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Guest Post: It’s Time To Be Very Concerned About What’s Going On Behind The Scenes
Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man
It’s time to be very concerned about what’s going on behind the scenes
Ancient Greek mythology tells the tale of Odysseus, the heroic king of Ithaca whose 10-year journey home after the Trojan War became one of the world’s most famous epics.
At one point in the journey, his ship was heading straight for two deadly hazards– on one side was Scylla, a six-headed monster disguised as a giant rock, and on the other side was Charybdis, a sinister whirlpool born from the sea god Poseidon.
The perils were close enough to pose an inescapable threat to ships passing through, forcing the captain to choose between the two evils. A Latin proverb from this story, “incidit in scyllam cupiens vitare charybdim” (he runs on Scylla, wishing to avoid Charybdis), is now “between a rock and a hard place” in modern English.
This is exactly where the entire world finds itself right now. With confidence vanishing, markets panicking, and entire nations going bankrupt, ultimately there are no good solutions… and thinking people need to understand some simple truths about the situation:
1) America’s credit rating was punished by S&P because US politicians failed to reach an adequate solution to the country’s massive debt woes which are nearing 100% of GDP. Investors reacted by buying the Japanese yen– a country whose sovereign debt rating is two steps below the US, and at 220% of GDP, over twice as indebted!
Not to mention, Japan has burned through 4 prime ministers and 8 finance ministers just in the last four years. This is not exactly a country whose government has a successful track record of dealing with its problems.
How does this make any sense? That’s like firing an employee who gets drunk on the job and replacing him with a gun-toting heroin addict. Yet faced with a universe of bad choices, investors will pick the one which appears to be the ‘least worse’.
This approach is sure to create even more gross misallocations of capital down the road.
2) World governments have gone on the offensive against S&P, slamming the rating agency and trying to discredit the firm’s financial calculations without acknowledging the underlying premise– that America lacks a credible plan to deal with its crisis.
Leaders from countries as diverse as France, South Korea, and even Russia have all shrugged off the downgrade and publicly reiterated their confidence in the United States.
(They even rolled out Warren Buffet who said that the US deserves “a quadruple-A” credit rating.)
You know that old adage– how do you know that a politician is lying? Because his lips are moving. When so many world leaders are expressing nearly unanimous support for the dollar and the US government, it’s time to be very concerned about what’s going on behind the scenes.
3) G7 finance ministers have pledged to take any steps necessary to calm markets and “avert collapse in world confidence.”
Here’s the thing: All governments can do is print, borrow, or steal from taxpayers. These are exactly the policies that created a loss of confidence to begin with, and now they are pledging to restore confidence by doing the exact same things.
If they take action, the situation will only get worse. If they don’t take action, the markets will panic and the situation will only get worse. Rock. Hard place.
4) Trillions of dollars are sloshing around in the financial system right now desperately seeking some modicum of safety. With the wave of downgrades and money creation that’s coming, few asset classes look stable… so that little hunk of yellow metal is starting to look awfully attractive to a lot of investors.
5) Governments will do whatever it takes to keep the party going and maintain the status quo, whether it’s printing money into oblivion and sticking consumers with massive inflation, or sending police out into the streets to beat everyone into submission.
I really want to urge you to think rationally about your situation and ask yourself a simple question– do you feel secure having the entirety of your assets and livelihood under the control of a single bankrupt nation in the midst of a financial collapse?
If not, it’s time to let go of the excuses and take action.
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All governments can do is print, borrow, or steal from taxpayers.
Says it all right there.
qe3 will officially announce the jig is up...
print = steal from taxpayers
borrow = steal from taxpayers
steal from taxpayers = steal from taxpayers
One trick pony.
Try printing your own.
Community currencies.
Odysseus was king of Ithaca. He was hero in The Odyssey.
Achaeans fought in Trojan War against City of Troy.
That story is called The Iliad. Two different stories.
The Iliad gave us the expression: The face that launched a 1000 ships.
Zorba is very old. He hung out with Homer who wrote both stories.
He used to call him ' Homey'
I want to personally thank the Democrats who are hell bent on maximizing economic devastation that will befall the United States of America.
It has been statistically proven with mathematical certainty there will be a complete and total economic collapse of the USA given our current economic situation.
Thank you Democrats for wanting to maximize the economic devastation and kicking the can down the road for my viewing pleasure.
