Gesust

October 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment |

“Bos spreekt sussende woorden over crisis” aldus Trouw. Juist! Ben u gesust? Gerustgesteld? Meneer Bos, onze rots in de woelige financiele branding staat pal en geeft de ploeterende Nederlandse onderdanen weer een knus gevoel. Vertrouwen in de toekomst, dat is belangrijk! Oh, en er komt een plan! Hoe het plan eruit ziet is niet zo belangrijk volgens Bos, wel dat er een komt.

Gelukkig. Ik maakte me al zorgen dat ie wist wat er in plan zou moeten komen. Maar nu kan ik rustig even gaan liggen in de wetenschap dat er gewoon snel een plan komt…

Posted by roger | Filed Under The Dutch Corner 

Crunch time

October 1, 2008 | 2 Comments |

wall street“Gordon Brown promised last night that the Government would ‘roll up its sleeves’ and sort out the banking system.”

“Gordon Brown was personally fighting to save the proposed £12 billion rescue of Britain’s biggest savings bank last night amid growing doubts over the deal.”

A fair collection of hollow cries. The scary thing is that it’s happening world wide. In Holland “Fortis Bank” - a conglomerate of Belgium and Dutch origin - nearly went to the dogs, only saved by a massive 12 billion Euro’s nationalization effort by the governments of Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg.

In the US a 700 billion dollar (!) rescue plan was voted down, forcing good ol’ George to make four pleas on television to the American people within one week for their support.

I wonder where all this money is coming from? Does Gordon Brown just call Alistair Darling?

“Erm… ah…. by the way Alistair, be a good lad and turn on the presses tonight and cram out another 20 billion pounds… we’ve got another one falling over…”

“Ah… oh…. you’re still busy with that 50 billion from last week. Hmmm… well… erm… yes… maybe we should buy some Irish banks…. hmmm… yes…. they seem to guarantee customer accounts up to 100%…. hmmm… yes…. ah….”

Should we be worried? Will the system completely collapse?

Posted by roger | Filed Under Blog