Corruption

The Cop Is On the Take

• Iran, powers push for nuclear deal as clock ticks toward deadline (Reuters)
• How DIY Bond Traders Displaced Wall Street’s Hot Shots (BBG)
• MillerCoors Caught in a Downdraft (WSJ)
• Saudi-led strikes again hit Yemen overnight (Reuters)
• Even With Free Money, Merkel Still Reluctant to Spend (BBG)
• Britain Uses Tax Breaks to Lure Digital-Game Developers (WSJ)
• China to Insure Deposits in Move Toward Scrapping Rate Curbs (BBG)
• As China Expands Its Navy, the U.S. Grows Wary (WSJ)

Why is the assertion that “all markets are manipulated” generally greeted with scorn and derision?

When we left you yesterday, we were trying to connect the bloated, cankerous ankles of the US economy (Part 1) to the sugar rush of its post-1971 credit-based money system (Part 2). Today, we look at the face of our government. It is older... with more worry lines and wrinkles. But whence cometh that pale and stupid look? That is also the result of the same advanced diabetic epizootic that has infected American society.

Do our childish minds really think those whom we blindly empower will scurry away like cockroaches exposed by the refrigerator light and leave us be after the fall? Really? Are we serious?

The imperial spiral into the stratosphere of stupidity is well underway. With zero accountability for those in power, there’s no way to realistically stop it before crash and burn. The best we can hope is to bring the responsible to justice afterward and pick up the pieces by going back to the Constitution.

The Sunlight is Fading … and America Is Falling Into Darkness

Bloomberg estimates industrial output may have to be slashed by a fifth in order for Beijing to hit its own pollution targets and by up to 40% if China wants its citizens to be able to breathe the same air as the rest of the world.

• Saudi Arabia, allies launch air strikes in Yemen against Houthi fighters (Reuters)
• Pilot on Crashed Jet Was Locked Out of Cockpit, NY Times Says (BBG)
• Why Bombing This Tiny Oil Producer Is Roiling the Energy Market (BBG)
• U.S.-led coalition, Iraqis pound Islamic State in Tikrit (Reuters)
• Munger Says Prepare for Harder World as Buying Power Slides (BBG),Mocks Greek ‘Idiotic Idea’ You Can Vote Yourself Rich (BBG)
• The Central Banker Who Saved the Russian Economy From the Abyss (BBG)
• Bank of Canada says foreign buyers complicate housing market (Reuters)
• Investors Scoop Up Companies’ Bonds (WSJ)
• Espirito Santo Probe Turns Mariana Mortagua Into Portuguese Star (BBG)

Either Greece will stop trying to save the failed past and look into the future, treating the crisis and the adjustment program as opportunities to finally implement urgently needed reforms, or the country will be eventually forced to exit the euro, in our view.  Economics 101 teaches us that an economy can survive within a monetary union only if it has fiscal policy room and structural flexibility to respond to asymmetric shocks. In our view, Greece had none and has none. We see no solution for Greece within the Eurozone without reforms.

As has been noted in recent commentaries, the current Debtor’s Tango taking place between Greece and the lackey governments of the EU is the most surreal of political theater. In one corner, we have the new honest/legitimate government of Greece, which is seeking to negotiate a reduction in its absolutely unsustainable debt-load. In seeking this conservative and responsible approach to its fiscal management, we have the propagandists of the Corporate media relentlessly labeling it a “radical, left-wing government.”

The future of Europe being decided?

*'WE WANT GREECE TO BE ECONOMICALLY STRONG,' MERKEL SAYS SHE IS SEEKING TRUSTFUL COOPERATION WITH TSIPRAS
*TSIPRAS: GREEK BAILOUT INCREASED SOCIAL INEQUALITY
*TSIPRAS: GREEK ECONOMY NEEDS BAILOUT DISBURSEMENT (please?)
*MERKEL SAYS SHE CAN'T 'OFFER ANY LIQUIDITY' ON HER OWN (nein!)

It has not been a good week for Spain's embattled Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Following what Bloomberg calls "its worst election result in 25 years," in Andalusia (the nation's most populous region); the corruption scandals re-rear their ugly head:

*SPAIN RULING PEOPLE'S PARTY MAY HAVE HAD SECRET ACCOUNTS; COURT SEES POSSIBLE TAX FRAUD BY COUNTRY'S RULING PARTY

Spanish bond risk widened 4-5bps on the day as both events confirm the rise of anti-EU parties Podemos and Ciudadanos.

It appears clear that the war reparations 'issue' will not go away anymore. Either Berlin pays what legal experts determine should be paid, or it risks becoming a pariah in its own neighborhood. That the Germans in the 1950s and 1960s, at home and in schools, chose not to tell their children anything about their crimes cannot serve as an excuse to silence the children of its victims. It seems the only way to save the European Union, that Germany has made its economy so dependent on, is for Germany to pay up.