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Goodbye Euro, Hello Drachma
A few months ago, when Zero Hedge first broke the news that the Drachma is trading at several major banks on a "when issued" basis at the client's request, it was promptly dismissed. Alas, it may be time to dismiss the dismissal, after Spiegel reports that as one of the scenarios considered for a Greek default, Germany anticipates the reintroduction of the drachma by the pathological liars at the Greek parliament. Yes: the currency that Greece was so happy to jettison 10 years ago when after the assistance of Goldman to hide its bloated debt, to much pomp and circumstance it entered the soon to be defunct Eurozone, is coming baaaaack.
From Spiegel, with the article recreated in its entirety as the implications for the EUR, the eurozone, and crony communism as massive:
German Finance Minister Prepares for Possible Greek Bankruptcy
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, who is reportedly doubtful that the country can be saved from bankruptcy, is preparing for the possibility of Greek insolvency. Officials in his ministry are currently reviewing scenarios for handling such a situation, exploring what it might mean for the rest of the euro zone. Under the first scenario for a Greek bankruptcy, the country would remain in the euro zone. Under the other, Athens would abandon the common currency and reintroduce the drachma.
The European bailout mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), is playing a key role in those considerations. Soon the EFSF is expected to be given new powers agreed to by European leaders at a special euro crisis summit in late July. Two instruments at the EFSF's disposal are at the forefront of the Finance Ministry's scenarios.
Bankruptcy Could Create Credit Crunch
One of these key instruments would be credit lines provided to countries like Spain or Italy if investors stop lending them money after a Greek bankruptcy. If banks were forced to write off the billions in Greek government bonds on their books, they could become reliant on billions in rescue fund aid in numerous euro-zone countries. Both developments are to be expected in a Greek insolvency, regardless of whether the country exits the euro or not.
Volker Bouffier, the governor of the state of Hesse, which is home to Germany's financial capital Frankfurt, is a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, as is Schäuble. Bouffier is now urging that the possibility for countries to leave the euro zone be created quickly. Current European Union treaties provide no provisions for a country to abandon the currency.
"If the savings and reform efforts of the Greek government aren't successful, then we need to ask the question of whether we need new rules to make it possible for a euro country to leave the currency union," Bouffier told SPIEGEL.
As for what happens to all the trillions in other interconnected debt, should all Euro bills have to white out the Greek text on then, we imagine the word "prayer" is key.
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Here's hoping your charming demeanor gets you rolled.
I am a total charmer overseas but i do watch my back.
The teenagers are always the most dangerous. :)
no worries. the next tourists will be in uniform.
Hey any country with a genius like Vangelis can't be all that bad ..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0Lcz--JhXU&feature=share
Go Drachma!!
Very nice, thanks for sharing that. Made me a bit sad seeing all of those ruins, from when Greece was a major power, and contributor to world culture.
Maybe they WOULD be better outside the wall...
This is what he was doing the year before Nixon closed the gold window:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVNeMV3fvUY
Do Chen Rolling Doobie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7egFSR7zNzQ
+ 1, even though the green arrow thing is not working.
That song is weird even for for me...
Vangelis has clearly expanded his use of genius.
they are unable to adopt a CCY with the name DRACHMA again - it has to be called something else.. I suggest the APORRIPTO for example ( which translates to REJECT )
SPX futures down 1.25% finding support this hour?
mmmm some taramasalata and lime humous means a definite double dip
euralkanization
Might be a good idea to get rid a.s.a.p. of those bigger Euro banknotes that have the serial number starting with "Y" - those are the greek ones.
On a similar thought, why on earth would cash pulled from ATMs in the SW of Germany be composed by 30-40% italian notes (50s)? Not french (an hour of drive from here), not austrian (2,5 hrs) - italian. Of a 1000 Euro drawn in 50s a couple of years ago, 70-75% used to be german notes, and maybe 10% italian. Now there is 40% of german, and 35-40% italian.
- Greshams law?
- are the italians printing like mad?
transitory coincidence
DSK could have stopped this ;-)
Edit: That was shameless...I apologize...lol.
gratefultraveller - Interesting. I was under the impression the Euro was one currency. I haven't been to Europe since the Euro was introduced. I did not realize the Euro banknotes are marked with the country of origin. Are the Euro banknotes printed with the "Y" in Greece really at risk of not being honored more than other Euro notes printed in other countries. If so, it seems the "Euro" is even crazier than I thought.
More paper money!!! yay!!!
Why couldn't Greece or any other PIIG country just adopt a different Euro currency and let it float against the stronger northern contries like Finland/Germany/France?
They already have a special letter in the Serial number that identifies which of the 17 Euro nations the Euro note belongs to-
Let them devalue their own Euro currency and there should be no reason to break up the Euro trade or social relations as far as i can see--
Hi jimmyjames.
Pardon my ignorance. There's a Euro printing press in EACH of the 17 member nations?
