In the good old days when banks lost several billions of their shareholders money chief execs wold fall on their swords and markets would come tumbling down as panic swept the world. Now it seems that apart from a few days headlines in city pages of the press no one seems to give a damn. As long as we have reality TV all seems well with the world . Strictly come dancing and endless talent shows keep the newspapers happy while consumers go on consuming more and more credit and with on line shopping you can be sure it will beome a major issue next year.
So has the emporer got no clothes on? Or will we all simply have greater and greater extended credit to buy all those new goodies ? It all seems unreal to me but there again I am just a grumpy old friend who probably does not understand the modern world
mike
Tuesday, 25 December 2007
Monday, 3 December 2007
banking
Once upon a time there was a system under which an organisation called a bank agrees to open an account into which people placed their money. They could put in as much as they liked and take out money whenever they liked or pay other people using some quaint pieces of paper called cheques. It cost nothing to have this account or the services it provided and in return the bank would be prepared for good customers to lend them sums of money for agreed periods of time based on their ability to repay at the end of that time.
The banks worked on the simple principle that no one would want to withdraw all their money at the same time so it was safe to lend out some of it to other people within certain guidelines.
These people who borrowed money in this way were known well to the manager and he understood the nature of their needs. He would charge them a lending rate and with monies generated by this interest plus the interest which the bank could get on placing its surplus funds on many current accounts on deposit with other banks it was able to make a profit which could pay for the overheads.
And everyone was happy with this arrangement. But then came the management consultants and advisers who thought this was all too simple. Lets charge people for giving us their money and lets also lend loads more than we have to lots of people who will hardly ever be able to pay us back. But that's not a problem because we will keep lending them more and give them lots of little plastic cards where the interest they pay is three times what a normal person would ever agree to(but they won't notice). That way will make oodles of money and we can then pay ourselves huge and obscene bonuses.
And so it came to pass and now most of the banks in the western world would be technically insolvent if they tried to recover the dodgy loans they have made to dodgy people in dodgy businesses not even mentioning the dodgiest of all, sub prime!!.
Its a funny world init!!
The banks worked on the simple principle that no one would want to withdraw all their money at the same time so it was safe to lend out some of it to other people within certain guidelines.
These people who borrowed money in this way were known well to the manager and he understood the nature of their needs. He would charge them a lending rate and with monies generated by this interest plus the interest which the bank could get on placing its surplus funds on many current accounts on deposit with other banks it was able to make a profit which could pay for the overheads.
And everyone was happy with this arrangement. But then came the management consultants and advisers who thought this was all too simple. Lets charge people for giving us their money and lets also lend loads more than we have to lots of people who will hardly ever be able to pay us back. But that's not a problem because we will keep lending them more and give them lots of little plastic cards where the interest they pay is three times what a normal person would ever agree to(but they won't notice). That way will make oodles of money and we can then pay ourselves huge and obscene bonuses.
And so it came to pass and now most of the banks in the western world would be technically insolvent if they tried to recover the dodgy loans they have made to dodgy people in dodgy businesses not even mentioning the dodgiest of all, sub prime!!.
Its a funny world init!!
Saturday, 17 November 2007
one to avoid in HK
was recommended to restaurant in intercontintal hotel 70 mody road HK called Mistral Its italian style with rather low ceilings and usual fake italian design.
I went with my brother in law,steven, who had been there some years ago. After waving at waiters who of course are trained to look the other way we succeeded in placing our orders some 20 mins after arriving. Steven ordered ministrone and I ordered some duck livers to start. When his arrived he tasted it and then pulled a face. I looked at the bowl and saw what looked like squid floating in it. After calling the waiter we discovered that it was fish soup!! The ministrone arrived to replace it but was more reminicent of left over washing up water. My livers were just about passable. I had escalope of veal in breadcrumbs. What arrived was a flattened piece of tasteless board which was enormous and hardly edible. Steven's main course was so unmemorable that I cant remember it
Since I had a plane to catch there was no time to try any alternatives.
So strike that one off your lists, diners in HK.There are plenty of good places to go to in HK and this one is not one of them
mike 17th november
I went with my brother in law,steven, who had been there some years ago. After waving at waiters who of course are trained to look the other way we succeeded in placing our orders some 20 mins after arriving. Steven ordered ministrone and I ordered some duck livers to start. When his arrived he tasted it and then pulled a face. I looked at the bowl and saw what looked like squid floating in it. After calling the waiter we discovered that it was fish soup!! The ministrone arrived to replace it but was more reminicent of left over washing up water. My livers were just about passable. I had escalope of veal in breadcrumbs. What arrived was a flattened piece of tasteless board which was enormous and hardly edible. Steven's main course was so unmemorable that I cant remember it
Since I had a plane to catch there was no time to try any alternatives.
