The "no need to worry" thing is only rivaled by the "this is the bottom" and "shares are really worth buying at these low levels", which the business press has been running here since early summer.
Indeed - I think I read somewhere that most of the people who lost silly amounts of cash in the 1929 crash were those thinking that they had bought a 'bargain'
This was until they found the bottom was actually much much lower!
The "no need to worry" thing is only rivaled by the "this is the bottom" and "shares are really worth buying at these low levels", which the business press has been running here since early summer.
Indeed - I think I read somewhere that most of the people who lost silly amounts of cash in the 1929 crash were those thinking that they had bought a 'bargain'
This was until they found the bottom was actually much much lower!
or as somebody once said:
"The markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent"
... just because the p/e ratio looks really good doesn't mean it still can't go down. Never bet what you can't afford to lose.
"When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
John Maynard Keynes.
I feel sorry for 'normal' Icelanders. Having visited twice and falling in love with the place and the people I can only surmise that most of them didn't have a clue what was going on until the SHTF.
Icelanders have a very strong sense of independance and self-reliance (ref Independent People by Halldor Laxness.)
They were duped by the *ankers and believed there was easy money available because the *ankers told them so.
Their belief is an extreme example of what the rest us believed.
The Icelandic government are a bunch of Bastards who were prepared to sell their natural inheritance for a mess of pottage.
pablo wrote:
They were duped by the *ankers and believed there was easy money available because the *ankers told them so.
Their belief is an extreme example of what the rest us believed.
Totally agree. Even if you're not particularly materialistic, it can be very difficult to resist the call, "Times are good: here's some money, enjoy yourself with it." Just having a decent pay check and spare cash to buy a nice car is a version of the same thing because it's all been paid for, ultimately, by dodgy credit.
As an aside, it sickens me that people who didn't even know where Iceland was 2 weeks ago have suddenly raised Icelanders to first position in their hate list.
"We're just waiting, looking skyward as the days go down / Someone promised there'd be answers if we stayed around."
Ludwig wrote:As an aside, it sickens me that people who didn't even know where Iceland was 2 weeks ago have suddenly raised Icelanders to first position in their hate list.
Quite, I don't suppose anyone asked the electorate "do you mind if we leverage our banks positions to 10 x GDP?"
