Economy

Commerzbank CEO Mueller: Greece Should Exit Euro Zone

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Message to the people of Greece:

Got physical gold and silver? Protect yourself from any devaluation threat NOW.

Flashback:

– Belarus Devalues Its Currency By 56% Overnight, Against Every Currency Out There:

Luckily for those who held their “money” in the form of gold and silver, they just got an instantaneous 56% value preservation and a relative boost in their purchasing power with just one central bank announcement.

– Belarus Hyperinflation Update: Food Runs Out As Friendly Foreigners Take Advantage Of The ‘Favorable’ Exchange Rate Arb

– Commerzbank’s Mueller Recommends Greece Exit Euro Zone – Report (FOX Business/Dow Jones Newswires, Jan. 31, 2012):

FRANKFURT – The Supervisory Board Chairman of Germany’s Commerzbank (CBK.XE) said he recommends that Greece leaves the euro zone, according to a pre-release of an interview by TV broadcaster Deutsches Anleger Fernsehen.

“I am strongly convinced that Greece needs a massive devaluation which it can’t carry out within the euro,” Mueller is quoted as saying, and “we can’t compensate for this with transfer payments.”

“Despite being a hurting process, I think Greece would be better advised to declare its exit,” as “Greece can’t be rescued within the euro,” Mueller said, according to the German broadcaster.

“Markets will understand, that, if Greece exits, this doesn’t mean who is next,” so he doesn’t expect contagion, Mueller is quoted as saying.

Banks could write down their entire exposure to Greece immediately, Mueller said, according to DAF.

“When you are at 70% or 80% and you’ll likely have to add to it, you can ask if you won’t stop it immediately, meaning write down entirely,” he is quoted as saying.

– Commerzbank CEO Says Greece Should Exit Eurozone (ZeroHedge, Jan. 30, 2012):

As if Merkel did not make it all too clear over the weekend that Germany no longer wishes Greece to be part of the Eurozone, and that the ball is now in Athens’ court to accept what is a glaringly unfeasible demand, i.e., to hand over fiscal sovereignty over to “Europe” with Merkel having the cover of saying it did everything in its power to keep Greece in the union, here comes Commerzbank’s CEO Mueller to pick up where Merkel left off:

  • COMMERZBANK’S MUELLER SAYS GREECE SHOULD EXIT EURO ZONE
  • COMMERZBANK’S MUELLER SPOKE TO DEUTSCHES ANLEGER FERNSEHEN

Presumably this means that German banks have sold off all their Greek bond exposure, and believe that the Eurozone would be better off without Greece in it. However, that Commerzbank, or one of the most insolvent banks in Europe, and only in line with Dexia, is confident that it can withstand the contagtion that would follow, only makes us even more skeptical that a Greek default and Eurozone departure will be contained, and in all likelihood will have scary implications for all European banks, not only German ones. Just ask DB’s Ackermann…

As Europe Goes Deep In Recession, So Does Half The World’s Trade

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This is the ‘Greatest Depression’!

– As Europe Goes (Deep In Recession), So Does Half The World’s Trade (ZeroHedge, Jan. 30, 2012):

Following the Fed’s somewhat downbeat perspective on growth, confidence in investors’ minds that the US can decouple has been temporarily jilted back to reality. It is of course no surprise and as the World Bank points out half of the world’s approximately $15 trillion trade in goods and services involves Europe. So the next time some talking head uses the word decoupling (ignoring 8.5 sigma Dallas Fed prints for the statistical folly that they are), perhaps pointing them to the facts of explicit (US-Europe) and implicit (Europe-Asia-US) trade flow impact of a deepening European recession/depression will reign in their exuberance.

From The World Bank: Golden Growth

An increasingly vigorous flow of goods, services, and finance over the last five decades has fueled European growth. Europe’s economies are the most open in the world. Before the global crisis of 2008–09, half of the world’s approximately $15 trillion trade in goods and services involved Europe (figure 2). Two-thirds of it was among the 45 countries discussed in this report. Financial flows have been equally vigorous. In 2007, for example, annual FDI in Europe exceeded $1 trillion. Big and growing trade and financial links facilitated by the single market form the core of the European convergence machine.

Japanese Population To Shrink By One Third, Size Of Workforce To Plunge In Under 50 Years

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But since Fukushima Japan is already history.

