Spain Is Crazy Tonight

Local municipalities are broke. They hire every time a new mayor takes office and they never fire anyone. City halls are bursting at the seams with bodies, yet they don't have the money to pay anyone. The local police here haven't been paid in months and don't have working vehicles to get around in. The federal police have to take up the slack because there might be one local police officer working on a Friday night. It doesn't help that tourism numbers are way down in the south either.

Despite all this, life continues as normal mostly. The underground economy is strong. Spaniards are still out eating and drinking and partying. The average person looking around here wouldn't know there's an ongoing crisis.

Oh, and it rained here today. Only about the second rainfall in the last 240 days. Was quite a treat actually.

Timely article for those of you who want to get up to speed... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17549970
 


The real reason Spain has such problems is that nearly 1 out of 4 people in their country is unemployed (and that's using the numbers provided by the government which are likely too low anyways).

Spain's LOWEST unemployment rate was in 2007 at 8.1%. Their current unemployment rate is higher than that of Greece and SIGNIFICANTLY higher than Portugal and Italy, both of which are having major problems as well with banking.

Spain's problems aren't from banking alone, don't let anyone tell you that. Spain's problems stem from a big government that wants to put everyone on welfare and turn them into a socialist green nation.
 
Scalped said:
Well, dont mean to be mean here but ive been scooping up dirt cheap properties for the last 3 months now. Depending on how much you make per month on average some you could literally pay cash for them.

As for renting them its great since so many are dropping their mortgages and believe it or not reverting back to renting.

So if you have the money, do your research, and purchase decent properties in areas that are prone to be relatively easy to rent then you can setup for the future. Im not a believer in debt or credit. If i have the money i get it, be it paid in full or sat in a seperate account.

Unfortunately (and fortunately) things will get worse and property will drop even more. So at this rate i will have income assets trickling in monthly...

*** thinking of retiring in next 5 years...not ***

EDIT: The best part of this? What banks offer to the public is the street price. But if you get access to their portfolios....wow (!!!)
They are desperate to unload.
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Are you buying portfolios or just street price?

I've been wanting to find a few investors to start a purchase group to start buying these deals up. In my area, I can buy properties that rent for $700/mo for $20k-$30k all day long.
 
Fatbat said:
Local municipalities are broke. They hire every time a new mayor takes office and they never fire anyone. City halls are bursting at the seams with bodies, yet they don't have the money to pay anyone. The local police here haven't been paid in months and don't have working vehicles to get around in. The federal police have to take up the slack because there might be one local police officer working on a Friday night. It doesn't help that tourism numbers are way down in the south either.

Despite all this, life continues as normal mostly. The underground economy is strong. Spaniards are still out eating and drinking and partying. The average person looking around here wouldn't know there's an ongoing crisis.

Oh, and it rained here today. Only about the second rainfall in the last 240 days. Was quite a treat actually.

Timely article for those of you who want to get up to speed... BBC News - Q&A: Spain's problems explained
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Move back to Vancouver while you still can bro.
mapleleaf.gif
 
avatar33 said:
Move back to Vancouver while you still can bro.
mapleleaf.gif
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Haha, yeah, I have a friend that keeps telling me the same shit. As long as the country doesn't descend into war, it'll all be good. Other than a few affluent local clients who's businesses also don't depend on the local economy, most of the work I do is for people outside of Spain. The best thing that can happen for me is if the Euro tanks, or Spain leaves the Euro. Otherwise the country is beautiful, the people are nice, the weather is awesome and, for the most part, the cost of living keeps dropping. I have a few business ventures here that I can't leave yet, but I'll come back to BC eventually. Maybe I'll keep a place to live on the Sunshine Coast in BC (the Costa del Sol ironically enough) or an apartment in Vancouver, and a place in Europe as well. With the property prices dropping, I may invest in something here.
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
So am I right in this?

1.) Banks used leverage to loan out more than they have.
2.) Banks loaned out so god damn much, shit imploded.
3.) Banks stick everyday citizens with the bill, due to heavy influence within governments.
4.) The bill consists of money that never even existed in the first place, as it was leveraged money to begin with.

Is that about right? Or do I have this wrong somewhere?
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That's some of the foundation but the house of cards is made of derivatives.

The loans you're referring to become securitized, collataralized, and synthesized into deravatives ('creative financial instruments') which have no substantive basis in reality. They aren't productive, they don't feed, power, or construct anything. And when they lose they lose big and the banks go crying for bailouts.

I think more important at the moment is the dollar-euro speculative war which has been going on for a few years now. Investment speculators and Wall Street zombie banks are attacking the flanks of the euro using credit default swaps and other means by weakening the bond markets of vulnerable euro states (Spain/Ireland/Portual/Greece), thus decreasing confidence in the euro as a whole.
 
Well somebody had to post the last part of this:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOwE0nGLvR4]Confessions Of An Economic Hitman (3 of 3) - YouTube[/ame]

Lotsa answers in that series...
 
Fatbat said:
Local municipalities are broke. They hire every time a new mayor takes office and they never fire anyone. City halls are bursting at the seams with bodies, yet they don't have the money to pay anyone.
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A friend of mine applied for a license at the town hall just before summer.
There where 3 people in an office, out of which maybe one was doing something. My mate asked his accountant (who went with him) regarding what the fuck do these people do all day...his answer was:

"well, when things where good, there was only 1 person working there with appointments. Now, during the recession, theres 3 people."

