This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
The Great Singularity
Submitted by Mark J. Grant, author of Out of the Box,
“Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”
-Samuel Johnson
The world today does not smell of lavender and lilacs these days but more like old grease that has gone rancid. Always a skeptic, I find myself these days looking with more of a jaundiced eye than usual as I stare out on the fiscal landscape. Yesterday a High Court Examining Magistrate opened a second investigation into the ruling party in Spain examining new corruption charges that include Prime Minister Rajoy. These focused on money paid by the construction industry but a second article by Reuters made me wonder. This story centered on Santander selling off $393 million in troubled assets to a hedge fund. What caught my eye here was that they were apparently sold at four cents on the Dollar; a 96% discount. You might think write-off but the bank is having serious difficulties so that doesn’t quite fly. You might think some other reason in the normal course of business but at four cents on the dollar there is scant benefit to be gained. I wonder if Santander wasn’t, given the two ongoing investigations, not removing consumer loans from their books, as reported, but questionable loans that they did not wish to be investigated. If the loans are not there then they cannot be found and if they can’t be found then perhaps it lessens the chance of implication and criminality. I look at it all and wonder.
“Every man serves a useful purpose. A Prime Minister who has been caught stealing, for example, may make a perfect scapegoat for the next man that assumes his office.”
-The Wizard
Meanwhile in Italy the spaghetti sauce continues to boil. It once simmered but the heat has been turned up and it is a full boil now. Every political leader on the Continent is hoping for a deal. I can almost visualize them wandering around, “Deal, deal where is the deal?” I can see Signore Grillo on the dais, “No Deal,” he proclaims to the audience as the contestants hem and haw in frustration and the crowd goes wild. What is worse for the people in Berlin and Brussels is that every indicator points to that if another election were held that Signore Grillo would emerge with even more votes and maybe a majority of votes. This is not politics as usual in Italy. The 5 Star Party does not wish to play by the old rules. They want to re-write the Rulebook.
It can be said with certainty that the yields for the periphery nations in Europe are lower but it can also be said with certainty that their economies are in worse shape. The Great Disconnect not only continues but worsens. We go back to the Great Singularity which is that the tide is still in as caused by the world’s central banks who have flooded the globe with little blue and green pieces of paper. When I was growing up there was a maxim that, “Money doesn’t grow on trees.” Now, by God, there are Money Trees in Washington and Frankfurt. It is a miracle of nature and something to behold. Even the price of gold, the alternative currency, is now manipulated by the central banks as they sell into any rally and control the Relative Value part of the equation. Currency skirmishes are underway and denied as the fiscal alchemists ponder how to devalue all of the currencies at once. The politicians have abandoned their posts and the central bankers have taken charge in their absence. The inmates are now in charge of the asylum. Officials elected by no one and accountable only to their green eye shades and private investors, shoved to the sidelines, are left to scratch out a meager living searching the garbage dump for scraps.
It is a peculiar time. The land is filled with fantasy once again. The Emperors are minimized by their inadequacy. The High Lords Bernanke and Draghi have assumed the Regency!
»
- 10043 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
“Money doesn’t grow on trees.”
We run our printers under the trees in the shade....it keeps them from overheating.
Someome wake me up with the shiz finally hits a fan. The same old talk is getting old.
The best questions are usually the simplest formation.
If this works, why should anyone pay taxes?
this article is a classic. Oh, there is corruption in europe!
as always, I ask: how much? and as always I find out that small theft and petty corruption is what gets you in trouble
if you achieve Corzine-like heights, on the other hand, you are literally untouchable
Berlusconi seems to have hit the gray zone between the two, on the other hand, but hey, his political-crony-entrepreneur years were thirty years ago
meanwhile the author does not see any difference between what the FED and what the ECB are doing - on the old criterion that of course all the world is a distant reflection of what happens in the US
"This is not politics as usual in Italy" - in my experience there is nothing more complex than politics in Italy. The peninsular republic has seen practically every thinkable coalition and government that minds can conceive in over sixty governments since WWII
25%-28% grillini? hahaha the Communist party was excluded from direct political action for ages, and they had 33%
Corruption in Anglo-Saxon countries is almost entirelly a game of the elites, a game of influence peddling and "I'll watch over you now, you watch over me later" between those with large amounts of power and those with large amounts of money.
