nahed (Jan 19 2011, 03:39 PM) said: > original post
Hi,

I am moving to Amsterdam next month to begin a new job from London and I have been left astounded at the lack of properties available for rent in the market.

As someone who has rented in London for almost five years (apparently the prime real estate in the world...) I have thus far only been shown two apartments available in/close to the City Centre.

Is this a common phenomenon?

Thanks in advance for responses

Don't look for a place close to the city centre. The appartments there tend to be ancient, tiny, uncomfortable and unreasonably overpriced. There is no need to live close to the centre, as Amsterdam is very much smaller than London.

wildrosecountry (Nov 23 2010, 08:43 PM) said: > original post
As Mr. Fook said, I don't understand bailing out bank.

However, helping other member countries is something little different. EU has started as a steel & coal community and now is lot more than that.

The bailing out of banks had something to do with the size of some of these banks relative to the countries they are based in. When a bank defaults, the country is liable in the deposit insurance system for paying back the savings of customers. The largest banks is countries like the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands etc hold assets often worth many times more than the GDP of the entire country. A notorious example is ING, which holds about half the Netherlands' GDP in savings of American customers, backed by now almost worthless American mortgages. If the government had allowed ING to default, it could have been forced to fork over up to 400 billion to the US. (This dwarfs Iceland's problems in comparison; if you owe the US, you will have little choice but to actually pay up). For this reason, and to save thousands of jobs and to prevent a good deal of chaos, bailing out such a bank was deemed cheaper than letting it default. This way, at least the state owns a share in a bank as a collateral, and it can hopefully recoup some of the losses by selling it once the crisis is over.

In my opinion, it's not the decision to bail them out that sucks, but the fact that we had no choice. It's clear that the deposit guarantee system can't continue this way.

You're right that the EU is now more than a union of coal and steel, but its true original goal was the prevent another war between France and Germany. This goal has been a spectacular success. I'm of the opinion that preventing a war between France and Germany remains a valid goal to this day. The Euro is part of this cause. It was a concession from Germany to France in exchange for the German reunification.

I believe this has something to do with the Dunning-Kruger Effect

pepec (Oct 12 2010, 02:37 PM) said: > original post
That is how racism works. A higher then average percentage of blacks and hispanics ending in jail. I belief "institutionalized" is the word to describe this. Maybe that is why you don't recognize it as racism, Bubbba.

I don't think a Dutch person, from the area that voted Wilders in power no less, should accuse the USA of institutional racism.

In Holland, just about the only western country where the right to a jury trial doesn't even exist, all trials are decided by an upper class white guy: an unelected judge. Ethnic minorities are severely overrepresented in Dutch prisons. I'm sure that as a Dutch guy, you will now explain that this has something to do with the inferiority of their religion and culture?

monkeynuts (Sep 30 2010, 10:15 PM) said: > original post
I totally agree with you. I too cringe and hide from the type of Brits you are referring to. But you can't be talking about all British tourists can you?

For example, when a friend of mine went to Ypres on a guided tour and the guide confided in him they had to ban groups of Dutch children because they were so badly behaved and showed no respect in the graveyards. Now I'm not saying all Dutch children are badly behaved because that would just be untrue.

But as I said on the whole the type of Brits you are referring to are revolting and I avoid them as much as I can. Which is why I would never go to a resort which attracted these types, but I'm sure you will agree that unfortunately Amsterdam does have a reputation for drugs and prostitutes which attracts the type of tourists you are describing.

For a European capital, Amsterdam is rather bland (and exceptionally ugly) when it comes to history and culture. If Amsterdam had more to offer than just its seedy reputation, it might see a more varied and less annoying share of tourists.

About your experience in Ypres; while I've heard many expats complain about the behavior of Dutch children, it doesn't take much to get people in Flanders angry with Dutch tourists. Just speaking with a Dutch accent is usually enough to elicit snide remarks or even violence. My Dutch is pretty good, but I've learned never to use it in Belgium.