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Guest Post: A Run On The Global Banking System - How Close Are We?
Guest Post via Gonzalo Lira
Nine weeks after its bankruptcy, the general public still hasn’t quite realized the implications of the MF Global scandal.
My own sense is, this is the first tremor of the earthquake that’s coming to the global financial system. And how the central banks and financial regulators treated the “Systemically Important Financial Institutions” that had exposure to MF Global—to the detriment of the ordinary, blameless customer who got royally ripped off in its bankruptcy—is both the template of how the next financial crisis will be handled, and an accelerator that will make the next crisis happen that much sooner.
So first off, what happened with MF Global?
Simple: It went bankrupt—because it made bad bets on European sovereign debt, by way of leveraging positions 100-to-1. Yeah, I know: Stupid. Anyway, they went bankrupt—which in and of itself is no big deal. It’s not as if it’s the first time in history that a brokerage firm has gone bust. But to me, the big deal in this case was the way the bankruptcy was handled.
Now there are several extremely serious aspects to the MF Global case: Specifically, how their customers were shut out of their brokerage accounts for over a week following the bankruptcy, which made it impossible for those customers to sell out of their positions, and thus caused them to lose serious money; and of course how MF Global was more adept than Mandrake the Magician at making money disappear—about $1 billion, in fact, which still hasn’t turned up. These are quite serious issues which merit prolonged discussion, investigation, prosecution, and ultimately jailtime.
But for now, I want to discuss one narrow aspect of the MF Global bankruptcy: How authorities (mis)handled the bankruptcy—either willfully or out of incompetence—which allowed customer’s money to be stolen so as to make JPMorgan whole.
From this one issue, it seems clear to me that we can infer what will happen when the next financial crisis hits in the nearterm future.
Brokerage firms hold clients’ money in what are known as segregated accounts. This is the money that brokerage firms hold for when a customer makes a trade. If a brokerage firm goes bankrupt, these monies are never touched—because they never belonged to the firm, and thus are not part of its assets.
Think of segregated accounts as if they were the content in a safety deposit box: The bank owns the vault—but it doesn’t own the content of the safety deposit boxes inside the vault. If the bank goes broke, the customers who stored their jewelry and pornographic diaries in the safe deposit boxes don’t lose a thing. The bank is just a steward of those assets—just as a brokerage firm is the steward of those customers’ segregated accounts.
But when MF Global went bankrupt, these segregated accounts—that is, the content of those safe deposit boxes—were taken away from their rightful owners—that is, MF Global’s customers—and then used to pay off other creditors: That is, JPMorgan.
(The mechanics of how this was done are interesting, but insanely complicated, and ultimately not relevant to this discussion. To grossly simplify, MF Global pledged customer assets to JPMorgan, in a process known as rehypothecation—customer assets which MF Global did not have a right to. Needless to say, JPMorgan covered its ass legally. Ethically? Morally? Black as night.)
This was seriously wrong—and this is the source of the scandal: Rather than being treated as a bankruptcy of a commodities brokerage firm under subchapter IV of the Chapter 7 bankruptcy law, MF Global was treated as an equities firm (subchapter III) for the purposes of its bankruptcy.
Why does this difference of a single subchapter matter? Because in a brokerage firm bankruptcy, the customers get their money first—because after all, it’s theirs—while in an equities firm bankruptcy, the customers are at the end of the line.
In the case of MF Global, what should have happened was for all the customers to get their money first. Then everyone else—including JPMorgan—would have picked over the remaining scraps. And the monies MF Global had already pledged to JPMorgan? They call it clawback for a reason.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which handled the bankruptcy, should have done this—but instead, the Merc was more concerned with making JPMorgan whole than with protecting the money that rightfully belonged to MF Global’s 40,000 customers.
Thus these 40,000 MF Global customers had their money stolen—there’s no polite way to characterize what happened. And this theft was not carried out by MF Global—it was carried out by the authorities who were charged with handling the firm’s bankruptcy.
These 40,000 customers were not Big Money types—they were farmers who had accounts to hedge their crops, individuals owning gold (like Gerald Celente—here’s his account of what happened to him)—
—in short, ordinary investors. Ordinary people—and they got screwed by the regulators, for the sake of protecting JPMorgan and other big fry who had exposure to MF Global.
That, in a nutshell, is what happened.
Now, what does this mean?
It means that nobody’s money is safe. It means that regulators care more about protecting the so-called “Systemically Important Financial Institutions” than about protecting Ordinary Joe investors. It means that, when crunchtime comes, central banks and government regulators will allow SIFI’s to get better, and let the Ordinary Joes get fucked.
So far, so evil—but here comes the really troubling part: It is an open secret that there are more paper-assets than there are actual assets. The markets are essentially playing musical chairs—and praying that the music never stops. Because if it ever does—that is, if there is ever a panic, where everyone decides that they want their actual asset instead of just a slip of paper—the system would crash.
And unlike with fiat currency, where a central bank can print all the liquidity it wants, you can’t print up gold bullion. You can’t print up a silo of grain. You can’t print up a tankerful of oil.
Now, question: When is there ever a panic? When is there ever a run on a financial system?
Answer: When enough participants no longer trust the system. It is the classic definition of a tipping point. It’s not that all of the participants lose faith in the system or institution. It’s not even when most of the participants lose faith: Rather, it’s when a mere some of the participants decide they no longer trust the system that a run is triggered.
And though this is completely subjective on my part—backed by no statistics except scattered anecdotal evidence—but it seems to me that MF Global has shoved us a lot closer to this theoretical run on the system.
As I write this, a lot of investors whom I know personally—who are sophisticated, wealthy, and not at all the paranoid type—are quietly pulling their money out of all brokerage firms, all banks, all equity firms. They are quietly trading out of their paper assets and going into the actual, physical asset.
Note that they’re not trading into the asset—they’re simply exchanging their paper-asset for the real thing.
Why? MF Global.
“The MF Global scandal has made it clear that the integrity of the system has disappeared,” said a good friend of mine, Tuur Demeester, who runs Macrotrends, a Dutch-language newsletter out of Brugge. “The banks are insolvent, the governments are insolvent, and all that’s left is for the people to realize what’s going on—and that will start a panic.”
