Newspaper

The Spying Has Been Going On For DECADES

• FHFA Is Said to Seek at Least $6 Billion From BofA for MBS Sales (BBG)
• Record Pact Is on the Table, But J.P. Morgan Faces Fight (WSJ)
• Magnetar Goes Long Ohio Town While Shorting Its Tax Base (BBG)
• Mini-Wall Street' Rises in Hamptons (WSJ)
• Obama to call healthcare website glitches 'unacceptable' as fix sought (Reuters)
• Starbucks Charges Higher Prices in China, State Media Says (WSJ)
• Cruz Is Unapologetic as Republicans Criticize Shutdown (BBG)
• Berlusconi struggles to keep party united after revolt (Reuters)
• SAC Defections Accelerate as Cohen Approaches Settlement (BBG)

Mayor Bloomberg's crusade to micromanage what New Yorkers put in their mouth has so far failed, but that just means the attempt to impose the first "New Normal" nanny state, in which individual calorie consumption is regulated for the greater good by the even greater government, has simply shifted its geographic location. In this case to Mexico, which according to the OECD has surpassed the US as the world's fattest country and is "notorious for its love of sweets, fried foods and pastries" where as the WSJ reports, the lower House of Congress passed on Thursday a special tax on junk food that is seen as potentially the broadest of its kind, part of an ambitious Mexican government effort to contain runaway rates of obesity and diabetes.

In what is a staggering example of not only state meddling in the affairs of the "free press", but worse, sheer state idiocy, yesterday the WSJ posted an article on its website revealing that as many as 24 co-conspirators would be exposed shortly in the ongoing Libor manipulation scandal and divulging the names of various individuals on this list. What promptly followed was truly bizarre. As the WSJ reports shortly after posting the article, "a British judge ordered the Journal and David Enrich, the newspaper's European banking editor, to comply with a request by the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office prohibiting the newspaper from publishing names of individuals not yet made public in the government's ongoing investigation into alleged manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor." This happened at 7:18 pm London time, after the original WSJ article had already hit the Internet.  What's worse: the names had already been made public, and through this statist intervention, it only assured that everyone would now read just who was on the list.

Mere weeks after the Merkel re-election, it will come as no surprise to anyone that Greece is to be bailed out for the third time. Germany's Die Zeit newspaper notes the government is assembling a Greek bailout plan which essentially has four gimmicks to fill the "high-single-digit-billion" budget shortfall. Despite having been told time and again that the worst is over, Greek Bailout III will entail shifting cash from the bank recap fund, Bill sales to specific banks which can be instantly collateralized with the ECB, possible extensions of credit by existing creditors, and reduction in interest rates on existing debt. Of course, we will be told that this is the last time and that Greece will emerge victorious in just 1 or 2 more years...but after a few weeks of epic strength, the Athens stock index is giving some back in the last 2 days.

In the midst of a domestic crisis, it is easy to forget that the rest of the world is watching. Now that the U.S. federal government has shut down for the first time since the mid 1990s, the talk of the town is the political problems of the world’s largest economy and sole superpower. In China, most media reports about the shutdown have been merely informative, but every now and then they offer a rare insight into what the Chinese have learned about America’s shortcomings. Yet other commentators find the federal shutdown inspiring. the newspaper Nanfang Dushi Bao commended the strength of American society for being able to function without the government. Interestingly, while the American public sees the shutdown as a government failure, some Chinese are seeing it as a sign of efficiency.

Following President Obama's "win" a few years ago, the headline above may not be as entirely surprising as some would expect. However, we can't help but feel the Syrian President's comments represented his actual perspective and his 'just kidding'-moment was 13-year-old-girl-esque covering-up of the stunning comment given the 115,000 dead in his nation so far from the conflict. As The Tribune reports, the prize, which was given to the global chemical weapons watchdog on Friday, “should have been mine”, Assad said, according to Al-Akhbar newspaper. Hey, there's always next year Bashar...

