Those who believe the European crisis is over are
mistaken. The dislocation will continue as their economies slow and
political, social and economic events converge into further crisis. The
most glaring problem is the banks only taking a 50% loss on Greek
bonds. The loss should have been 75% or even 80%. There is absolutely
no way Greece can overcome that burden in a slowing European economy
and an enraged population. They are still striking and demonstrating
and they will continue even under a new government.
Some of the best economists in the world have been saying for almost as
long as we have been saying that the weaker and smaller countries have
to leave the euro at least temporarily. In our eyes that really means
permanently. If Italy falls out it will take France with it and the
euro edifice will fall. Very quickly it will be found that Greece
cannot and will not recover. It is one thing to set recovery in motion
in good times, but it is another to attempt to do so under austerity.
These politicians in Europe have been self-serving. They are quickly
going to find what they have done is not going to work. Greece should
have never been saved, as we said from the beginning. They will need
more and more money just to exist and you cannot have perpetual
funding. Then you have the overriding social factor. It is simply
impossible and once Greece goes, the other 5 will have to cut loose as
well. Again, it will be called temporary, but their exists will be
permanent. It simply cannot be any other way. Political hot air is not
going to change anything. We have no details and bankers who refuse to
face the music, and what is attempted to be achieved is impossible.
The concept of a tighter union with a new constitution won’t work
either. We can go back to 1991 when these issues came forth and we
stated the Europeans are doing this backwards. You need a strong
constitution first, only nations involved that can meet the criteria of
public debt of 3% GDP. Smaller nations cannot be allowed to falsify
their balance sheets and above all you cannot use one interest rate for
all. Just about everything that has been done has been done
incorrectly. Unfortunately, the US and world economy hang in the
balance as well. This euro, European and UK problem is not going to go
away. By February it will again be front page news. There is an 80%
chance that Greece will leave the euro in the next six months.
If Ireland and Portugal do not receive equal treatment, followed by
Belgium, Spain and Italy, then they will all be forced to leave the
euro. If you think for one minute that these nations can stand more
than a year or two of austerity you are mistaken. The whole approach is
wrong. They should all be allowed to leave the euro. The only reason
Greece has been temporarily saved is to keep Greece in the euro. These
one-worlders cannot bear to see their dream of world government fail.
It has already failed. Do you really think Germans are going to give up
their sovereignty? Wait for the next German election. You are going to
see a house cleaning in the Bundestag that will be staggering. The
German people are outraged at what these politicians have done to them.
If anything the move in the EU’s strongest economy will be away from
further consolidation, not toward it.
The magic number to keep the euro from collapsing over the next two
years is $6 trillion that solvent European countries do not have, and
using derivatives in place of cash is a prescription for disaster. Debt
may be addressed, but the core economic and financial problems that
were responsible for these problems are still not being addressed. That
is a glaring lack of economic progress. Where is the capital needed for
growth? Countries in the EU are going to have to increase money and
credit and suffer the incumbent inflation; that is if they can even
raise those funds and rollover old debt. Either that or China will lend
$3 to $500 billion and we don’t think they are willing to do that. If
China prints the money to lend, the value of the yuan will fall, the
Chinese will take more market share and there will be more inflation.
Their goods sold to Europe, the US and elsewhere will rise in cost as
well. The Chinese will have to use cash euros or sell euro bonds. Such
moves could be really upsetting to China. If aid comes it will be in
much smaller amounts.
This past week the swaps association said the failure on 50% of Greek
debt does not constitute failure, because it was voluntary, so the NYC
legacy banks do not have to pay up on their derivative bet. That could
all change, because Fitch says it does constitute default. We will now
have to await the decisions of S&P and Moody’s.
What Europe has done is pull a page from US bailouts, which reduce debt
starting in a few years, which would extend over 10 or 20 years. It
reminds us of the two sets of books banks are currently keeping. They
intend to write off bad debt over 50 years, like it really didn’t
exist. This plan allows further current increases in debt over the
short term. That is no solution at all. Again, it only throws the debt
and service into a future that could include deflationary depression.
Recovery is not a given.
Fitch has really opened a large can of worms in calling a 50% debt
default a payable derivative event. We are talking about hundreds of
billions of CD’s, credit default swaps OTC derivatives, which just
happens to be an unregulated market. Our view is Fitch is correct and
the ISDA, the derivatives information agency is wrong. What isn’t made
an issue of is that banks have been asked to raise $150 billion they
are offside on this issue. We projected this number long ago. The
official number is $3.7 billion, which is laughable. About a month ago
the players admitted to $75 billion, so we are making progress toward
truth and reality. We wonder what the French bankers are saying, who
bought the insurance? If NYC banks do not pay off the ECB will have to
create the $150 billion and lend it to the banks in France, so they can
survive. Could this be a renege? We think so, and that would ultimately
allow citizens of the EU to pay the debt. These bankers are crafty
buggers they are.
