Moody's Downgrades Italy, Spain, Portugal And Others; Puts UK, France On Outlook Negative - Full Statement
You know there is a reason why Europe just came crawling with an advance handout looking for US assistance: Moody's just went apeshit on Europe.- Austria: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
- France: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
- Italy: downgraded to A3 from A2, negative outlook
- Malta: downgraded to A3 from A2, negative outlook
- Portugal: downgraded to Ba3 from Ba2, negative outlook
- Slovakia: downgraded to A2 from A1, negative outlook
- Slovenia: downgraded to A2 from A1, negative outlook
- Spain: downgraded to A3 from A1, negative outlook
- United Kingdom: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
Europe: We've Done All We Can, Now It's America's Turn To Help
Cue the fireworks in 3...2...1...- FRIEDEN EUROPEANS CAN'T DO MUCH FOR GREECE BEYOND AGREEMENT - BBG
- FRIEDEN: GREECE NEEDS STRUCTURAL REFORMS, SHORT-TERM FINANCING - BBG
- FRIEDEN: GREECE HAS HISTORY OF PROBLEMS IMPLEMENTING DECISIONS - BBG
- FRIEDEN: GREECE SHOULDN'T BE IN EURO-ZONE IF CONDITIONS NOT MET - BBG
- FRIEDEN SAYS HE WISHES U.S. MORE INVOLVED IN STRENGTHENING IMF - BBG
Translation: Hey America, we've done all we can, now it's your turn to sustain the Ponzi. Because if we go, you go.
Federal Reserve and Big Banks Are Going to Crush the Dollar … and American Savers
The Fed’s EXPLICIT Goal Is to Devalue the Dollar by 33% … and NEGATIVE Yield Bonds Are Coming
from WashingtonsBlog.com:
The Federal Reserve’s explicit goal is to devalue the dollar by 33%.
As Forbes’ Charles Kadlec notes:
While that is stunning, it is actually par for the course for the Fed:
Read More @ WashingtonsBlog.com
from WashingtonsBlog.com:
The Federal Reserve’s explicit goal is to devalue the dollar by 33%.
As Forbes’ Charles Kadlec notes:
The
Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) has made it official: After
its latest two day meeting, it announced its goal to devalue the dollar
by 33% over the next 20 years. The debauch of the dollar will be even
greater if the Fed exceeds its goal of a 2 percent per year increase in
the price level.
***
The Fed has
announced a course of action that will steal — there is no better word
for it — nearly 10 percent of the value of American’s hard earned
savings over the next 4 years.
While that is stunning, it is actually par for the course for the Fed:
Read More @ WashingtonsBlog.com
No One But (Ron) Paul – Feb. 14 Money Bomb
from King World News:
With gold at $1,725 and silver near $34, today King World News interviewed James Turk out of Spain. Turk told King World News that even though the markets are quiet, the reality is we are getting very close to a “buying panic.” Turk also stated that deflation is not in the cards. Here is what Turk had to say about the situation: “We’re seeing a lot of smoke and mirrors here in Europe, Eric. The Greek Parliament approved the latest bailout program for that beleaguered country. They claim it will pull Greece back from the brink. The reality, however, is completely different. Greece is being subjected to onerous and heavy handed financial pressures from its creditors.”
James Turk continues: Read More @ KingWorldNews.com
With gold at $1,725 and silver near $34, today King World News interviewed James Turk out of Spain. Turk told King World News that even though the markets are quiet, the reality is we are getting very close to a “buying panic.” Turk also stated that deflation is not in the cards. Here is what Turk had to say about the situation: “We’re seeing a lot of smoke and mirrors here in Europe, Eric. The Greek Parliament approved the latest bailout program for that beleaguered country. They claim it will pull Greece back from the brink. The reality, however, is completely different. Greece is being subjected to onerous and heavy handed financial pressures from its creditors.”
James Turk continues: Read More @ KingWorldNews.com
Greece Bailout Yes or No?/the USA 2013 Budget/Possible Raid tomorrow/ Moody's downgrade
Harvey Organ at Harvey Organ's - The Daily Gold and Silver Report - 20 minutes ago
Good
evening Ladies and Gentlemen:
Gold rose by $1.00 to $1723.00 at comex closing time. Silver rose 10
cents to $33.70. Initially
gold and silver rose, however the bankers do not want our precious
metals rising in these precarious times so they provided a brick wall
with more non backed paper gold and silver selling. It seems that 34.00
dollar per oz is the barrier for silver. Anything over
Crude Oil back above $100 - Again
Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 2 hours ago
Crude oil simply refuses to break down and is once again trading back above
the $100 mark. What is perhaps even more concerning is that gasoline prices
are now trading above the $3.00 point at the wholesale futures markets, and
this is during the time of year in which gasoline demand is generally quite
tame compared to the onset of the busy driving season later this spring and
summer.
