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Post by guadixman on Jan 26, 2010 10:39:02 GMT
Mike tried to pay me for the WAD83 h/amp via IBAN and the bastards are trying to charge him £25 for the pleasure.
This is just not on. I've asked him to give me their phone no. so I can put the fear of Christ into them.
I state clearly if you want to pay for something inside the UK or for mainlanders like me inside the Euro - the charge for an IBAN transfer ie. from bank to bank is FREE or a couple of Euros - in Germany it is free and I believe from my Dutch mate in the Netherlands as well but different in totally corrupt southern Europe.
There is no need to use SCREWPAL at all.
Please contribute or to back up my claim please ask at your bank (and state which bank).
It could be that Mike's bank is RBS - well some poor f**kers have got to stump up for Fred the Shreds outrageous pension hav'nt they!
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 26, 2010 12:52:13 GMT
Just been onto the Nationwide.... they do not accept "fast payment" and the only thing they'll accept from my bank is "CHAPS" which has a £25 charge. Yes, my bank is RBS.
It's going to have to be cash in an envelope Stuart I can't be arsed with these banks. You may not like paypal but it's VERY convenient and a LOT better than dealing with these fckin' banks!
Can you accept a cheque?
Mike.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2010 13:08:03 GMT
AFAIK ALL the English Banks will charge, euro zone or not. The only exception is between your own accounts if you have RBS or Halifax in both countries of the transaction. In Europe you can send dosh all over with no charge. It's about time UK #ankers fell in line. I closed all my UK accounts after being shafted one too many times
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Post by guadixman on Jan 26, 2010 15:22:07 GMT
Mike, remember my PM - Angela transfers money from First Direct to my Nationwide account and there have never been any charges.
So maybe this is a new rule - the CEO was only drawing £500,000 a year as salary - he's probably given himself a payrise because he does'nt get bonuses (I think).
I don't want you to get shafted for more money, so, If I PM my Nationwide branch address you can send the cheque there.
Methinks it's time to re-activate my Barclays account.
Chris - we sent over a considerable amount of money which we intended to use to buy land and for materials (thank god it never happened) from the UK to Spain via First Direct and they charged £20. When we got such crap service and lots of mistakes from BBVA I asked what it would cost to transfer the money from them to La Caixa up the road - wait for it - they wanted 3% of the total - I kid you not.
I took it myself in tranches armed with razor sharp knives and an Estwing hammer just in case some little shit tried to rob me, the last tranch I had my off-duty neighbour Alejandro a Guardia Civil for company.
That was 4 years ago so maybe things have changed.
The thread title refers to what that well known Marxist-Leninist - Harold MacMillan said from the early 60s.
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Post by guadixman on Jan 27, 2010 17:51:47 GMT
So I called Nationwide today and here is the griff:
They (Nationwide) are not yet able to do fast payments but it is in the pipeline.
No need to pay any charges just get the payee to make a bill payment, a one off is fine. It will take two to three days to arrive but that's it.
So, I have to wonder why RBS did'nt tell Mike this. Could it be because they don't make any money via bill payment method.
I presume that Mike is a good customer of theirs, so lets screw him.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 27, 2010 22:04:09 GMT
Bloody hell Stuart..... get a PAYPAL account! You are the only bloke I know who doesn't have one! EVERYBODY, and their dog, has a Paypal account IF they want to do online transactions. SURE Paypal charge a small fee for each transaction but seeing as you are probably saving 50% on the price of something WHAT THE HELL? You don't expect them to run a business for FREE do you?! Go with the flow man! I now refuse orders from people on the continent who don't have Paypal accounts, it's not worth the hassle. Do you know, I have travelled into my bank THREE times now trying to sort this transaction out? I have been banned from driving, have to rely on the bus.... there is ONE bus a day here and when I go into town I have to wait "5 hours" before I can get the bus back home again. PLEASE don't tell me how simple bank transfers are and how Paypal are a bunch of jokers..... I don't accept that. Paypal provide a VERY good / FAST service (which doesn't involve bus journeys and hanging about for 5 hours). I do MANY Paypal transactions every week and they are flawless.... I don't grudge paying their small fee because I feel it is WORTH it. If the Paypal fee pisses you off then simply say "please add 3% to cover Paypal fees" or just add the 3% onto your asking price..... Seriously man, what you think is "saving money" is actually wasting "time" and "time" is "money"..... go open a Paypal account!
