COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, September 02, 2011

EU UhOh in the Making?

Central bank flight to Federal Reserve safety tops Lehman crisis

A key warning signal of global financial stress has shot above the extreme levels seen at the height of the Lehman crisis in 2008. - TELEGRAPH


Reverse Purchase Agreements from foreign official and international accounts at the US Federal Reserve. 


Central banks and official bodies have parked record sums of dollars at the US Federal Reserve for safe-keeping, indicating a clear loss of trust in commercial banks.
Data from the St Louis Fed shows that reserve funds from "official foreign accounts" have doubled since the start of the year, with a dramatic surge since the end of July when the eurozone debt crisis spread to Italy and Spain.
"This shows a pervasive loss of confidence in the European banking system," said Simon Ward from Henderson Global Investors. "Central banks are worried about the security of their deposits so they are placing the money with the Fed."
These dollar accounts are just over $100bn (£62bn) and are small beer compared to the vast sums invested in bonds as foreign reserve holdings. Yet they serve as stress indicator, reflecting the operating decisions of the world's top insiders.
The dollar data refers specifically to reverse repurchase agreements.

Lars Tranberg from Danske Bank said European banks are reduced to borrowing dollar funds for "a week at a time" rather than the usual six to 12 months. "This closely resembles what happened in late 2008, though the difference this time is that the major central banks have dollar swap lines in place. If the dollar funding markets completely freeze up, the European Central Bank can act as a backstop."
Mr Tranberg said dollar deposits of US banks have increased by $400bn since mid-June, mostly offset by dollar reductions in Europe. "It is clear that the problem lies with the European banks. The credit default swaps on these banks are very high and provide a risk gauge."
The Bank for International Settlements says European and British banks have a dollar "funding gap" of up to $1.8 trillion stemming from global expansion during the boom that relies on dollar financing and has to be rolled over. This is not normally a problem but funding can seize up in a crisis.
European officials hotly disputed claims in a leaked document from International Monetary Fund claiming that a realistic "mark-to-market" of Italian, Spanish, Greek, Irish, Portuguese and Belgian sovereign debt would reduce the tangible equity of Europe's banks by €200bn (£176bn).
"French banks passed stress tests which were extremely tough less than a month ago: there is no cause for worry," said Valerie Pecresse, France's budget minister.
"It is ill advised to provoke alarm," said Michael Kummer, head of Germany's BdB bank federation.
The IMF was attacked as a Cassandra when it warned early in the credit crisis that debt write-downs would reach $600bn, yet losses have since reached $2.1 trillion.
European banks are still struggling to access America's $7 trillion money market funds. Fitch Ratings said last week that Spanish and Italian banks have been cut off altogether.
Investors do not fully believe EU pledges that the 21pc "haircut" agreed for private holders of Greek debt is the end of the story, or will remain confined to Greece, as the second Greek rescue is already unravelling. A Greek parliament report concluded that deep recession is pushing the country into a downward spiral, causing debt dynamics to fly "out of control". Public debt will reach 172pc of GDP next year.
Simon Derrick from BNY Mellon said Germany, Holland, and Finland may balk at a third rescue in the current tetchy mood, implying bigger haircuts instead. That will set a precedent for Portugal, and others. Until markets can see an end to the blood-letting, Europe's banks will remain untouchables.

96 comments:

  1. Meanwhile, reports quoted ECB governing council member Ewald Nowotny as saying on Thursday that the rollback of the some of the initial deficit cut plans announced by Italy, is a matter of serious concern.

    He said that the central bank started to buy Italian bonds on the basis of a written commitment made by the government.

    The Italian government backtracked on some of the measures announced in the August 5 budget proposals due to pressure from its coalition allies. The government dropped the plan to tax high earners and scaled back the proposed cuts to local authority funding.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A disaster in the EU is inevitable now, rivets are popping and structural beams are groaning and bending. This structure is coming down and nobody, nobody can have any faith in the engineers who designed and manage this horrible abortion.