He hit it on the head: Some of the more sophisticated people—like Tuur, like some of my acquaintances, (like myself, frankly)—have realized that the MF Global scandal means that there is no safety for any paper investment: The integrity of the systems has been completely shattered. If in the face of one medium-sized brokerage firm going under, the regulators will openly allow ordinary people to be ripped off for the sake of protecting the so-called “Systemically Important Financial Institutions”—in this case JPMorgan—what will happen if there is a system-wide run? What if two or three MF Globals happen simultaneously?
Will they protect the citizens’ money? Or will they protect the “Systemically Important Financial Institutions”?
I think we know the answer.
And I think we all know the answer to the question of whether there will be crisis flashpoint in the near-term future: After all, as Demeester pointed out, all the banks and all the governments are broke.
Thus it’s only a matter of time before they come for your money.
At SPG, we’ve been putting together Scenarios for other black swan events which are becoming increasingly likely: What to do if the eurozone breaks up, what to do if you have to leave America, what to do if there is an Israeli-Iranian war, what to do if there is forced dollar devaluation, and so on.
Now, because of this open kleptocracy and cronyism being shown by the financial authorities in the wake of the MF Global bankruptcy, we’ve been obliged to put together a new Scenario, devoted exclusively to preparing for a run on the markets: What to do in order to protect your assets from regulatory malfeasance, if there is a system-wide MF Global-type breakdown and a subsequent run on the entire financial system.
And there will be such a run on the system: It’s only a matter of time. In fact, the handling of the MF Global affair has sped up the timeframe for this run on the system, because the forward-edge players—such as Demeester, myself, and my other acquaintances who understand the implications of the bankruptcy—realize that the regulators will side with the banksters, and not the ordinary investors: So we are preparing accordingly.
Once there is a full-on panic, anyone with money in the system will lose at least a big chunk of it, in one of two ways, or a combination thereof:
• One, the firms—commodities brokerage firms, equity firms, investment banks and commercial banks—will not allow people to withdraw the totality of their money, and/or they will put a withdrawal cap of some sort, enforced by the central banks and other regulatory bodies. (Like they did in Argentina.)
• Two, the central banks will “provide liquidity”—that is, print money—while simultaneously declaring a banking holiday to, quote, “calm the markets”. During that bank holiday, the currency will be devalued by double digits—which will mean that your cash holdings will essentially be taxed to save the banksters—again. (Like they did in Argentina.)
Thus apart from proving that the United States really is Argentina with nukes, the MF Global bankruptcy has proven something crucial: The central banks and government regulators have completely fallen into the trap of confusing the welfare of the “Systemically Important Financial Institutions” with the welfare of the system itself. They don’t seem to realize that the SIFI’s are actors within the system—not the system itself.
We critics of the current, corrupt state of affairs also sometimes confuse the SIFI’s with the system itself, whenever we say, “The whole system is corrupt!”
But the system is not corrupt—it’s the regulators and SIFI’s who are corrupt. If nothing else, the handling of the MF Global bankruptcy has proven that, once and for all. That’s why we’re pulling out our money now—while we still can.
Because once the general public catches on to what we already know . . . oh boy.
If you’re interested, check out the SPG preview page. The various Scenarios I discussed above (”When the Euro Breaks”, ”Exit America”, ”An Israeli-Iranian War”, etc.) are currently available. The Scenario discussing how to protect assets from a system-wide run will appear on January 20.
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Close, bitchez
Gonzo had an interesting podcast with Turd the other month. I respect a lot of his views, but his love of Fiat is a little weird. How can we have financial stability when everyone and anyone is allowed to create debt/credit ad infinum? I understand the flip side, that resources should be on an even playing field, but that is not the reality of things. It is not like people will not share either. Still, a good podcast.
TFMR Podcast #2 - Gonzalo Lira:http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/podcast/2727/tfmr-podcast-2-gonzalo-lira
How can we have financial stability when people are willing to provide the excuse of "incompetence" when a quick perusal of the facts clearly show how everything has been gamed for maximum destruction of the little guy in order to make JPM whole.
There are times when uncertainties should be stated as such to allow a person to consider their likelihood. This however, is not one of them. Instead, it is a obfuscating "critique" lacking a critical focus.
Eighth biggest bankruptcy in history, and golly gee, somehow it ended up in a place where it didn't belong, which means that the looting can continue unabated.
The only incompetence I see here is Mr. Lira's. (or am I wrong, and his support of JPM is actually intentional?)
Peter Schiff interviews Ann Barnhardt Dec 21, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18A698QQex0&feature=g-all-lik&context=G26a3140FAAAAAAAAIAA
We're an oil shock away from a global bank run. And we're a Strait of Hormuz closure away from an oil shock. And now we "know" Iran did 9/11, we're pretty close to provoking them into closing the Strait of Hormuz.
http://azizonomics.com/2011/12/23/iran-did-911/
Neocons are like zombies, if you don't shoot them in the head they just keep on coming.
It is better to make one contribution to Ron Paul 2012 than to curse the Neocons.
https://secure.ronpaul2012.com
I just made another one before coming here.
I encourage everyone else to do the same.
Been making contributions for the past two elections, its good to see finely pay itself off, he is who we need now.
Roadhazard, I am dismayed that there were even five neocons perusing this site to vote you down.
But your comment was entirely appropriate --- force is the only thing that neocons fundamentally understand.
kak
i am shocked that i find myself agreeing with you completely............cough
Thank you?
Don't be dismayed.
The attention is like the shill attacks on Ron Paul; it means that ZH has become sufficiently influential that paid shills must be deployed against it. Expect the trend to continue until the collapse or ZH and its kindred sites are shut down.
Seriously Spiral Es.
The Iran did 9/11 meme would be the cruellest cut of them all.
ori
I could make up a story and say that my dear old Aunt Gertrude had a ton of pirate gold that she'd somehow inherited and had hidden in the barn...
In 5...4...3...2... we'd learn that it was "Aunt Gertrude" who was responsible for 9/11...
According to Gonzalo Lira:
« But the system is not corrupt ... »
Ha!
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/12/unprecedented-fraud-toothless-watchdogs/
I have to disagree with the claim that the regulators are the problem. The systematically important financial institutions ARE the system and the regulators know it. They are charged with protecting the integrity of the system and they know if JPM goes down the system goes with it. By screwing the investors they may have planted a crop of mistrust to be harvested later but the alternative was for a more immediate collapse. My guess is we were closer to the abyss than we think. It's commonly believed that in the Yom Kippur war when the Golan Heights were about to be overrun the Israelis had Nukes loaded on planes and on the runways ready to to take off. Later in the war when the Israelis were across the Suez Canal and trucking toward the pyramids the Soviets had paratroopers loaded into transports, the US was on DEfCon 2 and the world was minutes away from being vaporized. I think that's how close we got to a financial meltdown and the regulators decided on a short term fix by throwing the investors under the bus to buy some more can-kicking time. I doubt they were clueless about the effects of their actions, they just wanted to delay armageddon. In their eyes it was the right thing to do because JPM was more important than the integrity of the market. After all preserving the integrity of the market is a bit like preserving the virtue of a two buck prostitute.
