Boss, sit down and hold on tight, because I've got news that'll make you jump higher than when Mioara tells me bread's gone up again! The Competition Council slapped a 3.73 billion lei fine on 10 banks in Romania for rigging ROBOR. Yeah, bro, that's right! They say the banks colluded to jack up the index, and we suckers paid higher loan installments. My BMW payment went up right around then, and I thought it was inflation, but turns out it was bank trickery!
Now the banks and the National Bank are playing dumb: 'No, no, no manipulation, ROBOR's legit, based on real transactions.' Well, no offense, but if it was legit, why did it skyrocket just when everyone had loans? And the BNR says it's not guilty? Come on, bro, let's be serious! They'll appeal in court, of course, 'cause they've got money for lawyers. But us with the installments, who gives us back the difference?
The Competition Council is bragging it's the biggest fine ever in Romania. 3.73 billion lei! You hear that, man? How many shawarmas could you buy with that money? Or how many used cars? But I think in the end we pay for everything, bro, because the banks recover their fines from fees and interest. It's like in Bucharest: it always comes out of the common man's pocket.
Speaking of money and scams, let's not forget that Defense Minister Radu Miruță admitted we don't have equipment to detect drones at sea, after one exploded in Constanța Port. He said he can't 'catch drones with his hands.' Well, bro, what, are we in the Middle Ages? And who's to blame? Us again, the politicians who treated the Army like a business. Now he says 'in the coming months' new capabilities will arrive. Sure, until then a few more drones will explode, and we'll wake up with the port in the air.
But let's leave the nonsense and see something positive. A Romanian engineer from the diaspora, Andrei, 25, brought 8 foreign colleagues on a 9-day tour of Romania. And they said it was the best travel experience ever! Good for him, bro, at least someone gives us good PR. Too bad that here at home we complain we don't have highways, but these foreigners come and marvel at the scenery.
Speaking of highways, State Secretary Horațiu Cosma announced that Romania's largest TBM boring machine will be installed on the Section 3 Cornetu - Tigveni site of the Sibiu - Pitești Highway. It will dig the Poiana Tunnel, the longest tunnel, with two galleries almost two kilometers each. The Italian contractor already has 1,000 workers and is working on 15 viaducts. And they say this summer traffic will open on Section 4 Tigveni - Curtea de Argeș, Romania's first bored highway tunnel. Long live, bro, maybe I'll get to drive my BMW there without slaloming through potholes!
In sports, Swedish handball player Tyra Axner, who won the Champions League with Metz, is transferring to CSM Bucharest. And Grace Zaadi, also from Metz, is going to SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea. Good for them, girls, they do us proud! Maybe our handball players will learn to play at least as well as them.
For now, I'm off to explain to Mioara that if ROBOR goes up any more, we might move to a tent in the yard, since it's still cheaper than the apartment installment. But she says she'd rather leave me without a car, since it's cheaper to maintain. Whatever, we'll see how we get out of these scams!