    The dynamics of the financial world have to a large degree lost contact with reality at street level and government policies.

    The system of growth and feeling of confidence in the market is reliant on the ponzi effect of passing debt on and not actually getting caught in the trap of actually having to pay the money back.

    Growth requires people and governments to take on debt at present money value in the safe knowledge that the debt will be writen off or writen down quickly. The primary mechanisms to allow this to happen is inflation and devaluation.

    Once anyone tries to to hold down inflation, interest rates or create currency stability then the system by definition will collapse, particularly as there are no longer any great unexploited markets from which to derive new income.

    Taking it to the extreme, if governments encouraged a policy of 100% annual inflation with say a 25% interest rate, the all debts effectively get writen off in 4.5 years. Every one would feel confident and the capitalist system can once again start working.

    The euro policy of currency stability and low inflation was a concept to create what we have today, backed up by similar failings in the US market.

    The face value of money has to be continuously devalued and therefore inflation is the single most effective mechanism to do this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. President Woodrow Wilson

    "I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country.
    A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit.
    Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation,
    therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men.
    We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely
    controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world.
    No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by
    conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by
    the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."
    ----------------------

    ReplyDelete
  4. The 'Bank Wars' have been taking place for Centuries.

    These bailouts are the end game.

    Presidents like Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson fought against the Cheif Bankers, who have only ever wanted ONE thing.

    The ability to create their own money, free of government control or intervention. [This is fractional reserve banking]

    The
    First Bank of the United States which became the FED, was created in
    1791. And President Jefferson fought against it. In 1811, Jefferson
    Republicans refused to give the [Fed] powers to create money.

    But the banks kept on fighting for this power.

    ReplyDelete
  5. President Jackson passed the recharter bill in the houses of Congress in 1832. Stopping them from having this power.
    Saying “The bank is trying to kill me, but I will kill it”


    President Woodrow Wilson in the early 20th Century, gave the Fed the power to create money out of thin air.

    An act he regretted for the rest of his life. Understanding too late, the evil he had unleashed.

    The
    last president to try and take this power back, and make the power to
    create money the sole domain of the US Treasury, and not a private bank,
    [the fed] was John F Kennedy.

    Just months before he was
    assassinated, he passed an executive order, taking the power to create
    money out of thin air, away from the Fed. This act was quietly reversed
    by President Johnson.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Banks have now completely hijacked our governments, but it has taken centuries for them to finally achieve their goal.

    They freely admit this has been their goal. Study the quotes from historical Bankers and financiers of notoriety.

    What the Bankers actually want is control over a global currency, free of government intervention.

    To achieve this, they must first destroy the worlds currency, the dollar.

    We have already lost.

    This
    silent war, has been taking place for centuries, And it will eventually
    lead to confontations and situations far worse than the second world
    war.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We are witnessing the death of Liberty, Equality, etc, and the rise of Extreme Fascist Corporations/

    Global Feudalism.



    SORRY

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fed action orders Goldman Sachs to retain an independent consultant to review foreclosure proceedings initiated by Litton that were pending at any time in 2009 or 2010 and provide remediation to borrowers who suffered financial injury as a result of wrongful foreclosures or other deficiencies identified. The Fed added that monetary sanctions are “appropriate” and that it will announce them later.

    These big merchant banks should not be the recipient of one public dime or recieve the federal guarantee of one cent on any deposit. That will shrink them to the runts they deserve to be.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Germany, and Greece sharing a currency: What could go wrong?

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. An economic meltdown could bring some peace dividends...

    I look forward to the collapse of the EU and all the NGO's they fund...

    In the USA?

    Maybe it's time to reevaluate the UN and our contribution.

    If the POTUS derides the USA for being 4% of the world and consuming more than we deserve, maybe the USA should pay at the UN the same that the EU, China and Japan pay....

    ReplyDelete
  11. This jobs report seems to have everyone spooked.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The key (overlooked, of course) will be the number "Leaving" the Labor Force.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Santelli calls it "Zero."


