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The decision-makers are ideologicaly ill-equipped to deal with the crisis.

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 06:22:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]
But they are politicians: they usually come equipped with a keen instinct for survival.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 06:44:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Not in Sweden.

Minister of finance: If banks in Sweden get into trouble and comes to me with demands on the national treasury, then they'd better hand over their shares at the same time. They will not get a single krona from the Swedish treasury if it's not linked to ownership.

Head of the Debt Office: if you get an earthquake in the financial system the state will have to socialise banks or whatever is necessary. So what? It's not about ideology, it's about crisis management.

Both are/were hardcore libertarians/market fundamentalists.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid (arvid.hallen at gmail.com) on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 07:10:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]
You guys seem to have nuclear waste disposal and financial crisis management down pat. How do I get a job in Sweden?

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 07:18:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"hard core market fundamentalists" raised in a social democracy (from my iberian/latino-raised, anglo-living perspective, Sweden is definitively a social democracy). Education and culture are biasing perspectives here.

I strongly believe that a typical Iberian social-democrat (in Iberia called socialist) is, by cultural bias, similar to a Swedish liberal. Or to, put it in another way, your current Swedish government is, by cultural imposition, more left-wing that they would like to be.

More than ever, REAL social democratic mental and cultural bias is the best defense against what is coming.

by t-------------- on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 07:27:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Off topic - how common is it for Portuguese commentators to refer to Iberia? Both you and Luis de Sousa do it with some regularity. I've never seen it in Spain as we have an unfortunate tendency to ignore you :-(

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 07:30:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Extremely uncommon.

Portuguese don't ignore Spain (big and only land neighbour), but rarely people refer to Iberia.

The two samples that you know off are not representative at all of the majority in that respect.

by t-------------- on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 07:42:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh and I might add that Borg wants to "reform" (hehe, regulate that is!) the bonus systems used in financial companies, so that they "increase financial stability", implied that they decrease it today because of the short termism (be in the business for just a few years while the music plays and you can bail out with your "fuck you money"). He also said that the bonuses we have today are "morally offensive".

And he should know. Before he became a politician he worked as a banker at ABN Amro and SEB.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid (arvid.hallen at gmail.com) on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 07:35:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Here they just said that Sweden government too guarantied all bank deposits as well as Austria and Denmark...
by vbo on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 08:31:33 AM EST
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No, they doubled the deposit guarantee from about €25,000 to €50,000. It's to stop people from withdrawing their money from Swedish banks and putting them into foreign banks who have also had their guarantees increased.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
by Starvid (arvid.hallen at gmail.com) on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 08:36:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yeah, but that's nothing compared with the Irish debt guarantee...

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 08:45:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]
is not credible IMHO. The gov't can't print the currency in question and faces other serious troubles.

Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den Menschen
Volker Pispers
by Martin (weiser.mensch(at)googlemail.com) on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 09:48:05 AM EST
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I am sorry but I don't see any of these guaranties as credible. They just want to stop people from taking money from the banks but in case they really decide to take it...? I don't know if they can print money that fast? And we all know where this will lead. Hyperinflation!
by vbo on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 10:06:37 AM EST
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The Danish guarantees are credible, because they only cover depositors, not interbank lending, and are capped somewhere in the fifth digit (in €). Even if the entire retail banking system falls apart (it won't... it probably won't), it won't be the depositor guarantees that break the Danish economy.

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 05:03:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, the Irish chose the worst possible option. Effectively they've signalled that the Irish banks are insolvent and that they're willing to have the state pay to save the management and shareholders.

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 at 10:17:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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