This is the (intentionally created) ‘Greatest Depression’.
YouTube Added: 15.12.2011
EU
Who Gave Permission To A Bankrupt MF Global To Sell Italian Bonds To JP Morgan At A 5% Discount To Market Value?
– Who Gave Permission To A Bankrupt MF Global To Sell Italian Bonds To JPM At A 5% Discount To Market Value? (ZeroHedge, Dec. 13, 2011):
We already knew previously that shortly after it filed for bankruptcy, George Soros bought $2 billion in Italian bonds from the bankrupt MF Global. One thing we did not know was the terms of the purchase. Today, the WSJ has disclosed another facet of the bankruptcy which like Lehman will expose gigabytes of dirt on the corrupt US financial system. Namely, that after liquidating, MF sold Italian bonds – the culprit that ultimately led to the bank’s bankruptcy – to none other than JP Morgan and “one large hedge fund.”So far so good. Where it gets disturbing is that as the WSJ discloses, “buyers paid about 89 cents on the dollar for the Italian bonds, compared with a market price of about 94 cents at the time, according to the trader who bought them…Today, those bonds trade at more than 96 cents, according to Tradeweb.” Our question is first, why did the bankrupt MF Global estate proceed to unload post-filing assets and under whose discretion: after all the company had entered bankruptcy, and it is up to the estate, which includes bondholders and other stakeholders to determine what assets and under what conditions, can be liquidated. Did MF Global believe that the same exemption from the law that it apparently thought was applicable to its pre-petition, was also valid under bankruptcy? Because if the firm did not get prior-permission form a bankruptcy judge to liquidate these assets, this is an act far worse than commingling and even the firesale of Lehman’s US Brokerage to Barclays for pennies on the dollar – this is flaunting bankruptcy law front and center.
Secondly, and perhaps just as important, who on the estate agreed to give JPM a 5% explicit discount to what the article notes was a fair price that is 5% higher and which by definition would have had bidders at that price. We hope someone in the Senate will take a quick look at this note, and the related WSJ article, and ask Messrs Corzine et al to provide some much needed clarity on this topic.
William Engdahl: The Bankster Engineered Euro Crash (Video)
YouTube Added: 09.12.2011
Max Keiser: Crazy PM Cameron Suicidal With Knife In Euro Gunfight!
YouTube Added: 09.12.2011
Description:
The Euro’s future has been dealt a severe blow at eleventh hour talks in Brussels, as the UK refused to sign up to new EU treaties, leaving the rest of Europe to figure out a different approach. Marathon overnight talks mean the core Eurozone states will now make any further agreements among themselves, while other European countries can still join in to work out budget rules and changes. Max Keiser, financial analyst and the host of the ‘Keiser Report’ here on RT, says PM Cameron wants the whole world tolerate London as capital of fraud and sponsor it.
– EU Suffers Worst Split In History As David Cameron Blocks Treaty Change (Telegraph, Dec. 9, 2011):
But after 11 hours of bad-tempered talks, Mr Cameron said that he had blocked the changes because France and Germany had refused to agree to a “protocol” giving the City of London protection from a wave of EU financial service regulations related to the eurozone crisis.
Swiss, Germans Set To Unleash Capital Controls As European Companies Prepare For Euro Collapse
– Swiss, Germans Set To Unleash Capital Controls As European Companies Prepare For Euro End (ZeroHedge, Dec. 10, 2011):
Even as Eurozone leaders attempted to instill some meager sense of accomplishment following the latest (but certainly not last) Euro summit culminating with yet another 7-page term sheet which achieved absolutely nothing, and in fact succeeded in alienating the UK even more, the real game continues behind the scenes. And it is a game which the euro looks set to lose. As Bloomberg reports, in the aftermath of the Telegraph’s latest report confirming what has been said here all about the collateral crunch in Europe, Europe’s CEO are now actively preparing for the worst case outcome: the end of the Euro (despite UBS’ and other banks’ repeated calls that such an event would result in an end of the world). To wit: “Grupo Gowex (GOW), a Spanish provider of Wi-Fi wireless services, is moving funds to Germany because it expects Spain to exit the euro. German machinery maker GEA Group AG is setting maximum amounts held at any one bank. “I don’t trust Spain will remain in the euro zone,” said Jenaro Garcia, founder and chief executive officer of Madrid- based Grupo Gowex, which provides Wi-Fi access in 15 countries. “We moved our cash and deposits to Germany because Spain will come back to the peseta“… Contingency planning for an unraveling of the currency involves cutting investment, moving money to Germany, transferring headquarters to northern Europe from southern, and even going out of business.” And to all the chatterboxes on CNBC repeating ad inf that a Eurozone collapse would be “manageable” here is a person who actually knows what he is talking about: ““How do you control an explosion in a controlled way?” Fiat SpA (F) Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne told reporters in Brussels on Dec. 2. “That’s a contradiction in terms. This will be an implosion of some size with potentially disastrous consequences.” He is right, and while the outcome is certain, it will not stop Europe’s financial leader Germany from intervening in an attempt to prevent a surge in Deutsche Marks once the currency returns, and will likely set up capital control measures – that last bastion to every failing monetary system – to halt what is sure to be a record inflow of post-collapse DEM appreciating capital.