– Japanese Population To Shrink By One Third, Size Of Workforce To Plunge In Under 50 Years (ZeroHedge, Jan. 30, 2012):

Japan recently made waves with the news that its total debt would hit north of one quadrillion yen over the next several months: a number greater than the GDP of the entire Eurozone. Yet the one saving grace for Japan has long been the strawman that the bulk of its debt is locally held, and thus the risk of a sharp sell off is minimal as the capital has to be recycled within the borders of Japan, especially as the USA and soon the rest of the world will provide the same returns on debt as Japan, which has been locked in a 30 year deleveraging cycle, does. However, one thing that continues to be widely ignored is the demographic top that Japanese society is experiencing as ever more workers enter retirement, and there is no replenishment of young workers (perhaps Spain can export some of its youth to Tokyo?). This may change soon because as the AP reports, the Japanese population will be cut by 30% by 2060. Furthermore the country’s workforce of people aged 15 to 65 will shrink to half the population (a BLS wet dream as under those conditions the US unemployment rate would be very negative). Alas, the prospect of Japan’s population of 128 million dropping by 1 million every year over the coming decades, should be sufficiently sobering. This naturally means that any existing paper supply-demand equilibrium will soon have to start being reevaluated. But by 2060 we will likely have bigger problems than placing the 1 billion googol in JJBs that have to find a buyer to fund the country’s deficit. Lastly, we would love to see one of those charts showing how many working people will have to fund each and every retiree by the year 2060, first in Japan, and then in every other country.

From AP:

Japan’s population of 128 million will shrink by one-third and seniors will account for 40 percent of people by 2060, placing a greater burden on a smaller working-age population to support the social security and tax systems.

The grim estimate of how rapid aging will shrink Japan’s population was released Monday by the Health and Welfare Ministry.

In year 2060, Japan will have 87 million people. The number of people 65 or older will nearly double to 40 percent, while the national work force of people between ages 15 and 65 will shrink to about half of the total population, according to the estimate, made by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.

Nowhere will the demographic crunch courtesy of the welfare state hit the world faster than in Japan, where the natural growth rate has been negative for quite some time:

Read moreJapanese Population To Shrink By One Third, Size Of Workforce To Plunge In Under 50 Years

RBS Chief Stephen Hester’s £35.5 Million Pay Deal And The £3.3 Million Extra Bonus On Top Of It

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– Hester’s £35.5m pay deal fuels renewed anger over excess (The Independent, Jan. 29, 2012):

Stephen Hester, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, is in line for an extra payout of £3.3m which would dwarf his controversial bonus of £963,000, it emerged last night.

Disclosure of the staggering figure amounts to political dynamite as the Prime Minister fought off suggestions that he should veto the near-£1m bonus, announced last week, for the boss of the taxpayer-owned RBS.

The extra bonus of £3.3m, revealed yesterday, would be on top of the £35.54m total remuneration package Mr Hester has received since joining RBS in 2008.

Read moreRBS Chief Stephen Hester’s £35.5 Million Pay Deal And The £3.3 Million Extra Bonus On Top Of It

China: ‘Gold Rush’ – Year of Dragon First Week Sees Record Sales, Up 49.7%

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From the article:

“… China where buying gold as a hedge against inflation and as a store of wealth has now firmly entered the mainstream in a country of 1.3 billion people”

– Chinese ‘Gold Rush’ – Year of Dragon First Week Sees Record Sales – Up 49.7% (ZeroHedge, Jan. 30, 2012):

Xinhua, the official press agency of the government of the People’s Republic of China reports that a “gold rush” swept through China during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday this year, with demand for precious metals and jewelry surging since the Year of the Dragon began.

Data released by China’s Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce shows a 49.7% increase in sales volume for precious metals jewelry and bullion during the week-long holiday (over last year), which lasted from January 22 to 28 over that of last year’s Spring Festival.

One of Beijing’s best-known gold retailers, Caibai, saw sales of gold and silver jewelry and bullion rose 57.6% during the week long New Years holiday according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Saturday,

Read moreChina: ‘Gold Rush’ – Year of Dragon First Week Sees Record Sales, Up 49.7%

3 Months After The MF Global Bankruptcy, We Find That $1.2 Billion (Or More) In Client Money Has Simply ‘VAPORIZED’

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I told you many times before that your money isn’t safe. And please don’t tell me that the FDIC insures your bankdeposits up to $250.000.

– Max Keiser And Gerald Celente On MF Global Bankruptcy Implications – The JP Morgan Connection – Goldman Sachs – CME (‘Chicago Mafia Exchange’) – Gold, Silver – Syria, Iran – Entire Financial System Collapsing, One Big Global Ponzi Scheme – False Flag, WW III – Bank Holiday, Economic Martial Law – ‘YOUR MONEY ISN’T SAFE’

For most Americans (and Europeans) the big ‘awakening’ will come.

Got gold and silver (food, water, etc.)?