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Post by guadixman on Jan 28, 2010 19:53:21 GMT
Milke, I have already explained, I think in a pm - you cannot get a Paypal account if you live in another country UNTIL you have residence status and you cannot get residence status just like that. It takes a few months at least.
Simple, no not really. When I lived in the Netherlands it took about 6 months in total until I had all the paper (and they love paper on the mainland) and then it took queuing for 3 days at the police station in Rotterdam.
Angela is ahead of me for a lot of reasons - she started the process 3 months ago. I have to get all our financial affairs in order to minimize taxation and this is not easy. Remember we moved first to Spain and set our tax affairs up there. Get it wrong in France and you will be hammered - asak Chris about inheritance taxes in Spain - it is a nightmare and you have to get it right.
Now we have moved to France - I could'nt believe that we simply could'nt inform Paypal of change of address - that's the way it is Mike.
Every day I see things I want to buy on Ebay - no way Paypal only.
We even have a problem with Ebay - changing the address, easy no, not at all.
If you hav'nt moved LEGALLY to another country you have no idea of what is involved.
I wrote and erased the actual scenario in the UK and the contrast with northern Europe/Scandinavia,southern Europe is just totally corrupt and can't be compared.
I have a big problem with Angela - she can't really lose/change her UK mindset, unfortunately that applies to at least 80% of Brits and means I have to sort out the crap.
Have a rant at Paypal not me, I don't make up their paranoid rules.
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elysion
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Post by elysion on Jan 28, 2010 20:39:59 GMT
I agree with Mike. Paypal is the ONLY reasonable way to transfer money to foreign countries. Paypal is not perfect, but it's simply the best available way. Banks always charge fees for international transfers. Usually BOTH involved banks charge money for their service. And best of it: Many times you don't know exactly how big the fee is before the transfer is completed... Inside Switzerland (I'm from there) bank transfers are very convenient with NO fees charged at all. I can do this with electronic banking from my computer at home. As far as I know this is also true in most european countries. @ guadixman: Do you know someone (a friend for example) who has a Paypal account and can receive the money for you? Maybe this is the way to go. But beside this "technical" problem: BANKERS ARE SHYSTERS! THEY HAVE CAUSED THE FINANCIAL CRISIS WITH THEIR ENDLESS GREED! KILLING THOUSANDS OF JOBS AND EXISTENCES! And it is not the first time they did something like that... I already mentioned that I'm from Switzerland. Unfortunately we have far to much bankers (speak: SHYSTERS) here. Probably we should hang them all (including our corrupt politicians who protected those SHYSTERS in the past and now in the present). I would start with Marcel Ospel (former CEO of UBS). If UBS (=> UNITED BANDITS OF SWITZERLAND) would have failed our country would be bankrupt now. The Icelanders has less luck: Their country is already bankrupt. What me nerves most: Most Swiss people don't work for banks. But those greedy bankers ruin the reputation of us all. It a real shame. At the moment many people have lost their jobs and those bankers already pay astronomical bonuses with the taxpayers' money. It is what it is: A small number of very rich and very greedy people reign planet earth at the expense of us all. I'm in doubt this changes at all during my lifetime. But I hope it would change for the better... Perhaps we should hope that the Martians take over our planet. It couldn't get much worser with them.
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Post by guadixman on Jan 29, 2010 13:51:31 GMT
elysion, good post and as you say in the eyes of the world - all Swiss are bankers ergo all Swiss are bastards.
Your in the same boat as the Brits - too much of your gdp based on banking. When the shit really hits the fan, all the bankers immense wealth will have been transferred electronically and the ordinary people will be left to clean up.
We allow British companies to up sticks and away to Swiss cantons with very low tax rates, low tax rates that is for companies, not the ordinary man.
This way they pay little or nothing in British taxes even though the profits are made in Britain.
But you know what is to blame - working people who are too timid or could'nt care less - we get the governments we deserve.
Do you have ID cards like the rest of Europe and did you have to supply this info to get a Paypal account?
