I don’t know if my title could be any subtler about the Alice-in-Wonderland-feelings when reading mainstream news outlets’ headlines; for those avid TBP readers I digress.
Portugal, Spain urge G20 members to help ease crisis
http://m.foxbusiness.com/quickPage.html?page=32811&content=59561808&pageNum=-1
(excerpt):
Spain and Portugal said on Saturday the euro zone’s debt crisis is a global problem, calling on the United States and other G20 powers to help contain the fallout.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero urged the G20 countries least affected by the crisis to provide “urgent stimulus plans” to shield the global economy.
I emphasize, “calling on the United States and other G20 powers to help contain the fallout“ Did they just liken this to “nuclear fallout”? I guess that would fit, that or a deadly outbreak or contagion, right?! Fitting indeed
or Zombie Apocalypse?
What I see occurring is a global hot potato-like scenario unfolding. Imagine the hot-potato is actually all the derivative losses, toxic assets….then compound that with the fact that these losses are mixed in with the prime-valued assets sitting on banks’ balance sheets. (rabbit trail: these prime-valued assets could be sold during a bankruptcy scenario and possibly bought by the same criminals who created this crisis in 2008) Bank of America holding company has recently been caught trying to dump some of its losses onto the public’s shoulders by moving their acquired toxic assets from an investment firm Merrill Lynch and placing them on the depositors’ accounts at the 4th largest bank, based of market capitalization, in the United States…Ironically and a bit unnerving is that this is where the reinactment of Glass Steagall legislation would have prevented such outright fraud like the socialization of legalized casino-losses made by the banks placed on the American citizens’ backs.
So what does this have to do with Europe?! Well, it’s a deja vu moment if you ask me. What we now know, which is not everything mind you, is that the Federal Reserve loaned money out through TARP funds, passed through coercion by Congress, to foreign banks and corporations from South Korea to Scotland without the approval of the United States Congress, the President nor the American people. Isn’t this what the European finance ministers are asking for? Fool us once, shame on you, fool us twice shame on us?
Another way to explain what is happening is to liken the creation of slush funds like TARP and EuroTARP, or the FEDERAL RESERVE and all central banks for that matter, to a global shell game.
The most complete definition of a shell game I could find, IMHO, was from http://www.yourdictionary.com/shell-game
1. a game, typically a swindle, in which spectators are challenged to bet on the location of a small object ostensibly concealed under one of three cups or nutshells manipulated by sleight of hand.
The powers that be are simply moving the losses around, extending the day of reckoning, and placing all HOPE in hope that stimulus funds (more debt) will provide the necessary rebound time for the housing market and global GDP to stop lagging and post increases.
Which if you take into consideration this article
Euro zone inflation stays at 3 percent, could delay rate cut
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39435196/ns/business-world_business/t/portugal-spain-urge-g-members-help-ease-crisis/
then will not be for a very, VERY long time.
Here are a few key points from the article dated 10/31/11:
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development slashed its 2012 growth forecast for the euro area to 0.3 percent from 2.0 percent in May.
Underscoring that, Eurostat said the jobless rate in the euro zone rose slightly to 10.2 percent in September from a revised 10.1 percent in August, nudged up by Spain, where unemployment reached 22.6 percent.
“The latest euro zone inflation and unemployment data might leave the hawks at the ECB concerned about underlying price pressures,” said Jennifer McKeown, an economist at Capital Economics. “The rate has now been above the ECB’s 2 percent price stability ceiling for 11 months running, perhaps suggesting that high inflation is becoming entrenched.”
You could say that inflation will be here to stay for sometime…I tend to think we will get hyperinflation due to these wreckless policies being enacted and encouraged by spineless politicians.
Whether it be fallout from a financial nuclear armaggedon or the spread of a killer debt contagion what our children and ourselves have to look forward to this next decade is a decreased standard of living, continued assaults on personal liberties through internet censorship and expansion of the police surveillance state, wars and rumors of wars, decreased wages and decreased availability of single-wage-earner salaries. Some are more to blame than others, but we ALL share some responsibility for how and why things are the way they are right now.
On that note, everyone have a Safe and Happy All Hallow’s Eve!