– 3 Months After The MF Global Bankruptcy, We Find That $1.2 Billion (Or More) In Client Money Has “Vaporized” (ZeroHedge, Jan. 29, 2012):

On the three month bankruptcy anniversary of the company whose rehypothecation gimmicks will one day be seen as a harbinger of everything that is  broken with the multi-trillion ponzi system, but not just yet despite loud warnings otherwise, we are getting close to a final verdict of where the $1.2 billion (and possibly more as originally predicted by Zero Hedge – see below) in commingled client money may have gone. Note the use of the passive voice because using the active, as in money that MF Global executives stole from clients, is prohibited in a legal system in which nobody goes to jail for something as modest as $1.2 billion in theft. That verdict? “Vaporized.” No really (and yes, in the passive voice of course). From the WSJ: “As the sprawling probe that includes regulators, criminal and congressional investigators, and court-appointed trustees grinds on, the findings so far suggest that a “significant amount” of the money could have “vaporized” as a result of chaotic trading at MF Global during the week before the company’s Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing, said a person close to the investigation.” Uh huh… Because money simply vaporizes. Which means one of two things: i) the “vaporization” is merely the phrase that so called investigators use to avoid the far more troubling sounding “stolen” as it would imply guilt, something which the former NJ governor and Goldman CEO (and not to mention JP Morgan which most likely was on the receiving end of the $1.2 billion + transaction) will, under guidance from counsel, sternly disagree with, or ii) the capital markets are such an unprecedented and manipulated fraud, that nobody has any clue at any moment, where any client money is, and that any residual capital still “invested” in mythical representations of “assets”, which are likely rehypothecated so many times, that not even Bank of America’s robosigning division would have a clue where to start unraveling, will promptly be converted into tangible manifestations of capital. So when someone asks what happened to stock market volume, and to investor confidence in the “stock market” feel free to use just that phrase: “it vaporized.”

WSJ “explains” how $1.2 billion “vaporized”

Many officials now believe certain employees at MF Global dipped into the “customer segregated account” that the New York company was supposed to keep separate from its own assets—and then used the money to meet demands for more collateral or to unfreeze assets at banks and other counterparties as they grew more concerned about their financial exposure to MF Global.

Read more3 Months After The MF Global Bankruptcy, We Find That $1.2 Billion (Or More) In Client Money Has Simply ‘VAPORIZED’

It’s Official: German Economy Minister Demands Surrender Of Greek Budget Policy, Says It Is First Of Many Such Sovereign ‘Requests’

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– It’s Official: German Economy Minister Demands Surrender Of Greek Budget Policy, Says It Is First Of Many Such Sovereign “Requests” (ZeroHedge, Jan. 29, 2012):

While over the past 2 days there may have been some confusion as to who, what, how or where is demanding that Greece abdicate fiscal sovereignty (with some of our German readers supposedly insulted by the suggestion that this idea originated in Berlin, and specifically with politicians elected by a majority of the German population), today’s quotefest from German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler appearing in Germany’s Bild should put any such questions to bed. And from this point on, Greece would be advised to not play dumb anymore vis-a-vis German annexation demands. So from Reuters, “Greece must surrender control of its budget policy to outside institutions if it cannot implement reforms attached to euro zone rescue measures, the German economy minister was quoted as saying on Sunday. Philipp Roesler became the first German cabinet member to openly endorse a proposal for Greece to surrender budget control after Reuters quoted a European source on Friday as saying Berlin wants Athens to give up budget control.” And some bad news for our Portuguese (and then Spanish) readers: you are next.

More:

“We need more leadership and monitoring when it comes to implementing the reform course,” Roesler, also vice chancellor, told Bild newspaper, according to an advance of an interview to be published on Monday.

“If the Greeks aren’t able to succeed themselves with this, then there must be stronger leadership and monitoring from abroad, for example through the EU,” added Roesler, chairman of the Free Democrats (FDP) who share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Read moreIt’s Official: German Economy Minister Demands Surrender Of Greek Budget Policy, Says It Is First Of Many Such Sovereign ‘Requests’

??George Soros Predicts Class War In US: ‘There Will Be Riots On Streets Of America’ – ‘The Worst-Case Scenario Is A Collapse Of The Financial System’

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And elite puppet financier George Soros SHOULD KNOW, because he generously helped funding the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement!

From the article:

‘The euro must survive because the alternative – a breakup – would cause a meltdown’
– George Soros

‘The situation is about as serious and difficult as I’ve experienced in my career’
– George Soros

‘The worst-case scenario is a collapse of the financial system’
– George Soros

This is just hilarious! George Soros warns of the the dire (intentional!) consequences of a crisis that his elite masters created in the first place.

The greatest financial collapse in world history IS THE PLAN! The destruction of the middle class and of the US dollar IS THE PLAN! Turning the US into a Third World country IS THE PLAN! Total chaos followed by ‘Ordo ab Chao’ and the fascist New World Order IS THE PLAN!

Prepare for collapse! ALERT: Baltic Dry Index Collapses (!!!)

Looks like George Soros’ liver and kidneys are starting to … FAIL!