From Bloomberg:
EU Suffers Worst Split In History As David Cameron Blocks Treaty Change
– EU suffers worst split in history as David Cameron blocks treaty change (Telegraph, Dec. 9, 2011):
Britain was left isolated this morning with just three other countries, Sweden, Hungary and the Czech Republic, as an exultant Nicolas Sarkozy hailed a “historic” breakaway “euro plus” bloc that would pursue fiscal and economic union via a new treaty outside the EU.
The Prime Minister insisted that he had been prepared to support treaty change among all 27 of the EU’s members to allow the 17-strong eurozone to take measures to tackle its debt crisis and to enforce tough new fiscal rules for the single currency.
But after 11 hours of bad-tempered talks, Mr Cameron said that he had blocked the changes because France and Germany had refused to agree to a “protocol” giving the City of London protection from a wave of EU financial service regulations related to the eurozone crisis.
Read moreEU Suffers Worst Split In History As David Cameron Blocks Treaty Change
Moody’s Downgrades French Banks (Telegraph) – Eurozone Banking System On The Edge Of Collapse (Telegraph) – EU Summit: This Emergency Plan Is Great News – If You’re A Bank (Guardian)
Flashback ( on ECB’s Mario Draghi):
– ECB’s Mario Draghi: We Need Fiscal Union (= EUSSR), Not Bank Intervention
– Former Goldman Sachs Managing Director Mario Draghi Appointed European Central Bank President!
– Mario Draghi (Wikipedia):
Draghi was then vice chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International and a member of the firm-wide management committee (2002–2005). A controversy existed on his duties while employed at Goldman Sachs. Pascal Canfin (MEP) asserted Draghi was involved in swaps for European governments, namely Greece, trying to disguise their countries’ economic status.
– French banks downgraded by Moody’s (Telegraph, Dec. 9, 2011):
Moody’s has downgraded BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, and Credit Agricole warning their creditworthiness is being damaged by the fragile operating environment for European banks.
The agency cut its ratings on the long-term debt of BNP and Credit Agicole by one notch to Aa3, concluding reviews that began in June and were continued in September. Societe Generale’s long-term debt was cut by one notch to A1.
The downgrades were driven by the increasing difficulties the banks were having in raising funding and the worsening economic outlook, Moody’s said.
The news comes a day after the European Banking Authority (EBA), warned the region’s banks must find €114.7bn of extra capital in order to withstand the euro zone debt crisis and restore investor confidence.
Moody’s said its ratings did take into account the fact that all three French banks were likely to benefit from state support if the crisis deepened.
“Liquidity and funding conditions have deteriorated significantly,” said Moody’s, adding that the banks have historically relied on wholesale funding markets.
“The probability that the will face further funding pressures has risen in line with the worsening European debt crisis.”
– Eurozone banking system on the edge of collapse (Telegraph, Dec. 9, 2011):
Senior analysts and traders warned of impending bank failures as a summit intended to solve the European crisis failed to deliver a solution that eased concerns over bank funding.
The European Central Bank admitted it had held meetings about providing emergency funding to the region’s struggling banks, however City figures said a “collateral crunch” was looming.
“If anyone thinks things are getting better then they simply don’t understand how severe the problems are. I think a major bank could fail within weeks,” said one London-based executive at a major global bank.
