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Meet The Brand New, And Shocking, Third Largest Foreign Holder Of US Treasurys
Something hilarious, and at the same time pathetic, happened earlier today: at precisely 9 am the US Treasury released its delayed Treasury International Capital data (which was supposed to be released yesterday but was delayed because it snowed) which disclosed all the latest foreign Treasury holdings for the month of January. Among the key numbers tracked and disclosed, was that China's official holdings increased from $1.270 trillion to $1.284 trillion, that Japan holdings declined by a tiny $0.2 billion, that UK holdings increased by $7.8 billion to $171 billion, and that holdings of Caribbean Banking Centers, aka hedge funds, declined by $16.7 billion. Here is Reuters with the full data summary (save it before this article is pulled).
So why is it hilarious and pathetic? Because just three short hours later, the Treasury - that organization that has billions of dollars at its budgetary disposal to collate, analyze and disseminate accurate and error-free data - admitted that all the previously reported data was in effect made up!
Of course, it didn't phrase it as such. Instead, what TIC did was release an entire set of January numbers shortly after it had released the "old" numbers, which differed by a small amount but differed across the board - in other words, not a small typo here and there: a wholesale data fudging exercise gone horribly wrong. For example:
- Instead of a $14 billion increase, China's revised holdings were only $3.5 billion higher.
- Instead of unchanged, Japan's holdings suddenly mysteriously increased by $19 billion in January.
- Instead of plunging by $17 billion, the Caribbean Banking Centers were down by a tiny $1 billion.
- And instead of the previously reported increase of just under $1 billion, the all important Russia was revised to have sold $7 billion, bringing its new total to just $132 billion ahead of the alleged previously reported dump of Fed custody holdings in mid-March.
That this glaring confirmation that all TIC data is made up on the fly, without any real backing, and merely goalseeked is disturbing enough. For what it's worth, the latest TIC data is here. Feel free to peruse it before it is revised again
However, what was perhaps more disturbing than even that was the revelation that as of January, the US has a brand new third largest holder of US Treasurys, one which in the past two months has added over $100 billion in US Treasury paper, bringing its total from $201 billion in November, to $257 billion in December, to a whopping $310 billion at January 31.
The country? Belgium
The same Belgium which at the end of 2013 had a GDP of just over €100 billion, or a little over one-third what its alleged UST holdings are.
And somehow the Treasury expects us to believe that tiny Belgium - the center of the doomed Eurozone which is all too busy running debt ponzi scheme of its own - bought in two months nearly as much US Treasurys as its entire GDP?
Apparently yes. However we are not that naive.
So our question is: just who is Belgium being used as a front for?
Recall that for years, the "UK" line item on TIC data was simply offshore accounts transaction on behalf of China. Of course, since China hasn't added any net US paper holdings in the past year, the UK, and China, are both irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
But not Belgium. Because with Russia (or someone else) rumored to have sold or otherwise reallocated $100 billion in US Treasurys in March away from the Fed, we wouldn't be surprised if the Belgium total holdings somehow soared to over $400 billion when the March data is revealed some time in May. Courtesy of the excel goalseeking function of course.
Needless to say, this all ignores the initially confirmed fact that all the data presented above is made up gibberish, goalseeked by a bored intern at the Treasury, and whose work got zero error-proofing before its released to the entire world earlier today.
So... just what is going on with this most critical of data sets - official foreign holdings of US paper, and how long before an Edward Snowden emerges from the depths of the US Treasury building and reveals that behind all the data manipulation and unaudited figures was none other than the Fed, whose holdings, far greater than represented, are all that matter, and everything else is merely one grand, theatrical plug?
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Belch? Good, I already speak that fluently
Followed by speaking flatulently :-)
I speak Flatulently fluently, which drives my wife out spending fiat fabulously...
But...I thought that only the Orifice was flatuent in Belch
It's what the cool people do :)
Annd it's called dutch.. but who cares right?
WE OWN A BIG PART OF AMERICA! WE RULE!
fuck treasuries. i want to see their equity portfolio...
Have they expanded it to include baseball cards yet?
Who is Belgium (largest city, Brussels) being used as a front for? No mystery there.
