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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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The ECB propping up the USD !! obviusly they don't want the Eur to go any higher now with 0.7% inflation.
the end game will be that with FACTA.... the US will once confiscate 30% of the proceed of a sales to really know who is doing the fronting. That will chill everybody's spine
Every day it is the same shell game and Zero Hedge tries to guess which shell has the pea under it. Ha Ha. Geed is good! Ha. Ha. Love this site.
Just google images: ECB Building Belgium
is not that difficult tyler!
Come on tyler, belgian GDP is well above 400bl USD ... but still don't see how (beside rehypotecation of the gold we already leased to bank that sold it ...) we could manage to buy over 100bl USD of bonds in 3 months of time ...
Certainly not because end of last year they needed to sell their last share in Fortis... (25% BNP Paribas Fortis)
When's China going to dump theirs?
Welcome to the new Gotham City where everybody and everything is totally incompetent.
Us operates similar to a mafia protection racket. Buy our bonds and we've got you covered sort of thing.
If you think about it, works pretty well for both sides.
South Korea and Japan have both traditionally held massive amounts of US debt for just that reason.
The only thing you can be sure of, with data out of the US, is that what you have just been told is precisely what is not true. It doesn't matter what they say, it is a lie.
But more to the point, why on earth bother. this thing can continue so long they are allowed to print money. And the only thing that will force normality to return, is a run on the Dollar, a war or a general banking collapse.
So don't sweat the small stuff, just smoke and mirrors and not worth even spending time on.
Just a lie, on top of a lie, on top of etc etc
Yeah, butt .... The really "Important" data is made up to reflect "the Market" reaction that is programed in concert with the release of said made up data. Its all good.
I knew Yellen would backdoor. She's like a Dr Ruth. Yeah baby.
Yellen looks more like a baby ruth.
Name 3 famouns Belgiums normally always foxes people but there are more than you imagine.
Here's 4.
1. Herge
2. Muscles from Brussels
3. Audrey Hepburn
4. Scifo
Leopold II was one of the greatest mass-murderers in history. Just 100 years ago.
Butchered more Cognloses than the alleged Holocaust numbers -yet no one has heard of him. Go figuire.
This is way better than talking treasuries...
http://www.ranker.com/list/hottest-belgian-models/bikinibabehotties
So when Belgium and MyRA (which will take approximately 3 seconds) money runs out, time to tap "private" pensions, I guess...
Good ol central banking. I'll suck your dick if you suck mine.
Hmmmm.... wonder if Belgium was surprised to find out they bought that much Treasuries?
This really makes me wonder with all the focus on China gold imports why Russia is not on radar more. They export oil not plastic crap. There has to be more gold inflow to Russia than is getting attention here.
yo dog, you like broke your site
(SNORT)
War comin'...
(SPIT)
I'VE GOT SUCH GREAT PLANS WITH AMERICA!!!
YOU'LL LOVR IT!!!
I WANT TO FLAATEN ALL OF AMERICA AND...
TURN IT INTO PARKING SPACE!!!
WE NEED A LOT OF PARKING SPACE!!!
now how do we buy China....
Got any inside track at a large Belgian newspaper? A friend who's hungry for a good conspiracy story that involves several billions of Belgian money which funded the US debt?
The real secret is the largest owners of US Treasuries is YOU! Sign the MyRa check to ObaMao, and get back to work damn serfs!
and the guys from Enron are in jail???
Skilling in prison till 2017.
Got 10 years shaved off his sentance by a corrupt judge.
Ex-employees planning the party.
Accenture (formally Arthur Anderson) to run ACA (Obamacare) website. No shit, really!
"Accenture (formally Arthur Anderson) to run ACA (Obamacare) website. No shit, really!"
It's shit like this that makes me glad that I'm mortal: imagine being immortal and forced to endure this till the end of time?
Accenture will probably make old Jeff a Board member when he gets out.
Let's make him the next Fed Chair...
