Infinite Unknown

- Mass Panic In Cyprus: The Banks Are Collapsing And ATMs Are Running Out Of Money (Economic Collapse, March 21, 2013):

European officials are openly admitting that the two largest banks in Cyprus are “insolvent“, and it is now being reported that Cyprus Popular Bank only has “enough liquidity to cover the next few hours“.  Of course all banks in Cyprus are officially closed until Tuesday at the earliest, but there have been long lines at ATMs all over Cyprus as people scramble to get whatever money they can out of the banks.  Unfortunately, some ATMs appear to be “malfunctioning” and others appear to have already run out of cash.  You can see some photos of huge lines at one ATM in Cyprus right here.  Some businesses are now even refusing to take credit card payments.  This is creating an atmosphere of panic on the streets of Cyprus.  Meanwhile, the EU is holding a gun to the head of the Cyprus financial system.  Either Cyprus meets EU demands by Monday, or liquidity for the banks will be totally cut off and Cyprus will be forced out of the euro.  It is being reported that European officials believe that the “economy is going to tank in Cyprus no matter what“, and that it would be okay to let the financial system of Cyprus crash and burn if politicians in Cyprus are not willing to do what they have been ordered to do.  Apparently European officials are very confident that the situation in Cyprus can be contained and that it will not spread to other European nations.

Unfortunately, European officials are losing sight of the bigger picture.  If the largest banks in Cyprus are allowed to fail, it will be another “Lehman Brothers moment“.  The faith that people have in banks all over Europe will be called into question, and everyone will be wondering what major European banks will be allowed to fail next. Continue reading »

Tags: Bank Run, Banking, Collapse, Cyprus, Economy, EU, Euro, Europe, Global News, Government, Politics, Society

- Pictures From A Cyprus ATM Line (ZeroHedge, March 21, 2013)

Tags: Banking, Collapse, Cyprus, Economy, EU, Euro, Europe, Global News, Government, Politics

- Euro Official On Cyprus: “Markets Believe We Will Find A Solution, This Might Not Be The Case” (ZeroHedge, March 21, 2013):

While the market levitation courtesy of the Fed, BIS and BOJ continues unabated to give the impression that all is well, allowing empty momentum-chasing chatterboxes to say that Cyprus is not a big deal because… well, look at the market (and real traders the chance to quietly dump existing risk positions), the artificial, centrally-planned calm during the storm may be ending. The reason comes from none other than the Eurogroup, whose deputy finance ministers held a conference call last night, and whose transcript has been seen by Reuters.

Here are the highlights.

Euro zone finance officials acknowledged being “in a mess” over Cyprus during a conference call on Wednesday and discussed imposing capital controls to insulate the region from a possible collapse of the Cypriot economy.

In detailed notes of the call seen by Reuters, one official described emotions as running “very high”, making it difficult to come up with rational solutions, and referred to “open talk in regards of (Cyprus) leaving the euro zone”.

Not very confidence boosting. But then again, with confidence in Cyprus now gone, the time for damage control is long gone. Sure enough, it just goes from bad to worse: Continue reading »

Tags: Banking, Collapse, Cyprus, Economy, EU, Euro, Europe, Global News, Government, Lehman Brothers, Politics

- Euro: Currency Or Prison? (ZeroHedge, March 20, 2013):

The following Wall Street Journal article deserves to be read in its entirety…

Authored by Vincent Cignarella, originally posted at WSJ Market Beat,

Is The Euro a Currency or a Prison?

Wearing the disguise of austerity, the euro has emerged as the gatekeeper of what is fast becoming a debtors’ prison.

The Troika of the ECB, IMF and European Commission acting in concert have become more like another Troika–of judge, jury and executioner–for any nation within the euro zone that dares not follow the letter of budgetary imposition.

The latest country bound by these handcuffs: Cyprus.

Continue reading »

Tags: Cyprus, ECB, Economy, EU, Euro, Europe, Global News, Government, IMF, Politics, Society, Wall Street Journal

By Charles Wyplos
Professor of International Economics, Graduate Institute, Geneva; Director, International Centre for Money and Banking Studies; CEPR Research Fellow

- Cyprus: The next blunder (VOX, March 18, 2013):

The Cyprus bailout package contains a tax on bank deposits. This column argues that the tax is a deeply dangerous policy that creates a new situation, more perilous than ever. It is a radical change that potentially undermines a perfectly reasonable deposit guarantee and the euro itself. Historians will one day explore the dark political motives behind this move. Meanwhile, we can only hope that the bad equilibrium that has just been created will not be chosen by anguished depositors in Spain and Italy.

