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Michael Krieger Explains Why It Takes Only 5 Minutes
From Michael Krieger
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has, and it never will.
- Frederick Douglass
Fairly quickly, Corzine accumulated a massive net long sovereign debt position that eventually totaled $6.3 billion, or five times the company's tangible common equity as of the end of its fiscal second quarter. I'm told Corzine's move was highly controversial within the firm. But no one overruled him, maybe because after all, he was Jon Corzine. In a mark of just how much Corzine mattered to the market, in early August, MF Global filed a preliminary prospectus for a bond deal, in which the firm promised to pay investors an extra 1 percent if Corzine was appointed to a "federal position by the President of the United States" and left MF Global.
– Did accounting help sink MF Global?
It Takes 5 Minutes
Alright I am going to kick things off with Europe and get that out of the way as quickly as possible. Nothing has changed and absolutely nothing has been accomplished. There is no “solution” to the crisis that will not result in massive pain, confusion and wealth decimation. The reason is patently obvious. At least half the continent is completely and helplessly bankrupt. There are only two outcomes to the entire situation. Either the sovereign debts are written off aggressively and the banking system declared insolvent and restructured or the ECB decides to turn on those printing presses to the tune of trillions and destroys the purchasing power of the union in Zimbabwe-like fashion. People will read this and think I am exaggerating . The phrase “it takes 5 minutes” keeps running through my head because all it takes is a small amount of time to see the situation for what it is. I am not that smart. This is obvious. The scary thing is that it is abundantly clear that the vast majority of U.S. investors have not bothered to take the 5 minutes necessary to understand how extreme and binary the outcomes to all this is. Their clients will suffer massively in the months and years ahead as a result of their laziness and lack of macro curiosity.
Remember, there is a very good reason that no “definitive solution” has been announced. There is none. What the Eurocrats are trying to do is pretend that lifelines to bankrupt nations will be enough to tide them over until strong growth allows them to wiggle out of the problems. This has already been proven a failure after they tried it last year as Greece is now worse than ever. So there are two choices and no one can be totally certain which outcome it will be but either one will result in massive wealth destruction. The first choice is the one I prefer (hard defaults and a declaration of insolvency of the banking system followed by restructuring) because it will place the majority of the losses and pain on the elites that led us to this ruin and who own most of the financial assets in the world. The second option (massive inflation and loss of purchasing power) will kill the poor and middle classes as well as the wealthy but financially illiterate. The ruling oligarchs will be fine (until the masses come for their heads) as they understand what they are doing and will move to protect their assets. Since the same criminal, crooked and morally bankrupt financial oligarchy is still pulling the strings worldwide you have to assume they will opt for choice number two, although unforeseen social and political events could throw a wrench into their twisted plans. Gold is the only asset that should outperform in either scenario.
Before I leave Europe, there is a must read article posted this week on Zerohedge that everyone needs to read and understand. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/how-us-banks-are-lying-about-their-europea...
MF Global
What is there to say about this debacle that hasn’t been said already. The main point I want to make is that the collapse of this firm and its crony capitalist CEO Jon Corzine fits in perfectly to one of my overriding themes regarding the current fourth turning we find ourselves in. Namely, that the celebrated elites and “financial wizards” will be disrobed, disgraced and proven once and for all to be the frauds they always were. If nothing else, the story of MF Global should make it crystal clear to all observers that the biggest problem the world faces today comes back to a small cadre of financial engineering misfits that continue to be recycled all over the world’s positions of power. Most of them have Goldman on their resume or at the least JP Morgan. I just find this hilarious considering that I don’t think the clowns at any of these banks could make a dime without government help. When I write this I do not mean to insult individual rank and file people at these firms because I happen to know some of them to be capable and decent; however, come on guys. How can you feel good about your paycheck or trades when you are just a ward of the state that in reality owns you souls. Let’s see how you do without the government backstop. We just saw how Corzine did.
So Corzine was as “insider” as you get and he blew his firm to smithereens because he made the mistake of working at a firm that was allowed to fail. He represents everything that is ruining America today. Guys like him are everywhere and their reputations and firms will all be plunging into the ground over the next several years. The best part about this whole story is how Corzine was apparently being considered for Treasury Secretary of the United States. I mean this doesn’t surprise me at all, but it should be a warning to everyone around the world that it is people exactly like Corzine that make all the important decisions in the world today. While it takes a long time to run entire nation-states into the ground don’t you worry they are working hard and are well on their way. You’ve got to read this gem http://mobile.gothamist.com/2011/07/05/corzine_to_obama_if_i_raise_enoug...
