Tim Geithner

"When it becomes serious, you have to lie", Jean-Claude Juncker

Mariano Rajoy from May 28, or 12 days ago: "No va a haber ningún rescate de la banca española." Or, more conveniently for the America-based readers: "There will be no rescue of Spanish banks." We have finally found the official Jean-Claude Juncker (and of course Tim Geithner) replacement.

With Must-See Commentary By Bill Black ...

Just in case someone did not get the earlier BLS-doctored message, the final two economic indicators of the day just printed and were... drumroll... misses. Because remember: not only the 1%ers but the 99ers have to be begging Bernanke to print. And so he will: ISM Manufacturing prints at 53.5, down from 54.8, and expectations of 53.8. Prices Paid plunge by 13.5, but the kicker: 5 out of the ISM's 10 sub indices are now in contraction territory.. And the cherry on top: Construction Spending unchanged from an upward revised 0.3 to 0.3, obviously, missing expectations of a jump to 0.4. Looking forward to the Tim Geithner Op-Ed: "Welcome to the recession."

If there was one piece of news that could force an all out panic in a market already on the edge, it is that outgoing (as in finally departing) US Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, was getting involved in the European Crisis. Sadly, this is precisely what happened.

• SPAIN DEPUTY PM: US TREASURY'S GEITHNER AGREES TO WORK WITH SPAIN TO RESOLVE BANK CRISIS - DJ
• SAENZ DE SANTAMARIA SAYS GEITHNER URGES SPAIN BANK SOLUTION
• SPAIN'S SAENZ DE SANTAMARIA TOLD GEITHNER OF REFORM EFFORTS
• GEITHNER DISCUSSED SPAIN'S PLANS TO STRENGTHEN FINANCE SECTOR
• SPAIN'S SAENZ DE SANTAMARIA TOLD GEITHNER OF REFORM EFFORTS

Sorry, Europe, you are now doomed.

Yesterday it was a record low 5 Year yield, today it is the 7 Year. Tim Geithner just issued a fresh $29 billion in 7 Year bonds at a new all time low yield of 1.203%, on top of the When Issued 1.200%,and paying a cash interest of 1.125%. Those concerned that the belly of the curve may not enjoy the benefits of Twist can put those fears at rest. The internals were non-eventful, with a 2.80 B/C, just shy of the 12 TTM average of 2.81, Directs taking down 15.70%, Indirects 42.73% and Dealers left with 41.57% of the auction, an improvement from yesterday when they were stuck with over 50% of the takedown. And so, with this final weekly auction, total US debt rises to $15.75 trillion.

Michael Hudson argues that Mr. Krugman is a conservative in disguise.

Tim Geithner outdoes himself this evening with three hypocritical, self-defecating-deceiving, and typically ignominious clips courtesy of his interview with Jeffrey Brown of PBS NewsHour. While we knew TurboTax was beyond him, the Treasury debacle-in-chief admits he doesn't understand how the debt limit has bubbled back up (seeing it as part of a partisan political agenda); admits that perhaps the NY Fed has a 'perception problem' with Jamie Dimon on the board; and his piece-de-resistance his cognitive dissonance erupts as he touts Obama's economic and jobs record: "look how well we are doing relative to any other major country". It seems the election cycle is well and truly upon us and revisionism and populism will once again trump sensibility and forthrightness.

Explaining why and how the global monetary system is failing, why it is too late to stop, what will come next, and why the crisis is only financial – not commercial.

1. How do you define market risk?
2. Do you take fixed price positions?
3. Are you exclusively a hedger or do you “optimize” your assets?
4. Do you have a risk policy?
5. How do you monitor trading/hedging limits?.

Things are getting interesting. Despite earlier headlines that the €5.2 billion EFSF payment to Greece would be made as expected, money which would go to pay European banks and the ECB, it now seems there is more than meets the eye, and the Eurozone will in fact hold back €1 billion of the money until Monday in what is a major escalation in the relationship between the anarchy-controlled country and bankster oligarchy.

• EUROZONE HOLDS BACK €1 BILLION FOR GREECE TO MONDAY ACCORDING TO A EUROPEAN SOURCE -Dow Jones
• EFSF SAYS 4.2 BLN EURO TO BE DISBURSED MAY 10 - BBG
  
• EFSF SAYS REMAINING FUNDS 1 BLN EURO NOT NEEDED BEFORE JUNE - BBG
• EFSF SAYS REMAINING 1 BLN EURO DISBURSED DEPENDING GREECE NEEDS - BBG

The entire bogus recovery is again being driven by subprime auto loans being doled out by Ally Financial (85% owned by the U.S. government) and the other criminal Wall Street banks. The Federal Reserve and our government leaders will continue to steer the country on the same course of encouraging rampant speculation, deterring savings and investment, rewarding outrageous criminal behavior, purposefully generating inflation, and lying to the average American. It will work until we reach a tipping point. Dr. Krugman thinks another $4 trillion of debt and a debt to GDP ratio of 130% should get our economy back on track. When this charade is revealed to be the greatest fraud and theft in the history of mankind, Ben and Paul better have a backup plan, because there are going to be a few angry men looking for them.

The Congressional Budget Office has just released three very telling infographics which, unintentionally, spell out a pretty dreary picture of US government finances. At the very bottom corner is a most disingenuous statement that says ”Net Interest not included.”  In other words, they didn’t bother to include the $454,393,280,417.03 (nearly half a trillion dollars) that the US government spent on interest last year. To put this number in perspective, the US paid more in interest last year than the entire GDP of Saudi Arabia, or the combined GDPs of the smallest 82 economies in the world. Not exactly a trivial number… unless you’re Tim Geithner. A few days ago, Geithner quipped on NBC’s Meet the Press that there is ”no risk” of the US turning into Greece over the next few years due to such extraordinary fiscal imbalances. This is the same guy who said there was no risk of the US losing its AAA credit rating, and that inflation on a global level is “not high on the list of concerns…” Whether it’s lies, ignorance, or arrogance is irrelevant at this point. The situation is what it is. It’s not going to go away just because the political leadership denies it. Each one of us has a choice. We can either bury our heads in the sand, just like they’re doing… or embrace reality and take control of our own financial futures.

All you need to know.

What do you get for $50 billion? Happy Talk...

Size of Banks Killing Economy … But Giant Banks Have Only Gotten Bigger Since Financial “Reform” Enacted