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Following Short Selling And CDS Ban, Europe Now Seeks To Ban Free Speech

Tyler Durden's picture




 

It was only a matter of time before following banning everything else that it could, and that is not under its control, Europe would go after the only thing that matters: the First Amendment. From Bloomberg: "Michel Barnier, European Union. Financial Services Commissioner, wants to give the European Securities and Markets Authority the power to temporarily prohibit credit-rating companies from publishing ratings about ailing countries, Financial Times Deutschland reports. Such a ban could prevent ratings from being published at “inappropriate moments” that could have negative effects on the financial stability of nations as well as on the global economy, the proposal states, according to the German newspaper." Next up: ban on anonymous blogs whose disclosure of the truth could have "negative effects on the financial stability of nations as well as on the global economy." After all the proposal has already been floated by one Todd Martin os Morgan Stanley and currently SocGen fame, with whom, we must admit, we forgot to preclear this post. Full FTD report here. Read it before it has been "filtered" by Europe's commission on truth sterilization.

 

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Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:21 | 1791853 Fips_OnTheSpot
Fips_OnTheSpot's picture

as i wrote in my submission:
"if truth hurts, render it illegal"

 

Always works - NOT!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:34 | 1791889 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

“inappropriate moments” - That'll be when they've been marked down then, and if it isn't public knowledge it won't be allowed to be disclosed.

Appears to me that they won't be disclosed till they again go back up, so it's bye bye rating agencies, it's been nice knowing ya, even if it was pointless and you cost us all a truck load of cash in the interim.

Shit happens...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:38 | 1791909 HD
HD's picture

“Inappropriate moments”  That's my favorite General Foods international coffee flavor!

Please no more questions...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zEYMrhpn_k&feature=related

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:56 | 1791986 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

Made me laugh.

Another streak of US cheap propaganda.

The whole setting aims to credibilize credit ratings agencies.
Credit rating agencies are given actual information and thus the revelation of pieces of information might be dangerous.

But what in the real world?

In the real world, it appears that credit rating agencies are posting news three months after events happened.
Their predictions are reports about the past.

They are outdated and on the same boat as the US led free world. They have been extremely cautious not to harm their host countries.

Governments have been preserved from pressure by credit ratings agencies as the latter are lagging behind, buying time for governments to digest the previous crisis.

Old news are old news. Credit rating agencies already censor themselves by delaying the proper assessmentof the situation.
The comparison to that Chinese agency whose reports are conformer to reality is telling. Only Switzerland has AAA rating, all the other countries score lower.

Thus, a mere attempt to credibilize credit ratings agencies and avoid facing the very fact that all these guys are acting in unison, protecting each other.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:08 | 1792034 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

Just wondering what the hell I'm going to do without a ratings agency to tell me there is a problem with my AA rated Enron bonds 4 weeks before it goes bang. I mean 4 weeks is a lot you know...

and just who is going to tell me my subprime CDO is junk? How will I know?

What are we going to do without them?

Fuck. I'll have to buy gold...

and then not give a shit, again...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:16 | 1792092 HoofHearted
HoofHearted's picture

Fuck you, EU and ECB.

The ratings agency of HoofHearted and IceMelted say that you're all fucking bankrupt without a lick of credibility, sensibility, or any ability at all. We note that Germany is bending over for Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and really its own banks. France, you don't escape because we say the same about you. We also say Merkel and Sarkozy are learning to like being screwed the Greek style. (You can look that up if you need to.) We give you all ratings of F for fail, especially since Austria is so close and if you just read some of their famous economists from when it was Austria-Hungary...

But we digress. We recommend shorting the hell out of anything European you can get your hands on that is still legal to be shorted. Censor that, bitchez!

Next up: every moment is inappropriate.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:42 | 1792207 sqz
sqz's picture

How would this even work in practice?

1. Much of this speech comes from outside EU jurisidction: 2/3 main rating agencies are American. Fitch is French-owned but has offices in the US (and UK). Secondary rating agencies that are often used are Egan-Jones (US) and Dagong Global (China).

2. So, ban EU newspapers from printing the belated speech? That's going to work well when in the presence of the Internet ...

3. This almost certainly violates free speech in many countries in the EU. So, there would be huge opposition to even get the legislation and if by some miracle you did, the EU would collectively be paying an army of lawyers bonuses for a couple of years, while the anti-rating agency rules did nothing to stop the information being disseminated.

I'm betting this is going precisely nowhere ...

Finally, I can't believe the FT, especially FT - Deutschland, would reprint this crap or at least highlight it with an entire article!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:59 | 1792284 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

Point is that it shows the mentality of the people behind it.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:46 | 1792230 MeetTozter
MeetTozter's picture

Just wait until Goldman is allowed to take out a life insurance policy on you before they have you executed, GSrepoII

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 10:58 | 1792957 caconhma
caconhma's picture

It appears there will not be any financial markets in "free and democratic" EU. Financial markets cannot function without a free flow of information. Who in his/her sound mind would dare to put their money in something they have only biased, misleading and/or fraudulent information about?

Congratulation my EU friends and welcome to the old Soviet central planning society.

People who cannot handle the truth are doomed.

PS

Being honest, I do enjoy very much the EU misfortune and their Rothschild family masters. Once again we will be able to sell them weapons so they can kill each other.