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elysion
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Post by elysion on Jan 29, 2010 19:47:55 GMT
We have ID cards, but there was no need to give Paypal this information. The only thing I had to deliver them is my credit card information and my address. Then you get a snailmail letter to your address to verify the address (you have to type in a code from the letter). To get a credit card in Switzerland you have to prove your identity by – you probably already know it – ID card or passport. We have now biometric ID cards and passports, but for some time you could choose from the old (non-biometric) and new (biometric) ID cards and/or passports. Last fall I replaced my old ID/passport by "new" ones. My "new" ID/passport are still without biometric information (probably the last chance for me to get them). My current non-biometric ID/passport are valid for 10 years. Most likely there will be more than one scandal with the biometric IDs/passports (and the associated databases) in the next few years. I hope people will change their mind then... I will only get biometric bullshit documents if I'm forced by law to get them. It's true, we all got the governments we deserve. This is especially true for Switzerland. Switzerland is a direct democracy and the Swiss folk has much more legal rights to overrule the own government than anywhere else – at least on the paper. My personal oppinion is that we are still to privileged to start a revolution. I'm not the only one who thinks this way in Switzerland. The european/worldwide tax challenge is also a problem as you mentioned it. British bankers are saving taxes not only with holdings in Switzerland. There are many places to do this. If one place fails for them (for example if Switzerland gets new laws) they simple move the holding to the Cayman Islands, Delaware, Andorra, the Channel Islands or an other place. Globalization was a really bad thing for many small and poor people. Germany is the other tax extreme. Germany is a real tax hell. Their politicians are real bandits. That's why lots of Germans overrun us since we are member of the Schengen area. I don't have problem with Germans at all (I know a lot of friendly Germans and I work with some of them). But in Switerland we are clearly NOT RESPONSIBLE for the political/economical desaster in Germany. And it is a real desaster (ask Germans why they leave their country... they simply have no faith into their politicians anymore). I work and live in the Basel area ("Basle" in English), near the border triangle between Switzerland, France and Germany. I was born and raised in central Switerland, in Obwalden to be more precise. I lived in central Switzerland until was about 30 years old (I'm 33 years old at the moment). Obwalden is one of the poorer cantons in Switzerland. Basel is the opposite. Lots of banks and pharmaceutical/chemical industries. There are many things I like here in Basel but I really hate the greed of the few very rich people who also live in this area. To change things we need at least some laws to contain abuse. We would need a law to control/limit campaign contributions to political parties. Politicians should have to reveal their economical relationship by law and have to be banned from participating in the administrative board of corporations. And political lobbying should be declared a crime.
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Post by razorlightchick on Jan 29, 2010 20:29:28 GMT
Just read your thread regarding banks and just wanted you to know that you are talking through your arse. We are not 'shysters' as you so charmingly call us but hard working poor sods like the rest of you. You obviously dont understand the correct mechanics of banking, so stop showing your ignorance and wise up!!!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2010 20:48:07 GMT
Go on then, educate us.
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Post by clausdk on Jan 29, 2010 22:41:51 GMT
And please keep in mind that bankers/banks have runned the world-economi in the ground causing millions to get unemployed..
Bankers/bank are a bunch of criminals in my book.
Work hard ? Please, they get special low interrest on their loans, so that they pay less rent than everybody else..
After they produced a billion dollar loss they get a bonus ?? I could have runned any bank in the ground for ½ the price of those hardworking bankers..
We are not talking about the teller in a bank, we are talking about banks in general, you are probally very nice, but your employer is a bunch of bandits..
