#Global Mortgage Group
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Taking the Pain out of High Net Worth mortgages for U.S. Real Estate, without AUM requirements
With inexpensive funding and various tax advantages, everyone should take advantage of the benefits of a mortgage when investing in U.S. real estate regardless of the loan size. However, why do the wealthy often find it increasingly difficult to obtain mortgage financing without AUM?
With a portfolio of assets worth millions of dollars, one may assume that securing credit would be a straightforward task for a high net worth (HNW) individual. Unfortunately, the reality can be quite different especially if you’re a foreign national or U.S. Expat.
The unique nature of a HNW’s wealth – their income, investments, and liquidity – puts this group of people at a surprisingly high risk of being turned away by conventional banks unless they are willing to deposit a significant amount of funds for the bank to manage. This is certainly true in the mortgage market, and what’s more, it is an issue that has become more prevalent post-Covid.
American Mortgages has a dedicated HNW Team that focuses on mortgage solutions for foreign nationals and U.S. expatriate clients.
“As a company, our focus is finding solutions that go beyond what Private Banks can offer was the cornerstone of why this has been so successful. Our goal is to be a viable solutions provider and a trusted partner for the private banks and their clients. None of our loans require AUM, hence there are no funds taken away from their current investments or portfolio.” – Robert Chadwick, co-founder of Global Mortgage Group and America Mortgages.
America Mortgages HNW mortgage loans have a multitude of options when it comes to qualifying for a large mortgage loans regardless of the passport you hold.
Asset Depletion – a surprisingly simple way to establish your income. AM Liquid Portfolio uses a unique view on “asset depletion” to qualify HNW clients using their investment portfolio without an encumbrance or pledge of assets. Essentially, all of your assets are entered into a calculation, and a final number is churned out. The final number is then used as the income to qualify. In most cases, as long as the income is sufficient, no other person’s income documentation is required. This makes an often complicated and tedious process simple, transparent, and painless.
Debt Service Coverage – When it comes to HNW borrowers, one of the most overlooked and misunderstood loan programs is debt service coverage. HNW borrowers tend to own multiple properties in various asset classes. If the property is used as a rental, then there may not be any requirement to go through the tedious process of providing and verifying personal income. Again, as HNW borrowers tend to have very complicated tax returns, this is a straightforward way to show the borrower’s debt serviceability.
Debt service coverage ratio– or DSCR – is a metric that measures the borrower’s ability to service or repay the annual debt service compared to the amount of net operating income (NOI) the property generates. DSCR indicates whether a property is generating enough income to pay the mortgage. For real estate investors, lenders use the debt service coverage ratio as a measurement to determine the maximum loan amount.
Bridge/Asset Based Lending – With Covid still in play, it’s not uncommon for investors to experience a temporary liquidity event. Rather than selling their property, they are using their real estate to release equity. Asset-based lending is an option for both residential (non-owner-occupied) and commercial properties.
Simply stated, HNW bridge loans are used for residential and commercial investment property when more traditional institutional financing sources may not be available. Due to temporary liquidity, many borrowers have capital needs that traditional sources often can’t meet. For example, a borrower purchases property out of bankruptcy or foreclosure and needs to close quickly “same as cash” before long term financing can be arrange.
Simplified Income – HNW borrowers often have personal and business tax returns, which are complicated. The complexity of these returns often turns into an administrative nightmare for the borrower when dealing with a mortgage lender. What makes America Mortgages unique is the fact that 100% of our clients are living and working outside of the U.S. We are dealing with HNW clients from Shanghai to Sydney. Simply put, translations and understanding tax codes, deductions, net income, etc., is painful.
America Mortgages HNW Simplified Income documentation is just that. We do not require years or, in some cases, decades of tax returns, P&L, A&L, bank statements, etc. We take an often complicated process and simplify it; 1. If you’re self-employed, we will request a letter from your accountant stating the last two years’ income and current YTD. 2. If you’re employed, then a letter from your employer on company letterhead stating your last two years’ income and current YTD is sufficient. Yes, it’s that simple and painless.
As 100% of our clients are either Foreign Nationals or U.S. Expats, we understand the intricacies and complexities of this type of lending for our borrowers. It’s as simple as that. Our HNW loan programs are structured to meet our client’s requirements. Providing competitive pricing with the assurance that your loan will close is our only focus, and no one does it better.
For more information, Visit: https://usbridgeloans.com/taking-the-pain-out-of-high-net-worth-mortgages-for-u-s-real-estate-without-aum-requirements/
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France - Not Only for Tourists, But for Real Estate Investors
France has always been a popular tourist destination, but in recent years it has also become a hot spot for property investors. With its rich cultural heritage, beautiful landscapes, and world-renowned cuisine, France offers a lot of potential for those looking to invest in property. In this article, we will explore the benefits of investing in property in France and the GMG mortgage options available for investors.
Rental Income Potential
One of the main benefits of investing in property in France is its strong rental market. There is a high demand for rental properties, particularly in popular tourist destinations like Paris, Cannes, and Nice. According to SeLoger, the rental yield for apartments in Paris ranges from 3.2% to 4.2%, which is considered high compared to other major cities such as New York and London. In Cannes and Nice, rental yields can range from 3.5% to 5%, depending on factors such as location, property type, and seasonality. Additionally, the French government has implemented policies to support the rental market, such as tax incentives and subsidies for landlords.
Price Appreciation Outlook
Another advantage of investing in property in France is its potential for price appreciation. While property prices in some parts of France are already high, there are still many areas that offer more affordable options for investors. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, property prices in France have been increasing steadily since 2015, with a 3.9% increase in 2021 and a 3.8% increase in 2022. In Cannes and Nice, property prices have increased by an average of 4-5% per year over the past decade, according to French Property. Additionally, the French government has implemented policies to encourage foreign investment in the real estate market, such as offering tax incentives for long-term investors.
Low Cost of Living
France is known for its high standard of living, but it also has a relatively low cost of living compared to other developed countries. This can make it an attractive option for investors who want to keep their expenses low while they are managing their properties.
Mortgage Options for International Investors
Global Mortgage Group offers a range of mortgage options for international investors looking to invest in property in France. With a team of experienced France Mortgages advisors, GMG can help investors find the right mortgage for their needs. GMG offers both fixed and variable rate mortgages, and investors can choose from a range of repayment terms.
In addition to mortgage options, GMG also offers a range of other services to help investors navigate the French property market. This includes legal and tax advice, property management services, and assistance with the purchase process.
Overall, France offers a lot of potential for property investors looking for a stable market with strong rental demand and the potential for price appreciation. Paris, Cannes, and Nice, in particular, offer investors the opportunity to invest in growing tourist destinations with world-class attractions and stunning natural beauty. With GMG's French Residential Mortgages options and other services, investors can navigate the French property market with confidence.
Get in touch with us to learn more about investing in France, properties available to purchase through our partners and about Global Mortgage Group financing solutions for foreign national investors today at [email protected] .
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Pure Asset-Backed Lending Now Available for AM and GMG clients
For decades, and perhaps even longer, HNW and UHNW (ultra-high-net-worth) individuals have used real estate bridging loans as a “secret” tool to access liquidity quickly, easily, and with the reliability few loans other loans can provide. This “tool” is now known and available to everyone, regardless of their net worth.
When it comes to real estate, having quick access to cash can often be the key to success. Whether you’re a seasoned real estate investor with a diverse portfolio or just stepping into the world of real estate, this article is tailored to address the benefits and requirements of asset-backed or asset-based lending.
What is Asset-Based Lending?
Asset-based, also known as asset-backed or bridge lending, is the practice of loaning money in an agreement that has been secured by some form of collateral – in this case, real property. The terms of asset-based loans depend on the value of the assets that are being offered as security and the type of assets they are. In essence, you are putting future revenue on the line in order to get access to money in the present. Asset-based lenders will typically provide funds on an agreed-upon percentage of the asset’s value, typically ranging between 70% and 75%. These loans are often funded by private lenders who don’t have the same requirements that are typical with banks.
Accessing Liquidity to Take Advantage of Market Conditions
In the dynamic world of real estate, staying ahead often requires access to immediate liquidity. When market conditions are favorable, seizing opportunities quickly can make a significant difference in your investment journey.
Bridge loans stand out as the preferred funding option for various purposes, including:
Highly structured transactions
Discounted note payoffs
Lease-up stabilisation
Redevelopment of existing properties
Repositioning of a tired or underperforming asset
Property acquisitions with a short closing timeline (or challenges on the property or sponsor)
Recapitalisations/Debt Restructuring or Partner Buyouts
Other uses on a case-by-case basis depend on borrowers’ specific funding needs, where traditional funding sources like banks or insurance companies will have difficulty approving such loan requests.
Buying real estate with a “same-as-cash” basis
How Do You Qualify for a Bridge Loan?
Bridge loans are a valuable tool for investors seeking short-term financing solutions. But how do you qualify for one?
Our most popular terms are as follows:
Loan term: 1-3 years Interest Servicing Only (Interest-Only)
Interest Roll-up (Interest payments are taken out of loan proceeds)
No U.S. credit required
Minimum loan amount: $1,000,000 (Residential Bridge Loan) and $3,000,000 (Commercial Bridge Loan)
Up to 75% Loan-to-Value
24-36 hour approval
Funding in 1-2 weeks
Which Countries Are Bridge Loans Available In?
For investors with global interests, it’s crucial to know where bridge loans are available. America Mortgages and Global Mortgage Group specialize in providing bridge lending solutions in countries such as the United States, Canada, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia, Dubai, U.K., and various other EU countries. These loans are tailored to meet the unique needs of our clients worldwide.
How Accessible Are Bridge Loans?
Bridge loans’ accessibility depends on various factors; Geographic location, lending options, property type, loan-to-value ratio, exit strategy, and market conditions all influence the structure of a bridge loan. At America Mortgages, we specialize in helping U.S. expat investors and foreign nationals navigate these complexities. We find the most accessible bridge loan solutions tailored to your specific needs and circumstances.
What’s Needed to Qualify?
The higher your free equity value, the more cash you can unlock! When you’re applying for a bridge loan, the value of your property is one of the most important factors lenders consider. That’s because bridge loans are secured against your property, a true asset-backed solution. At America Mortgages, the minimum property value to qualify for a bridge loan is $500,000. But if your property is worth more, you could be eligible to borrow even more cash, which can be used for a variety of reasons. In most cases, there is not a requirement for use-of-funds.
Why Would People Use Bridge Loans to Get Liquidity?
Bridge loans provide quick access to cash when needed. They’re handy when you need funds fast, whether for seizing investment opportunities or renovating properties without delays. At America Mortgages and Global Mortgage Group, we understand the importance of acting quickly. We’ve successfully closed bridge loans in 3 days to help investors like you maximize their real estate potential.
The U.S. real estate market holds promise for investors who are well-prepared and informed. Bridge loans are just one tool at your disposal, but they can make a significant impact when used strategically. With our expertise, we can help you maximize your investments and reach your financial objectives.