Should gasoline bulls be able to push price through the chart levels shown,
it will portend a move back to the late summer highs of last year. As said
in a previous post from last week - PAIN at the ga... more »
Gold holding at initial support thus far
Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 2 hours ago
Gold has dropped into the first zone of support noted on the price chart
near the $1720 level and has thus far held as dip buyers surfaced. That
buying was fostered by a weaker Dollar which was lower in today's session
but has not broken down decisively yet below the critical 79 level.
Surging crude oil and gasoline prices did help gold today as some traders
are concerned that the rise in energy costs will eventually feed through
and impact the price of other goods and services in the broader economy.
Transportation costs can only be absorbed for so long.
Mining company stock owners - note well
Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 2 hours ago
Most of you who read this site are well aware of my political leanings - I
happen to believe that the current administration is perhaps the most
inept, reckless and endangering to liberty in the history of this nation
and needs to be replaced at the ballot box this coming November.
Those of you who own mining company stocks should take note that as part of
the budget submitted by the Obama administration, all hardrock mining
companies would be required to pay annual rents and royalty fees of no
less than 5% of gross proceeds.
Currently a law that is 140 years old, exempts them from... more »
Germany Speaks: Not So Fast On The Greek "Deal"
Europe's now painfully transparent policy of demanding that Greece decide to default on its own is becoming so glaringly obvious, we truly fear for the intellectual capacity of everyone who ramps the EURUSD on any incremental "europe is saved" rumor. As a reminder, yesterday we said, in parallel with the Greek irrelevant MoU vote: "The only real questions are i) what the Greek population may do in response to this latest selling out of a population "led" by an unelected banker, which if history is any precedent, the answer is not much, and ii) how Germany will subvert this latest event, and put the bail [sic] back in Greece's court once again." We documented on i) earlier today - a couple of burned down buildings, a few vandalized store fronts, lots of tear gas and that's about it, as people still either don't believe or can't grasp the seriousness of the situation. As for ii) we now get the first indication that not all may be well on Wednesday. From the FT: "European officials rushed to finalise details of a €130bn Greek bail-out on Monday amid signs Germany and its eurozone allies may not be prepared to approve the deal at a finance minsters’ meeting on Wednesday, despite Athens backing new austerity measures." And so the bail [sic] is once again back in Greece's court, where however since the last such occurrence, the parliament has 43 MPs less. Quite soon, the only person left in "charge" of the country will be the ECB apparatchick and unelected banker Lucas Papademos.
PSI, TROIKA, And TIC-TAC-TOE
We have been struggling with two issues that we just can't make sense of. At the risk of coming across as bigger geeks than usual, we feel like the darn computer in war games trying to win at tic tac toe (was tic tac toe ever fun again after that movie?) Two things make even less sense to us, and the more we think about them, the more convinced we are that someone somewhere is missing something and the level of disorganization in Europe is higher than we thought. Why is the March 20th date still in play? and perhaps more importantly, Do the EU politicians really think what happened over the weekend was an endorsement of the measures adopted? We can't remember the message out of Wargames, but we think it was saying that if you play the game, there is no way to win, yet here we have so many politicians and lobbyists eager to play.GOP Finally Discovers Obama's Achilles Heel: Just Let Him Do What He Does... And Encourage It!