Dishonesty by government is ok if it is to cover the previous dishonesty that got us here.
If government doesnt abide by and enforce the law then no one has reason to abide by the law
it is not true that the non bankruptcy of the sifi is crucial for systemic financial functioning. although more complex than smaller institutions, these firms can be reorganized in an orderly fashion. the big lie is that they can't and so must be bailed out endlessly. not only is it not true, its continued belief/operation is what prevents organic recovery (see japan, last two decades plus). as in europe, banks will not loan money to each other without counterparty transparency. for more detail please see http://www.hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc111003.htm
oh and regulators are so part of the problem.
If you're saying that the regulators understand the needs and wants of their owners, then I agree with you. This is a serious problem we must over come. The regulators, like the media like the courts are captured, ... unfortunately. Kind of obviously at this point.
I plussed you for good grammar and spelling, but your line of reasoning has a hole.
Your argument implies, without actually claiming it, that financial meltdown is like a nuclear war. This is an unsupported leap. In the latter, there is actual death and destruction; in the former, none. In a pinch, a government can simply default and tell its citizens that their debts (especially those owed to foreigners) are cancelled. This has been done many times in history, for example, Argentina. Even the US in 1933 simply declared gold contracts to be null; no big deal. The same could be done with, say, derivatives. Once a major country does it, the others will likely have to follow.
preserving the integrity of the market is a bit like preserving the virtue of a two buck prostitute
If you're an investor and you don't trust the market, why would you participate? It's even worse than a casino card game, where at least you know the odds against you. Of course, this begs the question of why so many players are still in the markets, to which I have ideas but no ready answer.
How dare you compare a two-dollar whore to this market! Show some respect to the whore, she's more honest.
that makes more sense than most of the other BS reasoning ive heard thus far...
Who is the regulator? The CME is the (self) regulator with 100% auditing responsibility. CFTC can't step in, unless there is evidence for probable cause regarding Regulation.
Rameirez(?) and Kuch were the two assigned CME auditors, for the sole purpose of balancing out the Daily Client Seg Funds statement for Oct 26. Noting that any statement from Oct 27, 28, 29 had no meaning, without the the 10/26 statement reconciled. After 4 working days, they were sent home Oct 31 at 3AM, with the 10/26 statements still unresolved.
They were sent home after a clear anomaly of information flow. All info on the unbalanced 10/26 funds had been coming up from those 2 auditors and their supervisor, to all Partys' Upper Management. Which was mostly hunches and nothing.
Suddenly Sunday night, Sr Management from MFGI walks into the CME's top guy on site, and tells him $700MM from the Restricted Fund Client ledger had been transfered to MFGI's Operating Ledger on the 27,28,29th. Yet they had absolutely no intimacy with the data in the audit go on in IT, where the CME Auditors were asking IT to run data retrievals. At their level, think how easily that could have been seen. Summary Funds in the Chart of Accounts.
Apparenty Daily Client Seg Reports are like horseshoes and grenades, if its within +/- $100MM or 2, what-the-fuck. And they had spent the W/E, hoping some plausable bullshit would come out of the reports, so the IB deal would go through with some accomodation on their part, (which they would still have to pull out of their ass)
The prior week as MFGI's revolving credit Facilty manager JPM is watching MFGI running it down to 0, and getting commitments, would JPM get those commitments without mentioning they didn't want any of their major clients getting fucked in MFGI deals which JPM had got them involved?
JPM was already running the show, and picking the winners and losers, before Oct 31. Giddens just showed up to make sure the already executed state-of-affairs, couldn't be reversed.
BTW, if i wanted to make sure the money would never be found... Out of the FBI (whose chicago office has Patrick Fitzgerald, the last honest/capable man in the DOJ), who can make a request for assistance of the GAO's audit-devils... or... the CFTC who has no people left with investigative experience. Led by Julie Sommers whose only Lead investigator experience is comparable to shutting down a 3 Card Monty game in wheelchairs on 42nd and 6th, and BTW2, has never run a criminal Investigation, only cases for civil complaint....
I'd put the CFTC in charge of inding the $700MM,..er..$600..er... $1.2B.
The only better no-brainer, would be to put Mary Shapiro in charge. IRRC, Corzine might be the only ex-CEO of Goldman she hasn't given a blowjob. He was in politics, when she was in the Chair at FINRA, and Handmaiden to the Primary dealers and Investment houses.
It's true, the system itself is not corrupt. There are rules and regulations and laws that do not allow the type of theft that happened at MF. The problem is corzine and anyone in charge of accounting at MF along with a bunch of the SEC/CFTC/NFA all need to do the perp walk straight into club fed with the nastiest of the nasties. The laws only work if they are enforced and there are a whole lotta people not doing their jobs. There is alot of cleaning that needs to be done--from the top to the bottom-straight into the pokey-in front of a web cam so the rest of the wanna be scum bags can get a look at what happens.
Tipping Point: the amount of times one allows for betrayals, lies, misdeeds, slights and insanity before they get the fuck out! Because by the time the theft occurs we are past the specific tipping point and headed toward The Great Purge = systemic collapse and/or your accounts cleared out.
MF and especially the regulators are despicable. In essence, the regulators ultimately allow for this. And the insanity plea more at excuse is at best moot and at worst a horror-comic-show.
The only question: How much pain and suffering are you ready to endure?
his love of Fiat is a little weird
You really need to read FOFOA, who argues that fiat is for spending, gold is for wealth preservation across time and place. This is not easy reading, and there's a lot of it. One of its many lessons is that fiat has a place in the current ecosystem; just don't put your savings into it. Even (or especially if, as JS Mill would say) you don't agree, you still need to understand the argument.
Trying to unite the two functions (medium of exchange and store of value) in a society with universal suffrage is doomed to failure. A gold standard (especially a gold-coin standard) will be under constant assault, and cannot hold during wartime (witness the UK post-Napoleon, the US post-civil war, and Europe post-WW1). It will also be the target of easy-money advocates (Bryan's 'Cross of Gold' speech).
