Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Is Anything Solvent?





Posted at 4:59 PM (CST) by & filed under Bill Holter.

Dear CIGAs,
 
So Mr. Tsipras has sold out his countrymen.  He called for a referendum fully expecting a “yes” only to receive a resounding no vote.  No matter though, what was already “planned” has already gone forward to kick the can down the road.  As overwhelming as the referendum was and as in your face the following proposed agreement is, outright rioting, violence and even civil war has a high probability of resulting.  A “convenient coup” (remember Ukraine?) could even be in the works?
Looking at Greece from a grand standpoint, what’s the deal?  First, Greece is really not much worse off than Portugal, Spain (the West’s newest police state), Italy or even France.  Truth be told, Greece has less debt per capita than us “rich” Americans.  No doubt Greece is symptomatic of the West’s position of too much debt …not enough GDP but this is not really what I’d like to talk about today.
Greece initially was bailed out in 2010 and again in 2012, two can kicks if you will.  The current episode has been going on for well over six months, it is not a surprise to anyone by any means.  My point is this, we have seen lines outside of ATM’s for over two weeks but the situation has been known about and well publicized for quite some time.  Other than pensioners who are trying to retrieve their latest monthly or bi weekly payment, who else should be standing in these lines?
Certainly money has bled from their banking system over the last year, a number around 100 billion euros …but there is still over 100 billion euros left?  Who would have left any cash in Greek banks as wide spread and “early” as the bad news on the banks has been?  Were the Greek people sleeping?  Did they have the American “can’t happen here” syndrome?  Who would have been stupid enough to leave capital in the bankrupt banking system of a bankrupt nation?  Mindboggling isn’t it?
Let’s switch gears and now look in the mirror.  Have we not had enough information here in the U.S. to understand we face the same fate …only much bigger and far worse from a leverage standpoint?  Yes I know, mainstream media works overtime to keep the cattle penned in their “everything is fine” corral, but isn’t it obvious to anyone who bothers to wipe the fog from the window?
Think about it, the financial world almost ended in 2008.  Nothing was fixed, nothing even changed.  In fact, the only change has been the degree to which unsound monetary, fiscal and banking practices have been since then.  It is as if we hit a brick wall in 2008 yet pressed the accelerator harder ever since!
This article is not about groundbreaking thought, it is meant to ask “why”.  Why is there no panic or fear?  Why if the real global economy is slowing and shrinking do we not see any financial reaction?  Why if the financial markets are far more levered than they were in 2008 have the wheels remained in place and few questions are asked?
I think the answer to this is pretty simple and can be summed up with the old saying “nothing matters until it does”.  Over the last two or three months I have fielded so many questions like “why can’t this go on forever with the central banks just papering everything over”?  I believe your answer lies in this question!  “Papering” being the key word.  There is such a thing as “reality” or “truth”.  Yes this can be hidden for a time but always, water will seek it’s own level.
Let’s take a look at Greece again, a “deal” has been struck and the fear in the “reality community” is the can got kicked again and it will go on forever.  First, has a deal really been struck?  If so, what is it exactly?  Think about what has come out this week.  Their banks are still closed (and will most likely be bailed in), “safe” deposit boxes cannot be accessed, talk of a 30 year extension in debt has been tossed around and the IMF now says they may not be able to participate in any bailout because they cannot give aid to an insolvent entity.  Is anything fixed?  Has anything been done to make Greece an ongoing concern?  What sort of deal can be made that even looks doable?  The answer to the above of course is nothing can be done and no deal is really doable because Greece is broke and simply cannot pay.  You see, any deal that is done must at least appear feasible, there is no such thing!
Markets so far have been kept fairly well under control.  This has been done via the use of derivatives but these are what caused many of the problems in the first place.  How do you think Greece, a financial deadbeat, was allowed into the Eurozone to begin with?  Derivatives!  Derivatives were used to hide much of their debt.  (Now Goldman Sachs may be sued for their aid in the fraudulent entry of Greece via bogus derivatives).  Though it was hidden, did the debt go away?  No, the debt and the service on same has jumped up and brought forth the reality of bankruptcy.
To finish, you can call dog crap whatever you would like.  Call it a rose, call it beautiful, call it whatever.  No matter the name, it is unpleasant to look at, smell or especially step in.  Greece is simply the first one to be realized, all the others up to and including the U.S. are in the same insolvent boat.  If you are sitting tight and believe “it can’t happen here”, you are making the same mistake the many Greeks who are standing in line made.  It can and will happen here, it mathematically has to as there is no other alternative.  Anyone with enough sense to step around a pile of dog pooh should have enough sense to get out of the system NOW to the best of their ability.  Ask any Greek if this is good advice!  They are no different from any other Western nation except they cannot print what they need to pay.
The final question then is this, does printing actually create “value”?  Can printing turn anything insolvent in to solvent?  The only thing printing (or borrowing more) can do is allow for current payment …which only makes future payments larger.  This is the state of the entire West and being previewed by Greece, only digging the 2008 hole deeper and deeper!  Greece is merely a symptom of bad policy, they are also the poster boy the world will see as not having any real solution.  If there is no real solution to Greece, how can there be a solution to any other bankrupt nation from that very same flawed policy?

