Y’all are going to love this new wrinkle in the expanding clusterfuck:
For anyone who’s not aware, my wife and I are permanent overseas residents, and are preparing to retire here in a few years. We recently identified a very nice retirement flat in the south of our country, and put down an offer. We’ve been waiting for the bank to come back with confirmation on financing.
We heard back yesterday. Result: denied.
This came as a shock. We’re both employed with excellent salaries, and we have substantial savings. We’ll get a generous pension here, nearly matched by Social Security payments from the US. The flat isn’t wildly expensive either. As far as we’re concerned, this should be a routine loan deal.
We dug into the explanation from the bank’s loan officers. And guess what?
Their sole reason for turning us down (paraphrased from the French) — the applicant’s long-term retirement scheme is supported in part by a currency which our forecasts do not consider fully stable.
Politicians around the world may be soft-pedaling their public reactions to America’s accelerating decline, but the humorless bean-counters behind the scenes, the people responsible for quantifying real risk, are shaking their heads and saying, Nah, those guys are fucked.
Have a pleasant day.