– Former UBS Trader Arrested, Charged With Rigging Gold Prices:
…
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UBS
Gold Manipulation: UBS & Deutsche Trader Transcripts: “When Gold Goes Above 1430 We Whack It”
– “When Gold Goes Above 1430 We Whack It”:
Submitted by Allan Flynn via ComexWeHaveAProblem blog,
As it goes in silver, so it goes in gold. In London at least.
In a bid to have UBS reinstated as a defendant in a London Gold Fix antitrust lawsuit, plaintiffs documents submitted to a New York Court last week include explosive chat room transcripts of UBS and traders from different banks encouraging each other to “push,” “smack,” and “whack” gold prices.
The transcripts are equally as startling as those described of banks of the London Silver Fix and UBS given to the court the previous day and described last week in this article.
Deutsche Bank Provides “Smoking Gun” Proof Of Massive Rigging And Fraud In The Silver Market
– Deutsche Bank Provides “Smoking Gun” Proof Of Massive Rigging And Fraud In The Silver Market:
Back in April, when we first reported that Deutsche Bank had agreed to settle allegations it had rigged the silver market in exchange for $38 million, we revealed something stunning: “in a curious twist, the settlement letter revealed that the former members of the manipulation cartel have turned on each other“, and that Deutsche Bank would provide docments implicating other precious metals riggers. To wit: “In addition to valuable monetary consideration, Deutsche Bank has also agreed to provide cooperation to plaintiffs, including the production of instant messages, and other electronic communications, as part of the settlement. In Plaintiff’s estimation, the cooperation to be provided by Deutsche Bank will substantially assist Plaintiffs in the prosecution of their claims against the non-settling defendants.”
Overnight we finally got a glimpse into what this “production” contained, and according to documents filed by the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit, what Deutsche Bank provided as part of its settlement was nothing short of “smoking gun” proof that UBS Group AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, Bank of Nova Scotia and other firms rigged the silver market. The allegation, as Bloomberg first noted, came in a filing Wednesday in a Manhattan federal court lawsuit filed in 2014 by individuals and entities that bought or sold futures contracts.
A Disturbing Warning From UBS: “Buy Gold” Because A 30% Bear Market Is Coming
– A Disturbing Warning From UBS: “Buy Gold” Because A 30% Bear Market Is Coming:
As Wall Street axioms (Santa rally, January effect, as goes January etc.) are rapidly falling by the wayside at the start of 2016, following a chaotic but return-less 2015, the UBS analysts who correctly forecast last year’s volatility are out with their forecast for 2016. It’s simple – Sell Stocks, Buy Gold… expect a Fed u-turn.
How UBS Sent Millions to the Clintons After Hillary Saved the Mega Bank While Secretary of State
– How UBS Sent Millions to the Clintons After Hillary Saved the Mega Bank While Secretary of State (Liberty Blitzkrieg, July 30, 2015):
A few weeks after Hillary Clinton was sworn in as secretary of state in early 2009, she was summoned to Geneva by her Swiss counterpart to discuss an urgent matter. The Internal Revenue Service was suing UBS AG to get the identities of Americans with secret accounts.
If the case proceeded, Switzerland’s largest bank would face an impossible choice: Violate Swiss secrecy laws by handing over the names, or refuse and face criminal charges in U.S. federal court.
Within months, Mrs. Clinton announced a tentative legal settlement—an unusual intervention by the top U.S. diplomat. UBS ultimately turned over information on 4,450 accounts, a fraction of the 52,000 sought by the IRS, an outcome that drew criticism from some lawmakers who wanted a more extensive crackdown.
From that point on, UBS’s engagement with the Clinton family’s charitable organization increased. Total donations by UBS to the Clinton Foundation grew from less than $60,000 through 2008 to a cumulative total of about $600,000 by the end of 2014, according the foundation and the bank.
The bank also joined the Clinton Foundation to launch entrepreneurship and inner-city loan programs, through which it lent $32 million. And it paid former president Bill Clinton $1.5 million to participate in a series of question-and-answer sessions with UBS Wealth Management Chief Executive Bob McCann, making UBS his biggest single corporate source of speech income disclosed since he left the White House.