Below is an excerpt from the script of the 1932 movie "The Match King." Paul Kroller, the "Match King" based in large part on the real life financier and swindler Ivar Krueger. Kroller is talking with Scarlatti, who has for sale 50 counterfeit Italian government treasury certificates of $1 million each. Kroller will use these certificates to prop up his collapsing business empire. 80 years later, the U.S. Treasury is following Kroller's lead, only Linda Yellen has available the Bureau of Printing to manufacture her treasury certificates.
878
01:02:00,230 --> 01:02:01,898
YOU HAVE LED ME TO
UNDERSTAND, SEÑOR,
879
01:02:01,965 --> 01:02:04,367
THAT YOU CAN
USE SOME PAPER
OF GREAT VALUE.
880
01:02:04,434 --> 01:02:07,503
I HAVE HERE
SOME TRULY
MAGNIFICENT WORK.
881
01:02:07,570 --> 01:02:09,071
MAY I SEE IT?
882
01:02:10,707 --> 01:02:12,474
WE'RE QUITE ALONE HERE.
883
01:02:17,747 --> 01:02:19,415
[UNZIPS CASE]
884
01:02:23,220 --> 01:02:26,688
WE HAVE HERE 50 TREASURY
CERTIFICATES OF THE
ITALIAN GOVERNMENT,
885
01:02:26,756 --> 01:02:29,858
OF THE DENOMINATION
OF $1 MILLION EACH.
886
01:02:29,927 --> 01:02:32,694
THEY ARE AS GOOD, SEÑOR,
AS THE ORIGINAL.
887
01:02:32,762 --> 01:02:35,697
IF POSSIBLE, SEÑOR,
THEY ARE BETTER.
888
01:02:35,765 --> 01:02:37,967
YES, THEY...
SEEM TO BE ALL RIGHT,
889
01:02:38,035 --> 01:02:41,370
BUT I CAN ONLY TELL HOW GOOD
THEY ARE BY COMPARISON
WITH THE GENUINE.
890
01:02:41,438 --> 01:02:43,205
HOW MANY
CAN YOU USE, SEÑOR?
891
01:02:43,273 --> 01:02:44,706
ALL OF THEM.
892
01:02:44,774 --> 01:02:48,577
I'LL PAY YOU $5,000 NOW,
AS EVIDENCE OF GOOD FAITH,
893
01:02:48,645 --> 01:02:54,450
THE BALANCE TO BE DELIVERED
TO YOU IN PARIS TOMORROW,
894
01:02:54,517 --> 01:02:56,485
THAT IS
SATISFACTORY, SEÑOR.
895
01:03:03,860 --> 01:03:06,362
YOU ARE GOING
TO AMERICA SOON, SEÑOR?
896
01:03:07,730 --> 01:03:10,032
AND WHY DO YOU THINK
I SHOULD BE GOING
TO AMERICA?
897
01:03:10,100 --> 01:03:13,235
WHY, ONLY THE AMERICANS
COULD <i>POSSIBLY</i> HAVE
MONEY ENOUGH FOR THOSE.
898
01:03:33,223 --> 01:03:35,691
DID YOU HAVE
ANY DIFFICULTY
GETTING INTO SWEDEN?
899
01:03:35,758 --> 01:03:37,193
DIFFICULTY?
900
01:03:37,260 --> 01:03:39,695
I, SCARLATTI?
I MAKE MY OWN PASSPORT.
901
01:03:39,762 --> 01:03:41,663
I STAMP MY OWN VISAS.
902
01:03:41,731 --> 01:03:45,101
NOBODY EVEN KNOWS
I AM IN SWEDEN.
I do not know what to believe anymore. The world has gone mad and only a handful of very powerful people really know what is reality and what is the controlled message.
Dumb uneducated ass!
Enlighten me with your grace.
Especially the very powerful people are regularly not aware what's going on. They are as deluded as most others, just more presumptuous and sociopathic. They've mostly fallen victim to their own propaganda long ago.
I think KPMG audits the financial statements for the IMF.
I hope KPMG partners have insurance.