So strike that one off your lists, diners in HK.There are plenty of good places to go to in HK and this one is not one of them
mike 17th november
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
letter from Hong Kong
November 14th 2007 HK
Another day in boomtown where buildings vie with each other to reach ever further into the clouds and the Hang Seng Index hovers in the stratosphere. Only trouble is that those clouds don't contain a sliver lining but rather a deadly lining of pollution which is sometimes visible as a low yellow haze but all too often invisible and still potentially lethal.
One resident told me of a friend's son . He had been born in HK and was a very accomplished athlete and especially good at tennis. At the age of around 18 he went to the USA and sought to enroll in a tennis academy. He was asked to take a routine medical exam. To his amazement he failed and was actually told that he had TB. After getting a second opinion he discovered that he did not have TB but worse than that his lungs had been badly scarred by the poisons he had grown up with in HK.
Many Hong Kongers are moving out of Central HK to the islands and outlying regions to escape the air pollution problems and property prices reflect these moves.
To be fair the government is acutely aware of the problem but its hard to combat it since it flows from the mainland industries. China in turn is aware but finds it hard to control essential industries which have to grow to support the increasing demands of an economically hyperactive population seeking to have the same opportunities that the West has enjoyed for so many years. China thinks that its a bit rich for us to throw stones at them for wanting to join our club which managed to destroy the ozone layer for so many years without any thought as to the consequences.
mike
Another day in boomtown where buildings vie with each other to reach ever further into the clouds and the Hang Seng Index hovers in the stratosphere. Only trouble is that those clouds don't contain a sliver lining but rather a deadly lining of pollution which is sometimes visible as a low yellow haze but all too often invisible and still potentially lethal.
One resident told me of a friend's son . He had been born in HK and was a very accomplished athlete and especially good at tennis. At the age of around 18 he went to the USA and sought to enroll in a tennis academy. He was asked to take a routine medical exam. To his amazement he failed and was actually told that he had TB. After getting a second opinion he discovered that he did not have TB but worse than that his lungs had been badly scarred by the poisons he had grown up with in HK.
Many Hong Kongers are moving out of Central HK to the islands and outlying regions to escape the air pollution problems and property prices reflect these moves.
To be fair the government is acutely aware of the problem but its hard to combat it since it flows from the mainland industries. China in turn is aware but finds it hard to control essential industries which have to grow to support the increasing demands of an economically hyperactive population seeking to have the same opportunities that the West has enjoyed for so many years. China thinks that its a bit rich for us to throw stones at them for wanting to join our club which managed to destroy the ozone layer for so many years without any thought as to the consequences.
mike
Saturday, 10 November 2007
road works/end of the world
Have you noticed that London in particular and other places too is now almost overun with road works often accompanied by "road closed" signs.. I have a theory that what is really happening is that a warren of burrows is being constructed beneath our cities with secret underground towns and supply houses being constructed by our lords and masters ready for the third world war . It's all very mysterious. Maybe we should send investigotors to look below just in case I am right
mike
mike
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
immigrants
I have had a very nice polish lady cleaning my house. She was happy with all duties and nothing was too much trouble. Unfortunately for family reasons she has to return to Poland.
A local agency arranged for an english lady to replace her . I went through all the duties which at this time of year include sweeping the front porch clear of leaves which tend to accumulate and if left there will fly into the house when the door opens. The agency rang yesterday to say that this lady objected to having to sweep the porch since it was an outside job!! Presumably she would have been more than happy to sweep the leaves that enter the house.
Is it any wonder that there is a constant demand for polish and other foreign workers? It's not just a question of money but more of attitude.
mike
A local agency arranged for an english lady to replace her . I went through all the duties which at this time of year include sweeping the front porch clear of leaves which tend to accumulate and if left there will fly into the house when the door opens. The agency rang yesterday to say that this lady objected to having to sweep the porch since it was an outside job!! Presumably she would have been more than happy to sweep the leaves that enter the house.
Is it any wonder that there is a constant demand for polish and other foreign workers? It's not just a question of money but more of attitude.
mike
Monday, 29 October 2007
Its a funny old world. Facebook seems to have managed to persuade Microsoft that with its 50m visitors to its site and more on the way they will all be eagerly watching the adverts that will be on that site and so will rush to buy all those goodies offered to them. So its worth a few billions . At the same time TV companies are desperately looking for ways to get viewers to bother to watch their ads.
Given that the average age appears to be sub20 and presumably a large number have no spending power at all I just wonder at the thought process from those who value this universe of visitors so highly. The people who have real spending power are those at the opposite end of the age spectrum. The grey/silver dollar is likely to be significantly greater in value in the future. In any event experince shows that youngsters have a small span of attention and as a herd will quickly move on to the next grazing field when that comes along.
