This article by David Haggith was first published on The Great Recession Blog:
![By ECB - European Central Bank (Flickr.com) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://thegreatrecession.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/Mario_Draghi_2013.jpeg)
Europeans must have been delighted to discover that one thing is working as well as it has since the start of the Great Recession. Behemoth banks that are failing are still able to pay their Christmas bonuses to their top executives and give nice dividends to their shareholders thanks to Super Mario Draghi.
Keeping up the tradition of central bankers looking out for other bankers, Mario Draghi, chief of the European Central Bank “agreed to lower the minimum capital requirements for Deutsche Bank on Tuesday, ‘giving the lender more leeway to structure bonus payments and dividends.'” (Zero Hedge).
Thank God for that, huh? The needs of the stockholders and top execs have been taken care of before one of the world’s oldest megabanks falls on everyone else. While Deutsche Bank’s stocks sit at all-time lows after it has been required to pay $8 billion in fines, at least the golden parachutes are in top condition.
Italy surrenders to Germany
Meanwhile, the world’s oldest bank in Italy got nationalized for Christmas so that the losses of capitalists — many of whom exist outside of Italy — could all be socialized to the people of Italy. However, when the People’s Republic of Italy became the new owner of the bank, they found out the hole in the bank’s core was bigger than they thought. (Surprise.)
The ECB now estimates the hole to be 8.8 billion euros, rather than the 5 billion of additional capital they formerly believed it needed. That’s a 75% increase in the bank’s capital shortfall that took place from November through December. What a sleigh ride!
Turns out that all the talk of nationalizing the bank caused depositors to rapidly withdraw funds (who woulda thought?), creating something of a black hole in the bank’s core. Lingering depositors don’t need to worry, though, because the Italian parliament has assured them that all Italians are equally on the hook for the bank’s losses by guaranteeing a 20-billion euro fund to stabilize any Italian banks that are too big to fail.
In Monte’s case, the Italian government will invest 6.3 billion euros of this fund into filling the growing hole, and the rest will be squeezed out of bond-holders. (Of course, that news is bound to send even the lingerers running if they know what’s good for them, but obviously they don’t, or they wouldn’t still have been there when all this went down, as warnings have been evident for a couple of years.)
Gee, whatever happened to bail-ins putting the bank’s salvation primarily in the hands of share-holders, bond-holders and major depositors? Look’s like the government still believes general taxpayers should front the biggest wad. So, you’ll be glad to know that, even in Italy, the principles of saving too-big-to-fail banks at the start of the Great Recession are still largely in play. The costs of failing capitalists shall be largely socialized upon the poorer parts of the population because their citizens have happily allowed banks to remain too big to fail.
Maybe the depositors were all withdrawing their money to buy Christmas presents, so Italy will be saved by a Santa Clause rally. (It is no more wishful than thinking these banks will not ultimately pull down their governments. This was, after all, the bank’s third bailout. Keep bailing.)
Italy is the eighth-largest economy in the world, third-largest in Europe, and its GDP per capita hasn’t grown since the Great Recession. It has issued the third-largest amount of sovereign bonds in the world to survive its relentlessly unfolding debt catastrophe, with many of its debts being held by banks and central banks outside of Italy.
On top of that, eighteen percent of all bank loans in Italy are bad debt that has been carried on the books since the Great Recession. Italian banks don’t write off this long-term bad debt because they have less than 50% of the capital they need in order to cover it. So, they pretend their customers will all win the Italian Liralicious Lotto and pay up. Since GDP per capita is actually sinking, the ability of each customer to ever pay one of these debts off is ever diminishing. The Super Mario jackpot better pay off real soon.
No wonder Italians took a big step toward their own euro exit on December 4th. Back when they had their own currency, they could, at least, try to inflate their way out of trouble. They could lower the lira’s value in order to draw trade away from Germany and toward Italian products. Now they socialize debts away from German (and other non-Italian) bond owners and bank holders toward the Italian populace.