Warnings: George Soros said he’d rather survive than stay rich as the world faces an ‘evil’ period and Europe fights a ‘descent into chaos and conflict’

– ??‘There will be riots on streets of America’: George Soros predicts class war in U.S. as euro triggers collapse of global economy (Daily Mail, Jan. 25, 2012):

  • Billionaire New York investor warns of impending economic meltdown
  • Backs euro and buys Italian bonds from Jon Corzine’s failed MF Global
  • Warns it’s ‘difficult to know right decisions to make’ after boom years
  • Supports Occupy Wall Street, Democrats and Obama re-election efforts

‘The euro must survive because the alternative – a breakup – would cause a meltdown that Europe, the world, can’t afford,’ he told Newsweek.

‘The situation is about as serious and difficult as I’ve experienced in my career. We are facing now a general retrenchment in the developed world.’

His warnings came as U.S. stocks dipped on Tuesday, with talks to resolve Greece’s debt crisis faltering and threatening a five-day winning streak.

Read more??George Soros Predicts Class War In US: ‘There Will Be Riots On Streets Of America’ – ‘The Worst-Case Scenario Is A Collapse Of The Financial System’

Greece Politely Declines Germany’s Annexation Demands

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– Greece Politely Declines German Annexation Demands (ZeroHedge, Jan. 28, 2012):

Following yesterday’s frankly stunning news that the Troika politely requests that Greece hand over its first fiscal, then pretty much all other, sovereignty to “Europe”, here is the Greek just as polite response to the Troika’s foray into outright colonialism:

  • GREEK GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN DECLARES THAT THE BUDGET IS SOLELY ITS RESPONSIBILITY – DJ

What is interesting here is that unlike the highly irrelevant IIF negotiations which will end in a Greek default one way or another, the real plotline that should be followed is this one: because unless Germany, pardon the Troika, gets the one condition it demands, namely “absolute priority to debt service” and “transfer of national budgetary sovereignty“, as well as a “constitutional amendment” thereto. there is no Troika funding deal. Furthermore, since as a reminder the PSI talks are just the beginning, the next step is ensuring compliance, as was noted yesterday (“[ceding sovereignty] will reassure public and private creditors that the Hellenic Republic will  honour its comittments after PSI and will positively influence market access”), any refusal to implement such demands is an automatic dealbreaker. Which means anything Dallara and the IIF say, as representatives of a steering committee that at this point probably constitutes of one bondholder, with the bulk having shifted to the ad hoc committee, is irrelevant. Germany just got its answer. And the next step is, as Zero Hedge first suggested, an epic LTRO in precisely one month, whose sole purpose will be to prefund European banks ahead of the Greek default with enough cash to withstand Europe’s Bear Stearns. Although as a reminder, in the US, Bear Stearns only led to Lehman and the global “all in” gambit to preserve the financial system by shifting bank insolvency risk to the sovereigns (a chart showing bank assets as a percentage of host countries’ GDP can be found here). But who will bailout the world’s central banks which already collectively hold over 30% of global GDP in the form of “assets”, or as this term is better known these days, debt?

And for those who missed it the first time, here was the Troika’s declaration of bloodless war:

Read moreGreece Politely Declines Germany’s Annexation Demands

Endgame: UK ‘Foreign Office Sources Say Merkel Now Thinks Greece Will Default’

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See also:

– Germany Formally Requests That Greece Hand Over Its Fiscal Independence!

Got gold and silver?

– Endgame Begins – UK “Foreign Office Sources Say Merkel Now Thinks Greece Will Default” (ZeroHedge, Jan. 27, 2012):

Courtesy of the BBC’s Andrew Neil, on the back of the previously noted formal annexation demand of Greece by Germany:

Of course, this is what we, and everyone else whose frontal lobe has not bee hijacked by the status quo, said back in January 2010…

JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley better pray they are right when they say they are 100% insulated from contagion, because we are all about to find out.

Germany Formally Requests That Greece Hand Over Its Fiscal Independence!

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– The Silent Anschluss: Germany Formally Requests That Greece Hand Over Its Fiscal Independence (ZeroHedge, Jan. 27, 2012):

Update 2: the first local headlines are coming in now, from Spiegel: Griechenland soll Kontrolle über Haushalt abgeben (loosely Greece must give up domestic control), and Kathimerini: Germany proposes Greece relinquish some fiscal powers, sources say

Update: Formal Greek annexation order attached.

