Archive - Mar 31, 2013

williambanzai7's picture

GReaTeR FooL'S DaY 2013...





Reinnovating: The Truth

 

Phoenix Capital Research's picture

Mario Darghi's Headfake is Wearing Off





 

Mario Draghi delivered the mother of all head fakes, first hinting at providing unlimited bond buying for EU sovereign bonds in June 2012, before officially stating that this would be the ECB’s policy is September 2012.

 
 

Tyler Durden's picture

New Cyprus Business Model: 20% Fee To Move Millions Offshore





After being told that the Cypriot business model was broken, the ever-resilient people of this 'storm in a teacup' island have, by all appearances, taken up their entrepreneurial sickles to make hay while the Troika sun shines. As the FT reports, the hunt is on for many Cypriot bank account holders to find ways to circumnavigate the new Draconian capital controls - and get their money off the island. It seems that this 'need' is being addressed by friendly 'unidentified' locals who are willing to help transfer money across the border (since there is a EUR3,000 limit) for a mere 20% upfront fee. "There are some dubious capital outflows out of Cyprus as we speak," one senior Eurozone official noted, "and... not only Russians." At least three people have been stopped attempting to cross the border with more than EUR 200,000 in cash on their person - their money was confiscated.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Weimar vs USA: The Fall Of The Second Empire Of Debt





While being distracted by the developments of this insolvent European sovereign or that, coupled with increasingly prevalent episodes of deposit confiscation, is all the rage these days, the fundamental problems summarized by these three simple words, too much debt, remain. And as has been explained over and over, while confiscation of wealth merely shuffles the various dollar (and euro) signs on the table with the spoils going to the wealthiest, there is no resolution of the underlying problems plaguing a world that has tens of trillions of excess debt. As is by now is well-known, there are two ways out of such a conundrum: default, or inflating the debt away. What is also well-known is that as long as the US preserves legacy reserve currency status even by the tiniest of threads, inflation through debt deluge-funded money creation will always be chosen outcome. Just as was the case in Germany in the 1920s. In fact, as the following video shows, the parallels between where the US is now, and where Weimar Germany were just before everything took a turn for the parabolic, are a few too many for comfort. The only major difference so far is that in Weimar, the creation of massive rampant inflation was what economists would call, "successful."

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Guest Post: Preparing for Inflationary Times





"All this money printing, massive debt, and reckless deficit spending – and we have 2% inflation? I'm beginning to believe that either the deflationists are right, or the Fed's interventions are working." While a low CPI may be puzzling in the midst of massive, global currency abuse, there are three realities about inflation that convince us it's not only coming, but will catch an unsuspecting citizenry off guard. Let's take a look at why we're convinced inflation will be one of the next big catalysts for the gold price...

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Currency Wars For Dummies





When it comes to global currency warfare, one can read countless books (all of which professing to be the definitive reference guide for a process that started in the... 1930s), or one can fast forward, save lots of time, skip all the repetitive verbiage and simply observe the following charts which summarize the key things "one needs to know" about the dead-end that the globalized monetary system has found itself in since 2008, when the entire world decided that the only way to "fix" all of the world's problems is simply to print a countless amount of paper money.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Guest Post: How Big Is The 'Bailout' Of Cyprus (Hint: Trick Question)





Most publications talk about the 10B or 17B Cyprus bailout.   Let’s take a pop quiz on the right answer:

(a) 17B Euros (89% of GDP)
(b) 10B Euros (52% of GDP)
(c) 2.5B Euros (13% of GDP)
(d) -3.0B Euros (-15% of GDP)
(e) -7.5B Euros (-39% of GDP)

Now let’s work through the answers... (hint: we don’t see any version of the numbers where Cyprus is not a net creditor to the EU bailout regime, as opposed to a net beneficiary.)

 

George Washington's picture

Is Fukushima Radiation Causing the Epidemic of Dead and Starving Sea Lions In California?





What’s Causing the Mass Die-Off and Starvation of California Sea Lions?