Owed to Grecians earning less
Meanwhile in Greece, people have started rejecting their own inheritances in order to save themselves. At this point in the Greek crisis, so much real estate is underwater that it is worth less than it is worth. You don’t even want to inherit it for free because you cannot sell it for enough to pay off its debt if you accept it.
With incomes falling (unemployment is at 23%) and taxes rising (particularly property tax) to meet Eurozone austerity requirements, old people have heaped mortgages onto their properties to make it through their declining years. To receive an inheritance from your parents is to receive their bundled debts.
Thirty-two percent of all property loans in Greece are now delinquent. So much for the ultimate safe haven. So many properties in foreclosure sales drives down the price, making the next round worse. So, beware of dead Greeks bearing gifts if they are willing them to you. Gift recipients are lining up in government cues to decline their inheritance. Wealth destruction via real estate.
But Europe has this solved. If everything goes well with Greece, the Greek’s condition is expected to resolve back to a normal economy in just fifty years! The Greek debt burden is about 177% of its entire Gross Domestic Product; compare that to the US now at a paltry 100%. Europe calculates the Greek’s situation will improve by 20% come the year 2060. Do you think maybe these people are debt slaves for life? I think they were better off under Rome in AD Zero than under Germany.
Germany is helping out, after requiring some rather Spartan austerity, by proposing that all of Europe send its refugees goose-stepping toward Greece in order to save the northern states of Europe from those social and financial burdens. That ought to stomp out the tiny nation, which can’t even look out for its own welfare. Greece already has bottled up huge amounts of resentment against both Europe and its own government. Germany seems blindly determined to use its immigration policies to destroy its own European union. “Here, feed our poor and wandering masses while you Greeks lick the bottoms of our boots for nourishment.”
Not sure who’s doing the math over there, but it doesn’t add up to success.
And now for a Bilderberg Bonanza:
(In case you are stunningly new to the world of conspiracy theories, the uber-elite one-percenters meet at the Hotel Bilderberg once a year to control the world through sub committees like the Illuminati … or something like that. Anyway, they’re really rich, and they suck.)
The hacker group Anonymous seized control of the Bilderberg website today, posting the following message as the site’s new home page:
…Dear Bilderberg mEmBers, From NoW(), each OnE of you have 1 year (365 days) to truly work in faVor of HumaNs and not youR private interests…. MiNd the cuRrent situation: We conTrol your expensive connected cars, we control your connecteD house security devices, we control your daughter laptop, we control your wife’s mobile, we tape YoUR seCret meetings, we reAD your emaiLs, we control your faVoriTe eScort girl smartWatch, we ARe inside your beLoved banks and we Are reading YoUr assets You wont be safe anywhere near electricity anyMore We WiLL watch yOu, from NoW on you got to WoRk for Us, Humanity, the People
They had other choice words, too; but I don’t know if I recommend going to their site to check it out because who knows what it does to your computer while you’re there, but the link is provided for the brave of heart. I did and lived to tell about it. Maybe I’ll find out otherwise when a certain date clicks by.
It’s getting harder for the globalists to feel safe in their dark-paneled, smoke filled hotel meeting rooms, high in the citadels of Germany, Switzerland, or down inhabiting the swampy Netherlands and other such heady retreats … and this is why they want to control the internet.
The Christmas present from Fundamentalist Islam
Subsequent to the Christmas bombing in Berlin, Europe is proposing tighter restrictions on the movement of cash and precious metals. (This is one more reason that gold is not necessarily a safe haven in any nation because stringent controls were placed on gold in the US during the Great Depression, too. It happens; so, diversify.)
The European Commission says that tighter controls will help shut down funding for militant operations on the continent. I’m not sure how that will stop a guy from driving a truck into a crowd in Berlin, but maybe it will keep him from getting money for fuel. I think it is more likely that any excuse will do when bankers see people fleeing their proprietary product (money) for generic gold and need to find reasons to slow down the gold traffic. Probably more concerned about that than they are thinking this plan will slow down truck traffic in crowded streets.