It was tried previously (several times) under “slightly different” circumstances, and failed. Yet when it comes to taking over a country without spilling even one drop of blood, and converting its citizens into debt slaves, Germany’s Merkel may have just succeeded where so many of her predecessors failed. According to a Reuters exclusive, “Germany is pushing for Greece to relinquish control over its budget policy to European institutions as part of discussions over a second rescue package, a European source told Reuters on Friday.” Reuters add: “There are internal discussions within the Euro group and proposals, one of which comes from Germany, on how to constructively treat country aid programs that are continuously off track, whether this can simply be ignored or whether we say that’s enough,” the source said.’ So while the great distraction that is the Charles Dallara “negotiation” with Hedge Funds continues (as its outcome is irrelevant: a Greece default is assured at this point), the real development once again was behind the scenes where Germany was cleanly and clinically taking over Greece. Because while today it is the fiscal apparatus, tomorrow it is the legislative. As for the executive: who cares. At that point Goldman will merely appoint one of its retired partners as Greek president and Greece will become the first 21st century German, pardon, European colony. But at least it will have its precious euro. We can’t wait until Greek citizens find out about this quiet coup.

More from Reuters:

The source added that under the proposals European institutions already operating in Greece should be given “certain decision-making powers” over fiscal policy.

“This could be carried out even more stringently through external expertise,” the source said.

The German demands for greater control over Greek budget policy comes amid intense talks to finalize a second 130-billion euro rescue package for Greece, which has repeatedly failed to meet the fiscal targets set out for it by its international lenders.

It is likely to spark a strong reaction in Athens ahead of elections expected to take place in April.

“Strong reaction?” Is that the politically correct parlance for “civil war” these days? We must be out of the loop on that one…

The specific language that strips Greece of its sovereignty and which will be plastered over every front page in the Greek media tomorrow:

Budget consolidation has to be put under a strict steering and control system. Given the disappointing compliance so far, Greece has to accept shifting budgetary sovereignty to the European level for a certain period of time. A budget commissioner has to be appointed by the Eurogroup with the task of ensuring budgetary control. He must have the power a) to implement a centralized reporting and surveillance system covering all major blocks of expenditure in the Greek budget, b) to veto decisions not in line with the budgetary targets set by the Troika and c) will be tasked to ensure compliance with the above mentioned rule to prioritize debt service.

Read moreGermany Formally Requests That Greece Hand Over Its Fiscal Independence!

Italy On the Verge Of A Full Revolt

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See also:

– EU Finance Ministers Push Through ESM Treaty in Fishy Fly-by-Night Move (RED ALERT TO EVERYBODY INTERESTED IN THE ESM: THERE IS NO CURRENT VERSION OF THE ESM TREATY AVAILABLE!!!)

Flashback:

– Chairman Of The European Branch Of The Trilateral Commission And Bilderberg Member Mario Monti Member Is Italy’s New Prime Minister

– Italy On the Verge of a Full Revolt (The Dollar Vigilante, Jan. 25, 2012):

[Editor’s Note: The following is from TDV’s Correspondent in Italy, Alexander Jousse]

This past week has been a very turbulent time for Italy.  And it wasn’t just the grounding of the Concordia cruise ship by a playboy captain; but the grounding of the country by Euro-technocrat usurper Darth Monti, trying to impress his Keynesian buddies with his latest attempts to ‘Save Italy’!

This week saw the launch of a popular uprising in Sicily, by a group known as the ‘Movimento dei Forconi’ or ‘Pitchfork Movement’. This is not an uprising of self absorbed youth who want more government handouts; but of producers who are being pushed into poverty by government taxes and regulation. The organizers are middle aged and older; this is significant, as most power and wealth is held by this generation and they have now drawn a line in the sand.

On the 16th of January these protesters began “Operazione Vespri Siciliani”, a blockade  of the Island of Sicily. Within two days the transportation of all goods was stopped. Over the next week, nothing entered or exited Sicily.  This was no mean feat given that Sicily is not a small Island; it has a population of over five million people and a surface area of 25,711 km2.

These are some of their demands:

  • The arrest of all corrupt politicians.
  • To reduce the number of parliamentarians
  • To remove the provincial bureaucracy, as most of these politicians have been there for over forty years.
  • To drastically cut the salaries and privileges of parliamentarians and senators
  • To restrict politicians two only two terms in office

Read moreItaly On the Verge Of A Full Revolt

Morgan Stanley’s Stephen Roach: ‘Bernanke Is Betting The Ranch On Open-Ended QE And Zero Interest Rates And It Worries Me’, Explains How The Fed Is Pulling The Wool Over Our Eyes

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– Stephen Roach Explains How The Fed Is Pulling The Wool Over Our Eyes (ZeroHedge, Jan. 27, 2012):