Sure there is. It could be NATO, BIS, IMF, EU, ECB, etc... There are several organizations that could be using Belgum as a front, and we won't know which one(s) unless they start making demands of the US.
Weekend in Bruges anyone?
That Belgian python looks like it just swallowed a very large American pig.
THAT, or a really big waffle...
This should just about cover it...
http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/1140361/445feb7e/john_stewart_owned_belg...
Nailed it.
BTW - "Horses," one other Belgian thing!
Is that what led to the apparent demise of : Bank Guy from Brussels?
Pretty sure that pig had the flu...
It was puking its guts up last I saw it.
how long before US Treasury hacks start falling out of buildings ?
Not long now
Getting closer: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2583385/Banker-28-kills-TWELFTH-...
One of the comments on your link. Freudian slip?
As an ex-broker, I can tell you there is not much worse than losing money for someone who put their thrust in you
LOL
Not fast enough.
I walk by the NY Fed every morning and have been making it a point to walk on the other side of the street just in case.
LO fuckin L.
Ladies and gentlemen, Russia has left the building.
Thank you and good night!
remember that Brussels was the heart of Habsburg empire. They love Empires as we can see with Eu HQ and with Bilderberger network which was born in Belgium/Hollande.
What could be better for moules frites civilization than being sold wrapped in dollar notes.
What time period are you referring to? Prior to the rise of Amsterdam?
I would have said Vienna was the heart of the Habsburgs, personally. But clearly, Belgium has been at the center of the (EU) empire these last 50 years. The real power is in Frankfurt, City of London and Wall St. though... Basel too, but its more of a central meeting place than an independent player.
"remember that Brussels was the heart of Habsburg empire"
What?!?! Brussels was at the heart of Austria-Hungary???? Dude, you're hurting my head.
I'll grant you that Brussels is at the heart of our current evil empire (the NATO mafia).
he is correct, Habsburg Empire, not the more formalized, later Austro-Hungarian one. it included quite a lot of today's countries. look up Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and here the map
-----
so many comments and no serious theory on who could be behind Belgium? LOL That's also a sign how unexpected this news is, I guess
"our current evil empire"? please, tell me how Brussels is hurting you. details welcome, facts even more
"our current evil empire"? please, tell me how Brussels is hurting you. details welcome, facts even more
I'm not a poor brown person, so granted, NATO is not hurting me. "Evil" - well perhaps I think bombing poor brown people is wrong. It's a bit harsh I confess.
Good point about asking who is behind it. I think auditing the Fed would be a big help. Since that can't happen we'll probably never know.
the Habsburg empire at its highest point had TWO heads : Charles V in SPAIN/ITALY/BURGUNDY (in those days the low countries stretched all the way to Nice on the Mediterranean coast; aka the right bank of the Rhone; and the OTHER branch ran Austria Hungary, under his brother Ferdinand of Austria.
Charles Vth CREATED Brussels as his Low country capital (after Bruges and Ghent), to run the northern territories during his 40 year reign when the SUN NEVER set on his European Empire including Italy ; a bit like Pax Americana today over the world.
His navies and Conquistadors (Cortes, Pizarro and Quesada) colonised Mexico, Peru and Columbia.
I hope that clears your head about how the universal Spanish Empire, that colonised America before the "red coats" did, as this goes back to Columbus; 1492 to 1558...Capische?
Nice. Tip o' the hat. Back to the history books for me
Random functions are cool!
BTW - If such important data as this can be manipulated then one cannot rule out TPTB manipulating the data from/for that missing 777. Just saying...
I'm shocked. Not really.
Does this mean that sudden debt is the 3rd largest holder of the treasuries?
he is, after all, the true (and secret) majority shareholder of the NY-FED
Smoke and a Pancake? And a UST note?
I love GOOOOOOLDD!!!!
"I hate only two type of people, the ignorant and the Dutch..." Michael Caine
This yahoo probably wishes he did a lot more stacking:
http://time.com/28469/infomercial-star-kevin-trudeau-jailed-for-10-years/
said "he didn’t know where he put $100,000 in gold bars he bought".
