The problem of not being a bull or a bear

System

Well, from the 2 scenario's the first one is just an observation whereas the second is a lot of assumptions that you have no way of proving.

So, just like on here, I see what you did there

Thrugelmir

morag1202 wrote: »

Before I discovered this board I'd only ever heard the terms used about the Stock Market where the savy invester would change from bull to bear to bull as the market changed.

But here? Were the bears ever bulls or bulls ever bears? or am I missing something (apart from the confused smilie)

Yes the Headless chickens that disregard common sense and think they better than anyone else despite the hard facts put in front of them, then act in a childish manner when people disagree with them.

Savvy, I don't think so. As we won't be wasting time on this board.

Thrugelmir

Cleaver wrote: »

We tried to go out for a meal tonight. I'd been doing DIY cr*p all day and Mrs C had been writing an assignment and we both fancied getting out the house. We wandered down our highstreet at 8.30pm and tried three restaurants, all of which told us they were fully booked and that we'd have between 40 minutes and an hour for a table. We were starving and we're also a bit new to the area so don't know many other places so gave up and ended up getting a takeaway on the walk home instead.

This leaves me with a problem. What story to tell?

The Bull Story
We went our to our local high street tonight and it was packed. Resturants with queues out of the door, no tables available and bottles of wine aplenty. Full of people enjoying themselves and spending money. We tried three different restaurants and couldn't get a table at any of them! These bears are trying to tell us that there's a recession on, but I see no evidence of this whatsoever, our local places are booming. If people are eating out this much I can only imagine that they would be buying bigger and bigger houses. Good times! I know it was our low-tracker mortgage that funded our night out. Brilliant.

:beer:

The Bear Story
We went to our local high street tonight and, in between closed down shops, we saw three restaurants full of people drinking wine, spending money on expensive food and generally ignoring the state we are in. I'm assuming most of these people are lauding it up on credit cards and are increasing their debt mountain. Yet more evidence of people not paying down their debt or taking control of their finances. It makes me so angry. Many of these people will start losing their jobs when the deflationary vortex takes hold and will bitterley regret these wanton nights of spending.

Eat out on Tuesday's. Before 7....... some excellent all you can eat buffets around here at cheap prices.

lemonjelly

Liked it Cleaver. Highlights the duality of perspective...

wageslave wrote: »

Is anyone still using credit cards to fund their lifestyle?

I sort of assumed everyone had given up on plastic.

The real test is how busy are these places on a wet Wednesday.

wageslave, availability of credit appears to be increasing. I think it is only a matter of time before the junk mail starts again in earnest. I think last month was the first in a while where credit spending was higher, as opposed to debt repayment.

Kohoutek

It's still too early to make a call on the medium term prospects of the economy, but the recent 0.1% growth figure after a barrage of stimulus and attempts to get lending going again doesn't look good.

In any case, our whole economic position is in an artificial state, since at the moment the whole country is living on Brown's £178 billion credit card. The public outrage that following Cameron's call for cuts is absolutely laughable if you look at colossal amount of money that must be somehow raised in next few years.

According to the government's own Fiscal Responsibility Bill, the state will reduce the deficit by £87.5 billion from tax rises and public sector cuts over the next four years. After the already proposed 50% rate, the reduction in pension tax relief and NI increase, I think we're approaching the limits of taxation without significantly damaging the economy, which is ironic given the widely held argument that trimming the public sector beast will cause another recession. Even adding a percentage point to VAT only raises £4 billion.

The £87.5 billion figure is more than the entire Education budget (http://www.wheredoesmymoneygo.org/prototype/), i.e. one hell of a programme of public sector cuts planned for the next four years. And I don't think not implementing these proposals is an option - with a deficit larger than Greece, the UK is rapidly running out of credibility.

Any thoughts where you think the cuts should come from? Have a look at the Social Protection budget if want a good laugh on https://www.wheredoesmymoneygo.org/prototype. We spend more on 'sickness and disability' (£38 billion) than the Department of Defence (£37 billion). No wonder all those 18 year olds died in Iraq and Afghanistan without proper equipment.

By the way, here's the real national debt, measured in thousands of billion, if you prefer it to the lie that Labour's representing. Warning: not for the faint hearted. It includes the £2 thousand billion that's required to pension off our public sector workers. Don't worry, the government only needs an additional £60,000 per person.

PasturesNew

I can't get tables in EMPTY restaurants. One Saturday night a number of years ago I decided "I was worth it" - and would eat an indian meal in an indian restaurant, rather than picking up a takeaway to eat in my bedsit.

I tried every restaurant in a city in Devon .... nobody would give me a "table for one", even though they were all empty....

I have no idea if there's a secret/hidden rule about how to get a table for one.

PasturesNew

One answer to the OP's query might be that everybody was out having a Valentine's meal ... because it'll be half the price this week that it will be next week.

So town was full of cheapskates...

PasturesNew

Cleaver wrote: »

I quite enjoy writing away, wittering on about any old cr*p. So I could either have a blog which no one would ever read, or post on here where people kind of have to read by default. So less about thanks, more about ego. Which I guess is why we're all here.

I have a domain name that you could scribble on .... and I can guarantee you'd get an audience. I'll even cut you in on the munniez it makes (if it makes any).

Go on .... how about that ... ready made, ready to go ... just whitter away on a blog. You know you want to.

b0rker

Cleaver wrote: »

We tried to go out for a meal tonight.

You went out for a meal on a Saturday night in an area you do not know without the forethought to book ahead?

There is no bear or bull story.

You made an error.

Cleaver

b0rker wrote: »

You went out for a meal on a Saturday night in an area you do not know without the forethought to book ahead?

There is no bear or bull story.

You made an error.

"You made an error Cleaver." You sound like Hal 9000.

I don't think I've ever booked a table for a meal, because we never know in advance if we fancy going out. And we normally go in to the city centre, so it's never an issue. We knew last night it might be busy, but it was a nice walk out after being indoors all day and whilst there were some other places (an empty Chinese, a place that just looked awful etc.) we fancied one of the three places we popped in to, so decide to come home instead.