Switzerland

Deutsche Bank’s derivatives position is truly enormous. It was recently estimated to be around $54 trillion. Germany's GDP, the 4th largest in the world, was a mere $3.64 trillion in 2015. Were Deutsche Bank caught off-side in its derivatives positions there is not a government or institution on earth that could bail it out and it could lead to contagion in the German financial system and indeed in the global financial system.

Our current money system began in 1971. It survived consumer price inflation of almost 14% a year in 1980. But Paul Volcker was already on the job, raising interest rates to bring inflation under control. And it survived the “credit crunch” of 2008-09. Ben Bernanke dropped the price of credit to almost zero, by slashing short-term interest rates and buying trillions of dollars of government bonds. But the next crisis could be very different…

If you think the corporate-fascist state is overbearing and oppressive now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Anyone remotely following the gold market, knows that the East is deeply connected with metals. They rightly believe that they are a safe store of value and have a deep affinity that has lasted throughout the ages.

There will be a tipping point where the advantage to be gained by badly impacting the dollar and positioning the yuan as new reserve currency will be greater than the disadvantage suffered by a collapse in the value of the dollar. The tipping point is closer than many believe.

Blockchain.com, which claims to be the maker of the most popular Bitcoin wallet, suffered at the weekend what the Guardian describes as a "total crypto breakdown", highlighting once again the vulnerability of electronic and digital currencies to human and technological errors and hacking.

With The FBI now reportedly investigating the award of The Soccer World Cup to Qatar and Russia, it appears, as Mises' Lew Rockwell exclaimed, "FIFA has got to change its name, it’s going to have to take out the “I” and put in an “A” for American." This sudden act of imperialism by The US, putting itself in charge of world soccer, as Paul Craig Roberts notes, it "is another Washington-British scam against Russia," adding "law is a weapon that Washington uses to achieve its agenda." What happens next? As we predicted a week ago - following some dramatic procedural changes, Russia loses the hosting of the 2018 World Cup.

The European Commission has ordered 11 EU countries to enact the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) within two months or be hauled before the EU Court of Justice, according to a report from Reuters on Friday.

 Most large financial entities are insolvent. As a result, if a significant amount of digital money is converted into actual physical cash, the firm would very quickly implode.

A recent poll suggests that 58% of Syriza supporters would rather return to the Drachma than to remain in the single currency while severe austerity measures are imposed. Syriza have a 26 point lead over the next most popular party, New Democracy.

June is off with a bang, and a very busy week in the macro economic calendar, both globally and in the US, which culminates with the latest "most important ever" payrolls report, one which will surely be closely watched by a Fed which may hike as soon as a few weeks from now (but probably won't).

Over the years, many have tried to prevent John Kerry from inserting his foot in his mouth and failed. Today, none other than Kerry himself achieved just that, both literally and metaphorically. America's Secretary of State went biking in the French Alps when he hit a curb, and broke his femur. Not to worry: he is expected to make a full recovery and was in good spirits, according to John Kirby. And just to make sure of that, US taxpayers will be invoiced a little over a million so that a specially equipped airplane picks up the SecState "to ensure he remains comfortable and stable throughout the flight."

Just days after David Cameron's "I promise a referendum" victory in the British elections, which JPMorgan warns now looks likely to happen as early as 2016, France's far-right National Front party has called for an in/out referendum on the EU at the same time as the UK holds its vote. As EUObserver reports, Florian Philippot, an MEP and the party’s deputy head wrote to French President Francois Hollande this week, "the time has come to ask everybody in Europe Yes or No - if they want sovereignty to decide on their own future."

Following today's "successful" vote confirming Sepp Blatter's 5th term running the farce called FIFA, and amid soccer's governing body being investigated by US and Swiss authorities over claims of corruption, we thought a summary of just where the money comes from and (apart from the $150 million in bribes and kickbacks to 14 executives) where it goes for the Swiss-based entity...