The State of the Union (and Financial Markets)
The one thing I feel more confident in than anything else right now is that the U.S. consumer is about to roll over. The most interesting dichotomy lately has been the extremely depressed consumer confidence numbers (and falling) coupled with resilient consumer spending. I believe this is about to reconcile itself via much lower rates of consumption. Let’s start off with today’s Bloomberg Consumer Comfort reading.
Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Reading 10 Year Chart
This chart tells us two things. First the number was the second lowest on record. People aren’t lying on these surveys. They are being screwed and they know it. The second observation is that it is clear there is basically no bounce since the recession supposedly ended. Why? Because we are in a depression. Sadly, it is a depression in which Central Bankers are doing everything in their power to transfer more and more purchasing power to the elite financial oligarchs that already own everything via money printing.
Despite the horrific consumer confidence numbers and the recent stats showing a new food stamp participation record in the United States where we have about 15% of citizens needing government assistance to survive, spending has held up pretty well. How has this happened? Well, it seems the main reason is a decline in the savings rate.
U.S. Personal Savings as a % of Disposable Income 10 Year Chart
Ok, so what we see is that as confidence has dropped so has the savings rate as people scramble to maintain some semblance of a lifestyle that is gone forever. Many will point to this and say, well look at the 2005 period where savings went even further south and kept the economy afloat. Why can’t this happen again? There are two reasons I think it won’t. The main one is that in 2005 housing prices will still at their peaks and people thought they were much wealthier than they were due to these “assets.” As a result, they were willing to dip into their savings. That is not the case today and therefore I think people will only dip so far into their savings. I think people are right here right now about to cut back. The other reason relates to commodity prices. Although the important ones have all have all shown large year-over-year increases, they have been more or less flat sequentially as of late. I believe that is about to change and if the governments of the world continue to prop things up and sustain unsustainable consumption we will see oil and other commodities make another meaningful move higher in the months ahead. Since I think a large percentage of U.S. investors are totally clueless about the real state of inflation and the consumer, once spending starts to get cutback it will catch markets completely flatfooted. I think this is a near-term event. As always, we shall see.
Peace and wisdom,
Mike
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The reason why almost nobody really cares is because the situation isn't bad enough for them.
It needs to get a lot worse before the average person starts to show interest in the marco picture.
A lot of a lot worse.
That's where they give away bread and circuses...Food Stamps, endless wars, DWS should do the trick.
Exactly and if the ptb can control hunger they will never ever stop and no one will force them out.
polo
:)
Italian bonds must be off the radar screen . . . suddenly.
Anyone else notice a little message at the top of their browser about this website wanting to run an "IDtag" today or is it just me??? It keeps flashing across my screen...Spooky
Enjoyed the article...I do wonder if I'm nuts with all the bad news and prices just hold. The nice man from Blackrock said that over a 90 yr period you usually do well in stocks and although the past 10 yrs have been rough.......there are few back to back 10 yr periods of poor returns.
The thing I most enjoyed about the article is the reminder about 'value'. How do you value companies that are totally bailed out either with cash or Accounting Holidays? The value of what we have is also in question if they print money to avoid larger losses in other areas. Why bother having rules at all if no one goes to jail or is allowed to fail? No one fears anything, you gotta have balls to try and hide 100's of Milliosn like MF and Refco, if its true of course, yet they keep trying cause rarely are there ramifications. Honestly, I blame the govt as much as anyone. People used to say that the trading floor looks like total chaos and I would offer that there are actually rules, some unspoken that are brutally efficient...fuck around and it does not end well for you. Not the same in the business world where a willing govt partner makes up the rules and prints money.......everyone is happy.
Yeah, few want to hear about the wheels coming off.
We talk to death pressing issues of the day, such as Kim's 78 day failed marriage and whether Justin Beiber got some groupie pregnant....but, bring up something like the Decline of the West, and eyes roll back in the head out of boredom at such flaky talk..
I've come to the conclusion that most of those people will continue to be avoidant and apathetic until they can see how it impacts them personally. It's easy to watch stories on the news about things that you don't feel directly linked to, and to see it as someone else's problem. As the cost of food increases, home values decline, savings disappear, and jobs are lost, more people will find it difficult to see themselves as unaffected. If I bring up any aspect of the economy with family, friends, etc., and sense a lack of interest, I stop talking about it. I'm tired of trying to share what I've learned with people who don't give a shit. Instead of wasting my breath, I can focus on preparing myself. The likely scenarios all involve degrees of hardship for the majority of us. Anything I can do to mitigate the effects, is worth the time and effort.
