Greece

Earlier we reported rumors that Austria may withold a major upcoming payment to fund the Greek rescue package that could set the Eurozone on fire once again, as countries pull out of their rescue commitments to the insolvent nation. We have now gotten confirmation.

The EU's finely tuned (and well-greased by assorted bankers) Nash Equilibrium is about to become history. Austria is the first major country to say enough to Greece's endless lies. Why? Who knows - Austrian banks will be first on the firing squad line when, not if, Greece implodes. Perhaps even Europe is getting sick of this charade. Next up - every man for themselves, but only those who defect first win.

When the president of the EU says that the fate of the second worst experiment of the last century (the worst being monetarist-Keynesian-central banking fundamentalism) is on the ropes, people listen. Perhaps people will also finally listen to those who are warning that no matter the words of encouragement, said experiment is doomed: the latest confirmation coming from Greece which has been now caught lying not once, not twice, but five times in a row just to preserve its EU backstops, and allow it insolvent banking system to exist for a few more days. In the meantime, the fate of Europe's bankers lies in the hands of a few good Irishmen, who can precipitate the mark to market (aka zero) catch 22 should the country finally force senior creditors to be impaired. Then not even the Fed will be able to backstop the continent's $50 or so trillion in interlinked assets, which also happen to be the continent's liabilities. In the meantime, here is Herman Van Rompuy doing what bureaucrats and bankers in power are so good at doing when they have no other choice: threatening with global assured destruction if they don't get their way.

It is as if Europe is trying to kill the Euro (just as we predicted): the FT reports that according to Fernando Teixeira dos Santos, Portugal's finance minister, the risk that Portugal will have to turn to the international community for emergency financial assistance is high because of the growing dangers of contagion through financial markets that fear the eurozone debt crisis will spread. "The risk is high because we are not facing only a national or country problem. It is the problems of Greece, Portugal and Ireland. This is not a problem of only this country." And just to make it appear sightly less palatable that Portugal is now pointing a loaded gun at its head, dos Santos threw a little of the blame all around: "This has to do with the eurozone and the stability of the eurozone, and that is why contagion in this framework is more likely. It is not because markets consider we have similar situations. They are only similar in what concerns markets, but as I said they are very different. Markets look at these economies together because we are all in this together in the eurozone, but probably they could look different if we were not in the eurozone. Suppose we were not in the eurozone, the risk of the contagion could be lower." And while we are on the daydreaming page, suppose the Euro did not exist: things may have been just a little different, roughly in line with what the euroskeptics have been saying for almost two decades now. Suppose the Fed did not exist either...

As if astute observers, the objective (and/or BoomBustBloggers) couldn't see this coming a mile away. The next prediction cum manifest destiny (Euro-toxic asset edition), many other sovereign nations - in and out of the EU will be pulled down by their extend and pretend treatment of bad bank assets.

• G-20, APEC Yield Little to Fix Imbalances, Stem Inflow Concerns (Bloomberg)
• Ireland Talks With EU as Germany Pushes It to Take Bailout (Bloomberg)
• Europe stumbles blindly towards its 1931 moment (Telegraph)
• Portugal Faces Investor Scrutiny (WSJ)
• Greece Expects Budget Pressure From EU, IMF (WSJ)
• Lacker Says Fed's New Easing Push Too Risky (Reuters)
• Banks escaping big foreclosure class actions, because borrowers cannot demonstrate economic harm, according to plaintiff lawyers (Reuters)
• Who Will Stand Up to the Superrich? (NYT)
  
• Dollar boosted by higher Treasury yields (Reuters)
  

In the past few weeks, there have been tomes of disjointed literature written on why the final days of the modern financial system may be approaching. Disjointed, as it goes against everything that existing economists believe in, and thus are forced to forget all they have learned from Ive League professor-written textbooks and start from scratch, i.e., acknowledge their religion has been flawed all along. Bill Buckler (author of the Privateer newsletter), who has seen this for ages, shares some of the most comprehensive views on the upcoming great financial unwind, first analyzing the case study of the aftermath of Volcker's 1979 Belgrade meeting, which was everything that Bernanke's "easy way out" QE choice was not. Buckler then analyzes the broken fabric of financial reality, and explains why at its very core, money is incompatible with everything that modern finance stands for. Lastly, Buckler looks at the aftermath of the failed G20 meetings, and concludes that: "Now that the LAST hope of an international agreement to solve an insoluble problem has been lost, it is just a matter of time before talk is followed by action." We may in fact see the first "action" today if, as some rumors are swirling Portugal or Greece may escalate to the "next level" of bailout action.