HaaaaaaaHHHHHAAAAhaaahaaahaahaa. Pardon my lack of ignorance.
Pardon my ignorance. There's a Euro printing press in EACH of the 17 member nations?
HaaaaaaaHHHHHAAAAhaaahaaahaahaa. Pardon my lack of ignorance.
************
Don't twist my words to try and make yourself look smarter than you are-point out where i said those words-
But here you go-
**********
Denominations of notes range from €5 to €500 and, unlike euro coins, the design is identical across the whole of the eurozone, although they are issued and printed in various member states.
The first character of the serial number is a letter which uniquely identifies the country that issues the note. The remaining 11 characters are numbers which, when calculated their digital root, give a checksum also particular to that country. Because of the arithmetic of the check-sum, consecutively-issued banknotes are not numbered sequentially, but rather, "consecutive" banknotes are 9 digits apart.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_banknotes
Ambrose Evans Pritchard was talking about going for the X notes a couple of years back. Too right.
I even heard some europeans claim that euros were identical and that Ambrose P. was fear mongering in the comments to his article.
I guess they had to make the euronotes identifiable by country of issuance. what else is there to prevent Greece and Italy from just printing up oh...say a trillion or so..
I guess they had to make the euronotes identifiable by country of issuance. what else is there to prevent Greece and Italy from just printing up oh...say a trillion or so.
******************
Ireland central bank counterfeited 51 billion Euros out of thin air. The amount is not backed by government bonds. Nor was it a loan from the ECB or anyone else. The money is counterfeit in every sense of the word.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ecb-allows-ireland-to-counterfeit-51-billion-euros-2011-1#ixzz1Xgs7LRYLThat was excellent; thank you.
Ireland central bank counterfeited 51 billion Euros out of thin air. The amount is not backed by government bonds. Nor was it a loan from the ECB or anyone else. The money is counterfeit in every sense of the word.
Perhaps a bit OT, but all Euros are counterfeit.
How would "backed by government bonds" make them any less counterfeit? How would "a loan from the ECB" make them any less counterfeit?
What? Having "proper accounting" for them somehow makes them legit?
If they're created out of thin air and swapped for government bonds, they're legit?
Borrowed from ECB (who creates them out of thin air) makes them legit?
If they get into circulation, who would know the difference between these "counterfeit" Euros and "real" Euros? Both are printed by a central bank. They look just like "real" ones.
Counterfeit now means no debt attached to it? That's the new meaning of "counterfeit"?
Euros are legit if they have debt attached to them, but are counterfeit if they're just printed up and distributed with no debt attached to them?
ECB can print a billion Euros and swap them for worthless Greek government bonds, and they're legit? Those Greek government bonds being worthless makes no difference?
Actually yes. That's how the Euro currency works. As long as Euros are printed up and swapped for government bonds, or some other debt paper, they're legit. It doesn't matter if those government bonds or other debt paper are worthless.
US currency works the same way. If the Fed creates a billion dollars out of thin air and swaps it for Treasury bonds (or worthless securities from Wall Street banks), those dollars are "legit".
But if the Fed creates a billion dollars out of thin air and just dumps it into circulation with no debt attached to it, it would be "counterfeit", just like the 51 billion "counterfeit" Euros printed up by the Ireland central bank.
Nobody seems to care that those Treasury bonds or Wall Street securities are worthless. As long as those FRNs have some kind of debt attached to them, that's all that matters.
"Counterfeit" used to mean not redeemable. If someone printed up a bunch of dollars in their basement, they would be counterfeit because they're not redeemable at a bank for gold or silver.
Now "counterfeit" means no debt attached to it.
With this new definition, a central bank can print endless amounts of currency and loan it out. It doesn't seem to matter how worthless the debt paper might be.
THAT is why central banks won't write down the value of debt they hold, when it's obvious said debt paper is worthless, like Greek government bonds held by the ECB ...or MBS held by the Fed.
Ok, so what causes a currency collapse?
It's very simple. It's when people at large lose faith in the currency because so much currency is in circulation.
Central banks have no control over how much faith people have in their currency ...and when that faith might collapse suddenly.
So there's talk of Greece going back to the Drachma.
What would a Drachma be worth? How would you determine the value of a Drachma? It's just a freikin piece of paper printed on a printing press.
Who would determine the initial exchange rate to US dollars or Euros? Some government bureaucrat?
What would the Greek central bank take in exchange for newly printed Drachmas? Greek government bonds? That are essentially worthless?
Yes, that might well be the case. The Greek central bank might just print up a few trillion Drachmas and swap them for a few trillion of (worthless) Greek government debt denominated in Drachmas rather than Euros,
...and poof, another currency ponzi scheme is off and running ...just like Euros ...and just like FRNs.
Yes, it's just that easy.
Gosh, I'd love to be a central banker.
How would "backed by government bonds" make them any less counterfeit? How would "a loan from the ECB" make them any less counterfeit?
