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Guest Post: The Great Repression

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Tim Price, Director of Investment, PFP Wealth Management by way of Sovereign Man

The Great Repression

"No government has ever commanded the resources at the disposal of our ungodly Leviathan, which consumes about 25% of the product of the world's richest country. It is driven by a voracious alliance of government's own employees, and those who receive benefits from the state. At least 90 million Americans either depend directly on government handouts or jobs, and each private worker must support not only himself and his family, but also carry a government worker on his shoulders."
 
-Tom Bethel, "Freedom and its Enemies," June 1999.

Financial markets don't really do the long term anymore, but if they did, they might spend less time drooling at the prospect of more monetary crack, and more time wondering who will be funding all the government debt that now towers above everyone further than the eye can see. CLSA's Russell Napier (hat tip to Macro Advisors' Filip Ruszkowski) recently pointed to an ominous development from the summer of 2011:

"..a terrible burden fell upon the people of the USA. For the first time in 15 years, those who had money (savers) began to fund their government, rather than the printers of money (central banks). This shift has already hurt private-sector growth and asset prices, and as federal debt to GDP reaches 100%, it will squeeze out private-sector activity. Structural moves to coerce markets into funding government have begun in Europe and will come to the USA too.."

The chart above confirms that US corporate profits have now reached record levels as a percentage of GDP. They are unlikely to stay there. Napier suggests, perfectly logically, that when the government needs money to fund itself, it will target those constituents that actually have some. That is, in other words, wealthy individuals and corporations.

What will be awkward about this financial repression of the moneyed classes, if it comes (which it surely will), is the timing. Well, not just the timing, but the yields on offer consistent with that timing. With the benefit of hindsight it would have been no bad thing to be coerced into buying US Treasuries when they yielded, say, 16% (the chart below shows generic 10 year yields going back to 1979; source: Bloomberg). But now that they yield 2% or so (a negative real yield of 1% or so using official inflation data), well, who wants that? Answer: not foreign central banks, many of whom have stopped buying this yieldless junk.

But somebody will have to buy it. As bank-robbers and their public sector rivals, governments, know, if you need money, go where the money is. Napier points out that previous peaks in the corporate profit-to-GDP ratio were 1966, 1997 and 2006. Subsequent long-term returns from equities were uniformly poor. As he makes clear, there is a difference between central banks and the private sector when it comes to buying government debt.

Central banks can print money to finance their purchases, which makes them more or less wholly price-insensitive. But the private sector cannot print money - it will be forced to sell other assets to pay for the government debt it will soon be coerced into buying.

Perhaps some of those other assets will be stocks. Stocks will get smashed in any case, because the private sector will also have to get used to paying more tax. (The government will get its money one way or another.) More tax = lower net profits, obviously. Tax paid by corporations is close to its average level of the past 30 years. More awkwardly, the federal debt to GDP ratio over the same period, Napier observes, has risen from 32% to 100%.

The UK faces a similar problem, which makes the current euphoria in FTSE-land just as difficult to rationalise. Absent QE, and given the potential for a rather messy bang emanating from Greece over the coming months, and accepting an economy facing dollops of austerity well into the future, should UK stock markets really be as euphoric as they currently are?

UK government bonds are comparably unattractive to their American cousins. The chart below (source: Bloomberg) shows generic 10 year Gilt yields over the past 20 years. Being forced to buy them at 10% might not have been so bad. Being bludgeoned into buying them at 2% will be a little more painful.

So how precisely will governments go about stealing savers' money? The Dutch pensions regulator gave an indication of one possible wheeze back in February 2011 when it ordered the Stichting Pensioenfonds Vereenigde Glasfabrieken (bless you!) pension fund to sell its gold holdings (13% of the fund) on the premise that it was too risky.

In an NBER paper last year, Carmen Reinhart and M. Belen Sbrancia pointed the way. As their abstract states,

"Historically, periods of high indebtedness have been associated with a rising incidence of default or restructuring of public and private debts. A subtle type of debt restructuring takes the form of "financial repression". Financial repression includes directed lending to government by captive domestic audiences (such as pension funds), explicit or implicit caps on interest rates, regulation of cross-border capital movements, and (generally) a tighter connection between governments and banks..