People seek the refuge of the status quo.
A simple explanation.
As plain as the nose on your face.
The American people are not as stupid nor as ignorant of the global financial situation as made out to be.
They know.
Spend their savings now while its still got some purchasing power.
Buy things that matter. Generators, food stuffs, all the sorts of things that matter. And if you already have those, then a nice holiday before TSHTF!
Make no mistake about it. They know. At least the majority with any savings left.
one can only hope you are correct. Nice to see an optimist, of sorts, on this site.
If that were the case then we should be able to point at several examples of people doing these things.
Other than a few exceptions, I only see people denying the situation or thinking that they can "fix" it through politics (the worst kind!).
Exactly if you cannot physically defend it what good is it?
Anybody and everybody with fiat currency is bankrupt. Even if it takes a millenium to realize it.
tes test
http://santamonica.patch.com/articles/city-sues-goldline-international-for-fraud-conspiracy
glenn beck's favorite gold seller , gold line international, has a visit from district attorney's office............hmmmm.....
Yeah, he charged them to advertise he is certainly responsible for all the books.. I had some money with MF global, I am sure the FBI will be by to arrest me for that particular sin.
do you like glenn beck?
Personally no, we are not aquainted, but like you he occasionally says some things I agree with. Why, is that somehow relevant to him being responsible for an independent business? Is G-pap then responsible for MF global because Corzine was stupid enough to load up on euro debt?
excuse me dude what does this have to do with my end-of-year marks and '11 bonus (pool and allocation)? ex-holidays i only need to paint this thing for ~24 more trading days. 2012 is a whole new year of bailing out Greece 38 times, see you at Dow 15k
Green Shootz, Bitchez!!!
disregard, sorry.
Lowest volume on the russell in over 3 months. As Yogi would say, this thing isn't going to crash until it crashes.
In the early days of the exchanges it might have taken hours and hours, electricity brought the wire, and wire fraud. Still took a while for anyone to know. in 1929 some didn't know if they weren't near a radio.
But NOW; the computers will sell all value in the world in 5 nanoseconds. Inside a one second, every perception that drives Mr. Market will be gone and the scream will be heard round the world.
And you're spot on, it won't take more than 5 minutes.
+1776
Everytime my wife says she has a headache that is what i tell her : It will only take 5 minutes dear.
Michael Krieger makes a good Tyler Durden
Either the sovereign debts are written off aggressively and the banking system declared insolvent and restructured or the ECB decides to turn on those printing presses to the tune of trillions and destroys the purchasing power of the union in Zimbabwe-like fashion.
Hey TopCallingTroll, I believe this is what I said yesterday, same situation in America. Save government & banks and collapse the dollar, or sacrifice government & banks and save the dollar. Collapse the dollar is my bet.
yep , the easiest option and as usual , the worst.
that is the nature of politics.
prepare for decades of hardship. baby boomers at least get to die in relative comfort if they were smart. everyone else gets to suck the overlords dick for a breadroll. human nature is to survive though therefore the elite will survive. sucks to be us. going to take more than some Northface wearing students to change this.
5 minutes .. kruger is slow . takes about 20 seconds to grab your ankles, bend over , and cry
williambanzai7
Exclusive: Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has struck a deal with ministers to step down and hand power to a negotiated coalition government if they help him win a confidence vote on Friday, government sources with knowledge of a cabinet meeting said.
Watch every minute: http://live.reuters.com/Event/Euro_zone_debt_crisis
Funny, I told someone this morning that there were only two options, but mine were a bit different because I think Germany will resist printing as long as possible. My two options were:
1. The system collapses (same as Bruce's second option), or
2. EurocRats succeed in making Europe into a single command and control entity (PTB drooling fantasy)
Granted the second seems impossible in any normal world, but all signs from power figures and even the Vatican reveal that is what they are going for. It is so utterly bizarre and would require a dozen soldiers on every street corner to enforce in countries like Greece.
I'm absolutely dumbfounded to even think this, but it is hard to divine any other purpose from the actions of the big players. Egads!
Even if option no. 2 comes first in time, it will finally result in no. 1.
I tend to agree. Frankenstein monsters (what they seem to be trying to piece together from the laboratory of horrors in Brussels) never live for long.