If you have any questions or need assistance with your mortgage goals, please reach out to us at America Mortgages. We’re here to assist you in reaching your real estate investment goals.
For more details, visit our website: https://www.americamortgages.com/
Reference: https://www.americamortgages.com/pure-asset-backed-lending-now-available/
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A new report is shedding some light on just how far out of reach home ownership has become in Vancouver.
According to Statistics Canada, the median household income is $86,000 a year.
The report from Rates.ca states that under the current rules, the average family would qualify for an uninsured mortgage of just more than $400,000.
However, the median home price in Vancouver is $1.2 million — or 195 per cent more than they could afford.
“What we’re coming to see now is that a larger group of people are entangled in this housing world, because it is regular homeowners who have made a range of decisions in our lives that have fuelled this housing system to continue to drive home prices above our earnings,” Paul Kershaw with Generation Squeeze told Global News.
Full article
Tagging: @politicsofcanada
#cdnpoli#canada#canadian politics#canadian news#canadian#british columbia#BC#vancouver#housing#housing affordability#housing crisis
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2023 - 2024 World Predictions
Hello! It has been a while since I last posted. Though it's more than half way through 2023, I thought it'd be fun to do a 2023-2024 world predictions. Keep in mind that these are just predictions so they may or may not come true.
Metoo movements will continue to explode/arise throughout different countries, especially in Asia and parts of Europe.
Upcoming elections will cause a lot of scandals/news of corruption to come to light, especially in North America and parts of Asia.
A few top leaders will be scrutinized for being hypocritical/sexist/corrupt or will have rumors/be charged with some sort of crime like sexual assault, illegal possession of drugs, money laundering etc.
Several well-liked/clean image celebrities in Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, and possibly Thailand will likely have scandals that will surprise the world.
2 - 4 dating news will come to light regarding kpop idols/actors/actresses. A couple may be top kpop group members dating or fellow actors/actresses dating one another.
2 - 5 marriage news of kpop idols will likely be announced, several rather unexpectedly.
2 - 4 popular kpop idol groups will either disband or lose 1 - 3 key members.
Cancellations of concerts, programs, or events will be more likely to happen due to unexpected things like bad weather, scandals, deaths, sickness, etc.
A kpop company will likely be exposed for some shady business/unethical practices.
1 - 4 major lawsuits b/t kpop idols or Korean actors/actresses and their companies or even family members or others will likely happen.
Several popular celebrity couples will divorce or break up and some will result in nasty divorce lawsuits.
The global economy will continue to suffer until later in 2024. Interest rates are likely to stay high and many people are likely to become unable to pay their mortgage due to the sudden increase in interest rates. Also expect many layoffs and employers finding ways to cut costs. Employees will generally face difficulty with their employers during this period (lots of bullying from employers on the rise).
A few celebrity's kids will come out and reveal some problems with their families or even have the police involved with their family matters.
What has come true so far:
Allegation against Dwight Howard for sexual assault: https://basketnews.com/news-192433-dwight-howard-sued-for-allegedly-sexually-assaulting-a-man.html
#psychic readings#celebrity predictions#kpop predictions#celebrity readings#kpop readings#world predictions#predictions#2023 predictions#2024 predictions#2024#2023#kpop idols#idol predictions#psychic readers#psychic reading#psychic reader#psychic#divination#prediction
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Celestial Navigation
Chapter 4 - Waxing Gibbous
(gif by the magnificent and incomporable @pedropascalsx)
Summary; You haven't thought about it... at all... not once. The invitation with "Partners Encouraged" is holding all your attention anyway, not the shirt that's tucked under your pillow.
Warnings; explicit masturbation (both m&f) toxic workplace culture, me dipping my feet into the fake dating trope
A/N; again; I am awed and humbled and over the top emotional about everyone's response to this story. Very special thanks to @astroboots and @the-ginger-hedge-witch who have miraculously not kicked me out of a group chat where I torture them with whore thoughts 24/7.
also p.s if you're a financial employee or have a solid and general understanding about the facts I'm pulling out of my ass here - I'm sorry
[Series Masterlist] | [Main Masterlist]
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“It should be treated as something separate… are you okay?”
Dieter grabs your forearm, the cheap pen hanging out the corner of his mouth as he folds and rolls the sleeve of your shirt over your elbow, flipping your palm upright on the table as he runs his thumb across the tendons of your wrist.
“I’m fine, keep talking” he murmurs, pulling the cap off the pen with his teeth and spitting it onto the ground. He starts with gentle strokes on your forearm his brow furrowed as the deep navy stains across your skin.
“They get their value from the performance of something else”
“What are they used for?” he asks
“They’re supposed to be used for the management of risk – but generally speaking it’s a loophole that allows people to make money even if they should be losing it. They’re the main cause of the 2008 financial crisis”
“I thought that was houses”
“It was, these people preyed on low-income persons and got them to get mortgages they couldn’t afford, and then basically bet they couldn’t afford them, so when they defaulted on the mortgages, they still made money. That whole system collapsed and took the global economy with it”
He shifts in his chair, twisting himself around your forearm, leaning close enough that his breath skates over the fine hairs as he sketches on your skin.
“I have my journal; you can draw in that if you’d like” You say.
“Better canvas.” He grunts, not looking up. “Keep talking, I almost understand what it is – it’s like a bet on whether stock will go up or down? And if you bet its going to go down then you make the money anyway? Is that legal?”
“Depends on how many filters you put it through. A lot of the big places go to MIT and Harvard and recruit out of their advanced mathematics programs. Get them to write the equations for them, to reduce the risk”
“You keep saying risk, like it’s not all gambling. Like their job isn’t making bets with other people’s money. What happens when you lose?”
“You remember 2008? Or the last few years even – the economy tanked because of an outside force then as well”
“I got stoned, and Owen and Molly made a delivery system work for this place.”
“You’re lucky.”
“No, I’m wealthy. It’s why I get to be eccentric. I just tried to make sure I kept food in peoples fridges, and a roof over their head.”
You look at the crown of his head as he sketches, chewing on the end of the cheap pen whenever he takes a break, smudges the lines with his thumb, squints and turns his head. His hair catches the light, it looks soft, like it would run through your fingers like silk if you reached to touch it. Long enough for you to grip…
No.
It’s gotten easier, over the last six weeks; to label the thoughts and put them in a dark box, kick it into the corner and ignore them as they stacked precariously tall. He kept his word – nothing changed. You woke up later in the day and left, went to your apartment and did laundry, as though the sight of his shirt mixed with your underwear didn’t tug at some thread under your skin.
He touches you now. Still with permission, never crowding or cornering your space. But he brushes hair off your forehead, fixes tags in your clothing. More than once he’s caught a blueberry stain from spreading on your lip. You spend your weekends in his apartment now. Curled on that same couch with your laptop, filling out spreadsheet after spreadsheet while he paints and hums in the background. There are comfortable long silences, games of Jenga that leave you laughing until your sides hurt. He’s cooked you dinner more than once. Hell, next week you’re going there for Thanksgiving, Owen and Molly and Dieter and you, crowded around his kitchen counter on chairs made out of milk crates to eat mash potatoes and get high.
It feels like you’ve known him longer than you have, the way he slots into your life. You find yourself smiling throughout the day, thinking about his latest piece, a fingerpainting of Orion, chasing the Pleiades across a sky made of crushed autumn leaves. There are still questions you want to ask him, ones that hover in the hollow of your throat. You don’t know where his finished pieces hang, you don’t know where his wealth has come from. You don’t know how to ask.
“I have to get home. I didn’t bring my laptop and I’ve got to get this report finished”
“Ok” he says, leaning back on his own chair as he tucks the pen behind his ear with a grin.
“What is it?” you ask, looking at the scribbled mass on your forearm.
“Abstract” he laughs. “I’ll call you later”
He doesn’t ask anymore – just assumes you’ll answer, and you always do. It’s ritual, routine and safe, as you pace around your apartment with headphones and a Lean Cuisine. He tells you stories about Molly and Owen. His friend from back home and the hell they raised under a California sun. You tell him about college, the parties you skirted the sidelines of the boyfriends you regretted and ones you didn’t. The conversation ends with one of you falling into bed, the soft whump of fabric as you collapse in on yourselves, a neutron star.
The email comes late in the evening. Whatever mid-level HR representative is working at 10.30pm on a Tuesday night should be promoted, or at least paid overtime. It’s a glossy, slick reply-all email, nice graphics in a fancy font. They’re holding a cocktail party for the interns on Friday. It’s from 7-10pm and while attendance isn’t mandatory, it is encouraged, as a chance to mingle with the higher ups from the firm, maybe have one of them remember your name in a context other than the editor of a spreadsheet they glanced at for twenty seconds.
“Partners welcome”
Fuck. That was a loaded addition. Partners welcome, actually meant Partners encouraged. The portion of this job where they judged you like cats in a fair, held you up to scrutiny that your life, your whole life would fit the mould they wanted it to. You stared at it, weighing the pros and cons, going at all, going alone, trawling Tinder for some guy who looked semi okay in a suit jacket to play along for the night.
Your phone buzzed while you were still thinking, your fingers itching for a pen to start a list. Neat columns and straight lines that would lead you to the right decision to make, the answer to this impossible question.
“Hey” you answer, knowing it’s him before he speaks.
“What’s wrong? Did the interest rate not compound right?”
You laugh, shutting your laptop as you stand.
“No, just this stupid cocktail mixer. They just emailed, it’s Friday and they want us to bring our partners. I shouldn’t get so worked up over it, but going alone sends a message that you’re independent, and less likely to toe the company line. So, they’ll be looking for those people for the final layoffs in December”
“Need a Ken for your Barbie?”
“Exactly. I’ll work something out. Make an appearance and my partner can be strategically in the bathroom while I shake everyone’s hands. Or he’s working on an acquisition and couldn’t get away, something like that”
He’s silent on the other line, the rhythmic flick of a lighter the only indication that he’s still there.
“it’s just stupid. I’m good at my job, they know this. I had one little mistake a few weeks ago, but otherwise I’m the best intern they have, and they know it. The thought that they would fire me because I don’t have a partner, someone pretty to be beside me at functions and mixers, what do they think it means if I’m single? That I’m not worthy of a job at their company? If anything, it means I’m more worthy, because I’m demonstrating a willingness to give up my social life for them, I’ve lived ate and breathed this company since I started, and it comes down to this bullshit?”
“I’ll go” he says.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll come with you. Friday? Tell me the time, and I’ll be there”
“Dieter…”
“You need someone with you, I’ll run a comb through my hair for you and throw on a sports coat”
“You don’t own a sports coat, and it’s more a suit thing”
“Then I’ll get a suit. Come on, you’ve just said it, you’ve worked your ass off for this job, it’s not fair that they judge you based on this. But when you’re director of the company you can change that. So, let’s go to this thing and make sure you’re gonna be director”
“I can’t ask you to…”
“You’re not asking Lou, I’m offering. Same rules as last time, mm wait. Slightly amended rules. I’ll have to touch you at least a little. But no kissing, not unless you ask”
“They’re uptight, stuffy corporate types”
“And I can put up with that for a few hours. Let me do this for you, please?”