 

Low nominal interest rates help reduce debt servicing costs while a high incidence of negative real interest rates liquidates or erodes the real value of government debt. Thus, financial repression is most successful in liquidating debts when accompanied by a steady dose of inflation."

The UK government has already achieved partial control of directed lending given that it owns half of our banking system. (Not that it seems to know how to control its remuneration. But then it is practically a binding characteristic of governments to be half-assed about virtually everything.) Both of the Anglo-Saxon economies have also achieved saver theft status by the manipulation of interest rates. Next on the list will be a creeping abuse of those captive domestic audiences and, perhaps, regulation on capital controls.

Very few of these will actually be novelties. The US previously had Regulation Q, for example, which put a government-sanctioned limit on the interest rates available for savings deposits.

Indeed Reinhart and Sbrancia point out that the widespread use of such policies between 1945 and 1980 has been "collectively forgotten". We have had half a century of increasingly free markets. In the official governmental version of reality, those markets became too free, and now require the firm hand of the state. Governments are unlikely to acknowledge the extent to which their own untenable borrowings laid the groundwork for the financial crisis.

Highly paid shills for the status quo on Wall Street have recently been wheeled out to observe the fundamental ugliness of western government bonds. They are correct. This is an asset class that has managed to defy the laws of economics in becoming ever more expensive even as its supply swells.

Their response has been to recommend piling into stocks instead. The logic here is not so pristine. If Napier's thesis is correct, the West faces a period of outright deflation, which will be deeply traumatic for exactly the sort of speculative stocks that have lately done so well.

Admittedly, the picture is confused, and prone to all sorts of political horseplay, as observers of the long-running euro zone farce can attest. Nevertheless, when faced with a) huge underlying uncertainties; b) structurally unsound banking and government finances; and c) central banks determinedly priming the monetary pumps, we conclude that the last free lunch in investment markets remains diversification.

G7 government bond markets are a waste of time (though you may end up being cattle-prodded into them regardless). But there are still investment grade sovereign markets offering positive real yields. Stock markets are partying like 1999. Which, in many cases, it probably is. We would normally advise to enjoy the party but dance near the door.

This time round, we weren't invited to the party - and we don't mind in the slightest.

 

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Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:19 | 2182282 The_Emperor
The_Emperor's picture

Short the treasurys (the 10yr Note and the 30yr bond), it's time to make money.

 

http://theimperatore.blogspot.com/

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:30 | 2182329 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

Good luck with that. As long as the fed is buying we will never see a true value on those bonds.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:33 | 2182341 The_Emperor
The_Emperor's picture

I'm not too sure if the FED will be significant , the yields are going higher it's a fact.  Plus if inflation picks up the bonds and notes will fall very fast.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:37 | 2182356 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

In a normal market I would agree with you, but this market is anything but normal. Once rates rise to an uncomfortable level tptb will scare the shit out of people and all the money will flow back into treasuries dropping the yields.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:47 | 2182382 Born Patriot
Born Patriot's picture

One of the reasons America's job market is drying up is that immigrants our taking our jobs. These third world assholes are willing to work for next to nothing, and its plain disgusting to watch them steal American jobs. This used to be a great country, until these multiculturalists started screwing things up.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:53 | 2182403 blu
blu's picture

Oh but they did not have to steal them. Not at all.

Our government encouraged US corporations to export jobs there, and to pocket the winnings.

All very neat and orderly. Globalism is such a wonderful thing -- not.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 20:43 | 2182908 economics1996
economics1996's picture

Bonds apparently are the new giffen good of 2012.  Tyler should start refering to them as such.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giffen_good

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:55 | 2182405 pods
pods's picture

Damn Goobacks.

They took our jobs!

pods

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:06 | 2182442 s2man
s2man's picture

Its those icebacks, from Canada!  They're to blame!

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:55 | 2182406 TruthInSunshine
TruthInSunshine's picture

Paul Krugman insists...INSISTS...that the reason interest rates are as low as they are is due to the fact that 'the market' has it right in terms of deflation vs inflation.

 

He completely and everytime he rolls his tripe out fails to mention that The Bernank (and now, the ECB, BOJ & BOE) are all price fixers of interest (and every class of bond yield) rates through unprecedented interventionism via monetizing debts as buyers of last resort (in collusion with the too-big-to-fails relying on the teat of the taxpayers & Fed).

