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Moscow... Or Geneva?
A month ago, when the Russian Ruble was crashing, developed nations were delighted to poke fun of Russians who lined up in front of currency exchange kiosks, supposedly to convert their rapidly devaluing Rubles into Dollars or other rising fiat.
* * *
Today, those same developed nation hecklers are deathly silent after what may be the biggest western central bank faux pas in recent history, and which in addition to sending the Swiss Franc soaring has - perhaps for the first time in history - manifested in lines of people in front of currency exchange bureaus nowhere else, but in that bastion of capitalism: Geneva.
Direct consequences of SNB abandoning 1.20 EURCHF floor. Currency exchange has never seen a queue before! pic.twitter.com/MUhbHlqKd9
— Richard Watts (@watts_richard) January 15, 2015
Still queuing at the currency exchange. Should be closing soon pic.twitter.com/LzUhia4mGh
— Richard Watts (@watts_richard) January 15, 2015
Swiss currency exchange. Queuing at all the exchanges that are still open pic.twitter.com/K4Blj8xte5
— Richard Watts (@watts_richard) January 15, 2015
Swiss currency exchange, that's a huge difference between buy and sell rates pic.twitter.com/7zuERaGZsK
— Richard Watts (@watts_richard) January 15, 2015
What's going on? AFP explains:
"It's like Christmas all over again!" enthused Vanessa, as she joined a swelling queue outside a currency exchange office in downtown Geneva Thursday.
The 28-year-old hospital orderly was one of many across Switzerland rushing to cash in on a soaring Swiss franc.
Minutes after a shock announcement from the Swiss central bank that it was abandoning the minimum rate of 1.20 francs against the euro, the safe haven Swiss currency strengthened almost 30 percent to 0.8517 against the common European currency before easing back to 1.0421.
"I heard the news this morning. I'm so happy!" Vanessa, who refused to give her last name, told AFP outside of one of many mobbed exchange offices in Geneva.
She has reason to be extatic: she is one of some 280,000 people working in Switzerland but living and paying bills in eurozone countries France, Germany or Italy.
These so-called "frontaliers", or border-crossers, are the biggest winners in Thursday's Swiss franc surge, seeing their incomes jump 30 percent in the blink of an eye.
Vanessa said she was contemplating "changing all of my Swiss franc savings into euros".
Other frontaliers were also celebrating Thursday, but said they would not immediately buy large amounts of euros.
Panic buying?
"For those of us living in France and working in Switzerland, this is great!" said Doina Bancila, a 40-year-old bank employee.
"But I don't want to buy euros in a panic. I'll wait for next week or the week after to see how the situation evolves," she told AFP.
Gaelle Voisin, another resident of France, meanwhile said she had only learned about the bonanza she had in store when she turned up at the exchange office.
"I was really surprised to see all of these people here," said the 40-year-old radio presenter, adding she at first thought the crowd was waiting to buy the latest copy of Charlie Hebdo, in tribute to the 12 people killed in last week's attack on the satirical weekly's Paris office.
"I was just going to do a simple exchange, and then this. It's good for me, and for all the French people working in Switzerland," she said.
Many Swiss residents were also rubbing their hands over their booming currency, envisioning vacations abroad and perhaps buying up cheaper real estate on the other side of the border.
"This could mean we can take cheaper euro vacations ... and if you want to buy a secondary home in France, this is a good thing," 70-year-old wealth manager Charles Gutowski told AFP.
But, he added, the Swiss central bank itself will loose a fortune, since it has huge foreign currency reserves, and large Swiss companies will take a beating.
"This is going to cause a lot of trouble," he said.
Swiss business leaders called the central bank's decision a disaster, with banking giant UBS saying it would lead to a drop of 5 billion francs worth of exports and knock 0.7 percentage points off overall output growth.
"I am at a loss for words," Swatch group's boss Nick Hayek told news agency ATS. "What the SNB has sparked here is a tsunami."
The Swiss watchmaking giant was the biggest loser on a Swiss stock exchange bathed in red Thursday, with its shares sinking 16.4 percent.
The Swiss exchange's main SMI index lost nearly nine percent Thursday.
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German ForEx trader that was xxx short CHF and xxx long Euros.