– From today’s Wall Street Journal article: UBS Deal Shows Clinton’s Complicated Ties
The best part about Hillary Clinton’s run for the Presidency, is the endless series of scandals and shadiness that inevitably comes along with being part of an entrenched status quo family that prioritizes the accumulation of wealth and power above all else. The reason Barack Obama was able to generate so much genuine “hope” prior to his election is 2008, is because he was a complete unknown. He could say all the right things, and it was easy for people to believe the hype.
UBS Had Libor-Rigging Instruction Manual, Former Trader Claims
– UBS Had Libor-Rigging Instruction Manual, Former Trader Claims (ZeroHedge, June 19, 2015):
Just like in the case of Goldman’s first of its kind MBS settlement which unleashed over $200 billion in legal charges against the US banking system (an IRR of about 1% relative to the criminal gains) and which in turn cast all the blame on the infamous Fabrice Tourre who was the solitary scapegoat for all of Goldman’s Abacus transgressions, so when it comes to Libor rigging at one of the biggest culprits, Swiss bank UBS, all the senior executives are trying to put all the blame on 35-year old Tom Hayes who is the centerpiece of the prosecution’s case against Libor manipulator.
The only problem: Hayes won’t go down without a fight and unlike Tourre who may well have been promised a Swiss bank account with many zeroes in it on the other side, Hayes is fighting back and making it very clear that it wasn’t just him who was rigging Libor. It was everyone. And everyone knew about it, from the traders on to the very top.
His proof: a Libor “manipulation” manual, presented as evidence in court.
Read moreUBS Had Libor-Rigging Instruction Manual, Former Trader Claims
Ten Banks, Including JPM, Goldman, Deutsche, Barclays, SocGen And UBS, Probed For Gold Rigging
From the article:
“Under scrutiny are Bank of Nova Scotia , Barclays PLC, Credit Suisse Group AG , Deutsche Bank AG , Goldman Sachs Group Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Société Générale SA, Standard Bank Group Ltd. and UBS AG , according to one of the people close to the investigation.”
– Ten Banks, Including JPM, Goldman, Deutsche, Barclays, SocGen And UBS, Probed For Gold Rigging (ZeroHedge, Feb 23, 2015):
No matter how many times the big banks are caught red-handed manipulating precious metals, some failed former Deutsche Bank prop-trader (you know who you are) will take a vociferous stand based on ad hominem attacks and zero facts that no, what you see in front of you is not precious metal rigging at all but a one-off event that has nothing to do with a criminal banking syndicate hell bent on taking advantage of anyone who is naive and dumb enough to still believe in fair and efficient markets.
Caught Rigging FX and Gold? Your Punishment Will Be A Bonus Capped At Just 200% Of Your Base Salary
– Caught Rigging FX and Gold? Your Punishment Will Be A Bonus Capped At Just 200% Of Your Base Salary (ZeroHedge, Nov 11, 2014):
…
There are many more details and we will break them out shortly, but cutting to the chase, here is the punishment:
FINMA has also instructed UBS to limit bonuses for traders of foreign exchange and precious metals to 200 percent of their base salary for two years.
Which means that clearly nobody is going to jail, however the punishment is far more harsh: riggers will have a bonus of ONLY 200% their base salary for two years to look forward to!
The horror, the horror.
Which naturally means that base salaries across the rigging banks are about to soar to offset the tempoyrary bonus cap to the “keep the talent” happy. After all someone has to keep on rigging markets and generate bank revenue.
Gold Rigging Settlement With UBS – Other Banks To Follow
– Gold Rigging Settlement With UBS – Other Banks To Follow (GoldCore, Nov 10, 2014):
Suspicions that the price of precious metals are frequently manipulated by a few international banks were further confirmed over the weekend. UBS agreed to settle with various international regulatory bodies investigating rigging in foreign exchange and precious metals markets.
