Archive - Dec 24, 2011

The folks at mapsofworld.com have been kind enough to compile a list of the top events of 2011 broken down by country, coupled with a fully interactive drill down. Furthermore, they have compiled a list of the top 5 events of 2011 based on popular voting (open to anyone). We were surprised (or maybe not) to find that while in our little microcosm we focus on the nuances of the financial world, and occasionally branch out into its nexus of geopolitics, people in the real world appear to have a whole different set of priorities. Confirming this is the fact that 3 of the top 5 most important events are i) the recognition of LGBT rights by the UN; ii) the launch of Google Plus and iii) the 100th anniversary of the IBM - three developments that have received precisely zero coverage on Zero Hedge. At least the top two events are somewhat relevant to both the world and our readers, namely the Tunisian Revolution aka the Arab Spring, and the Japan Earthquake. Oddly enough such earthshaking events as the loss of the US' AAA rating (which as documented here before led to the terminal break of the stock market), is barely in the top 5, while the "Greek Crisis" and the aftermath that is the European insolvency crisis, whose escalation in our humble opinion was the event of 2011, is relevant to exactly... nobody. And there you have this nation's priorities in a nutshell.

This Christmas will not be a happy one for George Friedman (who incidentally was the focus of John Mauldin's latest book promotion email blast) and his Stratfor Global Intelligence service, because as of a few hours ago, hacking collective Anonymous disclosed that not only has it hacked the Stratfor website (since confirmed by Friedman himself), but has also obtained the full client list of over 4000 individuals and corporations, including their credit cards (which supposedly have been used to make $1 million in "donations"), as well as over 200 GB of email correspondence. And since the leaked client list is the who is who of intelligence, and capital management, including such names as Goldman Sachs, the Rockefeller Foundation and, yep, MF Global, we are certain that not only Stratfor and its clients will be waiting with bated breath to see just what additional troves of information are unleashed, but virtually everyone else, in this very sensitive time from a geopolitical point of view. And incidentally, we can't help but notice that Anonymous may have finally ventured into the foreign relations arena. We can only assume, for now, that this is not a formal (or informal) statement of allegiance with any specific ideology as otherwise the wargames in the Straits of Hormuz may soon be very inappropriately named (or halfway so).

Inspired by recent work at the China Economics Seminar, we were shocked at the recent shifts in USDCNY. While all has been calmly proceeding in the right direction from US perspectives with CNY appreciation (though maybe not fast enough for Chuck Schumer's liking), under the surface there is what appears to be a fierce battle between market participants and the PBoC. By breaking down the cumulative shift in USDCNY into intraday 'market/trading' movements (from fixing to close) and interday 'government-assisted' movements (from prior close to fixing), we can draw some perspective on what the market is trying to do and what the government is doing. Evidently from the chart, the outward appearance that CNY appreciation is slowly but surely occurring (the green line) is misleading, the clear signal is a market trading the USD higher (helped by European angst) and a PBoC massively intervening. Incredibly, since the fixings began consistently in Jan 2006, intraday cumulative moves are now exactly ZERO at the close on Friday, with the entire move higher in CNY now accounted for over the past five years by the PBoC's actions. Furthermore, the shifts of the last four months are on a scale we have not seen before making us wonder just how many USD are being sold out of Chinese reserves into the market to stabilize the CNY?

The compare and contrast discussions of Keynes and Hayek have wended their way over the last few years from learned academic texts to YouTube sensationalist rap videos. We have to say we have our preference among those two extremes. However, in a recent interview with Nicholas Wapshott of Reuters, INETeconomics pulls back the veil a little more of the borrow-and-spend short-termist optimism of Keynes versus the 'if it can go wrong, it will' pragmatist pessimism of Hayek. Unfortunately, it seems we are rapidly unlearning a number of the lessons of the eternal optimist - fixing the world right now in favor of solving the underlying problems and furthermore as Wapshott notes, civilization is a lot more fragile than one can imagine. Starting from the perspective that Hayek was engaged by the LSE to take on the establishment Cambridgian, their very different personal experiences of post-war, post-depression life set them looking for solutions from very different perspectives. While their public arguments were seen as ungentlemanly at the time, though published in journals, it became clear that Hayek faced an uphill battle, and perhaps only now, thanks to the collapsing capabilities (or willingness) of governments to borrow-and-spend, are we able to 'mess with the Keynesians'. While avoiding extreme politics and authoritarianism may be a common-sense raison d'etre, the ongoing devaluation wars could perhaps be as capable of pushing the world to these limits as any non-Keynesian solution ever was.