Another attack it seemed just happened in Brussels ... at least few people killed. the same kind of guns used in french attack a few days ago.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/15/three-killed-belgium-counte...
Note it's a "counter-terror" raid.
Kinda like here in the US where a swat team blows through a door on rumors of seeds and stems in an ashtray or strangle a guy to death for selling loose, un-taxed cigarettes.
If we let that slide then Putin might as well be calling the shots from the White House.
From what I read about that Cleveland guy, ranting on Twitter is dangerous for your health.
People wonder why I make no relationships here on ZH. This is why.
pods
Same reason I stopped hangin' with destitute Haitians in abandoned Miami warehouses, fun as it was. Sometimes, you just don't know who you're talikn' to.
Compare how western media reports on "Francogeddon" vs how they reported on "Rublegeddon" to see the definition of "anti-Russian bias" phrase in action
Good point.
I have never respected the grammar or spelling police but this is an AFP article!
"loose a fortune"
It has to do with thoughtfulness. If you blast out a comment with spelling errors, then you don't appear to be intelligent - it's that simple. Sure, we all assume you MEANT lose, but action is all and intent is nonsense. Do or do not.
Since all content these days is run through no editiorial process what-so-ever, errors happen more often than pre-1998.
Even with AFP.
The people standing in line in Geneva were trying to take a profit, the guys in Moscow were trying to avoid a loss!
All I can say is, so much for Swiss neutrality.
When it comes to money and supporting your family NOBODY is neutral.
All I can say is that "loose" for lose finally jumped the shark from the comments section to the main article.
I'm talking about all those from central Europe that have massive mortgages in francs, why they call it "francogeddon" look up Poland and Hungary. They were celebratting on Russian missery and "no more travel" jokes but don't make jokes on misery of those who now cant meet payments in francs.
"Lenders had 131 billion zloty ($35 billion) of Swiss-franc mortgages on their books as of the end of November, 46 percent of total home loans". Zloty are now crashing against franc and so is forint
This. The situation is not a panic, it is a windfall since their bank accounts temporarily increased 30% in value.
I think all the journalists are confused or don't understand what they are writing about, like they switch back and forth from EUR/CHF and CHF/EUR numbers:
"Minutes after a shock announcement from the Swiss central bank that it was abandoning the minimum rate of 1.20 francs against the euro, the safe haven Swiss currency strengthened almost 30 percent to 0.8517 against the common European currency before easing back to 1.0421. "
That should be strengthened from 0.83257 euro to 1.04425 before easing back to 0.9465 euro, OR expressed in EUR/CHF 1.2011 fell to 0.95762, before rising up to 1.0436. They shouldn't be switching them around mid-sentence.
And they don't know lose from loose:
"loose a fortune"
Eight year olds dude.
Thanks. I actually spent a few minutes looking for a Forex tutorial last night. Didn't find much.
That was me in late 2011.
I was speaking in tongues.
Fake
maybe they are giving away toaster with the opening of a new bank account.
More likely Spiderman Towels.
Wunderbar
Mein Gott und lttle grün Angelhaken.
Thanks HH. The return of Mr. Market. LOL.
Although the Swiss National bank change of strategy was shocking as well as sudden, but this is what happens when a bankrupt Govt / Central bank keeps buying EUR and selling (printed) CHF endlessly. It never works and always fails!
In short, that is what happened in Switzerland today! The damn debt kept rising and became uncontrollable!
In addition, do note that all the muppet people across Europe (especially Eastern Europe) whom the totally incompetent Swiss bankers advised to take mortgages or loans in CHF just lost 20% in currency alone and will have to pay more to pay back the CHF loan than they saved with 1% interest rates instead of paying 3% interest rates in EUR or whatever else. These interest rates are approximations.
Additionally, the large Swiss banks and most Swiss banks earn anywhere from 70% to 80% of their incomes from clients in non francs. Imagine, they earn USD 100m in US, when converted into CHF this money just lost 20% of its value! In one single day! Because the ever so stable 'Swissie' is not so stable after all!
The default ratios from all CHF borrowers who live outside Switzerland and do not earn in CHF just went up by a few notches.
Expect more foreign banks to leave Switzerland (while Swiss banks merge, reduce staff and leave shores afar) before their entire economy becomes one big mess!