…
This Is What Happens When Trying To Get To The Bottom Of The UBS Gold-Rigging Scandal
– This Is What Happens When Trying To Get To The Bottom Of The UBS Gold-Rigging Scandal (ZeroHedge, Nov 9, 2014):
As reported previously, and as had been suspected for years, the gold manipulation cartel is slowly breaking apart, and courtesy of the FT, we now know at least one individual directly implicated in Swiss gold-rigging: the former head of UBS’s gold desk in Zurich, André Flotron. So as part of our diligence, because apparently no other media will touch the topic of gold rigging until and unless it is shoved in their face on a, ahem, silver platter, because after all the subject matter is just too “conspiratorial”, we decided to ask Mr. Flotron some on the record questions, and sent him an email. This is the response we got…
…
Europe Demands Banks Hand Over Their Lunch Money Following Swiss Franc Libor Rigging
– Europe Demands Banks Hand Over Their Lunch Money Following Swiss Franc Libor Rigging (ZeroHedge, Oct 21, 2014):
…And don’t do it again!
Having confirmed that RBS, UBS, JPMorgan,,and Credit Suisse operated a cartell to manipulate bid-ask spreads of Swiss Franc libor, the European Commission has unleashed unmerciless vengeance on these law-breaking institutions:
JPMorgan fined EUR 72.2 Million, UBS fined EUR 12.7 Million, Credit Suisse fined EUR 9.17 Million, & RBS Nothing (for whistle-blowing).
Read moreEurope Demands Banks Hand Over Their Lunch Money Following Swiss Franc Libor Rigging
UBS Investigated For Gold Manipulation Suggesting Gold Inquiry Goes Beyond London Fix
– UBS Investigated For Gold Manipulation Suggesting Gold Inquiry Goes Beyond London Fix (ZeroHedge, March 17, 2014):
The last time the FT penned an article on the topic of gold manipulation, titled “Gold price rigging fears put investors on alert” it was promptly taken down without much (any) of an explanation. Luckily, we recorded the article for posterity here. Earlier today, another article on the topic appears to have slipped through the cracks of the distinguished editors of the financial journal that enjoys the ad spend of the status quo, when it reported that “Gold pricing scrutiny widens”, hardly an update that will take the world by storm, however it is notable that “even” the FT, where for years goldbugs claiming gold manipulation had been ridiculed, is finally start to admit the glaringly obvious.
In this case, the FT looks at one of the most habitual and recidivist manipulators of practically every asset class that the market has ever known, Swiss bank UBS, better known as the rat that is allegedly perfectly happy to expose all other manipulators in exchange for immunity, and focuses on the Friday’s admission by UBS in its 2013 annual report: “that a review of its foreign exchange operations has been widened to include its precious metals business. In the report, the Swiss bank said: “Following an initial media report in June 2013 of widespread irregularities in the foreign exchange markets, UBS immediately commenced an internal review of its foreign exchange business, which includes our precious metals business.”
Read moreUBS Investigated For Gold Manipulation Suggesting Gold Inquiry Goes Beyond London Fix
Meet The “Bandits’ Club” – The TBTF Wall Street Cartel Rigging The FX Market
– Meet the “Bandits’ Club” – The TBTF Wall Street Cartel Rigging the FX Market (Liberty Blitzkrieg, Dec 20, 2013):
Another day, another tale of how the “Too Big to Jail” Wall Street cartel manipulates a major global market with no repercussions whatsoever. Must be nice having essentially every Congressperson and regulator in your back pocket. Get caught? Pay a little fine and get on with it. Everyone wins!
Actually, everyone loses. Except for the handful of FX manipulators, rigging global currency markets from their Essex villages outside of London. These traders for major TBTF banks refer to themselves by various names in their now silenced Bloomberg chat rooms, from The Cartel,” “The Bandits’ Club,” “One Team, One Dream” and “The Mafia.” Very classy guys. Glad we bailed your asses out…
More from Bloomberg:
Read moreMeet The “Bandits’ Club” – The TBTF Wall Street Cartel Rigging The FX Market
Matt Taibbi: Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever … ‘The Illuminati Were Amateurs’
‘The Illuminati were amateurs’???