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:04 | 2182433 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Yep, now remind me, exactly how have price fixing and capital controls worked out in the past?

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:21 | 2182488 sethstorm
sethstorm's picture

The problem is that the US has an effective infinite jurisdiction. 

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and the only effective defense is not making yourself a target.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:41 | 2182524 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Right, it's one thing to send someone a bill, but it is another thing entirely to actually collect. 

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 20:18 | 2182787 TruthInSunshine
TruthInSunshine's picture

+1 to both of you.

As the Fed and other fractional reserve charlatans literally paper over the debasement in living standards taking place (while transfering more power and wealth to Best Friends Forever of Geithner & the New York City Branch of the Fed & London branch of the BOE), who literally suck on the teat of whatever productive taxpayer base is left + borrowing), the absolute best strategy for the average person just not awakening to the Ponzi is to extract themself from the Matrix inconspicuously and become as self-reliant as possible.

We're going to see a big, big deal made out of what's clearly a secular bear market rally (literally designed by the Fed, painted as a sign of economic recovery by Obama) through November 2, assuming it doesn't come crashing down before then.

More money is lost and transferred to the Ponzi that is Wall Street (and its counterparts overseas) in the rigged gambling halls of 'equity investing/trading' in a quicker period than any other scam ever invented, with the sole exception of the fractional reserve banking money-from-thin-air-used-to-securitize-the-plebes-real-assets (aka Harvest).

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 20:47 | 2182922 economics1996
economics1996's picture

What these mother fuckers fail to realize is that all that fancy financial shit goes out the window when the people realize they have been suckered.  

Hang the mother fuckers slowly like they do in Iran.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:08 | 2182451 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

The only market that "has it right" is the precious metals market.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:21 | 2182486 Seer
Seer's picture

So, is he saying that things are deflating?

When the "market" and the "govt" are ONE, then, yes, it's priced in.

Doesn't matter, it's all semantics.  Who is driving when we go over the cliff makes little difference; we were ALWAYS charted toward the cliff (infinite growth...).

Deflation in the things you don't need/want (like most of what the System has been promoting), and inflation in the things that you want/need.  And, really, think about it, who the fuck wants FIAT?  To me it should make sense why they're having a problem giving it away...

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:01 | 2182428 fuu
fuu's picture

A weaker shade of MDB.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 21:06 | 2182981 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

I would fathom "A Whiter Shade of...."

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:04 | 2182438 Piranhanoia
Piranhanoia's picture

America, where everyone started out as an immigrant except the native american people's,  the citizens of the state of Mexico, the people representing France, and those of Russia.  The late arrivals that came from Europe were from several nations and spoke a lot of different languages.

There are a ton of places that want American workers so they can say they hire their own citizens for a job that maybe only a foreigner will do. They are non union jobs though.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:43 | 2182528 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Less than 7% of the workforce is unionized and decreasing.  Sounds like a lot of opportunity.  Might want to request being paid in silver however.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 21:10 | 2182631 Don Birnam
Don Birnam's picture

I agree with this number, insofar as it represents the unionized "blue collar" labor segment ( e.g., skilled manufacturing, tradesmen, foodservice/hospitality, &c. ). But, does this number include those millions in the government unions ( AFSCME, NEA, AFT ) ? If not, I submit that the true percentage of Americans wrapped in the union label approaches 15 %.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 20:51 | 2182938 economics1996
economics1996's picture

Less than 12%, split about 50/50 private/government.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 19:23 | 2182630 JW n FL
JW n FL's picture

 

 

Born Patriot

One of the reasons America's job market is drying up is that immigrants our taking our jobs. These third world assholes are willing to work for next to nothing, and its plain disgusting to watch them steal American jobs. This used to be a great country, until these multiculturalists started screwing things up.

I would like to firstly, Thank You.. for giving me the opportunity to dumb down why America's Jobs have in Fact! NOT!! been taken by people sneaking into the Country..

 

But rather our Manufacturing Base has been sold (thru Lobby Dollars) to the 3rd World. At least 7 Million Manufacturing Jobs to China ALONE! In the last 11 years since Bush signed the WTO Treaty with China.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2011/02/14/intelligence-community-fears-u-s-manufacturing-decline/

 

and then we have what is called a "H1B Visa" where Americans are over looked in favor of cheaper Labor Imported from the 3rd World.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbR6IFQziuA

 

So, as much as you are correct in the idea that American Jobs have been given to 3rd World Personalities..