But, lo and behold, doing things like leaving public office to go and work for the companies you regulated or made laws for, is not really against the law and what little is against the law is extremelly hard to proved.
So those countries come out very well in the corruption indexes they themselves set up.
It's a bit like painting a turd with bright, fluorescent yellow paint and calling it a piece of art.
What's really shocking is how many people don't notice that it's really just a piece of shit.
and the distrution of such corruption is highly weighted into the blue part of the spectrum, politically. These are the elites that engage successfully in "What the meaning of is, is." whose shenanigans are so much better understood among our press and law enforcement types.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/investigations/awu-fraud-probe-ques...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-31/craig-thomson-arrested/4493722
http://www.smh.com.au/national/investigations
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/five-big-transactions-found-on-money-trail-201...
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/claims-of-police-violence-and...
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/liberal-party-shaken-to-the-...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_politicians_convicted_of...
Don't worry some people notice...
Corzine is a Democrat player, i.e. protected and understood by the press and politically connected potential prosecutors.
For those who haven’t yet been induced by the MSM to shit, piss, fart, and puke at the same time today, go read this piece of propaganda about what a good job the Fed is doing.
http://news.msn.com/us/us-household-wealth-regains-pre-recession-peak
Amazing how the Federal debt and the Fed's balance sheet keep surging higher and higher during the "recovery". It is akin to living off the credit card while the balance keeps surging...
FUBAR.
Mathematically, if your income always grows faster than your debt grows, you can keep doing this. If the interest rate is low enough and the risk adjusted IRR of your activities is well higher than the interest rate, it is even the Right Thing to Do. As a business. At the level of a country, this doesn't work because government doesn't create growth, it consumes wealth and brakes activity in most areas of commerce.
No need ..I saw the "msn" in your link and I already know what they have to say.
Whi;st unfunded liabitilities have increased $32tn over the period.Govt.Debt risen $6tn,
FedRes on the books debt by $2tn,and off books by $12tn,
Lets see;household wealth is plus $15tn and it only cost $52tn.
Peak stupidity.
Yes, my favorite type of aggregate everything and claiming everyone is doing better.
If ten people each had $1000 in 2007, the total value is $10k.
If the ten people each lost $500 in the downturn, the total value is $5k
If one person increased his wealth to $9100 and the other nine lost another $400 each. Total household wealth has returned to pre recession levels. On paper everything is coming up roses.
Not that there was equal distribution of welath before the crisis, but since 2009 90% of the gains have gone to 1% of the population, so the analogy is fair.
Well said, adr!
A banker, a welfare recipient and a middle-class working stif sit around a table. In the middle of the table there's a plate with 10 cookies.
The banker takes 9 of the cookies, then turns to the middle-class working stif and, pointing at the welfare recipient, says: "Watch out for that guy, he's trying to take your cookie!"
OK, we didn't get so much change, but just a acelleration of forces already at work. It is amazing how this has happened under a guy like Obama. But i definitely see why the elites pulled for him. His complete lack of financial understanding makes him the perfect tool. and they thought it was easy with Bush...wow.
Why amazing?
You didn't think Obama wasn't a two-bit opportunist from Chicago who doesn't understand the power of money?
Puleeze.
US Household wealth, overall, DID increase.....just for 10% of us, though.
But that's all that matters now. Congress has a 10% approval rating. That's who they work for.
5 minutes of my life I wish I could have back.
236k, bitchez. :)
Yes, it is amazing the castles in the air that can be built with paper money and deceitful manipulation of all economic data. And Madame Bernanke de Pompadour will do anything to keep King Louis XV Obama happy, including flooding markets with unlimited amounts of printed money. They both know that, in their holy alliance, they are committing a cardinal sin. But clinging to power is more important than the good of the country. An economic and social disaster is imminent for the US and a major part of the world and Bernanke de Pompadour and Louis XV Obama are praying that it won’t happen during their reign: “Après nous le déluge”.