I wonder if the judge wouldn't have bought a boating accident story either?
bidi unda blintze? fatty and a cupcake? stogie and a bagel? bong anna croisant?
hooka and a soulvaki? (now that i've had my fun with that ... did anyone really ever get that?
i've always felt like i was laughing at someone's inside joke i didn't get , but it still was funny)
Why the FED, of course..., assuming that Belgium goes along.
EU slushfund...
You think the fed would buy my BOL? I have had enough, I am going back into the matrix.
"I don't want to remember anything, got it? Zilch. And I want to be famous, someone important. Like a former actor."
"Whatever you say, Mr. Reagan."
double
Let me guess, Belgium was also a net seller of gold. I'll bet they traded the fed some of that useless yellow metal for some uber valuable UST paper.
desperation...
keep stackin.....
It's things like this that really clear away the lingering doubts about PMs. As a minnow in the game of whales there's only one choice.
Miffed;-)
I feel like I am a phytoplankton in a game of minnows. It is all about scale.
lets play HIDE OUR ILL GOTTEN GAMES. any takers? 2%? 3%? fine 6% but not a ruble, yuan, peso or dirham more
Didn't Enron get busted doing the same thing...
the Fed!!! that's my guess...oh ...you already figured it out...you guys are good...
Bet the ECB holdings went down by a similar amount. Trading rotting trash for fresher trash because no one in the ECB would accept those bonds as collateral any more. Now they have US treasuries to rehypothicate for a few more years of this musical chairs.
Question if they change the type of chairs during the musical chairs game does it effect the outcome?!!
No, you have to change the deck.
"When it gets seious you have to lie".
Just how serious is it ?
Serious enough it's all lies
You tinfoil hat types have me a little scared now. What if you are right?
No longer an "if", just a matter of "when"
We really wanted to be wrong. We have been seeking for that to be demonstrated. That is the reason for promoting our views.
Damn. I have secretly desired for someone to tell me that I am mistaken...presenting the EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE...and backing that claim. I wanted to be convinced that everything was going to work out.
But what I want just does not reconcile with that which is real. The Mathematics is just too descriptive and convincing. In any adiabatic system Exponential Growth leads to Exponential Collapse.
So now I just accept it for that which it is and deal with it.
In a sense I wish that I had not been awakened from my slumber and I could go on living in the Fantasy World. Life is much more pleasant for those whom have invested into the dream. So I do not feel sorry for them NOW. But I feel awestruck that they can find such comfort in the lies which are being spewed by their "Leaders"...er...VICTIMIZERS. Ah...Yes...I guess it is that they are afflicted by the Stockholm Syndrome. They love their abusers...their CAPTORS...their SLAVEMASTERS. They love Big Brother..
But it will be a Terminal Shock for far too many when the realization of the consequences of Systemic Collapse, in which they participated, raises its ugly head and consumes them, destroys them. But at least they were able to enjoy their life during this time because they were in their blissful ignorance. There is something to be said about DENIAL.
But for those of us who have the clue that it is all a sham, a lie, and that it is on the precipice of collapse, we will have prepared to survive to the best of our ability. For many of us we will also not survive the oncoming impact of the Financial Meltdown as it will be TEOTWAWKI. We do not enjoy it now. We will not enjoy it afterwards.
Even these days will be remembered as the "Good ol' Days". The suffering now will pale in comparison to the suffering which will happen. So I am not all that certain that I really want to survive to inherit the World which follows the collapse of Western Civilization.
It is not a question about what if we are right. The EVIDENCE stares us in the face daily. The question is what if you are wrong? Are you prepared to suffer the consequences for your complicity?
"I think I see the light."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mda0AUsqYQg
(Cat Stevens, I Think I See The Light)
EU HQ at Bruxelles has started to stuff Euros into UST. Now whos trying to build a lifeboat ahead of Euro decimation???
To summarize the article:
Buy gold.
Or buy tons of that fabulous Belgian chocolate and beer. Mmm, Belgian beers.
It is such a great feeling to know that it's all a game, and when "they" flip the card table over the only thing that matters are tangible assets, so we stack................and wait.
Or the alternate summary:
BOHICA. Or possibly BOHIC, 'cause I'm not sure we've ever experienced what's coming.
Au and Ag replacing "sugar plum fairies"...