In its "pre-Christmas" note, it is somehow appropriate that Goldman's Jose Ursua reprises the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, and explains how, in this contemporary Christmas Carol, "The world economy is struggling: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that" and, logically, gets a visit from the three ghosts of the world's past, present and future. However, while the narrative is similar for the most part to the Carol morality play, where it diverges is in the Hollywood ending: "As in Dickens’ story, avoiding this outcome will require decisive actions. Unlike Ebenezer Scrooge’s overnight redemption, however, we believe the solution to the current global problems will potentially take much longer. So, although some steps are clearly visible in the right direction, the post-holiday environment will likely continue to be challenging for both policymakers and markets alike." And that's only for the macro; the "micro", as Morgan Stanley explained yesterday, is already slipping regardless of how long the US pretends that Europe is irrelevant for the big picture. The only question is whether the macro follows suit (which in Morgan Stanley's case was left as the optimistic case with full resolution), in which case the ghost of the coming "Great Stagnation" will be one scary dude.

As was reported yesterday, Iran has now officially commenced its 10 day wargame exercise in the Straits of Hormuz. What happens next is 10 days in which one false move, either planned or false flagged, can have some serious (if required by the status quo) consequences: after all WTI is at $100, and the ECB has quietly "printed" $700 billion in the past 6 months, with the Fed not far behind - there has to be some implicit backstop to keep crude from soaring once it becomes clear that print mode is on, and the only way that can happen is the "possibility" of expanded oil supply through control of the main supply channels. From Reuters: "Iran began 10 days of naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, raising concern about a possible closure of the world's most strategic oil transit channel in the event of any outbreak of military conflict between Tehran and the West. The military drill, dubbed "Velayat-e 90", comes as the tension between the West and Iran is escalating over the Islamic state's nuclear programme. Iranian authorities have given no indication the strait will be closed during the exercise, and it has not been shut during previous drills. "Displaying Iran's defensive and deterrent power as well as relaying a message of peace and friendship in the Strait of Hormuz and the free waters are the main objectives of the drill," Sayyari said. "It will also display the country's power to control the region as well as testing new missiles, torpedoes and weapons."

One of the problems with economic crises is that mainstream economists and financial advisors either don’t see them coming or simply won’t admit to them. That’s exactly what happened in the fall of 2008, when the financial crisis kicked off in the United States. Since that time, governments have continued to spend, all while production has slowed and unemployment has skyrocketed. As we enter the fourth year of the post-crisis environment, there is no sign of growth that is impressive enough to get us out of the negative feedback loop in which governments have continued to operate. A negative feedback loop takes hold when massive government debt loads, a weakening financial system and a slowing economy feed off each other, interrupted by Federal Reserve and other central bank reflationary attempts. As shown in the chart below, rising debts become unsustainable and trigger austerity measures designed to reduce spending and/or increase taxes or other revenue sources to try and reduce debt. The more production and employment falter, the more lending contracts, causing further harm to the economy, missed budgets and higher bond yields. The result is a downward spiral of business and financial activity and a banking crisis usually ensues. Under pressure to stimulate the market, the Federal Reserve and other central banks carryout band aid fixes by printing money and governments implement additional austerity measures which starts the vicious cycle of the feedback loop all over again.  The fix needs to come from a unified front, not just a single country or continent. When we look at the three global pillars of the world economy — the United States, Europe and China — sure, each has its own problems, but each one’s fiscal choices impact the globe as a whole. And really, it’s four pillars when we add the Federal Reserve. We are a four-legged intertwined economic and financial system that relies heavily on each other for banking resources, government debt issuance, investments and exports. The feedback loops are never ending. And when economic growth stalls, debt accumulation increases. Without taking tough, systemic and coordinated economic measures including fiscal consolidation and a commitment by governments to cut rising deficits and reduce what are, in some cases, dangerous levels of national indebtedness, a second crisis may indeed be inevitable. The world is trying to recover from the worst financial crisis in 70-years and is suffering from debts levels not seen in decades and the crisis continues to intensify. And, as the graph below shows, with the exception of Ireland, countries need just as much, if not more, financing to cover debts in 2011 compared to 2010. Nothing has changed.

Quick summary of the week's main bullish and bearish headlines (as to the data behind the headlines, that's another matter)

“God bless Bankstas, each and every one of em!” --Tiny Timmah