What Could Possibly Go Wrong

WSJ Report: Larry Summers “Hellbent” on Becoming Fed Chairman

"Larry Summers, a former top economic adviser to President Obama, is speaking, writing, consulting, advising, teaching and still in frequent contact with the president, and some of his friends say he is more than a little interested in the Fed job, reports WSJ. But WSJ fails to point out that Summers may in reality not be that smart or caring. The Harvard endowment, when Summers was president of Harvard, lost substantial sums because of risky derivative positions that blew up on them. Iris Mack, then working for Harvard Management, which managed the endowment, warned Summers about the position in an email. He refused to lower the risk and Mack was fired." Continue reading →

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Italy Confronts Germany, Adding Additional Euro Pressure

"Greece has been relegated to the status of a Third World country, the complicity of German leaders with the ever-inflating ECB is due for a judicial hearing, British leaders are committed to a referendum on whether Britain should pull out of the EU entirely, Spain is broke, Portugal is busted ... and Italian leaders are getting ready to square off with German bankers over 'austerity.' That the euro has not always suffered some breakdown is testimony to the power of its globalist backers. It has, however, bankrupted half of Europe and even the healthier northern half is not happy with what Europe has become and is continuing to become." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingItaly Confronts Germany, Adding Additional Euro Pressure

Italy Denies Risk to Public Finances From Debt Derivative Deals

"Italy's treasury denied on Wednesday its use of derivatives as a hedge on its huge debt pile posed any risk to public finances, following reports the country faced billions of euros in potential losses from one set of contracts. The Financial Times and La Repubblica said the eight contracts, restructured at the height of the euro zone crisis in 2012, could result in combined losses of around 8 billion euros ($10.5 billion) based on market prices on June 20. The newspapers, which quoted a report from the treasury, said the contracts had been taken out in the 1990s, some while European Central Bank president Mario Draghi was director general of the Italian treasury." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingItaly Denies Risk to Public Finances From Debt Derivative Deals

Keynesians Use Thomas Edison’s Advice For Destruction

"Thomas Edison is known to have said the following: 'I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.' Unfortunately, instead of Keynesians admitting defeat (like they should have at least 40 years ago) they're gonna go all Thomas Edison on us. This 'experiment' turns out to be nothing new at all, but the same old same old. So welcome Japanese citizens to the world of being a lab rat. We Americans have been poked and prodded ourselves for many years, and appreciate your company. Failed ideas die hard (e.g. Marx's ideas died hard). Unfortunately, the mad scientist Keynesians will refuse to give up until economic law forces them." Continue reading →

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UK moves forward with three-parent IVF treatment

"The British government has said it will pursue a radical fertility technique that uses DNA from three parents to create an embryo. The IVF-based technique is designed to avoid serious mitochondrial diseases inherited on the maternal side, such as muscular dystrophy. Mitochondria are the structures within cells that convert energy from food into a form that the body can use. The technique would replace some of the unhealthy DNA with healthy DNA from the so-called 'third parent'. Politicians are due to debate the regulations in parliament next year, setting the stage for Britain to become the first country to offer the treatment." Continue reading →

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Greek Stocks Fall After Failed Gas Company Sale

"Greek stocks fell sharply after the country failed to attract a single bid for Depa, a natural-gas company it is selling, a significant setback to its effort to raise billions of euros from the sale of state assets this year. A failure by Greece to meet its privatization targets would limit Athens's ability to meet its debt targets and could require the government to take additional austerity measures that would hurt the economy. Greece's bailout agreement requires the government to use additional spending cuts to cover 50% of any shortfall in raising funds via privatizations." Continue reading →

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All Eyes on Europe This Summer

"Nothing, and I mean nothing, has been solved in Europe. The crisis will soon escalate with a vengeance. When, not if, Europe’s economy roils again, likely later this summer: First, you’re going to see trillions of euros stampede for the exits. Second, that will likely send global interest rates rocketing higher. Third, it’s going to send the U.S. dollar into rally mode, right along with gold. Fourth, it’s also going to send our stock markets roaring higher. Fifth, it’s going to give you many profit opportunities to potentially make more money that you ever dreamed of. In stocks. In commodities. In the dollar. And in gold and silver." Continue reading →

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$179,000 Each–In Debt

"Government and household debt has reached $179,000 per person in the U.S. For the past several years, we've heard pundits blathering on about the 'great deleveraging' that's reduced the household debt burden, freeing up American consumers to borrow more, more, more. The Great Deleveraging is shown here--yes, it's that thin slice of debt writeoffs. Debt has since resumed its inexorable rise. That which is unsustainable will go away. That includes debt, malinvestments, currencies, deficits and yes, entire empires." Continue reading →

Continue Reading$179,000 Each–In Debt

Bank of England: Central Banker as Movie Star

"Carney has it all. The looks of George Clooney, the modesty of a working man, the suffragette-style boosterism of a man who is determinedly anti-chauvinist. He is a hard worker, early to rise and has a great command of central-bank technocratic science, as evidenced by his implementation of the new central banking of 'forward guidance.' He is being portrayed as a kind of central bank Renaissance Man – good at virtually everything. This won't last, of course. Let rates go up even a little and countries like Britain and the US will see their interest payments soar. There are considerable strictures on what central banks can do these days." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBank of England: Central Banker as Movie Star

Bank of England: Central Banker as Movie Star

"Carney has it all. The looks of George Clooney, the modesty of a working man, the suffragette-style boosterism of a man who is determinedly anti-chauvinist. He is a hard worker, early to rise and has a great command of central-bank technocratic science, as evidenced by his implementation of the new central banking of 'forward guidance.' He is being portrayed as a kind of central bank Renaissance Man – good at virtually everything. This won't last, of course. Let rates go up even a little and countries like Britain and the US will see their interest payments soar. There are considerable strictures on what central banks can do these days." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBank of England: Central Banker as Movie Star