Two weeks ago when discussing the latest lunacy surrounding America's exponential curve #1 also known as its debt balance, we suggested what the GOP election strategy should be: "[if] the debt ceiling becomes a sticking point at the election, Obama's chances of reelection plunge. Which makes us wonder - will Republicans grasp that the paradox of defeating Obama is precisely in giving him a carte blanche on all the stimulus programs he wants? Because if Congress approves another $200, 300 or even $400 billion in stimulus pork (the only thing better than one Solyndra? One thousand Solyndras!) the Treasury will drown in the need to raise hundreds of billions more, and will in fact hit the ceiling well in advance of the elections. As for the stimulus projects themselves, they will crash and burn just like all centrally planned endeavors, and actually result in a far worse outcome than if they had never been attempted. [Because] the best way to finally get back to a fiscally prudent regime? Why go to town, of course." We were delighted to discover that our policy anti-recommendation has finally been adopted. Because as the WSJ reports when it comes to the latest payroll tax extension we find something quite stunning: "House Republican leaders said Monday they would introduce a bill extending the payroll-tax break for the rest of the year without finding spending cuts to offset the program's cost. The proposal marks a major shift for Republicans, who previously had insisted that the costs of extending a trio of provisions expiring at the end of the month be offset with spending cuts." That's right - no offsetting spending cuts. Which means one thing - much more debt. How much more? At least $160 billion much. Which means that the debt ceiling discussion will hit not in November as we speculated previously, but potentially as soon as September.Two Charts On The European Growth Dilemma
As the Germans ponder the truthiness of Greece's planned austerity measures it will perhaps come as a shock to many that since
the start of the Euro (Dec 1998), Greece (followed closely by Spain
and Ireland) has experienced the highest nominal GDP growth rates
(rebased to USD) among a sample of large global economies (ex-China).
As Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid points out from this surprising fact, these
three nations (and to a lesser extent Portugal) have been major
beneficiaries of the Euro and have seen their economies improve their
international wealth position at a faster rate than their developed
market peers since 1999. In the current environment, post the leverage
super-cycle, this creates stress (as is all too obvious) and in the
medium-term we would expect mean-reversion of this 'fake'
wealth/growth. The dilemma is whether the peripheral nations see large and negative GDP growth to revert down or if Germany is willing to accept far higher growth and inflation (maybe 7% nominal) to adjust upwards to the seemingly unsustainable levels of the peripherals. Austerity versus Growth/Inflation.
It seems from Ireland's suffering and Greece's slide that the former
(peripheral deleveraging and austerity) is the path chosen for now
though ongoing appetite (Papademos/Samaras aside) for this seems as
unpalatable as German's accepting socialized losses via firewall and the
specter of high inflation.Is Greek Side Deal With Finland On Bailout Collateral About To Kill Greek Rescue Again?
Those who actually recall the nuances of the endless Greek bailout may remember that at one point in 2010 and 2011, one of the main sticking points that threatened to derail the Greek bailout was the demand by Finland to collateralize its contribution to the Greek bailout package. Well, guess what: it's back. Kathimerini reports that "Finland may sign a deal on securing collateral in exchange for its commitment to Greece’s second bailout in the “next few days,” Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen said on Monday. A vote in parliament on Finland’s participation in the bailout could follow next week, she told reporters in Helsinki." Translation: monkey wrench was just thrown into the Greek bailout in the 11th hour as now everyone else will follow in Finland's footsteps and demand equitable treatment. And it was all going so well...
Earlier today, Obama formally proposed his 2013 budget (link)
which sees a $1.33 trn budget deficit in the 2013 fiscal year - more
than the $1.296 trillion 2011 budget deficit, which unfortunately
indicates that even with rather rosy assumptions, the deficit hole
continues to grow, which also means that the debt plug will be higher in
the next year compared to the prior, which in turn lends even more
credibility to the US debt clock analysis which assumes a nearly 140% debt/GDP ratio by
the end of a potential second Obama term. While that will likely end
up being an optimistic estimate, for near-term discussion purposes, the
probability of even this particular budget passing is slim to none as
the GOP reaction in the republican controlled Congress has been swift
and brutal. Per the WSJ:
"Republicans moved quickly to denounce Mr. Obama's budget plan. "This
proposal isn't really a budget at all. It's a campaign document,"
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said... Rep. Paul Ryan
(R., Wis.), the chairman of the House Budget Committee, said, "Again
the president has ducked responsibility, he has punted again, he has
failed to take any notable action on this crisis." "All we're getting
here is more spending, more borrowing and more debt that will lead to
slower economic growth," Mr. Ryan said on a conference call with
reporters. Republicans are expected to offer their own budget plan in
the next month. The president's populist message is weaved throughout
his proposal. "For many Americans, the basic bargain at the heart of
the American dream has eroded," the president said while reiterating a
call for nearly $1.5 trillion in tax increases on higher-income
Americans over 10 years. He added he is seeing "signs that our economy
is on the mend" and that this is a "make-or-break moment for the middle
class, and for all those who are fighting to get there." So while this
"budget" is not even worth the paper it is printed on (unlike
reserves, they actually still use paper for these things) here per the
WSJ, are the key charts that form the foundation of the budget
forecast.
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