Belg GDP is a lot higher than €100 bl
Try nearly $420 bl
Byte:
So I went to Wikipedia and they stated:
GDP (nominal) 2012 estimate - Total $484.692 billion[3] (21st)-30-
Yeah - I was quoting the PPP for 2012 rather than the nominal. My dropoff.
The government or the Fed would lie? They had our hopes and trust.
When you got 'em by their hopes and trust, their minds inevitably follow.
And if that doesn't work, grab'em by their balls.
When no one will buy you just print anyway and give it away. Does anyone really beleive in FED generated numbers.
Chinese investments in the former Belgian Congo.
Here it is: To channel money through a source or intermediary... [/Michael Bolton, Office Space]
Nice! I am going to have to go ahead and give you a greenie, ok?
Has anybody seen Sudden Debt and Janet Yellen together at the same time? Yeah me either.
Sweet FC reference, dude!
Let's say you're a Malaysian pilot whose wife and kids just left you and you are anti current regime. You're flying along in your plane and shut down all communications. You figure Plan A is to do a 9/11 style crash into some building with Plan B being you force the current regime to shoot you down killing 200+ innocent people. You're hoping the publicity of either plan is going to get the regime in trouble. But what happens when they shoot you down and no one finds out. The regime first has people looking in the ocean in the east and then in the west and then to the north and then to the south. But no one except the regime's assets check over their own territory.
The 777 crashed in Belgium?
... with US Treasuries on board?
Let's suppose that you are running a Ponzi Scheme as the Fed is doing. And as you play the shell game of switching US Treasuries around to the BoJ or the ECB nobody outside ever audits your Bank...
The 777 crashed in New York or DC.
real news is always kept off the main MSM, thank you tylers.
if you wanted a 9/11 style crash why fly over open water? and if you wanted to crash the plane why the long trip. somebody wanted to go somewhere with that plane, maybe somalia.
Come on. The best part is that the scheme works.
Yes! U am so much more confident in the free markets.
I love Big Brother.
Silver Bleachers.
Gotta keep the ponzi wheels spinning
no once counts the money that is thrown from the back of pickup trucks (in countries where helicopter bens reflationary policies are still grounded in pre2008 economics). all i know by way of analogy is that the water company doesn't always read the meter, and they estimate, then later when they do read the meter they square your account. (and if there was a leak in the long interim your balance due can be quite shocking. it could be belgium has been buying - or the friends of BB have been buying UST in belgium for a while).
It's the weather!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IMF + NATO = $330 billion
Funny how the article said to save the article while you can. It's already been "updated" and the numbers changes.
Deja vu.
Wasn't it Baracka Hussein Obama who asked: "Can I just eat my waffle?"
shmoke and a pancake? [/goldmember]
Bong and a blintz?
I say it is IMF... Can somebody give em a call and find out???
Brussels
8 Boulevard de Berlaimont
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel. : +32 (0) 2 221 5130
I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today
FED multi-trillion dollar circlejerk spinning around bowl.
So now that all western central banks are leveraged to the hilt....
Excel really has a goal seeking function?
I can start with the numbers I want to achieve and then it will help me populate the data cells?
Way cool! No wonder it is so popular in business and finance.
Actually, it's much simpler if you ditch all that complex computer stuff and just put on the glasses...
Wonder how the FTSE and European stockmarkets and bonds will react to alien landfall in the British Isles...
oh for fuck's sake...
I can't wait until Stan Fischer gets on board so we can get to the bottom of all this!
The man cares.
What a breath of fresh air he will be. And a triple citizen... what a perspective he'll have on our increasingly interconnected world!
jcb - i think most people don't understand what you are talking about, unfortunately, or your sarcasm.
but the tribe rules! and we pay.
If only Poirot could help us. "The case of the missing last honest accountant".
He jumped in an aided suicide.
"He jumped in an aided suicide."
Accidental suicide. See: Dario Fo's "Accidental Death of an Anarchist."
USTreasury is more and more like PBOC of China. Only fake data.
If this is the ECB using Belgium as an excuse to purchase UST, then we will surely one day in the not too distant future find Idaho as the biggest buyer of Eurobonds (coming soon), right?
Spuds Vs. Waffles. The battle for all the marbles!