***********
I agree with you about the paper Ponzi but "backed by government" moves the burden of backing onto the labor extraction through taxation of the populations and also the countries resources-but of course this pool can also be drained-
I think the point was that Ireland bypassed the ECB role as guardian of the Euro money supply-in the end none of them-including the USD not backed by Gold can survive-
Gold-backed is not the same as gold-redeemable.
Gold-backed is worthless. Central banks can lie about how much gold they have, and it doesn't matter anyway since the currency isn't redeemable in gold.
Gold-redeemable is the only thing that counts. It's the only thing giving a currency real value.
Of course no central bank is going make its currency gold-redeemable. Not even some astronomical exchange rate like $5000 / oz.
Why? Because whatever gold they hold has umpteen different claims on it already, leveraged 20x probably.
Bottom line you just can't trust central bankers these days. They're pathological criminals.
Thank you for the enlightening post. It was helpful. Milestones
Hi again jimmyjames.
I think you missed the meaning of my Reply. My fault. Tone is often the first victim in the battle for brevity.
Perhaps I should have added these bold additions:
Pardon my ignorance. There's a Euro printing press in EACH of the 17 member nations?
If that's true, and I wouldn't be surprised, then...
HaaaaaaaHHHHHAAAAhaaahaaahaahaa. Pardon my lack of ignorance. (Meaning, of course, I am fully aware the power of a single printing press. Seventeen printing presses is a laughable confetti party.)
No offense intended.
I wrongly assume too that most ZH readers are aware my point of view.
Best wishes.
Drachma or Mna?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mina_%28unit%29
(No) Talent.
What is old is new again!...its like totally retro baby!
Where's my bell bottoms and Ghandi shirt ;-)
ok. so now the dowry will be in greek money instead of euros..... yawn....
Yeah, but now it will come by the wheelbarrow full...they'll think they're rich or sumpin ;-)
so what do you get for a wheelbarrow full of worthless drachmas? incessent bitching and constant whining and complaining..?
Yes...but the extra zeros seem to suppress suspicion for awhile until the damaging bachelor party photos can be located ;-)
so does that mean that the victim now has to perform occasional full face plants in big hairy bushes?
Yes, but don't expect reciprocity ;-)
....
I'd fall off my platform shoes now....
God we were such pretentious idiots...lol.
Greeks will be Greeks, and we still have Marathon and Thermopylae as our heritage!!!
OPAH!!!
that whole thingy with the spartans is bullshit........right?
Hell no! You can still get the documentary. It's even shot in HD! Called '200', or something like that.
You mean the anal?
Maybe that's the new name for Greek fiat; anal
I could see making a withdrawal at the bank; "I'd like a 100 anal, please."
"Do you have change for an anal?"
"Can you break an anal?"
"I need to get some anal" (As in go to the ATM)
"Can I borrow an anal?"
"I can't seem to find my anal."
"You owe me an anal."
"I want my anal."
"How much anal have you got"
"At this time of year, we should all give lots of anal."
"My anal doesn't seem to go far anymore."
"This anal is all worn out."
"Why is your anal all sticky?"
"Would you like some anal?"
"Do you need any anal?"
"Wow, fresh anal!"
I don't know. Must be a cultural thing.
"Hope I get some anal for my birthday!"
ANAL...is a drag....
that's interesting . leo never told us about this side of greeks
I couldn't believe it when they said they were going to have a new currency called the "Euro". It sounds just like Uro; right? Urologist, Urology, "I have a Urine problem; oh you just need more Euros"; I just laughed out loud; it seemed like it must be some kind of joke.
All this talk about money is just a pain in the ass!
Yeah, a cultural thing-- your culture seems a little fixated on it. Projection much?
Helluva euro party / time to stick germany with the check. :heh heh:
whatever on this. the greeks still owe money to the banks...........whatever... and if they don't pay or play they will be bombed back into the stone age like libya...
Just like Argentina got bombed, eh?
He is a good guy, that HPD
But I think he is off his meds again.
are you saying you don't think this would ever happen? why? are the greeks too white for that action?
Yes!
You make a good point in that I think they are probably being threatened with something. Many including me are cursing the Greek government because the obvious solution is default. Perhaps they are being threatened in way we don't know about. Still, it is no excuse for the government-- they should have stepped down and let people with guts run the country. Bombing won't happen but an ooopsy (as in the case of the Chinese Embassy in Serbia, I believe) might happen with a Greek embassy in a country being bombed, or some other ooopsy. There are ways of further tanking the economy of course. I suppose Iceland was let alone because it was not part of the EU. I don't know about Argentina. I wasn't paying attention back then. But for some reason this Walmart sized country leaves them all up sweating at night. My mind tunes out when I hear explanations of swaps, etc. Those who took the risk, especially if they are professionals, should bear the consequences.
i hear iceland just cleared away some of the rubble. :snark!:
they definately got a taste in the falklands though, you have to admit..... i never could believe those idiots sending the belgrano out knowing full well , subs were in the area..... lots of oil under the falklands.....
