With PIIGS Grounded STUPIDs Fly
In another indication of the spreading politically correct insanity gripping virtually everyone and everything, Barclays has now informed its analysts they are forbidden to use the ever so eloquent PIIGS acronym. In an article retitled Swing Acronym Ordered Out Of Barclays (we like the original title "At Barclays Capital, Piigs Won't Fly" much better), Bloomberg notes that Barclays executive Valerie Monchi has "told analysts yesterday not to use the acronym for Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain in notes to clients." That may be all good and fine, which is why we would like to point as that even as PIIGS may be grounded, STUPIDs are still flying and are now 3 wider to 226 bps.
“By denigrating a nation in the process of trying to describe a financial situation, it sort of puts the people in that country behind the eight ball,” said Peter Sorrentino, a senior money manager at Cincinnati-based Huntington Asset Advisors who is visiting Italy in March. His firm oversees $12.8 billion. “It serves no one’s interest. We’re all in the same boat together.”
Certainly, removing PIIGS from the vernacular will be complicated:
Investment banks from Citigroup Inc. to JPMorgan Chase & Co., both based in New York, have used the term in research reports. There were no instances of it in Barclays notes obtained by Bloomberg.
“The Piigs remain front-and-center,” analysts led by Adam Crisafulli of JPMorgan in New York wrote in a report yesterday. CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets analyst Christopher Wood recommended a “Piigs widening spread trade” in a June 2009 report.
It appears that the actual animals have become insulted by being compared to any of the five countries:
The Web site of the Humane Society of the United States describes pigs as “highly intelligent, curious animals who engage in complex tasks and form elaborate social groups.”
“If there’s a cute nickname to use so you don’t have to say five names out loud over and over again, that’s fine with me,” said Julius Ridgway, a financial adviser at Medley & Brown LLC, which oversees about $400 million in Jackson, Mississippi. “It’s just silly.”
Zero Hedge is confident that the alternative monicker proposed herein, the STUPIDs, will never suffer a comparable fate. And speaking of STUPIDity that just won't quit, we present today's chart update for the creme of the European sovereign default crop.
with the ever handsome Credit Trader
(2 votes)
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on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 13:48
#219334
MUKUS - Club med, UK and US
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 15:18
#219536
BULLSHIT: Bulgaria Ukraine Latvia Lithuania Sweden Hungary Iceland Turkey
TITS: Taiwan Indonesia Thailand Singapore
DICK: Dubai India China Korea
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 13:50
#219343
Niall Ferguson is stirring sh*t up on Bloomberg. "You know where PIIGS live. Well, these countries are pretty much in it.
Another zinger -- "Greece is a dress rehearsal for the U.S.".
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 23:55
#220187
I agree with Bill Gross. UK will go first.
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 13:54
#219345
The humor is always welcome, as are the pokes at PC.
You mean the porkers take umbrage at being compared with Greeks and Portuguse? Imagine how the Portuguse porkers feel.
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 17:42
#219837
"It was an evening in November,
As I very well remember,
I was strolling down the street in drunken pride,
But my knees were all a-flutter,
And I landed in the gutter
And a pig came up and lay down by my side.
Yes, I lay there in the gutter
Thinking thoughts I could not utter,
When a colleen passing by did softly say
'You can tell a man who boozes
By the company he chooses' —
And the pig got up and slowly walked away."
-- Anonymous (a different Anonymous)
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 13:56
#219351
STUPID is the acronym that just keeps on giving, day after day. Thank you Tyler and company for supplying endless belly laughs. You are my personal smile generator.
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 14:11
#219372
CD / I was wondering when you'd show up on this topic. This one couldn't be more tee'd up for you. Hmmm...I remember a conversation we once had about the "stupid," it sort of went either: "Stupid is as Stupid does" or was it, "Stupid does as Stupid is TOLD what to do." Great stuff...
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 15:03
#219400
I briefly considered throwing my 2 cents into the ring but thought better of it and realized you never mess with perfection. And STUPID is precisely that, perfection. When the wit and intelligence you're up against is clearly superior to yours, it's best to pick up the poms poms and applaud rather than compete and be left bloodied and beaten on the field.
Mom always told me that when you're accused of being STUPID, it's best to shut up, do nothing and hope no one notices, rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt how STUPID you really are.
Never confirm someone's poor opinion of yourself.
:>))
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 15:12
#219527
CD / I just can never believe how STUPID human beings can be. The whole house is on fire, and people want to argue about whose water to use. Also, you understand I was complimenting and applauding your wit and wisdom. You are the one who introduced me to "Stupid DOES, as Stupid is TOLD what to do." I love that phrase. Have a nice weekend my friend...
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 14:07
#219361
The STUPIDs actually think they can fly.
Story time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTPje_AHmEs
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 14:07
#219364
Tyler, considering your defition of PIGS as:
"“highly intelligent, curious animals who engage in complex tasks and form elaborate social groups...”
Frankly, Barclays is probably correct. The definition doesn't serve these astute financial countries very well. Question then, can we come up with a vernacular for CDS's, or maybe SIV's? Maybe we can think about that one without throwing insult to anyone. You couldn't make this stuff up. Whole countries are going bankrupt, and they're sensitive to simple name calling.
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 14:20
#219407
Just don't call them fucking STUPID's or Sarah Palin is gonna get yer ass.
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 14:20
#219408
By calling them STUPIDs, Zerohedge implies that everything is their own fault. Nice try...