All real estate became 20% expensive inside Switzerland in one single day!
I got that feeling that ECB is going to do something insane like QE or whatever else on 22 Jan 2015.
India also reduced interest rates suddenly today in order keep growth alive, in light of dwindling exports, declining GDP, fragile banks and rising inflation despite falling oil prices!
These 2 Central banks know something that rest of us don't (yet)!
Wait for lines inside Switzerland (and outside Switzerland across EU) to grow a bit longer in a few weeks when thousands of jobs are lost in/around Switzerland!
You have been warned!
Could this be the reason why SNB had to act today to protect the nation? if Swiss secrecy ends and ALL information on real estate and bank accounts is allowed to be shared with all countries worldwide, then why would anyone need a Swiss bank account?
It is too much of a coincidence to announce anti secrecy draft laws on one day and SNB to act suddenly on the next!
Has the alpine Swiss nation just caused itself to become more detached and insulate itself more from the dysfunctional Eurozone?
Switzerland unveils draft laws to dismantle bank secrecyswitzerland draft laws secrecy
I read quite a few uber-wealthy clients have already left Switzerland for Singapore, etc. Is that true?
Clients from different geographies have gone to different places.
For example, American account holders, have been caught and since no other ccountry in the world will open their account, due to FATCA laws, so all money has typically flown back to US itself unless someone has renounced their citizenship or transferred to a family member or somehow bought real estate. Thus, almost 90% of Swiss money belonging to US citizens has moved back to US.
Same for UK, French, German or any EU uber wealthy, they have typically moved money back to their home countries. Singapore has tightened rules dramatically in 2014 and no EU citizen can open an account unless they show money as being tax declared in home countries of EU especially money which is coming from Switzerland. The onus of proof has been shifted to the client and most uber wealthy are reluctant to show their tax returns so they are not allowed to open Singaporean accounts.
Russians have pulled back from all over including Cyprus, Dubai, Singapore, Switzerland, London, NY both their real estate as well as bank accounts which has caused a bit of a blip all over.
Latin Americans wont come as far as Singapore much.
Indians are still allowed to open Singapore acocunts and many have brought money from India not typically from Switzerland, mostly in the last few years due to rapid depreciation of the Rupee. However, they have money all over. thanks to some Govt tinkering, lot has happened in the last few months and expect some bankers to be arrested and go to jail who manage Indian residents overseas.
Chinese can still open Singapore but they didnt have much in Switzerland.
Most corrupt were from US, India, EU only and to some extent from Russia and China (but Russians and Chinese kept it all around like London, NY, Cyprus everywhere).
Switzerland has declined by several billion in the last few years which is why this currency appreciation will hurt UBS and CS a lot, about 20% to 25% just if the income remains same because 80% is earned in non CHF. They already have low income, high cost of regulation, US fines, US FATCA, lack of trust with clients and now disclosing client names to any country. All of this combined will decimate Switzerland whose banking assets are 4 times their GDP once the demise of banks accelerates in 2015 and more money leaves Switzerland in 2015. From over 400 banks in 2000, Swiss banks reduced to 300 by 2010 and today are around 275. This number should become 250 before this year ends. Even the first Swiss bankruptcy happened in Oct 2014 being Espirito Santo, which was first time as far as I know EVER in Swiss history!
Singapore has been very tight and has not allowed tax evaded money to enter as much as possible.
Anyone like Hoeness in Germany or several in US who have gone to jail, will never be allowed into Singapore nor will they be allowed elsewhere so their options are limited to their home base only.
Singapore is growing but that is mostly because of China and some money moving to Singapore every so slowly and it must be genuine and not tax evaded else it is very very difficult to open an acocunt in Singapore. Time taken to open an account in Singapore is now exceeding 2 months for a perfect document. This used to be less than 1 week just about 3 years ago.
your interpretation of events has too many misinterpretations such that , it's obvious you are working with at least a few faulty assumptions.
that's not to say everything you wrote is wrong. but one easy example; real estate in switzerland will not go up in price or demand because of this, it will obvious go down in demand and in price(francs! which you must purchase in order to buy a swiss house) .
when a countries currency appreciates rapidly this is not a sudden bonanza for the real estate industry. it is at best neutral or on average negative.