Standing watch,

Bill Holter
Holter-Sinclair collaboration
Comments welcome!  bholter@hotmail.com




Unsound Banking: Why Most Of The World’s Banks Are Headed For Collapse

As a result, the world’s economy is now based upon unsound banks dealing in unsound currencies. Both have degenerated considerably from their origins.

July 5: Greek Independence Day; July 15: Greek In Dependence Day










"Subsidizing Scroungers" - The Germans Knew How 'Europe' Would End Back In 1997

In 1997, Arnulf Baring (of the German-British family of Baring bankers) unleashed the following 'Nostradamus'-like prediction of how the euro would end (from a German perspective)...
"...They will be subsidizing scroungers, lounging in cafes on the Mediterranean beaches... We risk once again becoming the most hated people in Europe



Presenting The "Greek Terms Of Surrender" As Annotated By Yanis Varoufakis

The Euro Summit statement (or Terms of Greece’s Surrender – as it will go down in history) was just annotated by Yanis Varoufakis as it pertains to ordinary Greek citizens. As the former finance minister writes "The original text is untouched with my notes confined to square brackets (and in red). Read and weep…"






Japan's Economic Disaster: Real Wages Lowest Since 1990, Record Numbers Describe "Hard" Living Conditions

With so much attention rightly focused on China at the moment, people aren’t paying enough attention to the budding economic calamity unfolding in Japan. While “Abenomics” has succeeded in boosting the stock market and food prices, it has utterly failed to raise wages. In fact, wages adjusted for inflation have plunged to the lowest since 1990. As such, a record number of households now describe their living conditions as “somewhat hard” or “very hard.”



Banking "Explained" In 6 Minutes

Banks are a riddle wrapped up in an enigma (as we just described what unsound banking is). Everyone kind of knows that they do stuff with money we don’t understand, while the last crisis left a feeling of deep mistrust and confusion. We try to shed a bit of light onto the banking system. Why were banks invented, why did they cause the last crisis and are there alternatives?




"The Stock Market Is Too Important To Leave To The Vagaries Of An Actual Market"

The stock market is just too important to leave to the vagaries of an actual market now. Too much depends on good-looking numbers now. It must be guided and controlled, or else the stilts on which our global financial system balances become shakier and more visible. The market must be rendered increasingly meaningless simply because it's too meaningful to our current economic system.



Paul Singer Blasts "Manipulated" Markets, Says China Collapse "Way Bigger Than Subprime"

In an interview at Institutional Investor's Delivering Alpha conference, Elliott Management’s Paul Singer discusses the perils of investing in a world dominated by Keynesian central planners, paper money, the "craziness" of China’s margin-fueled equity bubble, and "connecting the dots."