I also want to thank the Republicans for doing the same, paying for silly wars chasing the bogyman all over the planet and spending trillions of dollars on it.
Thank you both very very much for the Schadenfreude you are giving me out of the kindness of your hearts.
At what point do we wait to declare our day of rage like Egypt, and demand that this administration be thrown out of office. I cannot believe that Obama is trying to continue with the same plan that has gotten us to this point. Thanks to ZH my money is safe, but I have a feeling things are only going from bad to worse from here.
All governments can do is print, borrow, or steal from taxpayers.
NOT QUITE TRUE. That may be all the present governments will do,
BUT:
A decent, presumably democratic government could refuse to hand over public funds to the TBTFs, could take control of its currency back from the central bank, could downsize its needless miltary spending, could invest in rehabilitating a crumbling infrastructure, could end its wasteful attempt at neo-Prohibition (on drugs), could change its wasteful health care system, ... there's more, but the point is a proper government could do a lot better.
Government is not able to do any of the things you mention, because they are fundamentally corrupt and under the influence of powerful special interest groups. All of the functions provided by DC need to be devolved back to the state/local level. DC is a cancer that is killing us, and poisoning the world.
There are very few things any government does well; ergo, there are very few things government should do.
Devolving power without curtailing it serves only to multiply the number of despots. There needs to be a serious reduction in the scope of force applied to human affairs (i.e., in the scope of government at all levels).
Society needs to be organised. It might be at an anarchistic local level, at a state gov level or at a Federal level. Nevertheless, people get quite annoyed when roads and traffic lights, basic utilities, schools and social security payments stop working.
Dick Fitz,
Downsized government(s) will be even less able to resist the special interests and corruption from global corporations, war merchants, environmental despoilers, and criminal syndicates. Perhaps you should consider that it is mega corporations and an influential wealthy elite that needs to be curtailed, at least as much as government, if not much more so.
Hope the flash crash doesn't happen behind the scenes.
Oh my swineherd!
Not enough pain yet to compel action my friend. But getter closer.
We are on fire and they are drinking champaigne!
By the time the pain is felt the injury is already done .... They will arc up when the financial institution handling their nest egg declares bankruptcy out of the blue or when they get their annual statement next year .... by which time it will of course be too late.
Can't help those who won't help themselves .... and should we anyway? It is akin to permanent welfare which is bad for everybody involved.
If life has a purpose I believe it is to learn, grow, evolve. Treating people as children for the entirety of their lives is counter-productive to their long term development.
MOVE TO CHILE!!! SOVEREIGN MAN SAYS ITS PARADISE, ITS UTOPIA!!! BUY LOTS OF REAL ESTATE FROM HIS TRUSTED SOURCES!! AND DONT FORGET TO BUY CHILEAN INFLATION PROTECTED BONDS!!!!!!
Have you ever left the US ?
There is many places around the world that are utopia compared to N Ameirca. Everything is dirt cheap, the people are laid back, the government cant afford to fuck you. You can bribe cops out of traffic offences. Hot babes are a dime a dozen.
Check it out some time....
Governments exist in all countries my friend....
Santiago is lovely. It's definitely in my top 10.
Cashed out last Monday, yeah I missed the top. However, until accoutability is brought back, cash is king and that king is walking down a yellow brick road. Soon they will be one and the same again - HOORAY!
SDR bitchez!
single nation no good
many nations heap better
trust-um me
Race to the bottom bitchez. I got beer in the fridge with one in the freezer watching the carnage.
Official Bear by Friday?
Were doomed!!!
Dow Solidly below 11,000-check
S&P 500 below 1130 and falling quickly-check
BAC about to give up the ghost $6.70 and falling-check
Tradition at $1721+-check
Smells like VICTORY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBksHaTQCbU
Well, the Gravity of the situation has taken hold finally.
They can only hold the markets from taking nature's course for so long. It's like a river wide it will find a way through.
Silver is being dumped for Gold with pricing already into the 2500's ASK
HungrySeagull, @14:35
Silver is being dumped for Gold with pricing already into the 2500's ASK
Where ,pray tell is Gold at $2,500.00 ASK?.
Pls advise...................cause your paying way too much...........LOL
G7 finance ministers have pledged to take any steps necessary to calm markets and “avert collapse in world confidence.”