To clarify, I believe you are referring to this statement of mine : "All real estate became 20% expensive inside Switzerland in one single day!"
What I mean by this statement is that if your house was worth CHF 1m last week and today also is the same, then this CHF 1m is worth a lot more in EUR or USD by about 20%.
From a foreigner perspective, say you or me, living outside Switzerland, if we were planning to buy a CHF 1m house in Switzerland, we will need to cough up more than we intended to because all our currencies for the most part declined by 20%, some more and some less, so for all foreigners, Swiss real estate just became costlier and hence less attractive.
I was talking purely from a FX perspective.
The demand has already been down in Switzerland for the last 1-2 years from what I have heard due to 1) Swiss passing laws that other EU nationals cannot get work permits easily as they used to and 2) job losses in banking and other sectors.
The demand will decline, absolutely, due to this, as you said.
I never meant that real estate will boom in Switzerland, to the contrary, I expect banks, real estate and most other things to struggle and get worse, which is also what I stated that, Switzerland will be one big mess in the near term!
"In short, that is what happened in Switzerland today! The damn debt kept rising and became uncontrollable!"
What debt? The central bank simply expanded the balance sheet and used newly created money to buy Euros. They simply decided to stop devaluing their own currency.
I think it would have been better if they did it in stages with warning, like "in 6 months, we are reducing the limit from 1.20 CHF per Euro to 1.15" rather than without warning suddenly removing the entire program.
"I think it would have been better if they did it in stages with warning.."
If your aim is to shake off speculators, you don't do it that way. You rip their face off so next time they're more wary and less apt to pile on.
I phrased it incorrectly. Since Switzerland is a trade surplus economy therefore they keep stacking up those Francs!
However, if trade was a deficit, then when they print francs and accumulate EUR in their reserves, technically this would have created a debt in CHF and have credit in EUR. This perpetuates demand for EUR by SNB but reduces demand for CHF, dollar for dollar, all else being equal.
The tragically funny thing is that this is most certainly happening to many FX in any number skyscrapers literally all over the world..
I'm long pavement cleaners and pressure washer makers.
pods
rightly so. Just waiting for the reports of who jumped of what building.
A permanent solution to a temporary problem.
I'm long popcorn, this could be one hell of a show.
Obummer to White House operator: "Quick, get me John Corzine!'
Then hangs up, snorts a line of white powder from Oval Office desk.
"Reggie, get better stuff next time. This coke sucks."
Reggie then quickly comes to his aid with a condom and a viagra.
Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that Nick Clegg said Obama made a remark that he (Clegg) was better looking than David Cameron. Make of that what you will.
I don't know what this 'were' shit is... we're still making fun of it...
With English subtitles: interesting...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=682kuejphjo
Hmm, I'm 25 percent german and at last I know where my crazy comes from !!!
They should buy some Rubbles.
Barney Rubbles
Better than Barney Francs
Snazzy. That was snazzy. Upvote for you!
Regards,
Cooter
Exchanging one pile of fiat paper for another seems conterproductive to me. I keep my money in a old leather sack that I attach to me belt.
Since they were not willing to back their money with metalic rocks they might as well swap one piece of shitty paper for another. Pick the one that is not on the downside slope of failed dreams, hopes, and aspirations.
I keep mine in a sack tied to the bottom of a dock in very dark polluted water.
watch out
for gold fish..
They're not crashing their currencies. They're floating away from the wreck that is the USD before she takes them down with her.
The USD that made another new high for the decade today?
The very same USD that is more valuable than gold by weight?
The USD that all other things on the planet are measured against?
Yea, seems that piece of shit is gonna go out of business any day now....
In 2013 they printed twelve times more US$ than existed in 1980*.
The increase in the value of the USD is a reaction to the ending of QE. See Charles Hugh Smith's article posted minutes before this one.
Before the tsunami hit the coasts of Indonesia the shore line receeded far into the ocean. Then the wave came. This can happen with currencies too.
*Noted months ago by another here at ZH.
At least you'll be able to wipe your ass with your dollars. Maybe even blow your nose, or start a fire . . .
currancy gives my ass a rash but they make great fire starters.......
Not Canadian dollars, the bills are being replaced with plastic ones now.
