Topic: [ANN][NOTE]DNotes - Celebrating DNotes 3rd Birthday - Forum Now Open - page 194. (Read 814541 times)

Here is a few close ups.

Wow...  and I thought I had a lot of flowers.  That is absolutely beautiful!!

So far my favorite is #1 as well, but I'll reserve my final judgement until after I see the new ones.  Great job, Mochilles!

Here are a few pictures from the farm I took yesterday.

i like logo number 1 too, is awesome, i think about another with tie and frak but has  an annonimous asociation LOL

nice job mochiles

One: the scammers thing, Dyna, is IMHO a matter of them thinking we are. Once contact is made, as the obviously 'real' Dnotes community, we shouldn't have trouble.

Two: Greek Cypriots? Great! I suspect that if we can get the butcher, baker, and candlestick maker in any community in the region to start accepting Dnotes, we will be on a roll. (And we'd discuss the collection and channeling of funds into that network).

Mark

That would be awesome Mochilles! Thank you so much!

Might have one or two more logos in the oven now I've seen the layout and colour scheme of the website.

All, we need a few more opinions on the logo for DCEBrief. RJF and Dyna #1 from the logo's from Mochilles. Feel free to pick your favorite from those four or if you think we need to keep working on new variations, that is fine as well.

Thanks, Mark. I thought that it might not be easy to establish the right channel. True, if we are not careful, we will be attracting a lot of scammers. I have reached to my LinkedIn contacts in Cyprus but I do not have any in Greece itself.

"Chase, that is a great idea if we have the right channel of reaching out to the Greek communities outside of Greece. I will personally be happy to support a matching fund if we can come up with the right package."

[I've mentioned this elsewhere] Had a great chat with The Guy at the Greek-Australian Chamber of Commerce in Perth last week. Has a degree in economics. Asked all the right questions. It was just exploratory.

Tried a couple of posts on Reddit: one negative response, one nil.

From past experience, sadly, emailing 'cold' -- tried Vanuatu (had a reason); tried Dominica ('Bitdrop'), Australia (early commercial dev work) -- is ineffective: we come across as Scammer Type Hundred Leventy Seven.

Had a quick look for email addresses on 'Greek islands' and computer shops. No joy -- systems are set up now so that you can't 'just' email people.

IMHO, far and away the best bet would be a contact in the Greek diaspora in some nation: a Greek-and-English speaker to whom the notion of remittance would make sense. Being a hands-on sorta guy (which Dnoters clearly also are), I'd also be looking to identify some group or place, and try to get a face-to-face meeting: local 'Greek Club'?

Just thinkin' out aloud.

Mark

Great idea, Mark. We all can use a break sometime. Wow 3 Emu friends. That is cool! They can be as tall as 6 feet and weight 120 pounds. I might even have a business plan from 20 years ago from someone trying to raise seed capital to start an Emu farm. I think there are a few in Illinois.

If we're gonna last, Dnotes, we must take time out. This photo was taken from my carport. [Big one is dad 'Eric.' The chicks are 'Alpha' and 'Omega.']

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/714603/lightbox/post/10207736/id/5469523

Sorry I haven't been very active today, spent a bit of time taking pictures at the farm. Also spent some time with Kevin and Rocky, which I always enjoy.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pics ready to share as of yet. Whether you have an appreciation for flowers or not, it is quite spectacular to see the farm at peak bloom. Pictures never seem to do it justice, but you will certainly get a glimpse.

Chase, that is a great idea if we have the right channel of reaching out to the Greek communities outside of Greece. I will personally be happy to support a matching fund if we can come up with the right package.

That was a great post TeeGee!

"Demographic change from emigration overseas
Just like can be seen with Mexico, tyrannical and corrupt Governments find it favourable when their citizens leave overseas to earn income in a foreign country, and send large amounts of it back home in remittances. This means that there is a giant influx of money from former citizens into the country for the Government to play with via short-term GDP growth, without needing to provide any public services to them. There have been several mass exodus's of Greek citizens from Greece to other countries, and some of the most recent include more than a million migrating to Germany from the 50's to the 80's and in 1982, the remittances were 382 million dollars per year which was more than one QUARTER of Greece's Gross National Product..."