“I’ll only ask you to stay for an hour” you hedge.
“I’ll start working on my cover story. Go to sleep Bette, I’ll see you on Friday”
He hangs up – leaving you with dead air and an abstract drawing he inked into your skin.
*
The ceiling fan swings lazily above him as he stares beyond the spinning blades. It’s easy now, to imagine you, nibbling at your cuticles as you pace around your apartment, trying to figure out if this will work. He’ll show up and play the part you want him to, enough to make an impression on the higher ups whose approval you seek. In his mind, you’re wearing his shirt, your legs long and bare as you twirl on the balls of your feet. You’re probably stress cleaning your kitchen, wiping down the corners of your sink with a wet sponge as you think.
Tomorrow will be the list. The columns in that journal, pros and cons in bullet points in your neat, blocky handwriting. A whole page devoted to a problem he can solve. You’ll come to the same conclusion soon enough. You have a space on his couch now – he buys sodas you like. He’s painting with his fingers because the texture of yours on his last work haunts his dreams.
You’re here, even when you’re not. His sheets are soft beneath him as he kicks his sweats to the bottom of the bed, relishing in the cool weight of linen on his naked skin. It’s cold at nights now, too cold to have the door to the balcony open more than just a crack, and the fresh scent of you lingers even as the cold creeps in.
His hands have always had a mind of their own, moving across a canvas without conscious thought, seeking out the places in soft skin to bring across cries of pleasure, his thumb stroking a cheek, cupping a breast. He follows the lines on his palm the paths they take him down always murky, always correct in the end.
That night was the first time he denied himself. Forced himself still, to do nothing more than touch the silky skin of your wrist and speak. He felt like he was in a trance, visualising everything he wanted to do to you and letting it spill forth into your waiting ear, urged onward by the way you pressed your thighs together, the whimper that parted your lips.
His hand is already curled around his length when he hears the ghost of it. The slick parting of your pillow soft lips as your eyes grew wider, the glossy haze from good weed clearing as he spoke and suppressed the urge to show not tell.
How long would it take you to realise? That he had smudged the way you slept together into your skin with a pen this afternoon. How the memory of your body pressed against him is currently filling his cock with rich blood, thickening in his grasp. How the surprise, the curiosity on your face makes him want to fuck your pretty mouth, have you map each pulsing vein with a scrape of your teeth.
He drew you. Running your fingers across the smudgy navy scribbles on your skin, the picture takes shape. The curve of your hip, covered by his wide palm, the inch of a finger under his clothes on your body. The longer you stare at it the clearer it gets, the fold in the fabric as it shifts to accommodate his warm skin. You can almost feel his heavy breathing on the back of your neck, the accidental brush of his lips against your temple as you adjusted in the morning. The way he wrapped himself around you, pulled you into him and held you.
Your fingers trail your belly as you stare at it, the memories slipping into your consciousness without permission. They’ve done this everyday since. Crept into your vision whenever you have a moment to yourself, remembering the tacky canvas or the rich chocolate. You tried to convince yourself for more than a week that the heat that same with these memories was distorted, leftover from the drugs, making them heightened and sharp.
“Have you ever been properly fucked?”
You haven’t. He knows you haven’t. Knew it from the minute you appeared, soaking and tear stained in the middle of an inexplicable storm. He can see the edges of it now, like flowers pressed dry between the pages of a forgotten book. How much you want to be. How much you’re craving the permission to seek the pleasure you’ve denied yourself.
You deserve to be fucked that way. For him to tease and tempt and torment and make you crave it, the slide of his fingers inside you, the slip of his mouth between your thighs, the sticky mess of his cum on your tits, your face, dripping down to his waiting mouth as he hardens to take you again.
He squeezes himself in warning. The groan echoing of the slowly spinning blades of the fan above him. He stares at the roof, unwilling to look at the stain blooming across his sheets as he leaks precum at the thought of you straddling his face. He knows how you fit together now.
That morning, he could have pulled you closer, cradled you in the chalice of his body and slipped clothing off beneath heavy blankets. He could have hooked a finger into the waistband of his sweats on your hips and pulled them down, felt the heat between your thighs and pulled you plush against him.
You’d feel him, the way he’d harden against your back. That moment, it pulls you up short. You’ve found yourself circling your wrist some days, absently clasping fingers around the width of it, half a second from imagining before you snap yourself out of it.
Your hand dips beneath your underwear as you close your eyes in the dark, hiding from the acceptance that you’re going to let it happen now. You’re going to wonder what it would feel like, to have him match that movement, free himself and smack heavy into your skin.
You’d need preparing, he said. What did that mean? That all you had in the morning was a torturous glide from behind, the catch of the thick weeping head of his cock against your clit as he mumbled sleepy into your neck, pulled you closer to kiss the join of shoulder and sensitive skin?
Or would he take the time to do it every time, slip fingers deep inside you until you were relaxed enough to take him, until you could stretch yourself around him in a slick and blistering glide. Would you feel him from the outside? Press a palm to your stomach and feel the difference? How full you were from him, or would you be too far gone by then? Capable only of squirming back for more as he slipped slick fingers into your mouth for you to taste.
You’d be spread so wide for him. Over his thighs, the first time at least. A pillow shoved hastily under your hips to tilt you towards him, give him the chance to smack his cock against your clit and watch you grab the sheets in answer. The way the glittery strands of precum would stick to your skin, ropy and catching the light as he presses into you, watches the way your cunt sucks him in. He wants your body greedy, desperate for him, achingly empty. Squeezing and pulsing as he nudges enough to press heavy on your g spot. Another swipe of his thumb across your clit.
Your hips jerk at the contact, your fingers finding your clit, swollen and seeking beneath a practiced hand. Lower still, you feel it, the mess you’re making, the way it stains your underwear, slips free to pool into your sheets. Two of your own fingers is comfortable, a twist in your wrist as you fill against familiar spots. Three is a stretch, not painful, but present, an unfurling of a flower as your head falls back with a whimper, the burn racing up your spine as you try to separate your fingers, spread them wider. You picture Dieter’s hand on your wrist, the thickness of his fingers and try to match it.
Three would stretch you open, curled upright would have you arching against his sheets. He’d have to hold you down, band his arm across your stomach as he kissed your clit, soft enough to make you beg him for more of it, ask for what you want, for what you deserve. You’d be so messy, wet and loud as he fucked you with them, a gentle rhythm that would soak his knuckles when he bites your inner thigh. Will you be mad at him? When he stops to lick your mess off his fingers? Or will you like it, watching him suck each digit clean with a heavy groan.
His hips jerk, reminding him of his hand curled around his weeping cock, neglected by the temptation of this fantasy. Smooth long strokes, he likes the rhythm of a calm sea, the way it batters his insides with a tide of pleasure that squeezes the air from his lungs in a groan. He can feel the way his neck strains with the effort, the sticky drops of precum that leak across his fingers, slicking him further.
He wants them on your lips, wants them glossy and kiss swollen and wet, parted just enough for the softest brush of his cock against them. He wants to jerk off onto your waiting face, lick himself inside your mouth and fuck you, oversensitive and tender be damned, fill you up to the brim so he can lick it right back out again, clean you off with his face as you twist and shudder on these sheets.
Does he taste good? Does the heady earthy scent follow to his flavour, would it burst rich and thick across your tongue? Would you get a chance to swallow before he claimed your mouth as promised? You can hear the wet squelch beneath the heavy blankets, the awkward twist of your hand leading you to move your hips instead, fuck your own fingers while you imagine his.
You wouldn’t be able to if it was him. He’s bigger than you, broader and wider and heavier, and you stretch your thighs to feel the sting. If he was on top of you, that wide expanse of warm skin you’d be pinned, unable to do much more than take it. Than feel the stretch of his intimidating cock and the weight of his body as it cramped your lungs and invaded all your senses. Your skin would slip together, sweaty and hot beneath these blankets, the air so thick with arousal you could taste it with each breath.
He can see the sweat bead on your neck, clear as the night sky. The salty burst of you across his fantasy is enough to break the ruse, for his grip to tighten as he fucks up into his waiting fist, the clench of his stomach as he groans relief. The images come in waves, crashing one after another.
The sloppy wet mess of your cunt as he fucks his cum back inside you, shivering from overstimulation, your nails digging into his arm as you beg him for more, no other words to describe what he’s offering, the damp heat of your mouth wrapping around his balls as he squeezes drops of precum onto his knuckles, you bent over in his shirt and no underwear, you; legs spread over a mustard yellow armchair, you, you, you.
He would make noise when he came, low and long groans that would rattle through your system. You already know the talent he has with words; you’ve seen proof in paintings of the talent that lies in his hands. He would cradle your skull in a massive palm and feed those noises to you, grinding his hips with every pulse of his orgasm. You would feel it, stretched inside you as he fucks you full and doesn’t stop, desperate fingers seeking your aching clit to bring you one more with him, to feel the clench of you around him one more time.
You cry out when the orgasm hits you, clamping tight around your fingers as you shudder and bite off his name, feeling the rush of fluid on your fingers as your lungs shudder, struggling for breath as your body erupts in goosebumps, sparks of electricity going off throughout your skin.
You hesitate when washing your hands. The artwork can stay until morning.
*
You don’t like him in a suit. Its not that he doesn’t look good, the deep blue brings out the warmth in his eyes, and you have to get close enough to touch it to see the threads of silver that glitter like stars. His hair is pushed back, rings abandoned, and tattoos covered. His shoes are shined and look uncomfortable as he passes you another flute of semi-flat champagne.
He’s better at this than you are. Laughing and joking with your co-workers, holding polite and respectfully mild conversations with your superiors, lazily orbiting you like the moon as he snags canapes and sips a cheap whiskey.
It feels like a lie. You’re mournful for the softness of his t shirts. The threadbare robes and slept in hair. It doesn’t help that he’s done nothing but touch you all evening. Hooking his chin over your shoulder as his hand slides across your stomach, splaying a hand at the small of your back as he follows you to greet and introduce him to another senior partner.
You’d come up with a lie, that he was a lawyer from Connecticut. Far enough away that nobody would have heard of him, plausible enough that he would come to the city to see you for the holidays. Your tongue felt too thick to speak the words.
“This is Dieter – he owns his own business in the city” was what you compromised with. His eyebrows only raised for a moment before he went along. A firm handshake with the boss that had once made you cry as she greeted him with something approaching warmth.
He was a perfect gentleman, playing the part as if you’d cooked him up in a lab. You hate it. This isn’t him, it’s not who he is, and dragging him here and showing off this fake version of him makes your stomach twist in pain. You want to talk about his paintings. You want to talk about Owen and Molly. You want them to hear the story of Mallory, or the orchids he grows for fun.
You want them to meet him.
“Gosh you look so familiar” Todd says, shaking his head as he grips Dieter’s hand.