Having been urged by none other than Nigel Farage to see some kind of alternative sane path forward, the Croatian government decided instead that accession to the EU was for them. Now, according to government estimates, since the joined the EU on July 1st, exports have fallen by 11% compared to the same period last year. As presseurop reports, The decline for the month of August alone was 19%. During the first eight months of this year, exports were down by 6.3% when compared with 2012. The reason for the fall-off, notes the newspaper, has do with the impact of EU accession — "which has exposed Croatia to greater international competition, and the loss of privileges associated with the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)." Looks like Farage was right...

Another of history’s many lessons is that governments under pressure become thieves. And today’s governments are under a lot of pressure.

• The ice breaks; fiscal talks set (The Hill); Ryan steps up to shape a deal (The Hill), as predicted here yesterday
• Republicans consider short-term U.S. debt ceiling increase (Reuters)
• Shutdown Standoff Shows Signs of a Thaw (WSJ)
• JPMorgan Clients in Cash as Schwab’s Options Hedge Default (BBG)
• Mitch McConnell, Senate GOP search for way out (Politico)
• Meredith Whitney Winds Down Brokerage Unit After Setting Up Fund (BBG)
• Washington Budget Chaos Keeps Fed Rates Low for Longer (BBG)
• Chinese Premier Outlines US Debt Concerns (FT)
• Saudis brace for 'nightmare' of U.S.-Iran rapprochement (Reuters)
• Obama Urges Action on Yellen’s Fed Nomination (Reuters)
• Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan Freed After Kidnap (WSJ)

At the time of publication, the United States government is shut down. That does not mean the gears of the state have come to a thankful halt. Over three-quarters of Washington’s global hegemony remains fully functional. Tax dollars are still being redistributed. Wars continue to be waged. The public at large is going about its day unbothered by the furlough of tens of thousands of government employees. For once, apathy has paid off. The only poor souls bemoaning the shutdown are the ones sitting at home. The United States government is not going away anytime soon. The same government workers kicked out of their day-job will go crawling back once given the green light. Being called the equivalent of worthless will be of no consideration. The paycheck is paramount to their dignity. They have our sympathy, but there would be more to share if the state didn’t thrive off the fat of the rubes.

Here's a new and very bizarre entry for the annals of "the dog ate it" excuses. According to Reuters, Montana man Wayne Klinkel, who last year pieced together the remnants of five $100 bills eaten by his one-eyed golden retriever, Sundance, is sporting a $500 check he says he received this week from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to replace the digested funds. Sundance sniffed the wad of bills out of a car cubby space while waiting for Klinkel and his wife to return from lunch, and the canine made the currency his lunch.

One of the biggest laughs of the conference came when Smith presented the slide, ‘Emperor … With No Clothes’  which compared how the value of the Roman denarius, silver coin and the U.S. paper dollar have fared during periods of currency debasement. 

The chart shows the silver denarius since Nero and the dollar since Nixon and looked at the level of debasement during the reign of each Roman Emperor and the term of each Presidency.

If yesterday was the paradoxical government shutdown "relief rally" pushed higher by a last minute VIX smashing ramp, today reality is starting to set in and global stocks and US futures are set to open lower. The FTSE MIB remains the only European bourse to trade in positive territory in today’s session, having touched upon 2 year highs as it is expected the political tumult that threatened to cause a collapse of the Italian government will be resolved today even as the latest news indicate Berlusconi's PDL will support the Bunga godfather after all. Other European equities have failed to benefit from this as market participants remain cautious ahead of the ECB rate decision today when Draghi may or may not (most likely) announce a new LTRO.

Following yesterday's modest bounce in equities punctuated by the traditional last minute spike, sentiment has reverted lower once again, driven by the uncertainty surrounding debt ceiling talks in the US, where lawmakers have until next Tuesday to agree to a spending bill, or much of the government will shut down. The Senate will vote on a spending bill later today, which will then be sent back to the House putting republicans in a quandary (Politico explains the complications surrounding the GOP's "Plan C"). It was reported that US House leaders are considering postponing action on a bill to extend the US government's borrowing power, with the leadership discussing a change of strategy to complete action on the stopgap spending bill before debating the debt-limit debate. In FX, GBP strengthened across the board this morning after BoE’s Carney said he does not see a case for more quantitative easing.