I suspect that had more to do with sending all those Argentinian 'tourists' to visit without visas.
Smoke another one, Malaka!
This cannot be happening, according to Mr. Slyngstad of the Norwegian SWF and Mr. Johnson chances of a Greek default are, well . . . . non-existent
Next in line "The Spanish Caja's", a few more piggies and presto, a 800 billion NOK haircut for the Norwegian Oilfund will be the outcome of this foolish chase of "the high yield roller-coaster to hell".
Also, special thanks to our politicians for making this happen.
More bailouts, printed money and fraud. When that plays out, the Blomberg clowns will again be back on about the "jobless recovery", till that ends and then it is more bailouts and printed money. This my friends is what is otherwise known as a circle jerk!
known as a circle jerk!
It takes 13 to make a daisy chain- ask Leo...
Its not the GRD, its XDR.
XDR will be your new lord and master.
long feta cheese
Back to Obols bitchez...
i wonder if greeks will want to work for drahmas ? What if they demand to be paid in euros/usd/gold ?
At this point greek government can only try to reintroduce drahma but there is no garantee they will succeed
The drachma will be adopted for the same reason any fiat currency is adopted - if you fail to pay 'your' tax, in drachmas, you'll be locked in a cage with real criminals.
Try making a greek work on the books. hahahaha!
I have learned a thing or two from the greeks. The ones that actually make enough money to pay taxes have been trying to kill off socialism, one tax scam at a time.
Given the nature of the tax system, and deductions for expenses, it makes more sense in many industries to go legit - particularly if the government is one of your larger customers, and knows how much you're earning.
But I hear what you're saying...
They should back it with gold and then it'll become the world's reserve currency!
...And get promptly invaded by 50k farm boys from Iowa toting AR's . Ask Ghaddafi
Touché, tou-fuckin-ché.
Toxic currency for a toxic nation. A Happy Death Ending. See you at the Greek Way after Boots & Saddles jaunt.
What's the mark trading at these days? ;)
The beauty of all of this is that it plays perfectly into the Bernank "we have no choice" QE3 Ponzification re-re-re-reinforcements.
Tante Greet heeft gelijk gehad de drachme komt terug !
Missus Wilders was right the drachme is making it's return !
Now if they'd just bring back the $500 bill ...
Lol, geert wilders is enjoying himself!
Looks like the Greeks are "going Greek", getting it in the azz!!!!!!!
Dreckma
lol...and its a fine looking dreckma...ya know, I don't let just anyone handle my dreckma...I like to keep it clean and ready for use, I'm very proud of my dreckma ;-)
Wow.... it didn't even get a blister. Just wore right through.
Its sheepskin!!!...lol.
I've heard rumours from Ireland that Punts are being printed again. I don't give it much weight though.
I've heard rumours from Ireland that Punts are being printed again. I don't give it much weight though.
Assuming Greek default is nearly a given. What country will be next? Where will the bond vigilantees focus or go next and why?
It was only a matter of time. Why should Germans bail out the Greeks when they have spent without resolve? Just like the US, why should we bail out Greece thru the Imf? What does that have to do with our Nation?
It really is only for the Bankers. Not for the German Citizens or the American People.
We should really focus on taking care of ourselves first.
What was the saying. I cannot take a splinter out of your eye when I have a 2x4 in my own. Well I know I got that wrong but it is the truth.
How can we or the Germans take care of others when we do not have subsistence for ourselves?
EXCELLENT point Waterfallsparkles, and if the US would have applied that policy, there would have been no TARP, and no saving AIG, because the big AIG save was GIVING money, free from the US Treasury, thanks to tax receipts from the US citizens, in the front door of AIG and out the back to pay off domestic and foreign (sacred, toocorrupttofail, owning our politicians, bank cartel members)counterparties so as to give them the win off of the Lehman death. SO, our own head of the treasury, refuses Lehman a 6 billion dollar bridge loan, and bank holding status, yet he insists that the bet that AIG, the biggest writer of LEH credit default swaps should pay off the counterparties of that bet to the tune of 185BILLION--and this was for our own good?
How about honesty from our government that is the puppet of our privately owned Federal Reserve corp, who had failed entites, and instead of creating a treasury facility and keeping lending flowing at zero percent these last three years, while the corrupt, bankrupt entities got disassembled down to size and admitted that this is a ologopoly at a minimum, and a cartel for sure...instead we are told they are toosacrosanct to fail, and we have to sit back, and watch the banks borrow for zero percent, then gamble with depositors money thanks to the revocation of Glass Stegall (another proof of our government puppeteerring for THE Federal Reserve cartel) while depositors make zero, and soon, we will have to PAY the banks to hold money, while they get to gamble away, run up the market, get more regulations on small community banks and thus, they can scarf up all small banks and be even bigger, and more of a monopolistic force to have their permanant way with taxpayer revenues forever more...where is Andrew Jackson when you need him?