IF , and thats the mother fucker of all IFs , the PTB can at least maintain everyones standard of living , let alone prevent it from plummetting (which we all know is impossible) then they have half a chance of crushing sovereignity and democracy and creating a new order.
However , math and all that awkward shit that the jizzheads try to ignore , tells me Gerald Celente is going to be a busy blogger. People will lose their shit and lose their minds (or maybe find their minds depending on your outlook)
TPTB have no chance without some major scientific breakthrough to prevent an unravelling.The smart ones will get out of dodge before the western hemisphere resembles a Modern Warfare game trailer.
It actually takes 6 minutes:
Because we realize that it will be a combination of both Default and printing press .
A. Doesn't one of Krieger's secenarios lead to deflation and the other to inflation?
B. The equity markets keep going up because the money that has been printed the past two years has to go somewhere. With interest rates so low, the money flows to equities and commodities.
A. Yes. And both suck. Just a different kind of sucking. That is, the trajectory in terms of cash is different - but both impoverish a large majority of people. Especially those on fixed incomes whose source of income either defaults or the value is inflated into nothingness.
B. To some degree. A good deal is parked though.
Did it ever occur to you to look at it in the following way?
For the first time, fiscal/monetary stimulus has been unable to increase the supply of oil. Increased oil leads to cheaper oil which leads to consumption based growth....
There has been 2 Trillion dollars invested into increasing oil production globally over the past 10 years without any increase....
Game, Set, Match.....
...and checkmate. Because the last 100 years has been a petroleum bubble. Cheap, abundant resources gave us the American way of life. Nothing lasts forever. All this economic manipulation and political posturing is just a diversion.
Yes; at usurious rates. I gave some thought 5-6 years ago of getting into the check-cashing business. Among the many hurdles, not in the least of which was my distaste for collecting, was the danger of the banks getting into it. Well, they have and those cos. are probably a long-term short.
Why read? Just love and sacrifice.
"in which the firm promised to pay investors an extra 1 percent if Corzine was appointed to a "federal position by the President of the United States" and left MF Global."
wow, pretty clear statement of how corrupt this kleptocracy has become.
I think it would only take me 4 minutes..and I am really dumb.....I think I am going to buy a bunch of Groupon tonight...
Thanks, Mike. I'll take some peace and wisdom.
"The best part about this whole story is how Corzine was apparently being considered for Treasury Secretary of the United States."
You say "was" as though he is no longer being considered. Unless he actually goes to jail I doubt this would stop it in the bizarro world we live in.
Agree with most all of the article, but still trying to wrap my head around oil prices sharly rising with sharply falling consumer consumption. The Elites may control a lot of newly printed FRN's, political power and God knows what else, but a small group can only consume so much energy.
The masses need to spend, spend, spend to keep oil where it is these days, not to mention pushing it higher. At least that is my line of thinking.
Gold on the other hand.......
Because maybe the deliverable oil market is tighter than a bull's ass at fly time and OECD demand destruction is matched by increased demand elsewhere....
Net Exports are down ~10% since 2005, the exporters are consuming a bigger share of the same pie....
Economies of scale in reverse.
Increased maintenance costs and diminishing outputs, coupled with decreased demand (consumers broke). Oil producers WILL be squeezed.
frack. duplicate.
The people of Zimbabwe would walk through waist-high piles of Zimbabwe "Notes" to get to the river bank to pan for micrograms of gold with which to buy a loaf of bread - that's all ya need to know...
Learn mandarin bitchez
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/03/opinion/ferguson-west-economic-decline/index.html?
I don't need to learn mandarin, I know SQL!
I'll learn mandarin when I'll need it for everyday bullshit.
But I'm not learning spanish--fuck that. I'll leave the US before I end up speaking spanish. I hate latin-derived languages with a passion.
Stocks are in an inflationary bubble. Even if they go up you're treading water. Might as well go into gold and sleep easier. When stocks collapse to Dow 6000 then sell or hold your gold and buy stocks. It's really not that hard. If pension funds could short we'd be at fair value already. It's being propped for bonus money, yearly returns, etc. This is all very irresponsible, and I will not be voting for any of these politicians involved. I am also looking to get my money out of banks. I won't support them any longer.
" I am also looking to get my money out of banks."
Ok, me too. But what to do with it all?
I'd rather hold it in cash than let banks leverage my labor 10:1. But, PMs and other investments, too. I am curious if anyone here thinks converting to Swiss Francs is still a good idea.