It will be interesting to see what real spending comes from these sites . Of course there will be quite a bit and the interactive opportunities to buy on line are changing habits fast but not so as to justify the absurd values placed on the business today.
mike
Given that the average age appears to be sub20 and presumably a large number have no spending power at all I just wonder at the thought process from those who value this universe of visitors so highly. The people who have real spending power are those at the opposite end of the age spectrum. The grey/silver dollar is likely to be significantly greater in value in the future. In any event experince shows that youngsters have a small span of attention and as a herd will quickly move on to the next grazing field when that comes along.
It will be interesting to see what real spending comes from these sites . Of course there will be quite a bit and the interactive opportunities to buy on line are changing habits fast but not so as to justify the absurd values placed on the business today.
mike
Friday, 26 October 2007
smacking
The smack police have been stood down. Nanny Brown now says its OK to smack our kids(though not other peoples' kids) all within reason. But what about shouting at kids. I wonder if the next attempt will be to control the level of decibels when parents scream at the kids. Surely it might damage their ears and certainly psychologically damage them in later life. How many times have you witnessed escalating sound levels from frustrated mothers or fathers faced with a kid lying face down in a supermarket aisle and having a tantrum. Enter the Noise pollution police. You can imagine the scene as mum is arrested and charged with excessive decibel emissions. "Shout into this machine please madam. "" You are well over the limit I am afraid" "Can I give my child a wallop then?"" Sure that's fine".
mike
mike
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
3rd world war
Start building your fall out shelters and stock up with long lasting cans of food and water etc plus your handy generator. Have a feeling that Bush wants to go out with a big bang when he leaves office next year.
This time its EYERAN (Iran to you and me) . He has started again to rattle the sabres and seek to rein in those unholy guys who simply don't know who 's in charge of the world these days. Can't say I approve of all those threats to wipe out Israel and anyone else who happens to be in range but equally it does seem a bit odd that a major country surrounded by other countries all of whom have nuclear capability should not have its own. Of course there are some crazies there but we have our fair share of crazies in the West.
Can you inagine the mess that would result from an invasion into Iran? Everyone would take the excuse to have a go at anyone they happen to dislike and Al Quaeda would have a field day without any doubt.
Hard to know what you and me can do about it save for posting these blogs . I just hope that common sense will prevail but that's probably wishful thinking
mike
This time its EYERAN (Iran to you and me) . He has started again to rattle the sabres and seek to rein in those unholy guys who simply don't know who 's in charge of the world these days. Can't say I approve of all those threats to wipe out Israel and anyone else who happens to be in range but equally it does seem a bit odd that a major country surrounded by other countries all of whom have nuclear capability should not have its own. Of course there are some crazies there but we have our fair share of crazies in the West.
Can you inagine the mess that would result from an invasion into Iran? Everyone would take the excuse to have a go at anyone they happen to dislike and Al Quaeda would have a field day without any doubt.
Hard to know what you and me can do about it save for posting these blogs . I just hope that common sense will prevail but that's probably wishful thinking
mike
Sunday, 21 October 2007
rugby
Well I really tried to understand what was going on in Paris yesterday. A load of shrek looking fellows seemed to spend about 80 minutes trying hard to kick the ball into the stadium and when they were not doing that they wrestled each other to the ground and headbutted their opponents. Occasionally one of them would clasp his hands together in prayer and kick a rather odd shaped ball over some posts. Apparently that gained three points. No one managed to run with the ball to the other end which is called a try. Maybe they did not try hard enough?Penalties were given for not gouging out someones eye or not stamping on his head . However no one made a dive as in soccer and no one danced around with his shirt over his head
In the end the south african team won and collected the smallest trophy cup I have ever seen.
Must have some attraction or thousands would not spend thousands to watch it but its still a bit strange to me.
mike
In the end the south african team won and collected the smallest trophy cup I have ever seen.
Must have some attraction or thousands would not spend thousands to watch it but its still a bit strange to me.
mike
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
obesity
So now we have another study which presumably cost several hundred thousand pounds and apparently took two years to compile. What does it tell us? Surprise,surprise..we are becoming a nation of fatties. Did anyone simply bother to look at our cousins in the USA to see what is happening to them? Is it merely a coincidence that ever since we stopped compulsory games and PE in schools our kids have become less fit and more inclined to put on weight? Its not just the food so the study tells us its because we have a sedentary life. Yes that's pretty obvious to most thinking people which is why the fitness club industry is thriving. But it starts at a young age and if only we could get our kids used to exercise early in life maybe the problem would simply go away.
Sometimes plain common sense is all that is required to run a country rather than reaching for the nearest consultancy firm that can happily spend our money,
mike
Sometimes plain common sense is all that is required to run a country rather than reaching for the nearest consultancy firm that can happily spend our money,
mike
Monday, 15 October 2007
this sterile society
Hardly a day goes by without some survey showing that all our kids are now allergic to just about everything . At the same time we are told that we are all unclean and the world we live in is unclean. So presumably we will all be issued with protective clothing soon to avoid contact with anything that might remotely contaminate us.