 

 

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:10 | 1792068 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

After reading the comment sections, it is clear that US citizens love their cheap propaganda.

Very few remember that they considered credit rating agencies to be lagging behind events. They had at one moment though as for a period of time, reporting about the laggishness of agencies was trendy.

The US is not the solution, the US is the problem.No matter where, no matter when, US citizens will try to recreate the conditions for their US citizenism to endure.

The US citizens nature is eternal.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:12 | 1792340 Bartanist
Bartanist's picture

Hmm, interesting. I have always said that people love to be lied to. People love being entertainmed and to being forced to think. It has become the American/Western way. This works well for the elitist oligarchy because they don't want the slaves getting uppity and bothering them as they loot the world. Give people their iPods, their NBA, their Dancing with the Stars and their Facebook and you could take everything else, feed them B/S propaganda and they would be thankful not to have to deal with reality... or so that has apparently been the plan.

If that is specifically a characteristic of the US corporate slaves, then maybe the rest of humanity just has not had sufficient leadership to figure it out yet ... or maybe their leadership just gets off on hacking the heads off of babies and pregnant women. Heck the US corporation does the same thing by twisting its poor and discriminated against into thugs and murderers and sending them overseas to poison, rape, torture and slaughter innocents.

I would like to distinguish between the USofA republic that once existed and the US Corporation owned by the international bankers, but there does not seem to be a point since people alive today have no frame of reference.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:56 | 1791983 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

It's an inappropriate moment when they are getting in a lifeboat and the passengers break out of steerage.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:02 | 1792016 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

or, it could be when your up that creek somewhere and you discover that you haven't got a paddle...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:07 | 1792050 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

or could it be when your two year old utters the words 'He's fat" just as jumbo man turns round on an escalator and looks down...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:59 | 1792282 Yamaha
Yamaha's picture

Coming to a Country near you - shut down the Internet...... Hide under your bed.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:22 | 1791855 gojam
gojam's picture

Tyler,

If they do I hope you're going to set up your own online Credit Rating Agency

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:57 | 1791992 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

He already has.  Apple was just downgraded.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:25 | 1792139 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

I'd like to see them try and stop the Chinese. That should be interesting.

Hell, I'm sure they'll let us know when its all over and what we still think is AA+ has already gone the way of Enron, it's just that we won't know it

I'm sure we'll find out eventually. I'm also sure that ZH'ers already know that these Sovereigns and the Fed are not AA, A+ or anything else but D already, so what's all the fuss?

Just buy gold. Done...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:22 | 1791857 maxmad
maxmad's picture

Gestapo, bitchez!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:29 | 1791878 koperniuk666
koperniuk666's picture

that's exactly what the EU is - totalitarian anti democratic socialist

They were called Nazis in the 30's

War next

 

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:35 | 1791898 EscapeKey
EscapeKey's picture

French socialists held Germany to ransom; demanded the Euro in return for unification.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:30 | 1792161 The Reich
The Reich's picture

Versailles 2.0

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:57 | 1791990 DogSlime
DogSlime's picture

War next

 

Bring it!  I don't give a damn if I'm under the first nuke that goes off - anything to stop this bullshit.

Reset button or launch button - either is fine.  Just press the damn thing and end this ridiculous fucking circus.

Each time I read ZH, I lose a little more faith in the human race.  Not ZH's fault, of course.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:10 | 1792066 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

and whereabout are you?

just wondering where I shouldn't be, that's all...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:16 | 1792091 DogSlime
DogSlime's picture

I'm in the UK, but I would feel the same anywhere.  Bullshit fully globalised these days.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:30 | 1792149 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

That's ok, I'm not in the UK. Let me know if you decide to buy any explosive vests or anything...

Oh and er, take a tip from the top, buy some gold, it really will seem completely irrelevent.

and that way I'll feel a lot safer should I ever find myself on the same bus, or train station.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:13 | 1792360 DogSlime
DogSlime's picture

All my savings are in gold (physical)  :)

 

I'm not a suicide bomber - I have no reason to harm anyone, but this whole fucked-up system pisses me off.  I want to see the system smashed - preferably all in one go.  I don't believe that violence on my part would have any effect whatsoever.  A suicide vest would just make me another petty arsehole who makes a bunch of people even more miserable than they are already, but achieves nothing else.

I want a reset.  If it takes an apocalypse to reset, then so be it.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:32 | 1792463 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

Yep, me too, but I'd rather be watching the apocalypse from some distant beach as opposed to being a part of it....

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:44 | 1791938 wombats
wombats's picture

How long before Gestapo meets #OccupyWallStreet?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:02 | 1792020 Mae Kadoodie
Mae Kadoodie's picture

When the outdoor temps hit 32 degrees.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:18 | 1792102 Mister Ponzi
Mister Ponzi's picture

EUSSR!

Watch the famous analysis by ex-GULag prisoner Vladimir Bukovsky on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM2Ql3wOGcU

"I have lived in your future - and it didn't work!"

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:22 | 1791858 Paralympic Equity
Paralympic Equity's picture

This will end up well, I'm sure...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:28 | 1791859 bob_dabolina
bob_dabolina's picture

Larry Fink blamed the weak economy on blogs

...just throwing it out there

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/10/19/larry-fink-blasts-lawmakers-and-blogs/?mod=google_news_blog

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:37 | 1791907 EscapeKey
EscapeKey's picture

It would be fucking great if those cunting retards would realize that these blogs wouldn't even have a reason to exist, if the corporate media reported the truth.

