The voice of doom thread

I reckon everyone on this forum has thought at some time, why is the dietary advice from the NHS,ADA and DUK so wrong. I think most would say the advice is very flawed and it is outrageous the siltation still exists. Although this situation is highly relevant to us diabetics, it pails into almost insignificance for the real problems that blight our lives. Check out the video below it is a good start into what is wrong with the world. Two things to bear in mind, only around 3 to 5 percent of the money in this country and most others is actual money i.e. notes and coins, the rest is debt. Also, almost all Americans believe the Federal Reserve Bank is a Government institution, it is not, it is owned and run by private banks.

Thanks for starting this thread Eddie. This is why I hate to hear about 'quantitative easing'. It doesn't ease anything, it just devalues our money. If only we could go back to the gold standard, where money was actually backed by something of value.

I see the problem - but is there an answer? Less lending? Less growth? Raise interest rates? Doesn't sound very politically acceptable. The problem has been made much worse by artificially low interest rates. When 'they' started messing with the natural economics of supply and demand in respect of money and interest rates, the problem mushroomed big time.

zand wrote:Thanks for starting this thread Eddie.  This is why I hate to hear about 'quantitative easing'.  It doesn't ease anything, it just devalues our money.  If only we could go back to the gold standard, where money was actually backed by something of value.  

I see the problem - but is there an answer?  Less lending?  Less growth?  Raise interest rates? Doesn't sound very politically acceptable.  The problem has been made much worse by artificially low interest rates.  When 'they' started messing with the natural economics of supply and demand in respect of money and interest rates, the problem mushroomed big time.  

100% right Zand quantitative easing reduces the value of savings, pensions and standard of living. It has been tried before in history and never ever worked. What makes this far worse, the money went to the banks who did not lend the money to small businesses or individuals, the money has been used to funnel more into more speculative and risky investments. Exactly what lead to the almost collapse of the Banking system in 2008.

The Banks must be forced to not be allowed to speculate with the peoples money. Retail banking must be totally separate from wheeling and dealing in the markets. The wheeling and dealing must be done with the banks own money, and if they lose it, the tax payer i.e. the ordinary man and woman should not be made to bail the banks out. Let them fail.

Old fogies like me can remember the days of the great Building Societies. They only lent money against land and property. They took minimal risk and had massive assets. It worked perfectly, then they got greedy, and reduced legal restrictions made it a free for all.Then they wanted to become wheeler dealers, the rest is history. There is nothing for nothing in this world.

Eddie wrote, "….. it [diabetes] pails into almost insignificance for the real problems that blight our lives".

Problems, to my way of thinking, are in the eye of the beholder.  In other words, the scale and significance of any perceived problem, depends on where you are currently standing in life.  I could look at the largest possible scale and worry about an expanding sun, swallowing up the earth (this will happen eventually), but there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, so I might as well focus on finding someone who will remove the rather large spider from the corner of the room, which is currently striking (foolish) fear into me.  
For some people, diabetes IS the real problem.  About 20 months ago, it totally dominated my and my husband's waking hours.  What did it mean for us?  What was his life expectancy?  What damage had already been done?  At these sort of times in life, I tend to cancel the newspapers, stop listening to the Today programme and shut out the outside world and all the problems that I can't solve.  Now, diabetes is hardly an issue.  Low carb has seen to that.
Recently, I advised a rather clever and idealistic young person, who thought that they should devote their life to working directly with those at the bottom of life's pile, out on the streets, providing hot meals, kind of work.  This is very valuable work and I certainly don't criticise anyone for doing it, but this particular young person has the capability to work at the highest levels, hopefully doing things which might change policy, raise large funds, help thousands.  What I am trying to say, is that we should each focus on the problems, which we can deal with, find the level where we can do the most about the problem and remember that getting horribly upset by problems, where you haven't a cat in hell's chance, is counter productive.
Now, will someone please come and take that spider away, so that I can get on with sorting out the world economic problems, after all, I've heard that we have only got until Friday!
Sally

@Sally Yep, I don't mind spiders, I pick them up and take them outside. If I come round and remove it for you.....can I come to the pub too?

Sure, you can come to the pub.  This is going to turn into a bit of a party!
Sally

Edit:  I think we need to confirm a venue.  How about "The Missing Sock".  Yes, it is real and somewhere near Cambridge!  Mr Google told me.

What I really don't understand was how and why this financial mess was allowed to happen. The banks weren't always the bad guys. Back in the 70's and early 80's they made a valuable contribution to the 'invisibles' part of the balance of trade.

Then we get deregulation a few years later.....and we're in a mess. It wasn't broken! Why did they try to fix it? Oh, yes.....greed

Sally wrote:Sure, you can come to the pub.  This is going to turn into a bit of a party!
Sally

Edit:  I think we need to confirm a venue.  How about "The Missing Sock".  Yes, it is real and somewhere near Cambridge!  Mr Google told me.

lol The venue should suit Dillinger anyway!

Here's a slightly longer version of the same thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFDe5kUUyT0

I'd like it not to be true but am not smart enough to be able to see how it isn't.