Scoop the poop dude.
roll it up and snort that blow
don't do it the other way around
that's a waste
It's all relative with currencies. Right now USD looks pretty fuking sane compared to a lot of other countries. Especially if they up rates even a little, they'll solidify the strength of the dollar. Who else you going to go with other than USD right now, Real, Yuan, Yen, Ruble,... LOLZ
well said
Counterintuitive, but yes. On the one hand, devaluation of one's currency vis a vis USD spells weakness of the currency and underlying economy, at the same time when enough currencies follow the lead, it pulls the rug from under any positive effect Fed tightening had on US economy and currency. Today's dollar's strength will translate into less dollars in circulation internationally tomorrow as USD becomes way too expensive and for no good reason. Reserve currency can become a burden too heavy to carry at some point and we are nearing that point it seems.
The very same USD that is more valuable than gold by weight?
To even make this asinine comparison requires knowing what denomination is on the paper. Otherwise, if you're saying the paper itself is worth more than gold, you lost me. If it's a gazillion dollar bill, then ok.
Gold by weight as money is a perversion. Mankind was held in debt bondage to this money type for thousands of years.
The dark ages were because money was Gold conscripted at the Bascillus during Byzantium. It was the fourth crusades that sacked "Constantinople" and released all the stored Gold, which then allowed the renaissance.
The real problem is that modern money is not scientific and is not following law. Money is an abstract accounting identity that has rules. There are so many rules that are being broken it is astonishing.
One of these rules, not obeyed, is that money should not trade for money. Keynes Bancor system would prevent this as the bancor is an accounting mechanism that keeps track of international goods exchange. Yes, our favorite tribal friends blocked bankcor idea at Bretton Woods, setting up today's fiasco.
All international trade is really barter, and you need someway to keep track of the barter. FX trading is a perversion which allows private financial actors to jack with the money medium that labor uses to trade their output.
This is life and death stuff, as most people work to then trade their labor for money.
The dark ages were due to Mohammedans destroying the remains of the Roman empire.
If we don't wake up here in the west we're going to get a replay.
Itis true that nascent Islam knocked lumps out of Byzantium. However, the Byzantines were very much not helped by hordes of Crusaders rollin throughpillaging as they went, each time a pope or a Holy Roman Emperor needed to exercise some hegemony (we crusaded some folk).
More to the point, it took the Normans to burn down the liabrary of Alexandria, and destroy with it much of the knowledge of the ancients. Th Musselmen were geerally quite enlightened and literate, far more than the thugs from western Europe. You know, nice guys like Richard I, Raymond Count of Toulouse and Adhemar of Le Puy. Also contrast, for instance, the Visigoth remnants in norhern Spain who startwed the reconquest from caves in the Picos de Europa, and barely literate types lik Rodrigo de ?Vivar (El Cid, Campeador) to the their opponents, the cultured and tolerant Caliphs of Al Andalus. Can you imagine such people building for instance the Mesquita of Cordoba, the Alhambra in Granada or the Alcazar in Seville? While there remain learned elements within Islam, such as the Sufi, it is a pity to see how far that faith appears to have regressed from the tolerant custodians of learning , science and arts into a boorish, bombastic mud-hut mentality (about which I would be pleased to be proven wrong).
However bad we perceive todays scapegoat to be (and they are being handily scapegoated by western powers that be), and however much the effect of negative publicity becomes self-fulfilling, there is no good in following a path that emulates such a descent. Europe became powerful after the rennaisance, not before it.
I had to downarrow your comment. SOME of what you say is relevant (in a vague and obscure fashion, albeit), but other parts are pure BULLSHIT. By the way, any asshole who promotes the KEYNESIAN ideal of economics needs to be hung by his balls. Twice.
Byzantium was a PLACE, not a fucking TIME. The renaissance was brought about by a general spiritual revolution against the Papacy and the dogma of keeping the people so stupid that it was aginst the LAW to fucking be able to READ (Martin Luther had a large hand in this). The Kazarim and Ashkenazim DIDN'T BLOCK SHIT at Bretton-Woods (they INVENTED and INSTIGATED IT). Money IS NOT 'scientific' in any sense of the word. It's what you take to the store to buy your shit with; and if you don't have money, you don't buy SHIT. It's quite PHYSICAL.
You're not, by chance, an educated idiot, fresh out of school, working as a low-level 'yes-man' for some MAJOR CORPORATION, are you?