“Just one of those faces” Dieter replies with a practised ease. It’s the third time someone has said that to him tonight. Always the same response, brushing them off and pivoting the conversation to you as if he was returning a tennis serve.
“Todd - you’re working together on the Mayfair account, right?”
You’re too focused on him. You haven’t woven your way into a conversation with the senior partners. You haven’t moved more than two feet from him since you arrived, despite his insistence he would be happy to sit at the bar, appear only when you put your arm behind your back. He’s talking to everyone, charismatic and bright and the anger is bubbling from a wellspring without a name.
He doesn’t belong to them. He doesn’t fit here, these clinically white walls don’t match his colour, the suit fits him like a second skin, and there’s no room for you to crawl inside it.
You excuse yourself to the bathroom, running cold water on your wrists as you look at yourself in the fluorescent lit mirror. You try to settle yourself, checking the time and promising fifteen more minutes before you drag him out of here, find some all-night diner to split a milkshake and hot salty fries to dip in it. You want to go back to his apartment, share a joint and talk about Bette Davis. You don’t want to do this.
“He’s quite something” your boss says, appearing from behind you to wash her carefully manicured hands in the sink.
“Thank you. I think so” the truth tastes like blueberries.
“Seems to have a great deal of knowledge about what we do here. That’s good – means you’re bringing it home with you.” She offers you a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.
Todd and the Mayfair account. You had mentioned that in passing weeks ago. The way he greeted your boss, a handshake just a little firmer than it needed to be, a hint of steel behind his eyes. The way he’s here at all, no questions asked. The way he’s never judged you, never asked you for anything, but has always always shown up.
You watch him from behind a fake rubber tree. He makes one of the senior partners laugh, gets a clap on the shoulder as he scans the room, glass lifted to his lips. when he spots you, he excuses himself, dropping the glass on a tray carried by a bored looking waiter.
“That guy has the highest opinion of himself of anyone I’ve ever met. You think his wife is into it? Is he like that in bed? Proclaiming his own glory?”
He scrubs a hand across his trimmed beard. You don’t like that either.
“Nah probably not. I think he’s the type to need some discipline from somewhere. They probably have a dungeon in their house up in the Hamptons, which he invited us to over Christmas. I told him we had plans, because I like you a lot, but I don’t think you want to be talked into swinging with your boss and his wife, no matter how good a job the plastic surgeon did on her tits. I mean, if you want to, I might be persuaded, but if we are going then I’m gonna need a weeks’ notice to get a sheet of LSD because I’ve found that if you’re going to be in a dungeon, it really helps to heighten the experience somehow, and I don’t think weed will be enough”
You grab his hand, stopping him as he looks down at you, his eyes creasing with concern.
“Are you okay? We don’t really have to go to the dungeon Lou”
“Dieter… kiss me.”
#dieter bravo#dieter bravo x reader#dieter bravo x you#dieter bravo x female reader#dieter bravo / you#dieter bravo fanfiction#the bubble fanfiction#pedro pascal#pedro pascal character fanfiction
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Being an economist on main again, soz...
So my last post got reblogged by people but I wanted, in true economist fashion, to really, truly, highlight why the current UK bullshit is so upsetting as a very normie, mainstream, working economist.
Economics is broadly split into two disciplines, microeconomics, which is basically the way the economy and individuals interact, and macroeconomics, which is how the economy as a whole-ass beast works. The main problem between these two disciplines is that a lot of rules of micro don't 'hold' when you get to the macro level, and vice versa. You might remember how economists always say that treating debt at country level the way we think about individual credit card or mortgage debt is wrong, that is a prime example of how micro and macro rules don't hold. Things, generally, are so much more complicated at macro level.
Because of this, most economists specialise in one or the other. I am a microeconomist, specifically a health economist, and while there is some macro stuff, generally we treat health spending as a micro level problem, i.e. we're fairly sure that if we make decisions at an individual level, the macro will look after itself (the pennies will look after the pounds).
(Now, this is a simplification because you can rightly say, cicak, my friend, the NHS is falling apart, to which I will say: you is right, but it is because of 'externalities' rather than the conceptual decision making process inherent to microeconomics, to wit: over a decade of deliberate underfunding, a global pandemic, and Brexit have all led to NHS problems. The solution to all of these problems can be understood in micro terms: more money, applied where it is most needed, as part of a plan, with measurable goals and targets. Ultimately: politics.)
Anyway, tangents aside, microeconomics is pretty ideologically stable. Most mainstream economics is based around social welfare theory, which is that people do things for reasons that bring them the most benefit, and they broadly, mostly, in aggregate, do that to an acceptable level of efficiency. If you would like to argue about this: please proceed to your nearest economics masters course, you'll fit right in.
The main difference between the schools of macro is: do individual changes make differences at the macro level? Or do only governments really make a difference at macro?
This used to be a BIG ARGUMENT back in the 20th century, mostly around what should be done with the Great Depression in 1929. Basically, should you just let the economy burn to the ground, and see what comes out of it? Or should governments stop the economy from collapsing? The Austrian school thought burn it down, Keynes thought: government. Keynes, broadly, won. There was a 2nd world war, and Keynesianism was refined. Then, it went out of fashion. Then it came back into fashion. A lot of this depends on the concept of 'full employment', the 1980s, economic stability, boom and bust, but these days, most macro policy is described as Neo-Keynesian and is considered broadly settled on government finding a balance between price, inflation, employment, growth and stability. This is done through monetary policy and fiscal policy, stuff government does.
But then you've got your Austrians, your Hayekians, your Mises. They think that government should butt out of the market, and that individuals are far more important. Individuals, especially rich individuals, should be allowed to do what they want with their money, and everything will be better if government just stops taking their money and lets the free market solve it. This is why the first thing Truss & friends did was cut the top rate of tax. Less money for government (bad with money) but more money for the people that they believe are already good with money, because they have a lot of it, see?
Modern Austrians believe that individuals are the only thing that matter at macro level. There are no groups of people, only individuals. Credit is bad and the real cause of business failure. Stability can be gained by pegging currencies to gold reserves. Oh and as we can't model all 67 million people in the UK, theres no point even trying. It'd just be chaos. Even model nerds say 'all models are wrong'. So no point. Just do it and be a legend. It'll all work out in the end. Just trust us. OBR? Have a beer. The numbers don't real.
Instead, everyone fucking PANICKED. Because as I said, 99% of economists are in the business of predicting the future. The future suddenly got unpredictable. No one saw the top rate of tax being cut coming. There's no economic justification for it, no 'dont worry, it'll be funded by XYZ'. Just Austrian bullshit of 'here comes freedom lads.' No one is talking to each other. A man credited with keeping all the fiscal, monetary and political systems moving has been fired because it turns out the chancellor didn't like that he worked from South America. The Bank of England are furious. The markets are in peril, but Kwarteng's bezzie mates at his cocktail party bet that the pound would crash, and are rolling in it. Everyone loves a run on the pound, it seems.
So yeah there's some more of why the uks economy kind of exploded this week.
#uk politics#economics on main#economist on main#apols i will shut up about this#but some lib dem man at church insulted me today#and no one hates lib dems like a former lib dem#ie me
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The Gang By Episode Titles
"The Gang"
Season 1
The Gang Gets Racist
The Gang Finds a Dead Guy
Season 2
The Gang Goes Jihad
The Gang Gives Back
The Gang Exploits a Miracle
The Gang Runs for Office
Season 3
The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby
The Gang Gets Invincible
The Gang Gets Held Hostage
The Gang Solves the North Korea Situation
The Gang Sells Out
The Gang Gets Whacked (pt 1)
The Gang Gets Whacked (pt2)
The Gang Dances Their Asses Off
Season 4
The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis
The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell
The Gang Gets Extreme: Home Makeover Edition
Season 5
The Gang Exploits the Mortgage Crisis
The Gang Hits the Road
The Gang Gives Frank an Intervention
The Gang Wrestles for the Troops
The Gang Reignites the Rivalry
Season 6
The Gang Buys a Boat
The Gang Gets a New Member
The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods
Season 7
The Gang Goes to the Jersey Shore
The Gang Gets Trapped
The High School Reunion Part 2: The Gang's Revenge
Season 8
The Gang Recycles Their Trash
The Gang Gets Analyzed
The Gang Dines Out
Season 9
The Gang Broke Dee
The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award
The Gang Saves the Day
The Gang Gets Quarantined
The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6
The Gang Squashes Their Beefs
Season 10
The Gang Beats Boggs
The Gang Group Dates
The Gang Spies Like U.S.
The Gang Misses the Boat
The Gang Goes on Family Fight
Season 11
The Gang Hits the Slopes
The Gang Goes to Hell (part 1)
The Gang Goes to Hell (part 2)
Season 12
The Gang Turns Black
The Gang Goes to a Water Park
The Gang Tends Bar
Season 13
The Gang Makes Paddy's Great Again
The Gang Escapes
The Gang Beats Boggs: Ladies' Reboot"
Times Up for the Gang
The Gang Gets New Wheels
The Gang Solves the Bathroom Problem
The Gang Does a Clip Show
The Gang Wins the Big Game
Season 14
The Gang Gets Romantic
The Gang Chokes
The Gang Texts
The Gang Solves Global Warming
Season 15
The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 7
The Gang Buys a Roller Rink
The Gang Replaces Dee with a Monkey
The Gang Goes to Ireland
The Gang's Still in Ireland
The Gang Carries a Corpse Up a Mountain
Total: 66
Dennis, Charlie, Dee, Mac
#iasip#its always sunny#it's always sunny in philadelphia#frank reynolds#dee reynolds#dennis reynolds#mac macdonald#charlie kelly#the gang by episode titles
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Regular readers of this column know that I’m not inclined to be alarmist. Although there are times when I worry about the costs and risks of certain foreign-policy decisions, I tend to push back on the tendency for foreign-policy experts to inflate threats and assume the worst—but not always. Sometimes, the wolf really is at the door, and it’s time to start worrying.
What’s troubling me today is the gnawing fear that we are living through a series of disruptions that are overwhelming our collective ability to respond. World politics is never completely static, of course, but we haven’t seen as serious a sequence of shocks in a long time. We’re accustomed to thinking human ingenuity will eventually provide solutions, but as political scientist Thomas Homer-Dixon warned many years ago, that reassuring assumption may not apply when the number of problems to be solved becomes too large and complex.
Just how many shocks can the system stand? Let’s take them in chronological order.
The breakup of the Soviet empire
Although the collapse of the Soviet Union and the velvet revolutions in Eastern Europe were positive developments in many ways, they also created considerable uncertainty and instability, and they opened the door to political developments (such as NATO enlargement) that still reverberate today. The breakup led directly to a war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, contributed to the dissolution of Yugoslavia and subsequent Balkan wars, encouraged an unhealthy sense of hubris in the United States, and reshaped politics in Central Asia. Loss of Soviet patronage also destabilized governments in Africa, the Middle East, and even the Americas, with unpredictable and sometimes unfortunate consequences. History didn’t end; it just headed down a different track.