But hey, LOOK OVER THERE!!eleventyone11

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:45 | 1791943 equity_momo
equity_momo's picture

Word.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:03 | 1792023 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

What a tool that Fink is.  He calls this a confidence crisis, not a liquidity crisis, and tells investors to stop being scared.  Amazing.  Not a word about inescapable, crushing debt.  It's all ungrounded fear by investors being churned up by blogs and short term thinking on the part of legislators. 

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:46 | 1792538 Bartanist
Bartanist's picture

Doop

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:51 | 1792553 Bartanist
Bartanist's picture

Of course Larry the Fink is correct from a certani perspective.

People RIGHTFULLY have no confidence in the people who manage their money because the people who manage their money have been shown to be criminals who, through government support, have been left free to loot from individuals, retirement plans, corporate balance sheets and the government and transfer wealth to themselves so that they can lord over the world as if they deserved to be elitist oligarchs who are above the law.

Solution: Start prosecuting and executing banking executives for crimes against the country and humanity. I am thinking that confidence will return pretty quickly.

People also have been starting to get educated and so they understand when they see it: a) a Ponzi scheme b) a rigged market c) lies, lies, propaganda and more lies coming from Wall Street and the captive media d) bucket shop bets called CDOs and ETFs e) an unsustainable system that is designed to fail because at any time the amount of the money owed is greated than the money created f) the substitution of printed fiat crap money for value

Solution: Fix the root problems instead of trying to prop up a system that supports parasitic elitist self serving greedbags who think they are above the law. It can be done. It will restore confidence and the only people who will suffer are elitist criminal greedbags. Everyone else will be happy and grateful.

People have lost confidence in their government because now it abundantly clear as a result of TRUTH spread through alternative media that the people running this country's government are criminals who accept bribes from Wall Street and captive corporate elitists for legislation, trade for their personal accounts on inside information and then are paid off again after they leave government by being given free money from the Bankers and corporations.

Solution: Fix the problem, instead of complaining about the blogs spreading the TRUTH

People have lost confidence in a country that sends its young people off to die and become murders, torturers and rapists and that criminally executes its own citizens so that people like Larry Fink can make more money.

Solution: Become a socially responsible and independently strong leader and partner for the world instead of the evil hypocritical empire that the Corporate US state has become.

People have lost confidence in their so called leaders (because they are really parasites, not leaders) who have created an environment where poor people are kept poor by making it easier for them to take fiat dollar bribes than to work productively, where small businesses are disciminated against by legislation and forced out of business by large competitors and where the system has provided incentives for corporations to loot the world internationally with no concern for keeping their home and local neighborhood in order.

Solution: Create a fair playnig field for small business, break up monopolies, return the rule of law to the US, return the media to being a free media, get rid of incentives to loot the world globally and phase out welfare in favor of value adding work. It is all possible if it would be wanted... but it appears that keeping the people weak benefits the Larry Finks of the world.

It IS a crisis of confidence and well founded at that. Fix the issues and the crisis of confidence will go away. Unfortunately while Larry the Fink is moaning about confidence he is not willing to do anything positive to fix the problem. He has the power to do so ... very few other people can effect the kind if change he can from his position of power. He should not be a whiner. If Fink was any kind of real leader instead of just a elitist parasitic looter he WOULD be part of the solution.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:22 | 1791860 pendragon
pendragon's picture

i'm guessing barnier is french...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:43 | 1791934 Gief Gold Plox
Gief Gold Plox's picture

You're absolutely correct, naturally. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Barnier

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:23 | 1791862 HD
HD's picture

Just ban selling - then kick the can to the 22nd century. Problem solved.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:37 | 1791906 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

I go with the oldest system of shorting; buy gold.

By definiation you are short the entire world, which in this environment doesn't look too bad at all...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:38 | 1791911 Schmuck Raker
Schmuck Raker's picture

Selling is only a symptom...

Ban Math.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:12 | 1792072 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

It's much easier to just redesign 2 so that it can be 1 on one side of a balance sheet but 3 or maybe 4 on the other.

Howzat!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:23 | 1791865 eftian
eftian's picture

all your info are belong to us...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:23 | 1791866 maxmad
maxmad's picture

Whats next the CNBC Million dollar challenge will outlaw all naked short selling!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:32 | 1791892 PaperBear
PaperBear's picture

Naked short selling is counterfeiting while short selling with borrowed title is legitimate.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:36 | 1791904 maxmad
maxmad's picture

Please explain Naked Short Selling for our audience....

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:44 | 1791936 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

Perhaps you would be good enough to give us your view.

I suspect that the audience here is fully aware of the difference between short selling and naked short selling, but I/we are always open to enlightenment, where we can find it.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:46 | 1791945 ZDRuX
ZDRuX's picture

Short selling:

I borrowed some silver from my borker, so here's my physical 1000oz of Silver at $30/oz.. I will wait until the price drops to $25/oz and then buy it all back for a $5/oz profit! Yay!