"Winston dialled 'back numbers' on the telescreen and called for the appropriate issues of The Times, which slid out of the pneumatic tube after only a few minutes' delay. The messages he had received referred to articles or news items which for one reason or another it was thought necessary to alter, or, as the official phrase had it, to rectify."
from 1984
I really hate it when conspiracy theory becomes conspiracy fact...
Its been a while, but when that does happen is it then called the TRUTH?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o0V6VPX_E0
Big surprises come in little packages.
Little Packages - no kidding. I drove across Belgium on the E-17 two weeks ago on my way from Paris to Amsterdam. Took about an hour. Maybe bigger than Rhode Island, but not by much.
This little country is the 3rd largest holders of US Treasuries? Not likely based upon anything I saw.
Stealth QE for eva!
Never mind.
Its the 'Budget' tomorrow here in Blighty, and I am more than sure Gidiot Osbourne will pick up the pace with money printed from thin air backed by nothing, without printing the interest will follow through on his promise of the continual destruction of all we here hold true to our hearts.
This robbery isnt over yet folks, they are coming for it all.
Bunch of nation wrecking, idiot, in-bred, child molesting cunts.
Oh, bet tomorrow that cigs and beer will be taxed like fuck so you daft fuckers can pay more penance, for their sins.
Cunts
;-)
All your leading UK poiticians seem - to put it mildly - a bit effeminate...
Is it something in the water over there?
If you mean the child molesting, covering up poofter variety that sniffs about whitehall Frankie,
You could be on to something. All of them, and I MEAN all of them are as queer or bent as a nine bob note.
Dont think its effected me mind, dirty fucking bastards to a man.
:-)
Keeping The World Safe For Budgeries ;)
At least your blokes "talk" about a budget. The u.s. has opperated for 6 yrs without a budget.
WTF over.
The largest govt in the world is not even making a pretence of any kind of limits on spending.
Budget... We don't need no stinking budget!
If deficits don't matter then why should there be any need for budgets?
During he financial crisis of 08/09 we didn't know the fed were funding banks all over the globe. I would say the fed will print and lend what it needs to keep ust's at a level they want to see them at. Ok so russia dump 131 billion in ust. No problem fed will give Belgium 131 billion to buy said treasuries. And so it goes until it doesn't. But it's not on the Feds books its a loan or some other line item. Maybe they put it down as petty cash or the photocopier budget or something.
http://youtu.be/PrvXoin9NcA
Belgium can't hide this on their balance sheets. They're being audited. Belgians would very much question the origin of the funds to purchase such a large amount of USTs. Hence, it has to be another entity. Can't be anything public that's potentially scrutinized by full disclosure.
nobody has authority to subject members of the Tribe to any audits , no matter which passport the Tribe member currently has
The ponzi never ends.
Actually, the real story here is that this real story won't be a story anywhere except here.
And thats a crying shame JCB.
JCB is fast becoming one of my ZH favorites.
I read recently that China has been paying for resources and influence around the world in DC US bonds. The receivers of said bonds sell some, if not all of them, via Europe. Of course the ponzi must be kept going, so those bonds back up in Frankfurt and London like a clogged sewer line.
I wonder if this Belgium ploy is related--"No problem, Belgium just 'bought' a bunch."
Just wondering.
Tend to agree with your comment. if you think about it, US T-Bills are really no different than USDs. Both are printed at will. Both are backed by a promise. Both basically yield nothing. Both are technically debt. So what's the difference between USDs and US T-Bills as they are both cash equivalents in todays economy? Not much other than USDs are used at the retail transactional level and US T-Bills at the wholesale transactional level. Why even bother converting US T-Bills into cash to buy up assets in Africa and South America? Really no point as if receiving party accepts both, just give them the US T-Bills.
I have also followed a number of stories about assets being acquired directly with US T-Bills and have to wonder how these are going to be liquidated in the open market. The activity in Belgium would provide some support for these transactions.