Many banks, including some French, Italian and Spanish lenders, have already run out of many of the acceptable forms of collateral such as US Treasuries and other liquid securities used to finance short-term loans and have been forced to resort to lending out their gold reserves to maintain access to dollar funding.
“The system is creaking. There is a large amount of stress,” said Anthony Peters, a strategist at Swissinvest, pointing to soaring interbank lending rates.
Radical Eurozone Shakeup Could Give Brussels Power To Impose Austerity Measures On Bailed Out Countries, Stripping Them From Voting Rights In The EU
– Radical eurozone shakeup could see Brussels get austerity powers (Guardian, Dec. 6, 2011):
Confidential paper from council president Herman Van Rompuy proposes empowering the commission to impose austerity
The European commission could be empowered to impose austerity measures on eurozone countries that are being bailed out, usurping the functions of government in countries such as Greece, Ireland, or Portugal.
Bailed-out countries could also be stripped of their voting rights in the European Union, under radical proposals that have been circulating at the highest level in Brussels before this week’s crucial EU summit on the sovereign debt crisis.
A confidential paper for EU leaders by the EU council president, Herman Van Rompuy, who will chair the summit on Thursday and Friday, said eurobonds or the pooling of eurozone debt would be a powerful tool in resolving the crisis, despite fierce German resistance to the idea.
700,000 Tons Fake Italian Organic Food Sold Around Europe
– Fake Italian organic food sold around Europe: police (AFP, Dec. 6, 2011):
Fake organic products from Italy have been sold around Europe, Italian police said on Tuesday as they announced the results of an inquiry that has led to seven arrests and the seizure of 2,500 tons of food.
The police said 700,000 tons of illegal organic products valued at 220 million euros ($295 million) had been sold over several years across Italy and to Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
The people arrested included executives from three agro-business companies — Sunny Land, Sona and Bioecoitalia — as well as the local director of a certifying body from the Marche farming region of central Italy.
Italy’s main association of organic producers, AIAB, said the inquiry “sheds light on the weaknesses of the sector in controls over the import of raw materials, particularly those used for livestock like soya and barley.”
It said there were also insufficient checks in the production of organic bread and pasta and warned that there should be more checks to avoid “mafia infiltration” in a sector that is booming in contrast to farming in general.
Read more700,000 Tons Fake Italian Organic Food Sold Around Europe
Hitler Hears About The Collapse Of The Eurozone (Video)
– Hitler Hears About The Collapse Of The Eurozone (ZeroHedge, Dec. 9, 2011):
It was only a matter of time… Needless to say, this is obviously so wrong on so many levels, but what can you do. At this point the endgame is in play so at least we can all laugh about it.
YouTube Added: Dec. 8, 2011
See also:
– Germany’s Handelsblatt: Worst Case Planning: Switzerland Prepares For EURO COLLAPSE
– Silent Bank Run In Greece: ‘Anxious Greeks Emptying Their Bank Accounts’ (Spiegel)
Germany’s Handelsblatt: Worst Case Planning: Switzerland Prepares For EURO COLLAPSE
The only safe haven (so far) is physical gold (and silver).
Flashback:
– Global Currency Wars Sees Swiss Franc Devalue 8.5% Against Gold In Week
See also:
– Silent Bank Run In Greece: ‘Anxious Greeks Emptying Their Bank Accounts’ (Spiegel)
– Hedge Fund Manager Kyle Bass Explains The New World Order (Panel Presentation):
Don’t believe these governments when they tell you everything is going to fine. The day before Mexico devalued by 60% they denied that they would ever devalue. They can and will never tell you the truth. Find your own numbers.
Again prepare for the greatest economic/financial collapse in (known) world history:
The Swiss Government prepares for bad end of the euro crisis.
Die Schweizer Regierung trifft Vorkehrungen für ein böses Ende der Euro-Krise.
Source/Quelle: dpa
Google translation (Original article in German below.):
– Worst-case planning Switzerland prepares for Euro-collapse before (Handelsblatt, Dec. 8, 2011):
Zurich – Switzerland prepares contingency plans in the event that the €-crisis escalates. The government would oppose a particular flight in the Swiss franc. In this context, a working group examining and negative interest rates and capital controls, the Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said in Parliament yesterday. At negative interest rates of foreign assets in CHF are subject to a penalty tax.
