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Excellent article by Stephanie Flanders
Comments
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I have a simpler theory. I go into a pub that's still open, and there are only 5 customers, where at one time it would have been busy. I realise it won't be open much longer. This sort of thing puts me off the idea of running a pub.
Customers can't always be generated. Sometimes they just aren't there."It will take, five, 10, 15 years to get back to where we need to be. But it's no longer the individual banks that are in the wrong, it's the banking industry as a whole." - Steven Cooper, head of personal and business banking at Barclays, talking to Martin Lewis0 -
Interesting.
Do these rules still apply ? I would have thought that they do, given recent goings on in the financial world.
I wonder if Conrad has ever reported anyone for money laundering ?
The same rules apply. What I hadn't appreciated is that the rules don't apply directly to mortgage brokers which is what I believe Conrad does for a living as the bank providing the mortgage is responsible for the AML part of the transaction.
A little research I reckon shows that the main legal risk (s)he faces is being done for helping to hide the proceeds of crime which from memory carries the same maximum sentence.
I wouldn't have financial dealings with someone I knew was hiding the proceeds of crime as the risks are too high vs the rewards.0 -
7. Trading for own account or for account of customers in:
(a)money market instruments (cheques, bills, certificates of deposit, etc.);
(b)foreign exchange;
(c)financial futures and options;
(d)exchange and interest-rate instruments; or
(e)transferable securities.
Me: Why did you take that cheque down to "Cash Converters" - it must have cost you 10%.
Driver: I'd rather pay 10% to them than 30% to the government.
Over taxed and over regulated = everyone on the fiddle Greek style.
Scrap metal anyone?
I get humble Asian shop keepers with an old Nissan that own many properties often using relatives / kids names, in fact I cant think of a single Asian shop keeper that doesn't have a substantial portfolio.
Not to mention the stash of gold and a money transfer system based on honour.
It sort of reminds me of the part that the Rothschild(s) played in winning the Napoleonic war and the m@fia helping out in the war against the Axis powers.
In time of need there seems to be a more pragmatic attitude to legalities and morality followed by a "blame the prostitute" re-action.
A goldsmith named Amshall Moses Bower opened a counting house in Frankfurt Germany in 1743. He placed a Roman eagle on a red shield over the door, prompting people to call his shop the Red Shield Firm pronounced in German as "Rothschild".
It was much more profitable loaning money to governments and Kings. It always involved much bigger amounts, always secured from public taxes. Once he got the hang of things he set his sights on the world by training his five sons in the art of money creation, before sending them out to the major financial centres of the world to create and dominate the central banking systems.0 -
We don't deserve a civilised society. How hard is it to understand that not paying your taxes is just wrong? That it's actually stealing money that isn't yours?John_Pierpoint wrote: »Over taxed and over regulated = everyone on the fiddle Greek style."It will take, five, 10, 15 years to get back to where we need to be. But it's no longer the individual banks that are in the wrong, it's the banking industry as a whole." - Steven Cooper, head of personal and business banking at Barclays, talking to Martin Lewis0 -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2011/oct/26/public-spending-uk-government-department
So all this spending is moral and supportable.
I particularly enjoy paying for the breeding of future terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan (Vietnam rerun but with a crusade agenda) Paying interest on interest as the debt spirals, Paying massive subsidies to the "farming" owners of Primark.........
You will notice that more and more taxes are getting subcontracted or taken by other authorities. For example, devolution, European Union and "green" power company taxes.
This country was run in the "Swinging Sixties" with a government spending of a bit over 25% of GDP - so why does it take nearer 50% of much greater wealth in the 21st century?
Not to mention stealing from the people using taxation by inflation in an attempt to devalue existing obligations.
Vote buying and hubris?0 -
Why are most of the pubs round here boarded up then? Business opportunities going cheap, and running a pub used to be considered nice work if you could get it.
Running your own business is not the way to prosperity.
Running your own business well is the way to prosperity.
Most small businesses fail within a relatively short period of time, and the main reason why is because most small businesspeople don't have the skills to run their business well.
Small businesses are full of "enthusiastic amateurs" who may have a passion for the product they are selling, but can't hope to compete with the professionalism and resources of the corporate chains they're up against.
In the case of your example, pubs (or restaurants for that matter), there are a number of headwinds that industry has been facing for a long time such as the smoking ban, cheap food and drink competition from the supermarkets, discretionary spending being hit from the recession, etc.... but the big chains are still thriving.
It's mostly the small independents that are struggling and closing down. And as I say, the main reason why is they just can't compete with the professionalism of the corporate world.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »It's mostly the small independents that are struggling and closing down. And as I say, the main reason why is they just can't compete with the professionalism of the corporate world.
I would have thought that in many cases it is not their professionalism, or lack of, but economies of scale that is working against them.30 Year Challenge : To be 30 years older. Equity : Don't know, don't care much. Savings : That's asking for ridicule.0 -
I would have thought that in many cases it is not their professionalism, or lack of, but economies of scale that is working against them.
In some types of business that's certainly a factor.
But the difference in cost between what a chain restaurant pays for a steak or a potato and what an independent restaurant pays for an identical steak or potato is surprisingly small.
The real problem is in the other aspects of the business, the costs incurred, the professional ability and training levels of the staff, the management skills, and just as importantly the resources they have behind them.
A professional and skilled businessperson would properly research all those issues before opening a business. And either figure out a way to overcome them, or not set up the business in the first place.
The fact that the majority of small businesses fail within the first 2 years, and closer to 90% within the first 10 years, tells me that most small business people are neither professional enough nor skilled enough at running businesses to succeed, and in most cases did not conduct the proper research into the business to begin with.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0
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