Of course, that’s also why central banks own so much of the yellow stuff they hate — so they can throw it off as ballast whenever there is a run on banks in order to try to kill the price of gold and scare people away from it. Why else would they keep so much of something they say is a poor investment, other than to control the only competition in town to their monopoly?
The EU is also proposing stricter controls on the movement of Bitcoin funds. The new rules will allow seizure of funds, including gold, wherever “there are suspicions of criminal activity.” It’s unclear whether suspicion also requires a warrant, or just (that’s a lot of money, and I think you look funny or you had a drink with a bad guy).
While the European Commission solves its immigrant-created catastrophes with golden rules, widespread unrest is becoming the norm due to the over-exuberant globalists’ drive to soak up unscreened Muslim refuges that are not integrating well into European society. They are almost entirely unemployed and sucking up social welfare that those unemployed Greeks and Italians could sure use. That has got to be a short-fused bomb.
While the news is bad all over Europe, it’s not going so well for the globalists in the new year either! In light of extenuating circumstances, who could ask for anything more? The serfs are up, and the sooner they set sail from the Eurozone and its globalist control, the sooner they can have a real economy back. So, raise a cup of cheer; the New Year is here!
And now, for some lighthearted New Year's fun, here are my favorite Putin-Obama cartoons.





I had an interesting evening last night at a New Year ’s Eve party at the Chateau Elan. Sitting beside me was a lone French Canadian who was part of a French racing team. He had spent a lot of time in Paris and was describing the Islamification of France. He said he lived in a suburb where Muslims burned out every automobile on his street. He said civil war was coming. He was not a worm. He was a man standing in a crowded elevator, holding his breath, waiting for the door to open.
I think the bankers would be offended if they were bailed out for Christmas they would prefer their bailout for Hanukkah.
They could always take the cash and assets of people like Soros who use it to formulate chaos and civil disruption - that would do far more good and be far more efficient than nickel and diming the general public for existing.
'I see' said Mac ui Rudai humbly; but it had
been better if he had given the man a bit of sauce;
for Lord Juggernaut, though not altogether a very
admirable person, had guts, and he liked to see
guts in others. The meek demeanour of Mac ui
Rudai irritated him, and he said:
'Do you think that my ambitions are to be
measured by yours, you clod? Do you think I must
accommodate my desires to your approval, you
earthworm? I want power' he said with a kick.
'I want glory' he said with another kick. 'I want
cigars-and champagne-and night-clubs-and
horses-and theatres-and yachts-and con-
cubines-' With each of these words he bestowed
a kick on Mac ui Rudai's stern, which Mac ui
Rudai accepted very humbly, saying: 'Thank you,
sir, I understand.' Then Lord Juggernaut flung
him a handful of money and went his way.
If you had a point you should have been able to make it by now.
The point is in the story
Its not exactly Batmans riddler but I guess some understanding of Social credit or indeed the teachings of Jesus helps.
Now now, he's just being a Dork....
You're full of shit and you're spamming, sabotaging a public forum.
Maestro
I just read your character persona....
Jaysus , a gold bug after all these years.
Unfortunetly the banks have created essentially two types of people .
People who choose to toil in the pit of dispair for company tokens and gold bugs who choose to waste time waiting for Godot.
As long as you do not live you make your masters happy.
I do not hate or blame you.
You are a mere product, the banks demonic creation.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wifcyo64n-w
Observe above , the life of a gold bug ????
gave it to the man with the cap, with no better
result.
After that the natural good temper of Mac ui
Rudai began to give way, and he lent an ear to
certain orators, vile agitators that stir up discontent
and class warfare. And one day, as he was standing
in. the street, very hungry, and with the wind
whistling through the holes in his breeches, he saw
a rich man coming out of a tobacconist's shop
smoking a cigar as big as a torpedo. At this sight,
reckoning that for the price of this bundle of burning
weed he could have got him three square meals,
the wrath of Mac ui Rudai boiled in his bosom,
and, approaching the rich man, he said: 'You
dirty dog 1 Why should you have everything you
want, ana I have nothing at all?'
