Links here courtesy of ZeroHedge. Ai caramba! Cue Freddy Mercury as another (euroturd) bites the dust.
Fitch downgrades Spain. Oh, and they downgraded CDOs guaranteed by Spain.
Bank of Spain sez everything’s cool. Really.
But Spain says GDP down, unemployment up.
Second largest Spanish bank now in bailout, er, merger talks.
Full story here from ZeroHedge.
The power games among the ranks of Europe’s puppet elite continue (the real elite as is well known consists of a few CEOs of insolvent banks). Earlier today, Pierre Lellouche, France’s Europe minister, came out with another statement our of left field, that could set off the next round of European destabilization. In an interview with the FT, Lellouche said that the €440 billion European bailout “is an enormous change. It explains some of the reticence. It is expressly forbidden in the treaties by the famous no bail-out clause. De facto, we have changed the treaty.” (more…)
Full story here from Matt Taibi via Rolling Stone. I’ve only included page 1 of 7 pages total. Use the link to read the whole thing.
It’s early May in Washington, and something very weird is in the air. As Chris Dodd, Harry Reid and the rest of the compulsive dealmakers in the Senate barrel toward the finish line of the Restoring American Financial Stability Act – the massive, year-in-the-making effort to clean up the Wall Street crime swamp – word starts to spread on Capitol Hill that somebody forgot to kill the important reforms in the bill. As of the first week in May, the legislation still contains aggressive measures that could cost once-indomitable behemoths like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase tens of billions of dollars. Somehow, the bill has escaped the usual Senate-whorehouse orgy of mutual back-scratching, fine-print compromises and freeway-wide loopholes that screw any chance of meaningful change. (more…)
I love a good bit of hysteria in the morning…this courtesy of Jesse’s Cafe Americain.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has a bold headline US Money Supply Plunges at 1930s Pace that is sure to provide much referential action for the UK Telegraph. (more…)
Full story here from ZeroHedge.
BBC Newsnight held another great financial round table discussion (why do these occur only in Canada and across the Atlantic? Is it so difficult to have 20 minutes of commercial free debate here in the US where people can actually tell the truth?) which brought together Hugh Hendry, Gillian Tett and Jeffrey Sachs. As usual, Hendry takes it odd with a bang: “I would recommend you panic. The European banking system is in a crisis.” He continues: “Let’s purge this system of its rottenness. Let’s take on a recession. It’s going to be tough, people are gonna lose their jobs. They are going to lose their jobs anyway. We can spread this over 20 years, or we can get rid of it over 3 years.” Of course, the Columbia professor, is completely against purging the system: how else can US higher “educators” continue to indoctrinate generation after generation with the flawed principles of a bankrupt ideology, and continue getting getting paid handsomely if there is an global reset? Even funnier, Jeffrey Sachs loses it when Hendry calls him out on his BS at 5 minutes into the clip. The ensuing smackdown is worth the price of admission alone.
Full story here from Jim Willie a/k/a The Golden Jackass.
Let me start the article with a personal note. For the last six years, my pen has put forth a public article almost every week. Since the end of 2009, a change has come from that pattern, for four reasons. First, articles take time and serve as free volleys sent into cyberspace. They are attempts to raise awareness of a broken corrupt system, to encourage increased investment protection by the investment community, and to make repetitive messages that can sink in. Second, many of the warnings have come true of a monetary system in tatters, an insolvent banking system, a failed central bank franchise system, and a discredited amalgam of sovereign bond markets. There is no need to repeat warnings of further events toward breakdown when the forecasted breakdown has arrived in full glory. Third, I wanted to both digest the crisis myself, to discuss and ruminate over the disaster with my trusted colleagues, and to permit folks to digest the disaster, ruin, and continued breakdown themselves. Fourth, more time has been devoted to Hat Trick Letter subscribers, and less to the public. Events never occur according to a script, or forecast, or plan. Too many unintended consequences come. Too many complex elements take a toll within the system. Too many corrupt players defect or are badly weakened. This is history in the making, a highly important chapter of history being written before our eyes. This is World War in Finance with the AngloSphere under great pressure of losing its hegemony in the control of global financial structures. Entire national economies are at high risk. These are historic times. (more…)
Full story here from CounterPunch.
The world is suffering from the worst downturn since the Great Depression. The crisis has left tens of millions unemployed in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere. The huge baby boomer generation in the United States, now on the edge of retirement, has seen much of its wealth destroyed with the collapse of the housing bubble. (more…)
Legislation that authorizes the government to conduct a one time audit of the Federal Reserve’s emergency-response programs was approved unanimously by the Senate on the 11th of May, 2010. This legislation is a portion of the overall bank reform legislation. As a result of this legislation, Sen. Bernie Sanders stated that, “This makes it clear that the Fed can no longer operate under the kind of secrecy it has been operating under.” (more…)
Full story here from ZeroHedge. ‘Cos you were already so stoked about how your 401(k)’s doing…naturally, the scary stats won’t even cut-n-paste over here, so please visit the link.
Every day we hear “housing has bottomed” or “experts predict housing will rebound in late 2010″. A review of the quarterly bank data reveals some somewhat contradictory numbers: (more…)
German Econ Minister confirms Fed manipulates the FX market
Friday, May 28th, 2010Full story here from ZeroHedge. Genau, Minister Bruederle!
The German Economics Minister Rainer Bruederle has just confirmed precisely what many have known and said for years, namely that the US Federal Reserve is active in the secondary markets, in this particular case in FX. While not so much of a secret for some of the fringe players such as a the SNB, BOE and BOJ, the Fed has never had a formal statement on currency intervention, as, of course, it would have been seen as a sign of weakness (and allegedly could be considered an unconstitutional activity). And why would anybody dream of manipulating the world’s strongest currency. Of course, if Bernanke manipulates currencies, as has now been confirmed, it is more than clear that he directly buys and sells stocks in the secondary market, and/or Treasuries in the primary. We wonder what other juicy disclosure Bernanke’s trans-Atlantic CB colleagues will announce once they are cornered about their recent market manipulative conduct. (more…)
Tags: Fed, forex, fraud, Germany, market manipulation
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