'money should not trade for money'... If I go to Europe and I have my store of value in a different currency from a different nation that I wish to use there, and I can't spend my currency because the Eurocentrics don't accept it, what the hell am I supposed to do? Generally, I would take it to a place that TRADES CURRENCIES; valued on a COMMON STANDARD (such as the value of an ounce of fucking GOLD). GOD DAMN, you sound like a fucking TWO-YEAR-OLD when you spout your 'official' bullshit line, MEFOBILLS.
Please give proof that there as a law against learning how to read during that time.
I carry a one-ounce silver coin in my wallet (it was a gift from a man who knew the value of the stuff, a long time ago). Anyway, I compared the weight to 13 of those new Monopoly-money fed notes (with the strip in them that can be tracked from satellites, and the neat color scheme with the oversized head of a dead president on it); and they had the number '$100' printed on them. Unfortunately, I was outside when I did this, and the wind picked up and quickly emptied ONE of my hands. Can you guess which one? It was the hand that held...
"The very same USD that is more valuable than gold by weight"
Next time, I suppose I'll try it with 26 $50 bills.
The thing is that most of us have to WORK for our USD. Unlike a special class of privileged people who get to create it out of thin air, then loan it to us with interest.
Then we WORK to pay them for the 'work?' they did in creating that money out of thin air? What a racket! If you're one of those people (or connected to one of those people) who get special dispensation to create money out of thin air (aka Banks).
Your ride will end soon enough. History provides a useful lense with which to view our current situation.
The most important things to remember vis a vis the history of fiat currency:
1. Paper burns.
2. If you don't hold it, you don't own it.
Good luck with saving for your retirement in the stock casino and in the face of ZIRP, declining wages and employment, and of course the inevitable inflation caused by the government, who is ultimatlely enabled by the money creators.
This isn't a revolutionary idea. In fact, I think there were some guys round these parts about 250 years ago warning against the dangers of the money-changers. IIRC, there's even a 2000 year old story of a certain Christian messiah whipping some money changers which IMO ultimately led to his untimely death. When he profaned their 'sacred right' endowed by their evil supreme being, he signed his death warrant.
So best of luck to all you lovers of the status quo. I hope you enjoy your remaining time at the top. Because once you come down here with me and most of your fellow Ameriacns, you ain't gonna like it one bit. And I can't say with certainty that us poors will welcome you with open arms. Perhaps we'll welcome you with hands full of shit to fling at you, or if you're less lucky, you may be welcomed with boiled rope or lead projectiles moving toward you at very high velocities.
The Schaudenfreude that some of us will experience will be EPIC.
They're not crashing their currencies. They're swimming away from the wreck that is the EUR before she takes them down with her.
But if the Euro goes, can the GS-Dollar be far behind?
Oh, so many promises to keep...
<Removed Stupidity>
The irony is that the Swiss just voted against partial gold backing, which would have had a similar impact as today's move by the SNB who, BTW, was against partial gold backing.
+1
That's how I see it too. Just wondering what these people are doing queuing up at the exchanges in Geneva. Why make any transactions now? How much worse do they think it will get? Add in commission fees and these customers must think the euro is kaput to freeze themselves and lose money at current rates.
Not a lot of central banks stayed sane during the "race to the bottom", but there are a few notable ones like the ruble. Is this the beginning of the end for the recent global insanity to keep relative currency values stable against the mad frenzy of USD printing? I don't know for certain, but it's nice to see something real happen for once. Shame about Swiss export industries, but they had it so good for so long at the expense of EU employment, it had to happen sooner or later.
Wait til the queue one day at silver coin shops
u wanna c some funny shit...
look at how desperately they r trying to bomb the phony paper Silver price below $17...
http://www.livecharts.co.uk/MarketCharts/silver.php
Thanks, Kaiser, great chart. Watching the perfidy trade second by second brings things into context.
Someday those assholes are going to get what the CHF shorts just got.
Why is silver even more suppressed than gold? What benifit does it serve?
"Why is silver even more suppressed than gold?"
because you can afford it and the moneychangers dont have any....