"During that bank holiday, the currency will be devalued by double digits—which will mean that your cash holdings will essentially be taxed to save the banksters—again. (Like they did in Argentina.)"
..........................................
Mr Lira... What will the currency be devalued against? Until you answer this thorny question you are saying little.
1 a devaluation against other fiats will cause other soverigns to devalue, so nothing is accomplished.
2 a devaluation against oil, gold, or a basket of commodities would mean a pegging of a fiat against a commodity or basket of commodities = a difficult to manage scheme when all soverigns are attempting to devalue their paper.
When soverigns had currencies backed by gold, devaluation was a simple matter. It's not so simple when fiat is backed by 'full faith and credit'.
Perhaps 'full faith and credit' of soverigns is to be devalued?
You pose a difficult question. As I understand your question "if everyone is racing to the bottom, what fixed reference point is there to judge the winner?" Any designated goalposts are strictly provisional.
The only thing that comes to mind is 'non-fiat', that is, the collective actual capital of the world, whatever that is. Fiats will suffer accelerating velocity (as everyone hurries to pass the hot potato) for a short time, then cease to be accepted for anything that is non-fiat. The fiat decline will not be a continuous function, like 1/x, that degrades gracefully toward zero.
GoldBricker...
While many throw around the term 'devalue', few attempt to sketch out the details of devaluation.
Once we take a hard look at 'devaluing' a currency that is based on nothing but faith, it becomes obvious that devaluation of fiat is next to impossible unless faith in that fiat is lost... and then the 'devaluation' is total. There exists faith or no faith... not partial faith.
When we look at FX pairs what are we really looking at? One fiat is judged by market makers (I use this term loosely) to have more purchasing power than another. But, purchasing power in what?... oil? cereal grains? PMs? pork bellies? automobiles?...
What all central banks know is that the West is enamored with fiat. Even during the Weimar hyper inflation few working class Germans complained about the loss of purchasing power of the currency... The workers simply shouted for more fiat because prices were rising rapidly. This lesson was not lost on CBs. Certainly, at some point faith in a hyper inflating fiat will be lost but we are not there yet... not even close. Faith in the dollar is not lost but it could be if the Fed/gov continue to print massive amounts of fiat with no plan (that I can discern) to drain liquidity from the system if inflation begins to rage.
All I am saying is that authors that use the term 'devalue the currency' should be required to define exactly how that will be accomplished.
Just to nitpick, I think it is true on the micro scale that an individual has or does not have faith in a particular currency; there is not an inbetween. However, the individual's faith (or lack thereof) does not necessarily determine whether faith (macro) is lost in the currency... it is only after the macro determination that a currency dies.
In other words, I think many people have already lost faith in numerous currencies... (preppers, bugs, et al)... it's just that these people have yet to reach critical mass... whether they're (micro) early adopters of a new paradigm or speculative losers depends largely on the herd (macro).
However, I think the snowball has started rolling down the mountain so to speak.
I agree on the devaluation aspect, but for a little different reason... in that it is virtually impossible to determine the level of devaluation, if any, when the measuring sticks (e.g. gold) can be manipulated via fiat. As a result, anyone claiming devaluation has to state the specific commodity or item it is being devalued against... (because it is a shot in the dark as to what the "unmanipulated" price would be).
Let me answer the devaluation question, from a Joe 6 pack perspective.
Lets say Joe has 100 k in the bank, enough to buy a modest house somewhere in suburban america.
A black swan event occurs, banks close and printing ensues.
Joe realizes that his money is at risk, he tries to withdraw it but the bank is closed, FDIC gets involved, about a month later, Joe finally has access to his money - its still 100k, just like it was before the black swan occurred.
however the same modest house somewhere in suburban america is now worth 150 k. Joes money experienced devaluation. The devaluation will ocur simultaneously relative to other currencies as well as phisical assets.
Gonzalo Lira has been a leading contrarian indicator up until now.
http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/the-euro-crisis-and-t...
Obama To Ask For Increase in Debt Ceiling of $1.2 Trillion With No End In Sighthttp://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/obama-to-ask-for-incr...
First world problems..
The bible says something about those that are first will be last now doesn't it
Yea, well the history channel says the anunnaki want the gold when they come back too. You got that counter-party risk factored in cause that sounds like the mother of all black swan events?..
The way I heard it, the Anunnaki want ham.
long pork ham?
I could go for some ham...
Let them eat squid
haha, reminds me of How To Serve Man from that old Twilight Zone episode.
Awwwwe.....sweet....I love that "Earthling Cook-Book" episode
TZ was my favorite show growing up
I had seen EVERY episode of the original series, multiple times, by the time I was in junior high school.\
One of my favorites, though: "You are obsolete!"
I thought that was Bob "the frog" Dylan?
;-)
ori
I'm guessing the banksters could care less what the bible says.
Third world problem
One hundred trillion zimbabwe dollars:
http://i.imgur.com/dNXNt.jpg
lmao.. that's like how many stars are in the galaxy.
You think kim Jong-un is worried about a credit rating? You think China gives a shit what Moody's or Fitch has to say? You think the highlander in New Guinea's life would be adversely affected if the EU or the US disappeared tomorrow? There might be more lamborghinis brought into this world everyday, but that doesn't mean it really matters what the american middle class has to say. The third world never had the social nets, they can handle the heat.
At a Christmas Party, a 80 year old lady and I were having a conversation...sadly about the state of 'things'. She remembering WW11 in England, and now living in America, she can't remember when there was no war going on...(maybe Clinton)...I couldn't either. Some 20-sometings, maybe 8, sat across from us and joked that " if there ain't an I-phone app for it, it doesn't matter and we aren't interested".
There you have it....American Middle class thinking 2011....worthless at its best.
There are only 200-400 billion stars in the Milky Way.
And there are only 200-300 billion galaxies in the universe! but who is counting?
all being sucked into a trillion mile wide black hole as we speak (or should I say, SPOKE)...
For all we know, none of the goddamn stars out there even exist anymore... They may have burned out long ago & the light (or lack thereof) hasn't reached us yet...
That's always the laugh I get when I hear about "reaching out for the stars" & space travel... The joke would be on us if we finally achieved the technology to explore & fucking nothing was there anymore...
Good stuff GL. I have been saying for years that the "money" has already been vaporized. It is just the matter of recognition (the tipping point). In essence, the requirements for a classical hyperinflation (or hyperdeflation) have already been met. The trick was that the parabolic (exponential) portion of the curve was realized in the shadows rather than in traditional money supply.