Confidence must be earned, not bought or demanded. And once lost is even harder to restore.
The only way to lead is by example. Governments don't understand this.....
Carthago delenda est.
I love this site. rock and a hard place. Salt the earth.
Man, I wish I could drink a beer with you people. You're my kinda people.
Oh, and just for clarity. I truly mean that.
I agree. I think Tyler(s) should buy a medium-sized greek island and set up a ZH resort/commune/base. I'd visit!
I keep wear my ZH hat, hoping to someday see someone else wearing the Sign of the Theta. Hasn't happened yet.
What else is new.
Big money and the Pirates are running this show today.
1) America’s credit rating was punished by S&P because US politicians failed to reach an adequate solution to the country’s massive debt woes which are nearing 100% of GDP. Investors reacted by buying the Japanese yen– a country whose sovereign debt rating is two steps below the US, and at 220% of GDP, over twice as indebted!
Bullshit!
S & P down graded the U.S. becuase they got raided in Italy and for no other reason than to protect themselves offshore from litigation!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/04/police-raid-milan-moodys-standard-poors
now becuase of this unforseen event have the markets been shaken to the point of breaking..
do you see Bernake cutting down the trees in your back yard? so that he can print money??
then there is your answer!
I dont like it! but it dont make it any less true.
a 25% drop is what is needed for QE-3.. are people jumping the gun or did the S & P bullshit enhance the effects.. maybe but once again.. is Bernake out back with an axe cutting down the trees in your yard to print money?
well then, there you go!
When is Benocide going to wake up and realize ZIRP has been a total failure? Prudent savers have been stolen from to the tune of trillions of dollars since the policy's implementation. Negative real-interest rates over a long period of time discourage capital formation and change the overall economic behavior of individuals.
People might say that it benefits those in debted with mortgage payments and such, but with ZIRP + QE prices for everything increase which destroys the purchasing power of the poorest of the poor (Who have seen declining wages for years and years).
ZIRP was supposed to benefit the big banks, but as we see now they are all collapsing again. Another FAIL for the Money Printer!
Seriously. Bernanke needs to be disposed, as Marc Faber said one day might be the case
They have a simple solution to that....make the banks bigger/sarc. It's all about transfering as much wealth from the middle class as possible. When they do qe3 that will be it. Those closest to the money will get the benefit, everybody else will find misery.
My favorite story of ancient times : Charybdis and Scylla. In today's world Charybdis is the whirlpool of government deficit spending and Scylla is the hard rock of Oligarchic greedy hubristic ponzi play. We are there today.
So pick your sides unless you be Ulysses and know how to sail the narrow passage. The shills of WS don't and they'll pay the price.
Wow that's new! Last week I read that Putin said that the US was a leech sucking of
greek mythology? when it doubt ask the experts.........
cream 1968 tales of brave ulysses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BGlFsf9DM8
Many thanks HPD! Classic rock lives here fo sho.
know your enemy
AD
HPD-I am so glad you are expert...
You would think Zorba would know about Greek mythology, but alas Zorba
didn't even know Greeks fought war over condoms ( Trojan War )
But FYI; Odysseos (mis-spelled) was in story called the odessy (also mis-spelled)
story of Trojan war called the Illiad. Battle for city of Troy.
Two completely different stories.
bythe keeps hammering on silver to try and mess with gold.........same old game, same old way. they are running out of rope........
Well, when your nation is being run by 533 part-time moronic amateurs who take their marching orders along with a fat check from multi-million dollar lobbying organizations, this is what you get and it ain't pretty...
It’s crazier than this; they’re buying more U.S. Treasuries with both hands today.
The US got downgraded because we have a redistributionist Marxist, masquarading as a Keynsian wrapped in free market linquistics. He and his DemoCommiNazis doubled the national debt after they took over congress in 2006, and having run up agianst the debt ceiling, they waited til the last minute in order to create a crisis (remember, not letting one go to waiste) in order to roll the Republicans and the Tea Party in order crush their credibility with the American public. And having failed to raise taxes on the billionaires and trillionaires, which wouldn't make a drop in the ocean's differnce the way the OBAMACOMMINAZI's are spending, they got the OBAMADowngraded. And like the little petulant, narcissistic pre-adolescents that OBAMA and Co. are, all that is left to do is whine and cry.