Who owns KPMG?
Ding dong
Euroclear is based in Belgium.
What a stupid article
So they bought the paper? No.
Does the trail end with the clearing house? Makes no sense if it did. If Germany buys UST via Euroclear, would that appear on the Belgian balance sheets? Of course not. The article is legit.
Maybe the Fed isn't tapering. Maybe they're just hiding their purchases of UST by using Belgium as a front.
First action if Republicans retake the Senate in 2014: Audit the Fed.
Republicans are nothing different from democrats. Once in power they will do just the same. You would have to get Ron Paul in order to get it done.
GOP=DEM=INC
Business as usual.
You don't still actually believe that some political party in DC gives a shit about you and your family do you? Good luck with that.
Meant as a reply to Dollarmedes.
Wow, you guys are negative! How about a little optimism? Or barring that, how about a little anger?
In the words of that immortal capitalist Russell Brand, "We gotta DO something!"
Simple optimism won't do - we need real hope. That's quite different. To be optimistic means to do what you are doing, because you think it'll turn out well. We've had way too much of that, and it has lead us to where we are now. Hope, on the other hand, means doing the things you do, because you believe them to be right, no matter how it will turn out. That's what's needed.
I see your Ron and raise you a Rand.
or a William Wallace laddy
I thought I recognized Snowden in a picture driving one of the Russian tanks in Crimea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19fcN3VaXs4
TinTin is the new master. It is turning more and more as a farce.
The Fed owns the waffle anyway. This is just the worlds largest kite scheme. The system needs to readjust before they run out of nervous young bankers with slivers of dangerous truth that might get spilled to FTOL hooker journalists.
If the only tool you have is a nailgun, then everything looks like a nail.
If the only tool you have is a nailgun, then everything looks like a banker.
Fixed it !
I think you all should be preparred for a collapse in the USD.
Ha didnt know Bernanki was from Belgium?
January 14 was over 2 months ago. With that upward trend what is it now? back in December and early January russia haden't gotten into Ukraine Crimea fears yet. My bet is that The FED banks are linked to the ECB (in their secret world of no accounting) and is proping up the EU with increasing despiration.
Husband to wife: "Honest honey, I spent the night at Ed's {brother} last night, you can call and ask him. You wouldn't have wanted me to risk getting a DWI would you"?
Imagine the look on Belgium's face the next time he visits an ATM
It's a full-on full fiat-jacket circle jerk.
NONE of the interest collected by the FED and distributed to their shareholders is taxed. So, in the immortal words of our next Queen, what difference does it make?
Central Bank shareholders receive free money, your money, tax free, suckers!
Belgum makes great chocolates. Maby the 300 billion dollars is for a big Belgum chocolate order. Belgum also has a few really cute hookers. What creative things do they have to do for that kind of money?
Belgium: (Phone ringing) Hello.
The Fed: Hey Belgium Fed here. Say, we were wondering if you guys were interested in buying some US treasuries?
Belgium: How much?
The Fed: Uh, around 300 billion.
Belgium: LOL, What! Our GDP is only a hundred billion Euro's.
The Fed: Well, if you look into your account you'll see that you can easily afford it. With a little extra to boot. OK?
Belgium: OK
Looks like NATO ain't ZATO after all.
The USA will be preparing to operate in a an NCB environment. I wish Frau Merkel all the best in her defense of Berlin.
KPMG will be the next global accounting firm to collapse. You heard it here first.
How about a bail-in by the shareholders of the central bank who receive tax free distributions from the FED?
Why do these shareholders have tax free status, and you don't?
Because only they possess the secret passords to the collateral accounts?
Shareholders sound like blackmailers.
Belgium = 88888 account :)
No more articles about WWIII. Good. That was a short war. Back to my studies.
Oh.and BTFD
It's a good thing our honest government wouldn't do anything illegal. They'll look into it and fix it I'm sure, they're all really good honest people that hopefully we will FUCKING HANG FOR TREASON!!!
Ye old house of cards.
