NnnnotSoSmart Posted January 22 Posted January 22 1 hour ago, Spekulatius said: This has nothing to do with Europe being investible or not. What has nothing to do with Europe being investible or not?
John Hjorth Posted January 22 Posted January 22 6 minutes ago, Dalal.Holdings said: ... SWOT analysis??? It's also deeply embedded in auditing risk assessment and in audit policies for accept and service of clients in audit firms with just a wee bit self-respect, and in most law firms [, mind the 'most' here <- ] So, SWOT is actually good!
cubsfan Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Ken Griffin of Citadel squarely confronts the issue - Is Europe Investable?
Gregmal Posted January 22 Posted January 22 (edited) The SWOT chart is exactly the type of “instinctual talking piece” that demonstrates how fundamentally flawed EVERYTHING they do is. Real life example. Some years ago, I joined an HOA board as I had investments in the community and a feeling that things were….a mess, at least in terms of financials, business contracts, efficiency, etc. First thing I noticed was that the ENTIRE board consisted of people that fell into three categories; school teachers, government employees, or librarians(in a way a hybrid combo of both the first two). Most were quite old and literally had little else to do; this “position” for them was as much about status and social club like gratification as anything else. It certainly wasn’t about “serving the community”. Immediately upon trying to do ANYTHING, I was immediately met with resistance on the grounds that “that’s not the way we do things”. Or “this is just the way we ve always done things and it’s not fair to change that”. Any sort of outside the box idea was immediately met with some slow geezer reaching into their briefcase and proudly wielding their hard copy printed edition of the “Master Docs/Bi-Laws/Rules and Regs”….we then had to waste sooooo much time entertaining the debate around that….until people were blue in the face. Eventually when we d get to a decision, any action moving forward was met with the need to “look into” or “research” the “proper way to go about it”….another stupid and unnecessary way to waste time. On and on and fuckin on we d go and then a year passes and surprise, surprise! NOTHING has gotten done! Eventually I kind of had to go activist and step on peoples toes and basically break some stuff. The old guard, useless as can be, eventually found the social club setting they spent years manicuring…no longer pleasant! As they resigned we brought in business people and folks whom understood all the stuff they didn’t. In aggregate, while making massive investment in the community, including replacing over 150+ roofs during Covid, our dues from 2018 thru 2023 only went up ~10%….there was THAT much waste and fat and incompetence in there. This is pretty much the EU. It’s all career government employees and academics. These are folk who live in a box checking world. Their framework ALWAYS starts with “the rules” and when things need change, their immediate instinct is “let’s make more rules”. Much like my old HOA compadres, sometimes to get things fixed you need to ruffle feathers, rip up old agreements rather than “wait for them to expire” and do things that make the old guard uncomfortable. I see no signs of this really changing in Europe. The proud declaration of a “SWOT analysis” basically confirms this. Edited January 22 by Gregmal
Dalal.Holdings Posted January 22 Posted January 22 (edited) SWOT analysis is done by first year Deloitte consultants and freshman business majors. And the wakeup call is happening now in 2026 for Lagarde??? Lagarde represents everything wrong with European leadership the past 15+ years Edited January 22 by Dalal.Holdings
Dalal.Holdings Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Even the hero of Europeans has had enough of the continent where the leaders are all talk and no action:
Spekulatius Posted January 22 Posted January 22 5 hours ago, Dalal.Holdings said: The Leftists of Europe doing what they’ve done for the past 20 years and ruining their continent in the process. Congratulations. I didn’t know the farmers are left wingers. I think it’s more a case where left wingers and right wingers unite (horseshoe politics) It would be a shame if this deal does not go through , but the French farmers always were a huge lobbying force in France.