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 14:54
#219497
I am still shocked that the PIIGS/STUPIDs, and Greece in particular, are not being covered at all by any media, except perhaps the FT or Economist. Even the news aggregation sites (Drudge, RealClearMarkets/World) have little to no coverage. Is Katie too busy fighting with CBS over her pay package to mention the imminent sovereign default crisis?
These are not the droids you're looking for...
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 15:21
#219545
BULLSHIT: Bulgaria Ukraine Latvia Lithuania Sweden Hungary Iceland Turkey
TITS: Taiwan Indonesia Thailand Singapore
DICK: Dubai India China Korea
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 15:22
#219548
The inevitable coming of the sovereign debt panic finally engulfed Europe this week as the derisively (or perhaps affectionately) named PIGS spilled their slop on the continent. But Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain are hardly worthy of so much attention. In truth, they are little more than the currently favored proxies among the leveraged speculator community (cough) for the larger problem of all sovereign debt. Indeed, the credit default swaps on these smaller European satellite states were not alone this week in making large moves higher. UK sovereign risk rose strongly, and so did US sovereign risk. With a downgrade warning from Moody’s to boot.
Notable among three of the PIGS are their relatively small populations, and small contributions to either world or European GDP. While Spain has a population over 45 million, Portugal and Greece have populations roughly equal to a US state, such as Ohio–at around 10 million. And Ireland? The Emerald Isle has a population similar to Kentucky, at around 4 million. While the PIGS are without question a problem for Europe, whatever problems they present for Brussels are easily matched by the looming headache for Washington that’s coming from large, US states such as California, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan.
I’ve identified seven large US states by four criteria that are sure to cause trouble for Washington’s political class at least for the next 3 years, through the 2012 elections. These are states with big populations, very high rates of unemployment, and which have already had to borrow big to pay unemployment claims. In addition, as a kind of Gregor.us kicker, I’ve thrown in a fourth criteria to identify those states that are large net importers of energy. Because the step change to higher energy prices played, and continues to play, such a large role in the developed world’s financial crisis it’s instructive to identify those US states that will struggle for years against the rising tide of higher energy costs.
http://www.businessinsider.com/many-us-states-are-bigger-default-risks-t...
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 16:26
#219748
I thought Italy was the original I in PIGS, and then the Celtic Tiger (Ireland) was added later when it became the Celtic Kitty.
on Sat, 02/06/2010 - 01:07
#220223
Yophat - Thanks for the analysis of the seven States.
on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 18:00
#245818
Your welcome!
Here's the big one today:
Rep. Brad Sherman, California Democrat, asked Mr. Bernanke directly whether the Fed would consider such a strategy, especially since IMF officials endorsed it.
"We're not going to monetize the debt," Mr. Bernanke declared flatly, stressing that Congress needs to start making plans to bring down the deficit to avoid such a dangerous dilemma for the Fed.
"It is very, very important for Congress and administration to come to some kind of program, some kind of plan that will credibly show how the United States government is going to bring itself back to a sustainable position."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/25/bernanke-delivers-warnin...
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 15:22
#219549
I think the the PIIGs comments might have offended a few muslims. We wouldn't want to offend those bastards that cut heads off and kill their daughters when they offend Allah. The PC crowd is acting up now. Thats why they banned the PIIGs from being used. Screw them all. Lets all have pork for dinner tonight.
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 16:00
#219676
It is now that we start to worry about those people's feelings. Nice.
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 16:26
#219743
BULLSHIT: Bulgaria Ukraine Latvia Lithuania Sweden Hungary Iceland Turkey
TITS: Taiwan Indonesia Thailand Singapore
DICK: Dubai India China Korea
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 17:09
#219779
Bloomberg actually discussed this today and has banned the use of PIGS as well.
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 17:10
#219780
How about some chicken?
Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — China, the largest market for U.S. chicken, will impose anti-dumping duties of as much as 105.4 percent on imports of American poultry products, threatening to deepen a trade rift.
http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2010/02/05/china-to-impose-dumping-penalties-on-us-chicken/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+InfiniteUnknown+%28Infinite+Unknown%29
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 17:32
#219821
Where is the acronym for STUPID defined?
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 20:07
#220023
... sorry, yep ... I need it too
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 22:06
#220126
It's from last Tuesday's post http://www.zerohedge.com/article/its-chart-stupid :
"With every Tom, Dick and Harry convinced they can take on Goldman's Jim O'Neill and come up with a wittier, edgier, Gen Y/Z BRIC equivalent, Zero Hedge has decided to join the fray. We present the STUPIDs: Spain, Turkey, UK, Portgual, Italy and Dubai."
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 23:17
#220167
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/its-chart-stupid
on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 18:32
#219932
Barry Ritholtz is trying to take credit for using PIGS
on Sat, 02/06/2010 - 01:18
#220215
I strenuously object to the denigration of wholesome pool players by this reference to "behind the eight ball":
“By denigrating a nation in the process of trying to describe a financial situation, it sort of puts the people in that country behind the eight ball,” said Peter Sorrentino.
Also, I am shocked at the statement "We’re all in the same boat together", which caused me to have repeated nightmares of the Titanic.
on Sat, 02/06/2010 - 02:34
#220250
PIGSHIT JUNK, = Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain, Hungary, Ireland and Turkey, ...... Japan, US, Nepal and Kazakhstan? :)its sounds about right, now to add France, UK, and Ukraine.... heh
on Mon, 02/08/2010 - 00:31
#221847
What is STUPID???
on Thu, 02/18/2010 - 15:47
#236042
Everybody knows who is to blame for the finance crapfest, it is the good old US+UK as in "you suck".
5th grade derogatory acronym throwing both ways.