Thats the 'funcionarios' for you. The ironic part is that 2 of them where south american, they wherent even spanish.

schockergd said:
Are you buying portfolios or just street price?

I've been wanting to find a few investors to start a purchase group to start buying these deals up. In my area, I can buy properties that rent for $700/mo for $20k-$30k all day long.
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No, straight from the banks portfolios with no added fees (thanks to a friend who has direct access and deals with certain banks here).

My aim is to gather a well diversified portfolio, hopefully including land (although this in my eyes is still expensive here). So far ive got 5 rented out and another 3 on the market. For now im waiting some more time, get this settled and then scoop again.

Here you are looking at anything from €20k-€50k+ (street price). But admitedly in January certain banks have to rebalance their books and this includes reducing their property inventory by 60%...like they say: "keep your powder dry".

Forming an investment group is a good idea and something i personally considered, but for it to work smooth you need people with available equity on demand and more importantly people who have 100% compromise with your project, whatever your goals may be, remember that everybody has their own agenda - finding key partners is fundamental.
 
MSTeacher said:
That's some of the foundation but the house of cards is made of derivatives.

The loans you're referring to become securitized, collataralized, and synthesized into deravatives ('creative financial instruments') which have no substantive basis in reality. They aren't productive, they don't feed, power, or construct anything. And when they lose they lose big and the banks go crying for bailouts.
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Ok, I'm new to this, so correct me if I'm wrong. Financial institutions make up new products such as CDS's, which are basically thin air and/or a math equation. There's nothing tangible being sold though, such as titles to a house, or an actual product. Banks turn around and purchase these things using leveraged money, which didn't even originally exist in the world's money supply.

Is this right so far? Or am I wrong?

I mean, there's an estimated $720 trillion of outstanding derivatives floating around out there, but only about $65 trillion in the world's money supply. So in essence, banks exchanged hundreds of trillions of thin air for thin air, and now the ordinary tax payer is on the hook to come up with this money that never even existed in the world's money supply in the first place?

Is that kinda what's happening here? Maybe I'm wrong, and just don't understand.

If that's true though, couldn't a country like Greece just have a popular uprising, install a new government, nationalize the banks for say 6 months so people can get their savings out, then tell the banks to get fucked and/or ban them from the country? Then drop out of the EU, and open their borders to foreign investments from the likes of China and Brazil? Definitely a rocky road to be traveled, but doesn't sound like the current route is going to lead anywhere better.
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
So am I right in this?

1.) Banks used leverage to loan out more than they have.
2.) Banks loaned out so god damn much, shit imploded.
3.) Banks stick everyday citizens with the bill, due to heavy influence within governments.
4.) The bill consists of money that never even existed in the first place, as it was leveraged money to begin with.

Is that about right? Or do I have this wrong somewhere?
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You're being way too hard on the banks.

No business offered a sure bet would turn it down. Had the idiotic notion 'to big to fail' not been invented by a Government about big enough to fail those loans would never be made.

Do you make uncalculated bets with your business?

If I insure you is your answer different?

The screaming socialists can thank socialism for this - no capatlist would have leant 'uninsured' money to fuckwits.

1 + 1 != 3
1 + 1 != 3
1 + 1 != 3
1 + 1 != 3
1 + 1 != 3
1 + 1 != 3
1 + 1 != 3
1 + 1 != 3
1 + 1 != 3
1 + 1 != 3
1 + 1 != 3
1 + 1 != 3
 
Well as my findings are resulted that Spain was listed 10th in the world in terms of first-class infrastructure. It is the 5th EU country with best infrastructure and ahead of countries like Japan or the United States. he economy of Spain is the Twelth-largest economy in the world, the fifth-largest in the European Union, and the fourth-largest in the Eurozone, based on nominal GDP comparisons. It is regarded as the world's 23rd most developed country
 
Luna Andrew said:
Well as my findings are resulted that Spain was listed 10th in the world in terms of first-class infrastructure. It is the 5th EU country with best infrastructure and ahead of countries like Japan or the United States. he economy of Spain is the Twelth-largest economy in the world, the fifth-largest in the European Union, and the fourth-largest in the Eurozone, based on nominal GDP comparisons. It is regarded as the world's 23rd most developed country
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So the tipping point isn't far now then?
 
Luna Andrew said:
Well as my findings are resulted that Spain was listed 10th in the world in terms of first-class infrastructure. It is the 5th EU country with best infrastructure and ahead of countries like Japan or the United States. he economy of Spain is the Twelth-largest economy in the world, the fifth-largest in the European Union, and the fourth-largest in the Eurozone, based on nominal GDP comparisons. It is regarded as the world's 23rd most developed country
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I dont know if any of you can understand spanish, but here goes anyways:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fnWlFzvdk&feature=related]Salvados - la sexta TV - Al Filo del Resctate. ¿Cuanto Debe España? programa completo - YouTube[/ame]

Here is a breakdown of what is happening in spain.
 
cougarclaws said:
Surprise surprise: not a mention of Spain on the front page of foxnews.com or cnn.com right now.

edit:
lo-fucking-l - not even on their World News pages.
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starting to wake up yet? if you listened to alex you would know that they would never broadcast anything outside of the agenda they are pushing on us.
 
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