Now the rich man's name was Lord Juggernaut,
and he was a big man in the political world, a good
fellow in his way, capable of bright ideas from time
to time, and with a ready wit, all the readier from
being well nourished with wine and baccy. So he
said to Mac ui Rudai good-humouredly: 'What
the hell? Do you think nobody ought to have a good
time because you can't? Will you buy these cigars
if I return them to the shop? And do you think
the girl I'm going to sleep with will take you if
I let her down?'
At this Mac ui Rudai forgot the voice of the
agitators and said: 'No, sir. I suppose not.'
'You see, my man' Lord Juggernaut explained,
'there must be glittering prizes as an incentive
to men like me to do our best. If it wasn't for that
encouragement we'd do nothing. See?'
You're full of shit and you're spamming, sabotaging a public forum.
No I am not .
I am trying to make a point .
Zeros by and large are hopeless AustrIans , stooges of the banks.
Correct observations of the planet cannot penetrate their wraped little skulls.
The traditional Irish option is to illustrate reality with prose ,comedy and sci fi
The tradition actually goes back to Swift.
You forgot Guiness....lots of it...!
naturally thought it disgraceful that horses should
be employed while men stood idle. You will agree,
I think, that this was an eminently sane and practical
way of dealing with this very difficult problem; but
unfortunately, like all human contrivances, it had
its drawbacks, large numbers of men engaged in
the horse-fodder industry having been thrown out
of employment in consequence. The problem of
finding fresh employment for these men, was,
however, engaging the attention of the best brains
in the country.
The driver of the team, cracking his whip, called
out to Mac ui Rudai that, if he were unemployed,
they might be able to find him a place in the stables;
but Mac ui Rudai shook his head; being, like so
many of the lower orders nowadays, hopelessly
unadaptable to changing conditions. He went on
till he came to the city, and continued his search
for work; but there was no more of that commodity
to spare than in the country, and more people seeking
it. One day a gentleman in a silk hat came to him and
said: 'Poor fellow, I see you have no work to do.
Give me your vote, and I promise that it shall be
provided for you:' for, though he possessed nothing
else in the world, Mac ui Rudai had a vote; which
proves that we have always something to be thankful
for. Next day another man in a cap came to
him, and also promised him work for the same
consideration. Mac ui Rudai, however, thought
that the man in the silk hat would be more likely
to give him work than the other; so he voted for
him. But nothing came of that; so next year, when
the two men again came to him for his vote, he
You're full of shit and you're spamming, sabotaging a public forum.
You're full of shit and you're spamming, sabotaging a public forum.
Fuck the EU and (surtout) fuck the moronic Europeans.
Even after it became undeniably clear that the European Union was just a legal way to strip European citizens of their legal rights which their ancestors fought for a thousand years to pry away from the greedy and cruel paws of countless kings and nobility at the cost of their lives, all the European sheeple today care about is, at which venue they will offer their collective asses and honor as Christmas presents to Muslim terrorists who don't celebrate it.
The EU is just a legal (but fraudulent and unjust) device used by the bankers and the Corporations to take away your freedom and civil rights.
Merkel, just like Hollande, is a whore of the bankers.
And you, European, you truly are a useless and repugnant thing to behold.
I briefly passed through a French airport the other day, couldn't stand it more than the two hours I had to spend there. There was this black person talking at the top of his lungs with his cellphone speaker on full blast in a totally quiet waiting area and nobody said a thing.
Europeans truly are wormlike pieces of shit. I bet Hitler would have exterminated you Europeans instead of the Jews if he were alive today.
Europeans=(rotten) meat for Muslim terrorists and satanist bankers
"Europeans truly are wormlike pieces of shit. I bet Hitler would have exterminated you Europeans instead of the Jews if he were alive today"
Bless you MM for your depth and insight.
the annual meetings of the banks, the directors
always spoke with their backs towards the share-
holders, talking, as it were, through the seat of their
trousers.