China’s rise
Americans initially thought the unipolar moment would last a long time, but a new great-power rival emerged almost immediately. China’s rise is not a sudden or unexpected shock, perhaps, but it has still been extraordinarily rapid, and most experts in the West misread what it portended. China is still significantly weaker than the United States and faces serious headwinds at home and abroad, but its impressive economic growth, rising ambitions, and expanding military power are undeniable. Economic advancement there has also accelerated climate change, affected labor markets around the world, and helped trigger the current backlash against hyper-globalization. Its growing wealth and power improved the lives of the Chinese people and benefited others as well, but it is still a shock to the existing global order.
The 9/11 attacks and the global war on terrorism
The terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the U.S. Defense Department in September 2001 completely transformed U.S. foreign policy, and the United States found itself trapped in a war on terrorism for more than a decade. This event led directly to the toppling of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the two so-called forever wars eventually cost the United States far more blood and treasure than it had lost on that fateful day. The war on terrorism also destabilized countries throughout the greater Middle East and unintentionally spawned groups such as the Islamic State, whose actions aided the rise of right-wing extremism in Europe. It also accelerated the militarization and polarization of U.S. domestic politics and the mainstreaming of right-wing extremism in the United States—a major shock by any measure.
The 2008 financial meltdown
The collapse of the subprime mortgage market in the United States triggered a financial panic that quickly spread around the world. Wall Street’s supposed “Masters of the Universe” turned out to be as fallible (or corruptible) as anyone else, and although the people who caused the debacle were never held accountable, they could never speak with the same prestige and authority that they had before the crisis erupted. Europe suffered a sharp recession, a protracted currency crisis, and a decade of painful austerity, giving populist parties another political boost. Chinese officials also saw the crisis as a telling sign of Western decline and an opportunity to expand their own foreign-policy ambitions.
The Arab Spring
It sometimes seems nearly forgotten, but the Arab Spring was a tumultuous event that toppled governments in several countries, briefly kindled hopes of widespread democratic transitions, and led to civil wars in Libya, Yemen, and Syria that are still being fought today. It ended with authoritarian crackdowns (known as the “Arab Winter”) that reversed nearly all of the gains that reformers had made. Like the ill-fated Revolutions of 1848 in Europe, it was a “turning point at which modern history failed to turn.” But it consumed lots of top decision-makers’ time and attention, tarnished the reputations of a number of top officials, and led to considerable human suffering.
The global refugee crisis
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of “forcibly displaced” persons rose from about 42 million people in 2001 to nearly 90 million people in 2021. Refugee flows are themselves a consequence of some of the other shocks we’ve experienced, but they exert profound effects of their own, and the problem defies easy solutions. As such, they constitute yet another shock that governments and international organizations have struggled to address in recent years.
Populism becomes popular
The year 2016 marked at least two shocking events: Donald Trump was elected president of the United States and Britain voted to leave the European Union. Both events defied expectations, and each turned out to be as bad as opponents had feared. Trump proved to be every bit as corrupt, capricious, narcissistic, and incompetent as he had appeared to be during the campaign, but even his severest critics underestimated his willingness to attack the foundations of American democracy. Indeed, more than two years after his electoral defeat and facing multiple legal challenges, Trump continues to exert a poisonous effect on U.S. political life. Brexit had a similar impact in Great Britain: Not only did leaving the EU do considerable damage to the British economy (precisely as opponents had warned), but it accelerated the Conservative Party’s flight from reality, leading to the cartoonish and serially dishonest antics of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the utter trainwreck of Prime Minister Liz Truss’s brief tenure at No. 10 Downing St. Put your schadenfreude on hold, please: It is not good for anyone when the world’s sixth-largest economy is governed by such a succession of blundering buffoons.
COVID-19
What’s next? How about a global pandemic? Experts had long warned that such an event was inevitable and that the world was not prepared for it, and they turned out to be all too prescient. At least 630 million people have been infected worldwide (the actual number is doubtless higher), the official global death toll now exceeds 6.5 million, and the pandemic has had punishing effects on trade, economic growth, educational achievement, and employment in many countries (especially in the developing world). Work-life patterns have been disrupted, governments have had to adopt emergency measures to save their economies, future productivity growth has almost certainly been reduced, and a combination of loose money policies and supply chain disruptions have helped trigger the persistent inflation that governments and central bankers are now struggling to contain.
The war in Ukraine
We still do not know what the full impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be, but it won’t be trivial. The war has inflicted enormous damage on Ukraine, threatened existing norms barring the acquisition of territory by force, exposed Russia’s own military deficiencies, sparked what may turn out to be a serious European effort at rearmament, worsened global inflation, and raised the risk of escalation (including the possibility of nuclear weapons use) to a level not seen in decades. Relations between Russia and the West have been deteriorating for some time, but few observers anticipated that this would lead to a major war in 2022 and dominate the foreign-policy agenda in Washington and Europe.
Climate change
Lurking behind many of these events is the slow-motion shock of climate change. Its impact is now being felt in worsening natural disasters, increased civil conflicts, and rising migration from heavily affected areas. Efforts to immigrate or adapt to rising atmospheric temperatures are going to be expensive, and global cooperation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is faltering. All told, the scope of climate change is one more shock that governments ignored for too long and will have to deal with for decades to come.
It would be easy to add some other events to this list, and it would be a challenge to address even one or two of them successfully. Dealing with such a rapid succession is proving to be nearly impossible.
The first problem is bandwidth: When too many disruptions occur too quickly, political leaders don’t have the time or attention span to develop creative solutions or weigh alternatives carefully. The odds that they’ll respond badly increase. Nor do they have adequate time to assess how well their chosen solutions are working, making it harder to correct errors in a timely fashion.
Second, because resources are finite, dealing with the latest shock properly may be impossible if previous crises have used up the assets that are needed today. The more problems leaders face, the harder it will be to give each one the attention and resources it requires.
Third, when successive shocks are connected, trying to solve one problem can make other problems worse. It made good sense for Europe to stop buying natural gas from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, for example, but this step increased energy costs (making inflation worse) and burning coal instead of natural gas increases greenhouse gas emissions and exacerbates climate change. Focusing laser-like on helping Ukraine may be the right thing to do, but it takes time and effort away from the problems posed by a rising China. There is a good case to be made for limiting China’s ability to use Western technology to enhance its military power, but imposing export controls on chips and other forms of advanced technology impairs U.S. economic growth and will hurt some U.S. businesses, at least in the short term. The more problems you’re trying to solve all at once, the greater the danger that responses to one will undermine your efforts to deal with others.
Finally, unless leaders are extremely lucky or unusually skillful, trying to handle multiple shocks tends to erode public confidence in the entire political system. Citizens may rally around the government when a single, clear-cut crisis erupts (as Ukrainians have in response to Russia’s assault), and policy successes can help convince them that the people in charge really do know what they are doing. But when public officials are facing more shocks than anyone could handle and repeatedly fail to deliver good results, citizens will lose confidence in them (and in the experts they are relying on for advice). Instead of trusting people with the relevant knowledge, experience, and responsibility, publics become more dismissive of expertise and vulnerable to conspiracy theories and other flights from reality. Of course, this problem will be even worse if those in charge are visibly dishonest, corrupt, self-serving, and fully deserving of public scorn.
I don’t have a happy ending for this story, just a final thought. We’ve been living in an era where “move fast and break things” was the mantra—and not just in the fast-moving world of digital technology. Given the shocks we’ve endured in recent years, a better motto for the moment might be “slow down and fix stuff.” I hope we get the chance, and I hope we don’t blow it.
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Saturday, May 27, 2023
Guam ‘very blessed’ with no early reports of major damage in the messy aftermath of Typhoon Mawar
(AP) Chainsaws buzzed Friday as neighbors helped neighbors clear toppled trees and began cleaning the wreckage of Typhoon Mawar, which walloped Guam as the strongest typhoon to hit the island in over two decades but appeared to have passed without leaving death or massive destruction in its wake. While it was still early going in the recovery effort, police Sgt. Paul Tapao said there did not seem to be any major damage, main roads were passable and “Guam has been very blessed to have no storm-related deaths or any serious injuries.” To Tapao, the roar of the mechanical saws was a reminder of the resilience of the storm-prone U.S. Pacific territory and its people. “Everyone helps out with the cleaning,” he said. “That’s the Guamanian way.”
Welcome to America! Now learn to be in debt
(NPR) Every time you swipe your credit card for a coffee or a carton of eggs, you take out a tiny loan from your bank. In many ways, the U.S. runs on borrowed money: a mortgage for a home, financial aid for college, a loan for a car, credit cards for nearly everything else. Over just two years, Americans went from pandemic-fueled, near-record savings to today’s highest-ever levels of personal debt. The U.S. economy counts on you to borrow money and stay in debt. Almost in a matter of a single generation, America has developed an extensive, even casual reliance on debt. Its epitome is the credit score, which often snares newcomers into a financial Catch-22—building credit history hinges on getting credit, but credit approval is dependent on having credit history. Being financially responsible in the U.S. has come to mean “borrow and repay,” says Barbara Kiviat, an economic sociologist at Stanford University. “It sort of crowds out the idea that maybe not borrowing in the first place is also a good idea,” she says. “But we’re now living in a world where so much hangs on that credit.” But what if you were taught to never owe anybody anything? “It’s such a cultural shift,” says Adina Appelbaum, who works with immigrants as a financial counselor and lawyer, “because in many countries they don’t have this culture of debt ... and there can actually be shame around having debt or a credit card.”
Henry Kissinger’s Legacy
(National Security Archive) As Henry Alfred Kissinger reaches 100 years of age, his centennial is generating global coverage of his legacy as a leading statesman, master diplomat and realpolitik foreign policy strategist. “Nobody alive has more experience of international affairs,” as The Economist recently put it in a predictably laudatory tribute to Kissinger. But the historical record also documents the darker side of Kissinger’s controversial tenure in power: his role in the secret bombing campaign in Cambodia that killed over 100,000 civilians; the overthrow of democracy and the rise of dictatorship in Chile; disdain for human rights and support for dirty, and even genocidal, wars abroad, as well as involvement in the Nixon administration’s criminal abuses, among them the secret wiretaps of his own top aides.
More Russian Raids Down The Road
(BBC) On Wednesday, Denis Kapustin, the leader of a Russian paramilitary group that conducted a border raid from Ukraine into Russian territory promised that more attacks are on the way. He claims that his group was able to seize “some weapons,” an armored personnel carrier, and multiple prisoners while only having two soldiers injured, though Moscow claims that Russian troops killed over 70 of the raiders. The Liberty of Russia Legion (LSR), which claimed joint responsibility for the Monday attack on Russian territory, said two of its forces were injured while ten more were killed. Both groups claim they want to take down Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government, though their motives are a little less than pure. Kapustin has stated that he wants a mono-ethnic Russian state (Russia is home to over 190 ethnic groups), and an independent Ukrainian investigative group has shown his links to neo-Nazis in Ukraine. Ukraine’s Azov Battalion has similar ideals—it was founded by a known neo-Nazi, is consistently described as “a far-right nationalist” group, recruits known white supremacists from Western countries, and regularly uses Nazi symbolism.