 

Naked short selling:

Here's my paper receipt saying I have 1000oz of silver (I really don't, but trust me!) and I will sell it at $30/oz.. and then buy it back at $25/oz when the price drops and make $5/oz profit, Yay!

 

Short selling is a legitimate way of making money by speculating that the price of something will go down so you can make a profit, while naked short selling is illegal because you're making money on something you don't have. This is why people are saying JPM is beating the price down of silver by "flooding the market with paper silver" .. they're naked short selling - considered by many to be illegal.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:48 | 1791956 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

It's called gambling...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:41 | 1791925 maxmad
maxmad's picture

hmmm.... Here I thought all selling without owning the underlying stock or commodity WAS considered Naked short selling....

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:00 | 1792003 ZDRuX
ZDRuX's picture

It is, I was only using silver as one example.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:24 | 1791867 falak pema
falak pema's picture

Euro zone won't ban bunga-bunga. Berlu has something to celebrate about in a new bunga bunga orgy...

Eni oil group have found a preliminary well estimate gas field of 15 Trillion cubic feet potential. And there could be more. Its offshore at 1500M depth, and its off Mozambique coast. So something for poor Italy to cheer about.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:48 | 1791955 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

That could positively affect one market, which could negatively impact my CDS. I ban your comment.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:24 | 1791868 qussl3
qussl3's picture

Idiotic.
All this achieves is that purchasers are forced to do proper DD and can't rely on BS ratings anymore.
Result is less buyers and higher yields for even the core.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:30 | 1791883 koperniuk666
koperniuk666's picture

or as we say in the UK, fewer buyers.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:00 | 1792004 GoldBricker
GoldBricker's picture

Sigh. I'm 57, American. We had to learn such things as children. Not so any more.

You learn to recognize correct writing (let alone good writing) by reading good stuff. I did less of that than my parents, and the generation behind me does even less. The real problem is that our ability to think is tied to our ability to express our thoughts (the inner dialog), so the condition of the expression is likely an indication of the condition of the thought process behind it.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:29 | 1792152 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

You learn to recognize correct writing (let alone good writing) by reading good stuff. I did less of that than my parents, and the generation behind me does even less. The real problem is that our ability to think is tied to our ability to express our thoughts (the inner dialog), so the condition of the expression is likely an indication of the condition of the thought process behind it.

Yes, and unfortunately the process appears to work in the reverse.  By exposing yourself to poor writing, you compromise your ability write.  We can see the loss of the ability to express ourselves in our culture, and as you pointed out, our ability to express ourselves is linked to our inner dialog, which in turn reflects our impaired ability to think.   

In other words, the Internet, video games, and texting R makin U n me dummer.

This process is likely to accelerate, because children have diminished interaction with their parents and technology will continue to isolate them.  Even if that were not so, the people who grew up without the Internet will slowly die away, leaving the world populated with parents and teachers with compromised communication skills.  Who will they learn from?  Will their descendants communicate through a system of grunts and clicks like howler monkeys?

"Grunt R U n me grunt click Bitchez"

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:31 | 1791887 GoldBricker
GoldBricker's picture

True in itself, but many managed-fund charters (pension, insurance, even trusts created by individuals for their kids) have stipulations about what percent of the assets can be held at various ratings. A ratings drop implicitly requires the trustee to sell the downgraded asset. The solution would be to suspend those rules (kind of like FDR revoked private gold-payment clauses in private contracts), but this probably looks easier.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:40 | 1791919 EscapeKey
EscapeKey's picture

That's not the worst part. The worst part is that these ratings SO OBVIOUSLY will find their way to the insiders in spite of this ban.

And even though this will be recognized, the paid for politicians will do nothing about it.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:46 | 1791947 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

So, you could just bug out and buy gold. It won't matter then...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:25 | 1791870 pendragon
pendragon's picture

don't all downgrades happen at "inappropriate" moments particularly french ones?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:29 | 1791879 LeBalance
LeBalance's picture

"Sweetheart, please tell me the right time to tell you that you are fat?"

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:25 | 1791871 daily bread
daily bread's picture

Price discovery is so 20th century.  In modern times, we let the bureaucrats set bond values.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:33 | 1792173 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

Do you mean:

"Price discovery is a barbarous relic"

                                    - Smiddy

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:27 | 1791875 PaperBear
PaperBear's picture

“inappropriate moments” - exactly who decides when a given moment is inappropriate ?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:33 | 1791893 HD
HD's picture

Anytime the market is going down...or might or should go down is: "inappropriate". In other words - all the time.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:51 | 1791969 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

whenever broke governments might be required to print/borrow more cash they can't get to guarantee depositors funds.

Buy gold...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:38 | 1791912 maxmad
maxmad's picture

“inappropriate moments” - exactly who decides when a given moment is inappropriate?

 

15 minutes after Viagra is taken...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:27 | 1791876 Philippines
Philippines's picture

If we don't hear about the problem, then there is no problem! Why are all these annoying discussions between France and Germany going on? Just everyone keep quiet, the only thing we should be hearing is the hum of the printing presses.

EU FIXED!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:32 | 1791890 spankfish
spankfish's picture

No oil no hum.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:54 | 1791976 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

I BAN THIS COMMENT because it could cause people to wake up and refuse to participate.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:35 | 1791902 schadenfreude
schadenfreude's picture

Not that anyone listened to the rating agencies anyways.