 

You are ignoring the Fact that Corporate America has Paid Mountains’ of Lobby Dollars to Washington DC to not only crush Organized Labor.. but as well ship the Jobs to the 3rd World.. and / or Invite the 3rd World to America.

 

And Please don’t over look the Fact that Corporate America was given Tax Breaks as well as Tax Credits to Gut Americas Manufacturing Base!

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/10/16/obama-wants-to-end-tax-breaks-for-companies-that-move-jobs-overs/

 

Obama really, really, really wants to stop Paying Corporate America to move jobs overseas..

 

 

Little Mexicans did not outsmart Washington DC..

 

Washington DC was Bought by Corporate America..

too allow 3rd World Labor to Rule in even America..

 

thusly importing the 3rd World life style to America..

 

 

and Please! keep shopping at Wallmart! that as well helps to import that third World lifestyle!
Tue, 02/21/2012 - 21:33 | 2183048 Ceteris paribus
Ceteris paribus's picture

I see it all the time those fucking canadians coming over the boarder and taking our jobs ,fuck um.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 23:21 | 2183251 NoClueSneaker
NoClueSneaker's picture

Nine of the reasons America's job marked dryied long ago are the cocks of Waltons you so gladly suck ...

Two others are cocks of Koch Bross ...

Massey energy has a lot of nice COOs who r ready to accept yer service.

If you vomit after a load, be free and kill some Mexicans to prove yer patriEtism.

Yeewhaaa, South is rising again- keep on sucking.... with the bible & the gun ...

___________________________________________________________________

After all, Lloyd luv da rednecks. They're soooo practical ....

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:47 | 2182385 The_Emperor
The_Emperor's picture

What do you think would be an unconfortable rate ?  The 10yr trades at 2%, I think it will go at least to 2.5% short term.

By that time the T-Notes will already be down at least 5 figures ... at 1024$ per full point per contract, I think you can make serious money, even before the central bank intervenes with a new QE.

 

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:02 | 2182412 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

Well I hope it works out for you, but I sense a deflation scare coming up soon. So I am taking on the other side of that trade in equities.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 20:53 | 2182942 economics1996
economics1996's picture

The Fed has been preventing deflation for 100 years.  Bad bet.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:26 | 2182496 Seer
Seer's picture

I don't like ANY rates.  Don't like govts...

"I think you can make serious money"  Ha ha.. "serious"  Ha Ha!  Back the truck up and load it with only the "serious" fiat, please!

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:36 | 2182350 Chief KnocAHoma
Chief KnocAHoma's picture

Too many freaking cans to kick and too few feet.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:49 | 2182393 grid-b-gone
grid-b-gone's picture

As long as the Fed supports stocks, we won't see true value there, either. 

It's risky to go long because they can open deeply lower any morning. Cash loses value due to extreme printing and shorting is riskiest of all.

Precious metals are high because that's the price for honesty these days.

This is why we may be near a real estate bottom. It's the only place for Joe to go where the low price might be a true market price.

Maybe farmers under MF Global stress will sell some land cheap so they can put in this year's crop, but that may have been planned, too.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:06 | 2182443 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

I agreed with you until you said bottom in real estate. Real estate has a long way to go yet. The only thing moving as far as residential is the lower food chain housing. My wife is in the business and has been for over 20 years. The agents are starving, more listings are coming on line and buyers are scarce.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:39 | 2182520 candyman
candyman's picture

 Reality check. Signing my 3.2% tomorrow at noon. The 30 page appraisal report showed 2 sales and 5 short sales as comps. He said the banks in my town in N. Cal. had 140 homes in inventory and they only are showing about 30 on the market. His outlook was not positive anytime soon.

Wed, 02/22/2012 - 01:31 | 2183558 King_Julian
King_Julian's picture

True. Wife is also in the business. Lots of refi work, few sales. Our area has not been hit as hard as others but high end stuff is dropping hard since last year. BOHICA to a city near you.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:37 | 2182353 STS813
STS813's picture

Sell deep in the money 2013 covered calls....for those already long.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:44 | 2182374 malek
malek's picture

What was that about markets staying irrational (or rigged) longer than... ?