Russia’s Old Bombs Elude Ukraine’s Modern Defenses
(NYT) As Kyiv gears up for a much-anticipated counteroffensive, Ukrainian officials, independent analysts and American military officials say the Russians are increasing their use of Soviet-era bombs. Although they have limitations, the weapons, they said, are proving harder to shoot down than the fastest, most modern missiles that the Ukrainians have become adept at intercepting. The aircraft bombs don’t have propulsion systems like cruise missiles or stay in the air nearly as long as drones. The bombs are aloft for only 70 seconds or less and are much more difficult for Ukraine’s air defenses to track. They are little dots on radar screens that soon disappear after being dropped, Ukrainian officials said, and then they slam into villages. According to Ukrainian and American officials, the Russians have retrofitted some of the bombs with satellite navigation systems and wings that stretch their range, turning an old-fashioned weapon, which Moscow has thousands of, into a more modern glide bomb. “This is the evolution of the air war,” said Lt. Colonel Denys Smazhnyi of the Ukrainian Air Force. “They first tried cruise missiles, and we shot them down. Then they tried drones, and we shot those down. They are constantly looking for a solution to strike us, and we are looking for one to intercept them.”
Climbers celebrate Mount Everest 70th anniversary amid melting glaciers, rising temperatures
(AP) As the mountaineering community prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the conquest of Mount Everest, there is growing concern about temperatures rising, glaciers and snow melting, and weather getting harsh and unpredictable on the world’s tallest mountain. Since the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) mountain peak was first scaled by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay in 1953, thousands of climbers have reached the peak. Recent research found that Mount Everest’s glaciers have lost 2,000 years of ice in just the past 30 years. Researchers found that the highest glacier on the mountain, the South Col Glacier, has lost more than 54 meters (177 feet) of thickness in the past 25 years. The glaciers are losing ice at rates that likely have no historic precedent, said Duncan Quincey, a glaciologist at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. The change is happening “extremely rapidly” he said. “It’s causing challenges for everybody within that region and, of course, for the millions of people who are living downstream,” since much of Southern Asia depends on rivers that originate in the Himalayas for agriculture and drinking water. Both floods and droughts are likely to become more extreme, he said.
Chinese hackers spying on US critical infrastructure, Western intelligence says
(Reuters) A state-sponsored Chinese hacking group has been spying on a wide range of U.S. critical infrastructure organizations, from telecommunications to transportation hubs, Western intelligence agencies and Microsoft said on Wednesday. The espionage has also targeted the U.S. island territory of Guam, home to strategically important American military bases, Microsoft said in a report, adding that “mitigating this attack could be challenging.” While China and the United States routinely spy on each other, analysts say this is one of the largest known Chinese cyber-espionage campaigns against American critical infrastructure. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday the hacking allegations were a “collective disinformation campaign”. Mao said the campaign was launched by the U.S. for geopolitical reasons and that the report from Microsoft analysts showed that the U.S. government was expanding its channels of disinformation beyond government agencies.
Son of local lawmaker arrested in rare killing that left four dead in Japan
(Washington Post) The police arrested the 31-year-old son of a local lawmaker on Friday in connection with an assault that left four people dead, according to police. The suspect has been identified as Masanori Aoki, the son of Nakano City assembly speaker Masamichi Aoki. The armed and masked suspect had barricaded himself in a building after allegedly killing a woman and two police officers in the central Japanese prefecture of Nagano on Thursday. The first three victims died at a hospital. The gunman, who was wearing camouflage clothing, a mask and sunglasses, stabbed the woman and then opened fire with what appeared to be a hunting rifle when police arrived, reports said. A fourth person injured in the attack, Yasuko Takeuchi, 70, was unable to be recovered from the scene until after police apprehended the attacker, when she was pronounced dead, according to local media. Gun crimes are extremely rare in Japan, where firearms are strictly regulated. Anyone trying to get a gun in Japan needs to apply for a permit, attend a class on gun safety and laws, and pass a written test. There is a full-day training course on safe shooting techniques.
Leaked Report: “CIA does not know” is Israel Plans to Bomb Iran
(The Intercept) Whether Israel’s escalating threats of war with Iran over its nuclear program are saber-rattling or something more serious is a mystery even to the CIA, according to a portion of a top-secret intelligence report leaked on the platform Discord earlier this year. The report reveals an undisclosed military exercise conducted by Israel. “On 20 February, Israel conducted a large-scale air exercise,” the intelligence report states, “probably to simulate a strike on Iran’s nuclear program and possibly to demonstrate Jerusalem’s resolve to act against Tehran.” “CIA does not know Israel’s near term plans and intentions,” the report adds, speculating that “Netanyahu probably calculates Israel will need to strike Iran to deter its nuclear program and faces a declining military capability to set back Iran’s enrichment program.” Biden has not opposed a unilateral Israeli attack on Iran—and his national security adviser recently hinted at blessing it. “We have made clear to Iran that it can never be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon,” Jake Sullivan said in a speech earlier this month. Sullivan went a step further, adding, “As President Biden has repeatedly reaffirmed, he will take the actions that are necessary to stand by this statement, including by recognizing Israel’s freedom of action.”
Plastic Bags
(ABC News) While many places purport to collect and recycle plastic shopping bags, a new investigation found that in reality it’s rare that bags make it to designated recycling centers even when properly returned to retailers who claim that they’ll recycle them. ABC and nine local stations and affiliates across the country dropped 46 bundles of plastic bags fitted with electronic trackers into drop-off locations associated with the American Chemistry Council’s Wrap Recycling Action Program, which has 18,000 drop-off points nationwide. The trackers were superglued inside multiple layers of clean plastic bags, and were monitored over the course of their journeys. After months of tracking, as of May, half of the trackers last pinged at landfills or incinerators, seven last pinged at refuse transfer stations that don’t recycle plastic bags, and six still remain in the store where they were dropped. Another three are now thousands of miles overseas in Malaysia or Indonesia, exported to Asia, and three were inconclusive. Only four of the 46 bundles last pinged in a facility that recycles plastic bags.
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Greetings Bernard Arnault,
Charmed Circle Services
If you refer to a group of people as a charmed circle, you mean that they seem to have special power or influence, and do not allow anyone else to join their group.
A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from violence, robbery, ransacking, arson, vandalism, and other such threats, in exchange for payments.
Green Crime is illegal activity that involves the environment, biodiversity, or natural resources. There are generally five types of major environmental crime: illegal logging, fishing, and mining, and crimes that harm wildlife and generate pollution.
State-corporate crime is a concept in criminology for crimes that result from the relationship between the policies of the state and the policies and practices of commercial corporations.
Tax Haven Lobbying
State-corporate crime is a concept in criminology for crimes that result from the relationship between the policies of the state and the policies and practices of commercial corporations.
Organized transnational crime is organized criminal activity that takes place across national jurisdictions, and with advances in transportation and information technology, law enforcement officials and policymakers have needed to respond to this form of crime on a global scale.
Government Joint Venture
Example: Government Part Owned Coal & Diamond Mines
international corporation that specializes in coal & diamond mining, coal & diamond exploitation, coal & diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial coal & diamond manufacturing sectors.
Example: Debswana Diamond Company Limited Influenced
Debswana is a joint venture between the government of Botswana and the South African diamond company De Beers; each party owns 50 percent of the company
Ecological Preservation Company
Farmland Real Estate
Acquisition
Lease
Gross Margin
China Big Four Influence: Industrial and Commercial Banks, Construction Bank, & Agriculture Banks (Ag Banks)
Products
Finance and insurance, consumer banking, corporate banking, investment banking, investment management, global wealth management, private equity, mortgages, credit cards
Gross Margin Loan
In exchange for farmland development or startup give cash for gross margin %
LVMH Digital Wallet
Air Miles Credit Card
Client Card (Gift Card/Social Club)
Drop Shipping
Isolated Investment Platform/Newsletter
Distributors Type
Wholesale distributors provide that liaison, buying large quantities of products from manufacturers, storing them and then supplying them to retailers and other businesses.
Distributors
Distributors have a business relationship with manufactures and have partial ownership of the product they sell. Some distributors buy exclusive rights to buy a company's product to ensure that they are the sole distributor of that product in the area. Distributors often sell to wholesalers and retailers, creating minimal contact with the final buyers.
Indirect selling
Indirect selling is when a company uses an intermediary to distribute and sell its product. Indirect selling marketing channels can use varying amounts of intermediaries. In the most direct distribution route, the manufacturer can sell their product to an intermediary who then sells the product to a consumer. However, they may sometimes involve more than one intermediary in the distribution of a product.
This marketing channel encompasses many of the examples of intermediary channel uses, including shopping malls and chain retailers.
LVMH Distribution & Cash Conversion Cycle
Big Pharma Distribution Model
Wholesalers purchase drugs from manufacturers and distribute to a variety of customers, including independent, chain, or mail-order pharmacies, hospitals, long-term care, and other medical facilities.
Wholesale Distribution Clients
Drop Shipping
Malls
Modeling Agencies
Wedding Directors
Private Schools
Social Club
Art Auctions
Film Production Companies
Car Dealerships/Shows (Collaboration)
Jewelers (Gift Card Distribution for Store Credit)
Political Cabinet
Tennis Clubs (Dress Code)
Dinner Hall Rental Companies
Hair Salons (Gift Card Distribution for Store Credit)
Investment Banks (Gift Card Distribution for Store Credit)
Wholesale Client Requirement
Retailer Fair with Retail Advisory Groups Collaboration Business Incubator
Business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services starting with management training and office space and ending with venture capital financing.
What Can Companies Do To Improve Cash Conversion Cycle Times?
Invest in Real-Time Analytics.
Encourage Earlier Payments.
Speed Up the Delivery Time.
Make It Easier To Pay.
Simplify Your Invoices.
Rental and Recruitment
Graduation and Wedding Rentals allows for customer experience turning dreamers into clients
Wearing LVMH for the first time at Graduation is Emotionally Symbolic
Celebrations release the feel-good chemicals oxytocin, dopamine, and endorphins, which lower the stress hormone cortisol. This doesn't mean you simply are in a better mood, though your mood will improve. It also means you'll have clarity of thought and feel more in control.
Oxytocin is known as a social bonding hormone, unfortunately, though, it can also be the trigger to addiction.
Golf & Tennis Endorsement
Endorsement Wear Contracts (Product Placement Scheme)
This Bridges the LVMH Brand and Logo to Future Athletes where Nike isn't that Popular compare to other Nike endorsed athletes
Golf and Tennis are posh so the endorsements fit LVMH target audience
Rugby Kit Sponsor
Secure South African Athletes and Create a Larger Presence in South Africa (Natural Resources)
Athleisure Wear
Big and Tall Athleisure Clothing
Minimum Net Worth Condos with Luxury Strip Malls
Gift Card Program Drop Shipping : Promotion Program, Have a grace period for gift card top up (treat like a prepaid rewards credit card); Curated accessories promotional codes. Cash is acquired without product sold. (Starbucks with a twist)
Trade Shows: Promotional Model, This type of model books jobs that help sell or promote a certain commodity. Promotional models are often found at trade shows and other live events. As a whole, these models must be personable, outgoing, and have a strong knowledge of the product they are representing.