“We are certainly prepared for possible alternatives,” Widmer-Schlumpf said on questions of deputies, the government would like to respond. To capital controls or negative interest rates, she said: “These are questions which are examined in this Task Force on the franc strength.”
Money is a safe haven
Read moreGermany’s Handelsblatt: Worst Case Planning: Switzerland Prepares For EURO COLLAPSE
EU High Court Confirms France’s GM Crop Ban Is Illegal
– EU High Court Confirms France’s GM Crop Ban Is Illegal (Seed Today, Nov. 28, 2011):
Brussels — Today, France’s highest court, the Conseil d’Etat, has confirmed that the European Court of Justice’s judgment that the 2008 French ban on the cultivation of genetically modified crops (GM) is illegal. Both courts overturned the national ban declaring that the French Government presented no scientific evidence of any risk to health or the environment from these crops.
Carel du Marchie Sarvaas, EuropaBio’s Director of Green Biotechnology Europe, commented, “These judgments from the highest European court and the highest French court send one message loud and clear: bans of GM crops cannot be based on political dogma. As both judgments state, no ban on planting GM crops can be declared without valid scientific evidence, something that France and other European countries have not produced.”
Read moreEU High Court Confirms France’s GM Crop Ban Is Illegal
And Now … Toilet Paper Restrictions Imposed On Schoolchildren In Spain In Latest Austerity Cuts
– Toilet paper restrictions imposed on schoolchildren in Spain in latest austerity cuts (Telegraph, Dec. 6, 2011):
Schoolchildren in Catalonia are the latest victims of austerity cuts with authorities instructing them to limit their use of lavatory paper in a bid to save money.
The northeastern region has been ordered to rein in its deficit and has embarked on a series of stringent austerity cuts.
The latest edict issued by the region’s ministry of education instructs state schools to cut “excessive consumption” of toilet roll among pupils and limit the quota to a maximum of 25 metres per child per month.
Silent Bank Run In Greece: ‘Anxious Greeks Emptying Their Bank Accounts’ (Spiegel)
– Anxious Greeks Emptying Their Bank Accounts (Spiegel, Dec. 6, 2011):
Many Greeks are draining their savings accounts because they are out of work, face rising taxes or are afraid the country will be forced to leave the euro zone. By withdrawing money, they are forcing banks to scale back their lending — and are inadvertently making the recession even worse.
Georgios Provopoulos, the governor of the central bank of Greece, is a man of statistics, and they speak a clear language. “In September and October, savings and time deposits fell by a further 13 to 14 billion euros. In the first 10 days of November the decline continued on a large scale,” he recently told the economic affairs committee of the Greek parliament.
With disarming honesty, the central banker explained to the lawmakers why the Greek economy isn’t managing to recover from a recession that has gone on for three years now: “Our banking system lacks the scope to finance growth.”
He means that the outflow of funds from Greek bank accounts has been accelerating rapidly. At the start of 2010, savings and time deposits held by private households in Greece totalled €237.7 billion — by the end of 2011, they had fallen by €49 billion. Since then, the decline has been gaining momentum. Savings fell by a further €5.4 billion in September and by an estimated €8.5 billion in October — the biggest monthly outflow of funds since the start of the debt crisis in late 2009.
Read moreSilent Bank Run In Greece: ‘Anxious Greeks Emptying Their Bank Accounts’ (Spiegel)
Federal Reserve May Give Loans To IMF To Help Euro Zone
See also:
– The Federal Reserve And The $16 Trillion Bankster Bailout
– Fed may give loans to IMF to help euro zone: paper (Reuters, Dec. 4, 2011):
The Federal Reserve, along with the 17 euro zone national central banks, may help provide the International Monetary Fund with funds that could be used to aid debt-ridden states, a German newspaper said.
Die Welt cited sources close to the negotiations as saying the euro zone central banks could pay at least 100 billion euros ($134.2 billion) into a special fund that could be used for programs for nations struggling to control their debts.
“Also other central banks, for example the U.S. Federal Reserve, are apparently prepared to finance a part of the costs,” the paper said in an advance copy of an article to appear on Monday.