I'm not going to a pub with spiders, unless they are all wearing thick socks.

I hear what you are saying Sally. What changed my perspective is a near to death experience for me five years ago. I became tachycardic a resting pulse rate of 150 heart beats per minute, 200 with minimal exertion. My Doctor was surprised I was still alive. Within days angioplasty and two stents, and feeling twenty years younger. Before the op I had said goodbye to Jan, I looked out of the windows from the hospital before the procedure and thought if I get through this, I am going to change my ways big time. All my life I had worked so hard for junk, the big detached house, the his and hers Mercs on the ten car drive, the country club memberships. All bullshit, all an ego trip, and it almost cost me my life. What a great coffin I would have had.

It took that experience to teach me what was important in life. Zand said the other day "I have spent too long trying to be something I am not for others) or words to that effect, that was me. Jan and my family and real friends, don't give a monkeys on the size of our house or the car I drive, they take me for what I am. It took me the best part of sixty years, to take me for what I am.

eddie1 wrote:I hear what you are saying Sally. What changed my perspective is a near to death experience for me five years ago. I became tachycardic a resting pulse rate of 150 heart beats per minute, 200 with minimal exertion. My Doctor was surprised I was still alive. Within days angioplasty and two stents, and feeling twenty years younger. Before the op I had said goodbye to Jan, I looked out of the windows from the hospital before the procedure and thought if I get through this, I am going to change my ways big time. All my life I had worked so hard for junk, the big detached house, the his and hers Mercs on the ten car drive, the country club memberships. All bullshit, all an ego trip, and it almost cost me my life. What a great coffin I would have had.

It took that experience to teach me what was important in life. Zand said the other day "I have spent too long trying to be something I am not for others) or words to that effect, that was me. Jan and my family and real friends, don't give a monkeys on the size of our house or the car I drive, they take me for what I am. It took me the best part of sixty years, to take me for what I am.  

Precisely!! No use being the richest man in the graveyard! You can't take it with you at the end of the day!

Dillinger, please try and concentrate. The spider is at my house, which is nowhere near Cambridge. It's the pub, near Cambridge, which appears to have mislaid a sock, not a spider.
You will be expected in the front bar at around 8.00.
Sally
ps, Is this forum supposed to be about diabetes?

OK, let's move on from spiders, mislaid socks and pubs

Let's have a look at capitalism and what it should be. Let's keep it simple.

A man has an idea, a new can opener, it looks good, it works and is cheaper than other can openers. He gets a patent on it. He starts up a factory, employs lots of people and people buy it left right and centre. He makes a lot of money, everyone is happy, the workers are well paid, the customers love the product, and the man is getting rich. A win win situation.

Then he has a new idea, a new bottle opener. He invests in tooling and machinery big time, spends a fortune on advertising and it fails. This bankrupts his business, he loses all his money, good night Vienna. That's capitalism for you. So, let's have a look at phoney capitalism.

Banks break every law under the sun, they flog products to customers that are a complete con, like PPI, they rig the Libor rates, they pay astronomical bonuses to people who have cooked the books. They gamble like a drunken man in the markets, they lose £billions. Do they go bankrupt? no, the Government who are owned by the Banks pass the grief onto the man and women in the street.

His or her savings become drastically reduced as do pension funds. The poor old punter pays more tax for less benefits. The spivs swan off in their Ferraris to their multi million pound holiday homes, and the guy in the street says what can we do to stop it. Meanwhile people like me get labelled shit stirring sons of bitches for talking about this. Ain't life grand.

And that's exactly why I've spent what little savings I had on taking my kids on holiday and going to football matches with them. I was getting almost no interest on it, so at least we enjoyed spending the money, no-one else did.

Yes Eddie I feel strongly about this subject too.

So, having established how it is, anyone want to argue? What can we do about this situation?

OK this ain't easy, but can be done, here goes. If you have a mortgage and can down size, sell your property and pay off as much as you can on your mortgage. Pay off credit cards and cut them up. Do you really need those expensive holidays? do you need a new car? The average car is worth less than 50% after three years. Average price of a reasonable car new £15k, get a car like a Honda civic ten years old with full Honda service history and less than 30k on the clock, yes they are around check out Autotrader, these cars looked after are good for two hundred thousand miles. Be really careful when you shop, don't just shop anywhere, very big savings can be made by looking around.

Now, this may not sound very much, but we saved well over twenty grand a year doing the above. These days a couple can earn twenty grand a year before paying tax. I reckon the average couple with no mortgage and car finance, credit card bills etc. can live pretty well. Chuck in a bit more income from easily replaced sources and you are on your way to being beholden to no one. Less is more, but choices have to made. Very much like the old betus I reckon.

If you want a real downer of why we are doom and why many financial things happen in the world and why some think there is a gran plan to exterminate us see the video. The first part is about oil but latter goes into much more.

There's No Tomorrow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUvPTJ6-RWo

yoly wrote:If you want a real downer of why we are doom and why many financial things happen in the world and why some think there is a gran plan to exterminate us see the video. The first part is about oil but latter goes into much more.