But really folks, what is the real problem?
Treasury takes in 180b per month
Debt service is 35b per month.
The OBAMACOMMIENAZI's spend 300b per month.
So the real issue is: The Bamster has a spending problem. It just that simple. And all the bullshit in the world ain't gonna change that one bit.
Just to be clear, I say again:The uncontrolled spending is the ROOT OF THE PROBLEM. And that's the fact JACK.
Peter K got downgraded because he mistook ZH for a political site.
The red team lost credibility long before Obammy and the blue team never had much credibility. Wake Up People!
Stax,
Evidently you did not check out US history very well.Plus anyone w/half a brain, KNEW what Obama was before he even got CLOSE to the POTUS chair.(the red team ran up the debt in 8yrs a huge amt, the blue team PROMPTLY doubled it in less than three and a half.
La Idiotas..........with a Mission.
Peter K @14:52,
And there my man/lady, is it in a NUTSHELL.
Bravo..............................
At risk of sounding too alarmist I would suggest that this the much expected "end game". If that is the case then a positive feedback loop of wealth destruction on a global scale has begun. We all expected this. The wealth that is being destroyed is in the past. We must not dwell on what coulda' shoulda' or woulda' been done. What is for us to do is protect what value is left in our hands and to begin the long uphill climb to produce more. First gold, then guns, then tools.
And on second thought, after a few minutes of cool calm reflection on tonights Presidential Address, I have concluded the following:
RUSH is correct when he says that our Man-Child in Chief is doing this on purpose.
Nobody can be that stupid.
You are half right. Obama isn't running the show. He does as he is told.
Exactly. They only make puppets with a mind of their own in fairy tales.
When you have all the major nations expressing confidence, run for the hills. Those type of coordinated statements are in and of themselves meant to manipulate. S&P just published what every reasonable person who can do math already knows...the U.S. along with most of western Europe cannot pay all its bills. The S&P is not the problem. If we'd had a reasonable solution that cut spending and reestablished growth we'd still have a AAA rating.
There is only one root solution and that is that the free markets must start producing "stuff" again. Through that revenues, GDP and tax revenues all increase. It cannot and will not happen overnight because it takes a couple billion people and a few entrepreneurs to start making some different choices.
Obama's last address written by Charlie Sheen, America has tiger vampire blood
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/08/07/greenspan_us_can_pay_a... this maybe the most important financial man in a generation and he could start a war with china if he keeps saying this to our creditors WOW, This is the problem ...
japan is attractive because it owes much of this money to itself so it really doesn't owe as much as it looks. the yen=greenbacks.
What is truly remarkable to me is that when you look at total losses in the markets since the debt ceiling bill has been passed, the losses to pension funds, IRA accounts, and personal investment accounts is significantly greater than the cost to reduce spending and/or raise taxes. Shame on the democrats for not agreeing to larger spending cuts and shame on them again forthe class warfare of wanting to tax someone at a higher tax rate just because they have more money (I'm poor but I still call that discrimination). The pig headed actions of the left have cost their constituents far more than agreeing with the cut, cap and balance plan that was passed by the house. I can't wait for the elections! BTW, I love Obaama's denial of the S&P credibility...why do you think the markets tanked after his speech? Old saying,"You don't have to make your decisions based on reality, but you do have to live with the consequences!" Good luck everybody!
Huh...
I just heard a talking head say the same thing, only in reverse;
'I wonder if all those folks that were dead-set against tax increases would rather have tax increases AND the trillions they lost in the last few days'?
I hate politics!
Class warfare is being waged. On the 46M Americans now on foodstamps. On those who are represented by a real unemployment rate which is easily clear of 10%.
So good of you to protect the richest 0.1% from tax cuts though, they really appreciate your efforts.
If you were serious about balancing the budget you would support a return to 1980 tax levels as well as big spending cuts across the board.
z
It’s Time To Be Very Concerned About What’s Going On Behind The Scenes
yeah, no sh!t
S&P is China's proxy used to ignite a firestorm in the west.
...and Greece was the US proxy to ignite a firestorm in Europe...
Hey bud, there are no friends in economic warfare. And, if the writer of this missive believes that they are he/she is sorely misguided.
Watch what they do, not what they say.
2 words - Peak Government. The nation state model is broken.