Got Waffles??
I guess all of those catering profits have to go somewhere.
Geeze Belgium shorts the waffle and goes long treasuries. Can't make this up!
"Construction and home prices are up significantly"
so higher prices on already unaffordable housing is good...WTf?
"Belgium is bullish on America," roflmao.
Wow, things must be booming in Brussels!
I'm going to get a job over there.
Maybe Belgium is just funding their MyRA.
I believe the IMF is headquartered in Washington, D.C. in 2 buildings, both about 2-3 blocks west of the White House. And for "convenience:, the Federal Reserve building is a mere 4-5 blocks to the south of the IMF. (Since I then worked at GW med center, I sometimes used to walk around that area while waiting for my ex-wife to finish her work - as an interpreter/translator - at the State Dept just across the corner from the FED.)
Ahhh. . . the sweet smell of money !!!!
Not only is skirting the treasury notes around getting bad, but tell the Chinese goverment that they've been buying back their own gold that Nixon brought back from Taiwan when he was in office. I'm not saying its true but then again who's to say different and be believed:( >it was sarc<
How much GOLD did Germany get back from the NY FED in 2013? Was it more than 50 OUNCES ?????? ;-) ;-)
Ode to the IMF
I got me a job at the IMF,
Paid me 800 dollars a day.
Went to work at nine,
Then drank champagne and wine,
As I lent all the money away.
I lent to Italy, I lent to Spain,
I lent it to Greece, then to Greece once again.
Give us your factories,
Give us your ports,
Close down your shops,
Sell everything short.
Give us your gold,
“Oh, No!” they would holler,
But we took it all,
A penny on the dollar.
Now we are moving into Kiev on the Dnieper,
We’ll loot it and run,
It's surely no “keeper”.
Let NATO and Germany clean up our mess,
Chancellor Merkel can afford it the best.
We promise them Heaven,
Adding digits to their screens,
But if they don’t pay,
We send the U.S. Marines.
To the man in the street with the hole in his shoe,
Searching for work, but there’s nothing to do.
To him and to all.
Only paper are we throwin’,
And when we get through,
There’s only destruction and ruin.
Could be an honest mistake, wrong month or wrong year
Does anybody of any importance actually care whet the numbers are
I suspect most people would just download it, read it, print it, trash it, watch Gilligans Island again.
Ever get the feeling that we're going to wake up one morning soon and no one believes the lies anymore?
I think that's how it may work when the fraud collapses.
It will be surreal at first. Than all too real.
Clear from the beginning: any drop in QE requires an increase in some sort of backdoor QE. Somehow zero or near zero interest USD loans are funding these Belgian purchases.
At this pace in a little under 2 years the superpower nation of Belgium will be our largest creditor, and the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries. This doesn't seem out of the ordinary at all. Welp, back to watching American Idol.
A Battle of the Treasury Bulge in Belgium
The Fed is up and the Bulge gets bigger each passing month.
Soon we shall be seeing the orgasmic explosion
So the Fed Reserve is hiding out in Belgium now? I heard a rumor that Ben Bernake and Tim Geithner both recently applied for Belgian citizenship.
It's simple: the FED has parked funds in NATO HQ to buy up whatever Gazprom bills Europe has for energy. No pinch in cash or supply, a world of ready cash for energy as needed. The ultimate in cool, paying off all the world's bills in FRN. Why not? Who doesn't take the payments?
We are somewhere over the rainbow, on beyond Kansas.
I don't know why anyone ever believed that "jawbone taper" equaled "literal taper" in a, excuse the redundancy, literal way.
Something tells me ZH is actively working on connecting the dots.
100's of trillions of USD go out the FED-RES back-door all over the world, including to Belgium to prop up their economy, and the US economy,
QE is like the tip of an iceberg at SEA, QE is only 1% or less of the real FIAT that the FED-RES prints to FIAT-INFINITY.
Funny the MSM maks it sound like QE is the only funny FIAT, ... when in actuality the FED is now funding the world to keep the engine running on the machine.
