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Soros - Stimulus the answer not Austerity

Interesting :)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor George Soros blamed Germany for leading the implementation of austerity measures that will throw the euro zone into a "deflation spiral."
Additional fiscal stimulus --and not fiscal discipline-- is the way out of the crisis for both Europe and the United States, Soros said in a speech at Columbia University on Tuesday.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/soros-blames-germany-for-europe-deflation-spiral-reuters_molt-5bf080d04696.html?x=0
'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher
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Comments

  • Graham_Devon
    Graham_Devon Posts: 58,560 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I couldn't give a flying hoot what this one many says in all honesty.

    Especially considering he's an investor. Wonder if he has any VI at all?!
  • nearlynew
    nearlynew Posts: 3,800 Forumite
    He is just a puppet of the banks.

    A very rich one, but a puppet nonetheless.
    "The problem with quotes on the internet is that you never know whether they are genuine or not" -
    Albert Einstein
  • ILW
    ILW Posts: 18,333 Forumite
    I think that some of the banks are a puppet of Soros.
  • macaque_2
    macaque_2 Posts: 2,439 Forumite
    StevieJ wrote: »

    George Soros was a hedge fund manager whose claim to fame was putting all his chips on a bet against Norman Lamont. As success goes that is about as respectable as beating Wayne Rooney at chess.
  • watch what they do , not what they say ....


    ""Buyers accumulated almost 278 tons of gold in 2010 across 10 ETPs tracked by Bloomberg, worth $10.4 billion at this year's average price. Total holdings are almost twice Switzerland's official reserves of 1,040 tons, data compiled by the World Gold Council show. ETP holdings reached a record 2,078 tons July 19, data compiled by Bloomberg show. One of the biggest buyers has been Soros Fund Management LLC, which oversees about $25 billion.""

    h ttp:// www. washingtonpost .com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/31/AR2010083101177.html

    i wondor why he wants printy printy ... lol

    oh and hello all btw.
  • dopester
    dopester Posts: 4,890 Forumite
    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor George Soros blamed Germany for leading the implementation of austerity measures that will throw the euro zone into a "deflation spiral."

    Imagine that eh. Who would have ever thought the system itself would accept painful deflation - via the path of choosing austerity and markets to play out - partly to level out the playing field and open up opportunity to younger people and future generations still to come through and not wreck the economy altogether with inflation.

    No wonder oldies, some of whom have seen house price x100 in value over their lifetimes, and HPI believers want a stimulus-galore feast followed by another feast and another, to protect their positions.
  • Degenerate
    Degenerate Posts: 2,166 Forumite
    dopester wrote: »
    Imagine that eh. Who would have ever thought the system itself would accept painful deflation - via the path of choosing austerity and markets to play out - partly to level out the playing field and open up opportunity to younger people and future generations still to come through and not wreck the economy altogether with inflation.

    No wonder oldies, some of whom have seen house price x100 in value over their lifetimes, and HPI believers want a stimulus-galore feast followed by another feast and another, to protect their positions.

    What utter nonsense, you have it totally back to front.

    Deflation favours those who hold cash, or investments with guaranteed nominal payouts. So that would be older people who have paid off their mortgages, have savings and defined benefits pensions. Deflation helps them by increasing the value of the cash in terms of what it can buy and reducing the earning potential of younger people, leaving the oldies with a bigger share of the pot.

    Inflation favours those with debt, ie younger people who are still paying off the mortgages on the property that they paid a lot more for than their parents, and have no cushy guaranteed payout pensions to look forward to. Inflation helps them by reducing the value of the debt in terms of what cash is worth and what they earn.

    It's clearly deflation that is unfair on younger people, and that's before you even go into it's other effect on the economy, which may well leave those young people without a job and home in the first place.
  • dopester
    dopester Posts: 4,890 Forumite
    It's not as clear cut as the Wikipedia entry.

    Deflation favours younger people coming through who've not taken on those big mortgages yet.

    People who have recently (say past 6 years) taken on large mortgage have tied themselves to the inflation gamble. I wasn't referring to them. They've chosen the inflation bet and have to muddle through as best they can to service their debts.

    It levels the playing ground with cheaper house prices. It allows big chunks of formerly expensive economic assets dominated by former "winning" groups to be put to market and picked up by smarter younger people coming through at much cheaper prices, by those who can see an alternative profitable use. Yes... the economy suffers during the painful transistion - perhaps with people rioting and even the system failing... but constant inflation to protect special interest groups is not the solution.

    It could be the forces of deflation are trying to tell us the whole paradigm is broken of always seeking growth, and that we need to change the system radically, including simplier lives for a while until new tech comes through to make another system leap. Except for high house price, compared to not long ago back in time, you've never had it so good. Internet, computer, wardrobes of clothes.
  • dopester
    dopester Posts: 4,890 Forumite
    edited 5 October 2010 pm31 11:25PM
    Why didn't the Gov and BoE stimulate themselves out of the early 90s recession, protect companies going bust, protect the old ways of doing things, and stop house prices falling? Basically nannying everyone who stood to lose.

    There were some losers in that, but also opened opportunity up to a lot of other people.

    With special interest groups protected, many people bragging today just how much their homes are worth, might not have got on the ladder. The protected ones gobbling up more property and assets. And after the recessionary adjustment it opened up a period of new growth.

    Deflation is a force of change and adjustment.
  • Degenerate
    Degenerate Posts: 2,166 Forumite
    edited 6 October 2010 am31 3:05AM
    dopester wrote: »
    It's not as clear cut as the Wikipedia entry.

    What has the Wikipedia entry got to do with anything? That's a pretty pathetic response, I've been making the same point about deflation in this forum for years now.

    Deflation favours younger people coming through who've not taken on those big mortgages yet.
    Not really. Cheaper house prices will be offset by lower wages and high youth unemployment that will stop many from being able to earn a wage at all.

    It levels the playing ground with cheaper house prices. It allows big chunks of formerly expensive economic assets dominated by former "winning" groups to be put to market and picked up by smarter younger people coming through at much cheaper prices, by those who can see an alternative profitable use.
    You seem to be imagining a magical deflation that conveniently hits the asset classes you want in the proportions that you want. The only guarantee with deflation is that overall cash will become worth relatively more, and this favours the older generations, because they are likely to hold cash. The economic fallout of deflation in terms of reduced output and higher unemployment is very unfavorable to the young.
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