Goldman Sachs said it before: They are a lagging indicator.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:05 | 1792037 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

Goldman Sachs said it before: They are a lagging indicator.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Spot on. This little dance is simple propaganda to try to sell the idea that credit ratings agencies have not worked to protect the best interests of the US free world.

They are a lagging indicator, they predict the past.

They buy time for western governments to deal with the current situation with ampler margin.

Telling that they are a lagging indicator and reporting about the past exposes though.

Claiming that you want to suppress them gives them an authority and a credibility they have not.

Kind of "we have AAA ratings, it is true to reality. Facts are dangerous. If they were not dangerous, we would not try to suppress them"

It is how it works in this US driven world, how propagandists by attacking each other want to credibilize each other.

Euro US citizens attack agencies. It means that agencies'reports are factual (that serves agencies whose credibility is endangered by reality) and governments whose ratings are guaranteed by the newly strengthened credibility of the agencies.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:48 | 1792234 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

They have no credibility to a thinking person, but that doesn't make them irrelevant. 

The reason it's illegal to shout fire in a crowded theatre is because people can be trusted to act irrationally.  People are not thinking creatures, especially in the marketplace.   

On the other hand, the rating agencies are designed to illicite irrational behavior by market participants in the form of buying.  The ironic thing is at the one time they threaten to illicit RATIONAL behavior, i.e., selling, they are silenced.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 11:53 | 1793292 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

The reason it's illegal to shout fire in a crowded theatre is because people can be trusted to act irrationally. People are not thinking creatures, especially in the marketplace.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Correction:

The theater has signs of fire starting up everywhere.

Theater managers want people to believe that everything is under control.

Insurers report that the theater meets the regulations over fire risks while second after second, it is clear that the fire is growing too much and too fast to leave other solution but evacuate.

Eurozone countries are overated in terms of credit. Agencies have underreported their real status,preferring to lag behind to predict the past.

They have done a favour to Eurozone countries.

It is denial here, not fabrication of events and eurozoners want the deniers credibility to be increased.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:31 | 1791886 eddiebe
eddiebe's picture

Much more effective to do what we do here: Misdirect, obfuscate, double talk, deny and lie.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:32 | 1791888 Crash N. Burn
Crash N. Burn's picture

"The criterion of truth is that it works even if nobody is prepared to acknowledge it.” - Ludwig Von Mises

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:39 | 1791917 HD
HD's picture

 

 ...I can't hear you, I can't hear you...LA LA LA LA LA

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:34 | 1791895 Bloodgroove
Bloodgroove's picture

They have the first amendment in Europe?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:03 | 1792022 Elijah Craig 18
Elijah Craig 18's picture

Ha. All sarcasm aside, NO. But the EU will seek to impose this rule on U.S. based ratings agencies. So they will in essense be screwing around with OUR 1st Amendment...which is much, much worse.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:34 | 1791897 Scalaris
Scalaris's picture

Next you'll have free speech "leaked" from the FT in order to reach the masses. 

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:54 | 1791975 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

If you're not happy with it don't invest in it. Eventually the world will work out that the entire system is based on bullshit and that they can't get their money out. Then they too will buy gold and bug out of this entire fraud.

Who gives a shit, really?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:35 | 1791899 GoldBricker
GoldBricker's picture

Ratings are just communication, as are markets (communicating price) and even fiat money (Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media has a chapter on this) serves as a way to signal who's producing and who's consuming. Governments have long tried to distort the signals given by markets and money, so why not ratings as well.

Next up, bloggers and posters spreading doom-gloom rumours on the internet.

Diss those Greek bonds while you still can.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:36 | 1791905 Lady Heather...UNCLE
Lady Heather...UNCLE's picture

....but...but...it's bullish isn't it?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:00 | 1792005 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

Oh it's definitely bullish. I suspect you have a good idea just how quickly this is going to blow up!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:37 | 1791908 BigInJapan
BigInJapan's picture

They made their collective Socialist bed. Let them sleep in it.

Capitalism, bitches!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:42 | 1791929 Forgiven
Forgiven's picture

Where exactly can that be found?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 10:53 | 1792780 i-dog
i-dog's picture

Within TPTB ... duh! They know what works! They work in a totally free-market anarcho-capitalist world of their own ... while feeding us propaganda that "anarchy is mayhem", "capitalists eat babies" and "you must have a government ... how else can you make laws to enforce contracts and get justice?"!

In their world, there are no written laws and few written contracts. Business is carried out between them on reputation and a handshake (they don't want anything in writing to be leaked to the peasants now, do they!?!).

Arrangements for, and payments for, multi-billion dollar drug deals, illegal arms shipments, purchases of congressmen and presidents, child prostitution rings, smuggling illegal immigrants, money laundering, insider trading, currency manipulation ... you name it, they do it -- all between each other without any laws restricting [their] trade and no courts needed [or available] to settle disputes! Arbitration is the means of dispute resolution.

And it all goes along very smoothly for them. Rather like we get to play on eBay - but on a much bigger scale.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:39 | 1791915 sabra1
sabra1's picture

at least it'll stop all rumours, isn't that so?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:39 | 1791916 Kina
Kina's picture

"Michel Barnier, European Union. Financial Services Commissioner, wants to give the European Securities and Markets Authority the power...