Yep you are right! And running off to another country where you have no community base built up won't be paradise or utopia. If the SHTF here I know who I can rely on and have some alliances built up. I know the backwoods and hills around where I live and can survive there. If run off to the philipines or chile how long will it take me to build that up?
If the SHTf here it will there as well.
"If run off to the philipines or chile how long will it take me to build that up?"
Infinity... You will always be an 'outsider', even if you marry a local, have children, support the community, support the church, etc. When TSHTF in your new nation and finger pointing starts, the fingers will be pointing in your direction.
Sorry, 100% wrong.
I moved to Australia 5 years ago when Bu$h got reappointed, now I have a passport and a better network and a better job than ever before. Plus land and a house in Survival Paradise, Vanuatu.
So get informed before you spout
falunBong,
Who da hell you poppin off to?.IF me, all ya gotta do is look at the books.
Pls acknowledge,if there is one fault(here)8-10 times, I never know what of who is being shot, or aimed at.
There MUST be a way for TD to do this.
Welcome ashore commrade ...
We are nothing but an extension of the US / UK these days. I doubt you would receive the same hospitality in Inonesia or Phillipines. Try rocking up on a rickety old boat with a deep suntan and see how well you fare ?
This is seriously not Obama's "fault". Before he was elected, they sat him down and said "look, son, here's how it's gonna go..." Number 1 campaign contributor: Goldman Sachs
"Perhaps a hot dog in New Orleans? Right there on the street, even . . ."-- John Kennedy Toole
Oh Fortuna
Repent! The end (of Obama) is near.
Quite agree with your "rock and a hard place" premise, this even as a Glass-Steagall supporter. Reorg will be painful here, too, but at least there'd be a future.
Per "All governments can do is print, borrow, or steal from taxpayers" I would suggest a read of Alexander Hamilton's letter to George Washington in defense of the Bank of the United States. The founders had it together. The present crop? Unrecognizable.
I like to think of it as more of an up shit creek without a paddle situation.
Or maybe more of an up shit creek in an airboat going full throttle in the wrong direction.
Listening to Barry today shows me he is ignoring the Elephant in the room...out of control spending, massive fraud in DC and Wall Street and unregulated instruments like derivatives.
But really, who cares, as long as the Bank CEOs take home another year of record high Bonuses......
Scylla and Charybdis has been done. From a poem posted anonymously back in November 200
The immortal Bard once wrote “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune'. ‘Tis with some sorrow I must inform you, that ye are not in that tide. The fleet, it seems, is firmly captured in a current leading inescapably into the straits of Scylla and Charybdis. The winds are dead calm; the breeze ye feel is from the speed of the ships as they be drawn ever closer to near certain disaster.
Some of ye have come to your commissions through promises of austerity and pecuniary restraint. It is to be hoped that none, including the Great Admiral O’ himself, will try to forcibly restrain you from exercising your duties as ye see fit. His engineers, Ben, and Tim, have spent and spread much canvas; aye, fast as it could be weaved and stitched; to slow this approach to calamity. Although causing a drift to port, and a weaker helm, their efforts have also provided time and means for Officers, many Benefactors, some Crew, and no few of their first class, passenger friends; to prepare for whatever may befall.
Aye, ‘tis certain unfortune that the sails and spinnakers face the bows of the ships instead of the sterns; but who in the long line of former Admirals and Officers could have known what great hazards lay ahead, or how to prepare. They surely cannot be blamed; for they faced each, their own tribulations, and for reasons deemed, at the time, good cause, each did take this course.
Behold now, to starboard bow; the six teeth filled faces of Charybdis’ reef, piercing upward through the treacherous, ragged surf: Unemployment, Declining Income, Bankruptcy, Contraction, Deflation, and Depression. Behold too, off the port bow; Scylla’s’ gaping maw of debt, that voracious, deadly, whirlpool that swallows all. The fleets of many nations are trapped here in this narrow, dangerous passage; all struggling for position.
Ye yearned and fought for a glorious turn at control of the capstans, and bridges; for the helms of power and command. Well, be greatly a feared; for ye have them now;
and here, there be monsters.
The secret societies of the world are at the helm. They are guiding these destructive events. They are guiding all nations to their demise. We didn't vote them in but they have become our dictators.
these downgrades and the ensuing fallout are the best news we could have gotten....the filth has to be flushed before health returns...
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