Archive - Jun 17, 2015

As Americans continue to gain weight, heart attacks and emergency room visits should increase, doughnut consumption will rise, gyms will close, and healthy food stores will be stuck with inventory they cannot sell. But on Wall Street, greed is good. So if someone is going to have a heart attack, there's nothing wrong with making a few bucks from it right?

According to the CBO if the US wants to return back to its long-term debt/GDP average of 38% of GDP, it needs to boost revenues by 14% or slash spending by 13%. Alternatively, if it wants to keep debt/GDP at its current level of 74% of GDP, the US will need to boost revenues by 6% of cut spending by 5.5%.

As the war of words between Athens and Brussels reaches a fever pitch ahead of Thursday's Eurogroup meeting, the Bank of Greece has made a plea to both sides as capital controls and a "Lehman Weekend" loom. "A manageable debt crisis, as the one that we are currently addressing with the help of our partners, would snowball into an uncontrollable crisis, with great risks for the banking system and financial stability. An exit from the euro would only compound the already adverse environment, as the ensuing acute exchange rate crisis would send inflation soaring.

• Greek central bank issues 'Grexit' warning if aid talks fail (Reuters)
• Kerry says 'patience wearing thin' on Syria's Assad (Reuters)
• Juncker accuses Athens of misleading Greek people (FT)
• Al Qaeda kills two Saudis accused of spying for America (Reuters)
• Hedge-Fund Bet Hits Pensions (WSJ)
• ‘Flash Crash’ Trader Navinder Sarao Worked With Fund Network Now Under Investigation (WSJ)
• 'Me? Rich?' U.S. presidential hopefuls play middle-class card (Reuters)
• You’ve Been Warned: Central Bankers Turning Less Market-Friendly (BBG)

With the Fed's June FOMC statement in just over 7 hours and a Yellen press conference to follow shortly, one in which nobody expects the Fed will announces its first rate-hiking cycle in nine years despite repeated clues by Yellen that not only is there froth in the market but that the Fed has no dry powder to contain the next crisis when it emerges (even though a rate hike will catalyze the next crisis), traders have chosen to ignore the chatter from Greece which is getting worse by the hour, and unlike recent days, have bought risk overnight based on one simple technical: of the five press conferences in ten Fed meetings held by Yellen as Chairman, the S&P finished higher 80% of the time.

Is Goldman right that the Bundesbank really is sabotaging Draghi's QE effort by "under-extending" its bond purchases? Or...

Is this a warning From Draghi's mouthpiece to Weidmann to stop being stingy with the bond buying?

Syriza has stuck to what it said all along: negotiations are possible, but not about everything. Not about making a desperate people even more desperate. Not only is that useless and harmful to all parties involved in the talks, it’s also immoral. Granted, ‘immoral’ may be considered a subjective view too. Then again, it shouldn’t be. But let’s get real: What does any of this have to do with democracy anymore? And, more importantly, where does it leave the democratic rights of the Greek people? Do they need to be fed lies too to participate in this game?