Statistical Unlikeliness
I'd be all good with that, if it wasn't everyone who paid for the guys who lose this bet while those who win keep everything.
That's the problem with having guys believing in capitalism for winnings and socialism for losses... And as for Greece living the Euro, let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.
I'm not sure that the kind of currency speculators that win/lose are the same taxpayer funded ones.
Obviously, when you have banking bailouts, there's extra issues involved, but that doesn't mean that every investment is insured by the taxpayers.
Statistical Unlikeliness
Meh. As long as they bet money they have and they don't come crying to mommy when they lose, they can do whatever they want. Still, don't ask me to like the "let's pick up on the body while it's still alive" attitude...
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.
Lost in Space
One problem with the financial speculators is that they can pull the strings of public policy and then stand back and make money from the disasters that result. Witness Goldman Sachs and Greece. There must be some way we can set legal liability on companies profiting from the failure of their advice.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Statistical Unlikeliness
Which won't work as long as the various governments are paid *cough-cough GOP cough-cough* by those companies. Anyway, does anyone has more info on the level of corruption of French officials in that regard? Are they Dick "Darth Banker" Cheney-like or closer to human beings (let's not go too far, they're still politicians)?
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.
Don't quote me on this, but I think - as individual MPs (or members of a lower house), French MPs are one of the least corrupt lower-house members in the OECD.
Actually, as an aside, what do the French call members of the Assembly? Do you call them MPs or not?
Statistical Unlikeliness
For the lower house, they're called "députés", and for the higher house "sénateurs". About corruption, that comes as a nice surprise, but, heh, with the massive number of advantages they get, it's the very least they could do. I swear, they continue to be paid after losing their job, have almost all transportation free of charge and numerous perks...
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.
That makes our MPs look positively like they live normally!
Although, I'm not sure if I'm right.
Maybe I'm recalling wrong, and they're one of the most corrupt. 
Ah, deputies. Interesting.
Statistical Unlikeliness
Maybe they're corrupted by the state itself and not by private interests... Wait, that could be an idea: give more to your politicians than those companies and banks could afford to spend on them. How much could we give them to buy their loyalty?
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.
That's not too difficult.
A meeting with our Prime Minister costs roughly € 200 000. If we... tenth that, and assume that's what a company could pay for an individual MP, then we get € 20 000 for one meeting with an MP.
Ergo, we should pay an MP €20 000 extra per year. Its money that is much easier to get than from an energy company, say.
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![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
By the corruption Inherent in the System? Quite possible, especially in the European Democracies — after all, people don't become Politicians for the money...
And by the way, Civil Servants also count as well.
By the way, Jose Manuel Barroso lost it at the latest G20 Summit
:
"This crisis was not originated in Europe... seeing as you mention North America, this crisis originated in North America and much of our financial sector was contaminated by, how can I put it, unorthodox practices, from some sectors of the financial market."
edited 19th Jun '12 4:06:22 AM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling On
A procrastination in of itself
Cyprus has asked for a bailout. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18586532
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By the sounds of it, it's collateral damage from Greece, and even the Germans have no problems with the bailout, since it's tiny — 7 billion Euros.
Keep Rolling On
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
Yeah, that's the impression I'm getting. In fact, it was entirely expected, since everyone knew that Cyprus was so heavily weighted in worthless Greek companies/money.
Spain has now confirmed what everyone already knew - they've formally asked for the bailout.
My name is Addy. Please call me that instead of my username.
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I'm not sure where this can go, but it's connected:
More banks face interest rate rigging investigation
Yep, LIBOR (the London Interbank Offered Rate and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor) have been manipulated. Barclay's is the only the first — other banks are involved in an international investigation involving European, US and Asian Regulators.
This is a Big One.
Keep Rolling On
That just confirms it. The culture in the City and its counterparts needs an overhaul — badly. Too many psychotic and sociopathic natures in driving seats to be healthy without a lot better regulatory constraint. -.-
edited 27th Jun '12 11:27:53 PM by Euodiachloris
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Ministers to order Libor bank rate review: ...and Labour's pushing for a Leverson-style Public Enquiry on the ethics and management of the Banking System.
Lost in Space
If you want a safe place to park your money in Europe, try Denmark. Of course, it'll cost you 0.2 percent. Why are people paying the Danes to keep their cash? Probably because the rest of Europe is in such a hellish mess.
so hey what do we all think of this thing here
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Germany's AAA credit rating under review by agency: Moody's has downgraded its AAA outlook for Germany to Negative. It looks like the contagion has spread to Germany.
Lost in Space
It makes me perversely happy, in a schadenfreude kind of way, to see Germany starting to reap the fruits of its labors. Not that I'm looking forward to another global recession, but it's basically inevitable at this point given the political climate.
edited 24th Jul '12 6:43:13 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
V
Yeah, certainly about anything, anywhere is in short supply at the moment...
Keep Rolling On
Yeah, that's true. So if a bunch of speculators do something publicly, it's possible to shift the results.