Why should the average American bailout the subprime crowd?
Why should we pay for generations of families on welfare?
Why should we pay for the losses that should be incurred by the masters of finance?
Why should I pay the medical bills for some crackhead that keeps pushing out kids like a human Pez dispenser?
To think that governments and fairness, or justice, go together is just lunacy.
the Germans "took care of the Greeks" all right. Damn "midgets."
"... we imagine the word "prayer" is key." Funny, I've never viewed Zerohedge as a religious site before. Perhaps Tyler has had some kind of vision of the future and wants to hedge his bet!
Go Drachma, go D-Mark, go F-Franc, etc.
Easier to make money in the European spreads.
I'm betting it will happen sometime in 2012 and that the banks will be the biggest supporters of this. And why not, making a market in forex is the only revenue source at the moment that they can recapitalize with with almost no risk.
"European spreads" - I like the sound of that.
I hate to see the Europeans screw up. My brothers and sisters over in Euroland have at least had politicians who have been willing to debate with Der Spiegel vigorously. It has probably been a little more open, less deceitful, and more aware of the trade offs between the "war on terrorism" and individual liberty. There really has been a robust, fairly stable modern civilization over there that is reasonably enlightened in many areas.
None the less I hate socialism. Socialism must die. I don't care how much collateral damage its death causes. I love all of you Europeans, even the Eurosnobs, but I don't care how much you suffer as long as socialism is killed.
I hate to say it but maybe it is time for every Country to protect its own.
Maybe go back to protectionism. Stop the free trade and Tax all imports brought into this Country.
This would cause Corporations to bring Jobs back home. There is no way that America can compete when we are competing with the Chinese making less than a $1. per hour. Unless, Americans are willing to work for $1. per hour.
That seems like the goal of the Globalists. To raise Chinese and other foreign Countries wages and to suppress American's wages to match the Foreign wages.
To save our Country we have to raise taxes on any import to make that product comperable to the price it would sell for in America with American workers wages.
This would not be popular with the Corporations as they make all of their money overseas. Yet, by doing that they are taking money from America and American Workers.
So, what do we do? Let all of our Jobs go overseas and suffer more and more unemployment? While the Huge Corporations rake in the profit as Americans lose their Jobs and their Homes?
OR DO WE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?
you gonna bring back Smoot Hawley?
Hehehe. I will see you in hell in about three years. gonna get awfully warm here.
There is no way that America can compete when we are competing with the Chinese making less than a $1. per hour. Unless, Americans are willing to work for $1. per hour.
***********
If the market was allowed to price which is its true function-then we could work for $1/hr-
There is no such thing as too small of a money supply in a free market provided the supply is locked-wages and prices are forced to adjust to any fixed supply-
Going from here to there wouldn't be pretty and bodies would be floating verywhere but in the end we could compete-especially with our NA resource in the ground advantage over China-
hmm....looks like we are going to hell no matter what. At least for a little while. Maybe we can pretend it is just a vacation.
Managed Trade is the way to go. Individual American companies cannot compete against an entire country like China.
Without the American MARKET there would be no China.
Managed Trade is the way to go. Individual American companies cannot compete against an entire country like China.
***************
Right-managed trade-total Keynesian pipe dream-
We can't even manage our money and credit supply-how in hell will we manage trade?
Who will America sell to?
American Companies will sell to Americans, instead of China selling all of their products to America.
Those Companies will then earn their Money in America and be Taxed in America. Instead of the Companies being taxed in some off shore Country and keeping the Money THERE, instead of HERE.
You don't get it do you ????
THE DRIVING FORCE TO GLOBAL OUTSOURCING WAS THE US REAGANISTIC CUM BUSH OLIGARCHIC MANTRA....ITS NOT CHINDIA THAT IMPOSED IT ON THE WEST. ITS THE "HAPPY FEW" WHO WENT THERE AFTER THE US-CHINA COMMUNIST PARTY HANDSHAKE IN 1978, TO SET UP THEIR OUTSOURCED CHINESE FACTORIES AND MAKE NIKES AND THEN USE WALMART TO SELL THEM TO MAIN STREET USA. THAT WAS THEIR GRAVY TRAIN AND MIDDLE AMERIKA'S SUBSEQUENT PAIN.
Put the shoe where it belongs and it all becomes clear. Its like OBL and Al Quaeda, designed manufactured and exported by CIA chief Bill Casey and Paki Surrogate President ZIa ul Huq to fight SOviets in Afghanistan in 1979, for ten long years.
Then Frankenstein came and visited USA twenty years later after Operation Desert Storm convinced him and his local Saudi backers that the US Oil Oligarchs were there to stay in Holy Mecca and the Oil patch.
Its the Karma of the US oligarchs and its MIC run by CIA uber -alles 'skull n bonesers' that is now coming back to bite them and the American people.