When the banker had passed by, Mr Mush said:
'Be warned, young man, in time, and if you are so
rash as to hold opinions of your own on this subject,
have the good sense and decency to keep them to
yourself. For what should we of the laity know of
the laws of economics? And how can we expect
to think for ourselves on such a matter without
falling into error? No. There can be no economic
truth outside the stout stone walls and sturdy struc-
ture of the banks; and it is our bounden duty to
humble ourselves and submit our judgment to the
infallible voice of the World Bank.'
'I suppose I'd better be going on my way' said
Mac ui Rudai, rising.
'Good-bye, my man' said Mr Pewling Mush.
'And before you go, let me warn you against
currency cranks and unorthodox economists. The
Bank has very wisely closed the press and the
wireless against them, but here and there their
corrupting quackery occasionally creeps into print.
Be sure to shun such stuff like the plague. Good-
morning.'
Continuing his journey, Mac ui Rudai presently
encountered a dust-cart drawn by a team of six
men in harness, who were thus provided with
employment under a scheme recently started by
the municipality in conjunction with a local charit-
able organisation, and originally suggested in a letter
to the press by a humane gentleman who very
You're full of shit and you're spamming, sabotaging a public forum.
I have always had a great deal of respect for the dork's commentary, and Lewis Carroll was a genius, so all-in-all a perfect start to the new year. Besides, my aunt is the spitting image of The Duchess, so I am biased.
Speak roughly to your little boy, and beat him when he sneezes.....
said Mr Mush. 'The dismal science, you know. The
dismal science, ha! ha! I don't profess to under-
stand it myself. We must take it on faith from those
that do.'
'Who are they?' asked Mac ui Rudai.
'The economists and bankers.'
'And is it them that says that I've got to starve
in the midst of plenty?'
'O no, my good fellow. They would help yo~ if _ they could, but it is impossible. These things are . governed by inexorable and immutable laws.'
'Who made them?' asked Mac ui Rudai. ·
'They have been handed down from time
immemorial, and preserved in their integrity by the
Financial Hierarchy' said Mr Mush, inclining his
head reverently.
'Cast-iron creeds!' said Mac ui Rudai bitterly.
'Hush, my friend!' said Mr Mush. 'You must
show a more submissive spirit. You should be happy
to suffer in the cause of financial orthodoxy.
'I've suffered enough' said Mac ui Rudai. 'And
what I say is, if there's a law that says I've got to
starve in a world full of bread that nobody wants,
that law has got to be altered.'
Mr Mush's face went pale. 'Beware!' cried he.
'This is heresy you speak. You will be refusing to
prostrate yourself before a banker next.'
It happened opportunely that a banker passed
along the road at that moment; whereupon Mr
Mush at once fell on his knees, with his nose in the
mud, dragging Mac ui Rudai down along with
him: for in those days it was not lawful to look upon
a banker's face, but only on his back parts. Even at
You're full of shit and you're spamming, sabotaging a public forum.
And a happy new year to you to :-)
This year to be the same as last year, if anything never better, but slightly worse than the last in the ever declining mechanism.
It's okay though, CB's will print just a little more than they did in 2016 to keep it afloat the only problem is the deplorables don't get a penny of it. So the only real welfare happening and the real tax burden is bankster welfare, where if it is handed to a poor person they don't hold onto it, trickle up economics for the elite.
The sun was shining brightly
Upon the fields below:
He did his very best to make
The corn and fruit to grow;
And that was wrong because it brings
The prices down, you know.
The corn was ripening in the fields,
The fruit upon the tree;
The shops were full, and laden ships
Were sailing on the sea:
All things had a fictitious look
Of fair prosperity;
And that was wrong because the world
Was ruined utterly.
The Banker and Economist
Were walking hand in hand.
They wept like anything to see
Such plenty in the land.
“If this were only stopped” they said,
“The prospect would be grand!”
“If seven pests or seven plagues
Were loosened every year,
“I think” said the Economist
“That things would then be dear.”
“I wonder” said the Banker
And wiped away a tear.
“Consumer come and talk with us”
They both did make request.
“The time has come to tell you what
For you we think is best.”
“O thank you” the consumer said
With lively interest.