There's No Tomorrow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUvPTJ6-RWo

Great video Yoly and reinforces some of the points I have made on this thread. During that video the term Exponential Growth was mentioned. This is the reason our financial systems are doomed and must fail together will pretty much all that we hold dear. Check this vid out, so many do not understand why the system cannot carry on. Most of us will be long in the ground before it happens, but straight maths alone proves it must happen. The big question is when.

For me, the internet has been a Godsend and saved me £1000's ! I try to do a lot of shopping on-line, especially grocery shopping. Gone are the days when I'd be walking through the bakery section and pick up a pack of ring donuts or some other random purchase. There is a great site called Hot UK Deals which often has vouchers or codes that can be used for shopping on-line.

eddie1 wrote:So, having established how it is, anyone want to argue? What can we do about this situation?

OK this ain't easy, but can be done, here goes. If you have a mortgage and can down size, sell your property and pay off as much as you can on your mortgage. Pay off credit cards and cut them up. Do you really need those expensive holidays? do you need a new car? The average car is worth less than 50% after three years. Average price of a reasonable car new £15k,  get a car like a Honda civic ten years old with full Honda service history and less than 30k on the clock, yes they are around check out Autotrader, these cars looked after are good for two hundred thousand miles. Be really careful when you shop, don't just shop anywhere, very big savings can be made by looking around.

Now, this may not sound very much, but we saved well over twenty grand a year doing the above. These days a couple can earn twenty grand a year before paying tax. I reckon the average couple with no mortgage and car finance, credit card bills etc. can live pretty well. Chuck in a bit more income from easily replaced sources and you are on your way to being beholden to no one. Less is more, but choices have to made. Very much like the old betus I reckon.

This is how most people used to live in 'the good old days'. This is how my parents taught me to manage money. When we got married we bought our house and the mortgage was for 25 years. We sold it and moved to a bigger one when we had the kids. The new mortgage was still for the initial 25 years, but due to some pretty bad circumstances at one particular time in our lives, we didn't feel safe being beholden to anyone, not even a bank (yes, this was before the banks got really bad, but they were beginning to change!) So, we had saved money before the kids were born (when we were both still working) and we paid off the mortgage 12 years early. We felt much more secure then.

I appreciate it's not that easy for young couples nowadays as house prices are so high and they both have to work to pay the mortgage. But here's the thing, when we were younger most women gave up work, at least for several years, when they had children. The mortgage was granted on the man's earnings only, so any extra money the woman earned via a part-time job perhaps was indeed extra money. Now that both salaries are taken into account house prices have gone up and everyone is stuck with it. Interest rates were kept artificially low, so the housing market didn't collapse again and hey presto....here we are.....the 'average' household is so much worse off in real terms, even with 2 adults working full time. What a con that was.....helping Mums to go back to work. That, and allowing property to become part of a pension portfolio whilst allowing people to take a mortgage at artificially low interest rates for buy to let properties......and you get the mess we are in now. Any borrowing for 'buy to let' should have always been viewed as a business loan.

So yes, Eddie I agree with what you said earlier about capitalism. It only works if you don't meddle with it. Money is there to be made or lost and when the banks lose money it shouldn't be 'our' money and we shouldn't bail them out with taxpayers money. Lessons should be learned by those taking the risks, not the innocent savers.

Sally wrote:Dillinger, please try and concentrate.  The spider is at my house, which is nowhere near Cambridge.  It's the pub, near Cambridge, which appears to have mislaid a sock, not a spider.  
You will be expected in the front bar at around 8.00.
Sally
ps, Is this forum supposed to be about diabetes?

Right, right. Got it. Let's get Zand in; she's very good at dealing with nasty pubs. How long have you lived in a spider? Weird.

Dillinger wrote:

Sally wrote:Dillinger, please try and concentrate.  The spider is at my house, which is nowhere near Cambridge.  It's the pub, near Cambridge, which appears to have mislaid a sock, not a spider.  
You will be expected in the front bar at around 8.00.
Sally
ps, Is this forum supposed to be about diabetes?

Right, right. Got it. Let's get Zand in; she's very good at dealing with nasty pubs. How long have you lived in a spider? Weird.

lol you know me too well! But tell me @Dillinger have you been drinking already, you sound a little.... um.... confused? You were meant to wait for us you know.

This is how it works, money is created from thin air, it never existed. Numbers are credited to your bank account via a loan etc. But we pay it back plus lot's of interest. What a fantastic idea, surely it can't be true. IT IS! Remember only around five percent of money is money, the rest is debt.

So it's a bit like pyramid selling only with loans - and therefore the debt can be infinite? Well, infinite until a collapse. I suppose the lesson is don't live beyond your means, don't borrow more than you are sure you can pay back. Don't expect any job to last forever. Expect the unexpected. A modest house and car is better than a large house and flashy car. (Never did want a flashy car)

One of my main employers announced this today ! No job is safe !
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-30725366

I have lived beyond my means for years, I live in a house I can't afford, have cars I can't afford, have more debt than I'll ever pay back lol

Oh well