 

 

And where does he get the power from to do that ?

 

Credit Agencies should stop beating around the bush and just come out with all their ratings Now.  We all know France and its banks are dog doo.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:54 | 1791974 Mae Kadoodie
Mae Kadoodie's picture

Right, the Agencies will have to do all their downgrades now, before the ban on inconvienent truths.  After that, who gives a shit?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:54 | 1792267 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

This is a new paradigm, and it's obvious some people just don't get it.  In a global economy everything is tied together in one big tranche, so it's all AAA. 

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:42 | 1791928 Kina
Kina's picture

In case there is a person out there somewhere on mars that doesn't know, and needs a credit agency soemwhere to surprise them with the 'truth'.... let me give you a spoiler.... Europe, the Euro and USA are totally ecnomically fucked and it is only a matter of time until the whole lot implodes.

 

 

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:43 | 1791932 Trad3er_1337
Trad3er_1337's picture

Yes! Ban the truth, so that mum and dad investors can think everything is ok and loose their money to JP morgan and GS when it all hits the fan... jerks...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:57 | 1791987 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

Since when could a rating ever be considered the truth?

Do you have any idea how many supposedly knowledgeable fund managers are now totally fucked?

Without a ratings agency to do their job it will become quickly apparent just how little expertise they actually have...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:43 | 1791933 Trad3er_1337
Trad3er_1337's picture

Yes! Ban the truth, so that mum and dad investors can think everything is ok and loose their money to JP morgan and GS when it all hits the fan... jerks...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:43 | 1791935 Schmuck Raker
Schmuck Raker's picture

This could never happen in the US.

People got rights here. And, fortunately, Corporations are people.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:48 | 1791958 EscapeKey
EscapeKey's picture

Of course not. In a country with trustworthy, unbiased information giants such as CNBC and Fox, the populace can be left assured... they'll never escape 1984.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:44 | 1791939 Kina
Kina's picture

..and...central banks, especially the corrupt US and their agents are depserately beating gold and silver down..because they know it is the only remaining wealth peserver on the planet and the USD a bag of shit.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:47 | 1791953 dcb
dcb's picture

the world takes another turn to fascism. when you see something like this you realize the whole system should just be destroyed

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:49 | 1791960 tarsubil
tarsubil's picture

Jiminey Crickets.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:49 | 1791961 monkeyfaction
monkeyfaction's picture

Aren't the ratings agencies all US companies using their 1st Amendment right to free speech? The europeans must surely realise this is not a battle they can win.

As a UK citizen, one of things I respect most about the US is the constitutional right to free speech. Something we unfortunately don't have.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:54 | 1792269 Use of Weapons
Use of Weapons's picture

Coupled with your user name, that comment caused me to smile a little.

 

Wait.. you were being serious?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:42 | 1792529 GeezerGeek
GeezerGeek's picture

There are limits to free speech in the U.S. During the last century a Supreme Court justice said that one cannot yell 'FIRE' in a crowded theater, on the grounds that such a use of free speech would result in a stampede to get out of the theater and thereby risk injuries to people. Telling the truth about the financial state of the Western economies would cause a similar rush to the exits, as everyone with any sense would dump their paper and buy physical. This would risk financial injury to many investors and moreso to TPTB, so free speech must be suppressed.

As to Europe trying to suppress American free speech, consider what the U.S. imposed on the European banking while cracking down on Americans trying to evade the IRS. The one-worlders at the top of the Western governments work together to put the screws to anyone wanting to opt out or even maintain a low profile. At least in the book 'Brave New World' people could opt out - I think it was a place called Coventry.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:49 | 1791963 7bit
7bit's picture

Tyler, you are confusing things. As usual.

Firstly: Your "first Amendment" is a USA-only thing, it has no juristical meaning in the rest of the world. You might find it astonishing because nobody told you before but the USA is only a small part of this world, far away behind the big ocean. This planet is much larger.

Secondly: The ratings agencies that are located in the USA are outside the reach of any european jurisdiction, so they consequently won't give a shit about what some sick european politicans would like to do in their own countries.

 

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:57 | 1791985 Gief Gold Plox
Gief Gold Plox's picture

Strange I understood that exactly the other way around. Your own argument explains why the first amendment is under attack. Rating agencies are in the USA, beyond EU juristiction; hence would need to be tweaked in order to accomodate.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:02 | 1792018 7bit
7bit's picture

How can the USA constitution be attacked (or otherwise affected) by the things that some europeans want do in their own countries?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:07 | 1792047 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

If you want to play in the bigger arena, you have to play by their rules or you don't get to play.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:09 | 1792062 7bit
7bit's picture

Are you implyig that the europeans now control the rules after which the USA has to play? I always thought it was the other way around.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:26 | 1792447 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

I was thinking of the IMF and these other "erections" they create internationally to disguise bailout/printing efforts. If they are printing/swaping/vehichling and they are in the midst of crisis management, they can write the story "why do these interventions if the agencies are going to work against us?"

The answer of course is don't do the interventions, then there is no need for bogus international agencies.

The folks talking NWO have some evidence in their favor in this one, that is for sure.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:13 | 1792076 Blano
Blano's picture

You make no sense whatsoever.