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:44 | 2182377 Gully Foyle
Gully Foyle's picture

"If Napier's thesis is correct, the West faces a period of outright deflation,"

Automatic Earth has been making the same claim for years, and they offer guidance with Deflation in mind.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 23:10 | 2183218 WhatCouldGoWrong
WhatCouldGoWrong's picture

Ahhhh... the new "widowmaker" I've been short the 10yr off and on via Globex for the last decade. Look at the chart and you can see how much money I've made off that trade. Many of us have also tried shorting JGB (Japanese Bonds) for 20+ years,... "the original widowmaker". What seems evident and common sense, is only true in a free market. When the government and private central banks can agree to issue debt on one hand and buy with the other, fundamentals fly out the window. The Japanese have kept this ball in the air for a quarter of a century. The USA is now doing the same thing. It may "feel right" to short these bonds, but philosophical conviction is the worst reason to put on a trade.... so, good luck with your trade. Just be aware that the folks on the other side of your trade have more information and not just more money... They have the ability to create money.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 23:10 | 2183220 WhatCouldGoWrong
WhatCouldGoWrong's picture

Ahhhh... the new "widowmaker" I've been short the 10yr off and on via Globex for the last decade. Look at the chart and you can see how much money I've made off that trade. Many of us have also tried shorting JGB (Japanese Bonds) for 20+ years,... "the original widowmaker". What seems evident and common sense, is only true in a free market. When the government and private central banks can agree to issue debt on one hand and buy with the other, fundamentals fly out the window. The Japanese have kept this ball in the air for a quarter of a century. The USA is now doing the same thing. It may "feel right" to short these bonds, but philosophical conviction is the worst reason to put on a trade.... so, good luck with your trade. Just be aware that the folks on the other side of your trade have more information and not just more money... They have the ability to create money.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:22 | 2182297 Ancona
Ancona's picture

Government bonds Baby! It's the new toilet paper fad.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:30 | 2182331 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

+ 1, absolutely right Ancona!

Gold is the answer to a financial repression coming to us real soon.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:23 | 2182301 Cursive
Cursive's picture

How will govrnments steal wealth? You seriously ask? The same way they've been doing since time immemorial - taxation, expropriation and inflation.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:27 | 2182305 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

Normally I am a gloom and doomer.  But, not today!  Just today I heard an excellent story of a young adult (grew up poor and in a broken family) who is about to start work at a bank for $90,000 right out of college.  I thought some more, and found a few other cases of other young adults who are having SUCCESS in this fairly crappy economy.

Check out the story at my blog ("For A Change, Some Good Stories About Young Adults Today!")!  Send me a gmail at my name and promise to behave, and I will send you the link.  Or you can just search for it, it is not rocket science...

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:31 | 2182330 jm
jm's picture

Hen hao, Chen.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:33 | 2182339 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

A Chinese-Peruvian told me that "rolling bearing" in Mandarin is "Do Chen", although I do not know the tone of those two words.

And that is ALL the Chinese I know!  And I am too old to learn a difficult language like that!

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:43 | 2182371 Gully Foyle
Gully Foyle's picture

DoChenRollingBearing

"rolling bearing"

Bearing as in

1. The manner in which one carries or conducts oneself: the poise and bearing of a champion. Or 2.
a. A machine or structural part that supports another part. b. A device that supports, guides, and reduces the friction of motion between fixed and moving machine parts. Or 3. Something that supports weight. Or 4. The part of an arch or beam that rests on a support. Or 5.
a. The act, power, or period of producing fruit or offspring. b. The quantity produced; yield. 6. Direction, especially angular direction measured from one position to another using geographical or celestial reference lines. 7. Awareness of one's position or situation relative to one's surroundings. Often used in the plural: lost my bearings after taking the wrong exit. 8. Relevant relationship or interconnection: Those issues have no bearing on our situation. 9. Heraldry A charge or device on a field.
Tue, 02/21/2012 - 20:06 | 2182783 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

Our rolling bearings are replacement auto parts for cars and trucks in Peru.  But, thanks for bringing the other definitions to our attention, + 1 to you

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:03 | 2182436 grid-b-gone
grid-b-gone's picture

Some of our largest companies today began just before or during the Great Depression. There are always pockets of prosperity in every market.

I've launched two children in the past 12 months. One in tech and one in health care with no gap between college and the working world. Some of their friends are not so fortunate.

