As world leaders arrive in the us for the G8 Summit, not to mention the
nATO summit this weekend -- we'll talk about the realpolitik of the US
situation when it comes to generating domestic economic growth. Chris
Whalen has written about a choice between debt and inflation or war, and
says finding a way to avoid these two extremes is now the chief
concern.
He's here to talk to us about it in studio!
Yesterday, we told you about deposit flight from Greek banks. Today, we talk Spain, where the country is denying reports of a bank run at it's second largest lender -- Bankia...This as Greece swears in a caretaker government to run things until elections next month. This is seen as the next step towards more certainty. However, this begs the question, are we seeing a larger run on Europe?
And the latest in Whale-Gate...JP Morgan CEO, Jamie Dimon, has been invited to testify before the Senate Banking Committee reportedly. And JP Morgan's 2 billion dollar trading loss, that could grow much larger, has prompted the New York Fed to examine how banks in its district are managing deposits. Hmmm...we wonder if Jamie Dimon gets any say in that since he is on the Federal Reserve's board after all.
On the hill today, officials from several financial regulatory agencies are testifying before the House Financial Services committee on the Settlement Practices of the US Financial Regulators. This is a good time to talk about regulation and fraud -- after all, this is the real F-Word on Wall Street that no one wants to utter, helped by their cronies on Capitol Hill. There is a major factor that may be working against victims of it, and unless you are an MF Global customer you may be surprised at what it is...take a guess for a second while Lauren brings in Christopher Whalen, Senior Managing Director at Tangent Capital Partners.
And when things are bad in the economy, it's usually good for people in the vice industries. But are things so bad in Europe, that even strippers are threatening to walk? Well, that's what appears to be happening in Paris -- Demetri, Lauren and Shannon will address this and other stories in today's "Loose Change."
Category:
News & Politics
The unprosecuted Criminal John Corzine stole $billions of Investors money and the 5 year statue of limitations for his crimes are ticking by, but who is going to protect Corzine from Judgement of ALL KINDS.
libertydogfight 2 weeks ago
maybe so, but really, you haven't seen the movie 'W' , obviously
not that one should base reality on movies at all...
it raises the question of 'what if'
what if YOU became president; lets also suppose you ARE a christian; then lets suppose your 'govt' then goes behind your back to do something like '911'
then you have 10,000 'advisors' telling you we have to go to war
.
bottom line is only God knows; do you think you can pre-empt God?
jamvaru in reply to jaedonheartright (Show the comment) 12 hours ago
How can you put Kissinger in the comercial. He should be in prison.
dougmcclure1234 3 weeks ago 7
Yesterday, we told you about deposit flight from Greek banks. Today, we talk Spain, where the country is denying reports of a bank run at it's second largest lender -- Bankia...This as Greece swears in a caretaker government to run things until elections next month. This is seen as the next step towards more certainty. However, this begs the question, are we seeing a larger run on Europe?
And the latest in Whale-Gate...JP Morgan CEO, Jamie Dimon, has been invited to testify before the Senate Banking Committee reportedly. And JP Morgan's 2 billion dollar trading loss, that could grow much larger, has prompted the New York Fed to examine how banks in its district are managing deposits. Hmmm...we wonder if Jamie Dimon gets any say in that since he is on the Federal Reserve's board after all.
On the hill today, officials from several financial regulatory agencies are testifying before the House Financial Services committee on the Settlement Practices of the US Financial Regulators. This is a good time to talk about regulation and fraud -- after all, this is the real F-Word on Wall Street that no one wants to utter, helped by their cronies on Capitol Hill. There is a major factor that may be working against victims of it, and unless you are an MF Global customer you may be surprised at what it is...take a guess for a second while Lauren brings in Christopher Whalen, Senior Managing Director at Tangent Capital Partners.
And when things are bad in the economy, it's usually good for people in the vice industries. But are things so bad in Europe, that even strippers are threatening to walk? Well, that's what appears to be happening in Paris -- Demetri, Lauren and Shannon will address this and other stories in today's "Loose Change."
Category:
News & Politics
The unprosecuted Criminal John Corzine stole $billions of Investors money and the 5 year statue of limitations for his crimes are ticking by, but who is going to protect Corzine from Judgement of ALL KINDS.
libertydogfight 2 weeks ago
maybe so, but really, you haven't seen the movie 'W' , obviously
not that one should base reality on movies at all...
it raises the question of 'what if'
what if YOU became president; lets also suppose you ARE a christian; then lets suppose your 'govt' then goes behind your back to do something like '911'
then you have 10,000 'advisors' telling you we have to go to war
.
bottom line is only God knows; do you think you can pre-empt God?
jamvaru in reply to jaedonheartright (Show the comment) 12 hours ago
How can you put Kissinger in the comercial. He should be in prison.
dougmcclure1234 3 weeks ago 7
Previously:
No matter the outcome of the Greek election on Sunday, Monday will
certainly be an interesting day for global markets. Many believe
Sunday's elections will determine whether the nation remains in the
Eurozone.
The political parties in Greece have fallen into two categories: those in favor of the 240 billion euro bailout loan, tied to extreme austerity measures, and those against it.
Syriza, the party led by Alexis Tsipras, is running on a staunch anti-austerity platform. He has stated publicly that he believes Greece will not be pushed out of the euro even if they break with the austerity measures tied to the bailout. He recently said "We have no sense that European partners will follow this tactic of blackmail heard from some quarters and stop funding"
New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras has campaigned on a platform to keep Greece in the eurozone, while walking a tightrope of promising fiscal adjustments to ease the pain associated with the memorandum.