Id speculate that it has to do with the practical applications of silver - antibacterial nature makes it widely used in healthcare, used in electronics. Could be detrimental to the economy if gets out of control.
bet u Swiss mother fuckers r real happy with voting down that Gold referendum...
NOW ARENT YA!!!!!
I don't see how this is considered a negative thing (faux pas) for the Swiss. Their biggest mistake was ever pegging to the shitty Euro in the first place. This was the right decision.
Looking out for your own best interests rather than that of others...
It's about time. If the others were not able to count on you to shore up their mistakes, then maybe they would make fewer mistakes going forward.
LOFL. It's kind of funny they timed this right after the Russians cut gas to the EU. That is going to hurt the EU GDP. Not stupid those Swiss.
Exactly.
If you're Swiss, and your savings are in Francs; today you're jumping for joy.
The only Swiss hurt by this are the SNB banksters, hedge fund managers, and Swiss manufacturers who sell their products abroad.
The average Swiss citizen should be jubilant today...
until he or she gets a pink slip (ow baby i like your pink slip) hehe...
Then I'd take my Francs, leave Switzerland, and go on vacation in the Eurozone.
Now, a fistful of Francs should buy the place...
"The average Swiss citizen should be jubilant today..."
But not about cheap oil. That's sacred stuff right there.
well said sam clemons
"I don't see how this is considered a negative thing ..."
How much did it cost the Swiss to peg to the EUR since the year 2011?
I would call that a "negative thing".
"How much did it cost the Swiss [National Bank] to peg to the EUR since the year 2011?"
There, fixed that.
Banksters will take the loss, not the citizens.
What's not to like about banksters taking it in the shorts?...
IF You think that they did NOT tip off their Bankster buddies you are certifiable.
They will peg to Deusche Mark soon
Sam Clemons, at 69 votes up (@19:35 CDT) and no down votes I will go with The Wisdom of Crowds on this one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wisdom_of_Crowds
Based on Surowiecki’s book, Oinas-Kukkonen[3] captures the wisdom of crowds approach with the following eight conjectures:
I've checked a few mainstream sites and there are a good deal of commentors who think that the SNB made a "smart move" today. No mention of gold referendums or anything else. The articles commented upon don't mention it either.
As Chris Martenson said recently, all news these days is contextless. Nothing is part of a larger story and "big stuff" like this just sort of happens.
+ for quoting Martenson.
I listen to him whenever I can, not so much for the particular opinions or agenda he's pushing but because his way of thinking is so consistently interesting.
He and Kunstler interviewed and one of them was talking about his experiences trying to convince people that "things cannot continue this way" and they said eventually you get through to people, but then they always say, "OK, but what do we do about it?"
And in answering the question, they realized that people are really asking, "How to we avoid the pain without really changing anything? How do we keep the Central banks and the wars and the strip malls and the welfare state and the endless deficits but not have any of that bad stuff? Otherwise you are just a doom-and-gloomer with no answers."
For me its not about proving we are doomed, its about understanding why so I can prepare myself mentally for whats to come.
Martenson does a good job of pulling in a wide variety of disciplines to help explain both cause and affect
Hey Swiss, "Kommet gut Hei".
And yoddel me a river.
Lagarde says she's surprised SNB chief didn't contact her
Lagarde says she's surprised SNB chief didn't contact her - MarketWatch
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said she was surprised Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan didn't contact her before the central bank announced it removed its Swiss franc peg against the euro. "I found it a bit surprising that he did not contact me," she said in an interview with CNBC. "I understand why he's doing it, but talking about it would be good." She said she was going to reserve judgment on the decision, and said she hoped the decision was communicated to central-bank colleagues, "but I'm not sure it was."
http://www.wildwomanfundraising.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/puppet-ga...
Fuck the IMF and fuck the other NCBs at the same time.
so she knew what they will do
sure, they are all entitked ti front run the trade. You just rarely hear them admit it
False flag in Sweden in 3..2..1..
Steve Fleasman is even more shocked than her since no one tipped him off and this action flies in the face of all the propaganda he's been spewing
Lagarde says she's surprised SNB chief didn't contact her [so TPTB could bribe/extort swiss banksters before making move]
What a cunt. LIke the SNB has to get her permission to unpeg.
Or, better yet, to give her a heads up.
Hey, LeGarde, suck our collective swiss stix.