LVMH Inclusive (Minimum Spending) Social Club: Cross-functional Collaboration Based Shopping
Project
Cross collaborate through divisions to create a specific project. Projects are a curation of a series of products from multiple divisions. Goal is to have people attached to projects, not products. View Projects as Different Personalities. (Harvard Business Review)
Landscaping & Gardening Expos
Festive Activities for Consumers
Natural Resources Humid Subtropical Climate Farming with Security Operations (SecOps)
Material Sourcing
Porter's Model Pharma Industry
Porter's model can be applied to any segment of the economy to understand the level of competition within the industry and enhance a company's long-term profitability. The Five Forces model is named after Harvard Business School professor, Michael E. Porter.
Porter's 5 forces are:
Competition in the Industry
The first of the Five Forces refers to the number of competitors and their ability to undercut a company. The larger the number of competitors, along with the number of equivalent products and services they offer, the lesser the power of a company.
Suppliers and buyers seek out a company's competition if they are able to offer a better deal or lower prices. Conversely, when competitive rivalry is low, a company has greater power to charge higher prices and set the terms of deals to achieve higher sales and profits.
Potential of New Entrants Into an Industry
A company's power is also affected by the force of new entrants into its market. The less time and money it costs for a competitor to enter a company's market and be an effective competitor, the more an established company's position could be significantly weakened.
An industry with strong barriers to entry is ideal for existing companies within that industry since the company would be able to charge higher prices and negotiate better terms.
Power of Suppliers
The next factor in the Porter model addresses how easily suppliers can drive up the cost of inputs. It is affected by the number of suppliers of key inputs of a good or service, how unique these inputs are, and how much it would cost a company to switch to another supplier. The fewer suppliers to an industry, the more a company would depend on a supplier.
As a result, the supplier has more power and can drive up input costs and push for other advantages in trade. On the other hand, when there are many suppliers or low switching costs between rival suppliers, a company can keep its input costs lower and enhance its profits.
Power of Customers
The ability that customers have to drive prices lower or their level of power is one of the Five Forces. It is affected by how many buyers or customers a company has, how significant each customer is, and how much it would cost a company to find new customers or markets for its output.
A smaller and more powerful client base means that each customer has more power to negotiate for lower prices and better deals. A company that has many, smaller, independent customers will have an easier time charging higher prices to increase profitability
Threat of Substitutes
The last of the Five Forces focuses on substitutes. Substitute goods or services that can be used in place of a company's products or services pose a threat. Companies that produce goods or services for which there are no close substitutes will have more power to increase prices and lock in favorable terms. When close substitutes are available, customers will have the option to forgo buying a company's product, and a company's power can be weakened.
Understanding Porter's Five Forces and how they apply to an industry, can enable a company to adjust its business strategy to better use its resources to generate higher earnings for its investors.
What Are Porter's Five Forces Used for?
Porter's Five Forces Model helps managers and analysts understand the competitive landscape that a company faces and to understand how a company is positioned within it.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Porter's Five Forces is a framework for analyzing a company's competitive environment.
Porter's Five Forces is a frequently used guideline for evaluating the competitive forces that influence a variety of business sectors.
It was created by Harvard Business School professor Michael E. Porter in 1979 and has since become an important tool for managers.
These forces include the number and power of a company's competitive rivals, potential new market entrants, suppliers, customers, and substitute products that influence a company's profitability.
Five Forces analysis can be used to guide business strategy to increase competitive advantage
Regards,
Adrian Blake-Trotman
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2023 / 18
Aperçu of the Week:
"Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward."
(Oscar Wilde)
Bad News of the Week:
What's true in security policy is also true in fiscal policy: if the U.S. isn't fit, the whole world gets sick. The world's (still) largest economy sets the tone. Many global trade flows, e.g. for energy, are conducted in U.S. dollars, and in many countries it has replaced the domestic currency - whether unofficially, as in Zimbabwe, or even officially, as in El Salvador. So what happens to the U.S. economy or the U.S. dollar has global implications.
In the process, there seems to be a kind of parallel universe. Normally, in the economy, when a so-called insolvency threatens, all the alarm bells go off: Employees look for new jobs, suppliers stop supplying, the bank cancels the credit line, creditors are left sitting on their claims. The company is simply bankrupt, at the end of its rope, with no future prospects. Except, perhaps, for a few fillet pieces that the competition buys up at bargain prices. This does not apply to the USA. Because it is effectively bankrupt. And no one seems to care.
The current debt level - only of the state, not of its companies (banking crisis) or citizens (mortgage and credit card crisis) - amounts to $31.38 trillion. This is significantly more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of $26.85 trillion. In fact, this can never be repaid. For comparison: in Germany, $2.73 trillion in debt is compared to a GDP of $5.32 trillion. And we feel that this is bad. The creditors of the USA sit primarily abroad - whether friendly like Japan or even downright hostile like China. And sleep apparently nevertheless calmly. And that even in the face of the current (once again) concrete threat of insolvency.
Normally, and this has been the case for decades, this is nothing more than a ritual: the money is no longer enough, Republicans and Democrats agree - sometimes with more, sometimes with less dispute - to ignore the debt ceiling, which is actually regulated by law, they obtain money on the markets without any problems and act as if nothing had happened. Until next time. Business as usual.
This year, things may turn out differently. Because the trench warfare between the duopoly parties could reach a new level. Which this time might not be done with a few government agencies and national parks closed for two weeks. Already since the in many ways ridiculous election of Kevin McCarthy as Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives, this has been publicly announced. Because the ultra-right MAGA freaks like Marjorie Taylor Green or Matt Gaetz have made it clear that they will play hard ball on this issue at the latest: rather cuts in social services as well as environmental protection than a suspension of the debt ceiling. For party-political reasons and without a shred of interest in economic or financial policy. At the same time, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns that so far it has only been possible to avert default through "a series of extraordinary measures".
Strange that the U.S. nevertheless has a credit rating of AAA. Is that perhaps because the three relevant agencies, Standard & Poor, Moody's and Fitch, are all U.S.-based private firms? Or that no one wants to admit that there may be a systematic problem after all? In every banking crisis - and we have one right now that is nowhere as dramatic as in the U.S. - the term "too big to fail" makes the rounds. The land of unlimited opportunity, unreal projection surface for the hopes and dreams of large parts of the world's population, must not be allowed to fail. That is psychology. It's certainly not mathematics.
Good News of the Week:
More and more often, I notice on the train and in the supermarket that I'm the only one still wearing an FFP2 mask. Yet I'm not an overly anxious person. I am merely part of a vulnerable group for whom it is still better not to become infected with the corona virus. But that is my personal decision. And no longer a legal requirement. Because there isn't one anymore. Except in many doctors' offices, where masks are still mandatory if that's what the doctor wants - which objectively would have made sense even earlier, because after all, that's basically where a disproportionate number of viruses and bacteria are buzzing around.
Basically, I'm glad that the Word Health Organization (WHO) officially lifted the international health emergency due to Corona on Friday. After more than three years of a worldwide pandemic. In the balance, there are more than 20 million deaths. A health system that reached its limits and exceeded them in many countries. A mass death of retailers and cultural institutions. Lots of children and young people with mental health problems - or at least major failures as they grew up.
Many health policy decisions were right. Many were wrong. Some fellows discovered their social empathy. Some a penchant for conspiracy theories. Friendships and bonds of solidarity have grown. Or were destroyed. As is so often the case in life, the task now is to learn from the past for the future. Because it will not be the last challenge that human society will have to face - looking at the news, the multi-crisis still dominates.
Therefore, it is nice that we have at least left behind the frightening side effects of the Corona pandemic. Which will accompany us from now on as a "completely normal" respiratory disease with a potentially fatal outcome. Like the flu. Because let's face it: normality can be very reassuring.
Personal happy moment of the week:
Last Monday was May 1, a public holiday in Germany. And while on "Labor Day" (actually absurd that this day of all days is a public holiday) demonstrations of the trade unions for more workers' rights take place everywhere in Germany, the accent in Bavaria is elsewhere. Namely on the maypole. A tradition according to which an approximately 30 meter high, white-blue painted trunk is erected with muscle power - accompanied by music, dance and beer. Cancelled the last years because of Corona, it was nice to be able to celebrate this festival again this year. Even the rain had a mercy and took a break for the crucial three hours.
I couldn't care less...
...that the United Kingdom has a new head of state since yesterday, King Charles III. And so do Canada, Australia, New Zealand and 13 other Commonwealth countries. All the pomp, his costumes and rituals etc. show me one thing above all: monarchies are no longer in keeping with the times. And are not democratic.
As I write this...
...I am listening to music. Right now John Legend. And think about the fact that this is probably the only undoubtedly exclusively positive achievement of mankind: art. Whether it's music, poetry, performing or visual art, analog or digital, live or documented. The kind of creativity that does not seek a concrete use value, but stimulates, entertains, inspires, polarizes, makes you think. L'art pour l'art is something very beautiful.
Post Scriptum
Germany reached its "earth overload day" last week. So if all of humanity were as wasteful with resources as we are, it would need three Earths. We only buy green electricity and drive an all-electric car or use public transportation. We try not to throw away food and collect everything that can be recycled. We order as little as possible from Amazon (okay: also because we simply can't stand the working conditions of this company and its owner himself) and basically try to reduce our consumption (okay: this also saves money and has an educational value). And yet we are more part of the problem than part of the solution. Sigh...
#thoughts#aperçu#good news#bad news#news of the week#happy moments#politics#oscar wilde#usa#debt ceiling#congress#bankruptcy#coronavirus#ffp2#who#labor day#first of may#united kingdom#charles iii#windsors#john legend#music#creativity#germany#earth overload day#arts#commonwealth#restrictions#maga#insolvency
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Global Mortgage Group
Discover Global Mortgage Group, one of the leading international mortgage lenders.Explore our services and secure your dream home. Visit GMG.asia now.
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Best Stocks for Trading in the UK
Most individuals are holding different types of assets to increase their wealth. But the twist is that they are unaware of the fact that stocks trading can also be used to increase their wealth. The financial markets is offering one of the biggest opportunities to grow your wealth. Stock trading includes intraday trading, investing in IPOs, short-term, and long-term trading. Right stock when traded with the right strategy and right timing can bring higher returns to you.
Now, when you have made up your mind to start investing in some good stocks, you must be looking for the best stocks for trading in the UK. We have come up with the research that you need to start investing in stocks. Here are the best stocks to trade in:
Lloyds Banking Group PLC
Lloyds Banking Group PLC is engaged in offering a wide range of financial and banking services to their clients. The segments in which it is operating are Commercial Banking, Retail, and Wealth & Insurance. Services such as savings account, current account, vehicle insurance, mortgage, and unsecured customer lending are covered under the retail sector.