J.P. Morgan is a Rothschild front and the Illuminati do not only control the big banks and the governments, they also took over control of the media a long time ago:
– J.P. Morgan Interests Buy 25 of America’s Leading Newspapers and Insert Editors:
U.S. Congressional Record February 9, 1917, page 2947
Congressman Calloway announced that the J.P. Morgan interests bought 25 of America’s leading newspapers, and inserted their own editors, in order to control the media.
Mr. CALLAWAY: Mr. Chairman, under unanimous consent, I insert into the Record at this point a statement showing the newspaper combination, which explains their activity in the war matter, just discussed by the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. MOORE]:
“In March, 1915, the J.P. Morgan interests, the steel, ship building and powder interests and their subsidiary organizations, got together 12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press in the United States.
“These 12 men worked the problems out by selecting 179 newspapers, and then began, by an elimination process, to retain only those necessary for the purpose of controlling the general policy of the daily press throughout the country. They found it was only necessary to purchase the control of 25 of the greatest papers. The 25 papers were agreed upon; emissaries were sent to purchase the policy, national and international, of these papers; an agreement was reached; the policy of the papers was bought, to be paid for by the month; an editor was furnished for each paper to properly supervise and edit information regarding the questions of preparedness, militarism, financial policies and other things of national and international nature considered vital to the interests of the purchasers.
“This contract is in existence at the present time, and it accounts for the news columns of the daily press of the country being filled with all sorts of preparedness arguments and misrepresentations as to the present condition of the United States Army and Navy, and the possibility and probability of the United States being attacked by foreign foes.
“This policy also included the suppression of everything in opposition to the wishes of the interests served. The effectiveness of this scheme has been conclusively demonstrated by the character of the stuff carried in the daily press throughout the country since March, 1915. They have resorted to anything necessary to commercialize public sentiment and sandbag the National Congress into making extravagant and wasteful appropriations for the Army and Navy under false pretense that it was necessary. Their stock argument is that it is ‘patriotism.’ They are playing on every prejudice and passion of the American people.”
So FORGET about the Illuminati (the real elitists) and just blame their bankster elite puppets, their government elite puppets (like Obama, Bush, Clinton etc.) and their corporate media presstitutes for everything instead!!!
George carlin sums it up best:
– George Carlin: The American Dream (Video):
A short excerpt from the video “Life Is Worth Losing” (2005).
That said, enjoy Matt Taibbi’s otherwise excellent article and writing style.
The Illuminati were amateurs. The second huge financial scandal of the year reveals the real international conspiracy: There’s no price the big banks can’t fix
– Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever (Rolling Stone, by Matt Taibbi, April 25, 2013):
Conspiracy theorists of the world, believers in the hidden hands of the Rothschilds and the Masons and the Illuminati, we skeptics owe you an apology. You were right. The players may be a little different, but your basic premise is correct: The world is a rigged game. We found this out in recent months, when a series of related corruption stories spilled out of the financial sector, suggesting the world’s largest banks may be fixing the prices of, well, just about everything.
You may have heard of the Libor scandal, in which at least three – and perhaps as many as 16 – of the name-brand too-big-to-fail banks have been manipulating global interest rates, in the process messing around with the prices of upward of $500 trillion (that’s trillion, with a “t”) worth of financial instruments. When that sprawling con burst into public view last year, it was easily the biggest financial scandal in history – MIT professor Andrew Lo even said it “dwarfs by orders of magnitude any financial scam in the history of markets.”
That was bad enough, but now Libor may have a twin brother. Word has leaked out that the London-based firm ICAP, the world’s largest broker of interest-rate swaps, is being investigated by American authorities for behavior that sounds eerily reminiscent of the Libor mess. Regulators are looking into whether or not a small group of brokers at ICAP may have worked with up to 15 of the world’s largest banks to manipulate ISDAfix, a benchmark number used around the world to calculate the prices of interest-rate swaps.
Interest-rate swaps are a tool used by big cities, major corporations and sovereign governments to manage their debt, and the scale of their use is almost unimaginably massive. It’s about a $379 trillion market, meaning that any manipulation would affect a pile of assets about 100 times the size of the United States federal budget.