Unholy Alliance: Blythe Masters Named Chairman Of Subprime Auto Lender

Today, an unholy alliance was born when Blythe Masters, the mother of the credit default swap and former member of the fabled "Morgan Mafia" was named chairman of Santander Consumer, the largest subprime auto lender in the US.




White House Cuts 2015 GDP Outlook By 33%

Despite President Obama's hubris over the 'recovery', his crowing about the jobs record, and his insistence that while "there's more to be done," everything is awesome, The White House just took the meat-cleaver to its US economic growth forecasts...cutting 2015 growth from 3% to 2%. That was not all though as their forecasts see no recession until at least 2025, unemployment under 5.0% for at least the next decade, stable inflation for 10 years, and last but not least - a 3-month T-Bill rate of over 3% within the next few years.


Citizen Response Catches British Gas Company Attempting Break-In With “Alleged” Warrant

by Amanda Warren, Activist Post:
Should a gas company be allowed to force entry to check on something without notifying the occupant? As unfortunate as it is to see this kind of authoritarian action from private companies, what can we do to effectively stand up to such behavior?
As more people ask about solutions to violations of civil liberties, more also rise to the occasion to offer those examples in action. We have talked before about building citizen response networks and even phone apps to help with peer-to-peer teams.
A UK man acting as a citizen responder to a call about the attempted break-in rightly asked for a warrant of entry. British Gas said it was to inspect electric meters. And it was not without the fanfare of a police entourage and a locksmith. Eventually, drills and hammers get involved… All so the gas company can get into the house!
Read More @ ActivistPost.com

Gerald Celente – Trends In The News – “No Real Cure For Chinese Meltdown”

from trendsjournal:



Man Faces 6 Months in Jail For Disagreeing With Feminists on Twitter

by Paul Joseph Watson, Infowars:
A Canadian man faces 6 months in jail for disagreeing with feminists on Twitter, a case that one journalist warns “could have enormous fallout for free speech.”
54-year-old Greg Elliott could be charged with criminal harassment simply for expressing his opposition to a campaign by activists Steph Guthrie and Heather Reilly to publicly shame a young man in Northern Ontario.
Father of four Elliott was arrested in 2012 and fired from his job as a graphic designer after he opposed Guthrie and Reilly’s plan to generate “hatred on the Internet” targeting the designer of an online video game which allowed players to simulate punching feminist blogger Anita Sarkeesian in the face.
Read More @ Infowars.com

Greece Deal Coming Apart

from Bill Still:



GMO Labeling Group Head Hosts Fundraiser for Pro-Monsanto Hillary Clinton?

by Christina Sarich, Natural Society:
We all know that biotech lobbyists spend millions of dollars influencing the political agenda, but the former CEO of Stonyfield Farms and a public supporter of GMO labeling just hosted a $2700-per-person fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in his own home. What were the intentions?
Organiconsumers.org discloses some interesting information about how Hillary is raising funds for her 2016 presidential campaign. You wouldn’t expect the former chairman of the board for JustLabelIt.org, Gary Hirshberg, to be pandering for money for a known GMO supporter, or would you? Let’s hope it wasn’t like that.
According to the Boston Globe, Hirshberg said that the fundraiser didn’t mean he was supporting Hillary for president.
Read More @ NaturalSociety.com

10 Horribly Violent Crimes That Were Committed By Illegal Immigrants

by Michael Snyder, End of The American Dream:
Yes, illegal immigrants are responsible for lots of crime in this country.  In recent years, nearly 1000 illegal immigrants have been convicted of committing sex crimes against children in the state of Texas alone.  And as you will read about below, illegal immigrants have a murder rate that is 3 to 10 times higher than the general population.  So anyone that suggests that illegal immigrants don’t commit more crime than the rest of us is simply lying to you.  Unfortunately, even though we could prevent thousands upon thousands of violent crimes by securing our borders, the Obama administration refuses to do so and it has become very politically incorrect to even talk about this.  Every single day, American citizens are being murdered and raped by people that should not be in this country and yet nobody is supposed to address this issue.  No wonder our nation is in the process of self-destructing.  The following are 10 horribly violent crimes that were committed by illegal immigrants…
Read More…