    Fucking NAILS IT!

    0.00%

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Genius that Rules. The Financial Criminal Puppeteers.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hourly earnings down. Obama wants to stop action against illegals who will always depress wages.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Political ideology by a few has, as usual, created a disaster for the many.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hourly Earnings Down.


    That ain't good.

    ReplyDelete
  18. The Revisions are Substantial.

    Actually had 366,000 Enter the labor force. I guess they revised Up the number that left the labor force in the prior months.

    Anyways, 0.0%


    Whoa.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Well, since ONE Person called this mess, let's hear what he has to say.


    BUILD SOME FREAKIN' ETHANOL REFINERIES!!!

    GAS IS TOO DAMNED HIGH!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. build your ethanol....

    drill in the gulf...

    natural gas....

    tax credits for small businesses for solar panel installs

    take a stand against opec oil and put a minimum tax on opec oil of 30 dollars a barrel, not to allow any opec oil into the usa that is less than 54 dollars.

    thus if and when oil crashes? any imported opec oil must be at a minimum of $54 the difference is a tax that has to be used to promote domestic energy

    ReplyDelete
  21. We don't need more roads. Cars are getting smaller, and less of them are on the road.

    Freight is moving from Truck to Rail.

    We need to be able to afford to DRIVE on the freakin' roads.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I don't know where the other OECD nations are on their 30 Million Barrel drawdown, but Our Million Barrel/Day Drawdown is about over.

    We had taken 25 Million Barrels down as of the 26th, and were taking down close to a million barrels/day at that point. So, by Tues, or Wed, we should be through.

    If the other countries are on about the same glide path as us we'll be looking at a decrease of Two Million Barrels/Day, within the week.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I have a start up that's making high quality low cost digging sticks.

    "The world is full of bastards, the number increasing rapidly the further one gets from Missoula, Montana." ~Norman Maclean (A River Runs Through It)

    interim b

    ReplyDelete
  24. We are surprised? What does Obama know? For Christ's sake we could have randomly selected from a Miss America pageant and had done as well.

    ReplyDelete
  25. He's not the only one. All the rest of the genii have missed/are missing it as well.

    ReplyDelete
  26. We have a society reduced to the lowest common denominator and with a lille more effort we can help it plunge lower all with the expectation of results based on delirious exaltation. Jim Jones was right, it only takes a little Kool-Aid to make the medicine go down.

    ReplyDelete
  27. 95% of the "Rich" got rich by selling stuff to poor folks, or selling stuff to people that got rich by "selling stuff to poor folks."

    When the "Elites" completely lose touch with what is happening in the "lower half" of the population you're in for hard times.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Government Motors will save the Republic:

    Last month, Nissan sold 1,362 Leafs, versus GM’s 302 Volts.

    ReplyDelete
  29. The Cruze, and the Focus are selling like crazy.

    But, all the assembly lines are building gas guzzlers that are just sitting on dealers' lots.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Every month, Thomas Villanova gets a $9,000 reminder of how lucrative it can be to serve as a union leader in Chicago.

    The sum is part of a city pension that comes on top of the $198,000 annual salary he is paid to represent the interests of thousands of city workers.

    Villanova last worked for the city in 1989 as an electrical mechanic with the Department of Streets and Sanitation, making about $40,000 a year. Yet in 2008 he was allowed to retire at age 56 with a $108,000 city pension. That's because, under a little-known state law, his pension was based not on his city paycheck but on his much higher union salary

    ReplyDelete
  31. Absolutely, EVERYONE, bought in to the Saudi/Exxon Story of "huge excess reserves," and an impending ramp-up in production.

    Only the "Peak Oilers" got it right.

    ReplyDelete
  32. So, the real threat to the global economy is not in DC, but in Berlin and Paris?

    The rise of the Chinese economy has been at the expense of EU manufacturing.

