Balloon guy 158 Posted May 17, 2010 Author Share Posted May 17, 2010 same concept with the pyramids:http://maps.google.com/maps?q=pyramids+of+...mp;t=h&z=16I'm probably never visiting greece. I could just watch the history channel, don't they have a series on third world shitholes between all the nazi programming?Some of the Greek Isles are pretty cool. As long as you ignore the people.Not that I really know any Greeks, they seem kind of stand offish, but not form arrogance like the Southern French, but more like you find in Mexican vacation destinations..kind of a "man it sucks that you are on vacation and I have to pretend to work" attitude.Plus they stink, did I mention that?Although I have a buddy who went to Egypt and said they store Camel dung on their house roofs to use as heating fuel for the winter months....so imagine how wonderful the place smells during the summer. Link to post Share on other sites
vbnautilus 48 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Some of the Greek Isles are pretty cool. As long as you ignore the people.Not that I really know any Greeks, they seem kind of stand offish, but not form arrogance like the Southern French, but more like you find in Mexican vacation destinations..kind of a "man it sucks that you are on vacation and I have to pretend to work" attitude.Plus they stink, did I mention that?Although I have a buddy who went to Egypt and said they store Camel dung on their house roofs to use as heating fuel for the winter months....so imagine how wonderful the place smells during the summer.The Greek islands are among my favorite places in the world. But I also liked the Acropolis. Link to post Share on other sites
strategy 4 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 The Greek islands are among my favorite places in the world. But I also liked the Acropolis.Admittedly, I use a few pictures from greece in my random wallpaper folderhttp://i.imgur.com/A30lD.jpghttp://imgur.com/T3ISp.jpgthe place has a tendency to look amazing. Link to post Share on other sites
Balloon guy 158 Posted May 17, 2010 Author Share Posted May 17, 2010 The Greek islands are among my favorite places in the world. But I also liked the Acropolis.You've probably never been here then Link to post Share on other sites
nutzbuster 7 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Plus they stink, did I mention that?I heard their hair and skin is greecy Link to post Share on other sites
vbnautilus 48 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 You've probably never been here thenBest example of Nixon's poor decision making: despite owning that place, he chose to live out his final years in New Jersey. Link to post Share on other sites
Balloon guy 158 Posted May 17, 2010 Author Share Posted May 17, 2010 Best example of Nixon's poor decision making: despite owning that place, he chose to live out his final years in New Jersey.I hate it when you are so right Link to post Share on other sites
mk 11 Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 broke 1.22 about a half hour ago bc of this:12:59 18May10 RTRS-GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL TO ANNOUNCE BAN ON NAKED SHORT-SELLING ON WEDNESDAY-COALITION SOURCE13:03 18May10 RTRS-Merkel to announce short-selling ban -coalition source BERLIN, May 18 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to announce Germany's ban on short-selling on Wednesday, a coalition source told Reuters on Tuesday. Another source said earlier that Germany would ban naked short-selling on certain stocks and euro government bonds from midnight. "From midnight today there will be a ban on naked short selling of certain stocks and euro government bonds," a source told Reuters. No further details were immediately available. Economy Minister Rainer Bruederele told Reuters that it was possible the short-selling ban would be quickly enacted. No other details were immediately available.shit could get hairy in the next couple days. the euro/yen cross, which has been the barometer of the carry trade and the overall market's appetite for risk is sitting on the precipice of the disaster levels from '08. i think the yen as carry currency has waned somewhat, and has moved toward usd and some others, but this is still a big deal for equities. Link to post Share on other sites
mk 11 Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 crazy stuff already this morning, huge unwind of AUD/JPY, commodity-linked carry trade, massive. gold was down like $20.... Link to post Share on other sites
strategy 4 Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 that's a bit of a confusing twist. if I were interested in more stocks, I'd probably load up on GG or something.plus it's just a nice ticker. Link to post Share on other sites
vbnautilus 48 Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 english only please Link to post Share on other sites
Balloon guy 158 Posted May 19, 2010 Author Share Posted May 19, 2010 Glad I didn't book a trip to Thailand...The ban on short selling currency is almost as bad as allowing short selling isn't it?I mean you are basically announcing.."Hey any of you guys not looking to make money, our currency is about to collapse, so you should like..you know..." Link to post Share on other sites
mk 11 Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 they aren't trying to ban shorting the currency although that would be lol. they're proposing a ban on shorting a few banking stocks and certain eu debt. it's a horrible idea, yes, but you know...europeans are generally awful at capitalism so it isn't too surprising. in their defense, almost every other country has spoken out aggressively against this. Link to post Share on other sites
Balloon guy 158 Posted May 19, 2010 Author Share Posted May 19, 2010 they aren't trying to ban shorting the currency although that would be lol. they're proposing a ban on shorting a few banking stocks and certain eu debt. it's a horrible idea, yes, but you know...europeans are generally awful at capitalism so it isn't too surprising. in their defense, almost every other country has spoken out aggressively against this.so when do we send them their stimulus bail out check?Or does Obama have to wait till Soros has all the shorts in? Link to post Share on other sites
mk 11 Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 so when do we send them their stimulus bail out check?Or does Obama have to wait till Soros has all the shorts in?we have our own life raft to keep afloat, they're just joining us out on the mighty sea. Link to post Share on other sites