“And first” said the Economist
“It’s needful to explain
The economic laws which prove
That trade must wax and wane,
And why abundance is a curse,
“And scarcity a gain.”
“But not to me“ the man replied,
Turning a little white
“Such dismal scientific stuff
Would stupefy me quite.
“I’ll take it all on trust because
“I know you must be right.”
Two winking eyes behind the back
Of that Consumer met,
As if to say: “This blessed boob
“Has asked for what he’ll get.”
“Old chap” said the Economist,
“Your trust you won’t regret.
“This gross abundance that you see
Before your hungry eyes
Has ruined all the primary
Producing industries:
And so, to set things right again,
We must economise.
“And first we’ll make a cut in costs
By cutting down your screw,
And next we’ll cut production down
Till prices rise anew.
Then, though you’ll have less goods to buy,
More work you’ll have to do.”
“Right oh!” the good consumer said
(A sturdy Briton he),
And, smiling bravely, yielded up
His share of L.S.D.
By such contraction wages show
Their elasticity.
“It seems a shame” the Banker said
“To play him such a prank.”
With sobs and tears he cancelled out
A credit at the bank:
And that was right, unless you are
A monetary crank.
“Consumer” said that pleasant pair,
We’ve had a useful day.
Shall we be trotting home again?”
But nothing did he say:
And that was right enough because
He’d faded quite away
no apologies to the Walrus...or the Carpenter?
Again GDP expansion is negative for peoples wellbeing under present circumstances.
The UK has positive GDP but if you observe real consumption at the human level it is falling.
Despite the continual influx of prople domestic energy condumption dropped a staggering 11% in the third quater. ( British energy trends publicstion)
The cars keep on orbiting the corpse at a faster and faster speed but that is all .
I suggest you read chapter 7 of Eimar o Duffys classic "Asses in Clover"
This will give you both understanding and a belly laugh at the same time which is rare these days.
We sit here in the US insulated from this shit by an ocean. What we don't account for is the fiber optic and old copper communication cables sunk in that ocean...or the satellites that span it overhead. A few taps on a keyboard there; a few here; and we are right in the middle of the rest of the world's misery. May we somehow have the benefit of good luck? I doubt we will. Luck is for suckers. This is a long term plan.
No, I think it means we have the benefit of being the best horse at the glue factory. So, when European markets crash, there is always some hope that American markets will rise as the financial depository of last resort ... at least for awhile ... until Europe's crashing banks tear down our banks, the sides of the hole crumble and everything falls into the hole.
I just can't understand why there is still a European Union or a Euro. How much corrupt greedy stupidity can the european slaves (residents) take?
Until enough of them cannot, but don't hold your breath....
And, they still have Andre Rieu putting a smile on their faces, but their eyes have a deep glazed look.
It is understood that in the end Bayer will have the answer...
I couldn't take it anymore, I emigrated years ago. Since then, the EU system is pissed off versus myself and many others. The EU keeps losing (big) tax payers and relatively moderate consumers ( yes, WE don't live beyond our means ). And there are each years thousands of us who do the same. Silently, but deadly for the EU aristocracy and their so called debt-based "economy". The fuse is lit.
How much can WE take? The same people that are destroying their world now control ours. Enjoy your donuts while you can.
It's a wind up (or head count?), the site appears unchanged. The theft continues.
Gold confiscations, only 22% of americans ever surrendered their gold in 1934... those that threw it in the lake made an instant 67%? profit... so dont hand it over!
2017 the year we said FUCK YOU to the elite zionist blood suckers
People didn't buy gold with credit cards back then. They do now and that leaves a record. They're kicking in the doors in India. It's not the good old days where you will have an option to "surrender" what ever they want.
In Connecticut it's a law that when you sell your gold, you must get paid by check. Cash payments are prohibited.
Dunno if it would stand up in the courts were it to be challenged.
I am sure people give a fuck about this law.
https://www.cga.ct.gov/2013/ba/2013SB-00928-R000114-BA.htm
Draghi means Dragons. Ok?