    Which is just one reason I've argued for an Americas centric policy, for the US.

    It is the Europeons that have received the greatest benefit from US largesse, while not being very grateful for it.

    Indeed, they tell US that we must continue to secure their futures, or they'll do even less to secure it themselves.

    We should bring our troops home from Europe and Asia and secure our borders with them.

    ReplyDelete
  33. And where does the money run, when there is financial turmoil in the whirled?

    Why to US, of course.

    Reality speaking, our 25% of global GDP makes US to big to fail.

    We should use that to our benefit, not be shackled by fear of losing our competitive edge.

    There being nothing to fear, but fear itself. While our leaders and wannabes do what they can to fan the flames of fear.

    Exemplified by the politicos in DC doing just that with the debt ceiling debacle, creating fear where there is no cause for it.

    For what they see as partisan political gain in 2012.

    ReplyDelete
  34. The "Seventies" gave us the Volkswagen.

    I expect the "Teens" to give us a small, cheap, E-85 Optimized, vehicle.

    I might have missed my prediction. It's looking, now, like the first Negative GDP print might come in this quarter, not the 4th qtr.

    ReplyDelete
  35. .

    Harry Reid’s fanciful jobs figure for the FAA bill

    An example of how addition and subtraction are done in OZ.

    And as Stephen S. Fuller, director of regional analysis at George Mason University says, “Everyone overcounts these things.”

    Lying With The Numbers

    .

    ReplyDelete
  36. Digging sticks and bows were made of vine maple and yew. Camas and roots of black fern and skunk cabbage were dug for food

    I use maple and yew in my sticks.

    (didn't know till now roots of black fern were edible - God provides)

    Musing On Beaver Creek Marsh

    We don't need no stinkin' petroleum.

    bob will soon rule along with the other hunter/gatherers and small horse farmers.

    interim b

    ReplyDelete
  37. My grandfather felt the same way:

    Rome (CNN) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has stirred controversy in Italy after investigators said they recorded him describing Italy as a "sh--ty" country that "sickened" him.

    ReplyDelete
  38. DAILY GUIDANCE AND PRESS SCHEDULE FOR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

    In the morning, the President will depart the White House for Camp David. The President will stay there until he departs for New Jersey on Sunday.

    EDT

    8:30AM Pool Call Time

    10:00AM THE PRESIDENT departs the White House en route Camp David

    ReplyDelete
  39. The political and economic isolation of the Middle East continues apace.

    European Union members escalated the pressure on Syria's government Friday by banning all imports of Syrian oil

    ReplyDelete
  40. Syria produces around 385,000 barrels per day of oil, exporting around 150,000 bpd, most of which goes to Europe.

    "Syria will have to sell oil at a more discounted price," said Eurasia Group analyst Ayham Kamel. "It's important, though it's not going to bankrupt the regime."

    Oil market consultant Olivier Jakob from Petromatrix said it would take time to identify new customers -- probably in Asia -- for the sour and heavy Souedie crude that makes up most of Syria's exports.

    ReplyDelete
  41. It's the people that make the country.

    Shitty people, shitty country.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Okay, shame on me; I missed something important in the HOUSEHOLD DATA (I consider this more accurate than "Establishmen" data.) It picks up more of the very small business activity.)

    Someone Should have pointed this out on CNBC this morning;

    366,000 people entered the labor force in August, and 331,000 found jobs.

    BLS Data

    ReplyDelete
  43. Again, the "Big Boys" just can't see the "small folks."

    BUT, 400,000 Were Forced Into Part-Time Work. (They Are counted as "employed.")


    Ah, it's still a pretty stinky report.

    ReplyDelete
  44. People vote with their feet, anon, no doubt of that.

    ReplyDelete
  45. With many of those that live in the US claiming emotional loyalties to foreign lands, while residing in the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.

    Bad mouthing the country in which they reside, to boot.

    They'd emigrate, but for the loss of economic freedom that residing in the US offers, when compared to their "paradise".