Who Runs The World? Solid Proof That A Core Group Of Wealthy Elitists Is Pulling The Strings
– Who Runs The World? Solid Proof That A Core Group Of Wealthy Elitists Is Pulling The Strings (Economic Collapse, Jan 29, 2013):
Does a shadowy group of obscenely wealthy elitists control the world? Do men and women with enormous amounts of money really run the world from behind the scenes? The answer might surprise you. Most of us tend to think of money as a convenient way to conduct transactions, but the truth is that it also represents power and control. And today we live in a neo-fuedalist system in which the super rich pull all the strings. When I am talking about the ultra-wealthy, I am not just talking about people that have a few million dollars. As you will see later in this article, the ultra-wealthy have enough money sitting in offshore banks to buy all of the goods and services produced in the United States during the course of an entire year and still be able to pay off the entire U.S. national debt. That is an amount of money so large that it is almost incomprehensible. Under this ne0-feudalist system, all the rest of us are debt slaves, including our own governments. Just look around – everyone is drowning in debt, and all of that debt is making the ultra-wealthy even wealthier. But the ultra-wealthy don’t just sit on all of that wealth. They use some of it to dominate the affairs of the nations. The ultra-wealthy own virtually every major bank and every major corporation on the planet. They use a vast network of secret societies, think tanks and charitable organizations to advance their agendas and to keep their members in line. They control how we view the world through their ownership of the media and their dominance over our education system. They fund the campaigns of most of our politicians and they exert a tremendous amount of influence over international organizations such as the United Nations, the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. When you step back and take a look at the big picture, there is little doubt about who runs the world. It is just that most people don’t want to admit the truth.The ultra-wealthy don’t run down and put their money in the local bank like you and I do. Instead, they tend to stash their assets in places where they won’t be taxed such as the Cayman Islands. According to a report that was released last summer, the global elite have up to 32 TRILLION dollars stashed in offshore banks around the globe.
U.S. GDP for 2011 was about 15 trillion dollars, and the U.S. national debt is sitting at about 16 trillion dollars, so you could add them both together and you still wouldn’t hit 32 trillion dollars.
36 UBS Bankers To Be Implicated In Liborgate, Criminal Charges To Be Filed
– 36 UBS Bankers To Be Implicated In Liborgate, Criminal Charges To Be Filed (ZeroHedge, Dec 17, 2012):
As the fallout of Liborgate escalates, the next big bank to be impacted in the fallout started by Barclays civil settlement “revelation” is set to be troubled UBS, already some 10,000 bankers lighter, where as many as three dozen bankers are reported by the implicated in the fixing of the rate that until 2009 was the most important for hundreds of trillions in variable rate fixed income products. Only instead of attacking the US or even European jurisdiction, where the next big settlement is set to hit is Japan: a country whose regulators as recently as half a year ago promised there were no major issues with Libor, or Tibor as it is locally known, rate fixings. And while this most recent development will have little material impact on UBS’ ongoing business model, the one difference from previous settlements is that it will likely include criminal charges lobbed against some of the 36 bankers.
From the FT: “UBS is close to finalising a deal with UK, US and Swiss authorities in which the bank will pay close to $1.5bn and its Japanese securities subsidiary will plead guilty to a US criminal offence. Terms of the guilty plea were still being negotiated, one person familiar with the matter said on Monday, adding that the bank will not lose its ability to conduct business in Japan. The pact between the bank and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, US Department of Justice, UK’s Financial Services Authority and UBS’s main Swiss supervisor Finma is expected to be announced on Wednesday, although last minute negotiations continue.”
More:
Read more36 UBS Bankers To Be Implicated In Liborgate, Criminal Charges To Be Filed
UBS Faces $1 Billion Day Of Reckoning Over Interest Rate Rigging
– UBS faces $1 billion day of reckoning over interest rate rigging (Reuters, Dec 17, 2012):
UBS AG is expected to be hit with a $1 billion (618.4 million pounds)-plus fine to settle charges of rigging Libor interest rates this week, making it the second bank to be brought to book for its role in the global scandal.
The fine, to be imposed by regulators in Britain and the United States, would be the latest blow for the Swiss bank that suffered a rogue trading scandal last year, paid a $780 million fine to settle a U.S. tax investigation in 2009 and nearly collapsed in 2008 under the weight of huge subprime losses.
Sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters the fine will be $1 billion or more, which would be more than double the $450 million levied on British bank Barclays Plc in June for interest rate manipulation.The penalty could be as high as $1.6 billion and UBS will admit 36 traders around the globe manipulated yen Libor between 2005 and 2010, Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger said, citing unnamed sources.
Read moreUBS Faces $1 Billion Day Of Reckoning Over Interest Rate Rigging
The Federal Reserve Cartel: Part IV: A Financial Parasite (Veterans Today)
– The Federal Reserve Cartel: Part IV: A Financial Parasite (Veterans Today, Dec 14, 2012):
(Excerpted from Chapter 19: Big Oil & Their Bankers…Part four of a five-part series)
United World Federalists founder James Warburg’s father was Paul Warburg, who financed Hitler with help from Brown Brothers Harriman partner Prescott Bush. [1]
Colonel Ely Garrison was a close friend of both President Teddy Roosevelt and President Woodrow Wilson. Garrison wrote in Roosevelt, Wilson and the Federal Reserve, “Paul Warburg was the man who got the Federal Reserve Act together after the Aldrich Plan aroused such nationwide resentment and opposition. The mastermind of both plans was Baron Alfred Rothschild of London.”
Read moreThe Federal Reserve Cartel: Part IV: A Financial Parasite (Veterans Today)
Bankster Bonuses: Spot The Odd One Out
– Banker Bonuses: Spot The Odd One Out (ZeroHedge, Nov 29, 2012):
Bankers in London, Europe’s trading hub, are bracing themselves for significantly lower bonuses (and salary cuts) especially so relative to their New York counterparts. As Bloomberg Businessweek notes in the brief clip below, investment bankers and traders should expect a 15% pay cut compared to unchanged in the US and while hope is that these are temporary, many believe this shift is structural and reflects “US regulators [not having] the same obsession with pay structures that European regulators have.” As is evident from the chart below, there are winners and losers (and we bet you can guess who the winner is).Looks like Goldman wins, UBS loses, and even with a huge drop in revenues Morgan Stanley is being generous…
UBS To Terminate 10,000, Or One Sixth Of Its Employees
Don’t miss:
– ‘Welcome To The Recovery’: 15 Signs That Layoffs And Job Losses Are Skyrocketing
– UBS To Terminate 10,000, Or One Sixth Of Its Employees (ZeroHedge, Oct 26, 2012):
There is down-sizing; there is trimming-the-fat; and then there is UBS. The once-giant Swiss Bank just announced it will cut up to 10,000 jobs. This comes on top of the 3,500 from last year – which makes a rather dramatic weight-loss strategy for the 63,500 employee firm. As the FT reports, they will not happen all at once (so just after the election then?) but will lead to the closure of a sizable part of UBS’ fixed-income trading operations (and other capital intensive areas of the investment bank). Perhaps in the understatement of the day: “There were several options on the table but UBS has decided on the most radical one,” a person familiar commented as the plan is hoped to reduce complexity and costs – so no more Bloomberg Terminals? One thing surely gone is a source of fixed income axes: “The new strategy, hammered out in several executive board meetings in New York this week and set to be announced next Tuesday, will lead to the closure of a sizeable part of UBS’s fixed-income trading operations and other capital-intensive areas of the investment bank.” The winner: Goldman of course, which in a world of collapsing trading revenues has taken to Lehmaning its competition once again, only this time not using brute force but the far more classical war of attrition in a collapsing economy.
Via FT:
UBS is set to unveil a radical downsizing of its struggling investment bank next week in a move that will prompt the loss of up to 10,000 jobs across the Swiss banking group.
Switzerland’s largest bank by assets will significantly shrink the trading side and complexity of its investment bank and as a consequence also cut thousands of jobs in its back office over the next few years, three people close to the situation said.
Read moreUBS To Terminate 10,000, Or One Sixth Of Its Employees
‘Welcome To The Recovery’: 15 Signs That Layoffs And Job Losses Are Skyrocketing
Flashback:
– Welcome to the Recovery (New York Times, by Timothy Geithner, August 2, 2010)
‘Recovery’ is the ‘Greatest Depression’.