Maybe until the Greek government gets it's act together, something else could be done for the people of Greece.  There are obviously some very strong Greek communities within major cities around the world sending money back to their families.  It may be easier to reach out to these people with the concept of a trusted global currency that won't erode their purchasing power (or wipe it out altogether!) rather than the people living in Greece who at this point probably trust no one.  They could set up a retirement CRISP (for a very small amount of money) for their family members still living in Greece and transfer it to them when appropriate.  All that is needed is an email address.  It won't address their immediate problems other than to give them a ray of hope for the future, but it is a start.

The situation in Greece is awful, it's equivalent to having a heart attack following 20 years of poor diet and lack of exercise. I have so much sympathy for the Greeks situation, but this was always going to be the conclusion.

Historically it has been the young who are punished by economic turmoil - in the past when a nation or group owed another too much money, the young would be sent to war; today the economic burden incurred by one generation are passed on to the next. This is not only crippling to the poor, but also to the young: there is now massively reduced opportunity for youth in Greece (50% youth unemployment...), and of course by all definitions that is considered 'poor'. DYNA is correct when he stated that the negative implications are both far reaching and tragic, and not just because people may lose their savings, careers and happiness, but because both the Greeks and the EU's political leaders have ensured that recovery for Greece is nearly impossible. I believe that most here are already familiar with the debt situation in Greece, so I will focus on another aspect that I find worrying.


Demographic change from emigration overseas
Just like can be seen with Mexico, tyrannical and corrupt Governments find it favourable when their citizens leave overseas to earn income in a foreign country, and send large amounts of it back home in remittances. This means that there is a giant influx of money from former citizens into the country for the Government to play with via short-term GDP growth, without needing to provide any public services to them. There have been several mass exodus's of Greek citizens from Greece to other countries, and some of the most recent include more than a million migrating to Germany from the 50's to the 80's and in 1982, the remittances were 382 million dollars per year which was more than one QUARTER of Greece's Gross National Product...

This is such a crucial point to understand about Greece and other places that experience brain-drains as a result of hostile Government taxes and regulations. Some provisional study has suggested that it is the people with the most intellectual potential that leave the most, and the fastest. I would almost go so far to prove that it is empirically known that the most intelligent people in a country drive economic growth. It is not the 'average IQ' that matters the most, but the 'peak IQ' of a country, or 'how bright' the best in your country are, that drives economic growth. Greece is especially hostile to achievement with high taxes and punishment for free-market activity. Intellectual capability is also an extremely hereditary trait, so when the intellectual elites that drive economic growth are encouraged to leave, they take all the future economic growth with them because they are likely to have the more intelligent children. We are talking 1 million Greeks in Germany alone from 1950 to 1980... and a sixth of Greece's population moved to the USA. The EU's freedom of movement through the union has not helped Greece hold onto its brightest.

"The first wave of emigration was spurred by the economic crisis of 1893 that followed the rapid fall in the price of currants - the major export product of the country – in the international markets. In the period 1890-1914, almost a sixth of the population of Greece emigrated, mostly to the United States and Egypt." - http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/greece-history-migration

It normally takes a generation for these demographic changes to be realized, when the remittance payments cease. The hostile economic environment Greece has today, will further entrench this demographic reality. Greece needs its best and brightest for recovery, we need to encourage them to stay!

For this reason, I love Alan's (DYNA's) plan for Greek recovery. I do not claim to know what is the best 'detailed' approach to fix Greece, but Alan's loose approach is pretty bang on. While Alan's proposed halt on payments at zero interest may appear unfair to Greece's much poorer neighbours who are struggling with much lower standards of living (and I agree with them), it is probably the best means to achieve recovery if every step is incorporated together:

1. Cease all payments of Govt debt to international banks / EU, provide 3 year inflation adjusted amnesty.

2. Reduce taxes, bureaucracy, red tape and all other infringements to free-market activity to encourage Greece's best and brightest to stay in the country, and more to the point, be more compliant with the country's tax payments.