The decision to tax all Cypriot bank deposits has attracted massive attention (Spiegel 2013) – and rightly so. It is a huge blunder: Continue reading »

Tags: Banking, Bonds, Charles Wyplos, Cyprus, Debt, Economy, EU, Euro, Europe, Global News, Government, Politics, Society

If Beppe Grillo is a clown, then we need a circus in every town NOW, …

… hoping to attract more clowns!

Here is why …

The following interview needs to be translated into English ASAP!

Italian with German subtitles:

Added: 05.03.2013

Full interview (only Italian):

Added: 01.02.2013

Italian with English and German subtitles:

- Here Is Why Italy’s Beppe Grillo Is Causing The Power Elite Central Planners To Wet Their Pants (Video):

- Beppe Grillo: ‘Italy Is In Fact Already Out Of The Euro’ (Handelsblatt)

Germany’s Peer Steinbrück (SPD) also called Beppe Grillo a clown.

More on Peer Steinbrück:

- SPD Chancellor Candidate And Bilderberg Peer Steinbrück’s Great-Great-Uncle Was A Cofounder Of Deutsche Bank

- Bilderberg 2011: The Full Official Attendee List

Tags: Beppe Grillo, EU, Euro, Europe, Global News, Government, Politics

Must-see:

- Here Is Why Italy’s Beppe Grillo Is Causing The Power Elite Central Planners To Wet Their Pants (Video)

Beppe Grillo leads the protest movement “Five Star”
Beppe Grillo führt die Protestbewegung „Fünf Sterne“ an.

Google translation here:

- Beppe Grillo: “Italy is in fact already out of the Euro”(Handelsblatt, March 13, 2013):

Exclusive: Beppe Grillo, protest leaders and winner of Rome, will take a vote on the future of Italy in the euro zone. He proposes an online referendum on the euro. Also on Mario Monti, he is not speaking well.

Milan. The Italian politician and surprise winner of the last general election, Beppe Grillo, does not believe the fate of Italy in the Euro-zone. “In fact, Italy’s already out of the euro,” said the leader of the party “five stars” in an interview with the Financial Times (Wednesday edition). He believes that the Nordic countries would keep Italy only so long, “until they have taken the pure investment banks in their Italian bonds again. Then they will drop us like a hot potato. ”

Grillo sketched a popular decision on the euro. It has to pass an exit from the euro but “not alone” but would “make an online referendum on the euro.” Just as on the Lisbon Treaty. These are “all issues on which our Constitution was ignored”.

Interview Grillo expected sharply with the current Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. This was “a bankruptcy trustee on behalf of the banks. Held up at the top earners and cut the state system, he has the people below aufgebrummt higher taxes. ”

Grillo sees itself not as anti-European. “Europe must not be afraid,” he told Reuters in an interview. He asked, however, a strong reversal and “more democracy.” For his party, he takes to claim. “We are the French Revolution – without guillotine” Europe needs a “Plan B,” says the Italian politicians. “We must still ask: What happened to Europe? Why we have no common information policy, no joint tax policy, no common policy of immigration? Why only Germany has enriched? “

Original article:

- Beppe Grillo: „Italien ist de facto schon raus aus dem Euro“ (Handelsblatt, March 13, 2013):

Exklusiv: Beppe Grillo, Protestpolitiker und Wahlsieger von Rom, will über die Zukunft Italiens in der Euro-Zone abstimmen lassen. Er schlägt ein Online-Referendum zum Euro vor. Auch auf Mario Monti ist er nicht gut zu sprechen.

Mailand. Der italienische Politiker und Überraschungssieger der letzten Parlamentswahl, Beppe Grillo, glaubt nicht an den Verbleib Italiens in der Euro-Zone. „De facto ist Italien doch schon aus dem Euro raus“, sagte der Vorsitzende der Partei „Fünf Sterne“ in einem Interview mit dem Handelsblatt (Mittwochausgabe). Er gehe davon aus, dass auch die nordeuropäischen Staaten Italien nur so lange halten würden, „bis sie die Investitionen ihrer Banken in italienische Staatsanleihen wieder reingeholt haben. Dann werden sie uns fallen lassen wie eine heiße Kartoffel“.