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elysion
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Post by elysion on Jan 30, 2010 3:57:23 GMT
Just read your thread regarding banks and just wanted you to know that you are talking through your arse. We are not 'shysters' as you so charmingly call us but hard working poor sods like the rest of you. You obviously dont understand the correct mechanics of banking, so stop showing your ignorance and wise up!!! @razorlightchick: L00K @ the list below Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs), Collateralized Mortgage Obligation (CMO), Credit Default Swap (CDS), Default Option, Credit Default Swaption, Credit Default Option, Credit Derivative, Credit Default Swap Index, Constant Maturity Credit Default Swap (CMCDS), Total Return Swap (TRS), Total Rate of Return Swap (TRORS), Collateralized Fund Obligation (CFO), etc. (This list is not exhaustive.) What else are these financial "products" than financial castles in the air? Their simple purpose is to create "money" where no real money is. That's a perfect recipe to form big financial bubbles. Every bubble bursts some day. (Anyone who wants to understand what those cryptical financial terms mean will find the necessary information on Wikipedia.) This has nothing to do with interest and compound interest. It's not about providing credits for the economy. In the figurative sense, it's not beside the point to describe this "products" as more sophisticated variants of a pyramid scheme (I know: it's not the same but there are striking similarities). But let us take an excursion into the psychological department: Are you feeling bad because you think all bankers are wrongfully lumped together? If you are hard working poor sods and not responsible for anything related with the financial crisis WHY in hell are you ranting about me? Wouldn't it be a better idea to rant about your bosses who are responsible for the desaster (or is nobody responsible for it at all?)? Don't you feel ripped off to work as poor sods while your bosses take home bonus millions while ruining their own banks and the whole economy? And before I forget it, I always have some arses for bankers:
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2010 6:50:33 GMT
Cool it guys ! My brother is a semi retired banker. His son is a banker. They are no different to any other hard working executives. Blame the "greed is good" attitude so prevalent among major corporations these days, and their demanding shareholders. Are banks really any different to other major corporations , such as the major Supermarket Chains and other conglomerates ? Governments need to have tighter regulation over practices that stifle competion, and major corporations that seem to become almost a law unto themselves. The huge Kraft organisation is a good case in point with their recent forced takeover of Cadburys. SandyK P.S. Claus Please differentiate between bankers and banks. Bankers are not criminals, although the actions of their Directors may often appear to verge on the side of having little moral justification. This is little different to other major corporations worldwide. Elysion Was that last line REALLY necessary ? I think you made your points well enough in the last paragraph. However, lower executives do not have the power to change corporate policy. It's the shareholders at the AGMs that have that power. While they continue to receive larger dividends as a result of questionable practices, are they likely to rock the boat ?
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Post by clausdk on Jan 30, 2010 10:47:13 GMT
Alex I did write that I was talking about banks in general..
You are right about the greed is good thing, but it has only been tha banks that got help from the taxpayers all over the world..
In Denmark they got 10.000 $/capita 10.000 of mine hard earned taxmoney and what are they using this help to ?? paying out bonusses to incompetent BANKERS.. MY money, now our hospitals our nursinghomes etc. has to suffer for the banks greed, it is so unfair..
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Post by guadixman on Jan 30, 2010 11:18:31 GMT
elysion, spot on. Yes I understand the 'products' you refer to and yes they are exactly as described - giant Ponzi schemes - anyone want too offer up the history on Ponzi.
razorlikechick - your a perfect example of an arrogant banker. You've exposed yourself in public with your knickers down - no shame at all.
It's quite obvious that elysion and I understand too well that banks are nothing more than corporate scam machines.
Harold Macmillan understood as well, shysters is what he called you in the 60s and you've just got worse.
You do not create wealth you skim off the top. The true function of banks is very simple as elysion has stated but not so profitable as the Ponzi schemes you create on a daily basis.
Janis Ian got it right in a song "went to see my brother who works on the 32nd floor he said tell me where's there's famine and I'll make you guarantees" ON PROFITS TO BE MADE.
Sandyk - you said it all YOUR BROTHER'S A BANKER. Loyalty I admire, blind loyalty I have nothing but contempt for.
Your quite wrong of course - it is'nt just the directors who are coining it (literally) - I will come back to that. It's the traders who get the multi million bonuses and that's apart from huge salaries as well. Yes these arseholes do put in long hours and boy do they make a bundle for doing that.
The federal Reserve IS NOT AN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION - IT IS A CREATURE CREATED AND RUN FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE AMERICAN BANKING SYSTEM.
Why did not one foreign bank send a young brown nose (the banks are full of them) over to the USA to check out the actual mortgages. That's all it would have taken and then the cover would have been blown and it would have meant that all the crap would have stayed in America. Bad for the ordinary Joe initially but in the long run better than being perpetually stiffed.
Just for the record when the USA walked away from Bretton Woods the writing was well and truly on the wall. Clinton (I can't keep my zip done up) started the ball rolling in a bigger way than previously in 1998. Greenspan has to take responsibility as well.