“Bernanke is betting the ranch on open-ended QE and zero interest rates and it worries me” is how Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley starts this must-see reality-check interview with Bloomberg TV’s Tom Keene. The reason for his concern is simple, the current Fed modus operandi is a framework for rescuing economies in crisis but does little to sustain economic recovery. Roach agrees with Cal’s Eichengreen that the European and US central banks are indeed in a policy trap, committed to a path of action that has to be perpetually ante’d up to maintain the dream. With Europe in recession already in his view, Roach does not expect the tough structural action until we see greater social unrest or overwhelming unemployment and reminds us of how close we got when Greece threatened the referendum in the late summer. He goes on to discuss China (positive on their efforts and ‘solid strategy’) and it’s relative success as a regime which he contrasts with our “central bankers who pull the wool over our eyes with ZIRP and magical QE”. Taking on the mistakes of Greenspan, letting capitalism go unchecked, and his incredulity at the ‘glide-path’ charts we were treated to yesterday by the Fed’s bankers (‘accountability‘), Roach sees the painful process of deleveraging from excess debt, insufficient savings, and over-consumption as likely to take a long time as we should not assume investment will be the driver as Obama goes ‘protectionist’ (in the SOTU) on our 3rd largest export partner – yes, China.

Davos Happy To Hear That More And More Poor People Exist And That They Soon Will Be TOO POOR TO REVOLT (= ‘Mission Accomplished’)

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Ok, I totally changed the title. But destroying the middle class and the poor is the plan of the power elite on their one-way road to their fascist New World Order.

– Davos Shocked To Hear That Poor People Exist (ZeroHedge, Jan. 27, 2012):

Ok, I exaggerate. But that’s my cynical first impression after finding the following diagram in the briefing book for the gathering of the good and the great at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (Click for a larger size.)


Source: World Economic Forum

As you can see “Severe income disparity” is #1 on the Top 5 risks list this year, after having failed to make the short list for the preceding 5 years.

Now it’s not as though the attendees of Davos were completely inattentive to the economic plight of the less fortunate all this time. “Economic disparities” was on last year’s laundry list of risks and was featured prominently in the executive summary of 2011’s report. But the urgency has been ratcheted up quite a bit this year: note the new modifier “severe” and the use of the more specific “income” rather than “economic”. But wait, there’s more.

Compare 2011’s anodyne language:

the benefits of globalization seem unevenly spread – a minority is seen to have harvested a disproportionate amount of the fruits. Although growth of the new champions is rebalancing economic power between countries, there is evidence that economic disparity within countries is growing.

with this year’s:

Dystopia, the opposite of a utopia, describes a place where life is full of hardship and devoid of hope. Analysis of linkages across various global risks reveals a constellation of fiscal, demographic and societal risks signalling a dystopian future for much of humanity. The interplay among these risks could result in a world where a large youth population contends with chronic, high levels of unemployment, while concurrently, the largest population of retirees in history becomes dependent upon already heavily indebted governments. Both young and old could face an income gap, as well as a skills gap so wide as to threaten social and political stability.

They actually used the “D” word. Remember, this is not the research paper of some grad student with a flair for the dramatic. This document was written in part by Swiss Re and Zurich Financial Services — two of the most solid P&C insurers and re-insurers in the world. Their only business is the identification and management of real world risk. When you start hearing the language of Huxley and Orwell on the slopes of the Swiss Alps, then you’d best believe that something fundamental has shifted and that a lot of the rich and powerful are more frightened than they used to be.

Taxpayers Lose Another $118.5 Million As Next Obama Stimulus Pet Project Files For Bankruptcy (Video)

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– Taxpayers Lose Another $118.5 Million As Next Obama Stimulus Pet Project Files For Bankruptcy (ZeroHedge, Jan. 26, 2012):

Remember that one keyword that oddly enough never made it’s way into the president’s largely recycled SOTU address – “Solyndra”? It is about to make a double or nothing repeat appearance, now that Ener1, another company that was backed by Obama, this time a electric car battery-maker, has filed for bankruptcy. Net result: taxpayers lose $118.5 million. The irony is that while Solyndra may have been missing from the SOTU, Ener1 made an indirect appearance: “In three years, our partnership with the private sector has already positioned America to be the world’s leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries.” Uh, no. Actually, the correct phrasing is: “…positioned America to be the world’s leading manufacturer of insolvent, bloated subsidized entities that are proof central planning at any level does not work but we can keep doing the same idiocy over and over hoping the final result will actually be different eventually.” We can’t wait to find out just which of Obama’s handlers was may have been responsible for this latest gross capital misallocation. In the meantime, the 1,700 jobs “created” with the fake creation of Ener1, have just been lost. Yet nothing, nothing, compares to the irony from the statement issued by the CEO when the company proudly received taxpayer funding on its merry way to insolvency: “”These government incentives will provide a powerful stimulus to a vital industry and help ensure that the batteries eventually powering millions of cars around the world carry the stamp ‘Made in the USA’.” Brilliant – and no, they are laughing with us, not at us.

From The Hill:

An Indiana-based energy-storage company that received a $118.5 million stimulus grant from the Energy Department filed for bankruptcy Thursday.

Ener1 is asking a federal bankruptcy court in New York to approve a plan to restructure the company’s debt and infuse $81 million in equity funding.

