LIBOR

... the interbanking scam!

DIY car maintenance to help you save money

I remember the lines of bankers I had to deal with in the past which would criticise my business plan as to not being profitable enough; 25% or 30% margins were expected otherwise, why bother?! After this we all understand the motivations:

While some try to save money going DIY others use DIY in a much more profound way; it is criminal, but who cares in a world where all those foxes put themselves in charge of all those hen houses; they set their margins themselves; monopoly at its best; this cartel doesn't even need breakfast.
This breakfast refers to a so-called breakfast-cartel of the German light bulb industry where the main producers met one morning in April 1899 and agreed to raise prices by 10% - during that breakfast they agreed on who would say what, go first, follow up, etc. Of course, this was and is declared illegal, but how good are declarations when mainstream has those for lunch?

In above video Mr Booth, representing the Institute of Economic Affairs, is masterfully trying to not answer any question in detail which seems to be the goal of this IEA, while this perky Mr Reid speaks for the one and only ICFR, International Centre for Financial Regulation, the "... only independent, non-partisan organisation to be exclusively focused on best practice in all aspects of financial regulation internationally." as you can read here.

But then you should see the list of those independent Founder Members here. If you see UBS, Barclays, Her Majesty's Government or Morgan Stanley, etc. on that list you are not nuts! Calm down, you are just watching the scam having breakfast! Simon Johnson: The Market Has Spoken...

This does not leave me and my business plans with any hope. Banksters! I recommend you reading the interview with James K. Galbraith, March 2009, three years ago!!!

…as long as the old management is in place, there are no incentives to cooperate in the evaluation you need to make.

There was clearly a systematic failure. But that does not mean there was no criminal energy around.

When a bank is insolvent, the incentives for normal banking practice disappear. They become perverse.

WHEN  will we finally see things change? What a stupid question!


Carpe diem!

gold-, leh- or mobsman

... banksters, what else?!

"Lehman's failure is a story in large part of fraud!"





More? Here Professor Black explains "controlled accounting fraud".






Carpe diem!

warming up the leftovers...

... but who will deal with the failed!

It is very close to 12 months ago when I blogged on an interview with US economist James K. Galbraith; I did this because I thought at that time that his summary was very accurately describing the situation then.

Why do I pick it up again? Because the situation is no different but worse, Galbraith's answers are very much up-to-date and the recipes to solve the crisis explained how insolvent banks should be dealt with:

In a situation when a bank has suffered losses sufficient to impair its capital, you need to have regulatory supervision in place.

This does not mean that you necessarily close the bank. The way it usually works in the USA is that a bank is closed on Friday and re-opened on Monday under a new name, with a new leadership and with a team of examiners who are going through the books, trying to sort the good business loans and personal loans from those which are hopeless. Then you isolate the hopeless stuff, you force a write down of the equity and the subordinated debts of the people who put in risk capital -- so they have to take their losses as they should. And then you break up the bank into pieces which have a better prospect to gain viability soon. That's a process of re-organization and re-capitalization.

A change of management is essential, because firstly, the incumbents are responsible, whether they were culpable or not, and secondly, you need new people who are in line with the public purpose of this re-organization. It's the same principle in the navy: When a ship runs aground, the captain is removed, no matter if he caused the accident or not. No one would think it's a good idea to have the subsequent investigation headed by the ones who are to be investigated.

For another up-to-date interview click here.

Any kind of stimulus programmes, any new debts or any new, distortable balance sheets (e.g. EMF or similar) will not offer any sustainable solution unless independent governments are setting and enforcing new rules for new banks; I don't see those coming and I also doubt any new government will be anywhere near a position to finally clean up the mess.

So the crunch(-es) will go on; the credit-crunch will feed the EURO/currency-crunch, the climate-crunch will enhance the water- and energy-crunches or all vice versa; we better get used to it.

Btw: are you aware of an island called "Diego Garcia"? Or "Camp Justice"? It would not be the first time the world would seek its hail in war; preparation is on as you can read in the HeraldScotland.


Carpe diem!

Golden Sachsens everywhere!

Matt Taibbi, American journalist, on the "Great American Bubble Machine".

I am aware of the fact that is is a lot to read and listen to, to digest and understand: at the same time it is very likely that the big players are aware of just that fact as well and therefore get away with what the get away with.



and part two:


Please also see:
Do you believe in miracles?
Max Keiser, part 1
Max Keiser, part 2

Carpe diem!

and the EURO takes it all!

Telegraph Article: "EURO at $1.50 is 'disaster' for Europe"

Obviously the EURO is currently loosing the fight of the economies in trouble (which one is not?) of trying to import inflation (i.e. reducing debt) and export goods (i.e. economic growth); the easiest way to achieve both is weakening the own currency; by coincidence (?!) all major and not-so-majorcurrencies are on the same trip, some more successful like $ and RMB thanothers.

Not that it would make a big difference but setting the EURO rules did definitely not include a strategy out of a global economic disaster other than an automated destruction.

The result is going to beat 1929.

Carpe diem!

Ought to Know Max Keiser, part 1

Refreshing to listen, hear and digest...



Wait till you hear him in part 2...

Carpe diem!

1929 : 2009

A Tale of Two Depressions

As much as I like to be an optimist this makes it hard(er).

The comparison of 1929 and 2009 does not end at finding a "9" at the end of each year's figure; also brushing any comparison aside by declaring the world of '29 was "unprepared" and "not fully developed" in reality is a very counter productive argument: one could say that even though '29 had enormous economic potential lying ahead, it soon rang 1939.

While starting a war is always an option, 2009 sees the world having run out of the majority of comparably peaceful economic chances. Fully developed, few blank spots on the map, matured, over crowded, an inflation of crunches, black holes, bad and no banks, etc. - what and where are the options?

Could it be us for whom the bell tolls?

Carpe diem!