Grillo deutete eine Volksentscheidung zum Euro an. Er beschließe einen Austritt aus dem Euro aber „nicht allein“ sondern würde „ein Online-Referendum zum Euro machen“. Genauso wie zum Vertrag von Lissabon. Dies seien „alles Themen, bei denen unsere Verfassung außer Acht gelassen wurde“. Continue reading »

Tags: Beppe Grillo, EU, Euro, Europe, Global News, Government, Politics

FYI.

- Jim Rogers: We’re Wiping Out The Savings Class Globally, To Terrible Consequence (Peak Prosperity, March 9, 2013):

Jim Rogers decries the growing uncertainty and recklessness of global central planners as the world enters unchartered financial markets:

For the first time in recorded history, we have nearly every central bank printing money and trying to debase their currency. This has never happened before. How it’s going to work out, I don’t know. It just depends on which one goes down the most and first, and they take turns. When one says a currency is going down, the question is against what? because they are all trying to debase themselves. It’s a peculiar time in world history.

Continue reading »

Tags: Agriculture, Bonds, Commodities, Corn, Debt, Dollar, Economy, Euro, Food, Global News, Gold, Government, India, Japan, Jim Rogers, Middle Class, Politics, Quantitative Easing, rice, Silver, Society, soybeans, U.S., wheat, Yen, Yuan

- German FinMin Warns “I Never Said The Euro Crisis Was Over” (ZeroHedge, Feb 27, 2013):

Following on the heels of Merkel’s adviser Lars Feld’s comments, German finance minister Schaeuble has raised concerns over the results of the Italian elections. His comment that,“I never said the euro crisis was over,” stands in contrast to the claims of Monti, Draghi, Lagarde, Barroso, and Sarkozy who all have. along with the market’s “doubts that a stable government can be formed,” raises the risk of turmoil spreading to other euro countries. Schaeuble commented further that, “now it is up to those who were elected in Italy on Sunday to form a stable government. The faster they do this, the quicker the uncertainty will be overcome.” The problem, as Reuters reports, appears to be not just Italy’s public dissension over Germany’s demands for austerity but his French counterpart’s comments that “austerity has gone far enough,” to which the German rebuked, “France must also do more here, Hollande knows this and so does Pierre Moscovici.” Tension is certainly rising in the depression-addled union, even as Draghi explains – it’s all ok, he promises.

• Barroso (The Guardian): “we can say that the existential threat against the euro has essentially been overcome”
• Monti (Bloomberg): “the euro area crisis is almost over”
• Draghi (BBC): “the worst is over, the situation is stabilizing”
• Lagarde (Voice of Russia): “eurozone crisis largely over”
• Sarkozy (China News): “I think we came out of the financial crisis”

Via Reuters, Continue reading »

Tags: EU, Euro, Europe, Germany, Global News, Government, Politics, Wolfgang Schaeuble, Wolfgang Schäuble

- Merkel Advisor Feld: “Euro Crisis Will Return Shortly And With A Vengeance” (ZeroHedge, Feb 26, 2013):

For all the groundless, starry-eyed optimism permeating Europe’s bureaucratic corridors of the fading oligarchy these days (because this time is not like every other time that, too, was different), there has always existed one sure, never-fail antidote: Germany, which without fail has managed to ground Europe any time its delusion of grandure hit escape velocity. Sure enough, while all the statist soothsayers who threatened with armageddon if the outcome of the Italian elections happened to be precisely the one that transpired, were stuck in backpedal mode, and scrambling to calm nerves that all shall be well after all, one person who refuses to play by the script is Lars Feld, member of panel of economic advisers to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung tomorrow says the euro crisis is to return shortly and “with a vengeance” as capital loss will lead to higher risk premiums for Italy’s interest rates.

From Handelsblatt, previewing the FAZ Wednesday edition:

The Italian economy would not find their way out of the recession, according to the pessimistic assessment by Lars Feld: “The sustainability of Italian public finances is in jeopardy. The euro crisis will therefore return shortly with a vengeance.”

Continue reading »

Tags: Angela Merkel, Economy, EU, Euro, Europe, Germany, Global News, Government, Italy, Mario Monti, Politics