Read moreTaxpayers Lose Another $118.5 Million As Next Obama Stimulus Pet Project Files For Bankruptcy (Video)

IMF Warns Of Oil Price Shock, Expects 20-30% Oil Price Spike If Iranian Exports Are Disrupted

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See also:

– EU Iran Oil Embargo Sanctions ‘Unprecedented’, Freezes Iranian Central Bank Assets

– EU Foreign Ministers Agree On Iranian Oil Embargo – Europe Is Shooting Itself In The Foot

– IMF warns over risk of Iran oil price shock (BBC News, Jan. 25, 2012):

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned of a 20-30% oil price spike if Iranian exports are disrupted.

The IMF warned that if the West imposed financial sanctions on Iran, it would be tantamount to an oil blockade, and the shock to the market could be as bad as from Libya’s revolution last year.

Read moreIMF Warns Of Oil Price Shock, Expects 20-30% Oil Price Spike If Iranian Exports Are Disrupted

Foxconn Apologizes For Chief Terry Gou Referring To Workers As Animals

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Flashback:

– Technology Giant Foxconn To Replace Workers With 1 Million Robots In 3 years

– Foxconn apologises over boss’s ‘animal’ comment: report (AFP, Jan. 23, 2012):

TAIPEI – Taiwan technology giant Foxconn has apologised over comments by chief Terry Gou allegedly comparing workers to animals, according to a report.

Gou drew criticism on online news forums and discussion sites after he was quoted by Taiwanese media as saying “I have a headache how to manage one million animals” at the company’s year-end party in Taipei Zoo earlier this month.

Foxconn is the largest maker of computer components and assembles products for Apple — including the iPhone — plus Sony and Nokia. It employs about one million workers in China.

Read moreFoxconn Apologizes For Chief Terry Gou Referring To Workers As Animals

PIMCO’s Bill Gross Explains The FOMC Decision: ‘QE 2.5 Today, QE 3, 4, 5 … Lie Ahead’ – Market Reaction: Gold And Silver Go Vertical

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– Bill Gross’ Explains The FOMC Decision: “QE 2.5 Today, QE 3, 4, 5 … Lie Ahead” (ZeroHedge, Jan. 25, 2012):

Pimco just saved you lots of garbage sellside “research” “analysis” on the topic.

 

EU Iran Oil Embargo Sanctions ‘Unprecedented’, Freezes Iranian Central Bank Assets

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Flashback:

– Ron Paul: Sanctions Against Iran Are an ‘Act of War’:

… Ron Paul told voters in Iowa that western sanctions against Iran are “acts of war” that are likely to lead to an actual war.

Paul said that Iran would be justified in responding to sanctions by blocking the Straits of Hormuz, adding that the country blocking the strategically important strait is “so logical” since they have no other recourse.

He then compared the situation to China blocking off the Gulf of Mexico to trade.

War with Russia and China, anyone?

– China To Protect Iran Even If It Means World War III

– Russian Military Chief Warns NATO: ‘Under Certain Conditions Local And Regional Conflicts May Develop Into A Full-Scale War Involving Nuclear Weapons’

Expect another (Israeli) staged false flag attack and we have WW III.

– EU Iran Oil Embargo Sanctions ‘Unprecedented’ (Huffington Post, Jan. 23, 2012):

BRUSSELS — The European Union and Iran raised the stakes Monday in their test of wills over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program, with the bloc banning the purchase of Iranian oil and Iran threatening to retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s crude is transported.

The escalating confrontation is fraught with risks – of rising energy prices, global financial instability, and potential military activity to keep the strait open.

The EU’s 27 foreign ministers, meeting Monday in Brussels, imposed an oil embargo against Iran and froze the assets of its central bank, ramping up sanctions designed to pressure Iranian officials into resuming talks on the country’s nuclear program.

Read moreEU Iran Oil Embargo Sanctions ‘Unprecedented’, Freezes Iranian Central Bank Assets

To Imprison Us All …

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– To imprison us all… (Natural News, Jan. 25, 2012):

“To imprison us all” is a poem by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, written to counter the loss of liberty currently being witnessed across all levels of society:

To imprison our memories, they gave us revisionist history.

To imprison our present-day minds, they made us drink fluoride.

To imprison our biology, they gave us prescription medications.

To imprison our ideas, they created intellectual property laws.

To imprison our legal identities, they created social security numbers.

To imprison our children, they gave us vaccines.

To imprison our mental health, they gave us psychiatry.

To imprison our agriculture, they created genetically modified seeds.

To imprison our soils, they created chemical pesticides.

To imprison our sense of self worth, they created fashion and cosmetics.

To imprison our speech, they created SOPA.

To imprison our persons and effects, they created the TSA.

To imprison our protests, they created the NDAA.