 

Tyler Durden's picture

How Cyprus Exposed The Fundamental Flaw Of Fractional Reserve Banking





In summary:

Total US Currency in circulation (i.e., all US Dollars out there): $1,102 billion (source)
Total Deposits in US Commercial Banks: $9,294 billion (source)

Which means that if (and we are not saying it will) a Cyprus-style fiasco were to occur in the US, and those $9.3 trillion in total deposits seek to obtain
"physical representation" in the form of actual currency (i.e., a systemic bank run), just as all those lining up in front of Cypriot ATMs are desperate to do each and every day when they have a €300 limit on physical cash withdrawals, there will be a roughly 88% haircut for every single dollar that US savers believe is "safe" in the bank.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

The Seven Broken Taboos Of The Cyprus Deal





From a European perspective, the list of broken taboos and assumptions continues to grow. The euro’s core founding principles, based on the Maastricht Treaty’s “irrevocable” fixing of currency rates, and of the free movement of capital, have been violated. The euro will never be the same again; its preservation now depends urgently upon economic recovery. Without the delivery of economic growth, unemployment will rise to yet higher post-war record levels, and the widespread and growing disillusionment felt by EU citizens towards their economic regime will threaten to spill over into more explicit questioning of the euro’s suitability.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Guest Post: Debt-Slavery For Dummies





Everything the Fed does ultimately leads to less economic activity, less savings and more debt resulting in poverty for Americans, not prosperity.  Debt is not prosperity. Debt is poverty and economic slavery. As long as the money printing continues things will continue to get worse, not better. Americans are now economically worse off than they were in 2008. This leads us to one curious question: if the Fed knows reality is deteriorating and it’s monetary policies are causing this deterioration to accelerate, what is the endgame the government and the Fed have in store for Americans?

 

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Cyprus President's Family Transferred Tens Of Millions To London Days Before Deposit Haircuts





A day after former Cypriot President Vassilou was found to be among many elite Cypriot (politicians and businessmen) who had loans written-off by the major (now insolvent) banks; it appears the rot is far fouler than expected. In a somewhat stunning (or purely coincidental) revelation, ENETEnglish reports that Cypriot newspaper Haravgi claims that current President Nicos Anastasiades' family businesses transferred 'dozens of millions' from their Laiki Bank accounts to London just a week before the devastating depositor haircuts were unleashed upon his people. Of course, the denials are loud and Anastasiades has demanded an investigation into the claims; we are sure the government-selected 'independent' committee will be as thorough as the Libor anti-trust investigators. As a reminder, as we noted yesterday, here are Cyprus' gun control laws.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Tom Hoenig: "This System Distorts The Market And Turns Appropriate Risk-Taking Into Recklessness"





This system distorts the market and turns appropriate risk-taking into recklessness. The result is a more concentrated and powerful financial sector — and a more fragile economy. The way to return the financial services industry to the free market is by separating trading from commercial banks and by reforming the so-called shadow banking sector. Government guarantees should be limited primarily to those commercial banking activities that need it to function: the payments system and the intermediation process between short-term lenders and long-term borrowers.... It is time to return our financial system to one in which success is no longer achieved through government protections but, rather, through innovation and competition. While trading and investment activities are vital parts of the financial services industry, there is no economic or social rationale for protecting and subsidizing them. Financial services firms are in the business of taking risks. Our country shouldn’t attempt to take the risk out of the system. But we should absolutely stop subsidizing it.

 

CrownThomas's picture

Brendan Brown on the "Global Curse of the Federal Reserve"





Bernankeism must be obliterated.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Cyprus Parliament President Says "No Future" Under Troika, Calls For "Iceland" Solution





Just last week Yiannakis Omirou, Cypriot House of Representatives President, was calling for the nation to accept it is "time for responsibility" as they progressed towards a final solution; and yet today, as Cyprus' Famagusta reports, he believes the 'Troika-imposed' responsibility will, "turn Cyprus into a colony of the worst possible type." His 'Icelandic' solution is to "leave the Troika and EMS behind," to ensure "national independence, national sovereignty, moral integrity, and economic independence." He may have a point; judging from the chart below of the Troika's poster-child Greece, relative to Iceland, things are not going so well. As Omirou ominously concludes, "if we remain bound by the Troika and the memorandum Cyprus’ destiny is already foretold and there will be no future."

 
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