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From: The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: Joy of this, Joy of that
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2024 15:29:41 +0000
Organization: A little, after lunch
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On 09/12/2024 21:53, Rich wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> On 09/12/2024 15:28, Rich wrote:
>>> ndeed,*very*  much so.  Which is why "enterprise" and "corporate" IT
>>> environments are so rabid about having "support".  "Support" is their
>>> buzzword for "someone else to blame so we can cover our assess when the
>>> shit hits the fan".
>>
>> LOL.
>>
>> Most support contracts are not worth wiping your bottom on.
>>
>> They are just designed to make money out of.
>>
>> The sub prime mortgage crisis was typical of such.
>>
>> "We have shit loads of bad debt that we cant offload"
>> "Well package it up  with insurance against failure  and sell it as A1
>> guaranteed debt then"
>> "But what will happen if the insurance companies can't cover it"
>> "Oh that will be the government's problem, not ours"
>>
>>
>> http://vps.templar.co.uk/Cartoons%20and%20Politics/story.jpg
> 
> Nice...
> 
> Although I doubt that anyone actually asked the "what if" question
> about the insurance companies in the run-up to the explosion.

Oh they did. My then BiL was deep into finance and banking at the time 
and was literally shaking his head in disbelief. The financial times had 
grave doubts.

Cambridge city council bunged 8 million into Icelandic banks which was 
stupid. I asked whether the bursar had ever read the FT. The reply came 
back 'no, he is too busy'

My jaw has never actually returned to the correct place. A man in charge 
of investing millions of pounds of public money is 'too busy' to read 
the most important financial paper in the world?

Apparently the job consist in random picking of half a dozen investments 
from an apprioved list. On that list were several banks that needed 
rescuing ultimately..

How someone with no apparent experience in finance or accounting got 
that job I cannot say.

It was the same with GM bonds. GM bonds were - or should have been - 
junk. GM was essentially bankrupt.

And yet they were trading on the basis that the political fallout from 
letting GM crash and burn was such that the government would always bail 
them out


-- 
“Some people like to travel by train because it combines the slowness of 
a car with the cramped public exposure of 
an airplane.”

Dennis Miller