My Thoughts About Taiwan After 1.5 Years

[KHHville]

Kaohsiung and the south still have some of that old-style charm of yesteryears.

[dan2006]

I agree, I moved from Kaohsiung to Taichung last year for a change of scenery and regret it from the very first day.

Taiwan may be one island but the people are so vastly different from one city to another

[tango42]

When meeting people in Taipei, very few, almost none, say they or their family are from Kaohsiung. They just seem to stay there.

[Brianjones]

Taipei is very expensive so most end up going back to Kaohsiung and Tainan where family are, live at home or buy cheaper lots. Although quite a few moved to Taichung and Taoyuan as well I’m sure.

[Gain]

@Brianjones

Just the crushing weight of a shit economy , aging population , 500 pound gorilla next door intent on squeezing Taiwan at any opportunity , smartphones and anti foreigner (guys) sentiment.
Main thing is the general (local) economy and wages have been stagnating for a long time, almost twenty years ! You need an abundance cash to get the party going !

Yeah because good economy = parties.

What a load of bull.

[Brianjones]

It does…If you lived through boomtimes you would know.
Roaring 20s…Shanghai 30s…Swinging 60s…

[Gain]

@Brianjones

It does…If you lived through boomtimes you would know.

I’m sure the inebriated crowds in Thailand, Spain, and Greece is a glittering testament to the great shape of their economy.

[Brianjones]

Burp!

[Charlie_Jack]

@Gain

@Brianjones

You need an abundance cash to get the party going !

Yeah because good economy = parties.

What a load of bull.

I’m pretty sure Brianjones was writing metaphorically:

“This is what stocks need to really get the party going”

This is what stocks need to really get the party going - MarketWatch

It’s the Fed’s job to put out the punch bowl to get the party going, and to take it away just before everyone gets totally sloshed.

https://dailyreckoning.com/top-10-market-indicators-of-economic-development/

The Fed monetary policy and government fiscal policy provided the stimulus to get the party going again through housing and then credit expansion (hair of the dog).

https://www.ballewwealth.com/sbcpdf/901783.pdf

He called the rate cut a “coup de whiskey” for American stocks - a chaser shot to get the party going.

China's Currency Devaluation

I’m also guessing that Brianjones went along with your literal interpretation in order to sort of mess with you (in a good-natured way).

[Baxter]

@Charlie_Jack

He called the rate cut a “coup de whiskey” for American stocks - a chaser shot to get the party going.

China's Currency Devaluation

That’s straying away, but as a Frenchman I’d be curious to know how you use that idiom.

[Charlie_Jack]

@Baxter

@Charlie_Jack

He called the rate cut a “coup de whiskey” for American stocks - a chaser shot to get the party going.

That’s straying away, but as a Frenchman I’d be curious to know how you use that idiom.

That “coup de whiskey” metaphor is a new one on me, too, and it looks as if it may be a rarity. Here’s a fuller version of the quote:

China’s currency moves echo events in the United States circa 1927, when Benjamin Strong, then the governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, convinced the Board of Governors to cut interest rates from 4 percent to 3 percent, despite a high level of speculation in U.S. equity markets. Strong wanted to revive the stock market, weakened by a real estate bubble in Florida. He called the rate cut a “coup de whiskey” for American stocks - a chaser shot to get the party going.

–Ashley Kindergan, “CREDIT SUISSE: China’s devaluation of its currency is a ‘chaser shot to get the party going’,” The Financialist, August 21, 2015, reprinted in Business Insider

Apparently Benjamin Strong was speaking to a Frenchman when he used the phrase:

Before [Professor Charles] Rist [Deputy Governor of the Bank of France] left [the United States], however, [Benjamin] Strong [Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York] told him buoyantly that he was “going to give a little coup de whiskey to the stock market.”

–Murray Newton Rothbard, The Progressive Era

[Baxter]

The chaser shot analogy makes it sound like a drastic move to relax rules and set about a profitable situation.

[Charlie_Jack]

Yeah, I guess he’s talking about lowering interest rates to stimulate the stock market. I think that in days gone by, whiskey was generally regarded as a stimulant:

The average daily amount of stimulants was three ounces of whiskey.

–from A Weekly Journal of Medicine and Medical Affairs, March 22, 1871

In diseases where any stimulant is required, it is a valuable aid on account of its absolute purity.

–from an advertisement for Duffy’s Pure Malt Whiskey, in The Detroit Lancet, June 1885

[Baxter]

Alright now that makes more sense. Giving a shot of whiskey to the economy’s got a pretty different ring today.

[Charlie_Jack]

Agreed.

[Andrew0409]

For most people that came here…they came to work and often find better opportunities here. I honestly don’t know many places that you can just not work and be a tourist and not be bored after 1.5 years. I guess it’s a matter of perspective, my former coworker came from the Philippines and worked his ass off here for a better life. He saved up enough money to buy a Toyota Camry and was so happy he show it off for weeks because to him that’s a luxury car. My other friend bitches about how his parents only got him a Bmw 335 when he wanted a M3.

[sampomixer]

Can not put anything anywhwere these days, or someone will steal it…

[robi666]

If you income here is great, stay.
If not leave …

[Belgian_Pie]

@Brianjones

Also Taiwanese don’t go to bars or listen to live music or go out and party anything like they used to. The younger generation prefer staying at home or doing other stuff.

Drink bubble tea, play video games!

[DrewC]

@Baxter

That’s why you see so many people BSing on the country while they’re here, then whining they miss it once they’re gone.

So true. I’m guilty of this too.

On an unrelated note, on vaca in Australia visiting some family, and some tosser asked if I lived in Bangkok when I told him I work in Taiwan.