Pharmacuetical companies are already well prepared, Pharmaceutical companies are cooking up a prescription painkiller that’s far more powerful than Vicodin, the Associated Press reports. Bullish for 2012 stock market
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/hydrocodone-painkillers-10-times-stronger-vicodin-readied-drug-companies-article-1.997162
and like oxy, I'm sure they'll tell us the risks
They could not even get the names of the drugs right. Oxycontin is oxycodone, vicodin is hydrocodone. Both are sold by several other names.
It is 10 times stronger than vicodin cause it will be a controlled release pill. 10x more drug would be a better description, but they must be scary first and foremost.
BTW they already have opiates that are 10x stronger than hydrocodone. Well, 40x stronger than morphine. (not sure of how they are rated)
It is called Fentanyl. And I think there is even a Fentanyl derivative that is stronger. They used it in the Chechen siege in the Moscow theater. Killed everyone when they pumped aerosolized drug in the HVAC.
pods
Thiak it is called remifentanyl.
I used to use a synthetic opiate similar to fentanyl called etorphine (M99) to tranquilize large wildlife. Very scary. I had to always have the antagonist (M 50 50) drawn and in a syringe in case of even skin contact with a small amount let alone an accidental injection from the dart gun. We don't use it anymore since we have somewhat less dangerous and more effective alternatives.
Several ohmefentanyl analogues appear to be some of the strongest mu receptor agonists available to date. Also see the compound etonitazene as well as the others mentioned in this thread. The strength of these compounds precludes their usage as pharmaceuticals-- proper dosage control isn't feasible.
The pill mills here in FL must be overjoyed by this latest development. The narcotic pain clinic for cash business model has exploded down here. Local media says FL prescribes 10X the oxycodone per year than all other 49 states combined.
Narcotics Bitchez! Come and get em here in the Sunshine State!
Y'know, bullshit kneejerk "bad drug!" responses like that are why docs are undertreating chronic pain; and why the DEA is now making docs write scrips via computers that link in to DEA 'puters. Sheeple line up to throw stones at the drug boogeyman, just like the teevee tells them to, and the State gets larger and more powerful every day. And for those out there just itching to jump in with sad sad stories of how cousin Susy or little Jimmy down the block became crack whores & methheads, kindly note that "drugs" have been illegal for 95 fucking YEARS now, and that didn't stop Susy/Jimmy, or even slow 'em down, did it. Now suppose Susy or Jimmy has cancer, or some other kind of chronic pain, and can't get enough painkiller to stop it, thanks to assholes moaning about "pill mills". Suppose it was YOUR kid screaming in pain. Think that might change your mind? A drug strong enough to stop their pain *exists*, but it's *illegal*, see, 'cause it's too STRONG, and people might abuse it. SO sorry! Tough luck, kid, but we must stop the scourge of full-grown adults ingesting things of their own free will. Here, bite on this .50 cal bullet - that'll help!
The drug situation is *exactly* what it was 30 years ago when I was a punk kid, or 30 years before that: every high-school kid in the USA not thought to be a narc can get ahold of ANY drug he/she wants in 72 hours or less, if they've got the cash. EVERYbody knows a guy who knows a guy. Think about that for a second: they've been illegal for almost a century, but they're still ridiculously easy to get. Wonder why that is....It's actually harder to get cigarettes, which the drug warriors never seem to mention when they trot out their new milspec toys & hardware. The only thing that *has* changed in 95 years is the size & scope & weaponry of the L.E. and regulatory bureaucracies that feed off this. Stiffer sentencing, drug tests every 3 minutes, RICO....hasn't done a fucking thing to change the basic fact of human nature. People are gonna drink and smoke and take drugs, even if they're illegal, even if they know it's bad for them.
In 1933, the government was grown-up enough to admit its "war" on alcohol was a miserable failure, whose only success was in turning Americans into "criminals" - so they gave up on it. Much to the fury of the puritans seeking to outlaw human nature, the world didn't end. One would like to hope that someday, (maybe after we hit the 100 year anniversary of the drug war!), we'll do the same with drugs - but based on comments like the one above, I doubt it.
I was serious VP. If you want some narcotic pain killers, come on down to sunny FL. We have plenty available for cash. Plan your narcotics, fun & sun vacation now.
We are not fighting a war on prescription drugs in FL, we are actively distributing them for cash. This is one of the fastest growing industries in the state. They say we supply most of the country now.
Come trade your soon to be worthless fiat for narcotics. BTW, don't hold the paper prescriptions, get the physical.
great post man. you know what's goin down.I could add to it, but why, NO ones listening.
As a physician it was irritating to listen to the 10X BS. Oxycodone and hydrocodone are Roughly equivalent. Oxycodone for some mysterious reason was given a C2 designation implying it is more 'dangerous'. It is not...about equal. ANY drug that is given in a higher strength (ie more miligrams) will be more potent. Just like a double scotch is more potent that a single shot. What is new is that FINALLY a hydrocodone without Tylenol (acetominophen) is coming out. Due to the large amount for Tylenol in the hydrocodone drugs there was a limit to how many pills could be given. Now one will be able to write hydrocodone instead of HAVING to write Oxycodone for patients who need a higher dose.
All this shit is confused due the government meddling. What they touch turns bad. and they touch everything. The feds remind me of a drunk at an accident scene: "stand back everyone...I got, I got , I got dish covered"...twenty years later they have run quality out of town and prices through the roof...thank goodness I'm old. I stay in businees for my staff and because it is fun. If I was doing it for money I'd be a sad case. Please do not encourage the government to help us in ANY way.
"The last official act of any outgoing government is (fill in the blank)."
C'mon, class, this is an easy one!
to beg for mercy.
Giving everyone what they want = Making all trillionaires.
Steal everything you can get your fingers on.
to move to Denver, Colorado and rename yourself 'Central Intelligence Agency'
and then to direct world operations from there and also to build yourself a swastika shapped 'New World Airport' and name it DIA in esoteric Satanic Sabbatean-Frankist inversion blasphemy against God.
What? I'm not correct?
this has already been done.
remember to put the toilet seat down
Gonzo, you just don't get it. You still believe in the shit fairy and get high on it's farts. "The system isn't corrupt? Just the regulators" (paraphrased)
Please, don't drive or use machinery after inhaling.
The general public doesn't know what a CDS is. The general public owns little stock. The general public is underwater.