Well as a grumpy older person I have no allergies (so far) other than coming out in a rash everytime I read this stuff from the nanny state bureau. My mum's old cleaning lady used to take me in the garden as a youngster and get me to put my hands in the soil for five mins. "Get some real dirt under your finger nails" she used to say. That way you will be in touch with nature and beat off the germs. I followed her advice though I confess I do like a clean set of finger nails. I have always eaten just about anything and have travelled the world for many years in developing countries,drinking and eating local stuff. So far I have never had a problem and the only time I had any problems was in London eating a bad oyster(dont touch them these days).
We are in danger of becoming a too sterile society and our kids will have no natural immunity to anything. The problems in hospitals are of course partly due to lack of proper cleaning but to a large extent I suspect are due to our obsession with sell by dates (a ploy by the food industry to make us throw away perfectly good products) and general lack of resistance to bugs which are all around us every day.
Is it not curious that while we are becoming obsessed with infection control and sell by dates at the same time our rubbish piles up and the rats multiply because the councils no longer want to provide a proper service. Thoughts???
michael
Well as a grumpy older person I have no allergies (so far) other than coming out in a rash everytime I read this stuff from the nanny state bureau. My mum's old cleaning lady used to take me in the garden as a youngster and get me to put my hands in the soil for five mins. "Get some real dirt under your finger nails" she used to say. That way you will be in touch with nature and beat off the germs. I followed her advice though I confess I do like a clean set of finger nails. I have always eaten just about anything and have travelled the world for many years in developing countries,drinking and eating local stuff. So far I have never had a problem and the only time I had any problems was in London eating a bad oyster(dont touch them these days).
We are in danger of becoming a too sterile society and our kids will have no natural immunity to anything. The problems in hospitals are of course partly due to lack of proper cleaning but to a large extent I suspect are due to our obsession with sell by dates (a ploy by the food industry to make us throw away perfectly good products) and general lack of resistance to bugs which are all around us every day.
Is it not curious that while we are becoming obsessed with infection control and sell by dates at the same time our rubbish piles up and the rats multiply because the councils no longer want to provide a proper service. Thoughts???
michael
Friday, 12 October 2007
Thursday, 11 October 2007
basket ball
Does it not seem strange to you that the game of basket ball seems populated by giants all 7 ft tall who can stand on their toes and drop the ball into the net. Was it not supposed to be a game of skill? If so why don't they move the net five foot higher?
mike
mike
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
Voting
Once upon a time I used to vote and thought that in a democracy that was the right thing to do. The antics and games now being played by Gordon and cronies and for that matter by other parties has turned me into another statistical non voter . I suspect that by the time we do have an election they will have to drag people by the scruff of their necks to the polling booths.
Do these guys really think we are all stupid? Stealing each others policies and pretending they invented them in the first place is not exactly the way to win hearts and minds.
And on a separate subject why do we bother to pay Council Tax and what does it buy? Certainly not rubbish collection..just wait for the first outbreak of dysentry or cholera here and suddenly eveyone will think that daily collection of rubbish is what should happen rather than once a week or fortnight. The rat population is really excited about all this . You want me to separate out plastic from glass from paper etc so just tell the retail trade to stop plastic shrink wrapping
What about banning all petrol cars within 5 years. Don't be influenced by the oil companies who say it can't be done. Just do it and the car industry and other industries will follow quickly. While you are at it Mr Govt why don't you in any event insist that the maximum speed a car can go should be 80 miles an hour. What's the problem?There aren't too many places where you can travel that fast anyway. Once oil and petrol become yesterdays problem then the politics of the Middle East and elsewhere will take on a completely different shape.
Food for thought from grumpy old friend of http://www.grumpyoldfriends.com/
mike
Do these guys really think we are all stupid? Stealing each others policies and pretending they invented them in the first place is not exactly the way to win hearts and minds.
And on a separate subject why do we bother to pay Council Tax and what does it buy? Certainly not rubbish collection..just wait for the first outbreak of dysentry or cholera here and suddenly eveyone will think that daily collection of rubbish is what should happen rather than once a week or fortnight. The rat population is really excited about all this . You want me to separate out plastic from glass from paper etc so just tell the retail trade to stop plastic shrink wrapping
What about banning all petrol cars within 5 years. Don't be influenced by the oil companies who say it can't be done. Just do it and the car industry and other industries will follow quickly. While you are at it Mr Govt why don't you in any event insist that the maximum speed a car can go should be 80 miles an hour. What's the problem?There aren't too many places where you can travel that fast anyway. Once oil and petrol become yesterdays problem then the politics of the Middle East and elsewhere will take on a completely different shape.
Food for thought from grumpy old friend of http://www.grumpyoldfriends.com/
mike
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)