The Eurozone debt crisis plot thickens today as Spanish government borrowing costs soared to their highest level since the launch of the Euro. Maybe the bond market agrees with our guest from yesterday that Madrid's bank bailout ensures Spain is insolvent? Italy is swept up in the mess too, with Italian bond yields leaping up. So with the low-hanging-sentiment fruit seemingly picked, what does this mean for the Euro, the Dollar, and gold?
An Interesting Bailout in the Offing - Cyprus
There is a sideshow going on in Europe this week. All eyes are on the Spanish bank bailout, but there is another bailout in the works – Cyprus. I believe that a Cyprus deal will be agreed to within days. The question in my mind is, “Who is going to put up the money?”Let me first say that the problems in Cyprus are very small compared to Spain. If it were not for the fact that the rest of Southern Europe is on fire, Cyprus would get a very nice deal from its “friends” in Brussels. I think the country needs about Euro5B to shore ups its banks, another E20B for the Treasury. Chump change these days.
I have written about Cyprus and the 2011 military base explosion that brought the country to its knees (Link, Link) . It’s an interesting story with an interesting outcome. The Russians bailed out Cyprus with a Euro 3b loan.
Why would the Russians be willing to bailout a country who is a member of the EU and whose currency is the Euro? Three reasons:(I) - Naval bases/basing rights. The Russians would love to have a deep water port in one of the more strategic areas of the world:
The Julian Assange Show: Cypherpunks, Part 2
World Chaos Erupting as Governments & Institutions Collapse - Robert Fitzwilson
"The financial markets continue to show extreme volatility as the various institutions and governments deal with the end of their respective roads. The announcement regarding the bailout of the Spanish banks created euphoria as markets opened around the world, but the euphoria quickly dissipated. Governments, economies and societies are converging on a common dead end, and it is a dead end of historic proportions.” Gold and silver stood their ground today. We are seeing signs that individuals and governments are reacquiring massive quantities of gold as well as silver. We continue to hope for a positive outcome from the current chaos, but individuals need to convert paper wealth into some form of real wealth as soon as possible.”
Austerity Death Spirals and Phantom Wealth - Max with Charles Hugh Smith + The very first Keiser Report
Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, discuss hot potatoes, big fish, counterfeit collateral and a stealth British default. In the second half of the show Max talks to Charles Hugh Smith of OfTwoMinds.com about austerity death spirals and phantom wealth.
Debt crisis: Jose Manuel Barroso urges EU to back plans for a banking union
Britain ('s bankster shill) Government and the rest of the EU (Eurocrat bankster shills) should back plans for a banking union that would hand a single authority the power to wind down ailing banks without the approval of national governments, according to the president of the European Commission (picture right).
Jose Manuel Barroso urged the EU to take “a very big step” towards deeper integration to avoid a repeat of the European debt crisis.
Israel: to attack Syria based on falsified chemical weapons claims + 'has long history of racial discrimination' + African refugees purged as 'infiltrators'
By Madison Ruppert:
In late February of this year, I covered an article in the Wired blog Danger Room which read like nothing but pure, unadulterated propaganda.
This piece claimed, without any evidence whatsoever mind you, that U.S. officials were worried about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad possessing chemical weapons stockpiles, including mustard gas and nerve agents.
The piece was rife with outlandish claims and was nearly identical to the similar baseless propaganda we saw in the effort to justify the invasion of Iraq.
As I covered in my recent video (see below), the lamestream media seems to finally be catching up to the fact that it is not the Syrian government which is committing the atrocities, but well coordinated armed terrorist groups which are part of the opposition.
UK govt. slammed over Olympics security contract
There's about 6 weeks left until the Olympics when 4 million extra people will be in London. Security has to be tight. And G4S is the company that has to make sure it is. It is the official provider of security for the games.But the G4S Olympics contract has caused controversy because the company does business with Israel, and not just any business. It provides security and the borders of the illegal settlements in occupied territory and works in Israeli prisons. That's why on Monday, the government is being grilled in parliament over why it gave the contract to G4S to begin with.
G4S made £120 million in Israel last year. It operates in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, deemed illegal under international law.Everything You Know About Markets Is Wrong? - Eric L. Prentis
Conclusion—this is what to do:- Reenact the Glass-Steagall Act. Allowing investment banks to speculate with savers’ money is criminal.
- The daisy-chained, unregulated $707 trillion dollar OTC Derivatives market will bring down the world economy, when it goes bust. JP Morgan’s recent huge OTC Derivative trading losses are a prelude to this eventuality, with many more instances to come. Start unwinding the OTC Derivatives market now, before it is too late.
- Insolvent banks are a drain on the “real economy.” Force insolvent banks to go bankrupt. TBTF is an irrational policy. Allow capitalism to work for the 1%.
- Public and private debt to GDP is about 360%, and 30% of Americans are being hounded by bill collectors for unpaid debts. Americans can no longer service their massive debt loads. Allow debt forgiveness for the 99% and institute austerity for the 1%—they can afford it.
- ZIRP is destroying capital formation and savers. Allow interest rates to rise, which will increase consumer demand. The Fed’s manipulation of capital markets causes malinvestment—resulting in crippling long-term penalties for the “real economy.”
Steiner, Esoteric and Spiritual Science, Not Materialistic
He does it all rather well. Source