Dalal.Holdings Posted January 22 Posted January 22 36 minutes ago, Spekulatius said: I didn’t know the farmers are left wingers. I think it’s more a case where left wingers and right wingers unite (horseshoe politics) It would be a shame if this deal does not go through , but the French farmers always were a huge lobbying force in France. Yes-the Greens broke the "firewall" and voted with the "far right". They angrily berated anyone who would ever dare to vote with the "far right" but then they went ahead and did so to help stifle Mercosur. The hypocrisy has been exposed. Even more-so, the failure of Ursula and the uselessness of the EU has been made apparent during this illuminating week for Europe
John Hjorth Posted January 22 Posted January 22 4 hours ago, Gregmal said: The SWOT chart is exactly the type of “instinctual talking piece” that demonstrates how fundamentally flawed EVERYTHING they do is. Real life example. Some years ago, I joined an HOA board as I had investments in the community and a feeling that things were….a mess, at least in terms of financials, business contracts, efficiency, etc. First thing I noticed was that the ENTIRE board consisted of people that fell into three categories; school teachers, government employees, or librarians(in a way a hybrid combo of both the first two). Most were quite old and literally had little else to do; this “position” for them was as much about status and social club like gratification as anything else. It certainly wasn’t about “serving the community”. Immediately upon trying to do ANYTHING, I was immediately met with resistance on the grounds that “that’s not the way we do things”. Or “this is just the way we ve always done things and it’s not fair to change that”. Any sort of outside the box idea was immediately met with some slow geezer reaching into their briefcase and proudly wielding their hard copy printed edition of the “Master Docs/Bi-Laws/Rules and Regs”….we then had to waste sooooo much time entertaining the debate around that….until people were blue in the face. Eventually when we d get to a decision, any action moving forward was met with the need to “look into” or “research” the “proper way to go about it”….another stupid and unnecessary way to waste time. On and on and fuckin on we d go and then a year passes and surprise, surprise! NOTHING has gotten done! Eventually I kind of had to go activist and step on peoples toes and basically break some stuff. The old guard, useless as can be, eventually found the social club setting they spent years manicuring…no longer pleasant! As they resigned we brought in business people and folks whom understood all the stuff they didn’t. In aggregate, while making massive investment in the community, including replacing over 150+ roofs during Covid, our dues from 2018 thru 2023 only went up ~10%….there was THAT much waste and fat and incompetence in there. This is pretty much the EU. It’s all career government employees and academics. These are folk who live in a box checking world. Their framework ALWAYS starts with “the rules” and when things need change, their immediate instinct is “let’s make more rules”. Much like my old HOA compadres, sometimes to get things fixed you need to ruffle feathers, rip up old agreements rather than “wait for them to expire” and do things that make the old guard uncomfortable. I see no signs of this really changing in Europe. The proud declaration of a “SWOT analysis” basically confirms this. HaHa! , Greg [ @Gregmal ], - Pretty much the same has happened to me here, but later in life than you, relatively,, as a member of the representatives board in the local, cooperative, regional utility! But at least I learned a lot about the Danish energy system, so time not totally wasted, I would say. - And I got quite a few new friends, that demonstrated reason, based on facts! Please add it to your 'experience, back pack', and move on! -That's all you can do about it!
Dalal.Holdings Posted January 23 Posted January 23 A few hours after Zelensky calls out Europe for doing nothing on tankers: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdexxr2y907o Quote France seizes suspected Russian 'shadow fleet' oil tanker in the Mediterranean Macron likes to put on a show. I'm skeptical that he commits to regularly cracking down on the shadow fleet as he simply seems to be all "talk". Talks about European unity while working to blow up Mercosur. European officials just like to talk, hold meetings & calls, and put out statements. Let's see how regularly France seizes ships of the shadow fleet. My understanding is that this is only the second vessel that has been confronted by France 4 years into this war....
Dalal.Holdings Posted January 24 Posted January 24 Lagarde’s wake up call is occurring all the way in Jan 2026. Time for a really big SWOT analysis, some serious meetings with officials, and a strongly worded statement in 18 months… Wait till Lagarde realizes she, Ursula, and the gang have been instrumental in creating Europe’s current predicament ( they won’t though).
Dalal.Holdings Posted January 24 Posted January 24 https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2026-rutger-bregman-weekend-interview/?ai=eyJpc1N1YnNjcmliZWQiOnRydWUsImFydGljbGVSZWFkIjpmYWxzZSwiYXJ0aWNsZUNvdW50IjowLCJ3YWxsSGVpZ2h0IjoxfQ== Quote The main problem of Europe is, frankly, its weakness. A few years ago, the EU proudly announced its AI Act to the world — the first major regulation of artificial intelligence — but we hardly have any AI companies. So we’ve become really good at regulating industries we don’t have. I like to say we’ve become the continent of handbags instead of hardware. The reality is that [militarily] we’re quite dependent on Daddy Trump — as my fellow Dutchman, Mark Rutte, would say. That’s an embarrassing and painful position to be in, but it is the reality.
cubsfan Posted January 24 Posted January 24 "The reality is that [militarily] we’re quite dependent on Daddy Trump — as my fellow Dutchman, Mark Rutte, would say. That’s an embarrassing and painful position to be in, but it is the reality." It's VERY sad seeing the death of Europe economically and militarily. All they need is disruption: Enter Trump..
fareastwarriors Posted January 25 Posted January 25 Europe’s $1 trillion race to build back its defense industry
cubsfan Posted January 25 Posted January 25 57 minutes ago, fareastwarriors said: Europe’s $1 trillion race to build back its defense industry That is very good news.