The general pubilc voted George Bush in to office for 2 terms.
Once the general public hears what happened, they'll go switch on Dancing with the stars while eating a McDonalds happy meal.
You overestimate the general public.
The "general public" is replete with mentally deficients and brainless twits who believe *their* city is great because *their* sports team is better than any other.
Well, one certainly can't credit it to good government!
A better example might be all of the parents who believe the school system is a failure, with the exception of the world-class, award winning school their children attend. All because a sign out front says so! (not to mention, the alternative is unthinkable for most)
That's funny about the sign out front. I had to move around a little growing up and my parents were all ooo ahh about the new school after one move being in the top 10 in the country (and they did have a sign proclaiming such out front) and I said but, they all say that. I was deemed a pain in the ass.
A country with universal suffrage is like a house governed by its nursery.
~OVB
But wait a minute! MY city's sports team REALLY IS better than yours!!!
Batterycharged is not general public, he fucking special. Yea we are all fucking special because we -insert answer here.. Whatever. Cheer up!
Those of us who signed brokerage account agreements got the paperwork out after MF Global blew up and read the fine print. The general public may not have figured it out yet, but anyone who has a 401K, an IRA, a mutual fund, or a pension was signed up with exactly the same kind of agreement somewhere in the chain. If they didn't sign it, their asset manager did. They'll figure it out when their quarterly statement arrives with a big zero at the bottom. But these recognition points always take a little longer than you would expect.
I'm waiting for the new year so that the tax implications of my getting more of what's mine into my own hands doesn't have to be faced for another 15 and a half months. I wonder how many other people are doing the same thing. There might be some very interesting goings on in January 2012.
priceless R2S +1.5 trillion
When they wake up, whoa. that is the x in the equation incalculable.
..."You overestimate the general public."
Sad, but true, batterycharged. I can count on one hand the people I talk with that have even a glimmer of a clue as to what's actually happening, much less care whether they have a clue or not.
It's funny, any mention of any of this is still mostly met with blank stares.
I think that most of the general public experiences normalcy bias, and some of those move up the ladder until cognitive dissonance kicks in, then back down to unconciousness...
"They don't know, that they don't want to know, that they don't know."
- beachdude
You are correct UNTIL the EBT cards stop working. Then it will be a zombie Apocalypse. People will be looking at YOU for their next meal.
In 1999 they estimated there were about 40 million American adults who were functionally illiterate--couldn't balance a checkbook, barely able to read and write.
Apparently, a high percentage of our Congressmen are representatives of that subset.
But they can vote!
so democracy is actually idiocracy? haha, I knew it.
beep beep, I'm waiting for Jan 1 to pull my money out and stiff the system
For what's been happening over the last months, you may just be the last one out, to turn off the lights before the public becomes aware. People I talked with in the Summer now get it and they're telling people which now get it near instantly; the crashcading not far off. rainbow bright frns being exchanged massively for monetary stores of value currently. Extended bankstering holidaze upon all before the panic. goons know the people are catching on and have all the numbers in outflows of the corrupted regulators bankstering system, fleeing out in billions to soon trillions, which won't be allowed by the 4th reich. You wait until the new year and don't start now, you're walking a beach where the tide keeps going out and following it to the intrigue of your own financial death. Financial Tsunami warning has been blaring since mofo glowballs 9 weeks now. You're still on the beach, way down miles and miles from high financial ground with the rest of the lemmings to get drowned.
+10 for "crashcading" alone.
I started pulling out in 2010. 401k rules limit my withdrawals, but I'll make my last withdrawal in Jan., 2012.
Pulled everything out in 2006. Wasn't much, but I actually got to use it.
I can't imagine still having money in the system?
Been out of the corrupt regulators thieving system since Fall 2012. Oh what a feeling and lose no sleep. Cash'n carry system coming and the spending our way to prosperity through debt implodes. Completely contrary to sound monetary principle. If you want more out of life, swim deeper under water and breath in the ecstasy. Lemming don't have to cliff jump anymore just swim deeper. It all end the same place. Monetary death; self destruction at the least.
So, you're a time traveler then. Can you tell me what CRM stock will be doing in Feb 2012?
hhhhmmmm let me think, the mattress or the bank......
...or Troy Ounces?
They both pay the same rate of return. And the odds are better that you get your money returned from the mattress.
I am sick of these f'n articles. The S&P is up right now. Italian bond auction coming up. Nobody gives a shit. 7%...8%...whatever.
"Nine weeks after its bankruptcy, the general public still hasn’t quite realized the implications of the MF Global scandal".
That sums it up. They should have just left it at that.
Amen
It absolutely kills me to say that you're right.
It kills me to essentially say that Robo is right but he probably is. I think if you are relying on the general public to "wake up" it's not going to happen. It's just not going to happen. I just tried explaining to someone how they can never raise interest rates because of how it would affect the interest payments on our debt. The person looked at me and said "but when things get better they can raise them". They then changed the subject. I told them what happens when you use a smile for an umbrella but they were already not listening anymore.
please let them sleep a little longer... I'm not ready for the SHTF, and neither is anyone else here... I don't care how much gold you have, this is going to be real dangerous...
Yea, but one of these times it will matter. All this delay, I just think it's an attempt to catch as many people as possible off guard.
Nobody gives a shit. What your sick of.
That was profound.
Indeed. This guy's good...
On a long enough timeline we are all right at least once.
Here's where GL lost me...
"It means that nobody’s money is safe..."
---
Nobody's "MONEY" is "MONEY"... (There - fixed it)... If you believe that MONEY are, in aggregate, are a bunch of little rectangular pieces of printed cotton (that are not backed by, or redeemable IN, anything)... & if you believe that a cartel is allowed to print up an infinite supply of these at their own whim, & skim your labor & productivity towards their own enrichment...
Is THAT what you call "money"?
Absolutely! Inflation will get what the banks don't steal. So it's PM's if you can hold it. But that won't help you with your income stream, no matter the source.
And the rest... as they say... is HISTORY...
I'm not aware that the Romans printed any "PAPER" currency (though they do have an extravagant record of having diluted the sestertius & denartius)...
Nonetheless... If one were to dig up a sestertuis or denarius TODAY (as opposed to any mythological piece of paper that some Emperor might have circulated)... There might be some value in it...
"Money" (for the last 5,000 years, in western culture), is what the Jews tell you it is, so they can exchange you paper certificates off of it whilst squirreling your posted collateral off into some deep underground chamber, FAR FROM VIEW from anyone when the day comes to redeem same collateral...
