You imply that if they bail out the banks then everyone will get to keep thier savings and thier pensions whole. Looks like they are in trouble either way.
========= Mr swan; Well besides being old news, but stiill important news;many have left.... I guess but not predict, Greek/Euro deposits in German banks are ok.Good thing the German Autobahn has no speed limit.Some, not many, but some still like socialism. Others maybe are still shell shocked, so to speak. As the garbage piles up[literal garbage]the military is having to pick up the garbage[Soucre WSJ]
re: virtual bank runs As Greek savers and investors read the writing on the wall, they are pulling their money out of Greek banks. They know that if Greece pulls out of the euro, the government will do something funny to the banks; they aren't sure what (nobody really is), but there is a strong suspicion that any money left in Greek bank vaults will be converted from euros to drachmas at the stroke of a pen (more likely, by the tap of a keyboard), and those drachmas will soon be worth much, much less than a euro. Better to have your money in Swiss or German bank than in a Greek one, every sentient vertebrate in Greece has to understand; as a result, hundreds of billions of euros have been moving out of the Greek banking system. At one point last week, television networks were sending camera crews out onto the streets to look for panicky customers standing in line at ATMs or at bank counters; but then they realized that these days you can do it all on the net. We have entered the age of the invisible bank run and are waiting for the first virtual panic. An invisible bank run is a hard thing to watch; not only is it less telegenic than the old-fashioned kind, one relies on numbers from official government agencies for statistics. How much money left the banking system today? How many banks need emergency liquidity to meet the tide of withdrawals? In the old days, reporters could and did watch lines form outside the banks and watch the armored trucks arrive with cash. These days it is happening anonymously and you only know what they tell you. They are very unlikely to tell you the truth. Officials lie like rats in times of financial panic; they do it out of a sense of duty. They will insist that a given country will never leave the euro until the moment that it does; they will say that a deposit freeze is unthinkable until they announce that they've done it; they will tell you a bank is rock solid until the moment they padlock its doors. This is all for your own good, of course. They don't want you to panicâand they want to make sure that your money is trapped when they take it away or turn it from gold into straw. Bank runs, even virtual ones, are the method by which public fear can blow up the euro zone. A version of this article appeared June 2, 2012, on page A15 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Notable & Quotable.
Are the British just more old school? Once Northern Rock got in trouble it took them about 20 minutes to line up in front of the branches.
No I just said that if the banks fail everyone will lose their pension. You are right it is bad either way it is just putting it off. Do any of you have any plans for when it happens?
Isn't the advantage of trading as opposed to investing that you get to respond to the market rather than anticipate it? The best traders will do great. The next level down will do well ... etc.
I believe that Northern Rock's customer base was older than the average UK person, as suggested in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyVk8EI6asQ and therefore less likely to be familiar with Internet Banking. Also from this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKjdT8I6TnE&feature=related "many were unable to access Internet Banking due to massive demand" Maybe Ghost of Cutten or anyone else from the UK can shed some light on the circumstances specific to Northern Rock's customers?
Well, I have been short Spanish Banks for over a year and I am Short Europe generally through the ETF, "EPV"; I own some gold physically and I am short the GDX and the SDS. I sold my big house last year, now rent...kept the Ski house as a retreat. I hold a cash position. My longs are in small Chineese stocks and some odd microcaps. I bought a business in Singapore, so I can move there if I need to.
The old (pre crisis) deposit protection/insurance rules in the UK were stupid, it was like only 90% of the first 35K was insured by the government scheme. Max payout was £31,700. "before 1 October 2007 - up to £31,700 (100% of £2,000 and 90% of £33,000)"; But most people who have money in a bank expect 100% security. So they queued to pull out money even if they stood to lose only £800 on a £10,000 deposit. And rightly so. If the rule was like it is today 100% government protection for the first 85K, there would not have been queues in the UK either. There will be visible queues/bank runs in Spain and Greece when the people think the governments will not be able to honour the deposit protection. But we probably not there yet.