Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Channel 4 investigates 'hidden 'LOBO' loan deals' between Councils and banks. 'Hidden' because no one really knows anything about them. The terms are so generally embarassing, that they are kept secret!

Here are the notes i quickly took down:

eg. Newham Council have over £1/2 BN of 'LOBO' loans, costing them 7.6% pa. It would be fantastic for them and they could possibly save a fortune in interest if they could re-finance.

Tons of councils have these 'LOBO' loans with the banks. The terms are atrocious.

eg. One LA wanted to break free from a £25m LOBO loan. The penalty to be levied for doing so was going to be circa £15m so to cancel it and refinance they needed £40m. Result: They couldnt afford to cancel and re-finance and so they just had to stick with the existing loan rates and terms.

Throughout the country, lots of council services have had to be cancelled because the councils concerned just can't afford to provide them. And the main reasons for this farce?

With LOBO loans, there are usually at least 'Inverse floater' conditions.

Inverse Floaters: When Interest Rates go down then loan interest rates on LOBO deals go up. Ridiculous but true!

Here's another naughty fact about LOBO Loans: They are usually recommended to councils by Council Financial Advisers.

NB. Council Financial Advisers are always paid commission on the loans they have recommended the councils take out.

Of course, councils don't have to take their advice and don't have to take out LOBO Loans in the first place.

Here's another big negative from the European Union!

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Panorama_in_Europe_in_2015

Eurozone don't want them and Greek government don't want to be in it but neither side can afford to be seen as the reason for a Grexit.

Should flip a coin on who takes the blame for them leaving and get on with things.

Greece staying in will lead to bigger problems all round further down the road.

Only upside to this from my point of view is that its likely to be a positive for the get UK out of Europe campaign.

dil. yes lets have the vote get us out of the stinking rotten corrupt eu

Tsipras Names Ally to End Varoufakis Era of Confrontation

Good cop , bad cop

Kathimerini: 16 of 18 eurozone countries want Grexit

According to Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Grexit is beginning to sound like a good option for most of the eurozone. They write:

"According to sources in Brussels, 16 of the other 18 countries in the eurozone are in favor of letting Greece leave the eurozone and they will have to weigh up the cost of any agreement to keep Athens in the single currency."

Greek banks did not open today as promised. It will be at least until Thursday.

Dug up by leeds across the road:




Euclid Tsakalotos, an Oxford-educated economics professor, was sworn in as Greek finance minister on Monday night, having already served as chief negotiator on the debt crisis for the Syriza-led government.

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He attended Eton College; other sources say that he attended St Paul's School, London. He went on to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford. He later completed a master's at the University of Sussex, and a doctorate in 1989 at the University of Oxford.

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When at the University of Oxford, he joined the student wing of the Communist Party of Greece.

Better qualified than Georgie boy with his 2.1 and Dickensian economic book of economics!

Greek Debt Crisis - Five simple facts explain what is going on

I dunno why the ECB and IMF don't just send the boys around.

Yours!

An interesting interview.





Yanis Varoufakis: the economist who wouldn’t play politics - See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/yanis-varoufakis-economist-play-politics/4081#sthash.mUklv0H7.dpuf

http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/yanis-varoufakis-economist-play-politics/4081

WELFARE BENEFITS
wherever these are set, there will always be people who are on the fringes who get squeezed
however, the culture where people will opt NOT to work because they get more from benefits assuredly needs to be stopped insofar as it is possible

Osborne may scrap maintenance grants for students and turn them into loans.

no idea of the budget details, though the market seems to approve

if the uk leave the eu . then countries in the eu will go bankrupt without the uk pot
the uk is keeping the eu alive . cut the rope and let it drift