Let's just call this the "Belgium Bulge" for now and see where it goes but with China reducing holdings in exchange for real assets and Russia reducing holdings for political reasons, I would have to agree that the Belgium Bulge will most likely be getting much bigger over the coming months. But it also reminds me of the scene from the Monty Python movie The Meaning of Life when the fat bastard at the end of the movie is convinced to eat just one more waffer thin chocolate. Of course, he finally explodes as will the party/organization in Belgium (or for that matter, anywhere else) that is convinced to eat just one more waffer thin US T-Bill, Note, or Bond.
The central power of the Rothschild empire is in Belgium. Who believes anything these clowns print nowadays, its worse than monopoly, atleast you have rules in the game.
They are the definition of international. Don't narrow your scope too much.
I had a professor once who divided a class of 20 into 5-teams, each with 4 members.
He then gave each group a copy of the rules of the game and said ... go play the game. So ... we did.
It quickly just didn't work. The teams were cheating.
Cone to find out, the professor had handed each team a different set of rules.
Technical Analysis? Fundamental Analysis? Can either be valid if TBTF has different rules?
Jesus, I see it now...
It's a monsterous game of Three Card Monty.
I owe you a pound, I have a problem; but if I owe a million, the problem is yours.
Pull the plug.
We covered this 3 weeks ago in our weekly Friday column of the LIE OF OMISSION: That Was the Week that Was; when China and Japan, but mostly China, bailed on over $50 billion in one week that was scooped up by Brussels. At that time, we made note of the source of the ECB's funding in Brussels that the money can only have come from one place, dat's rite fok's, Janet Yellen's Federal Reserve Bank of Divine Forgiveness and double secret probationary QE 2 Oblivion. Was it a sloppy move? You bet! And since then, they've tightened up the labyrinth a bit, as the IMF has been pressing desperate EM banks to step up and buy what promises to be at least $100 billion of US T Bonds per month until Russian and China are flat (12 to 16 months); but of course the IMF will lend them the money, and of course they get it from Janet Yellen at the Federal Reserve Bank of Divivne Foregiveness. And on the side, they'll probably ask them for all their gold reserves. And for being a toadie, the EM bank gets the promise of being 'taken care of', which only means that their death will be quick and painless. But they don't know that so it's alllll right. www.electanewcongress.com or Elect A New Congress on Faceboot
"double secret probation"
Guess what I am? .... SPLOOOSH - a zit!
That's a alot of Belgium waffles.
ZH is so cynical.
How about we come up with some solutions?:
1) Legalize all illegal aliens.
2) Start war with Russia.
3) Another false flag in Syria.
4) Disappear a passenger plane
5) Replace ObamaCare with RomneyCare
6) Cut government spending by 50 million a year.
7) A Fed cryto currency backed by treasuries called a Yellen.
8) Give MOSSAD operatives free reign to conduct ops on US soil.
9) NSA tour day. Where American citizens are taken on a guided tour of the facilities and meet the folks that keep this country safe.
RE: #9 - NSA tour day.
That's an excellent idea. I think we should schedule such a day, with folks meeting at about 10AM.
NSA FOIA REQUESTER SERVICE CENTER:
POC: Cindy Blacker
NSA FOIA Requester Service Center/DJ4
9800 Savage Road, Suite 6248
Ft. George G. Meade, MD 20755-6248
Telephone: (301) 688-6527
Fax: (301) 688-4762
Email: foiarsc@nsa.gov
Perhaps someone here with Facebook, Tumbler, and Tweet accounts could decide when we will have our tour day, and help this info go viral. If I'm not mistaken, NSA also provides free pizza to all those who register for NSA Tour Day via the Tour Day registration page on Facebook. Wholesome fun.
I'll be there. Maybe they can help me look up that PhotoBucket username and password I keep forgetting.
Sleeping accomodations provided by FEMA.
7) A Fed cryto currency backed by treasuries called a Yellen.
People would confuse that with a Shitcoin.
https://cryptocointalk.com/topic/1366-shitcoin-sht-information/
Remember what happened in November 2013?
China stopped buying U.S. debt. So that's why Belgium started buying huge loads of U.S. debt.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1858041-peoples-bank-of-china-announces-...
Next up: MyRA's.
To help fund the war against the Russkies.
Edward Bernays would set the campaign as "My Russian Antidote."
This is because of brussels based euroclear. Actually only 20-30 billion is actually owned by belgian investors.
+100 for news that can be checked on