This is how FIAT based mercantile economy's end they always print to INFINITE, until nobody wants their paper ( or FIAT )
We went from Ben's helicopter, to Yellen's Yawpings.
Whatdidyouexpect?
the sad truth is that, along with paper notes printed proudly with "in god we trust" there is no basis in fact, nor has there ever been any basis in fact, for the holders of treasury's as compiled within tic data.
combine this with the fact that treasury holdings mostly represent the malfeasance and creation of odious debt by large countries...with each other...and with no relation whatsoever to any increase or decrease in economic output, and you realise that when you experiment with QE..it is akin to pulling the legs of insects when you were a kid...it doesnt matter..there are more insects!
Man bites dog! Now a real story is Russia and Swiss entering into a swap agreement without Imf custody? Your article seems to buy the dollar another 24
Yeah, +1 for "Man Bites Dog" (C'est arrivé près de chez vous)reference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjmA_M5iv1s (Original version -french)
"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".
Maybe it has already been pointed out in one of the comments above (don't have the time to go through all of them) but this is absolute bullshit.
Belgian GDP is around 500 billion dollars. Tylers, I expect better than this, because it devalues the rest of your indeed hilarious story.
Fed lending money to foreign banks during bailout
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/07/the-fed-is-lend...
According to the GAO audit, $16.1 trillion in secret loans were made by the Federal Reserve between December 1, 2007 and July 21, 2010. The following list of firms and the amount of money that they received was taken directly from page 131 of the GAO audit report....
Citigroup - $2.513 trillion
Morgan Stanley - $2.041 trillion
Merrill Lynch - $1.949 trillion
Bank of America - $1.344 trillion
Barclays PLC - $868 billion
Bear Sterns - $853 billion
Goldman Sachs - $814 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland - $541 billion
JP Morgan Chase - $391 billion
Deutsche Bank - $354 billion
UBS - $287 billion
Credit Suisse - $262 billion
Lehman Brothers - $183 billion
Bank of Scotland - $181 billion
BNP Paribas - $175 billion
Wells Fargo - $159 billion
Dexia - $159 billion
Wachovia - $142 billion
Dresdner Bank - $135 billion
Societe Generale - $124 billion
"All Other Borrowers" - $2.639 trillion
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/have-you-heard-about-the-16-...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvn_INw9HYE
Which foreign banks were bailed out (Bernanke and Congressman)
Swaps but maybe there is an understanding that they will buy US Treasuries, an agreement made behind the curtain.
Western world is broke. Nobody to buy as brics sell. Run a saturday night special a pennies on the dollar at zero %. Its not as if treasuries cost anything to create and at 0% needs nothing to maintain.
Tout l'intérêt de la question porte dès lors sur l'identité des clients de ces dépositaires centraux (les plus grands noms de la finance, mais lesquels exactement) et l'importance croissante des centres financiers basés à Bruxelles (avec la tentation de voir la Belgique comme une gigantesque blanchisserie de capitaux)."
There will be a follow-up article appearing in l'Echo on this subject today. I'll keep you informed.
I bet that you and all your followers often complain about sheeple. Those who just unquestioningly accept the word of authority. Well try this: Now I admit that I only searched the first page, but I saw nothjing that questioned your pronoucement of facts, like the GDP of Belgium being about 100B Euros.
But since you claimed that they were buying treasuries at a rate of their GDP, I thought that I would look: All refeences that I found were similar to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Belgium where Belgium is given a GDP of about 305 Billion Euros. This error is about 200%, which is way more than the errors about which you complained. (If you count a change of 3.5B to 14B as being an error of .3% on a basis of 1000B) So, since you are making a claim that appears to be so wrong, can you back it up?
And when a key part of your writing is off by a factor of over 3, one wonders what other errors you made.
Or do you just continue to be another authoritarian blathnerer with obedient unthinking sheeple following you?
Actually, Belgium's GDP in 2013 wasn't €100 billion, but almost €400 billion.