Eurostars are awfully simple to board on a wheelchair. If a platform hasn't been already provided (as it should be if you booked online) you merely need to ask for assistance at the check in desk, they'll call for a ramp. If push comes to shove, somebody will lift you up. Total time of the operation = 50 seconds.
I still don't understand your objection to GSO's opportunistic trading.
Triggers and credit events were provisions agreed on by both parties - it's a bespoke CDS after all - the only unintended consequence would be for future CPs to read the annexes to what they are trading, can't say it will be bad.
In fairness, by that logic nothing would ever get done.
Microsoft? You're never going to win over IBM. Xerox? You'll always be ancillary to Kodak. GM? Ford is already there.
The Fugger's Banking company? Good luck against the Venetians and the Florentines. Same old story.
At the end of the day, you either try something new or you don't.
> In fairness, by that logic nothing would ever get done.
Or it will get done by people who have thought long and hard about how they are going to compete with the giants, rather than someone naïve sap.
The fact that the question is being asked does not imply that there are no good answers to it, but it is unlikely that someone who hasn't spent time considering how to improve on the incumbents is going to beat them.
Indeed, but nobody (I certainly wasn't) was advocating to not do your homework and evaluate your risk. Sometimes, however, things just happen, for example James Simons stumbled upon the industry by chance.
How many companies were motivated by killer instinct? Did Gates want to kill IBM? Did Xerox plan to kill Kodak (they didn't but they serendipitously started a revolution)?
I'm starting a new import startup/e-store for original italian (Apulian, Campanian, Umbrian and Sicilian) olive oil aimed at the food lovers niche as my family hails from there, moreover I'm on friendly terms with some family producers.
So far the biggest issue (other than those export regulations) has been finding a decent packaging. I wanted those nice Vietri/Positano/Amalfitan ceramic bottles (http://www.ceramicpositano.com/data/images/vaso-a-collo-stre...) but I fear the cost might be too high for the buyer.
Yes their leg was off-marketed.
At the time, ESA 1995 allowed this kind of transaction (actually most euro countries lobbied for looser rules on swaps as every major treasury was employing CCS (France, Germany and Italy to name a few, at the time those countries were running budget deficits hence they were in no position to argue for fiscal conservatism). Eurostat knew, even if they didn't (which is impossible as those transactions were reported) they could have if they read Risk Magazine.
Also, Goldman was just a piece of the puzzle, most deals were between Greek banks.
Seriously, they did their job, and in fact it' still business as usual (you'd think relationships went sour otherwise)
Mathematics: Its Content, Methods and Meaning (Dover Books on Mathematics)
Also, you might want to get Richard Courant's "What is mathematics?" and a book (I'm reading multiple as I'm in your same spot, didn't have much mathematics during high-school because I thought I didn't possess the acumen, then I realized I really liked the subject) on proofs.
Gelfand's books are very very very good, trust me on this one, they build on the fundamentals. The books are not short of flaws though, namely the writing is informal, the author assumes some preexisting knowledge (that's why they are often not used as class books but as supplementary notes) and do not offer many exercises. But if you get the whole bunch you'll have covered the high-school curriculum (and more).
The AMA olympiad books are good reads, same with those "Art of Problem Solving" books. But personally, I'm not starting these until I've gained enough confidence, I still can't solve elaborate problems or mathematical olympiad kind of questions (but I'm getting smarter).
