Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

StevieJ

tomterm8 wrote: »

Nah, not really. Most of the people lending the money were professional investors, no one lent billions of euro's out of generosity.

I feel a bit like I did when Lehmen bros went bust... if you invest money in a company, there is a risk it can fail.

You make a risk premium on your money because you might lose it. Anyone who thought Greece was risk free... well, that is head shaking stuff. Greece has been in default more than out most of last century.

They thought they were lending to the EU club with corresponding near German interest rates.

tomterm8

StevieJ wrote: »

They thought they were lending to the EU club with corresponding near German interest rates.

Here's a analogy: you lend £50 to a dodgy geezer who is a known alcoholic that smells of beer, because his father is a multimillionaire businessman. The rich dad tells you to your face before you lend the money that he thinks his son is a never do well, and he will definitely not bail the kid out again.

Would you be upset if the worst happened and the father did precisely what he said, and did not give you a cent?

Well, yeah, probably. But you'd have no real right to be.

The European treaty was really explicit. Everyone pays their own bar bill.

StevieJ

tomterm8 wrote: »

.

The European treaty was really explicit. Everyone pays their own bar bill.

If there was no implied backing why would anyone lend the Greeks anything at those paltry interest rates?

vivatifosi

tomterm8 wrote: »

Nah, not really. Most of the people lending the money were professional investors, no one lent billions of euro's out of generosity.

Sorry if I didn't make it clear, I wasn't talking about the original money, rather any money that is lent in this tranche, given its bloomin' obvious that Greece is a basket case. Taking the situation dispassionately as an investment, rather than as a family (of nations), there's even less reason to move one's bargepole anywhere near it.

silvercar

StevieJ wrote: »

If there was no implied backing why would anyone lend the Greeks anything at those paltry interest rates?

'cos the euro mob have to stick together - ain't that the deal?

to save face because they let them into the euro in the first place?

silvercar

GDB2222 wrote: »

Yes, I can see how people could ignore that and hope it will go away.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?rlz=1C1CHMB_en-GBGB306GB306&q=WD6+4NB&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x487615de4b32301f:0xf2815717648430c2,Borehamwood,+Hertfordshire+WD6+4NB&gl=uk&ei=Y32xToWjJoei8QOGwLirAQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBwQ8gEwAA

It doesn't look as though the garden is just about to collapse into the roadway, but dealing with it properly could be expensive.

About £8k according to my friend.:(

GDB2222

silvercar wrote: »

About £8k according to my friend.:(

Those houses look as though they have been there since the 70's without this work being done. Is your friend a perfectionist by any chance?

tomterm8

StevieJ wrote: »

If there was no implied backing why would anyone lend the Greeks anything at those paltry interest rates?

Don't ask me, these are the same class of people who invested in US bonds bearing a negative real interest rate. Or to put it another way, they were giving money to the united states at the same time they were lending money to Greece,

Davesnave

Pobby wrote: »

Bit of a change of topic. Well I am like that. Anyone here knows or likes John Shuttleworth?

I like his appearances on the radio, which work better for me than actually seeing him. He looks nothing like I imagined.

At the risk of being boring, I'll also stick in a couple of links to the Tube that I've enjoyed recently. Old hat to many I suspect, but somehow I managed to miss them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ff-s14cAr4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G-V--wpprE&feature=related

silvercar

GDB2222 wrote: »

Those houses look as though they have been there since the 70's without this work being done. Is your friend a perfectionist by any chance?

Possibly. He said the back garden was grass over rubble, with no earth ever being laid, never mind top soil.

The back wall isn't holding anything in and the boards above the back wall are holding the garden back. It looks like the back garden has been slipping down towards the back wall, he reckons. Plus those leylandai need dealing with properly.

Given that no central heating has ever been put in the house, I wouldn't be surprised if its been owned by the same people since new and certain essential works were never, ever done.