On June 1st, the last date opinion polls were allowed to be publicized, New Democracy led with 22.7 percent, Syriza had 22 percent, and Pasok had 11.2 percent. (conducted by Metron Analysis for Athens-based ANT1 TV with a margin of error 2.8 percent.
If there's no clear winner on Sunday, forming a coalition could again prove difficult. There are 300 seats in the legislature, and 151 seats are needed to form a government. If New Democracy gained enough seats, they could form a coalition with Pasok. However, if Syriza is victorious, the composition of any coalition headed by the left-wing party will be more difficult to form.
Now, looking at the larger social picture, the problems in Greece are broadly painted by the media as economic in nature, with the solutions always presented in a political framework. Greeks, so the conventional wisdom goes, borrowed too much and lived beyond their means for too long, and now the time has come to pay the bill. Governments, therefore, must work together, alongside central banks, to "right the Greek wrongs" and set Greece and the rest of the Eurozone on the path towards growth and prosperity.
But this ignores certain realities....realities which are just as responsible for the riots we have seen as they are for the deposit flight from Greek banks. Whatever policy makers think they know about Greece, Greeks themselves know one thing very well, and this is that they cannot trust anyone, least of all their own politicians.
Pulling their savings out of the bank before they are confiscated or turned into devalued drachmas is only one example of this. Another can be seen in the collapse of investment within the Greek economy. After all, who in their right mind would put time and capital to work in an economy whose future is so bleak under the current dynamics. And yet, this very collapse in investment feeds a further collapse in growth, so that the economy and the society remain in a perpetual, contractive freefall. If you were trying to design a depression, you couldn't do a better job than what is happening by force of circumstance in Greece today.
And yet, the simplest and most obvious solution, that of a unilateral default, is something that the Greek people and especially their politicians have resisted. Why? Well, one reason is that the issue of Euro membership is just as much, if not more, a political issue for Greece than it is an economic one. The days of the Drachma were not a pretty time. Inflation was rampant, and Greeks felt more isolated geopolitically than they do today. Military spending and preparedness was of greater urgency given historical tensions with Turkey, and relations with the rest of Europe were less...familial shall we say. In short, breaking from the Euro is not a decision to be made through simple mathematical calculations. There are costs that cannot be factored in, and emotions that cannot be measured...not by any poll or any vote.
So, even with elections scheduled for this sunday in Greece, the future remains just as uncertain today as it was last week or last year. Even if the left-wing party Syriza gains power, no one knows if it will carry through with a default on the nation's debt or break with the memorandum and the austerity measures agreed to between the previous government, and its international lenders.
The political parties in Greece have fallen into two categories: those in favor of the 240 billion euro bailout loan, tied to extreme austerity measures, and those against it.
Syriza, the party led by Alexis Tsipras, is running on a staunch anti-austerity platform. He has stated publicly that he believes Greece will not be pushed out of the euro even if they break with the austerity measures tied to the bailout. He recently said "We have no sense that European partners will follow this tactic of blackmail heard from some quarters and stop funding"
New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras has campaigned on a platform to keep Greece in the eurozone, while walking a tightrope of promising fiscal adjustments to ease the pain associated with the memorandum.
On June 1st, the last date opinion polls were allowed to be publicized, New Democracy led with 22.7 percent, Syriza had 22 percent, and Pasok had 11.2 percent. (conducted by Metron Analysis for Athens-based ANT1 TV with a margin of error 2.8 percent.
If there's no clear winner on Sunday, forming a coalition could again prove difficult. There are 300 seats in the legislature, and 151 seats are needed to form a government. If New Democracy gained enough seats, they could form a coalition with Pasok. However, if Syriza is victorious, the composition of any coalition headed by the left-wing party will be more difficult to form.
Now, looking at the larger social picture, the problems in Greece are broadly painted by the media as economic in nature, with the solutions always presented in a political framework. Greeks, so the conventional wisdom goes, borrowed too much and lived beyond their means for too long, and now the time has come to pay the bill. Governments, therefore, must work together, alongside central banks, to "right the Greek wrongs" and set Greece and the rest of the Eurozone on the path towards growth and prosperity.
But this ignores certain realities....realities which are just as responsible for the riots we have seen as they are for the deposit flight from Greek banks. Whatever policy makers think they know about Greece, Greeks themselves know one thing very well, and this is that they cannot trust anyone, least of all their own politicians.
Pulling their savings out of the bank before they are confiscated or turned into devalued drachmas is only one example of this. Another can be seen in the collapse of investment within the Greek economy. After all, who in their right mind would put time and capital to work in an economy whose future is so bleak under the current dynamics. And yet, this very collapse in investment feeds a further collapse in growth, so that the economy and the society remain in a perpetual, contractive freefall. If you were trying to design a depression, you couldn't do a better job than what is happening by force of circumstance in Greece today.
And yet, the simplest and most obvious solution, that of a unilateral default, is something that the Greek people and especially their politicians have resisted. Why? Well, one reason is that the issue of Euro membership is just as much, if not more, a political issue for Greece than it is an economic one. The days of the Drachma were not a pretty time. Inflation was rampant, and Greeks felt more isolated geopolitically than they do today. Military spending and preparedness was of greater urgency given historical tensions with Turkey, and relations with the rest of Europe were less...familial shall we say. In short, breaking from the Euro is not a decision to be made through simple mathematical calculations. There are costs that cannot be factored in, and emotions that cannot be measured...not by any poll or any vote.
So, even with elections scheduled for this sunday in Greece, the future remains just as uncertain today as it was last week or last year. Even if the left-wing party Syriza gains power, no one knows if it will carry through with a default on the nation's debt or break with the memorandum and the austerity measures agreed to between the previous government, and its international lenders.
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