European Union

Greece and the grand machinations of the European Union came to mind as it occurred to me that all of the fine points aside; Greece had become a ward of the State. The math doesn’t even add up so it can be said that it was a poor attempt at hide-and-seek but we suppose it was the best they could do given their skill-set these days. As you watch the antics of the politicians in Spain you realize that they are first cousins to the Greeks. Prime Minister Rajoy and his merry band of henchmen are playing the same tunes as we have all heard before. The reasons that Spain has not come begging for alms yet is not too complicated. They don’t want to be audited by the Troika, God forbid, they want no one peering at the actual state of their Real Estate market, they don’t want anyone but paid flunkies examining their banks. The ECB will save the world subject to the decisions of Europe’s political leaders. Saving the world is a good thing and keeps getting promised by virtually every religious leader for the past several thousand years; the second Spanish Inquisition is about to begin and the zealot may be found wanting.

No funds are going to be distributed now. Perhaps some of you missed this but this is exactly what Ms. Lagarde stated. Before any distribution the Eurozone has to “fulfill its commitments” and the Private Sector bond buyback plan must be completed. Consider this; Europe is putting up all of the money currently and the IMF has declined to participate. Oh yes, it is couched in political mishmash and tucked neatly under the rug but there it is; no money from the IMF for now.

We are in a “different moment” now than in the past several years and that is the point of my commentary today. Promises have come and gone, the central banks have supported the fiscal system as political decision making waned with indecision and the difficulties of the choices. Complacency took hold as a kind of “everything will be fine” mentality inundated the market places. Soon, in my opinion, everything will not be quite so fine as the politicians in America and Europe have to earn their salaries and the ramifications of many decisions are going to be unpleasant as they are released. If we regard America’s fiscal cliff or the pending decisions about Greece or the separatist movement in Spain or the lack of a budget for the European Union; it is all politically centered and the battlefields are rife with perhaps surprising decisions. In each of these four arenas the easy answers have now come and gone. The “can kicking” if you will is over.

• Goldman Turns Down Southern Europe Banks as Crisis Lingers (Bloomberg)
• Euro Ministers Take Third Swing at Clearing Greek Payment (Bloomberg)
• Chamber Sidestepped in Obama’s Talks on Avoiding Fiscal Cliff (Bloomberg)
• Republicans and Democrats Differ on Taxes as Fiscal Cliff Looms (Bloomberg)
• Republicans bargain hard over fiscal cliff (FT)
• Catalan Pro-Independence Parties Win Regional Vote (BBG)
• Shirakawa defends BoJ from attack (FT)
• Run-off looms in Italy’s centre-left vote (FT)
• BOJ rift surfaces over easing as political debate heats up (Reuters)
• Barnier seeks ‘political will’ on bank union (FT)
• New BOJ Members Sought More-Expansionary Wording (Bloomberg)
• Osborne May Extend U.K. Austerity to 2018, IFS Says (Bloomberg)

Catalonia's exit polls confirm over two-thirds of votes will go to pro-independence parties that will likely push for a referendum to break away from Spain, which the central government will challenge as unconstitutional. The more-populous-than-Denmark region is home to car factories and banks that generate one-fifth of Spain's economic wealth (larger than Portugal's). The incumbent, Artur Mas, has converted to a more radical separatist bias since huge street demonstrations in September showed the will of the people. As Reuters notes, growing Catalan separatism is a huge challenge for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who is trying to bring down painfully high borrowing costs by persuading investors of Spain's fiscal and political stability. Critically, the exit polls suggest the dominance of separatist parties will mean a referendum for secession within two years - leaving us asking the simple question: who will buy any Spanish debt, even fully backstopped by the ECB, if there is a real risk that in under two years, 20% of Spanish GDP will simply pick up and leave.

Ireland is continually held up as the poster-child for austerity-driven 'aid' and how the European Union can successfully manage an economy through a depression with no real pain for bankers. Unfortunately, as we have pointed out previously, judging a nation's progress on the back of its bond yields (when liquidity is negligible and the mighty hand of ECB-collateral-reacharound is upon us) should become anathema from any serious analysis. The sad truth, specific to Ireland in this case, is the relative size and importance of EU subsidies (and the EU budgetary allocation) mean that assumptions of current account surplus going forward (the much-needed elixir to sustain the gross debt load the nation's taxpayers now are buried under thanks to banker-transfers) leave Ireland's debt sustainability greatly in question.

So we have the Greek debt crisis, the European Union budget problem and the European bank oversight issue and twenty-seven countries all wanting “this, that and the other” except “the other” is not that much fun unless Ms. Merkel surprises everyone by saying she is a little tired and pulling a Mae West and telling all twenty-seven nations that one will have to leave. The scenario is unlikely of course but then everyone involved is now playing the grand old game of “Work Around” where someone must pay and it is going to be anybody but them. “Not this little piggy,” says the IMF and “not this little piggy” says the ECB and “not this little piggy” says the European Union. This is all because no one wants the political winds to “blow their house down.”

