HAL9000

The subject of this thread is being discussed right now (12:45pm) on Loose Women (ITV1). Almost word for word - how weird.

If it's any consolation, my quoting an all time high or low in a forum post seems to be the kiss-of-death. The price usually takes a hike in the opposite direction quick sharp.

Spot on DJKQ. My work brings me into contact with the rich - almost every one of the ones I've known was in the right place at the right time. Shakespeare summed it up beautifully in Julius Caesar: "There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries."

Spot Gold has just hit US$1,364.55 per Troy ounce - an all time high. That's got to be telling us something bad is coming our way on the inflation, interest rate and foreign exchange fronts.

I think it's on the cards - but the seeds were sown many years ago. I doubt if any economic policy could alter the course of a global, Kondratieff-scale downturn, in my view. I hope I'm wrong.

Snap!

Huguenot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This isn't the banks fault, this is greedy people. I think most of the fault lies with the governments who removed the tried and tested checks and balances essential for the proper regulation of the financial and banking sectors. And the spotlight must fall on the US authorities in particular. One can't blame hapless homebuyers who merely wanted to share in the capitalist dream and were enticed into undeclared risk by easy-to-obtain loans.

Just to put things into perspective: the western economic system hasn't generated any real wealth (or 'growth') for something like twenty years now. The illusion of wealth was merely the product of various asset bubbles and Ponzi schemes, most of which haven't even started to deflate yet - thanks to mind-boggling multi-government intervention in our once exalted free-markets. The bottom line is - the system is broken: I'm not sure anyone really knows how to fix it without causing a lot of pain and suffering or - worse case - killing the patient.

Twirly Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I have no idea what the solution is. No one knows - we are on the cusp of a new paradigm. No one alive has ever experienced what is about to unfold. All we know from history is that past civilisations have collapsed so suddenly that no one survived to tell the tale - only centuries of silence marked their passing. But that can't happen to us, surely - they say?

Twirly Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Is this discussion about those on benefits, or > those on low wages? There seems to be a danger of > lumping them both into the same group. Just pointing out that the two groups overlap in so far as low paid workers are more likely to become benefit claimants if they end up better off on benefits rather than working. The devil is in where to draw the line.

Staycation

Those were the days ... we were pumping liquid prosperity from under the feet of ignorant natives in return for shiny trinkets and paper money and all was well with the world. Those days are over - a new dawn has broken. Adapt or die, says my evil twin.

Narnia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 2010-2006=4 > > You forget simple maths. That could be fatal for a computer. Quite right - it just seems like six years. Excuse me while I reboot - Ahhhhh! That's better.

We have made great social progress over the centuries but there is a danger that going further (in the here and now) may disincentivise the workers - tax-payers have long complained about those who'd rather parasitise the benefits system than oil the wheels of capitalism. There is a limit beyond which the system breaks down - and the recent crisis has redrawn the boundaries. My evil twin is playing Devil's Advocate, of course.

Just thought I?d share a few thoughts written by my mirror-universe evil twin: The western economic system ? unashamed, unhindered and unbounded capitalism - is predicated upon the premise that anyone ? even a complete idiot ? can achieve wealth, power and fame through luck, cunning or wit (or even less, of late). Almost every school-leaver dreams of becoming a millionaire (or marrying one) by the age of thirty - despite the fact that 95% of the population end up in debt-bondage throughout their unremarkable lives. And yet some on here seem to think they are living in a utopian state of communism in which fairness-for-all is the rallying cry. Even if all the wealth and resources were evenly divided amongst the population ? within a couple of generations most of it would be back in the hands of the sharpest 5% and everyone else would be poor and mired in debt again. Rampant capitalism and all-caring socialism cannot co-exist over the long term ? the 2008 financial crisis is a testament to that. Our system demands a poor majority ? an underclass, if you will ? to protect and enrich the upper-most echelons of society. At least you all know your places within this society ? otherwise your masters would have been hanging from lampposts long ago. There?s only one rule: Winner takes all.

So that's what happens when you go without for six years - you end up biting your own arse?

Ouroboros, moi?

I've already seen quite a few near misses - it's only a matter of time before there's a collision leading to serious injury.

Too right. One would think it would be easy around here but I guess I haven't been moving in the right circles.

My late friend on Barry Road used to grow a mean crop until 2006 ? I haven't had a spliff since. Hmmm - that could explain a lot.

There was a time when a kindly bystander could quickly quell a tempestuous child with a friendly smile and a few calming words - the intervention often worked wonders. But who in their right mind would dare to engage with a stranger's child theses days?

Samoan clerics finger homosexuals over global warming

The best laid schemes of mice and men ...

Tarot - would you ban bananas because some people smoke the skins?

Ooooh - always wanted to play secret squirrels. Most fun I've had all morning.