Why did those original SOBs of Amerika's Happy Few not realise that when you sow the wind you reap the whirlwind?
Go figure it out!!! They ALL pretend to be Bible toters, so its very ironic!!
Global outsourcing?
Why make a difference?
Outsourcing is outsourcing.
Outsourcing is the consequence of Smithian economics. It happens at every scale.
The entire US has been landscaped by Smithian economics.
It is only natural that in this US world order, the world is landscaped by Smithian economics.
Right. But as the world is not a homogeneous cultural and political entity, you can't apply Ricardo's principle of comparative advantage indifferently accross continents. ITS JUST COMMON SENSE THAT STATEMENT. The world in NOT ready for socio economic syncretism of that magnitude.
Now the people in the DCs realise that the Oligarchs have taken them for a ride, where OTHER issues such as social fabric and citizen's rights have been sacrificed to make a quickie mega profit in the NAME of sacrosanct economic law where labour is JUST labour and not people, human beings with their roots and their rights to pursuit of happiness.
But this is a recurrent theme in history practised by the Oligarchs of each age. Witness the medieval Crusades :
The perceived ideological issue of the papist mantra of that age, "God wills it!", was to reclaim the sacred church on that unique hill of Abrahamic tradition. But in reality the REAL geopolitical aim of THAT European globalisation was to reclaim to Latin nations the wealth generated by the East-West trade along the silk and spice routes, all stored as gold in "decadent, filthy rich" Constantinople. And the frankish cum Teutonic Oligarchs succeeded in taking Constantinople, from now poor Greeks, and the gold brought back to Venice! But they lost the Crusades and the church on the hill.
Our current globalisation has been two pronged, one leg in the Oil patch to protect new Constantinople, one leg in Asia for outsourcing. To push the historical analogy, the globalists of that age, the Knights Templar, having failed militarily and branded as corrupt, dangerous, filthy rich bankers, a threat to king and country, were burnt at the stake and dispossessed of their wealth in 1314 by King Philip the Fair.
Do you see a parallel sequel in the current game of globalisation as the banks now burn and the economy melts...?
Question is : who is the new Philip the FAir, to make these new corrupt bankers cum MIC protagonists pay for their own networked cabal?
Another interesting side of this Elitist game is that those very US Oligarchs created OBL and Al Quaeda in 1979 to fight Soviet presence in Afghanistan, by doing do a reverse Vietnam mouse trap on them, all planned by Zbig, Casey of CIA and surrogate Paki president Zia ul Haq. It lasted ten long years and created the Taliban culture like a indelible stain on the region. (Oops, sorry I'm repeating like a grooved CD).
Then Frankenstein came and visited the USA on 9/11 because he ostensibly did not like the aftermath of Operation Desert Storm and permanent US presence in Holy Mecca and Oil patch to run it like a colony. He and his Saudi backers paid back their old MIC sponsors in strange macabre fashion. Like Ibn Sinnah who created the break away Hashashin shiite sect during the medieval period to chastise both Sunni leaders and sometimes the Crusaders.
Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind...the Oligarchs of the House of Atreus never fail to fulfill their own karma, die at the altar of Hubris...fatal atavism of their blood-line.
I agree with you. Free trade has destroyed the United States of America.
"Free trade has destroyed the United States of America."
Hopefully I am just missing the irony, and there is truly no person in the word dumb or evil enough to believe that?
You are right. Free trade hasn't completely destroyed The United States...YET!
It has been great for multi-national corporations up until now, but the chickens are coming home to roost... real soon now!
And all those years ago I used to think Ross Perot was crazy; what with that deaf somnambulist retired crusty Navy Admiral he chose as a VP running mate.... and when he'd explain the loss of jobs that ssqqquuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhuuuuuuuppp sound he'd make, "The sucking sound of all those jobs going offshore.".
And he was right. Jezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Henry Hub, I thought WaterfallSparkles comment was the dumbest comment in the history of the universe, but I see he had nothing on you.
"Free trade hasn't completely destroyed the United States...YET!
It has been great for multi-national corporations up until now, but the chickens are coming home to roost... real soon now!"
I guess you are reefering to blood sucking multi-nationals like Monsanto? Who exploit their influen$e on Congre(how do I do "you know what" S font?)ss and Supremes to DESTROY, SUBVERT, REMOVE, ERADICATE AND ERASE any shadow of free trade and free market which remained in America. Like having small farmers subject to swat raids, having small farmers drowned in regulations meant to drive them out of business, I guess you call that "free trade" Hub?