Read moreFederal Reserve May Give Loans To IMF To Help Euro Zone
Nigel Farage: ‘This Is How Dictatorship Begins’ (Video)
YouTube Added: 28.11.2011
ECB Buys €3.7 Billion In Bonds Last Week, Total Now €207 Billion: All Eyes Turn To Tomorrow’s Sterilization Procedure
– ECB Buys €3.7 Billion In Bonds Last Week, Total Now €207 Billion: All Eyes Turn To Tomorrow’s Sterilization Procedure (ZeroHedge, Dec. 5, 2011):
In a less than surprising turn of events, last week the ECB “only” bought €3.7 billion in peripheral bonds, which was to be expected considering the Fed announced the global FX liquidity swap rate cut on Wednesday morning providing a quite visible hand to push yields lower at least briefly, so in essence the ECB only had to keep the market up for half the required amount of time. Far more importantly, the total amount of bonds now carried on the ECB’s books is €207 billion. This is important, because as readers will recall the ECB failed to sterilize an amount lower than this, or €203.5 billion, last week, with just €194.2 billion in bids submitted. Naturally, with the total cumulative amount increasing every single week, the likelihood of future sterilization failures only gets bigger and bigger. We will find out if the European banks parking a near record amount of cash with the ECB as of today, will result in a second failed sterilization in a row tomorrow and just how favorable the market will approaching this particular latest flashing red light around 7 am Eastern tomorrow.
Gerald Celente: ‘IT’S FASCIST. CAN’T YOU SEE IT?’ – ‘It’s A TAKEOVER’ – ‘Hail Obama!’ – ‘The United States Has Become One Big Warsaw Ghetto’
A MUST-SEE!
And watch Joe Biden in the second video!
See also:
– The Federal Reserve And The $16 Trillion Bankster Bailout
If Nostradamus were alive today, he’d have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente.
– New York PostWhen CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente.
– CNN Headline NewsThere’s not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he’s talking about.
– CNBCThose who take their predictions seriously … consider the Trends Research Institute.
– The Wall Street JournalA network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university faculties.
– The Economist
YouTube Added: 03.12.2011
YouTube Added: 03.12.2011
Don’t miss:
– The New American: US Senate Traitors Pass ‘Indefinite Detention’ Bill S.1867, Create A Military Police State – Senator Rand Paul’s Adress To The American People (Video)
– Business Insider: The Media’s Blackout Of The National Defense Authorization Act Is Shameful – ‘IF THIS BILL PASSES IN ITS CURRENT FORM THE UNITED STATES WILL BE A MILITARY POLICE STATE’ (Video)
– Constitutional lawyer (Yale Law School graduate) & Founder Of Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes: Senate Bill Declares War On Americans (Video)
– Wired: U.S. Senate Wants The Military To Lock You Up Without Trial
– Natural News: Occupied America: Senate Bill 1867 Would Allow US Military To Detain And Murder Anti-Government Protesters In American Cities
– Mother Jones: Is the US Getting Domestic Indefinite Military Detention (Also For US Citizens And Legal Permanent Residents) For Thanksgiving?
Unintentionally Hilarious EU Video Celebrates The ‘Success’ Of The Euro
You really can’t make this stuff up!
– Unintentionally hilarious EU video celebrates the ‘success’ of the euro (Telegraph, Dec. 2, 2011):
The euro shall triumph over the markets!
I’ve tried, I really have, to go easy on the whole EUSSR-Stalinist shtick. But there are times when Evropeiski Soyuz propaganda is beyond parody. I mean, just look at this video, launched by the European Central Bank to celebrate a decade of the unalloyed triumph of the single currency. For all the efforts by markets, bond traders and other agents of Goldsteinism to sabotage The Party, the project remains on course, comrades.
I particularly enjoyed the clever touch of making the woman at the beginning Greek. And the instruction to Greeks that they had until 1 March to exchange their old drachma notes for euros – sublime!
And Now: Portugal Raids Pension Funds To Meet Deficit Targets!
– Portugal raids pension funds to meet deficit targets (Telegraph, Dec. 2, 2011):
Portugal has raided €5.6bn (£4.8bn) of pension fund assets in a controversial scramble to meet its deficit targets.
The cabinet agreed to transfer the assets from four of Portugal’s biggest banks to the state balance sheet.
Read moreAnd Now: Portugal Raids Pension Funds To Meet Deficit Targets!
And Now: France Seizes €36 Billion Of Pension Assets
See also:
– And Now: Portugal Raids Pension Funds To Meet Deficit Targets!