 

The prior point is valid:  saying Europe can go after the 1st Amendment is an elementary school mistake.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:51 | 1791970 lolmao500
lolmao500's picture

Just base yourself in South America or Russia or somewhere else and downgrade their butts anyway.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:52 | 1791972 vegas
vegas's picture

In the new world order, I'm angling for a job at the European led "Ministry of Truth". I'll get Greek benefits, and be able to uphold god's word here on earth. Aside from watching over the usual suspects, I will get to "filter" ZH.

Where do I send my application?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:15 | 1792088 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

Dusty bin would be a good start...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 07:54 | 1791977 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

with whom, we must admit, we forgot to preclear this post.

Thought crime is not funny son.  May I see your papers?

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:00 | 1792002 Mohan
Mohan's picture

So, it is real. The Ministry of Truth really exists. UFB.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:02 | 1792014 Zenster
Zenster's picture

Can't have a thing like truth influencing the system.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:05 | 1792032 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Walter Sobchak to Michel Barnier: Life does not stop and start at your convenience, you miserable piece of shit. 

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:16 | 1792089 alt-shift-x
alt-shift-x's picture

Come on guys be honest, trollbama would probably also try to render ratings illegal if the rating agencies had the guts to tell the US its true rating. What we see here is pure and simple desperation.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:16 | 1792093 eddiebe
eddiebe's picture

Dont't confuse me with facts.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:58 | 1792614 Miles Kendig
Miles Kendig's picture

The facts are what you're told they are.....

http://www.artistdirect.com/video/garden-of-aalah/31851

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:40 | 1792196 agent default
agent default's picture

The rating agencies should withdraw their rating on all EU debt if this comes to pass.  Stick everyone to the N/R Rating Withdrawn region and see how they like

Greece 10Y:      N/R

Germany 10Y:   N/R

France 10Y:       N/R

Dimwits.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:39 | 1792197 falak pema
falak pema's picture

What is required is to curtail financial markets to what they were like pre-1980. Including Gl-Stgl. What investment banks, so constrained, would then do would be very limited. And regulators could advise as appropriate freely. Currently, with all the shit going around in markets, cause of this collapse, its time to change the habits of this corrupt, manipulated,  cancerous market; now mortal danger for the whole of civilization. 

When we won't have the possibility of seeing banks/HFs making naked derivative over the counter/ black box peer to peer plays, which are not interdicted by regulators, and which have attained mega trillion proportions, this whole argument of first amendment VIOLATION will make sense AND NOT BE IRRELEVENT , even misplaced, as it is today.

Shut down the naked derivative financial bunga-bunga party (commodities, interest, currency etc segments), shut down the CDS insurance bet substrata, where you insure the Oligarch participating in the bunga bunga so that he has to further pay to be bailed out from jail, if caught in bunga bunga act, making thus the whole ponzi even more unreal and dangerous, and then we'll talk about free speech.

But first lets get the discussion back to business cycle finance and away from bubble ponzi  finance in this tower of babel. Who cares about free speech allowing WS shills, spin doctors of evil, to deceive the people and cheat them out of their lives!

IN TOTAL IMPUNITY!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 08:49 | 1792217 Use of Weapons
Use of Weapons's picture

Aurora Ex Machina.

 

Or, given the propensity for Biblical structures within the banking class, we'll go NT:

 

He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day John 12:481

  • 1. Non-meta comment: the ratings agencies are part of the edifice, populated by ex-bankers & connected goons, and as trustworthy as a crack dealer. All this is shows is dissent amongst the ranks, and a desire to scapegoat the issue away. As if there isn't a 'private book' of actual ratings that is used by the big boys, far different from the 'common investor' slop that is doled out as grease to the political acquiescence of countries. Fah, how simple are we?
Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:26 | 1792448 deepsouthdoug
deepsouthdoug's picture

The China solution.  Europe should go ask the Commies how their firewall works.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:31 | 1792457 Miss Expectations
Miss Expectations's picture

Michel Barnier, European Union. Financial Services Commissioner, wants to give the European Securities and Markets Authority the power to temporarily prohibit credit-rating companies from publishing ratings about ailing countries, Financial Times Deutschland reports.

Well played Michel, nice preemptive move!  If you get your way, Germany can avoid the nasty night-time spectacle of credit-rating material bonfires.


Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:55 | 1792601 Miles Kendig
Miles Kendig's picture

As the forces of order become the anarchists.....

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 10:13 | 1792676 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

...the anarchists become the forces of order.

Good morning Miles. ;-)

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 15:37 | 1794227 Miles Kendig
Miles Kendig's picture

.. naaaa 

Anarchists are simply anarchists, the ultimate maggots of social interaction.   Necessary bell weathers of decay whose sole premise seems the never ending quest to identify infection [where their likeness with maggots ends] and inflict gangrene and blood poisoning upon their host in the symbiotic relationship.  Their only leadership function to the whole of broad society.....

It's the dissidents that are getting vacuumed into the role of order keeper.  The dissidents will simply do the job required by circumstance.  This job order develops when anarchists have seized the reigns of coercive force implied with the collection of governing power within the body of broad social interaction and are about to kill the host.  [Is this a natural part of a self corrective aspect of human societies as well as the biological body?]