Angela has a recently retired banker as a niece, this woman taught many at Lloyds how to use computers - she was'nt a trader. I personally know 3 bank managers.
All of these were 'traditional 'bankers and all bemoan the demise of traditional banking - bad debts were very rare because all these managers knew the local area, knew which were the good and bad businesses and lent or not as the case maybe - that was destroyed 20 years ago and more.
Why do you think that every country in Europe was picking up the tab for huge discounts on buying cars and in Spain, to be specific, Andalucia on everything from fridges/TVs/cookers - you name it, produce your ID and get a 20% discount, rich man, poor man but of course who had the money to buy - why of course mainly the rich man and those who still had lots of black money to spend (Spain has over 80% of all €500). So, as always it's the poor who subsidize the rich.
Unfortunately most proles keep their heads impacted firmly up their rear ends so missed seeing what was obvious to those who don't, that the elites were terrified that people worldwide would see through - consumer capitalism. It is the most irrational way to run economies.
No, before the neocons rush in I'm making an economic statement that has nothing to do with politics. Stop bying and the whole rotten edifice collapses - it is'nt certain that the elites can keep the whole fiat currency Ponzi scheme going.
The truth is that the West has got to accept a lower standard of living. Since most over eat and under exercise that is no bad thing. here in France they work a 35 hour week, which I think is crazy and makes it harder for France to compete.
But just listen as I do to what the ordinary French worker says " I like this extra time, I can spend it with my family". These bankers spend so little time with their families that in effect they have no family life at all but hell their is no such thing as society or family - there is only greed and arrogance.
elysion you are quite right about taxation in Germany but I have visited there quite a lot and Germany works. Their education system turns out first class enbgineers in an endless stream. Their transport system works. Their houses are built up to a standard not down to a price. Like the French they care passionately about their countryside. Products are still made in Germany.
If and when the the rotten and self serving scum called European politicians destroy the EEC, Germany will survive and prosper simply because they create first class products that the world wants. Their mentality is so different from the Germans who decided to invade Celtic Britain. I will give an example.
The Germans used to subsidize the production of coal by 500%, they look at the 'whole' of a situation and it made economic sense to keep miners employed rather than on social security with all the social problems that unemployment brings. When they decided that it was no longer feasible they spent lots of money retraining their miners - now take a look at all the broken communities of miners in the UK.
It's called the long view - and it works longtime.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 30, 2010 12:09:09 GMT
Remember guys, we are talking about "bankers" here and not the good people who work in the banks who deal with the customers... they are simply doing their job and don't make the rules.... it's the fat cats we are talking about here.
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robertkd
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Post by robertkd on Jan 30, 2010 13:44:11 GMT
zeitgeist??
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Post by guadixman on Jan 30, 2010 13:47:03 GMT
Mike, exactly, the ordinary bank workers are getting sacked at a rate of knots.
Sandyk either has no idea or is being disingenuous when he talks about shareholders.
The shareholders of major PLCs - public limited companies, that means limited liability, very important to make that distinction clear, are actually - investment companies/pension schemes/hedge funds and secretive offshore organizations. The individual shareholder can go, piss in the wind as they have zero say in how things are done.
In reality the directors/managers actually run PLCs as their own personal property. Executive and non executive directors all belong to the same club and it is a merry-go-round of ripping off both the little shareholders (the big investors are part of the rip-off scheme) and the totally un-important workforce - after all they only create the profits.
Someone actually said on a blog not long ago - lets take all the directors exec. and none exec. dump them in the Atlantic as fish food and lets see how the company performs - now that is a good idea.
razorlikegirl - do come back with a statement about the following - I read yesterday that Goldman Sachs sold a lot of silver to it's clients - that it actually never had to sell but it get's better. It not only did'nt have the silver ( I think it was ITRO $2.6 billion or maybe more ) but it charged it clients for storage - OF A NON EXISTANT METAL) - now here in the real world that is called CRIMINAL DECEPTION and all those involved would be arrested and charged with the same - but because they are bankers - they will not be charged with anything at all.
It would have been perfectly legal to have sold silver and when and if the client wanted actual silver they could have gone into the market and supplied it but to charge storage for a product you don't have is as I've stated - do come back on this I enjoy a good piece of bullshit, it's always worth a laugh
eg. - covered warrants. I have personal experience of these, so I can give a factual not theoretical example.