Who would have thought it only takes for PIIGS spreads to go back to all time records, and for Ireland and Portugal to be hours away from joining Greece in the bailout corner, for Goldman's Erik Nielsen to turn bearish again. To wit: "if investors are running for the door out of fear of being the last one left behind, then there’ll be a liquidity crisis (as there would be for anyone with a financing need), and they’ll need help." Way to stay ahead of the curve Erik. The problem is that while the economic reality below the surface cracks and collapses, investors are largely ignoring the perpetual words of optimism from Europe's politicians, and sellside cheerleaders (which begs the question - is it time to take this Goldman acknowledgment of reality as a buying opportunity?). What happened in Greece may have been brushed under the carpet for a few months, but the policy response there, which is identical to what is happening in Ireland and Portgula now, i.e., blatant lies, has left those holding relevant securities with a bitter taste in the mouth. And now, unlike before, the possibility of holder haircuts is distinctly on the table. Which is why we expect that before the Asian open, there well may be some key news out of Ireland (and/or Portugal)- no matter how much Nielsen believes that Ireland is not in a solvency crisis, with Bund spreads in the 700 range, no matter how much prefunding the government has, it will be irrelevant and will create yet another toxic debt spiral. The biggest threat is not so much to Ireland, which supposedly has its cash needs met through mid 2011, but contagion hitting other European countries, which do have solvency issues, yet have been spared the liquidity hammer so far. And with Italy CDS also hitting record highs, look for the core to start crumbling as everyone, especially Chiswick's perpetual optimist, to appreciate the gorgeous mushroom cloud over the European periphery.

Why should this time be different as the current conference broke up with NOTHING accomplished other than to promise to get right on these issues at next year's meeting. REALLY?

According to the ECB, borrowings by Irish-based lenders’ from the European Central Bank rose to €130 billion as of Oct. 29, up almost €10 billion from €121.1 billion at the end of September. Adjusted for size, this is roughly equivalent to US banks borrowing a few hundred trillion from the Fed, give or take a few trillion. "Pass thru" institutions include both international and domestic banks in Ireland. In other words, the ECB continues to buy the bonds issued by Ireland, to provide the funds to Irish banks so they can buy their own bonds, and when all this fails, the ECB can step in and provide money to the government directly. Elsewhere, the CDS of Anglo Irish bank blew out by 20% yesterday, and have surged by over 10,000 bps since the end of October to nearly 13,000. Luckily, the end game is known: Ireland will be bailed out by the ECB, the country will become another Greece, lying each and every day about its deficit and economic recovery, until yet another country gets mauled. At some point the Fed/ECB/IMF's rescue ploy will fail. Then, it will be best to be far away.

Futures (and their driver - AUDJPY) have been spooked overnight by a circulating think thank report which claims that an Ireland bailout package is coming on Tuesday. Coupled with another rumor of a Chinese rate hike (China now down 6% in last two days) means Brian Sack's cronies had a very busy night. ES plunged as low as 1193 before recouping a whole 12 points, and wa down just 6 at last check. It appears that just like in the flash crash, one of the key correlation catalysts is the EURUSD, which once dropping below 1.36, all hell breaks loose. For today, Ireland may be a rumor. Next week it will be a fact. And not even the Fed will be able to halt a multi-trillion selling onslaught.

Just a quick update from my piece earlier.

In fact, just yesterday we had a TERRIBLE 30-year note auction on just $16Bn worth of notes. Already Ben is pretty much the only buyer of Tim’s trash paper and, as that bid to cover ratio drops below 2:1, you’ll see rates begin to tick up dramatically, despite the Fed’s best efforts to contain them and that will put pressure on houses, corporate debt, government debt, municipal debt etc and suddenly we’re Greece.

Zero Hedge friends Chris Martenson writes in: "For a very long time I have been calling for, expecting and otherwise anticipating the day that the Federal Reserve would begin openly monetizing government debt. I knew the day would come intellectually, but in my heart I hoped it wouldn't. But with the Fed's recent decision to directly monetize the next 8 months of federal deficit spending, that day has finally arrived. I have to confess, while my prediction has proven accurate, I’m still stunned the Fed actually did it. In this report I examine the risks that this new path presents, what match(es) may finally ignite the decades-old pile of dry fuel, what the outcomes are likely to be, and what we can and should be doing in preparation."

At last check Irish-Bund spreads were north of 725 bps, meaning Ireland is now effectively insolvent, and joins Greece in the group of bankrupt European countries. If this blow out is not stopped immediately, the contagion will again spread to the periphery first and then to the core shortly thereafter. The only question is when, just like in the case of oh so coy Greece, will Lenihan admit defeat and ask the IMF and the ECB for help (oh, and do it so during a Citigroup-mediated conference call). However, as Market News reports, citing Handesblatt, the Irish rescue may be imminent, and may come as soon as today.