Current Events

Re: Spain's credit rating downgraded!

Merlin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:32:42 GMT

So it begins...

Re: Spain's credit rating downgraded!

LvMIenthusiast — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 05:54:51 GMT

I hope it isn't this bad and that we get back on our feet fairly quickly. The way things are looking these days, who knows if we will even make it till the 2012 without serious problems. I just can't see Europe under heavy scrutiny without the lens then being focused quite sharply on the US.

It's going to be like that little cruel kid with the magnifying glass burning ants, but instead there's 300 million of them. Ha, this blows.

Re: Spain's credit rating downgraded!

Sphairon — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:55:14 GMT

A fine list, except for this bit: I probably won't be drafted anymore, unless they are desperate enough to call those they've previously qualified unfit for battle to arms anyway.

Re: Spain's credit rating downgraded!

wilderness — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:39:08 GMT

Smiling Dave...lol... I don't know if I should cry or laugh.

Re: Spain's credit rating downgraded!

Smiling Dave — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:36:30 GMT

"Does anyone see a silver lining here? Anyone?"

Plenty of silver lining here, fear not. I'll mention a few:

1. Nightly entertainment on TV as you watch police and protesters having at each other.

2. Many new friends to make as you stand in the breadlines.

3. A new pet in your home when you buy a police dog to protect your property from marauders.

4. Spiritual and artistic heights for you achievable only by suffering.

5. New skills learned when you are drafted into the Army to either protect your country or attack another country.

6. With a bit of luck, these mistakes won't be repeated if enough people get really really walloped from them. Germany still remembers the Weimar Republic, and avoids inflation like the devil.

Re: Spain's credit rating downgraded!

Sphairon — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:09:22 GMT

Living in Europe feels a little fin de siècle-ish these days.

Right now, all the major issues we have warned / been warned against for decades (high welfare spending, high debt, high redistributive activity, high centralization) seem to be convoluting into one big force apt to destroy our way of life. To be blunt with you, that sucks. Big time.

There's no proper solution to the problems at hand either. Bailing out failing states will only delay the day of reckoning. Letting the whole of southern Europe go under will destroy the Euro, the EU, all major banks and, oh, pretty much everything else in the process. There's no free lunch, but we'd need a free banquet right now anyway.

Does anyone see a silver lining here? Anyone?

Re: Spain's credit rating downgraded!

Jonathan M. F. Catalán — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:40:52 GMT

There has been an increase in popular opinion against high government debt. Even Ben Bernanke is taking "apocalyptic" views towards government debt, pleading to the government to decrease short-term spending. However, I think too many people are looking at short-term debt (like stimulus spending), and not objectively looking at the threat of a growing welfare state. What makes Greece, Spain, et. al., so financially unstable is not their spending per sé, but the size of their respective governments.

Re: Spain's credit rating downgraded!

Smiling Dave — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:22:34 GMT

"Do you think this will finally set off a worldwide reaction and bring attention to the United States sovereign debt?"

Pter Schiff does here. Also here from about six minutes in till about 8 minutes in. First it was Iceland, then Greece, and it will get to the USA.

Re: Spain's credit rating downgraded!

bloomj31 — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:42:29 GMT

But they've still got to bail out all these countries.

Re: Spain's credit rating downgraded!

krazy kaju — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:41:14 GMT

No, the time to short the Euro was before Spain's credit rating was downgraded. Now that it has been downgraded, you've probably missed the majority of the action.

Re: Spain's credit rating downgraded!

bloomj31 — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:36:26 GMT

^^Exactly. Now's the time to short the euro.

Re: Spain's credit rating downgraded!

hugolp — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:11:44 GMT

It seems the other way to me. An attack to the European Union like this seems to be taking attention out fo the USA debt and helping the dollar. At the end the fiat currencies also fight each other. A weak euro is good for the dollar, a strong euro is very bad for the dollar.

Spain's credit rating downgraded!

LvMIenthusiast — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:04:33 GMT

Do you think this will finally set off a worldwide reaction and bring attention to the United States sovereign debt?