• Boehner comments show tough road ahead for "fiscal cliff" talks (Reuters)
• Argentina angry at hedge fund court win (FT)
• EU Spars Over Budget as Chiefs See Possible Deadlock (Bloomberg)
• Merkel doubts budget deal possible this week, more talks needed (Reuters)
• Greek deal hopes lift market mood (FT)
• Greek Rescue Deal Faltering Cut in Rescue-Loan Rate (Bloomberg)
• Japan's Abe Pushes Stimulus (WSJ) - Unpossible: a Keynesian in Japan demanding stimulus? Say it isn't so. 
• Authorities Tried to Flip Trader in Insider Case (WSJ)

That Greek suicide rates have exploded over the past two years is very much expected: after all, in order to preserve the sanctity of the failed monetary status quo, the Greek economy and its less than prosperous population have been sacrificed by the legacy elite and the wealthy. The socio-economic collapse has resulted in a total crash in economic production of goods and services, an nosebleed-inducing unemployment rate which increasing at a mindboggling 1% per month, and the rise of neo-nazism, with the Golden Dawn party now the third most popular political organization in the country (and rising rapidly). Sure enough, Kathimerini has confirmed that the" Greece's suicide rate increased by 37 percent between 2009 - 2011, To Pontiki newspaper reported quoting police data. The data, which was presented in Parliament by Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias following a request by SYRIZA MPs, showed that 3,124 suicides and attempted suicides have occurred in the debt-stricken country since 2009, the weekly newspaper said." As noted, no surprise in this very tragic headline on the day in which the world's still wealthiest nation gives gratitude for all its "wealth."

With America shut for Thanksgiving today, what was going to be an abysmal volume day, coupled with the usual any news is good news levitation following the lowest volume day of the year, will be even worse. Sure enough, the overnight session started off with a bang, when in the vacuum of night, a lift everything algo sent the EURUSD soaring by 40 pips higher on no news. With the entire risk complex firmly anchored to the EURUSD pair as the key driver, it pushed risk across the entire market well higher to set the early session mood with the very first trade. Followed light trading and a gradual drift lower which could not be offset even with a China HSBC Flash PMI print of 50.4, up from 49.5 in October, and the first 50+ print in 13 month (to accompany the new political regime: after all, the US is not the only nation where economic data mysteriouly levitate with key political events). This continued until about Europe open, when the monthly release of European PMIs came out, which once again were confusing to say the least with France posting the biggest and most surprising pick up, after its Manufacturing PMI rose from 43.7 to 44.7, on expectations of 44.0, while the Services PMI increased from 44.6 to 46.1, well above the expected 45.0 print. Germany was less exuberant with manufacturing rising from 45.5 to 46.2, although the Services PMI dropped from 48.4 to 48.0, missing expectations of 48.3, sending the series to its lowest in 41 months.

Granular details seeping from every crack in France’s picturesque veneer

For your Arthur Andersen nostaglia pleasure, we present Deloitte's February 2011 sign off on the firm's 2011 full year results. And to avoid the Twinkie Tsunami and beat the rush, be sure to buy your soon to be collectible, pre-petition HP-12C now before the imminent price surge occurs.

Certainly, don’t let the riffraff decide.

Together, the market and democracy are what we like to call "the system." The system has driven and enticed bankers and politicians to get the world into trouble. One of the side effects of the crisis is that all ideological shells have been incinerated. Truths about the rationality of markets and the symbiosis of market and democracy have gone up in flames. Is it possible that we are not experiencing a crisis, but rather a transformation of our economic system that feels like an unending crisis, and that waiting for it to end is hopeless? Is it possible that we are waiting for the world to conform to our worldview once again, but that it would be smarter to adjust our worldview to conform to the world? At first glance the world is stuck in a debt crisis; but, in fact, it is in the midst of a massive transformation process, a deep-seated change to our critical and debt-ridden system, which is suited to making us poor and destroying our prosperity, social security and democracy, and in the midst of an upheaval taking place behind the backs of those in charge. A great bet is underway, a poker game with stakes in the trillions, between those who are buying time with central bank money and believe that they can continue as before, and the others, who are afraid of the biggest credit bubble in history and are searching for ways out of capitalism based on borrowed money.

"This is a time of tremendous flux in the international order" is how Harvard's Niall Ferguson describes the world in which we live as he opines expertly on the change in China, Europe's pending 'lost decade', and the Middle East's post-Arab Spring disestablishment of the 1970s 'order' with GoldMoney's Alasdair Macleod. From China's need to begin privatizing SOEs and globalizing the RMB (with an interesting focus on the introduction of reliable property rights to 'enable' the middle class) to concerns about its large dollar holdings (and the top-down and bottom-up diversification into gold that continues); Ferguson notes that the ongoing attempt to diversify its wealth and revenues (stock and flow) is relatively limited by the ability to secure hard assets but adds that as the world's 'trade' center of gravity shifts east at a very fast pace so gold will flow from "the West to the rest" as Western power declines and the Asia bloc rises. A fascinating macro-economic and geo-political discussion that concludes with a shift through Russia's energy quagmire, Japan's debt problems, and the faulty design of the European Union.