So sad... You're mad...
No, the Romans did not issue any paper currency --- mainly because they did not invent paper in that part of the world until well after the fall of Rome (the Romans did have papyrus, which is a fundamentally different and much more fragile material, but they never even came close to issuing --- or probably even conceiving of --- paper currency, the invention of which came centuries later in totalitarian Mongol China). They were, however, fond of debasing their coins through diluting the silver with base metals; curiously, they never did so with the gold coins, which was the money of the elite and apparently therefore sacrosanct; in fact, Roman authorities went so far as to melt down and remint ALL gold coins (at the official mint in the Temple of Juno Moneta in Rome --- hence the word "money") EVERY TIME they were received by the Imperial treasury, in order to keep them at their full weight.
Note, though, that the Roman minters or authorities NEVER "clipped coins" as is so often repeated by the historically ignorant, that practice being the sole domain of individual "monetary entrepreneurs" who shaved the edges of silver and/or gold coins to remove a thin strip of precious metal before passing them back into circulation --- upon penalty of death if discovered. Bernanke, there is a lesson here for you.
While we are at it let's note that Constantine waltzed into Rome and told the Treasurie, which was run by the Priest class, he knew they did not have the funds to keep Rome rolling and if the Priest class wanted to keep their heads they would let him sack Rome. In return, he built a religion with them. They agreed to have him as their King. Win/win for both sides of the ruling classes (Priest/Warrior).
Yes, indeed, it is entirely possible that Christianity became the favored (if not official) religion in the Roman Empire due to a funding crisis! Constantine's raid on the pagan temples raked in vast amounts of treasure in order to allow him to fund the building of Constantinople, while dealing a fatal blow to the traditional religion of Rome by undercutting the ability of the temples to remain solvent and functioning (yes, they had to pay their taxes too, just like almost everybody else).
Something similar is about to happen now, as the power elite are force feeding islam upon the whole world. It's no coincidence that it literally means....SUBMISSION.
The fiat Kublai Khan used in China is similar to ours in that it was backed by nothing but the will of the invincible (at that time) Mongolian forces. Marco Polo and his uncles saw the end coming in the decline in health of the Emporer and so, got out of Dodge (Beijing) and eventually back to Italy before the SHTF.
AND, the confiscation of gold, silver, jewels and jade were part and parcel of Mongol China's authoritarian fiat currency regime as well. Even foreigners such as Marco Polo (and Ibn Batuta after him) were forced to surrender all precious metals and other portable wealth to the authorities upon entering China, while at least being able to reclaim them upon their departure --- no such option was available to the average Chinese subject, however, who was forced to effectively surrender the value of his savings to the fiat issuers just as we are forced to do so today, and for precisely the same reasons.
PLUS 16+ TRILLION (GOVERNMENT DEBT AS OF DEC. 30TH 2011.) so true dude.
I made a run on the bank a long time ago. Now I only take advantadge of them for the free stuff.
was it a walmart toaster?
Of course, all of this is moot. Not a single person I talked to over the weekend had any clue about MFG, yet most consider themselves "informed, responsible voters." What was funny was that they all kept asking me about SOPA, a divide-and-conquer political tool of the criminal class used to engender those political mandates.
Im out on the third. Three accts. Then it's bonds, bullion, and bullets.
Selling the last of my equities tomorrow (at a loss, but WTH, it'll balance out the gains I made in Apache earlier in the year), and will be out of the casino for good. Not enough money involved to lose sleep over, but it'll feel good anyhow. I feel for folks with money in tax-deferred accts -- will you lose more money in an MFG sitch (rumored haircut ~ 30%) or on the early cash-out penalties, etc.?
FWIW I cashed out my IRA & 401-k in '04 and haven't looked back.
Fortuna favet fortibus....
Viva -- Sager
Gold, silver and lead!
And the brass to hold all that beautiful lead.
Excellent article! It eloquently yet simply explained what happened at MF Global to convey the collusion of those holding financial power over the little guys. It also explains some of the other brokerage firm's warnings to their clients to get out of the markets because their money wasn't safe.
I hadn't understood why, beyond the bankruptcy, this warning was issued. Now it is very clear.
Adding one comment about the whole system being corrupt: It is. This is simply one more example of the "I'm going to do what is best for me regardless of who I crush to get there." This applies to the Chicago Merc, JPM, the regulators, et al. When events make clear no one can be trusted, no one will be trusted and the system devolves into barbarism and brutality.
Ok I get it; the sky is falling, it is all going to crash down around our heads....yet the sky never falls. Now if we don't have a full blown market and fiscal collapse by 12-21-12 ( I think that's the right date), I'll be real interested to read why all this wisdom has gone for naught.
Thunk! Wha? An acorn just hit me on the head,,,is that the sky coming down?
Are you RoboTards autistic twin brother?
Absolutely dead on truth.
Don't believe this aticle, and don't believe me, take it from the horses mouth and listen to Ben Bernanke in the following two speeches:
11/21/2002 heliocopter speech (tool number five)
10/31/2003 Japan speech
He said he'd do what he's done up to this point (QE, Operation Twist, ect.)
And:
Believe it. Comming to an economy near you this merry year of 2012.
PM bugs are going to go through the ringer, and then anyone left holding physical when this happens, almost overnight, will be vindicated.
Smiddy,
Believe your scenario. Question, has all the gold & silver been taken out of the CME & London Exchange?(via things like MFGlobal)
Would belive the Bernake would wait util the PTB have confiscated all PM's they could.
Rump, nobody knows.
This game has a lot more play in it until the end, but my opinion is it will end in 2012.
Unfortunately, if they do what I envision, it will buy a few more years like the 1933 devaluation did. It ran out of steam in 1937.
So, will the 2012 devaluation ramp stocks and put the economy on a sugar buzz until 2016?
My gut reaction is no. There are more derivatives and leverage today than in the 30s. There is also a huge amount of debt that didnt' exist then. That makes all the difference. This time around, I expect a one year sugar buzz from a reset to gold, ramping gold prices, printing like crazy, and gold purchases combined with price targets.
This is Bernanke's game plan, not mine, but I can't believe it will work after two creditor economies (The US in the 30s and Japan in the 90s) tried it and it failed miserably. Things that don't work on a smaller scaler tend to fail when scaled up to a global scale.
