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Chrissie, Bar Kum, Tigerlilly….we need to talk...
Why does the Medditerranian, goddess that she is....give us such brows? Why?
…because them brows are big and valuable?
Can't possibly be wrong.
Oh and by the way, I also imagined you would look like Justin Bieber, only fatter.
Because they got brains. Greek bonds are basically for free now and when the situation gets back to normal they'll have a ton of profit. Of course if the whole European economy collapses they'll end up with empty hands, but you'd have to be a crazy doom-thinker to be speculating on that.
No, not really this. China has been very systematic when investing, and had their only goal been capital gain, they would have invested the money in something else with higher yields; the Greek government bonds are risky after all. Even with fixed interest rates. (~70% of them bonds)
Just to make sure: you don't have to be a doom-thinker or even believe Greece will have to restructure it's debt to see that Greece's credit rating, according Standard&Poor's, is the worst there is in the world. Check
Sure, we shall never forget the golden rule of investing, buy low sell high. But we can't really overlook all the other facts, can we? The value of the investment is not always based on the possible capital gain.
And I still think that
@bazooka:
Europe is still the biggest market China has, and the collapse of the euro would threaten China's export industry. Especially now that the inflation rate in China is above 5% (was about 5.5% in may if my memory serves me right) and growth rate of their GDP has decreased (OMG it' only ~9% now) and they still have this possible housing bubble ahead and whatnot… Another global recession is the last thing they need in the current situation. China can't afford to let the euro collapse for purely selfish reasons.
China has also invested in Spanish and Portuguese government bonds for the very same reason.
Of course there is the factor you mentioned, I completely agree with that, but it is never bad to have a few countries being depended on you either, that was my point. It is not a bold "get countries under your control" attack, but it will be definitely come in handy a few years/decades later.
I get what you are saying, but I'm afraid I still have to disagree seeing we're talking about bond markets. It's true governments aren't usually supposed to go bankrupt and therefore government bonds are often considered risk-free investments, so yes, in that sense you could say by buying enough government bonds you could make a country dependent on another. Greek government bond, however, is very risky investment item and it may be Greece won't be able to pay its debt. In fact Greek debt restructuring looks inevitable (unless you ask a politician or ECB that is), though at least the Greek government now finally accepted the austerity measures. That been said, I'm quite sure the main reason China invests in euro bonds is the one I mentioned in my previous post.
Of course, the US is and has been economically dependent on China, that's for sure. The reason China has US treasuries is, however, the fact China needed dollars to keep yuan lower. Bearing in mind this has in turn caused political controversies, such as currency war, I wouldn't call that completely risk-free either (not sure, though, if you even thought it would).
China also buys Greek debt; I have no idea why.
Europe is still the biggest market China has, and the collapse of the euro would threaten China's export industry. Especially now that the inflation rate in China is above 5% (was about 5.5% in may if my memory serves me right) and growth rate of their GDP has decreased (OMG it' only ~9% now) and they still have this possible housing bubble ahead and whatnot… Another global recession is the last thing they need in the current situation. China can't afford to let the euro collapse for purely selfish reasons.
China has also invested in Spanish and Portuguese government bonds for the very same reason.
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I guess China wants to buy allies. Basicly their tour around Europe is about giving money to everyone. As a (future or already) superpower the country needs allies.
This then again doesn't seem to be very plausible explanation. Greece, Portugal and Spain are all struggling economies. Before the EU bailouts packages (in early 2010 or so) China didn't show any particular interest in Greek government bonds - they didn't have economic (nor political) interest in Greece back then and the threat of another global recession wasn't topical as it is now.
On the other hand China has invested loads of money in government bonds during the years, mostly in the US government bonds, but this is a result of China's trade surplus, not a result of a search for allies as you can probably guess.
I wouldn't be surprised if something BIG happens to the country in the next twenty years. Be it opening up to the south, beginning trade with Europe of maybe even some kind of revolution.
In short I just can't get my head around the whole thing. Its so surreal that I just can't accept half of what I see and hear.
Not gonna take twenty years though, probably not even ten.
Or maybe it's my wishful thinking, but they just can't go on like this much longer.
Yet I have to admit it, the whole country as we know it is beyond my comprehension.
Has anyone else been following the news about IMF or world economy in general lately?
NYT is not the only paper to bring up Christine Lagarde of France or Kemal Dervis of Turkey for a possible new managing director, so I guess they are plausible candidates but, uh, I don't know. I found this comment in today's FT particularly good, and I very much agree with what this guy says about politicians and IMF - it would be better not to have one as a managing director. Though what comes to candidate's nationality, while I do agree it's time to admit the balance of global economy is changing, in current messed-up situation I'm with Angela Merkel and Olli Rehn. European candidate would likely be the most plausible one, or at least someone who has great understanding of the continent, its economy and its politics.
So it's official now, Christine Lagarde is the new head of IMF.
Not that much of a surprise and I'm actually glad she got chosen over Agustin Carstens, even though I obviously would have preferred economist over politician.
2 years and yes Oda explained it by using luffy as a messenger to write a message on his arming telling the rest of the crew members to meet up in 3 years. And are you sure this is your first post in three years? >.>
Meet up in three years? If I recall it correctly, they were supposed to meet after three days but the message on Luffy's arm told the crew to meet after two years instead. Not three years, but two.
And I'm also afraid that warp didn't ask how many years the timeskip was, but how long was the timespan between the first episode and the last one before the timeskip.
I think
This is probably my first post in three years or so. Has Oda ever explained how much time went by before the timeskip? Is it just assumed that it all happened in less than a year?
Pretty sure Oda has stated Luffy was seventeen when he left Windmill Village and nineteen after the timeskip, so apparently it took them less than a year to get to Sabaody archipelago.
Damn, they're quick.
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