Balloon guy 158 Posted May 19, 2010 Author Share Posted May 19, 2010 we have our own life raft to keep afloat, they're just joining us out on the mighty sea.Well if the old axiom is true, "When the US sneezes, Europe catches a cold" Then I would expect them to have rough sailing ahead... Link to post Share on other sites
El Guapo 8 Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 they aren't trying to ban shorting the currency although that would be lol. they're proposing a ban on shorting a few banking stocks and certain eu debt. it's a horrible idea, yes, but you know...europeans are generally awful at capitalism so it isn't too surprising. in their defense, almost every other country has spoken out aggressively against this.I thought they were just stopping naked shorting and implementing the uptick rule like we have. Is that incorrect? Link to post Share on other sites
mk 11 Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 I thought they were just stopping naked shorting and implementing the uptick rule like we have. Is that incorrect?the term 'naked shorting' is so funny. i think the regulation on the 10 financial stocks is basically just an uptick rule, but that's pretty meaningless. what's dangerous about this is that they're doing it for bonds, and we all understand that if you're a buyer of bonds you're a lender and if you're a seller of bonds, you're a borrower. so preventing people from borrowing is a pretty big wtf. and obviously, preventing shorting of cds on eu bonds is also laughable and shows she has nfc what a cds is and is merely doing some populist finger waving, albeit dangerous finger waving. Link to post Share on other sites
SlapStick 0 Posted May 23, 2010 Share Posted May 23, 2010 "IT IS no longer a question of whether Ireland will go bust, but when. Unlike Greece, our woes do not stem from government debt, but instead from the government’s open-ended guarantee to cover the losses of the banking system out of its citizens’ wallets.Even under the most optimistic assumptions about government spending cuts and bank losses, by 2012 Ireland will have a worse ratio of debt to national income than the one that is sinking Greece."http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinio...4270888132.html Link to post Share on other sites
Balloon guy 158 Posted May 23, 2010 Author Share Posted May 23, 2010 "IT IS no longer a question of whether Ireland will go bust, but when. Unlike Greece, our woes do not stem from government debt, but instead from the government’s open-ended guarantee to cover the losses of the banking system out of its citizens’ wallets.Even under the most optimistic assumptions about government spending cuts and bank losses, by 2012 Ireland will have a worse ratio of debt to national income than the one that is sinking Greece."http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinio...4270888132.html Wow, when I was in Dublin a couple years ago I was amazed at how much new development and industry was taking place.Seems unreal for it to fail so quickly.Maybe the two things went hand in hand, unchecked growth/debt with over-extended debt and failure.I never really understood the whole notion of why we allowed our Fed Chairman to be able to raise interest rates to 'check growth' and 'cool off an overheated economy' until now.I guess Gordon Gekko was wrong...and the Bible was right...greed isn't good Link to post Share on other sites
Balloon guy 158 Posted May 26, 2010 Author Share Posted May 26, 2010 THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek officials say a horde of frogs has forced the closure of a key northern highway for two hours.Thessaloniki traffic police chief Giorgos Thanoglou says "millions" of the amphibians covered the tarmac Wednesday near the town of Langadas, some 12 miles east of Thessaloniki."There was a carpet of frogs," he said.Authorities closed the highway after three car drivers skidded off the road trying to dodge the frogs. No human injuries were reported.The first plague begins.... Link to post Share on other sites
strategy 4 Posted May 26, 2010 Share Posted May 26, 2010 http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews...-48822820100526funny stuff. greece already lobbying to water down the agreements just two weeks later.c'mon stocks, go ahead and tank now. Link to post Share on other sites
Balloon guy 158 Posted May 27, 2010 Author Share Posted May 27, 2010 On the radio I was listening to a guy talking about the Greece situation. Basically he said that the whole issue was that once a year Greece was required to show their balance sheet to the EU in Brussels.So Every year, around December 30th, Goldman Sachs would relieve Greece of their debt, and allow Greece to show a honest balance sheet without the debt, then on January 2nd, they would get their debt back, and pay a fee to Goldman Sachs for this 3 day 'loan'.The EU would never realize the mess Greece was falling into, because they asked for a snapshot of a single day, instead of an average for the year etc.Is this what happened? Link to post Share on other sites
strategy 4 Posted May 27, 2010 Share Posted May 27, 2010 On the radio I was listening to a guy talking about the Greece situation. Basically he said that the whole issue was that once a year Greece was required to show their balance sheet to the EU in Brussels.So Every year, around December 30th, Goldman Sachs would relieve Greece of their debt, and allow Greece to show a honest balance sheet without the debt, then on January 2nd, they would get their debt back, and pay a fee to Goldman Sachs for this 3 day 'loan'.The EU would never realize the mess Greece was falling into, because they asked for a snapshot of a single day, instead of an average for the year etc.Is this what happened? http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-1...disclosure.htmlAt least initially during Greece's entry into the EU, that's accurate. It's not clear whether it was illegal, but the consensus seems to be that the EU knew it was happening and allowed it anyway. How anyone thinks it was unethical for Goldman to do the swaps, I do not know.Yet another lesson in having a healthy mistrust for financial statements. Link to post Share on other sites
strategy 4 Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 I'm now kinda eager to see how asia opens tomorrow night.http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65G0...eedName=topNews Link to post Share on other sites
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