Hello, so good to see you once more, most Brilliant Fem of my highest esteem

(*^_^*)

More wine?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3VxinNVdWI

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 17:42 | 1794880 Use of Weapons
Use of Weapons's picture

Ugh. So much basic ignorance.

 

Three & 1/2 things:

#1 Maggots are good for wounds, as they eat up the decaying, putrifying dead flesh and prevent gangrene. Try Gladiator to explain it if you're adverse to books. Flies are pretty essential to ecology, however much you might dislike them or get sick if you're silly enough to leave dead animal out for them to spread germs on.

#1A Symbiotic relationships don't work like that. Symbiosis, by its very definition, is two species in a shared living context (usuaully in the same corpus, or bound together so tightly that their living space is shared). However, the term is a bit out of date: Commensuals is two species interacting with both gaining, mutualists are dependent, usually with only one side gaining, but neutral to the other species (or rather - both species gain, but one is fully dependent on the other. e.g. pollinated flowers specialised to insects where the insect can also gather nectar from other flowers, but the flower requires that species to breed). You're looking for parasitical relationships. Note that all three can be termed symbiosis, this isn't unchallenged however - there are those who still use symbiots to be the purely win-win variety.

#2 Parasites never kill the host species they intend to infest (they might weaken it & cause it to become predated, but that's an unforeseen side effect) - the issue arises when they inflict a tertiary species that they're not designed for; Internal predators are so rare to be virtually unknown, but do exist - there's a case for saying that certain 'parasites' that actually change a species' behaviour so they actively become vulnerable to the next chain species are predators, of a sort.

#3 Your last point is total fucking drivel, dressed up as faux intellectualism. The only few cases where actual anarchists have 'been in power' actually worked well. Communists and Fascists tend to kill them off however.

 

Don't hate on anarchists - the mature (non-Emo-young-male-could-as-well-be-a-goth-variety) version is largely harmless and tribble like.

 

 

ZH - where Communists are Socialists, Socialists always Communists and Anarchists are also Communists. Go 1950!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 21:50 | 1795021 Miles Kendig
Miles Kendig's picture

LOOOL

I clearly state that the maggot correlation ended with finding the rot.

I suggest you quest a bit more on symbiosis as my comment is rooted in biological fact of forms beyond those you express.  Please read on to encounter the thrust of my observation if using The Google" is beyond your capacity....

http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/S/Symbiosis.html

Parasites that establish chronic infections. Both parasite and host must
evolve to ensure the survival of both because if the parasite kills its
host before it can move on, it destroys its own meal ticket.

and

But when the nucleus from an uninfected cell was replaced with one from
an infected cell, the combination usually failed to survive.

I NEVER indicated that anarchists in power ever work for long for the reasons enunciated.  The very thrust of my comment rooted in the previous observation and the broad collection of my writings.

I hardly hate anarchists as they are a necessary part of social interaction, if supremely destructive to self and society if left unchecked, as I stated.

Ever try actual cognitive approaches to reading and comprehension?

I suggest you change the bib.  Your copious secretion of drool seems to have saturated it leading to the apparent inflammation displayed in your comment.  Drool is a terrible thing to waste and makes a sorry load for any weapon, even if your choice of same is a squirt gun

Thanks for the recreation.  Most enjoyable.

Be well!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 11:35 | 1793184 Use of Weapons
Use of Weapons's picture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk&feature=related

 

...from Medieval Latin anarchia, from Greek anarkhia, from anarkhos without a ruler, from an- + arkh- leader, from arkhein to rule

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 21:47 | 1795596 Miles Kendig
Miles Kendig's picture

Agreed, that's the root of the word.  The root of the action is that an anarchist could not survive as an anarchist without a host.  Therefore an anarchist is in constant quest for a host to feed its creation and sustenance.  That is what rules an anarchist else they would not be since the concept of an anarchist in total isolation is an oxymoron.  The exception being dormancy wherein the anarchist is simply waiting to begin the process anew with a fresh host.

duh

Welcome to life

You remind me of Milton Friedman

What kind of socialist, communist, anarchist or whatever do you think "ZH'ers", yourself included since you choose to participate here would always call him?  Next you'll be lamenting "liberals" especially those "neo-liberal" liberals collectively as always being in the aforementioned preselected categories of blanket generalization you enunciate.

LOOOOOOOL

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz CLICK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WLt_DN7rlY

Had enough?  Want more?

I suggest you get a new squirt gun

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 10:15 | 1792691 srsly-wtf
srsly-wtf's picture

Reality is overrated...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 11:11 | 1793016 3ringmike
3ringmike's picture

Holy Macaroni!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 12:42 | 1793556 tony bonn
tony bonn's picture

god bless george orwell who forsaw the rapacious plundering of the plutocrats....the communist and terrorist ploys were charades to create permawar while the nazi experiment was to iron out kinks in totalitarian government now upon us.

amerika is in desperate need of regime change. what would be the result had putin declared that he would not be disappointed about the murder of barack obama just as clinton ordered for qadaffi? amerika is a murderous state.

amerika is governed by trogladyte barbarians....

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 13:15 | 1793723 malek
malek's picture

Let's shoot the messenger, then everything will be fine!

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 16:04 | 1794557 trx
trx's picture

My guess is that the next genious(desperate) suggestion from Brussels is: Confiscate gold and silver...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 16:20 | 1794631 trx
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