This is a good question. Some advisors are now assuming there is no reason to hold CHF now that the floor is defined against the Euro, which is weak. My offbeat opinion is that Swiss Francs are far better to hold. The Euro could dissolve in various ways, or if there is a real Euro crash, I think the Swiss will break the peg as quickly as they put it in place.
That's what I was thinking, too. Maybe 10% in Swiss Francs. The Euro peg scared me off, but the more I think about it, the more I see it as superficial and transitory. My bank did not seem happy when I called them to ask about converting to Francs. Which, of course, I loved every second of...
Look farther north to the kroners- Sweden and Norway- not part of the Euro mess. Norway's Statoil, STO is very well managed as is Novo Nordsk, the world's giant in insulin production and other pharma. There are new ETF and mutual funds focusing on the Norse nations, a great way to play the currency, oil independence and diversification from Euro-centric issues. Energy independence in a non-dollar denominated currency, kinda interesting. Do you think the Norwegians want to blow up their currency and country? They have been showing a very long-time perspective on their stewardship of their oil and gas resources.
I think it would be great to be registered owners of STO ADRs, a great hedge for the future, along with some .999 gold bullion one ounce coins. Stay away from gold bars, ingots and private-minted coins.
You could voyage to Oslo or Geneva and sell shares all on a single sheet of paper there and get paid off in kroner or CHF on the spot! Taking a registered name shares certificate with you on vacation is a great way to move money. You are registered everywhere in the world that the share /ADR/ADS trades. It's an "over the counter" sale.
Try selling some on your next trip "over there" as a trial run if you are concerned that much. Swiss shares in Roche, Novartis, Nestle, ABB and Syngenta look like good "backstops" too. I think they are playing the fiat game now because if they didn't, they get hammered. The Swiss don't want to blow up their country either.
Note: Americans and Europeans don't know enough to not blow up their countries, it's already happening.
Physical. Physical everything. Gold, silver, greenbacks, guns, ammo, food, land, shelter, water systems, fuel...
A roll of Eagles for less then $40K. Soon that will seem like a bargain.
A can of ravioli is a buck. Soon that will seem like a bargain too!
Canned ravioli is a terrible store of value in my opinion, and worse nutrition. You should be storing dried beans and rice (in deep drums filled with carbon dioxide- from dry ice dropped in the bottom when you start to fill the container) which when eaten together are complete, complementary proteins, like a meat protein.
The carbs, sugar in various forms, questionable meat, water and sodium in canned prepared foods like ravioli is a poor investment. You're better off with Spaghettios if you have to feed little ones though I don't know what TV they will be watching that would suggest even Spaghettios are "good".
If you need to be eating emergency stored foods, there won't be time to watch junk programming on TV. Playing checkers with the Eagles will be more rewarding. King me!
"We have to wait and hope for tragedy. What the media vassals to our political lords call a catastrophe, will in fact spell freedom for Europe's 500 million fake-debt serfs. It will be a glorious lifting of tyranny, well fitting a Medieval morality play and pageant. The threat is well known to our ruling class kleptocrats."
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article29483.html
when G also becomes I, C, and E-I, the numbers will say whatever they want them to say...and they have systematically eliminated the fight from flight or fight anxiety, replacing it with temporary relief from anxiety, which appears as corporate profit...
maybe it's time for another comment on Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome...
WSJ's homage to Corzine: http://online.wsj.com/article/AP0e78e9cc1eb44273a848971089492370.html
They never mention that the risks he takes are risks based on nonexistent capital or risks based on inflation and the tax thereof. What a great guy - he was willing to use credit backed by nothing to make money - he was even willing to mingle client funds to make grand bets on sovereign debt because (maybe) he assumed the EU would bail them out as quickly as the US bailed out Fannie and Freddie, or he assumed he was a genius and was always right.
What we need are more fund managers and bankers to make the world right. I say Corzine gets appointed chief banker of the world, since he obviously has the qualifications.
he says the financial elites will be shown to be the crooks that they are. really? who is going to do this and when is this event going to take place? mr krieger does not understand power, real power. there is no law. is that understood? there is no law........its a big joke. now , with that in mind, i suggest there are other options that are possible in all of this.
Exactly ! No law only the law of the empty stomach.. That is brutal but it is the end game.
I wonder how much G-PAP made off this little short and distort head fake he just did? A little early severance pay perhaps?
1: Take short position on Euro-banks
2: Pretend you are going to burn the house down
3: JUST KIDDING GUYS! DEMOCRACY CANCELED! GOT YA!