More:
http://www.mmnews.de/index.php/english-news/7423-apres-nous-le-deluge
Any reasonable man would wonder how it is that these few have the power to make those heady decisions that will ultimately impact the welfare of the entire planet. Did we not learn what a few - like Stalin & Hitler - could do just 6-7 decades ago? Does every generation have to suffer immeasurably because they've forgotten what has happened in the past? Such is the lot of the human race. Too bad.
The real worry here is cost push inflation and commodity price suppression, especially the grains. Fiat and financial fraud games are bad enough, but when they hit the brick wall of starving populations, it will get ugly really fast.
Yeah, they'll need more bulldozers to scrape all those rotting corpses off the streets...and that's just about how much they really care, isn't it?
The Caterpillar D9 has made good press, crushing the competition.
When?
When?
“The 2008 financial crisis will be seen as a minor blip if we default” --Timothy Geithner
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-president-sidelined/2012/09/08/...
Timmi the tax cheat speaks
Why would we default when we can just inflate print?
“The 2008 financial crisis will be seen as a minor blip if we default” --Timothy Geithner
"The 2008 financial crisis should be seen as a minor blip, in the actual bailout and enrichment of the banks whose fraud was perpetrated for decades by Greenspan and Bernanke. Geithner was a bumbling, nobody figurehead. Placed at Sec. of Treasury for misdirection purposes only.
--Clowns On Acid, ZH foot soldier.
Then why bother scrawling "Tax Cheat" across his signature on our Benniebux, if he's just a figurehead?
The endocannabinoid system is a major regulator in the body implicated in almost all diseases including cancer.
http://classicalvalues.com/2013/03/endocannabinoids-the-science/ Endocannabinoids The Science
Medical Marijuana prohibition is a crime against humanity and a violation of the religious precept - heal the sick.
Pass it on.
Puff puff pass it on. <fixt>
"Of course we need regulation of medical marijuana."
Typical of lefty statists.
Enjoy your FDA regulated and approved horsemeat burgers on your GMO buns.
Because that's what you'll get with govt. regs and Monsatan in control.
A better idea is to leave govt. out of the picture entirely and let people decide what works for themselves.
No matter how much Blueberry you burn, you'll never shit a smurf.
You know dick, moron. I advocate legalization for the same reason you want 15-round magazines.
No matter how many rounds to bust...you'll still be a frightened little pussy.
I wasn't talking to you. Accidental indent.
I'm for legal weed and belt fed machine guns.
I'll take my chances on both. I ain't scared of nuthin'.
ok, I hate those motherfuckin' snakes.
Princes of darkness basking in the light of green & blue ink.
"Meanwhile in Italy the spaghetti sauce continues to boil"
~~~
Isn't that rayciss? I mean ~ if the author had said "Meanwhile in Israel the gefilte fish is starting to stink" ~ [some] folks around here would have an anuerysm...
~~~
Edit: 3 anuerysms so far [only took about 10 minites on a thread that had less than 4,000 page views]... No explanations forthcoming however... It was, in fact, a simple question...
How bout rolling watermelons instead of kicking the can?
rayciss
Instead of Kicking the Can, how about Spinning those Rims? Nothing screams of frivolity more than that in my book, and a huge pet peeve of mine.
I can understand kids playing on the street with a can or two, but how can you own rims and then expect, nay demand, that others pay your rent and put food on your table?
but how can you own rims and then expect, nay demand, that others pay your rent and put food on your table?
I see a fair amount of this in my neighborhood. Most of those folks don't "own" those rims. Those are leased vehicles with the "pimp'd package" or something.
On the other hand, foodstamps is a government program that helps working people pay for food--if you think it's a bad program, just say so, but it'd be silly to say something like, "How can you own your own car and then demand the privilege to ride publicly-subsidized mass transit?"
The same way you can own gas guzzling 3 ton steel monsters and then expect, nay demand, that others give you fuel for it under the threat of military invasion and death.
Mamma mia, such salty language on ZH today!
Maybe the Italians are prouder of their heritage than the Zionist are. They have a right to be.
Worried about your boat sinking? No problem, just drain the ocean into the boat.
Shame on you all! We need to be "Reasonable Conservatives"! http://shutupnsing.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/reasonable-conservatism/