Or are you thinking of multi-national corp like GM? Is that what you call "free trade" when they have the government resurrect the corpse of that "company" when consumers had rejected their miserable products? Stealing taxpayers money so they could be made to pay for cars they had already demonstrated THEY DON' WANT? Meanwhile using the .gov under influence to keep cheap cars from China and India banned and out of America. (woops I forgot to mention Yugo, who 'we' bombed their factory to prevent them from selling cars in America. That's right, Yugo. Unlike GM, Americans actually bought Yugos)
So that is "free trade" in your world non? When Americans can't buy the cars they want and the factory is bombed, and then their money is stolen so some POS company can keep pretending to make cars? That nobody wants including you?
Really are you that confused or do you know perfectly well what is going on and you are just a total liar for whatever reason?
The simple answer is "Free Trade" allows the shipment of goods into a country regulation free and tariff/duty free.
American "Free Trade" policy is almost never questioned in this country. We constantly here about the deficit problem but never the TRADE deficit problem.
The end result for the United States is that it has been profitable for U.S multi-national corporation to ship the manufacturing base out of the country (mostly to China) and ship the goods back to the the U.S. consumers. Unfortunately many of the consumers are no long buying this junk because their job are gone forever. Being able to access cheap labor has been a boon to these corporations but it has been a disaster the U.S. tax base and for many ordinary Americans (real unemployment 20%). Corporate profits, mostly held overseas, have never been better.
Things in this country are bad and they are going to get a lot worse. "Free Trade" is not the only cause of these problems, but it is a big part of it
Yah, I like to lie a lot, but not about the "Free Trade" disaster.
Ummmm, what does it mean?
Statements are natural consequences in Smithian economics.
Smithian economics is about concentrating wealth from an exterior to an interior, in the doing, all activities that are not enough valued are expelled from the interior.
Cheap labour is cheap because it is located in the exterior.
So what does it mean? There is no disaster as it is a natural consequence of Smithian economics.
You wanted Smithian Economics? You got it. So what?
What is waterfall sparkle protectionist going to say when the Chinese worker gets paid more than the American worker, (if any are left after his protectionism ruins our economy)??
It already happened in Japan, Blond American girls are whores for the Japanese in Japan if you want any proof.
It wont happen.
Wait to those awful Chinese govt investment funds starting selling the EUR and related Bonds. Oh man what a wipe out this is going to be.
Europe had it coming.
I think the Chinese are the deux ex machina that everyone in europe is praying to resolve this drama.
The Chinese want to be powerbrokers. I don't see them actively trying to start a fire in europe.
However the Chinese will think they did europeans a favor when they piss on them to slow the fire down a bit. They will be surprised when Europeans seem ungrateful.
Toatal cluster fuck.
GOT GOLD AND SILVER ?.....BECAUSE TOMORROW IS GOING TO BE FREIGHTING....AND MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUL, IF YOU ARE LONG...EQUITIES...
DOW (Mini)U.S. FUTURES » More | About the Morning Indicators
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Long FED-EX.
I lived on Crete in1970. Back then 33 drachma equaled $1. At the local store they would fill my 1 liter bottle with bulk ouzo. It cost 10 drachma for "B" quality ouzo and 12 drachma for "A" quality ouzo. I actually bought the "B" to save 2 drachma. It's hard to fathom that level of frugality;--) even after TSHTF I'll never be that poor?
I pulled in port in Kalamata in '83. Ouzo was cheaper than coffee.
Some extra special Ouzo in Athens was a very memorable occasion. I don't remember a moment of it, but was told it was memorable!
Raki in Antalya was pretty tasty as well.
The Euro will stay relevant until Germany finally gets a bill too big to stomach.
Greece is the equivalent of Rhode Island - small,
Ireland is like Vermont - small also but the pain threshold is higher.
Italy is a mess, but at least they actually have an economy with some things going for them.
Spain is the one that Germany cannot pay for. Their economy is in shambles, 20%+ unemployment, and Spain is going to cost a lot of money - more than Germany will accept. The Euro's have gone to extreme levels to keep Spain out of the crosshairs of the investment community. When Spain is finally "in play", then the Euro is dead, dead dead!
Greece won't be allowed to default or leave the Euro. Too much potential damage to allow that to happen now. Fiat will be found/created to keep it going. Expect a G-7/IMF stick save of Greece that saves the Euro politicians from their own incompetance, allows them to escape blame for further Greek bailouts, and sets up a violent short squeeze in the Euro. The worldwide fiat money con means you never have to say you're broke!
Maybe. But assumes zee Germans are too rheumy eyed to see the endgame. Think there's a good chance they'll opt to amputate early before e rot spreads.
I have no doubt some are pushing back from the table, stuffed to the gills and quietly excusing themselves to the lavatory...next to the exit door.
Aren't we all trying to do the same?
Eat as much as we can from the buffet and get the hell out before they start divvying up the charges?
They try to force everyone in that direction...it doesn't mean you have to do it.
Whatever you put in hard assets will be valued more when, what its priced in, goes all the way to zero. Thats fundamental and has never & will never change.
Whatever you choose to gamble with, from those assets, is another matter entirely, its your choice.
Japan's new prime minister had an 8 day half life.
