Archive - Nov 2013

"Fixed...?"

Until recently, Alan Greenspan’s main argument to exonerate himself of responsibility for the 2007-2009 financial crisis has consisted in the claim that strong Asian demand for US treasury bonds kept interest rates on mortgages unusually low. Though he has not given up on this defense, he is now emphasizing a different tack... His new tack is no better than the old tack.

Governments ADMIT They Carry Out False Flag Terror

Photoshopped or not, in a world of constant propaganda and doublespeak, the following ad seen in Egypt is a welcome respite in the world of bigger and bigger lies...

The Fed's Catch 22 just got catchier. While most attention in the recently released FOMC minutes fell on the return of the taper as a possibility even as soon as December (making the November payrolls report the most important ever, ever, until the next one at least), a less discussed issue was the Fed's comment that it would consider lowering the Interest on Excess Reserves to zero as a means to offset the implied tightening that would result from the reduction in the monthly flow once QE entered its terminal phase (for however briefly before the plunge in the S&P led to the Untaper). After all, the Fed's policy book goes, if IOER is raised to tighten conditions, easing it to zero, or negative, should offset "tightening financial conditions", right? Wrong. As the FT reports leading US banks have warned the Fed that should it lower IOER, they would be forced to start charging depositors.

Anyone suggesting that things are unraveling in fundamental ways quickly encounters a standard reflex response: "same as it ever was."

• Environmental degradation? Same as it ever was: humans have been trashing the environment for thousands of years.
• The influence of money in politics? Same as it ever was: money has always been the mother's milk of politics.
• The dominance of central bankers? Same as it ever was: the banks and the Federal Reserve have been colluding for decades. Income inequality? Same as it ever was: there will always be rich and poor, etc.
• The rise of the National Security State/Empire? Same as it ever was: Manifest Destiny, etc.

History lessons are all well and good, but this constant refrain of "same as it ever was" is actually a pernicious form of perception management, i.e. propaganda. The desperation is obvious, and so is the agenda: mask the reality that things are unraveling, and that it's no longer "same as it ever was."

An overview of recent developments, include the political developments in the US Senate, that may weigh on the dollar in the days ahead.  

"The world has consumed more than it produced for more than a decade," Jim Rogers explains to BoomBust's Erin Ade; but his comments to the leather mini-skirted anchor with regard the actions of the world's central banks bear the most attention. "The world is floating on an artificial ocean of printed money," he blasts,before embarking on a barbaric destruction of the Fed and all it stands for, "the Fed will self-destruct, before the polticians realize what is going on."

What would you do in the country that has only 4% of its population that earns more than $5 per day to eke out its existence if you wanted to sell in that country?

Dear old Larry Summers has come over all Zero Bound constipated, fretting that the natural, real rate of interest has somehow become fixed down there at negative 2%-3% where conventional policy (if you can still remember of what that used to consist) cannot get at it – unless we blow serial bubbles, that is, these episodes in mass folly and gross wastefulness now being raised to the level of such perverse desiderata of which Krugman’s only partly-facetious call for a war on Mars forms an infamous example. In fact, this entire notion is another piece of nonsense to spring from the one of Keynes’ least cogent ramblings, the notoriously insupportable notion of ’Liquidity Preference’ – a logical patch fixed over the lacunae in his reasoning when, having insisted that saving must always equal investment, all he could think of to determine the rate of interest was our collective desire to hold money for its own sake. From such intellectually bastard seed soon sprang, fully-armed like Minerva from the head of our economic Jove, the even worse confusion of the ‘Liquidity Trap.’

Confirming that the brotherhood of the "fairness doctrine" in which everyone is equal to everyone else (but some are too big to fail or prosecute, and are thus a little more equal) will have to do much more work to bring wayward Swizterland, home to some of the world's biggest companies, fattest bank accounts and wealthiest individuals, into the socialist fold was the announcement moments ago that Switzerland roundly rejected a proposal to limit executive salaries to 12 times that of the lowest paid employee, with 66% of the voters opposing. This so-called "1:12 initiative for fair pay," was brought about by the youth wing of the Social Democrats (JUSO) which claimed that nobody should earn more in a month than others earn in a year. The outcome is notable because it was in March when Swiss voters backed proposals to impose some of the world's strictest controls on executive pay, with some 70% of voters thought to have supported plans to give shareholders a veto on compensation and ban big payouts for new and departing managers. Surprisingly, just over six months later, the drive to bring more equality to all appears to have lost it steam.

"We, the German Fuhrer and Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for our two countries and for Europe. We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again. We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries, and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference, and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe. My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honor. I believe it is "peace for our time." Go home and get a nice quiet sleep." - Neville Chamberlain, September 30, 1938

Never Say Biebro...

There are many reasons why the poor are 'poor' or why the middle-class is deteriorating into a state of being 'poor' but as this first-person account of the self-defeating feedback loops of poverty's trap harrowingly suggests, escaping that social strata (as we noted previously) is becoming ever more difficult. Of course, a George Carlin noted previously, "the only true American value is... buying things," which leaves the 'poor' increasingly losing hope. "Rest is a luxury for the rich," the author notes, "planning is not in the mix," as she explains why poverty has forced her to "make terrible decisions."

The White House has released their (lengthy) fact sheet...

"During the six-month initial phase, the P5+1 will negotiate the contours of a comprehensive solution... Over the next six months, we will determine whether there is a solution that gives us sufficient confidence that the Iranian program is peaceful. If Iran cannot address our concerns, we are prepared to increase sanctions and pressure.

 

Suspend certain sanctions on gold and precious metals, Iran’s auto sector, and Iran’s petrochemical exports, potentially providing Iran approximately $1.5 billion in revenue

Israelis, Saudis, and Republicans are already questioning the decision...