    Even when they do emigrate, most do not reject their US citizenship.
    The real losers takes the dual citizenship route.

    Exemplifies a failure to commit.

    But then even the Italian PM is looking for a place to go.
    Committed to failure.

    ReplyDelete
  46. There are other challenges that require a unified approach, especially in the area of health care. A lack of preventative medicine means conditions that could have been eliminated through childhood immunizations show up in disturbing numbers later in life. Limited availability of medical specialists means conditions like heart disease and diabetes go untreated at alarming rates. In Texas, we recently placed a strong emphasis on preventative care when we expanded access to Medicaid for more low-income children by making the Medicaid enrollment process simpler. We allocated an additional $4 billion to the Medicaid program, and more than $900 million to the Children's Health Insurance Program. I urged legislators to pass a telemedicine pilot program that will enable, through technology, a sick border resident of limited financial means to receive care from a specialist hundreds of miles away. But the effort to combat disease and illness requires greater cooperative efforts between our two nations. It is a simple truth that disease knows no boundaries. An outbreak of drug-resistant tuberculosis, for example, endangers citizens of both our nations. We have much to gain if we work together to expand preventative care, and treat maladies unique to this region.

    Legislation authored by border legislators Pat Haggerty and Eddie Lucio establishes an important study that will look at the feasibility of bi-national health insurance. This study recognizes that the Mexican and U.S. sides of the border compose one region, and we must address health care problems throughout that region. That's why I am also excited that Texas Secretary of State Henry Cuellar is working on an initiative that could extend the benefits of telemedicine to individuals living on the Mexican side of the border.


    Perry also touted a DREAM Act-like initiative:


    We must say to every Texas child learning in a Texas classroom, “we don’t care where you come from, but where you are going, and we are going to do everything we can to help you get there.” And that vision must include the children of undocumented workers. That’s why Texas took the national lead in allowing such deserving young minds to attend a Texas college at a resident rate. Those young minds are a part of a new generation of leaders, the doors of higher education must be open to them. The message is simple: educacion es el futuro, y si se puede.


    This may not be that hard-assed, take no prisoners conservative you've been looking for.

    ReplyDelete
  47. In the first half of 2011 Renewables accounted for 20% of German electricity production.

    Even the "Conservatives" want to do 30%. The Libs want to do 40 to 50%.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Well, rufus, if the US is not going to send the Army to patrol the frontier, we have to deal with the subsequent results.

    People do vote with their feet.

    They will flee a failed State.
    If we do not want them here, we have to patrol the fence.

    If we do not patrol the fence, then we have to harness the dream, one way or another.

    Mr Perry is a Constitutional Conservative, taking issue with the purported success of the 16th & 17th Amendments.

    Day to day, he seems to get re-elected, time and again.

    ReplyDelete
  49. DR says bring the troops home and station them along the border to halt illegals from entering...Hmm...Is DR willing to see gas, rubber bullets, water cannons, canines, clubs and real ammunition used to solve the problem?

    So, DR, to what use will you put the troops on the borders and what methods will you allow?

    ReplyDelete
  50. I was unfair to Perry the other day. I called him "Crazy Bachman" lite, or somesuch. I realized as soon as I wrote it that it was a mischaracterization, but no one called me on it, so I didn't go back and change it.

    He's not "crazy." He's just another ethically-challenged, pandering politician. Better in most respects than what we have at present, I guess - though, probably not in all.

    ReplyDelete
  51. US Authorities Investigate Incursion By Mexican Federal Police

    Good grief! What a bunch of sissies! Bullets don’t even come close to ranking with bottle rockets. Everyone ought to take a deep breath and give the Mexicans disputed territory in Texas.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Then, after being elected, Mr Perry serves the full term of office.

    ReplyDelete
  53. I don't, for a minute, think Perry cares about the 16th Amendment, or the 17th Amendment, or the 10th Amendment,

    or any other fancy words them Northerners scribbled on a piece of paper, some time, somewhere.