The Commercial Banking segment of Lloyds Banking Group, includes servicers such as risk management, working capital management, transactional banking, and financial institutions. Wealth management, investment, and insurance services are included in the Wealth and Insurance segment. Even though the trading price of this stock is low it can generate higher profits in long-term.
In the past five years, 72.02 GBP per share was the highest price of this stock. The current profit earnings ratio of the stock is also good, that is 32.50 per share. It is generating a 2.04% return on equity and 4.67% dividend yield. ABInvesting, TradeATF, and ROinvesting are some of the best financial brokers that you can use while trading in stocks.
Barclays PLC
It is a global financial services provider, offering investment banking, retail banking, wholesale banking, wealth management, and similar services. The services offered by Barclays are available for personal as well as corporate. It is operating in two separate divisions that are international and the UK division.
The highest trading price of Barclays PLC was 226.50 GBP per share. The stock is good for buying as it is generating good returns for the investors. It is having a profit earnings ratio of 16.70 per share and a dividend yield of 0.63%, according to the previous statistics.
Vodafone Group PLC
Vodafone Group PLC is a leading international service provider of telecommunication services. The kind of services offered by it are mobile telecommunication services, such as, access to data, call, text, broadband services, and television line. It is also offering mobile and cloud-based applications for many services like health monitoring, and insurance services.
The highest price of this stock in last five years was 235 GBP per share and best part is that the company is having many growth opportunities in future. Current profit earnings ratio of Vodafone Group PLC is 25.73 and a dividend yield of 6.47% which is good for investing.
Tesco PLC
Tesco PLC is a provider of retail banking that operates in central Europe, UK, and Asia. The services offered are insurance and retail banking. In Asia, it is operating in Thailand and Malaysia on the other hand in the Central Europe it is operating in Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and Czech Republic. The company headquarters is situated in Welwyn Garden City, UK.
The highest price in which this stock was traded in is 260.30 GBP per share. It is currently generating a 5.47% of dividend yield along with a profit earnings ratio of 15.68 per share. After sustaining in this pandemic period this stock can grow beyond your expectations.
Rolls Royce Holdings PLC
Operating segments of the company are power systems, ITP aero, defense, civil aerospace, and corporates. The integrated power systems that are used on land, sea, or air are developed and manufactured by Rolls Royce Holdings PLC. Engines, nuclear system for civil power generation, and power systems are developed and manufactured by this company. They are also offering aftermarket services of the engines and power systems.
For the defense sector they are manufacturing naval engines, gas turbines, submarines, and military aero engines. However, the share price of this company is currently low but having a strong presence in the market. The highest share price was 341.70 GBP per share. Current statistics of the company says that it has yielded a dividend of 1.47% generated a profit earnings ratio of 19.76 per share.
BP PLC
BP PLC is a natural gas and oil company. It involves in the functions such as production, exploration of oil and natural gas, field development, processing, transportation, storage, and marketing. All these activities are conducted under the Upstream segment. Apart from this, there are two other segments also that are Downstream and Rosneft.
The Downstream segment performs actions like manufacturing, refining, transportation, marketing, and supplies related to crude oil, petroleum, and petroleum related products. On the other hand, Rosneft segment is indulged in investment activities.
589.30 GBP was the highest trading price in which the stock was traded in. The profits earnings ratio of the company is 19.68 and a dividend yield of 6.59%. It is expected that the stock will grow and generate higher returns.
International Consolidated Airlines Group
It is an airline group that offers passenger as well as freight transportation services via air. International Consolidated Airlines Group is currently operating under all these segments that are British Airways, Aer Lingus, Vueling, Iberia, and some other companies also.
In the past five years, the highest price of the stock was 485.81 GBP but the price is expected to grow as compared to the current stock price. It has a profit earnings ratio of 0.86 per share.
Glencore PLC
Glencore is a company that is indulged in marketing and production of leading metals, minerals, agricultural, and energy commodities. The sectors for which the company is serving, includes power generation, steel, battery manufacturing, automobile, and oil sectors. Company’s operations are divided into three segments that are Industrial, Marketing, and Corporate.
The sale and purchase department of physical commodities comes under the Marketing segment. Activities such as over the cost production and cost of sales comes under the Industrial segment. The group related income and expenses are handled by the Corporate segment.
Glencore PLC’s highest share trading value over the past five years was 403.70 GBP per share. There is a 2.87% of dividend yield associated with this stock. The trading platforms that you can use for trading are TradeATF, ABInvesting, and ROinvesting.
BT Group PLC
BT Group PLC is offering communications services. The segments in which it is operating in are Global Services, Consumer, Openreach, Enterprise, and others. When we talk about the Consumer segment, it offers mobile, television, home phone, and broadband services. IT infrastructure and managed network services are handled by Global Services segment. The task of building and managing fixed network that helps connecting homes and businesses are handled by the Openreach segment.
The last segment is the Enterprise segment that includes Information Technology (IT) and selling communications services to public sector and businesses. For the last five years, the share price is gradually decreasing and the highest price was 443.20 GBP per share. But the profit earnings ratio of the stock is 8.27 per share.
HSBC Holdings PLC
Another banking and financial services provider company to invest in for better returns is HSBC Holdings PLC. It operates through different business segments that are Global Banking, Commercial Banking, Wealth Management, and Retail Banking. The services included in the Global Banking segment are advisory, capital markets, financial, risk management services, and similar services.
On the other hand, the Commercial Banking segment is offering services and products related to banking. Activities like wealth management, insurance, asset management, and retail banking are covered under the segment named Wealth Management and Retail Banking.
The peak price of this stock in the last five year was 766.90 GBP per share and it is having a profit earnings ratio of 28.51 per share. It is also having a dividend yield of 2.51%.
Conclusion
These ten stocks are among the best stocks for trading in the UK which can generate higher returns on your investment. If you are unaware of the platforms that you can use for trading, some of the best and easy platforms are ABInvesting, TradeATF, and investFw.
#bitcoin#cryptocurrency#forex#fx#forexsignals#forexmarket#stock market#forex news#forexstrategy#finance
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Banco Inter to Gain Full Ownership of Merchant Acquirer Granito
https://www.merchant-business.com/banco-inter-to-gain-full-ownership-of-merchant-acquirer-granito/?feed_id=4192&_unique_id=66571fcccc3e7
Banco Inter to Gain Full Ownership of Merchant Acquirer Granito
Brazilian bank Banco Inter, a business unit of Inter&Co, plans to acquire the remaining 50% of merchant acquirer Granito, giving it full ownership of the company.
Granito, which provides financial services to more than 100,000 small- to medium-sized businesses across Brazil, will be renamed Inter Pag, Inter&Co said in a Tuesday (May 28) press release.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions, according to the release.
Banco Inter already owned 50% of the company, per the release.
“By fully owning Granito, we will further enhance our value proposition to our customers, making our financial super app a full suite of solutions to business owners and entrepreneurs,” Joao Vitor Menin, CEO of Inter&Co, said in the release. “It also further expands our footprint in the Brazilian market.”
Granito will join the Inter ecosystem that currently includes banking, investments, mortgages, credit, insurance and cross-border payments, according to the release.
The acquisition will bolster Inter’s portfolio, generate operational synergies and facilitate cross-selling opportunities within its financial super app, the release said.
With the addition of Granito’s offerings, Inter will reinforce its digital platform, enhance its ecosystem and strengthen its position as a partner for entrepreneurs and small businesses in Brazil, per the release.
“This is another step to continue disrupting the financial services industry by creating convenience, driving operational excellence and delivering value to our shareholders as outlined in our 60-30-30 plan,” Menin said in the release.
Inter&Co started in Brazil with a credit portfolio that in turn led to fashioning a digital retail banking franchise, Menin told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster in an interview posted in August 2022.
“Unlike the other banks in Brazil, we have everything in one single app, one that is convenient, and that has a good value proposition and a good UX [user experience],” Menin said.
In February 2023, Inter&Co acquired real estate investing solution provider YellowFi to expand the ecosystem of products it offers in the United States.
That transaction added YellowFi’s mortgage originator and fund manager to Inter Group’s super app that provides financial and digital commerce services in both Brazil and the U.S.
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See More In: acquisitions, B2B, Banco Inter, banking, brazil, Granito, LatAm, Latin America, News, PYMNTS News, What’s Hot, What’s Hot In B2B
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Banco Inter to Gain Full Ownership of Merchant Acquirer Granito
Brazilian bank Banco Inter, a business unit of Inter&Co, plans to acquire the remaining 50% of merchant acquirer Granito, giving it full ownership of the company.
Granito, which provides financial services to more than 100,000 small- to medium-sized businesses across Brazil, will be renamed Inter Pag, Inter&Co said in a Tuesday (May 28) press release.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions, according to the release.
Banco Inter already owned 50% of the company, per the release.
“By fully owning Granito, we will further enhance our value proposition to our customers, making our financial super app a full suite of solutions to business owners and entrepreneurs,” Joao Vitor Menin, CEO of Inter&Co, said in the release. “It also further expands our footprint in the Brazilian market.”
Granito will join the Inter ecosystem that currently includes banking, investments, mortgages, credit, insurance and cross-border payments, according to the release.
The acquisition will bolster Inter’s portfolio, generate operational synergies and facilitate cross-selling opportunities within its financial super app, the release said.
With the addition of Granito’s offerings, Inter will reinforce its digital platform, enhance its ecosystem and strengthen its position as a partner for entrepreneurs and small businesses in Brazil, per the release.
“This is another step to continue disrupting the financial services industry by creating convenience, driving operational excellence and delivering value to our shareholders as outlined in our 60-30-30 plan,” Menin said in the release.
Inter&Co started in Brazil with a credit portfolio that in turn led to fashioning a digital retail banking franchise, Menin told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster in an interview posted in August 2022.
“Unlike the other banks in Brazil, we have everything in one single app, one that is convenient, and that has a good value proposition and a good UX [user experience],” Menin said.
In February 2023, Inter&Co acquired real estate investing solution provider YellowFi to expand the ecosystem of products it offers in the United States.
That transaction added YellowFi’s mortgage originator and fund manager to Inter Group’s super app that provides financial and digital commerce services in both Brazil and the U.S.
For all PYMNTS B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily B2B Newsletter.
See More In: acquisitions, B2B, Banco Inter, banking, brazil, Granito, LatAm, Latin America, News, PYMNTS News, What’s Hot, What’s Hot In B2B
Source link
Banco Inter to Gain Full Ownership of Merchant Acquirer Granito #Banco #Inter #Gain #Full #Ownership #Merchant #Acquirer #Granito
Source link Google News
Source Link: https://www.pymnts.com/acquisitions/2024/banco-inter-to-gain-full-ownership-of-merchant-acquirer-granito/
The post Banco Inter to Gain Full Ownership of Merchant Acquirer Granito appeared first on Merchant Business News.
Buy, Sell, Get Informed, Negotiate and Be Happy!
Global, Merchant
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