAD, and it'd be nice to avoid getting hit by the CAD losing value.

You could hedge by shorting CAD in a way that "freezes" your current CAD savings at current USD/CAD rates. Like an insurance policy. Will cost you a small amount (the spread between the buy/sell price and the overnight interest rate), but will be fairly low. Basically a futures contract. You'd be agreeing to sell X CAD for delivery of Y USD at Z future date. There are multiple brokerages through which you could do this. They are very high margin accounts so you wouldn't need to put in much money to effect the hedge or avoid a margin call. And just as well since there is some "counterparty risk" with any brokerage.

Alternatively you could just open a USD account at your bank in Canada and exchange your cash at the current rate and transfer to the USD account. But I don't know how easy it is to open a USD account in Canada. They probably have high minimum balances. Also, I imagine you need to keep your money in CAD since your daily expenses are in this currency.

Post: #292

Post: #293

Post: #294

(07-08-2015 11:13 AM)portofmanteau Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 09:43 AM)Foolsgo1d Wrote:  If you think the debt Greece owes is astronomical there is evidence to say China has seen 2.5 trillion dollars wiped out. How did this come about?

The Chinese stock market is up 70% YoY due to a tremendous surge in April-June, despite minimal GDP growth in China (4-6%). Economic growth has been slowing in China, yet the stock market surged this year. Why? Because it has been easier to borrow than ever. Retail investors are now panicking to sell and lock in their gains or cut their losses. The articles you posted seem to gloss over this stuff or hide it in one throwaway line.

Stocks are still overvalued there and have a ways to fall.

This has been a HUGE problem that China has tried to fix, basically, because of the 2008 crisis, China's gov told the banks to "start lending" so, they did, and that helped china avert the recession that plagued the world since that money was used to build factories to make cheap goods for export, convert raw materials (steel comes to mind) etc etc.

Thing is, when China told the banks to "Stop lending now" . . .the banks didn't listen and this created a huge bubble that's been growing for years. The Chinese government opened a pandora's box back in 2009.

China is going to be in trouble for a while.

Of course, I think The government heads in China knew they fucked up years ago and that this was coming, hence the huge scramble to secure resources and invest around the world, which includes messing around in the south China sea.

Post: #295

(07-08-2015 06:43 PM)Easy E Wrote:  

Great speech. But he says it will be a tough first few months. Won't it be a tough few years?

Post: #296

(07-08-2015 09:33 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 06:43 PM)Easy E Wrote:  

Great speech. But he says it will be a tough first few months. Won't it be a tough few years?

Better three years of financial hell than thirty years of financial misery and servitude.

Post: #297

Now here comes the start of Greece's civil war. All of the "undocumented migrants" (aka invading Muslims) that pour into Greece suddenly find themselves without free food as normally provided by the Greek government.





The food truck that normally rations out provisions is swarmed by hundreds of hungry vagabonds. Pretty soon there won't be anything left for these hungry people, so they are going to invade and pillage Greek homes for anything left over.

Greeks will be forced to take military action against these hungry Muslims but many Greeks will be divided over whether or not to use lethal force. Meanwhile Golden Dawn members have no such qualms and if insufficient force is used to protect the Greek people they will take the government over and rule by force, backed by young angry disenfranchised Greek men. The Muslims will eventually be slaughtered. Some obviously will survive once the economy is stabilized but not before a significant loss to the non-Greek population.

What is happening here is but a microcosm of what will happen in virtually every Western country that goes bankrupt and has illegal immigration problems.

However, I do not rule out the possibility that Greece will receive more emergency funding from the USA or EU to so there is at least food on the ground. But all this does is delay the inevitable for when the USA finally goes bankrupt (unless the USA can balance its books - unlikely).

Post: #298

(07-08-2015 06:43 PM)Easy E Wrote:  

This one is more relevant:

Post: #299

(07-09-2015 02:31 AM)Samseau Wrote:  Now here comes the start of Greece's civil war. All of the "undocumented migrants" (aka invading Muslims) that pour into Greece suddenly find themselves without free food as normally provided by the Greek government.





The food truck that normally rations out provisions is swarmed by hundreds of hungry vagabonds. Pretty soon there won't be anything left for these hungry people, so they are going to invade and pillage Greek homes for anything left over.

Greeks will be forced to take military action against these hungry Muslims but many Greeks will be divided over whether or not to use lethal force. Meanwhile Golden Dawn members have no such qualms and if insufficient force is used to protect the Greek people they will take the government over and rule by force, backed by young angry disenfranchised Greek men. The Muslims will eventually be slaughtered. Some obviously will survive once the economy is stabilized but not before a significant loss to the non-Greek population.

What is happening here is but a microcosm of what will happen in virtually every Western country that goes bankrupt and has illegal immigration problems.

However, I do not rule out the possibility that Greece will receive more emergency funding from the USA or EU to so there is at least food on the ground. But all this does is delay the inevitable for when the USA finally goes bankrupt (unless the USA can balance its books - unlikely).

That's quite a bleak situation your painting over there. I see where you want to go to, but I think you are over-reacting in this case. These people may get themselves inside a University and demand "protection" (FYI police cannot go into universities).
This seems to be from Lesvos news. Lesvos is one of the Greek Islands closer to Turkey. That kind of "Crisis" over there should be contained quickly.

On the other side, German Red Cross is ready to send humanitarian aid to Greece.
Thinking about this, is very very sad. A fellow European country receiving humanitarian aid...

Post: #300

^^^^ yeah it's sad, but the EU did it to themselves. It's run by corrupt, "progressive" politicians, many of whom are unelected, and who have driven all of their respective nations into the ground at least in the bigger western countries. Their policies from immigration to Feminism to small businesses are naive and stupid, and they've created an ungodly amount of bureaucracy among many of the member states. They also effectively have speech codes and have shown a real nasty streak towards men's & family rights and those of their native inhabitants.

The Euro was never going to work the way it was set up, and all the member states were warned about this years ago. Now that the chickens are coming home to roost they have nobody to blame but themselves.