The Last, Great Run For The U.S. Dollar, The Death Of The Euro And 74 Trillion In Currency Derivatives At Risk

by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:
Are we on the verge of an unprecedented global currency crisis?  On Tuesday, the euro briefly fell below $1.07 for the first time in almost a dozen years.  And the U.S. dollar continues to surge against almost every other major global currency.  The U.S. dollar index has now risen an astounding 23 percent in just the last eight months.  That is the fastest pace that the U.S. dollar has risen since 1981.  You might be tempted to think that a stronger U.S. dollar is good news, but it isn’t.  A strong U.S. dollar hurts U.S. exports, thus harming our economy.  In addition, a weak U.S. dollar has fueled tremendous expansion in emerging markets around the planet over the past decade or so.  When the dollar becomes a lot stronger, it becomes much more difficult for those countries to borrow more money and repay old debts.  In other words, the emerging market “boom” is about to become a bust.  Not only that, it is important to keep in mind that global financial institutions bet a tremendous amount of money on currency movements.  According to the Bank for International Settlements, 74 trillion dollars in derivatives are tied to the value of the U.S. dollar, the value of the euro and the value of other global currencies.  When currency rates start flying around all over the place, you can rest assured that someone out there is losing an enormous amount of money.  If this derivatives bubble ends up imploding, there won’t be enough money in the entire world to bail everyone out.
Do you remember what happened the last time the U.S. dollar went on a great run like this?
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"We Have Front-Row Seats To An Imminent Market Shock", Hedge Fund Billionaire Warns

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/11/2015 - 17:30 "Central banks are not all singing and all dancing," and cannot avoid the consequences of what they are doing, concluding, "you and I have got grandstand seats here [to an imminent market shock]," and investors are about to "find out just how illiquid it really is out there."

Americans Stand Up – ATF Stands Down on Unconstitutional Ammo Ban

by Tim Brown, Freedom Outpost:

Yesterday, I reported on the fact that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) were backpedaling on the potential ban of M855 ammunition, claiming a “publishing error.” Today, ATF fell back amid a swell of American patriotism.
An unprecedented response to the proposed ban led ATF to tweet the following:

Read More @ FreedomOutpost.com

US To Send Drones, Humvees To Ukraine, Boost Russia Sanctions As Moscow May "Deploy Nuclear Weapons In Crimea"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/11/2015 - 11:24 So much for the second Minsk ceasefire. A few hours ago, the US returned to its strategy of escalating Russian "costs" when it placed sanctions on eight Ukrainian separatists and a Russian bank, warning that recent attacks by rebels armed by Russia violated a European-brokered ceasefire in the war-torn country. The Russian response to the latest sanction pending, but the response may have been hinted at earlier today when an official from Russia's Foreign Ministery said the nation has the right to deploy nuclear arms in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. And finally, indicating that the semi-hot escalation between the US and Russia is close to getting out of control, Vice President Biden told Ukraine's president Wednesday the U.S. will send more aid to the country, which U.S. officials said will include small drones and armored Humvees.

Tsipras Slams “Crimes Of Third Reich And Hitler’s Hordes", Threatens Seizure Of German Assets

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/11/2015 - 09:28 Earlier today, Greek Prime Minister Tsipras was busy not making German friends, following the latest Greek overture to confiscate German assets in response for allegedly unpaid German WWII reparations. “After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the legal and political conditions were created for this issue to be solved. But since then, German governments chose silence, legal tricks and delay. And I wonder, because there is a lot of talk at the European level these days about moral issues: is this stance moral?” Tsipras said and added that "despite the crimes of the Third Reich and Hitler’s hordes, the German debt was written off." As a result Greece is now seeking to recoup German WWII reparations which may amount to as much as 80% of Greek GDP!

Venezuela Begins Liquidating Its Gold

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/11/2015 - 10:07 In an attempt to secure some stability, i.e., funds, now that Venezuela is no longer able to tap Chinese bailout loans as last-recourse funding, Reuters reported that Venezuela's central bank is in talks with Wall Street banks to create a gold swap that would allow it to monetize some $1.5 billion of the metal held as international reserves, according to government sources familiar with the operation.  Under the swap, the central bank would provide 1.4 million troy ounces in exchange for cash.

IMF Approves $17.5 Billion Ukraine Bailout

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/11/2015 - 12:59 To summarize: Greek pensioners are now paying the IMF, which is paying Kiev, which is paying Gazprom, which is paying Putin.

Plunge Protection Exposed: Bank Of Japan Stepped In A Stunning 143 Times To Buy Stocks, Prevent Drop

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/11/2015 - 13:10 The BoJ has now gone full intervention-tard - buying Japanese stocks on 76% of the days when the market opened lower.

Nigel Farage Rages At Juncker's "European Army" Proposal

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/11/2015 - 13:20 "We ourselves in the European Union provoked the conflict through our territorial expansionism in the Ukraine. We poked the Russian bear with a stick, and unsurprisingly, Putin reacted. But this now is to be used as an opportunity to build a European army... And Mr. Juncker said, we must convey to Russia that we are serious. Who do you think you are kidding, Mr. Juncker?"

This Is What A World Addicted To Debt Looks Like

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/11/2015 - 18:00 As we spelled out explicitly and succinctly late last month, there is one overriding and extremely simple reason why seemingly every central bank in the developed world is bound and determined to move heaven and earth in the pursuit of generating a “healthy” level of inflation. With 9 countries sitting on debt-to-GDP ratios of 300%+, it’s either inflate the debt away or be crushed under the sheer weight of it. Here is a map showing where all the red ink is concentrated.

Beijing, You Have A Big Problem - In Ten Charts

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/11/2015 - 17:05
 

Dead-Cat-Bounce Dies: Euro-calypse Sparks Stock Slump, Commodity Carnage

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/11/2015 - 16:04

 

Treasury Urged to Scrutinize Foreign Real Estate Buyers for Money-Laundering Risk

by Stephanie Saul, NY Times:

In a broad show of support for increased scrutiny of foreign real estate buyers in the United States, 17 nonprofit organizations on Tuesday urged the Treasury Department to require that the real estate industry verify the identities of buyers and screen them for potential money-laundering risk.

The request, contained in a letter sent to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, asked for the repeal of a 2002 temporary exemption from provisions of the Patriot Act that had been granted to the real estate industry.

Read More @ NYtimes.com

McCain Stands With ISIS?

from The News Doctors:
Sen. John McCain has a knack for getting his picture taken with the strangest characters. Though his support for US interventionism is steadfast, does he even know what he is getting himself into when he travels overseas?
In the above photograph, we see Sen. McCain, along with his neocon sidekick Sen. Lindsey Graham, cavorting with his good friend Abdelhakim Belhadj. When McCain was cheerleading for the US attack on Libya, Belhadj was among those he promoted as offering the promise of a democratic Libyan future. But Belhadj was at the time a founder of the ”Libya Dawn,” which was a group of Islamic militia forces tied to al-Qaeda in Libya. Did Senator McCain overlook his Libyan friend’s ties with al-Qaeda in his zeal to see Gaddafi overthrown or did he simply not know about it?
Read More @ TheNewsDoctors.com

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