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{belgian} Share index down by a fifth

Robert L Simon why should that be anything of a surprise? The country is on the skids, the largest corporate holdings have been sold off to foreign dis-interests and trased leaving thousands of underemployed workers on the dole, the public squares I once frequented with delight are bloody massacres befitting of the middle-east, the roads are full of holes, the infrastructure is in decay, the government is balanced on the head of a pin, the currency is almost valueless, and the flag is being torn in half by idiotic squabbles costing the nation its last cent.

"Sat 31/12/2011 - 10:43 attribution to above link...
The Bel-20 index of leading Belgian shares on the Brussels Euronext stock exchange has lost a fifth of its value over the past year. The big losses in the value of shares in the banks Dexia and KBC and steal wire manufacturer Bekaert the main factor behind the fall in the Bel-20.

The Bel-20 index celebrated the 20th anniversary of its inception last spring. However, 2011 has seen little to give shareholders cause for celebration.

The Bel-20 started 2011 on 2,578, rising to 2,768, before falling sharply since the summer. By the close of trading on Friday the Bel-20 stood at 2,072.

The fall in share values has been fuelled by the debt crisis in the Eurozone and the impact it has had on shares in banks. Shares in Dexia are down 88%, while KBC has seen its share value plummet by 62% over the past year.

Meanwhile, the steel wire manufacturer Bekaert saw its share value fall by 71%.
Despite the general fall in share values, some companies saw considerable increases in the value of their shares.

Shares in the pharmaceuticals company UCB were up +26%, while investors in the telecommunications firm Telenet saw share values rise by 15%.

Shares in the Belgo-Brazilian drinks company AB InBev were up 10%."

UCB,InBEV,Telenet ...would make you think belgians just take drugs, drink, and talk about nothing...

...but, really, belgium is a fantastic, cute, pleasant country suffering from external woes, petty internal differences, and membership in a failed state (EU) and failed collective trade cooperative (€ zone) ...why could they not have at least followed the wisdom of the swiss and brits and kept the FB alive? Maybe it's not too late!!

I love that little country. I can't stand it!!

politics

I guess it proves the French saying: "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose..." or "the greater the change, the more it's the same thing..."

I voted recently. It didn't occur to me until the postmark deadline (Nov1) to request absentee ballots. Needless to say, it got submitted and a few days later came the ballot.

Do I want sports betting at racetracks and other gambling type venues in my state? Hmmm.

Then I went on to the candidates. Locally, choice between a truckdriver with an erratic bent and an injured vet with some anger issues. Well...

I guess it boils down to a fight twixt the donkey and the elephant. All they strive for is to move funds from private wallets elsewhere. It's simply the destination that differs. The dems want it to go to those in power in government and the reps to those in power in the private sector. It occurs to me little do they differ...

So, I voted. I'm having trouble, already, remembering if or for whom I voted. Whatever...

burn, baby, burn...

...things do linger, though --- a distant family member recently had to sit around in a coffin in an uncool (in many ways) room at the "funerarium" across from the cemetery at Robermont because it's the only crematorim and the weekend workers are off after 12noon so she was burned on monday ...and they had the timerity to ask him to pay for the extra days ...anyway, to the point, the belgians realize the whole thing is overbooked, so they plan to open another crematorium in Eupen... to which I say in answer to the question, "why Eupen??" ...well, nearby across the german border, it is surely gonna be easy to find some experienced oven operators, dont'cha think ??