Barclays issued covered warrants on Eurotunnel shares circa 87- you buy warrants at a certain price, I think I paid 32p per warrant. The deal was that Eurotunnel shares had to reach an exercise price of £12 at which time I could demand shares for the warrants.
I had mates actually building the tunnel and they kept me informed. When I bought the warrants, I think the shares were around the £4 mark. The shares kept climbing and were within 27p of the exercise price when the bad news broke - I had stood to make a lot of money as I had £3,000 invested. I could also have sold the warrants as the sactual share price rose and made good but less profit.
Now here's the thing I knew that I was engaged in gambling - higher risk = (or should) higher reward. What I did'nt know was if Barclays was covering their risk with ordinary bank deposit money or not and neither did the deposit holders.
Covered warrants are easy to understand, they are based on a real share that actually makes something or provided a real service and it's terms are crystal clear - you are making a bet, I made a bet and lost.
The A$ is riding high at the moment because it is a resource backed currency - iron ore/gold etc. if as seems likely we go into a double dip recession then it will collapse in line with resource prices. I am also informed that the housing market is a great big bubble over there - oh dear another one!
All this 'wealth' that the banks boast of having created is not based on reality - it is phantom wealth and that is why I am more than a little paranoid that all the pieces of paper we have in the bank might well have only one use if it all goes down the toilet (pun not intended)
I need to buy land and get permission to build and buy the materials while the 'pieces of paper' have some value attached to them - remember - a piece of paper is just a piece of paper.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 30, 2010 15:07:20 GMT
Bless you
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elysion
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Post by elysion on Jan 30, 2010 15:10:35 GMT
In every big corporation there are "normal" workers and those who skim the top off. The last line im my previous post was only the tit-for-tat response to the post of razorlightchick. Your are right sandyk, it was not really necessary as I already shattered her argumentation with what I wrote above the last line. I don't have a problem with the "normal" workers who do the real work. If I would need a job and I would get one in a bank – why not? Some don't have a choice to work elsewhere. Lower executives really don't have the power to change a corporate's policy. I see this at work every day. That was the reason for the invention of labour unions. I'm a member of a labour union and I can tell you for sure it's essential to have labour unions. If you get into troubles at work, usually no one beside the labour union helps you. They have own lawyers if the shit really hits the fan. What I really miss from most bankworkers is a bit of opposition to what their bosses are doing. Probably some of them are in fear of losing their jobs (I unterstand this: if you have to support a family or at least yourself, you always think twice about opposition). At least in Switzerland, there is also another reason why the lower executives in banks don't make opposition: They are paid really good for what they do. They don't earn the big money, but they are paid well above the line. Almost no one bites the hand that feeds him... I've seen LOTS of posts like that from razorlightchick in the past one and a half years. Most of them in Swiss online media and forums. I was always the same: About hundred posts against bankers, greed, globalization and neocon-economy, mostly with good arguments. Between those posts a single post from a "banker" who is shouting at all others "you are unterstanding nothing and are ignorant" – with no arguments. None of these "bankers" posting was willing to engage himself in a real discussion. (Do banks pay their employees to make posts like this? ) What raises my hopes: Whatever people from other nations I talk to, they mostly have similar views about globalization, neocon-economy and about the financial crisis. I really like the internet because you can easily get an inside look to what people think elsewhere. Maybe this is the reason why many politicians fear the internet and try to overregulate it to the point where it is not open at all with many restrictions. I would really appreciate if razorlikechick would be a real part of our discussion here. Then it would be a real discussion.
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Post by guadixman on Jan 30, 2010 15:50:43 GMT
Elysion, well put, especially about unions but the problem is that most British workers are too lazy to turn up to meetings and a lot of politically motivated types take over.
I was shop steward at 17 and a convener in a different industry when I was 27 and as a shop steward I was totally apolitical. I just wanted to put things right and see people I worked with treated decently - like decent toilets and towels and so on, that's how it started.
I don't know what the situation is like in Switzerland but here a lot of cynicism is created by scum like ex Communists - the working class can kiss my arse I'm in the House of Lords at last. The manager of Man United was a Communist shipyard worker - now he has lots of racehorses - I mean he really needs them does'nt he. Could'nt he get more satisfaction helping Scots or English people who mreally need his help - no ego trip there though is there.
