Bankocracy

Bill Bonner: ‘Return to Zombieland’

"It’s a gold rush. People now come to Washington to get rich. That was never the defining ethic of the town, certainly 30 years ago. There is now so much money. It is now the wealthiest community in the United States. It is home to 7 of the wealthiest 10 counties in the United States. If you can sell yourself as someone who knows how Washington works, someone who has these relationships, someone who can get on the phone and get the president of the United States… that’s a very, very marketable commodity. I mean, if you are seen as someone who knows how this town works, someone who is a usual suspect in this town, you can dine out for years. That’s why no one leaves." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: ‘Return to Zombieland’

Former Cyprus President Named In Loan Write-Offs Leading To Banking Insolvency

"We asked 'how much longer will the rule of law remain in Cyprus once the 99% are generously handed the list of the 1% who were 'informed' enough to pull their money from the flaming sovereign equivalent of Bernie Madoff?' We may get the answer much sooner than expected, as the first iteration of this list, one naming the beneficiaries of millions of loans written off by the now insolvent Cyprus banks and therefore indirectly responsible for the 'impairment' of the banks' depositors, was released yesterday by Greece's daily Ethnos newspaper. But what virtually assures substantial political fallout is that among the people listed is Cyprus' former president, George Vassiliou." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer Cyprus President Named In Loan Write-Offs Leading To Banking Insolvency

Cyprus gets €2bn EU bailout despite money laundering concerns

"The EU on Monday (13 May) said many Cypriot banks do not know who their customers really are, but wired Nicosia €2 billion anyway. Commenting on a recent study on money laundering in the Mediterranean island, eurozone finance ministers said in a joint communique that it must do better on 'customer due diligence by banks' and must fix 'the functioning of [its] company registry.' A branch of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe and US accountancy firm Deloitte did the audit in March and April. Cyprus hosts about 12,000 shell companies which have no physical presence on the island. But its company registry has a 10-year backlog of paperwork on who owns what." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCyprus gets €2bn EU bailout despite money laundering concerns

Immense, Needless Human Misery Caused by Speculative Credit Bubbles

"Speculative bubbles based solely on cash have very short lifespans, as the bubble bursts violently as soon as the gamblers' cash has been sucked into the vortex. Truly devastating speculative bubbles require a vast expansion of credit and the corruption of the political class that feeds off the state. As Credit is ultimately managed by the state, central banks and the banking cartel, no speculative credit bubble can arise without the complicity and collaboration of all three. The destructive incentives, corruption and erosion of productive investment are masked by the rapidly rising phantom wealth created by the bubble in real estate and stocks." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingImmense, Needless Human Misery Caused by Speculative Credit Bubbles

The Danger of an All-Powerful Federal Reserve

"How will home builders react if the Fed decides their investments are bubbly and restricts their credit? How will bankers who followed all the rules feel when the Fed decrees their actions a 'systemic' threat? How will financial entrepreneurs in the shadow banking system, peer-to-peer lending innovators, etc., feel when the Fed quashes their efforts to compete with banks? Will not all of these people call their lobbyists, congressmen and administration contacts, and demand change? Will not people who profit from Fed interventions do the same? Willy-nilly financial dirigisme will inevitably lead to politicization, cronyism, a sclerotic, uncompetitive financial system and political oversight." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Danger of an All-Powerful Federal Reserve

Have You Heard the One About the Fiat Money Printing Central Banker?

"Here’s the abstract from a new paper in the October 2013 issue of Economic Inquiry: 'During their meetings, the members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) make monetary policy, but they also make each other laugh. This article studies the amount of laughter elicited by members of the FOMC during their meetings. The study finds that a member elicits more laughter if he or she expects higher inflation, other things being equal. This finding suggests that members may use humor to cope with the threat of inflation. (JEL E52, E58, C23)' They use humor. One wonders what savers and pensioners use." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHave You Heard the One About the Fiat Money Printing Central Banker?

The Technical Bankruptcy of the Government Is Kicked Out Another Six Weeks

"The U.S. government's debt has been locked in at this implausible limit for three months: $16,699,396,000,000. The Secretary of the Treasury says that it will not hit the ceiling until mid-October. This warning is silly. The U.S. government has obviously been over the limit ever since late May. The world knows this. There is no way that the debt simply stopped growing. There is no good reason why the government cannot report this same figure from now on. If the government can legally cook the books from May 17 until today, and promises to cook them until mid-October, and no one in Congress asks how, then why not for two more months, two more years, or forever?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Technical Bankruptcy of the Government Is Kicked Out Another Six Weeks

Who Will Punish Americans for Their Manifest Violations, Joe?

"Americans can expect to be attacked in the future by those seeking to 'punish' them for a very long list of their own manifest violations of not only international norms, but more importantly international laws that their government has signed on to and then brazenly broken. In other words, the White House is digging the graves of Americans and lowering their security by lowering the bar for what it takes to attack another country. Why can’t some other country claim that the Kent State massacre, or the Waco massacre, or the attack on Iraq, or bombing Libya, or bombing Serbia, or killing innocents by drones, or the sanctions on Iraq that killed 500,000 children, or removing the government in Afghanistan?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWho Will Punish Americans for Their Manifest Violations, Joe?

Even Eurocrats Realize that Taxes Can Be Too High

"Tax increases imposed by the Socialist-led government in France have reached a 'fatal level', the EU's commissioner for economic affairs said today. Olli Rehn warned that a series of tax hikes since the Socialists took power 14 months ago – including €33bn in new taxes this year – threatens to 'destroy growth and handicap the creation of jobs'. President Hollande has kept his electoral promise to attack French deficits and accumulated debt. He has done so, however, almost entirely by tax increases rather than by cuts in a state apparatus which swallows 56.6 per cent of the country’s GDP. It has emerged that final budget plans for 2014 will include at least €6bn in tax rises." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEven Eurocrats Realize that Taxes Can Be Too High