To imprison our productivity, they created the IRS.

To imprison our money supply, they created the Federal Reserve.

To imprison our financial future, they created endless debt.

Read moreTo Imprison Us All …

Interview With Oliver Stone: Expects America To Collapse – ‘The Most Interesting Candidate … Is Ron Paul’ – ‘He’s The Only One’ … ‘Saying Anything Intelligent About The Future Of The World’

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From the article:

“In fact, I think in many ways the most interesting candidate – I’d even vote for him if he was running against Obama – is Ron Paul.  Because he’s the only one of anybody who’s saying anything intelligent about the future of the world.”

– Director Oliver Stone On History. And America, Jim Morrison & Ron Paul. (Rock Cellar Magazine, Jan. 212)

In this candid conversation with Rock Cellar Magazine, Oliver Stone discusses On History, the new book he co-authored with Tariq Ali, the activist/intellectual who inspired Mick Jagger to write Street Fighting Man.

Stone also chats about his related TV documentary series, rock ’n’ roll, his preference in the current presidential race (Ron Paul?), and oh…the fall of the American empire…

Read moreInterview With Oliver Stone: Expects America To Collapse – ‘The Most Interesting Candidate … Is Ron Paul’ – ‘He’s The Only One’ … ‘Saying Anything Intelligent About The Future Of The World’

Lawmaker: Closing Strait of Hormuz is Iran’s right

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– Lawmaker: Closing Strait of Hormuz is Iran’s right (Guardian/AP, Jan. 23, 2012):

TEHRAN, Iran  — A senior Iranian lawmaker says his country has the right to shutter the strategic Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for oil sanctions on Tehran.

The remarks by Heshmatollah Falahapisheh came as EU nations on Monday agreed in Brussels on an oil embargo against Iran as part of sanctions over the country’s controversial nuclear program.

Read moreLawmaker: Closing Strait of Hormuz is Iran’s right

EU Finance Ministers Push Through ESM Treaty in Fishy Fly-by-Night Move (RED ALERT TO EVERYBODY INTERESTED IN THE ESM: THERE IS NO CURRENT VERSION OF THE ESM TREATY AVAILABLE!!!)

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“THERE IS NO CURRENT VERSION OF THE ESM TREATY AVAILABLE!”

What do you expect? Some believe the EU is turning into the EUSSR.

The NDAA has already turned the US into a fascist military police state.

And this really is the fascist New World Order that nobody wants to know off.

– EU Finance Ministers Push Through ESM Treaty in Fishy Fly-by-Night Move (ZeroHedge, Jan. 24, 2012):

RED ALERT TO EVERYBODY INTERESTED IN THE ESM: THERE IS NO CURRENT VERSION OF THE ESM TREATY AVAILABLE!!!

Europe’s most important treaty on the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which will lead the EU into a financial dictatorship, has been pushed through by EU finance ministers late Monday evening.

But the latest version of the ESM cannot be found on English and German EU websites. A link on consilium EU only leads to a ‘file not found’ message and the German EU website “Europa von A – Z” does not mention the ESM at all. This reminds one of the secrecy around the Federal Reserve Act, that was pushed through in 1912. Is the EU Commission now playing the same fishy game 100 years later?

Read moreEU Finance Ministers Push Through ESM Treaty in Fishy Fly-by-Night Move (RED ALERT TO EVERYBODY INTERESTED IN THE ESM: THERE IS NO CURRENT VERSION OF THE ESM TREATY AVAILABLE!!!)

EU Foreign Ministers Agree On Iranian Oil Embargo – Europe Is Shooting Itself In The Foot

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‘Brilliant’!

– India Joins Asian Dollar Exclusion Zone, Will Transact With Iran In Rupees:

Ironically, and as has been stated here many times before, by enacting the proposed sanctions and embargo, the US, but mostly Europe is doing nothing but shooting itself in the foot, as it opens up a brand new pathway of not only outright defiance, and thus political brownie points domestically, of the US, but it will allow it to buy even more crude, at cheaper prices, while in the process it is forced to build closer monetary relations with its neighboring countries, relations that rely less and less on the world’s increasingly less relevant reserve currency.

– EU Agrees Iranian Oil Embargo (Guardian, Jan. 23, 2012):

Foreign ministers’ deal in Brussels could lead to soaring fuel prices and Iran closing the strait of Hormuz

The long-running standoff between Iran and the west over Tehran’s nuclear programme has shifted into a more unpredictable phase after Europe decided to impose an oil embargo on the Islamic republic.

The decision by EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels raised the stakes dramatically in the war of wits between Iran and the west.

The EU decided no further oil contracts could be struck between the member states and Iran while existing oil delivery deals would be allowed to run until July.

Read moreEU Foreign Ministers Agree On Iranian Oil Embargo – Europe Is Shooting Itself In The Foot