Infinite Unknown

Related article:
- JPMorgan Employee Who Invented Credit Default Swaps is One of the Key Architects of Carbon Derivatives, Which Would Be at the Very CENTER of Cap and Trade

… suddenly politicians “get religion” about making damn sure it has no bullets in it:

“We’re of the opinion that a quick implementation of actions in the area of CDS has to happen,” Merkel said. Citing “ongoing speculation against euro-region countries,” she called for the “fastest possible” implementation of new rules. Europe must “do everything to avoid unhealthy speculation,” said Juncker, who heads the euro-area finance ministers group.

Where ‘ya been Angie?

Oh, and you too Papandreou:

“Europe and America must say ‘enough is enough’ to those speculators who only place value on immediate returns, with utter disregard for the consequences on the larger economic system,” Papandreou said yesterday in a speech in Washington.

And, of course, Sarkozy.

Note that I’ve been calling for these things to be either exchange-traded with central counterparty “blinding” (on purpose) as is the case with the regulated option and futures markets or be torn up since The Ticker began publication.

Why?  Because it is my position and remains so that unless you have this sort of market these contracts are all a scam.

They are a scam because: Continue reading »

Tags: AIG, Angela Merkel, Derivatives, Derivatives market, Economy, EU, Europe, George Papandreou, Government, Karl Denninger, Politics

Fitch Ratings has delivered a serious blow to the credibility of the Government’s budget plans, warning that Britain risks a loss of investor confidence and erosion of its AAA rating unless it maps out clear austerity measures.

Fitch warns Britain and questions Greek rescue as sovereign risks grow

Brian Coulton, the agency’s head of sovereign ratings, said the UK has seen “the most rapid rise in the ratio of public debt to GDP of any AAA-rated country” and is courting fate with its leisurely plan to halve the deficit by the middle of the decade.

“It is frankly too slow, a pedestrian pace. Why the UK thinks it has more time than other countries , we’re not sure. This needs to be reoriented,” he told the Fitch forum on sovereign hotspots.

A string of European states are stepping up the pace of retrenchment, aiming to cut deficits to 3pc of GDP within three years. The risk is that Britain will soon stick out like a sore thumb, left behind with a shockingly large deficit long after such loose fiscal policy can be justified as a crisis measure. The UK deficit this year is 12.6pc of GDP, the highest among G10 states. Continue reading »

Tags: Bailout, Debt, Economy, EU, Fitch, GDP, George Papandreou, Government, Greece, Politics, Rating, U.K.

A rescue fund to bailout (intentionally) incompetent governments, that have bailed out greedy, (intentionally) incompetent banksters with taxpayer money.

All of that taxpayer money ultimately landed in the hands of the elite criminals, that control the governments, the central banks and banks (and almost all corporations) and that have planned this entire financial crisis.

And as solution to the crisis will be the New World Order.

See also:

- EU considers creating IMF-style rescue fund (Washington Post)

- Euro Monetary Fund Has Promise, Problems (Wall Street Journal)

- Brussels ready to back eurozone monetary fund (Financial Times)

(Updates with details, quotes, background)

BRUSSELS, March 8 (Reuters) - The European Union’s executive is considering a new rescue fund for euro zone countries to prevent future financial crises like that in Greece, a spokesman said on Monday.

“Basically the (European) Commission is ready to propose such a European instrument for assistance which will require the support of all euro area member states,” Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj told a daily news briefing.

“There is a clear sense of determination to improve economic governance of the euro area.”

The idea of creating a European monetary fund was floated at the weekend by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who said he favoured a body that commanded “the experience of the International Monetary Fund and similar executive powers”.

Altafaj stressed it was too early to say whether the fund would be just a financial instrument or a new institutional body with a separate staff and budget.

“We are in very open discussions at this point in time, considering ways and means to be more effective both on the intervention side … but also the preventive side,” he said. Continue reading »

Tags: Economy, EU, Euro, Greece, Politics

March 7 (Bloomberg) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the European Union must support Greece or risk destroying the euro as Prime Minister George Papandreou heads for Paris to lobby support for the debt-laden country.

