Designated Bagholder: The European Central Bank

So far in this cycle, the Europeans have been the designated bag holders -- clinging to their sound money policy while the US devalued and China used its peg to boost exports to the Eurozone. It been amazing to watch German industry compete in the face of these headwinds -- but effectively they've used the sovereign debt crisis on their periphery to good advantage ie keeping their currency from a moonshot, even tho its strengthened this year.

Now the chickens are coming home to roost and either the euro implodes and Germany loses its Latin shell, or else the ECB will have to step in and buy all that dreck. The euro will decline a lot, and US exports will decline as a result. US-Chinese tensions will rise once more.

It looks like a recession is unfolding -- it will be obvious in about 6 weeks methinks.


2012 is going to be a grim year in the US. As for BHO's re-election, it will take a lot of propaganda bought with Wall Street donations to get him past the finish line.

The obvious move for the Left is to try to split the Tea Party movement (not the superstructure) towards left-wing populism.


If there were a Left.....

Bonfire of the Vanities, an Auto da Fe of the People

Jane Hamsher:


7:02: Timothy Geithner holds a debt ceiling celebration party with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,Financial Services Forum, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, American Insurance Association, Financial Services Roundtable, American Council of Life Insurers, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, American Bankers Association and the National Retail Federation. I feel compelled to mention that this is not snark.

A New Dawn for the Chimps?

Things are moving fast and furiously behind the scenes regarding the new form of energy production reported out of Italy by Rossi.
Others are reporting excess energy production using somewhat different materials and methods, although none are as stupendously high as that of the "E-Cat" technology of Rossi.

While there are many skeptics, most vociferously present in the comments section of the blog NextBigFuture, I can report that there are growing numbers of technologically sophisticated believers. I have reason to think that within the next 6 -8 weeks we will have strong, credible confirmation here at a US facility or a definitive refutation. Moreover, I'm hearing that serious money is being committed. As Bob Dylan said, "Money doesn't talk, it swears".


It appears that we may be at pivotal moment in human history, and if so, many things about the future of Planet Earth will have to be reassessed.

Those who take the meat from the table

As Brecht said, ruling is too difficult for ordinary men.

This from The Newark Star Ledger's guest blog (h/t Jesse)

Ryan and his companions occupied the table directly across from us, and soon after arriving, they ordered two bottles of the most expensive wine on the menu, a $350 French grand cru Burgundy. At first we joked about it: What could you buy with $700? But thinking a little more about it raised uncomfortable questions about how many hours a person would have to work at different salary levels to earn $700 in a week.

[SNIP]


One of Ryan’s dinner companions, economist and hedge fund manager Clifford Asness (whom I did not recognize at the time), shouted that he had ordered the wine (which was true) and that he intended to pay for it. I asked Asness if he was a lobbyist, since members of Congress are not permitted to accept expensive meals and gifts from lobbyists. As it turned out, Asness was not a lobbyist, but as a hedge fund manager, he had access to high-ranking political decision-makers such as Ryan. Being confronted about the wine purchase enraged Asness, who subsequently shouted obscenities at me.

Read the rest here.

Et Tu, Conrad?

Who woulda thunk I'd agree with a former UCC student and convicted criminal Conrad Black. From the Guardian's live blog on Rupertgate, the best source on the fast moving developments:

"It would be astonishing if some News International employees had not engaged in crimes, revelling in the climate of immunity that has been the group's modus operandi for decades. Successive UK governments of both major parties supinely truckled to him. The more vituperatively his titles slagged off the royal family, the more certain were their books to be excerpted in the Sunday Times.

Although his personality is generally quite agreeable, Mr Murdoch has no loyalty to anyone or anything except his company. He has difficulty keeping friendships; rarely keeps his word for long; is an exploiter of the discomfort of others; and has betrayed every political leader who ever helped him in any country, except Ronald Reagan and perhaps Tony Blair.

There must be a reckoning with decades of establishment cowardice towards someone whose nature has been well known throughout that time. The fault is the British establishment's and it must not be seduced and intimidated, so profoundly and durably, again."

teetering on the abyss

When China stops buying Spanish bonds, it will mark an important inflection point in the European debt crisis

teetering on the abyss

When China stops buying Spanish bonds, it will mark an important inflection point in the European debt crisis