N.B. When taxes are less progressive (flat-rate) and lower, tax dodging via trust funds and overseas accounts decreases, often leading to higher Govt tax intake.

3. Massive drive to encourage new business activity with new investment and skills transfer from top entrepreneurs world-wide as Alan (DYNA) suggested. Digital Currency could play a massive role here. Specifically, foreign nations with Greek heritage can mentor and help rebuild Greek economy.

4. Look for digital currency integration as an alternative to the EURO, giving consumers a choice on how they wish to hold their life savings. Digital currency has positive value and will always be fully funded in a wallet account, rather than a bank, where only 2% of the money supply actually exists (so when more than 2% of the total money supply is demanded... well... you saw what happened at the ATM machines when the money didn't exist...)

N.B. Digital Currency would also lower transaction costs for trade through elimination of merchant fees, increase economic activity (estimated at 1% reduction in end user good prices - also lifts quality of life through increased purchasing power.

5. Hopefully get partner bank to work with Digital Currency, or many!!! This would mean financial integration world-wide, and mean Greek's can borrow from the world market (financial competition). This difficult goal would mean that there would exist a free-market that Greeks could borrow from, rather than being subject to the incentives to over-spend provided by their local government / ECB's decisions to lower / increase interest rates. The finances would also be very simple to move around with the zero-fee's offered by Digital Currency.

Change the culture, change the regulatory environment, change the money. Greece needs to hold onto its best and brightest and stop the brain drain, the aforementioned points will help achieve this. My own country NZ has endured a brain drain for several decades, because there is so much more wealth and opportunity in neighbouring Australia (and we can live there without special visa's). Only recently did this trend begin to reverse, NZ has become more competitive in many areas, including becoming probably the worlds most business friendly nation (Heritage foundation rates us 3rd I believe). We still lag behind in quality of life and average income, but the progress New Zealand has made is positive. Greece could look to NZ as a model to follow.

There is much more, but I prefer to leave this loosely written to spur further ideas. I'm so happy with how DCEBrief.com is shaping up.

Very wise comments, Mark. It is very much appreciated. Indeed, we are all working hard and we are waiting. If it takes a whole generation, we trust that some among of CRISP For Kids account holders will acknowledge that we gave them a good start. Thanks to Chase who came up with the brilliant idea of helping our children and grandchildren to start developing good savings habits early.

I wish I can be more optimistic as to what is happening in Greece. Serious financial hardship is the norm than the exception and it is getting worse. I wish there is a lesson learned. Perhaps. Diversification is always a good strategy for any balanced investment portfolio. No matter how small the percentage, I believe that it is prudent to include some Bitcoin and digital currency. Of course, I hope that Mark's greatest fear of the bank will never happen, at lease not in a uncontrollable large scale.

 

'All things come to him who waits -- if he labors while he waits, and knows what he is waiting for.'
Disraeli

"[The] Greece financial crises have been on my mind all week."  
Dyna

The very fact that it is, Dyna, puts you at the front of the pack.

Two thoughts:

One: we just can't force the issue. It's the nature of the beast. What we can do is be patient and intellectually nimble. It may come slowly or all in a rush. Whatever, when the time comes, Dnotes will be ready and waiting.

Two: I don't enjoy being the resident doom-monger; but analysing the GFC was my avocation before I bumped into cryptos, 26 months ago. IMHO . . . we ain't seen nothin' yet.

Think about the nature of bank runs, readers. All banks are always hypothetically at risk of a fatal run because people's perceptions are pivotal.
Well, the entire global economic system is insolvent. What remains to be seen is what event(s) sparks 'the run,' the change of consciousness.

Mark (IndiaMikeZulu), Australia