“If we created the euro, we cannot let a country fall that is in the eurozone,” said Sarkozy yesterday before a meeting with Papandreou in Paris today. “Otherwise there was no point in creating the euro. We must support Greece because they are making an effort.”

EU leaders have so far refused to give financial aid to Greece and have ordered the government to cut its budget deficit, the EU’s highest, on its own. While Papandreou says steps taken this past week to slash the shortfall warrant more help from the EU, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said yesterday that his country is “not going to write a blank check.”

Papandreou is visiting Berlin, Paris and Washington after his government passed a 4.8 billion euro ($6.5 billion) austerity package on March 5. A poll published in To Vima newspaper today showed 51.9 percent of voters support him even after the cuts, compared with 47.5 percent who don’t. Continue reading »

Tags: Debt, Economy, EU, Euro, France, Global News, Government, Greece, Nicolas Sarkozy, Politics

See also:

- Lisbon Treaty: Now EU Takes Charge Of Britain

- EU President Herman Van Rompuy Announces 2009 as ‘First Year of Global Governance’

And here comes the New World Order.

EU CHIEF VOWS TO RUN OUR ECONOMY FROM BRUSSELS

Barroso plans to grab power

EUROPE’S chief bureaucrat last night provoked fury after threatening to use the “full force” of the Lisbon Treaty to impose economic control over every EU nation.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso claimed that financial stability was so critical that sweeping new powers were needed for Eurocrats in Brussels to meddle in the economies of all EU members.

But his threat sparked an angry backlash from critics of an ever- growing Brussels bureaucracy.

It raised fears that the EU – under unelected (!) new President Herman van Rompuy – is planning a power grab.

Timothy Kirkhope, the leader of Tory Euro MPs, said: “The idea of compulsory economic policies is deeply disturbing. It reflects a very old fashioned ‘command and control’ approach which does not solve problems of the 21st century.” Mats Persson, director of think-tank Open Europe, said: “Economic growth cannot be forced from the centre.

“The unelected Commission is seeking to gain power over one of the corefeatures of democratic politics, deciding how a country’s economy is run. This has no public support and runs the risk of being hijacked by narrow political interests.” Continue reading »

Tags: Economy, EU, Europe, Global News, Government, Herman Van Rompuy, Jose Manuel Barroso, Lisbon Treaty, New World Order, Politics

Empty rail tracks are seen at at the entrance to the Thision underground railway in Athens on March 5, 2010. (Bloomberg)

March 5 (Bloomberg) — Striking Greek workers shut down transport and tried to storm parliament as lawmakers passed 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in budget cuts, including wage reductions, needed to trim the region’s biggest budget deficit.

Police with riot shields fired tear gas as demonstrators wearing biker helmets and ski masks pelted them with stones outside parliament in Athens where lawmakers approved the measures. Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told parliament the cuts will show European Union allies and investors that Greece is making good on its deficit pledges.

“We didn’t create this crisis but now we have to pay for it,” said Manthos Adamakis, who was protesting with other catering workers outside the five-star Grande Bretagne Hotel on Syntagma Square in downtown Athens. Continue reading »

Tags: Debt, Economy, EU, Europe, Global News, Government, Greece, Politics, Protesters, Society

The Fed, creating the US dollar out of thin air, is the real Ponzi scheme here and not gold.

Marc Faber’s recommendation to continue buying gold every month, forever, received a full broadside on CNBC.

[At 3:45 in the video]:

“You see sir, I am a huge fan of yours, but I have a real difficulty here that I’d like you to help me out with. If I’m looking to invest in my retirement, I have a choice of investing in the American stock market, which is basically a play on change, bright people, working internationally in teams, around the world, and chasing the margin every day of their lives… OR… I can do what you’re suggesting and buy an inanimate object that sits in a dark, damp cellar somewhere, that may or may not be in short supply, may or may not glitter in the correct light, but really has no productive power. Isn’t gold the ultimate Ponzi scheme?”