    It appears to me that the "Constitution," according to Rick Perry, is "Get theeself elected."

    Don't make him all bad - just typical.

    ReplyDelete
  54. :)

    Yeah, if what he does is best characterized as "serving," then he does it.

    Best job he ever had. Quitting would, I'm sure, have never been considered.

    "Quit?" "This Job?" "Are you nuts?"

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  55. Eva Peron ‘kept Nazi treasure taken from Jews’

    …talking of blacked hearted wickedness … Those darned Jews held out, you can just bet on that.

    ReplyDelete
  56. .

    This may not be that hard-assed, take no prisoners conservative you've been looking for.



    It appears Perry will say anything. Does he mean it? Depends on which way the votes flow.

    In 2007, he issued an executive order mandating that all young girls receive HPV vacinations or pay a penalty. He got bitch slapped for the decision and the legislature reversed it. Now that he is a candidate for the GOP nomination, he says he "didn't do his research".

    With regard to the bi-lateral medical program with Mexico he sounds like George Bush. I guess all them Texas governors are compassionate conservatives.

    ,.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Well, allen, they would serve to deter armed incursion by the Mexican Army.

    First and foremost.

    Since the military is forbidden by law to perform police functions in the United States they would not be performing police functions.

    The would perform Guard Duty along the frontier. With the standard 3 rounds per guard, I'd assume.

    Since much of the border territory is already part of various military installations, the guards would follow established rules of engagement, there.

    Where other Federal agencies or private owners control the land, the military would play a supporting role to the Federal and Local agencies that are tasked with border security, today.

    Until it could be decided, in Congress, if the military's role in Frontier Security should be expanded, diminished or demolished.

    ReplyDelete
  58. If it's between him, and Obammie, I'll probably make that decision on the morning of the first Tuesday in Nov, 2012.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Yeah, Bush III, w/o the soaring intellect, and sense of purpose.

    ReplyDelete
  60. If those troops were not needed, for frontier security, well, they could be demobilized.

    Made part of the Active Reserve, perhaps.

    Downsize the military by almost 100,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.

    If those troops from Europe and Asia we no longer needed as a quick reaction force and did not add to an enhanced posture with regards frontier security, either.

    ReplyDelete
  61. All Texas Governors have one thing in common: An indefatiguable enthusiasm for kissing every Mexican ass in sight.

    ReplyDelete
  62. As Bush, and/or Perry will tell you, "You don't get to be Governor of Texas without it."

    ReplyDelete
  63. Bringing the boys home from Europe and Asia, an economic security must.

    By providing our NATO allies nuclear capability we have started the transfer of the primary defense responsibilities to the locals.

    As we should.

    The US has supplied some 480 B61 thermonuclear bombs to five so-called "non-nuclear states", including Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.

    ReplyDelete
  64. .

    Don't know exactly why I feel this way (it's not because I especially like the guy) but I just have a feeling that Romney will be the guy running against Obama.

    (Although it could be because Trish predicted it many months ago.)

    (Well, maybe not.)


    .

    ReplyDelete
  65. Korea's Army can defend South Korea from the NorKs. They have 1,000,000 troops, our 25,000 or so are not critical to their security

    ReplyDelete
  66. .

    It's kind of amazing to see the market still trading well above 11,000 given all the turmoil we are going through.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  67. .

    Of course, I used to think the market reflected the economy as a whole.

    No longer.

    While projected earnings do translate into stock prices, at times like these, those earnings become divorced from what is actually happening in the economy. There is a limit to how much cost cutting a company can do. Add to that the fact that computers based on the flimsiest of rumors can drive the direction of the market 200 points in a day on low volume and it becomes a crap shoot.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  68. .

    I used think our representative in OZ would come together in times of crisis and try to come up with solutions to improve the economy.

    No longer .

    The Wizard and the Munkins merely care about their constituencies which do not include the American people. It has been three years since the Wizard took over. It has been the better part of a year since the Munkins on the right took over the House. In all that time, the attention in OZ has been concentrated on everything but jobs.