Their was a squatter in my home town who took over empty properties he is called Steve Bassam. I can still remember him shouting "all property is theft comrades".
Fast forward he is now Lord Bassam, is worth a lot of money and now talks about "we must protect the ancient rights of Freeeholders. There is nothing more degenerate than a traitorous piece of filth. We have a form of corruption called leasehold it was created by the Norse (Norman) conquerers and was used to show that they the Norse could do what they liked to the beaten Saxon/Engli/Friese/Zeelanders/Jute and so on (that is who the 'English' are).
Lawyers love it because they make loads of money from poor suckers who buy leasehold flats.
The robber barons never went away they just changed from chainmail to business suits and can rely on a highly right wing politicised police force and a judiciary that only represents the elite - real democracy/ propotional representation - don't make me laugh - this is Britain
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elysion
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Post by elysion on Jan 30, 2010 17:29:02 GMT
Yes, it is a real problem that most people are too lazy to exercise the rights they already have. I think there is no better example for this situation as Switzerland. We already have powerful rights to overrule your government. But we did not do it as it was time for it. Remember my previous posts: My personal oppinion is that we are still to privileged to start a revolution. ... To change things we need at least some laws to contain abuse. We would need a law to control/limit campaign contributions to political parties. Politicians should have to reveal their economical relationship by law and have to be banned from participating in the administrative board of corporations. And political lobbying should be declared a crime. Unless you are directly affected, you don't have a reason to fight back against it. Swiss laws are not perfect (see above for some of the problems not covered by law). We also need to reform our laws about shareholding. Probably we can vote about such improvements in the medium term. Many of our politicians are very nervous at the moment, because a so called "initiative" was started to reform the laws about shareholding (the so called "Abzocker-Initiative"). See here for more (german) information: www.abzockerei.ch/An "initiative" is political right of the Swiss folk. You can collect signatures (you need at least 50000 of them) and enforce a popular vote about something. We also have similar right to fight against laws released by our politicians (the so called "referendum"). It's not sure it changes for the better. Take into account, that a couple of Swiss profited from the situation as it was until the financial crisis. And many Swiss politicians got money from Swiss banks in the past. Years ago, a member of our parliament was asked in the TV what he represents in the parliamant. His answer was "banks". At work it is almost the same. Most employess are not organized in a labour union. They think it is not necessary unless they have real problems. Thankfully in Switerland labour unions don't have any relationship to communism. But they are often accused to be "communists" by corporations who get into their fireline. Labour unions are an invention of the industrial age. Under communism they were strictly prohibited or controlled by the state (as a kind of faked labour union). Swiss labour unions advice you about laws (if you ask them) and help you to solve problems without going to court directly. And if you have to go to the court then you get a lawyer from them (and you get a very good lawyer – something you can't pay otherwise). All this costs me about one good headphone like the HD650 or AKG702 per year (its a little more than 400CHF; I have to pay more for TV and radio reception). Almost nothing if you count the benefits you have from it. It is more like a kind of insurance which also acts preventative. I already had real problems at work. A former boss was cheating us, not paying what he should. I don't have any doubt the money for the membership is spent well.
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Post by razorlightchick on Jan 31, 2010 22:37:13 GMT
Well what a load of charming gents you all are, especially Elysion and Guadiman I think you've got hold of the wrong end of the stick, i'm not a city banker but just an ordinary bank clerk at grass roots level who has been in the business for 30 years. Nobodies been more shafted than my colleagues and myself by the so called Fred the Shreds of this world but still we aim to provide an excellent service to our customers which i have no doubt in my mind we do A Bank at the end of the day is a business like anyother on the high street and its aim is to make a profit. You may refer to us as a load of bandits but we don't in general rip off our customers with our products anymore than anyother business including the hi fi world too! If we went on strike tomorrow regarding what mayhem our fat cat bosses have created with their actions and greed the likes of you would go bersek not being able to get hold of your cash We could have gone down the same route as the Post Office but we have different principles and put our customers first. Like it or lump it banks are here to stay So get used to it! Oh and by the way i love being caught with my knickers down it's a sport us high street banker love participating in
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