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE78A3WQ20110911
So surely the drachma can last longer than that.
didrachma => drachma in ~ 2 weeks.
Not to be confused with leptons that decay in ~ 2 microseconds.
Just a little background regarding some countries reserves. Spain and Italy are thought to be in poor shape and Canada is supposed to be rock solid. LOL!
Percent of national forex reserves in gold:
Spain ------ 38.6%
Italy ------ 71.4%
Greece ----- 78.7%
Canada ----- 0.2%
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_reserve
When the SHTF and the world currencies revert to some sort of gold standard, who is going to be in the most trouble?
When the SHTF and the world currencies revert to some sort of gold standard, who is going to be in the most trouble?
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Yep and the whole 700 metric tons was traded off for a Canadian membership into the G8-
Barrick was forward hedged and short Gold when the price went to $800+
Funny thing about it all-
Mulrooney-then Canadian Prime Minister-now sits on the Board of Barrick Gold-
Funny, Barrick's hedging broke them. But they're still there. Funny that...
Kayman
Funny, Barrick's hedging broke them. But they're still there. Funny that..
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You don't understand a lot do you?
Central banks dumped hudreds of tons of Gold on the open market to collapse the price and it did collpse the price-from $887 down to $250-
The forward hedgers ie: Barrick was saved by that action--
************
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney wasn?t looking for work for very long. His political career came to an end in June of 1993 when the ill-fated Kim Campbell took over as Prime Minister and leader of the Progressive Conservatives. Very shortly thereafter, Brian was appointed to the board of Barrick Gold. He is currently Chairman of the prestigious International Advisory Board.
The people who have come and gone on this advisory board are a real ?who?s who? of the political and financial world. To find out who is (and has) been on the board for the last five years, check out their archives of annual financial statements at www.barrick.com. Some of the names are pretty well know to me, and some aren?t. I would suspect that other readers of this essay would easily identify the names I don?t recognize.
As a ?for instance??former President George Bush (Sr.) was appointed to Barrick?s board as ?Honourary Senior Advisor? on May 3, 1995. He held this position until sometime in 1997. Another person appointed to Barrick?s board on that day was Bill Clinton?s personal lawyer?Vernon Jordan. He?s still there.
http://www.financialsensearchive.com/fsu/editorials/steer/2004/0915.html
So Barrick had a hand in this sell off. Add in Mulroney and nothing else needs to be said. I didn't realize it went back that far. Interesting. I've been looking for information on this and coming up dry.
Barrick said they cleared there hedge book (they said this twice). I wonder if they really did! I've held off buying their stock because of this. Goldcorp lets me sleep at night.
Interesting. I've been looking for information on this and coming up dry.
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If you read the link on that page--
"how the collapse of the Soviet empire was engineered"
you find out that Mulrooney was basically duped and it's doubtful he was savvy to the operation-more of a US lapdog role than anything and he was very good at that-
You forgot to add in percent of Forex reserves in OIL Dude.
That's crazy talk. Bre-X has mountains of gold. They got a mutant that shit's the stuff out and pisses it in colloidal suspension when he eats pizza or drinks beer.
And NO RICK MORANIS is not the mutant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bre-X
The strength of the US Dollar is the catylist to the further breakdow in equities. Dollar up, Equities down is the formula. Nice full intermarket report hare http://bit.ly/nSVwGM
most Overvalued (buggered) currencies: EU, CHF, GBP, AUD....
most Undervalued (bugger thy Neighbour) currencies: USD, CHY, JPY...
In this game you are either bugger or buggee
Who'd of thought anybody would learn anything from Iceland?
Takeaway: take the cash, tell'em to fuck offf, look out for #1.
is it my Imagination or did the EUR/USD just have a mini flash crash dropping to 1.3515 (about 100 pips) in one minute @about 8:05pm?
That's Geert Wilders and Teun van Dijck of the Dutch Freedom Party on the picture. They delivered a giant Drachma banknote at the Greek embassy a few months ago, to "encourage" Greece to leave the eurozone. Seems like they're gonna get right.
Paul/Wilders 2014
(Yeah, I know, he's not a natural born citizen, but then again...)
http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2011/09/e-verify-says-obama-not-eligib...
If that's the smallest note they have, they are going to need bigger wallets.
Could it be that it is odious debt? Don't know, just curious.
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No there's not going to be a reintroduction of the drachma either. As ive said here and elsewhere they will probably be forced to dollarize by simple fact that there has never been a plan since day one to deal with a break up with the union. Obviously this is quite odd since the inevitible outcome of bailing out banks while throwing countries under the bus is the break up of the EU. The outcome is as plain as it is literally happening right now: a severe and material drop in living standards throughout the entire Continent. MOVE ALONG!
German MEP Günther Oettinger effectively suggested sending the Blue Helmets in to Greece...
http://germanywatch.blogspot.com/2011/09/german-mep-send-in-blue-helmets.html