Sorry, I can only up-vote you once. Communications and trust breaking down between the top dogs is a non-trivial thing.
In the organziational chart, the BIS is still above the SNB and the ECB, which means this is all engineered and going exactly according to plan.
Germany and France will bomb Switzerland?
Nope, in United Europe there will alaways be peace.
(For as long as it goes).
Theres 100'000 French coming to work everyday in Geneva alone...
Wich is absolutely baffling as the population of Geneva City is about 500'000.
Overall the country, I bet about a million foreign workers from EU got an overnight 30% raise.
Here on ZH most comments a few weeks ago about the rise in the minimum wage in some US states pointed out that the rise will cause major job losses. So wouldn't a 30% rise in Swiss wages also cause major job losses? Perhaps half of those outside workers will lose their jobs and go back to the French (and other) job search queues to maybe get a job paying devalued Euros. Sucks to be them.
"Lagarde says she's surprised SNB chief didn't contact her"
What, so the biatch can tip off the Insider Parasites (at GS, the IMF and ECB)? Fornicate them!
She is a tall woman and was long.
Just absolutely the last person you would even contemplate telling.
king chuff
gay ruble
bankers
fluffers
Good picture, crap comments.
"Today, those same developed nation hecklers are deathly silent after what may be the biggest western central bank faux pas in recent history,"
Really? ... more like sanity prevailed
But, i guess, if you're satisfied with status quo ...
Should have added "to the status quo"
Developed nations my ass, more like total organized bankster crime.
FU europe
Like Russians, except the opposite; The Swiss are exchanging their Euros for Francs...
This is confusing but could it be a response to the failed gold referendum in Nov? This makes the savings in CHF 15% more valuable against both the dollar and the Euro than they were before? Isn't it a boost to he currency for savers and isn't that sort of what the gold referendum was about, strengthening the CHF?
Color me confused here.
+1 methinks those may be holders of Euro standing in that line
The mistake made by the Save Our Swiss Gold campaign was that they tried to explain to people that huge mistakes had already been made and that pain was on the way no matter what.
The SNB said going to gold would cause the peg to fail, a huge sprike in the SNB a crashed stock market and huge instability. They won the day threatening the Swiss people with what was already garaunteed to happen.
And from looking at English Swiss media sites, no one seems to even realize whats been done to them. They got all the bad consequences they would have gotten with gold, but no gold.
Only the Gnomes know for sure.
Brilliant insight.
I bet the swiss cb has been hedging this planned move for 6mo to a year now...maybe that explains why the EUR has collapsed from 140 to 115 in the space of a few months.
The ECB needed no help from the SNB. ECB deserves full credit for the collapse of the Euro.
Lines of depositers waiting to see their allocated gold accounts?
That would be Geneva!
Lining up to get their Spider-Man towels.
What did I miss with the whole "Spider-Man towels" thing?
Did you go for the toaster ?
About three years back Spanish ( or maybe it was Italian) banks were offering free Spiderman towels if he opened up an account.
You got it, Spain's Bankia.
I hear that BoA is offering Warren towels for new accounts...
By golly, I am wondering if that Spiderman cartoon on the Economist 2015 Cover was an allusion to the Spanish Central bank that ZH posted about. I couuldn't see a connection till now. Thanx.
Attention passengers. There is no reason to panic. Please move to the deck and form an orderly line at the nearest remaining lifeboat.
....And we're out of Coffee.
Best chuckles all day.
Has Swiss frank lost half its value or is it RUB?
It means that the monetary authorities are trying to discourage foreign investors from buying CHF by making them pay for the privilege, and are encouraging Swiss residents to buy forex so as to stop the uncontrolled revaluation of their currency which is going to crush the economy. Got it shill no 123 from Patriot army ?
It looks like Latvian's enthusiasm to join the <ha-ha-ha> Euro was a tad misplaced. tch tch.
Not long now before it's available in supermarkets in rolls like lavatory paper with Barroso's face printed on each strip.
Stick to growing potatos.
Yeah, but Putin is a tyrant who hates gay men.
(And gay men are our gold.)
Metal always wins.
Coming to a Cinema NEAR YOU!
And with that, the Swiss National Bank struck a blow against the New World Order. OR was it a wrecking ball?!?
Dunno, but it is beautiful.