We also question why banks are writing off 50% of their debt and the
sovereigns are not. Isn’t this strange? Why are they not writing off
50%? Could it be that if they did they would be insolvent? Could it be
to deceive their taxpaying citizens and pop the question several years
from now? Could this be they are just trying to extend the timeline
into the future? Time has a way of revealing everything. Incidentally,
none of that Greek debt will probably ever be paid off. It should also
be noted that of the $140 billion lent by the IMF, US taxpayers are on
the hook for about 30%, or $42 billion. We are sure that will make
Americans very happy.
The difference between $516 billion allocated by EU members, half of
which comes from Germany, and $1.4 trillion will come from the sale of
bonds by the EFSF, the European Financial Stabilization Fund. The
question is who is going to buy this tranche of some $900 billion in
bonds? Nations will receive greater taxes from a phantom recovery and
buy the bonds. How can this be when those economies barely have even
GDP growth? All this in the midst of austerity. We do not get it. We
must be missing something. Does Italy really believe that raising the
retirement age from 65 to 67 is going to bring any real immediate
relief? As you can see the case is terminal.
The whole plan is absurd, stupid and unworkable. These problems are
going to last for years as Europe, the UK and US wallow in negative
growth and eventually in deflationary depression.
Greece will collapse; it is only a question of when. The ECB will
continue to create money and credit, just as the US and UK are doing.
It won’t take long for investors to figure out they have been
bamboozled again. They will flee stock markets probably just after the
Fed’s latest QE 3 is announced. Some will buy US Treasuries and lose
about 10% of their purchasing power annually. Some will flee to
commodities and many will use the flight to quality to purchase gold
and silver coins, bullion and shares. Modes of investments are going to
change dramatically, so you had best participate, or you may end up
losing most of your wealth.
What you are witnessing is financial chicanery at its best. Wait until
the citizens of Europe discover they are going to have to pay all these
bills, just so they can be enslaved in a one-world government. They are
not going to be happy.
We always tend to be ahead of the curve and the crowd. This time the
time frame for discovery may be very short, because once investors
understand what we have written here they will want to get out. Gold,
silver and commodities will rise for different reasons, along with the
flight to quality. Incidentally, this time the gold and silver mining
shares will soar.
Reflecting back on our comments the second Greek bailout does not solve
the EMU’s fundamental problem, which is the 30% competitiveness gap
between the northern and southern countries and Germany’s giant-EMU
trade surplus at the expense of the south. Unless a way can be found to
rectify that there cannot be a recovery. The south has been forced into
austerity, which limits their chances of being competitive. As we
pointed out over and over again the end product will be a deflationary
spiral and eventually deflationary depression. What the IMF and EU
members are imposing on the six countries is very destructive.
A fiscal union would perhaps work, but that means the end of individual
country sovereignty, which would eventually lead to authoritarianism,
which would not like to see. The entire union is unnatural and should
be ended. It has been a failure and just leave it at that.
All this program is going to do is buy time. It is not a long-term
solution. Current debt holders are going to be incensed, as they will
be forced in before sovereigns, but will banks really take a 50%
haircut? We don’t really know. Is this really a fig leaf, a wholly
inadequate alternative to the ECB, which cannot provide endless
liquidity?
This rescue effort is really too dependent on high-risk deals, such as
what caused this crisis. Four times leverage is outrageous. In the end
the European public could get caught holding the bag.
At the same time we are seeing monetary contraction in Portugal, which
mirrors that of Greece as it spiraled out of control. Bank deposits are
off 21% over the past six months and that could well be a precursor of
a weak economy and monetary trouble.
Another question that arises is due to the treatment accorded to NYC
legacy, money center banks. Will those using credit default swaps
continue to do so. There is a default and because it was voluntary the
derivative writers do not have to pay off. Give us a break. It looks
like contract law no longer exists.
In very late breaking news we find something we warned about is
happening. The German High Court, the Bundesgerichtshof, has issued an
express order that the nine-member committee dealing with dispersing
the rescue funds is not allowed to do so. The plug has been pulled on
the EU and German politicians on money releases. If the Germans and the
EU are lucky they’ll have a constitutional decision by Christmas. We
predicted this would happen.
Uncertainty revolves around the deal reached with Greek bondholders to
face a 50% haircut on the face value of their bonds. This has not been
negotiated as yet.
At the same time France needs to raise $11.2 billion to keep its AAA
rating. Sarkozy says 2012 GDP growth will be about 1%, about the same
as Germany, but no one mentions it would be -2% with inflation.
Switzerland’s State Secretariat for International Financial Matters
said the Swiss were interested in investing in a special investment
vehicle proposed by the euro zone bailout fund, but we see a real fight
brewing. The Swiss People’s Party, which was against franc devaluation
and the sale of Swiss gold, will be after this move by the Swiss
government. They do not want closer ties to the EU.