Don’t miss:
– COLLAPSE: 37 Facts About How Cruel This Economy Has Been To Millions Of Desperate American Families
– Will The Bottom Fall Out? 15 Signs That Layoffs And Job Losses Are Skyrocketing (Economic Collapse, Oct 25, 2012):
If you still have a good job, you might want to hold on to it very tightly because there are a whole bunch of signs that unemployment in the United States is about to start getting worse again. Over the past several weeks, a substantial number of large corporations have announced disappointing earnings for the third quarter. Many of those large corporations are also loaded up with huge amounts of debt. So what is the solution? Well, the favorite solution on Wall Street these days seems to be to lay off workers. In fact, it is almost turning into a feeding frenzy. Since September 1st, we have seen more job cuts announced than during any other two month period since the start of 2010. These announcements represent future layoffs and job losses which are not even showing up in the unemployment numbers yet. So needless to say, things don’t look very promising for the end of 2012 or for the beginning of 2013. If this race to eliminate jobs becomes a stampede, will we see the bottom fall out of the employment market?If you are concerned about whether or not you will still have a job 12 months from now, you might find the numbers posted below to be quite alarming. We have not seen layoff announcements come this fast and this furious since the gloomy days of the last recession.
According to Bloomberg, job cuts are well ahead of the pace set last year…
North American companies have announced plans to eliminate more than 62,600 positions at home and abroad since Sept. 1, the biggest two-month drop since the start of 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Firings total 158,100 so far this year, more than the 129,000 job cuts in the same period in 2011.
So what happens if the economy really starts sliding rapidly and this loss of jobs becomes an avalanche?
Can the U.S. economy and the American people handle another major economic downturn?
Some of the biggest names in the business world have announced job cuts in recent weeks.
The following are 15 signs that layoffs and job losses are skyrocketing…
Read more‘Welcome To The Recovery’: 15 Signs That Layoffs And Job Losses Are Skyrocketing
UBS’ Art Cashin Remembers Germany’s Hyperinflation Birthday
– Cashin Remembers Germany’s Hyperinflation Birthday (ZeroHedge, Oct 11, 2012):
Via Art Cashin of UBS,Originally, on this day in 1922, the German Central Bank and the German Treasury took an inevitable step in a process which had begun with their previous effort to “jump start” a stagnant economy. Many months earlier they had decided that what was needed was easier money. Their initial efforts brought little response. So, using the governmental “more is better” theory they simply created more and more money. But economic stagnation continued and so did the money growth. They kept making money more available. No reaction. Then, suddenly prices began to explode unbelievably (but, perversely, not business activity).
Read moreUBS’ Art Cashin Remembers Germany’s Hyperinflation Birthday
Swiss Banks Stand To Lose Hundreds Of Billions
– Swiss Banks Stand to Lose Hundreds of Billions (The Epoch Times, updated Sep 21, 2012):
UBS predicts massive asset outflows as governments crack down on former tax haven
Hundreds of billions of dollars could be moved out of Swiss banks as clients attempt to flee a coordinated crackdown on tax evasion, UBS’s Jürg Zeltner told magazine Schweizer Bank on Sept. 17. The crackdown will likely cost Switzerland its tax-haven status.
The head of the UBS wealth management unit predicted that his bank will lose about 12 billion to 30 billion Swiss francs (US$12.8 billion to 31.9 billion) of the 783 billion francs in assets under management for wealthy clients. “As a consequence of the realignment of the financial center and the planned withholding tax, we assume that a total of hundreds of billions of francs will flow out of Switzerland,” he told Schweizer Bank.
Credit Suisse, the other big player in wealth management, estimates it will lose over $37 billion over the next few years as European clients withdraw their money. German business consultants ZEB estimate that out of the total 2.8 trillion francs ($3 trillion) that the roughly 300 Swiss banks have under management, 800 billion francs could be untaxed funds from European citizens. ZEB predicts that 200 billion of those funds could be withdrawn due to several tax treaties and investigative breakthroughs.