Spekulatius Posted January 27 Posted January 27 (edited) The India trade deal seems to happen. It still has some way to go including ratification from the EU parliament. I also think Mercosur will happen, it there could be delays and revisions. Trump's tariffs are a catalyst for these deals to happen after they have been on the negotiation table for so long. Edited January 27 by Spekulatius
Dalal.Holdings Posted January 27 Posted January 27 11 hours ago, Spekulatius said: The India trade deal seems to happen. It still has some way to go including ratification from the EU parliament. I also think Mercosur will happen, it there could be delays and revisions. Trump's tariffs are a catalyst for these deals to happen after they have been on the negotiation table for so long. I won’t believe it until it’s fully ratified
Gamecock-YT Posted February 1 Posted February 1 Quote Fish pile up at European ports as new digital system falters IT platform intended to crack down on illegal fishing leaves importers stranded in paperwork Fish are piling up at European ports after a new IT system to detect illegal catches was overwhelmed, prompting warnings of severe disruption across the industry and a potential shortage. Seven countries said at a meeting of fishing ministers on Monday that some aspects of the platform introduced this month were unworkable. Seafood importers are pushing for a transition period. Italy’s representative told the meeting that the system “risks paralysing our imports and the logistics of our companies”, while Estonia also warned of problems. The new system, known as Catch, that began work on January 10 requires importers to fill in manually hundreds of pieces of information that are held on certificates provided by boats to ensure the fish are caught legally. One major importer told the FT it had dozens of shipping containers of frozen and tinned fish stranded in Rotterdam, as the system only cleared around half of shipments. Responsible authorities are not responding to requests for help, the person said. “We keep getting inexplicable error messages, server errors,” an employee said. “Not all country Zip codes are in the system . . . and not all fish species are in the system so we cannot enter them.’’ As well as entering the data, which takes several hours, importers from countries without digital records must upload the catch certificate, the person said. “The upload limit is 2 megabytes. We have 80-page catch certificates. They are much bigger than 2MB.” https://www.ft.com/content/53a977de-ddaf-4b2c-b19a-e2e08af38e0a
UK Posted February 1 Posted February 1 (edited) People like to point to countries like India, regarding interstate beurocracies (which their government finally is going after), but I think this is very important thing to understand about EU 'single market': 'Non-tariff barriers (NTBs) within the EU act as significant trade restrictions, with estimates suggesting they are equivalent to a ~44-50% tariff on goods and up to 110% on services, far higher than in the US. These barriers, primarily regulatory, affect sectors like agriculture through SPS measures and technical requirements (TBT).' And I am not even talking about some licensed professional activity, just try to do such a trivial thing as moving/reregistering your car from some other EU country to e.g. Spain and you will see what this single market is all about:) Or this (even after 4 years of war): Moving heavy military equipment, such as tanks, from Germany to Romania faces significant mobility challenges stemming from infrastructure limitations, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and reduced logistical capacity. As of late 2025, these hurdles often make rapid deployment to NATO's eastern flank slow, with reports indicating it can take weeks to move large forces. Transporting military equipment requires diplomatic clearance, which can take up to 45 days in some Member States, far exceeding the 3-day target. Edited February 1 by UK
formthirteen Posted February 1 Posted February 1 The EU has everything under control regulation. Problems with EU regulation will be fixed by writing more EU regulations until morale improves. CBAM: https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism_en
John Hjorth Posted February 1 Posted February 1 3 hours ago, UK said: ... And I am not even talking about some licensed professional activity, just try to do such a trivial thing as moving/reregistering your car from some other EU country to e.g. Spain and you will see what this single market is all about:) ... lol!, it's actually so silly, totally crazy, that it's funny! Wikipedia : Registration fee [car related, an import tax - tariff - simply renamed to sommething cover a progrecessing fee + the production cost of two identical licence plates!] Ketner-Utsch A/S, Danish sales sub owned by : Leading to : Utsch AG, Germany.
Dalal.Holdings Posted February 1 Posted February 1 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/britain-seems-committed-to-stagnation-c33e5004 Quote Britain Seems Committed to Stagnation The economy is flailing, and no one in the political class has a coherent agenda to revive it. Quote Mainly, though, it’s because the economy is flatlining on Mr. Starmer’s watch. GDP growth from one quarter to the next is barely perceptible, and manufacturing and construction are notably weak. Inflation has notched upward, above 3%. Mr. Starmer won election in 2024 as a fresh face after 14 years of dysfunctional governance under the Conservatives. Now Britain is more heavily taxed than before, and with less economic growth and optimism to show for it. Quote A consequence of these developments is that as one of the world’s largest economies sinks into stagnation, almost no one in the political arena is discussing the issue. Britain’s political class appears to have given up on any hope of expanding prosperity. That’s an important tipping point. And not a good one. Many such places in Europe
SharperDingaan Posted February 2 Posted February 2 (edited) On 1/22/2026 at 10:26 AM, Gregmal said: Real life example. Some years ago, I joined an HOA board as I had investments in the community and a feeling that things were….a mess, at least in terms of financials, business contracts, efficiency, etc. First thing I noticed was that the ENTIRE board consisted of people that fell into three categories; school teachers, government employees, or librarians(in a way a hybrid combo of both the first two). Most were quite old and literally had little else to do; this “position” for them was as much about status and social club like gratification as anything else. It certainly wasn’t about “serving the community”. Had this experience as well .... with a few twists First 6 months to burn off appointment time and do 'assessment'; then 12 months doing 'Chainsaw Al', 12 months in real projects, and 6 months of misery. Replacements that were almost always only there for short term resume building purposes, replaced in turn by pretty much the same old mentality .... just 25 years younger! Today, pretty much all our volunteer efforts are now done via the brewery. The brewery puts up $X of seed capital, and a paid week of volunteer time for all production staff (small number); staff decide how, and who gets what. Most often the $ funding a stake in a collaborative contract brew for experience/exposure, and the resultant profit added to the volunteer fund. The result has been a line up of referrals/collaborators who would like to work for us SD Edited February 2 by SharperDingaan
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