This past summer we warned that European banks would have to increase
their reserve position to 9%, because both the BIS and IMF said it was
absolutely necessary. You might call the EU’s laxity of not forcing
Greece to implement its austerity agreement as part of a socialist
mindset. There was no way to move Greece into line. For not living up
to their commitment they could have cut Greece off, because then they
would default and leave the euro. Thus, they continued to fund Greece.
The truth is they have to do so irrespective of what Greece does or
doesn’t do.
The heart of the problem was banking incompetence followed by sovereign
stupidity. Banks and solvent sovereigns never should have made the
loans in the first place. All the greedy bankers, politicians and
bureaucrats could think of was the euro zone and the euro being the
template for one-world government. The interconnectivity of banks
within nations with banks of other nations is the lynchpin that will
eventually take all of them down. It’s caused by central control such
as that embodied in the European Central Bank. The bottom line is if a
state like Greece, partially defaults, then the banks within Greece
default as well because these banks are holding large amounts of
federal bonds and loans. Thus, the edifice collapses. This relationship
exists all over Europe and as we are seeing six countries are in
trouble and if the European economy continues to slip into recession or
depression other countries will join the six. In addition in many
countries supervision is all but non-existent. A perfect example of
such a relationship was with France, Belgium, and the Dexia bank, which
they created. As a result the taxpayers of Belgium and France have
acquired all the bad assets of Dexia.
Adding to such problems is that usually half of the debt of any country
is held by foreign banks and sovereigns, which means failure becomes
contagion. France’s holding of 8.5% of GDP of debt from these six
countries will eventually cause France to lose its AAA rating. If that
is the case we venture to ask how can France be party to a commitment
to bail out Greece or anyone else? They simply cannot and they are the
number 2 player. You would think French citizens would elect someone
who was not involved in such stupidities, such as Marine LePen of the
National Party. The banks and business interests, such as the
Rothschilds, couldn’t have that – could they? If France financially
fails we could see 1789 all over again. This sovereign debt is widely
held by other nations including the US, UK and Japan. European banks
have controlled European society for a long, long time and they are the
catalyst for the new world order.
We hear over and over again there will be recovery, we will grow our
way out of it. That won’t be possible for Europe, the UK and the US.
The number of young people who do the largest part of consumer spending
in their 20s and 30s today have a hard time making ends meet, never
mind spending. On top of that many are unemployed and may be for some
time to come. If you have noticed unemployment has risen or stayed the
same in the regions we have spoken of. Accumulation has only occurred
among the upper-middle class and the wealthy. This also means borrowing
has fallen and the ability to access loans and capital are limited,
because so many prime age borrowers do not qualify.
One of the reasons Germany does as well as it does is because they have
an abundancy of inexpensive capital available for loans and credit,
which allows expansion, creates jobs and brings profits. The cost of
labor is low or in the form of growing productivity and people pay
their bills.
One interest rate fits all became a disaster. The weak participants
borrowed at 4% instead of 8% and the result was an orgy of spending
that ended up in today’s insolvencies. We said 12 years ago this would
destroy the euro zone and it has. These low rates also allowed a
massive influx of imports into the six problem countries, which caused
major balance of trade deficits. This also brought about borrowing in
foreign currencies, which turned into a nightmare, particularly in
Eastern Europe.
European banking and politics are very closely intertwined. In other
words the banks overtly run these countries. The same is true in the
UK, but in the US it has been subtler due to ignorance of how the
banking system works and that has been deliberate. In Europe the stress
test used 5% as a guideline, instead of the normal 10%. This shows you
the power and control banking has over EU government making the margin
for error extremely thin. Considering the exposure cash reserves were
increased to 9%. This means capital has to be raised and that is not
easy in today’s recessionary environment. Two-thirds of European banks
are currently under 9%. The worst exposed are RBS, Deutsche Bank,
Unicredit, Bank Paribas, Barclays and Societ General. Hundreds of
billions of euros are needed and the question is where will they come
from? In addition how many banks are shuffling assets between trading,
deposit, and banking sectors, such as Dexia had been doing until they
had to be taken over by the French and Belgium governments? The banks
need $270 billion that is readily available. If funds are not available
then that means governments will have to supply the capital from out of
thin air, which is very inflationary.
The EFSF, the European Financial Stability Facility, which was set up
to aid Greece, Ireland and Portugal, now aids banks and European
governments, such as the Fed does. An EFSF if allowed to dispense $1.4
trillion based on a $900 billion derivative structure would take months
to move into action. Then there is the question will the German High
court allow leveraging. We do not think so. The Court had already told
the Bundestage you cannot do that, but they did it anyway.
As we can say is stay tuned for the next episode in this saga. It could
end up taking down the entire world’s financial system.
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