You can bet some displaced cubicle workers from the past four years will be showing up with strong, new companies, too.

We've all seen the anti-banking quotes from Jefferson, Jackson, and Lincoln. Today's graft and corruption is nothing new. Toppling the money changers' tables has been a working-class activity for over two thousand years. 

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 20:12 | 2182793 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

Junkers: the kid is a Latino.  His dad left when he was very young.  He grew up poor in Miami, a crappy city to grow up in if you are poor.  He was a very "at risk" kid.  He received a full scholarship to the U. of Florida because he busted his butt studying.  This kid is the kind of kid you should be HAPPY about, HE will be paying whatever Social Security & Medicare that will be left for us older types...

Shame on you for junking success.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 20:50 | 2182931 Reese Bobby
Reese Bobby's picture

Where do they teach you to talk like this? In some Panama City "Sailor wanna hump-hump" bar, or is it getaway day and your last shot at his whiskey? Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:26 | 2182307 pods
pods's picture

Must be in a recovery where any positive real yield is looked at like water in the desert. /sarc

When the printers stop, so does the music.  Unless they print till the record player breaks.

Just no way we worm our way out of this.

Love the sneeze too.  Best laugh I had all day!

pods

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:29 | 2182320 Olympia
Olympia's picture

World War III - The First Private War in History

 

Those who won all battles shall lose the war.

Bilderberg Group and the crimes against humanity.

 

This is how things work in all countries. Whatever used to belong to their peoples, today it belongs to the multinational companies of the Club. Peoples were betrayed by their given leaderships and they lost everything. Capitals and markets were handed to the Club bosses. If you understand what is going on in Greece, you can understand what is going on in Britain, France, and Germany etc..

 

http://eamb-ydrohoos.blogspot.com/2012/02/world-war-iii.html

 

Authored by PANAGIOTIS TRAIANOU

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:30 | 2182322 Xibalba
Xibalba's picture

I wonder how Keynes would react if he saw how failed his ideolgies were(are)...and how many people comitted crimes against humanity in his name? 

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:34 | 2182345 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

I would argue that his ideology is working as planned. Steal the wealth of the nation and make debt serfs out of the masses then take the money and run. Find a new country to plunder wash rinse and repeat.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:49 | 2182392 blu
blu's picture

Find a new planet to plunder wash rinse and repeat.

Fixed it for you.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:51 | 2182399 Seer
Seer's picture

"Find a new country to plunder wash rinse and repeat."

It's a global economy.  There are no more "countries" to plunder.  Oops, forgot to "invest" more money in NASA, damn! (this planning shit is tough!)

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:02 | 2182432 Sean7k
Sean7k's picture

Keynes was well aware of the logical inconsistencies in his General Theory, he often commented that governments would never pay down deficits and that a totalitarian regime was the best suited to his economic theory. Keynes was a Fabian.

For a good deconstruction of his theories, see: The Failure Of The New Economics by Hazlett.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:32 | 2182338 swissaustrian
Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:47 | 2182383 battlestargalactica
battlestargalactica's picture

A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

John F. Kennedy

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:51 | 2182396 blu
blu's picture

Dead. One should note.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:47 | 2182386 Seer
Seer's picture

Once again, it's "the government's fault!"

Listen, all you economics idiots, it's GROWTH's fault!  I'm indifferent to Jim Rickkards (sp?), but I believe there was a piece on/by him the other day here on ZH which made it clear what growth means, that some paltry amount like 2% equals DEATH.  Yeah, he was talking about currency inflation, but... this isn't math that's only applicable to currencies, it's applicable to ANYTHING that grows!

Was listening to an interview with RM's good buddy Roubini in which Roubini says that the global economy is capable of 3% growth, but is hamstrung and will likely only see 1.5%.  How the fuck does anyone really KNOW what growth WILL be?  No, he and all the other shills are forcing these percentages on us, which amount to no more than theft from the future (so they can engorge themselves today).  (and is this measure based on an inflated currency? bet your ass it is)

This is no more than another one of those pathetic blaming games like all the folks saying that it was borrowers' fault for getting into trouble, that "no one held a gun to their heads and made them take the loan."  Well... no one held a gun to the heads of the banksters and told THEM to MAKE shitty-assed loans!  The logic fails in so many ways... if the borrowers were as stupid as such apologists for the banksters would have you believe then such apologists would have to ask them why the "intelligent" people who held ALL of the controls were the ones who actually pulled the triggers?  Yeah, argue about regulations or other crap, but it all comes down to who really had/has the POWER...