I'm not sure the public will react with decisive action when it "catches on." Passivity is rampant. Everyone I try to talk to about this stuff say, "well I know it's corrupt, but what can I do about it?" So I tell them, then it's, "If it all goes down, everybody will be in the same boat," as if it would be somehow immoral to be better prepared than everyone else.
No, I believe the financial/banking system will collapse before the public wakes up (or cares).
And for a bank run and collapse to happen, does the general public even need to be there? Arent there enough sophisticates to be able to pull it off all by themselves?
I really enjoy the coyote.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPyyAV8-avo
He gets knocked down but gets up again, and again.
FYI: I do all my own stunts. Sure it's dangerous, but i like keepin it real, homey.
Me too. It's not really dangerous though, I just have a propellor for a tail.
They are all corrupt, regulators and SIFI http://www.moneynews.com/FinanceNews/SEC-Citigroup- here SEC is protecting THEIR settlement with Citigroup over mortgage fraud (a slap on wrist) and fighting against a "just" settlement. No jail time, just peanut slaps, just like the other banks.
http://www.moneynews.com/FinanceNews/Appeal-bank-america-mortgage/2011/12/27/id/422254 here BOA is trying to "renegotiate" their supposed settlement they already made.
http://www.moneynews.com/FinanceNews/GE-Retail-Banking-MetLife/2011/12/27/id/422245 here GE buys Metlife retail banking so they can "use" customer deposits, smaller than the recent BOA customer deposit "raid".
All this kinda crap happening on a daily basis. How the hell anyone can trust anything anymore is beyond me. Total insanity. My only Xmas wish was for all of this to stop. Dang! I just can't stand it anymore. Time for another holiday drink.
"either willfully or out of incompetence.."
for fuck's sake it was willful.....stop being so stupid....
the rockefeller-mic-yale-cia cabal of mammon worshipping assholes are in the very mode of the grinch working to systematically rape america leaving not even the wire hangers on the wall....
factories, ira, jobs, savings - you name it - are going into their pockets to create a 1 world government because they know best....
there are huge banks in california which systematically rob safety deposit boxes.....
as much as i love charles hughes smith, his silly butt optimism is entirely misplaced....
That would be BofA. Stole granny's pearls, jewelry, etc., and shredded whatever couldn't be pawned. And this particular victim lived a few blocks away and had an open, active checking account at the branch in question.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4832471&page=1#.TvqTuvLntrM
MF was a trial run exercise for the biggie: BOA.
BOA (after Boa Constrictor) is the stuffed pig which will
become the main course for the esoteric intelligentsia
plan to impoverish the remaining US Citizenry by derivatives
implosion controlled demolition followed by FEMA camp
housing/work release programs for the sheep.
Tyler, do your zerohedge readers a favor and publish
that FEMA document they pulled REAL FAST when they
realized it openly talked about Fema support operations
for DHS 'Blue Force' operations during the upcoming
'National Emergency'.
Red list, blue list. Me list, you list.
Took me about twenty seconds to find this: http://www.infowars.com/government-censors-document-revealing-plans-to-w...
Scary shizit, bitchez...
Instead of a trial run, I was thinking it was more of setting precedant. So that when the time comes, the little guy loses his money and no one goes to jail. "We're doing this one just like we did MFG so we must be doing the right thing."
Sorry, the story is of interest. The premise is pointed and appropriate. I just don't think the idea a machine will develop humanity is absurd. The reason for the pending run is the corruption to the core and business based upon fraud and theft. yet you claim it doesn't work that way? Our world loves psycho's the most. When we are ready to move on, this will end.
GL's story ties in with the article below:
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=198650
Can anyone verify this: They can come after you for transfers that took place up to 90 days before bankruptcy?
If it's true - can anyone tell me whether the following strategy is a good way to escape from their clutches:
1) Write checks to yourself/your mum/your dad and cash them, or better still, if you're not worried about your personal safety, make cash withdrawals over a period of time and deposit it into another account
2) Change your expense pattern - eg pay off your rent/car insurance/cable bill/cell phone bill for x months instead of just for the next month. Good luck trying to claw back the money there sunshine.
3) When the amount is small enough, take it all out in cash and close the account.
4) Avoid either electronic transfers or bank checks.
It's inconvenient I know, but what, they're going to go through every single cash withdrawal, check and transaction for 90 days prior to bankruptcy?
I'm already in the early stages of running down my BAC account to the minimum to avoid fees.
Molon labe bitches!
BOA did in fact make thie derivative transfer, but why go through the gymnastics? If it's just a demand edeposit (cheching, savings) account, take the cash and close the account.
Wouldn't one giant cash withdrawal would arouse a lot of suspicion? A series of smaller transactions makes it more difficult to figure out what was going on. Think how organized crime operates. Sorry to go there but to outwit criminals you have to think like a criminal.
Besides - one giant withdrawal by yourself means that they have only one person to come after - you. The more "payments" made to various parties - the tougher it gets to try to claw back money from each and every counterparty.
For a bank of BAC's size with millions of customers - we're talking near impossibility here. They may be able to come after you for the last cash withdrawal, but if it's small enough they're probably not going to waste their time.
In re your item #1 - "make cash withdrawals (...) and deposit it into another account."
OK, I'll bite. Another account WHERE? If the US banking system undergoes a massive run followed by a banking failure/currency crash, everything I've ever read says that we'll drag down every banking system in the world. All part of the glory and curse of being the world's BSD, doncha know. Like driving along, and you run out of gas - and all the gas stations are closed. What then? Where ya gonna find gas? Where's a bank/investment institution that won't be wrecked by a worldwide banking panic?
Yeah agreed - that is a problem, esp when you're considering a big bank failure.
MFG was a game-changer - previously when WaMu and IndyMac failed, the FDIC stepped in. However given what's going on with the BAC derivative transfer and the precedent set in the MFG case, I'm not so sure any more. I was considering the case of a failure like MFG, and where people try to claw back cash from you. I'm trying to reduce the opportunity for pricks like JPM to try to steal from me.
But you're right - it's like Whac-A-Mole. OK, so you get out of one bank safely and with no opportunity for clawback, but your new safe place is still... unsafe. Where do you keep your money safely when there's nowhere safe?
Man, starting to feel like 2008 again.
Send it on over to 'Potemkin Village Idiot'...
I'll hold it for you...
"The Scenario discussing how to protect assets from a system-wide run will appear on January 20."
But, but, but....the bank holidays are supposed to start on the 16th! Can't you move it up a bit?
( /sarc indeterminate state)