Faber’s response:

“No, I don’t think it’s a Ponzi scheme, and it’s not a liability of someone else… it’s quantity cannot be increased at the same rate as you can print money… I’m not saying that the dollar will go straight away down because other currencies like the euro are even worse at the present time. But eventually if you print money, the purchasing power will lose.” Continue reading »

Tags: Bailout, Debt, Dollar, ECB, Economy, EU, Euro, Gold, Greece, Italy, Marc Faber, Ponzi schemes, Portugal, Spain, Stock Market, U.S.

See also:
- Greece passes new deficit cuts to avert ‘catastrophe’ (Telegraph)

George Papandreou, Greece’s prime minister, pauses during a conference organized by The Economist in Athens, on Feb. 2, 2010. (Bloomberg)

March 4 (Bloomberg) — Greece’s pledge to deepen planned budget-deficit cuts failed to yield an offer of assistance from Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, as protesters in Athens seized the finance ministry building and blocked roads in the city center.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a meeting tomorrow with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou won’t be “about aid commitments.” Her finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said the third round of deficit-reduction measures this year were probably enough to convince investors to buy Greek debt.

While Papandreou is risking a backlash at home to meet European Union demands for more deficit cuts before allies even consider providing aid, Merkel is facing domestic opposition to tapping taxpayers to extend a financial lifeline to Greece.

“There would be no understanding in Germany for bailing out Greece,” Henrik Enderlein, a political economist at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, said by phone. “It’s a bit of catch-22 situation: if you give in to Greece and you put 5 billion or perhaps even 10 billion into some kind of rescue package or into some guarantees, then the German government would look irresponsible. However, if it doesn’t, then European Union leaders might put a lot of pressure on Merkel and say, look, we have to bail out Greece.” Continue reading »

Tags: Angela Merkel, Debt, Economy, EU, Euro, Europe, George Papandreou, Germany, Government, Greece, Politics, Protesters, Taxpayers

George Soros

You know a company/country/continent is in trouble when authorities start cracking down on short bets against it.

That’s why it’s so disturbing how much heat European currency and sovereign debt speculators are getting these days.

Even the U.S. has climbed aboard the bandwagon now.

Reports of a U.S. Justice Department investigation into Soros Fund Management, SAC, and Greenlight Capital short positions against the euro broke last week.

Yet now the speculator clamp down is evolving into something completely terrifying. Apparently, it could now be considered collusion if you simply share economic opinions over dinner: Continue reading »

Tags: Dollar, Economy, EU, Euro, George Soros, Soros Fund Management, U.S.

Jamie Dimon, chairman of JP Morgan Chase, has warned American investors should be more worried about the risk of default of the state of California than of Greece’s current debt woes.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is desperately trying to reduce California’s $20bn deficit Photo: BLOOMBERG

Mr Dimon told investors at the Wall Street bank’s annual meeting that “there could be contagion” if a state the size of California, the biggest of the United States, had problems making debt repayments. “Greece itself would not be an issue for this company, nor would any other country,” said Mr Dimon. “We don’t really foresee the European Union coming apart.” The senior banker said that JP Morgan Chase and other US rivals are largely immune from the European debt crisis, as the risks have largely been hedged.

California however poses more of a risk, given the state’s $20bn (£13.1bn) budget deficit, which Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is desperately trying to reduce.

Earlier this week, the state’s legislature passed bills that will cut the deficit by $2.8bn through budget cuts and other measures. However the former Hollywood film star turned politician is looking for $8.9bn of cuts over the next 16 months, and is also hoping for as much as $7bn of handouts from the federal government.

Earlier this week, John Chiang, the state’s controller, said that if a workable plan to reduce the deficit and increase cash levels is not reached soon, he will have to return to issuing IOU’s, forcing state workers to take additional unpaid leave and potentially freezing spending. Continue reading »

Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, Debt, Economy, EU, Global News, Government, Greece, IOUs, JPMorgan, Politics, U.S.