– France Seizes €36bn of pension assets (Financial News, Nov. 29, 2011):
Asset managers will have the chance to get billions of euros in mandates in the next few months for the €36bn Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR), the French reserve pension fund, after the French parliament last week passed a law to use its assets to pay off the debts of France’s welfare system.
The assets have been transferred into the state’s social debt sinking fund Cades. The FRR will continue to control the assets, but as a third-party manager on behalf of Cades.
Read moreAnd Now: France Seizes €36 Billion Of Pension Assets
Hedge Fund Manager Kyle Bass Explains The New World Order (Panel Presentation)
Kyle Bass:
…what does this all mean? It means war.
And your governments prepare for that …
– Business Insider: The Media’s Blackout Of The National Defense Authorization Act Is Shameful – ‘IF THIS BILL PASSES IN ITS CURRENT FORM THE UNITED STATES WILL BE A MILITARY POLICE STATE’ (Video)
– Constitutional lawyer (Yale Law School graduate) & Founder Of Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes: Senate Bill Declares War On Americans (Video)
– Wired: U.S. Senate Wants The Military To Lock You Up Without Trial
– Natural News: Occupied America: Senate Bill 1867 Would Allow US Military To Detain And Murder Anti-Government Protesters In American Cities
– Mother Jones: Is the US Getting Domestic Indefinite Military Detention (Also For US Citizens And Legal Permanent Residents) For Thanksgiving?
… and so do the people …
– ABC News: Black Friday Best-Seller: Guns!
– Kyle Bass Explains The New World Order – Panel Presentation (ZeroHedge, Dec. 2, 2011):
Unlike the broad consensus of prognosticators who feel the road for the US is a decade or more, Bass sees a three-to-five year window for a credible solution to the debt saturation or else kicking the can will cease to have any impact. The reason for the proximity is the acceleration of what happens in Europe and Japan with that respective chronology his central view – which he sees a s critical in understanding for every money manager.
In this extended interview at AmeriCatalyst, he points to the optimistic self-deception biases that leave people unable to comprehend the scenarios as they either lead to a really bad outcome or a nominally bad outcome. Using the Lehman moment as an example, Bass explains how we have been conditioned to believe there is always a backstop or savior…now those backstops at a corporate and sovereign level (central banks and the IMF for example) are being called into question in their roles (being seen for what they are – as just promises) and it is the chasm between what we want to believe and what does happen that is enormous and leaves the extreme volatility, risk-on/risk-off market the way it is.
Reiterating how critical the psychology of today’s situation, Bass goes on to debunk the optimism of globalization (at least for the Western world), destroy the myth of a 50% greek writedown solution, Japanese xenophobia and savings losses, structural versus cyclical implications for US equity deterioration, US deficits and housing‘s bottom, global debt saturation and how this tearing at the social fabric of the world will lead to – war.
Click image for video (no embed available)
This extended interview includes some of the following views (among many others):
On Greece:
For those who think a 50% write-down on debt will fix Greece, you have lost your mind. It is only a full wipe-out of the non-TROIKA-owned debt that is the only mathematical way for Greece to have any chance.
On the IMF and its role as global savior
He discusses in some detail Keynes and the IMF formation and the new world order he foresees as our era of the largest peacetime accumulation of global debt has no precedent (as it has historically ended in conflict or been created by conflict).
And how this debt saturation will inebitably play out:
Fundamentally, its about the social fabric of the world…what does this all mean? It means war.
And summarizing for every long-only talking head pitch-man:
This is not a cyclical rebound from a crisis we had two years and you should NOT be buying stocks because a P/E ratio is low relative to historical S&P behavior because the E is wrong. We are going to see declines and people don’t know how to position themselves for declines. We are at peak earnings now! Earnings only look good because if you take all the bad assets and put them on the public balance sheet.
We need to delever globally. We haven’t delevered. Just now we are seeing marginal delevering in Europe and all hell is breaking loose. An summing up:
Consensus is US low/slow GDP growth – no recession, US better than Europe, Europe mild recession, muddle through, go all in to Emerging markets as that’s where the convexity is.
The consensus is never going to be right.
I don’t get paid to be an optimist or a pessimist. I get paid to be a realist and the realist negative currently.
Don’t believe these governments when they tell you everything is going to fine. The day before Mexico devalued by 60% they denied that they would ever devalue. They can and will never tell you the truth. Find your own numbers.