Worried About Economic Collapse, Watch This Video

from visionvictory:



Santa Cruz County Votes to Cease Doing Business with Five TBTF Mega Banks

from Liberty Blitzkrieg:
This is impressive. Very, very impressive.
It appears that Ryan Coonerty, the Supervisor of the Third District of Santa Cruz County, wrote a letter back in June to the rest of the Board of Supervisors, in which he bravely pleaded the county cease business operations with five of the TBTF Wall Street Mega Banks. Why you ask? Well, because they are criminal felons. Considering Eric Holder refused to punish them (see: Cronyism Pays – Eric “Too Big to Jail” Holder Triumphantly Returns to His Prior Corporate Law Firm Job), someone has to take a stand.
Here are a few choice excerpts from the letter:
Read More @ LibertyBlitzkrieg.com

How To Buy Silver Coins and Rounds Which Are in Short Supply

from Gold Silver Worlds:
There are two kinds of constraints when it comes to supply in the physical markets, and anyone building a position in physical metal needs to know the difference.
The first type is temporary. The other signals a sea change, the rush for physical metal going mainstream. When it happens, it’ll be “go time” in the physical markets. The time get your hands on products widely available at low premiums will be over.
Some bullion investors are wondering if it is “go time” now. The events in Greece, the stock market sell-off in China, and silver prices falling to near $15/oz spiked demand for manufactured rounds, coins, and bars.
Read More @ GoldSilverWorlds.com

Happy Jade Helm 15 Day!

from TruthNeverTold:



The Difference in Paper and Physical Gold and Silver in times of Crisis

from GoldSeek:
It has been a tense, volatile and dramatic fortnight to say the least. In fickle fashion, Greece went from ‘No!’ to ‘Yes!’ with the terms of the deal seemingly less in their favour then before. In volatile fashion, the Shanghai Composite Index crashed and “recovered” when the Chinese government tighten margin requirements for speculating and then subsequently banning major shareholders from selling shares for six months, ordering state companies to buy equities and “allowing” more than half of the listed firms to suspend trading.
Yet, amidst all this, what do we see in paper markets? The VIX, a volatility index on the S&P500, was rather unfazed and still hovering around its lows at the 13 to 14 handle, the S&P500 recovered in dramatic fashion to return towards its highs in the 2100s, the spot price of Gold fell to USD 1147/oz. and the spot price of Silver fell to USD 14.65/oz..
Read More @ GoldSeek.com

Network Outages & 911 Calls Disrupted As JADE A.I. TAKES THE HELM

Ed Note: Jade Helm A.I. = Sky Net? Where are you John Connor!?
from TruthTube451 (AKA MrGlasgowTruther):



Did the JADE A.I. just take over command and control of the US military? Is the A.I. closing down cell phone coverage and fibre optic connections?

Counter Jade Helm: 911 Fiber Optic Cables Intentionally Cut

from Dave Acton Checking In:



AMAZON dot CON: “Black Friday” In July

by Dave Kranzler, Investment Research Dynamics:
Amazon.com stock is in the midst of an epic parabolic short-squeeze. It’s vertical lift-off is presumably in advance of its heavily self-promoted “Amazon Prime Day” on July 15. It’s “exclusive” to Prime members and supposedly will have feature sales prices which are better than “Black Friday.”
“Black Friday” in July? Hmmm…this can only mean one thing: AMZN is desperate to generate sales in the face of declining retail sales. With Prime membership sales, AMZN gets to take in $99 cash upfront. This will stimulate sales because Prime members are entitled to free two-day shipping. But as you know if you read my research report, on a cost-accounting basis, AMZN loses money on Prime sales once Prime sales per member reaches a certain level. This is because the cost of two-day shipping – part of AMZN’s gargantuan cost of fulfillment – eventually exceeds the profits from selling items plus the $99 paid upfront.
Read More @ InvestmentResearchDynamics.com


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