G-PAP might be a retard but he and his friends know how to use their positions of power to rack up coin just like any other cronnie out there.
war! what is it good for? saving all the bankers, say it again!.....
capacity needs to be destroyed and debts foregotten or forgiven. war is the ultimate cleanser. and everything will be cleaned.
I keep on hearing the same stuff about how the EZ will print, but every article just superficially repeats the same unjustified "intuition" without demonstrating why this will happen.
Don't you guys see the contradiction in saying that Germany is dominating the EZ more and more and then saying that Europe will print. I was at another German history museum last weekend and saw yet another hyperinflation exhibition -- the fear of inflation runs deep here.
There's also a straight legal contradiction in saying that the EZ is ungovernable because EU law is so hard to change then saying that they can simply drop their price stability mandate even though it too is written into EU law (article 127 TFEU).
Not even existing behaviour suggests a movement toward very loose monetary policy, A 25 basis point cut to 1.25% in these circumstances hardly looks like they're ready to crank up the presses. Besides, there are political, historical and legal considerations particular to Europe that eveyone seems to ignore. It would be nice if they could be rebutted for once, rather than just assuming that Europe will do it the American way and print.
Sure, I've got a significant long PM position too, but I'd prefer to see what's actually going to happen than what my personal financial interests might want to happen.
It should be possible for the ECB to print all the money Italy and Spain needs and lend it to these countries on very favourable terms without causing hyperinflation if the EU would demand that all oil should be paid in euros rather than USD.
The only big problem with that solution seems to be that the US would have to print less if the oil market could absorb less dollars. And if the US would have to print less it is more likely that there would be a real recession in the US.
Another problem is of course that the governments in Italy and Spain would probably be less inclined to reduce government spending and increase taxes. But if spending cuts and raised taxes would be a requirement for low interest loans I think that this shouldn´t be an insurmountable problem.
Sorry, but you're proposing that increasing debt is the solution to too much debt.
It's a no-way-out scenario and they all know it!
The ONLY realistic (logical, but that doesn't mean that it would "work") track would be to decrease the interest on existing debt and or reduce the debt with the stipulation that future credit would come with a higher price tag (for some time). Of course, if the markets really worked they'd do just this...
Regardless of which strategy Italy and Spain would choose, printing money should be a more favourable strategy for these countries than not printing money.
If they intend to reduce spending and increase taxes in order to reduce debt, low interest loans from EFSF or ECB would help.
If they intend to continue spending and do not intend to increase taxes, low interest loans from EFSF or ECB would help them kicking the can down the road.
Plain as the nose on your face: survival preparedness.
Better years too soon than a day too late.
Better months too soon than "only five minutes" late.
It is getting very, very late in the game to be "too soon".
PS: When is the last time your home value tanked 25%? The last time you got .02% on a savings account / money market account?? When gold sold for as much as the year in which you were born?
Five minutes, four minutes, three minut..........
Good luck to all......
Life is always about survival. I'd encourage people to take the edge off of this by viewing it as learning to live more sustainably.
Man is there going to end up being a whole shit-load of crap that's tossed overboard! Need to start thinking of how to re-purpose a lot of the garbage that people previously thought valuable...
My only criticism of this article is on the savings rate decline. In aggregate it is true and your point sound. In individual sense, most people in this country don't have any meaningful savings. They're already on the ropes and their consumption has been reduced and can't reduce much more.
confusing aggregate with individual will draw the ire of the Ivory Tower Econ. PhDz. u never know how much ooomph their Ivory Tower lightning boltz have when they send them your way. The Economics PhD Truth Squad will be vatching u closely. ;-)
- Ned
I know! You're right. They hate it when simple actualities trump micro/macro/regression/reconstituted econometric models (with fancy names that are usually a hyphenated blend of two or more economist's last names) with made up statistics (from government bureaus with 3 initials) plugged in. That's what keeps dem PhDz important!
;-) "I'm long 'unexpected' " - Ned
The end.
Only two outcomes? Think again. The predators-that-be behind the travesty have a 3rd option in mind... permanent overt slavery of everyone in Europe (and ultimately, everyone on earth).
I'm not saying they will succeed, but everyone in power is pushing for this 3rd option, which is in fact, their 1st and intended option. The banksters control the governments, and the governments make the rules and impose their decisions. Only if the masses absolutely refuse to pay or accept obligations will their plan of permanent slavery not become reality.
Either the fiat banksters get lynched, or mankind does.
(Posted in the wrong place)