More from Kyle Bass:
– Of Imminent Defaults And Self Deception: Hedge Fund Manager Kyle Bass Prepares For The Worst
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
– Benjamin Franklin
ECB’s Mario Draghi: We Need Fiscal Union (= EUSSR), Not Bank Intervention
See also:
– Former Goldman Sachs Managing Director Mario Draghi Appointed European Central Bank President!
– Mario Draghi (Wikipedia):
Draghi was then vice chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International and a member of the firm-wide management committee (2002–2005). A controversy existed on his duties while employed at Goldman Sachs. Pascal Canfin (MEP) asserted Draghi was involved in swaps for European governments, namely Greece, trying to disguise their countries’ economic status.
A nice summary on what is going on:
– Gerald Celente Endorses Ron Paul For President – ‘The Entire Economic System Is Collapsing’ – ‘Fascism Has Come To America In Every Form’ (Video – Nov. 29, 2011)
Problem – reaction – solution!
– ECB’s Draghi: We need fiscal union, not bank intervention (Telegraph, Dec. 1, 2011):
Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, signalled on Thursday that the bank does not plan to prop up bond markets and urged governments to move towards fiscal union to resolve the debt crisis.
Mr Draghi, addressing the European parliament in Brussels, indicated the bank would cut official interest rates for the second time in two months at next week’s policy meeting because downside risks to the economic outlook had increased.
But he said ECB bond buying to pull down borrowing rates can “only be limited” and there needs to be a “comprehensive deepening” of fiscal ties.
“What I believe our economic and monetary union needs is a new fiscal compact – a fundamental restatement of the fiscal rules together with the mutual fiscal commitments that euro area governments have made,” he said.
“We might be asked whether a new fiscal compact would be enough to stabilise markets and how a credible longer-term vision can be helpful in the short term. Our answer is that it is definitely the most important element to start restoring credibility.”
“Draghi is trying to manage market expectations to make people understand the ECB won’t behave like the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve,” Michala Marcussen, global head of economics at Societe Generale in Paris.
Read moreECB’s Mario Draghi: We Need Fiscal Union (= EUSSR), Not Bank Intervention
UK Banks Told To Prepare For Collapse Of The EURO! – British Government Admits Stepping Up Preparations For Chaotic Euro Collapse
– PREPARE FOR END OF THE EURO, BANKS TOLD (Express, Dec. 1,2011):
ALARM at the economic turmoil in Europe intensified last night after the Government admitted preparations for the chaotic collapse of the euro were being “stepped up”.
Downing Street is understood to be embroiled in intensive “contingency planning” for Greece and possibly Italy, Spain and Portugal quitting the eurozone.
British banks have been urged by the City’s watchdog to brace themselves for the collapse of the single currency.
The Financial Services Authority warned that the unravelling of the 17-nation eurozone could wreak havoc on the UK banking system.
City sources said Hector Sants, chief executive of the FSA, made the plea at a crisis meeting with senior bosses from high street banks.
And, in a sign of growing panic, a senior French politician warned the crisis could trigger “the return to violent conflict” in Europe.
Alain Juppe, France’s foreign minister, added: “It could be the explosion of the European Union itself.”
Of Imminent Defaults And Self Deception: Hedge Fund Manager Kyle Bass Prepares For The Worst
Flashback:
– Of Imminent Defaults And Self Deception. Kyle Bass Prepares For The Worst (ZeroHedge, Nov. 30, 2011):
In his latest letter to LPs, Kyle Bass of Hayman Capital Management, offers his tell-tale clarity on what may lie ahead for Europe and Japan. With his over-arching thesis of debt saturation becoming more plain to see around every corner, Bass bundles the simple (and somewhat unarguable) facts of quantitative analysis with a qualitative perspective on the cruel self-deception that we all see and read every day about Europe.
Whether it is Kahneman’s “availability heuristic” (wherein participants assess the probability of an event based on whether relevant examples are cognitively “available”), the Pavlovian pro-cyclicality of thought, or the extraordinary delusions of groupthink, investors in today’s sovereign debt markets can’t seem to envision the consequences of a default.
His Japanese scenario is no less convicted, as we have discussed a number of times, with the accelerant of this debt-bomb being the very-same European debacle and his time-frame for this is set to begin in the next few months.