Archive
What If?
“I suppose the first question is; what does it mean that we have the “world’s reserve currency”? At the end of WWII the allies met at Bretton Woods and decided to use the US dollar as the official world currency and that it would be backed by gold. All worldwide trade would be priced in dollars and settled in dollars. Food, energy (oil), etc from around the world would be priced and paid for in USD. New York became the financial center for all world trade.
Fast-forward to President Nixon in 1971 and the USD was cut loose from the gold standard due to OPEC oil imports and a growing imbalance of trade that was causing gold to flow out of the US in large amounts.”
Via Alt Market
Basel III: How The Bank For International Settlements Is Going To Help Bring Down The Global Economy
“A new set of regulations that most people have never even heard of that was developed by an immensely powerful central banking organization that most people do not even know exists is going to have a dramatic affect on the global financial system over the next several years. The new set of regulations is known as “Basel III”, and it was developed by the Bank for International Settlements. The Bank for International Settlements has been called “the central bank for central banks”, and it is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. 58 major central banks (including the Federal Reserve) belong to the Bank for International Settlements, and the decisions made in Basel often have more of an impact on the direction of the global economy than anything the president of the United States or the U.S. Congress are doing. All you have to do is to look back at the last financial crisis to see an example of this. Basel II and Basel 2.5 played a major role in precipitating the subprime mortgage meltdown. Now a new set of regulations known as “Basel III” are being rolled out. The implementation of these new regulations is beginning this year, and they will be completely phased in by 2019. These new regulations dramatically increase capital requirements and significantly restrict the use of leverage. Those certainly sound like good goals, the problem is that the entire global financial system is based on credit at this point, and these new regulations are going to substantially reduce the flow of credit. The only way that the giant debt bubble that we are all living in can continue to persist is if it continues to expand. By restricting the flow of credit, these new regulations threaten to burst the debt bubble and bring down the entire global economy.”
Will It Be Inflation Or Delfation? The Answer May Surprise You
“Is the coming financial collapse going to be inflationary or deflationary? Are we headed for rampant inflation or crippling deflation? This is a subject that is hotly debated by economists all over the country. Some insist that the wild money printing that the Federal Reserve is doing combined with out of control government spending will eventually result in hyperinflation. Others point to all of the deflationary factors in our economy and argue that we will experience tremendous deflation when the bubble economy that we are currently living in bursts. So what is the truth? Well, for the reasons listed below, I believe that we will see both. The next major financial panic will cause a substantial deflationary wave first, and after that we will see unprecedented inflation as the central bankers and our politicians respond to the financial crisis. This will happen so quickly that many will get “financial whiplash” as they try to figure out what to do with their money. We are moving toward a time of extreme financial instability, and different strategies will be called for at different times.”
Founder of the Euro says ‘catastrophic’ currency will self-destruct
“As more and more countries within the European Union struggle economically, the euro – the union’s common currency – becomes more embattled, with its founder now even predicting its demise.
German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine, who was responsible the euro’s development and launch, is now calling for the end of the single currency in order to let southern Europe recover. He says if not, the current fiscal course is “leading to disaster.”
“The economic situation is worsening from month to month, and unemployment has reached a level that puts democratic structures ever more in doubt,” he said, according to the Telegraph, one of Britain’s largest dailies.
“The Germans have not yet realized that southern Europe, including France, will be forced by their current misery to fight back against German hegemony sooner or later,” he said, adding that much of the current fiscal crisis has come in large part from Germany’s squeeze on wages, in order to gain export share.”
Via Natural News
Insanity Cubed
“Obviously this is a colloquial “definition” of insanity. However, at the very least it is an unequivocal demonstration of abject stupidity. Choosing to repeat failure is utterly indefensible behavior.
What do we see with our politicians, bankers, economists, and media talking-heads? Bludgeon your way through all of the obfuscation; and we see that most of our economic problems are derived directly from two, failed policies: excessive money-printing and excessive debt.
Yet what are the only two “solutions” for these problems being proposed by Western governments (and their apologists in the Corporate Media) today? Even more-extreme money-printing, and even more-extreme debt-creation. Putting out the fire with gasoline. Insanity.
Has anyone actually paid attention to any of the so-called sovereign “bail-outs” which have occurred over the past five years? In every instance it has involved lending vast sums of money to hopelessly insolvent governments.
Supposed I owe $10,000, but require a “bail-out” because I can’t service this debt; and my Rescuer lends me another $5,000. Please explain to me how I’ve been “bailed out” when I now owe $15,000? Obviously if I couldn’t make payments on my debt when I owed $10,000; it’s mathematically impossible to do so when I now owe $15,000.”
Via Alt Market
Whadda Ya Mean We Can’t Steal Houses?
“”Unfair” isn’t quite the word.
Colorado, for those who haven’t followed either the news or The Ticker, passed a nice law to “solve” the foreclosure problem for banks — they stripped the requirement that the banks actually have the mortgage documents to prove that they were the proper party to be able to foreclose.
Remember that the big issue a couple of years ago was “robosigning” — that is, document forgery. Continuing the scam is, of course, the highest and best use of “lobbying” lawmakers, and in Colorado the banksters scored big, removing even the pretense that a foreclosing actor actually owned the mortgage through documentation — even forged documentation!
Now a simple statement became enough.
So-called “financial news media” has ignored this, of course. It’s in their “best interest” too; after all, you wouldn’t be able to sell ads on a TeeVee station talking about “together we’ll go far” if the people understood that how the stagecoach “went far” was by stealing all your property.”
Via Market Ticker
Self-Serving Recommendation of the Day: Visa Asks Spain to Lower Limit on Cash Transactions
“Spain’s underground economy is reportedly 19% of GDP. Is it? Who knows? Whatever it is, Visa has its eyes on transaction fees while holding a carrot in front of the Spanish government regarding more taxable income.
Via Mish-modified translation from Libre Mercado, please consider Visa recommends Spain further limit the use of cash transactions. “
The black market economic activity is beyond the control of the Treasury, and is one of the major objectives of the government during the current crisis to try to raise tax revenues. In 2010, Spain decreed the obligation to report all transactions greater than $ 3,000. In 2012 a ban was placed on cash payments in excess of 2,500 euros.
Visa Europe now recommends that the Government of Mariano Rajoy further restrict the use of cash to combat the underground economy and, thus, increase tax collection. Visa suggests a measure similar to that adopted in Italy, where the limit is set at 1,000 euros.
How Does This End?
“The fleecing of the American public continues.
The theft takes different forms, but it all serves one purpose — to transfer wealth from the average Joe to the crony corporatists and their political lackeys. Here are but a few examples of how this has been accomplished:
- Bailouts for the wealthy and well-connected are paid for by the unconnected middle class.
- Subsidies are provided for unworkable schemes submitted by political donors and favorites. These schemes inevitably fail and the tax-payer is left holding an empty bag.
- Laws are routinely ignored when “friends” need help. In identical circumstances, would you receive the same treatment as Jon Corzine?
- Despite the biggest theft in world history, no one was prosecuted. The Savings and Loan crisis in the 1980s was trivial in comparison to the recent financial crisis. More than a thousand S&L executives were prosecuted.
- Ever-increasing sacrifices in the form of higher taxes from the productive sector are demanded to continue the plush living of the ruling class.
Capitalism and free markets depend upon trust, integrity, property rights and the rule of law. Without these, there are no advantages to free markets. Nor are there any incentives to create wealth. Instead, an economy becomes little more than a massive plunder scheme where the powerful exploit the weak. No economic recovery is possible under such circumstances.”
Via Zero Hedge