    The latest crisis: scheduling conflicts.

    Don't watch the guys behind the curtain.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  69. .

    I used to think the FED's dual mandate was to control inflation and sustain employment.

    No longer.

    The FED may be able to respond to short term crisis but over the long term it has proven ineffectual or downright harmful. FED actions appear designed to aid big business and the financial industry (translated Banks).

    Bankers helping banks, go figure.

    The FED talks about its dual mandate but that is all. It has shot its wad on what it can do with the current crisis.

    Greenspan? A chief architect of the bubble.

    Bernanke? Lord , spare me from the actions of experts on the Great Depression.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  70. .

    Thirty years ago, I used to think that big business and the banks would do the right thing with the US economy. I mean, why would they kill the golden goose?

    No longer.

    In the past, everyone knew that ‘big business’ was dipping its beak wherever possible to take advantage of tax loopholes and perks, that they were pursuing short term goals because of the compensation systems in place.

    We were willing to accept these minor transgressions as long as the businesses were creating the jobs. However, when the multinationals began shipping jobs overseas, set up foreign tax havens, took short term policies that led to the bubble and the crisis we are in now, and bought the boys in OZ thru their lobbying efforts, things changed.

    It's a zero-sum world now. It appears to be them against us.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  71. .

    I used to think that the normal business cycle would eventually bring us out of any problems we worked our way into.

    No longer.

    In the past, we suffered through some tough times but we were always pretty confident that in a couple of years things would be better, we would make up our losses, and continue to move upward. Today we get estimates that we will not have recovered from the current downturn until 2015, 2017, some even 2020. No one really knows. It is all guesses.

    The usual sectors that lead us out of downturns, financials and construction, are sucking wind and show no signs of recovery. The boys in OZ and the FED seem to have shot their wad and are now coming up empty. Business is not expanding because there is no demand. There is no demand because there are no jobs. Trillions in net worth have been lost due to the housing crisis and in the market. The global economy is in worse shape than that of the US.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  72. .

    Demand will not increase until confidence is up.

    Based on the above issues, it's easy to see why the confidence numbers are so low.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  73. It appears to be them against us.

    To the barricades!!!

    Revolution!
    Revolution!
    Revolution!

    Free Detroit!!!

    nah


    Eunice Tirtjens

    Everest: The West Ridge

    The stone grows old,
    Eternity is not for stones.
    But I shall go down from this airy space, this swift white peace, this stinging exaltation;
    And time will close about me, and my soul stir to the rhythm of the daily round.
    Yet, having KNOWN, life will not press so close.
    And always I shall feel time ravel thin about me.
    For once I stood
    In the white windy presence of eternity.


    risky

    ReplyDelete
  74. Last month, Nissan sold 1,362 Leafs, versus GM’s 302 Volts.

    What's so green about the Volt? You gotta charge it with electricity, which comes from coal and oil, since they are ripping down dams to save the fish and closing nuke plants in case a tsunami hits Nebraska.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Down with the banks
    With their vaults of Gold
    Down with the Fed
    Run by men of old
    Down with their mansions
    We'll stop their expansions
    Will this end well?
    Only TIME will tell.


    Anarcho/revolutionary drinking song o' the day, sung at the foot of Mount Everest.

    risky

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  76. Korea's Army can defend South Korea from the NorKs. They have 1,000,000 troops, our 25,000 or so are not critical to their security

    It's a trip wire, just like the Soviet boats in Haiphong harbor. Just enough to form a sufficient casus belli if anything bad happens to them, and justify total war. I would hate to be the one to deliver the bad news to the parents of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines in Korea when the balloon goes up, however.

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  77. .

    I've been watching CNBC today. Most of the talk has been about jobs or the lack of them.

    However, they have also talked about the FHFA working on behalf of Fannie and Freddie that is suing 17 major banks for what they call fraudulent marketing of toxic securities containing bum mortgages.