So, in closing my rant, look in the mirror Price, and all you other economics "experts" (who will be left standing naked when the earth burns) as well. (RM, are you there?)

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:51 | 2182398 snowball777
snowball777's picture

 

But somebody will have to buy it. As bank-robbers and their public sector rivals, governments, know, if you need money, go where the money is. Napier points out that previous peaks in the corporate profit-to-GDP ratio were 1966, 1997 and 2006. Subsequent long-term returns from equities were uniformly poor. As he makes clear, there is a difference between central banks and the private sector when it comes to buying government debt.

Central banks can print money to finance their purchases, which makes them more or less wholly price-insensitive. But the private sector cannot print money - it will be forced to sell other assets to pay for the government debt it will soon be coerced into buying.

 

But somebody will have to buy it. As bank-robbers and their private sector rivals, corporations, know, if you need money, go where the profits are. No-bid government contracts, off-shored jobs, and can you please dress like an endangered bird.

Corporations can sell debt to finance their purchases, which makes them more or less wholly price-insensitive. But the private sector certanly fucking can print credit, shitwit - it will be forced to sell not a damn thing, even if they really meant they would pay off the bankster-loaned synthetic credit derivative goop they pretend(ed) they were rich by buying.

Make a fucking product. Make a fucking profit. Make some jobs in America. And quit whining like pussies.

 

 

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:05 | 2182439 Seer
Seer's picture

"Make a fucking product. Make a fucking profit. Make some jobs in America."

Isn't this "buy it and they'll come" mentality?

2/3 of the world's population lives on $3/day or less.  THE MARKET HAS BEEN TOTALLY OVER-SATURATED.  This saturation has come by way of stealing from the future ("GROWTH" <replace with "inflation" if it makes you feel any better>).

The govt didn't create this mess.  Well, POWER combined to conspire with govt (riddle me this: how do you stop power when power is necessary to STOP power from taking over?).  The financial scam (started post US oil production peak and start of full FIAT) revved up the engine, sucking folks' futures into the GROWTH machine.  Doesn't matter whether it's govt or "private" industry that over-extends, that plunders from the future, this infinite growth shit WILL result in EXACTLY what we're now seeing.  That blood is dripping off the hands of govt doesn't mean that it alone was responsible.

Anyone here who "makes" money OFF of "money" is asking for something from nothing!  It's stealing from the future.  Yeah, it's "legal," but that's only in the eyes of the global System: Mother Nature will settle all these bets.

So, NO, I'm not pardoning govts at all.  However, I'm not stupid enough to believe that businesses, that "just make shit and it'll be all OK" is going to work, not when it's ALL predicated on endless growth (which, again, is dipping into future's bank account- more rapid depletion of natural resources- history is quite clear how this works out).

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 21:09 | 2182987 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Damn fine rant....

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 17:59 | 2182418 Alcoholic Nativ...
Alcoholic Native American's picture

To me it's more like the "Great Repulsion"

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:01 | 2182426 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

So corporate profits are good.  Yes, only if the bad corporations are allowed to fucking fail.  Now how has that been playing out over the last thirty fucking years.  Fuck this guy, another fucker for keeping profits private, but all about sociallizing the losses.  Bring this fucker down and let's see what the value of everone's labor is.  Fine with me.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:15 | 2182468 Seer
Seer's picture

Thanks for helping me realize that I'm not the only one out here that see the insanity behind all this!

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 23:37 | 2183290 Beau Tox
Beau Tox's picture

Daddy Hinie Bobo, Daddy Obama

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 18:04 | 2182437 s2man
s2man's picture

Oh! Come and see the repression inherent in the system! Help, help, I'm being repressed!

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 19:05 | 2182592 Ms. Erable
Ms. Erable's picture

Bloody peasant.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 21:53 | 2183093 Shizzmoney
Shizzmoney's picture

The Obama administration will propose lowering the current 35 percent corporate tax rate

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2012/02/21/ap_sour...

Wed, 02/22/2012 - 03:25 | 2183733 sikefeier0728
sikefeier0728's picture

 

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