June 21, 2009

We tried to warn the Latvians that their economy was overheating, that their "Baltic Tiger" was simply a Ponzi Scheme. They didn't listen.


And now the lives of their citizens are ruined.

It didn't have to be.

Maybe next time they won't listen to realtors and developers and bankers.

And next time British dentists call up to buy 2-bedroom flats sight-unseen, just drop the call.


Latvians shell-shocked, resigned to economic pain

Schoolteacher Daila Klinstone has seen half her income disappear in Latvia's budget cuts. But she is more shell-shocked than angry and says she will not take to the streets in protest.

Teachers, hospital workers and pensioners are taking the heaviest blows in Latvia's battle to avert national bankruptcy. The health minister has quit rather than impose the latest cuts - the 'easy path' according to Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis [ID:nLH629470].

"I have three children... all of whom I have to support on my salary that'll be 124 lats ($245.9)," said Klinstone, a 47-year-old physics and chemistry teacher in Riga.

"I have no idea how we'll survive."

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Keith,

Thanks for keeping us well informed on the Iran issue. You're definetely beating the crap out of the MSM on this.

Just thought I would post this link in which Mish provides and Martin Weiss explain why we're still in a deflationary spiral. When traders see evidence of this, forget green shoots and look below.

http://tinyurl.com/n9z32j

Dny

Anonymous said...

I'm sure they stayed glued to Soot & Ashes for their daily news and financial advice.

What they really need is a few strategically placed Wal-Marts.

It could open a trading situation with China for them.

Look what its done for America.

Anonymous said...

I have their Salvation (No, you cannot have Mr. BoJangles on loan..)

They need a consultations and consulting contracts from our economic geniuses like Greedspan, Summers, Little Timmy Geithner, The Bald one Helicopter Ben Bernanke, Rubin, the Diminuative Reich, (Robert, not the The Third), business leaders like Mozilo, Lewis, Pankit, Greenburg, Rick Waggoner, Nardelli, Company-Killer and golden parachute expert extroardinare. Newspeople of integrity like Andrea Mitchell-and sleeping partner (yew) of Greedspan, Oxycontin, Factor, Beck, Hannity, Alger Hiss, Benedict Arnold...

That should just about put them completely out of existence. Just bulldoze whatevers left into the nearest slough and set on fire.

Exactly like the USA only diferent...

Land of Nothing, Home to Nobody.

Singular said...

Keith, you are wrong about Iran, about the Iranian elections being a fraud (they were done by paper voting), as you are about there being green shoots.

There are no green shoots in America. The media push this lie the same as they push the Iranian election-fraud lie in the media because they have an agenda.

If you (the ordinary people) do not speak up, if you keep quiet, if you feel shy about being a lone voice of dissent, you will let the Central Bankers win. It is not enough to just disagree. You have to speak up and be heard. The Central Bankers are counting on people not speaking up. They are banking on your silence. Because Silence = Acquiescence in America. The louder voices have always prevailed.

And so the Central Bankers will keep using the mainstream media and their willing helpers in the community to shape policy in America and carry out their agenda, both within America and outside America. Well, until the money runs out. (But by then, America will be a wasteland and any amount of 'speaking-out' will be futile. America COULD have been 'saved' if the people had spoken out in the past, but that has not happened and so America is undergoing collapse as we speak. And maybe the Central Bankers can squeeze out another war from the US before the US outright folds. I doubt it though. But the Central Bankers don't lose anything by trying.)

El Loco... said...

This is the country with the biggest number of crooks and thieves in Europe. Cars thefts are endemic over there.

Poor British tourists that want cheap sex and come back with broken teeth and penny-less.

Go there and get mugged or beaten up! And that is even before the crisis.

Does not surprise me at all.

Anonymous said...

Coming to a US state close to you.

Anonymous said...

Let's talk about Iran.

And for God's sake cue up an equally-big distraction for a few months'/year out.

Get baking and feed the elephants. ;^D

Anonymous said...

The worst scenario is currently developing in Poland. The everage salry is about $400 a months. Cost of live about 2-3 times of the American. Gov. lies to people constanly telling that the is no crisis and the polish GDP is growing at the rate of $%. LOL. The square meter of the average apartment in Warsaw is about $2500 ( $250 per sq. foot). Eastern Europe is doomed.

Anonymous said...

"Klinstone, a 47-year-old physics and chemistry teacher in Riga."

I say let him come to California. Our miserable school system could use someone smart enough to teach physics and chemistry.

Anonymous said...

Keith

OK
You've been gone long enough. Get back to making people think. It is time.

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