    What I find interesting is how many people they have on that are calling the government lawsuit a bad idea. What is more interesting the number of reasons they offer.

    "The banks are too weak right now. They can't absorb losses from the lawsuits."

    "Fannie and Freddie didn't do their due diligence properly so regardless of what the banks did, F&F are culpible too."

    "How can the government reconcile the lawsuit with their goal of creating jobs when the lawsuit will likely result in the banks laying off people."

    Talk about promoting moral hazard. The guys offering up this bullshit actually appeared serious.
    Sounds like something larry Kudlow would come up with.

    .

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  78. Yea the unemployed worker losing his house and car, fuck him. He needs a lesson.

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  79. .

    The only tax increases that are being talked about in OZ these days are increases to the payroll taxes.

    The tax is regressive to start with and they want to up them.

    The flying monkeys doing what flying monkeys do.

    .

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  80. What do flying monkeys do?

    Flying Monkeys Attack

    This is an effort to take the mounting tension out of Quirk, whose inflammatory rhetoric is becoming of concern lately.

    "it's them, or us"


    risky

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  81. .

    It's been rumored they also eat elk balls.

    .

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  82. Talk about promoting moral hazard. The guys offering up this bullshit actually appeared serious. Sounds like something larry Kudlow would come up with.

    Why would anyone listen to Larry Kudlow? November 2007 he said:

    What’s more, the entire market in sub-prime debt is just 1.4 percent of the global equity markets. On any given day, a 1.4 percent drop in world stocks would erase the same amount of value as the collective markdown of all sub-prime-backed bonds to $0. It’s just not that big a deal.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Totally off topic -

    Calling Miss T, the Answer Lady

    How did all these Mormons end up in the Pacific Ocean?

    Mormons as Percent of Population --

    Tonga 32.0%
    Samoa 25.0
    American Samoa 25.0
    Niue 15.0
    Kiribati 6.0
    Tahiti 6.0
    Cook Islands 5.0
    Marshall Islands 4.0


    risky

    ReplyDelete
  84. How did all these Mormons end up in the Pacific Ocean?

    And the Lord said: Go to work and build, after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto built. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did go to work, and also his brethren, and built barges after the manner which they had built, according to the instructions of the Lord. And they were small, and they were light upon the water, even like unto the lightness of a fowl upon the water.

    And they were built after a manner that they were exceedingly tight, even that they would hold water like unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish; and the ends thereof were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the length thereof was the length of a tree; and the door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish.

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  85. It would seem the bare breasted beach folk there must have been quite open to the Mormon Missions and emissions.

    risky

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  86. Ah, I see, Miss T.

    Thanks

    risky

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  87. I was wondering, reading about Perry being ahead of Romney in Nevada which, after looking it up, only has about 8% celestial underwearers, while Idaho has around 24% and Utah, can't recall 50% or more.

    Then came on the Pacific islands.

    Only Palin can save Romney, and she might beat him too.

    risky

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  88. "Gentiles" and illegal immigrants are moving to Utah in droves, fleeing Cal Eye Forn Eye Ay, Church going Mormons down to 40 percent, nominal Mormons about 60 percent.

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  89. May be time for the Mormons to get to trekking again, if there was anywhere to trek to.

    I would.

    risky

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  90. The kill report for the first day of Operation Ungulate Compassion shows the badass killer wolves to be doing rather well. Only three were confirmed killed, but, it must be added, there is a 72 hour reporting time period and perhaps many haven't reported in yet.

    risky

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  91. "When I see a cow elk with her guts hanging out, and a little calf that's been hamstrung -- I know I'm on the right side. No question about it," Gillett said. "These Canadian wolves are the most cruel, vicious predators in North America."

    Article in LATimes - Has The Other Sides Opinions Too

    risky

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  92. LATimes Again

    More interesting than that nitwit Paris Hilton, that's for sure.

    risky

    ReplyDelete