Sweden takes sides in the epic battle of Savers vs Speculators

Stacy Summary:  I think we will have to get Dr. Michael Hudson on the show asap re: Sweden story as I suspect it may have something to do with the massive exposure to the Baltic region.  It would be truly amazing if it were Sweden that ended up going under before UK.  I think this a tip of the hat to Mike2liverpool?  And @all thanks for the hundreds of links in the comments, you are keeping Max very very busy and entertained that’s for sure.

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91 Responses to Sweden takes sides in the epic battle of Savers vs Speculators

  1. rouge trader blamed for oil price spike days after Rolling Stone piece on Goldman Sachs http://tinyurl.com/nr94zt & http://tinyurl.com/nc4wup

    “Hussein said that he had wanted to have a relationship with the US but wasn’t given the chance.” http://tinyurl.com/l6l8u8 the FBI interviews

    Does the US back the Honduran coup? http://tinyurl.com/m94gwr

  2. Funny how this all turns out. If they only let the banks fail but nooo… recently the swedish riksbank gave 100 billion SEK to the banks to provide credit to market, we all know what that money is going to…

    This will be very interesting (and painfull) to follow….

  3. Hmm, headlining article on today’s Huff post looks good.

    Strange times, a cultural music magazine is saying what few finance and mainstream news papers are not.

    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/28816321/the_great_american_bubble_machine/print

    S

  4. Remember, the Swedish Key Interest Rate dropped from 0.5 % to 0.25 % yesterday AND the interest rate on overnight deposits from ordinary banks into Riksbanken (Sweden’s central bank) went from 0 % to a negative -0.25 %.
    I don’t think that will turn a negative interest rate ordinary savings accounts at this point.

  5. How come a company (a bank) is too big to fail but a country isn’t? Surely, if bailing out private companies can lead to a whole country failiing then you protect the country first, no? I mean, are we now saying that companies are more important than countries? The world has indeed gone mad!

  6. “Zimbabwe gets $950m loan from China”
    http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/07/2009719519945452.html

    it seems like China is using the US strategy of indebting countries for to later rule them as they please…?

  7. Youri Carma

    Somtin to lift the morning spirits Hi all! 50 Beautifully Delicious Coffee Designs. http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/07/50-beautifully-delicious-coffee-designs/

  8. @sharon – the IMF / World Bank as we know it today really started in the 1980′s when Citibank and the likes believed that ‘countries don’t go bankrupt’ . . . that they were too big to fail; well Citibank’s loans to third world countries went belly up as most of the cash was just funneled into a few oligarch pockets and the economies collapsed; the IMF stepped in to issue loans to these countries so that Citibank would not lose; this is what you see them doing in Latvia with the massive loan relative to population which is really just to rescue Swedish banks from their bad loans

  9. That Amish story demonstrates exactly my view that bankers are in a position to distort competition by lending discriminately, thus forcing the other market players to lend from them as well. What got the Amish was jealousy, one of the deadly sins..

  10. Mike2liverpool

    I give up
    No, i do………………they throw Adam Smith out the window and replaced him with something from the USSR.
    Mike

  11. Maybe we should all form our own commune, show the Amish how to do it. But don’t do it the Amish way; we can have all the technology we want. Our only discipline would be to trade in real value.

  12. Wasn’t Sweden the place where they had the best knowledge on how to handle a recession?

  13. Here’s some discourse between Ron Suskind from the NY Times and one of Bush’s aides, back in 2004.
    The aide said that guys like me were ”in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who ”believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ”That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. ”We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
    So,…..just keep ona studying (That was me by the way)

  14. Ireland gets cut to AA1 by Moody’s. All the Lisbon Treaty propaganda is stirring up now. I know it would be bad for the country if we rejected it ‘again’ but I know from history saying yes would be worse. Fear is their only weapon.

  15. Youri Carma

    Insightfull news from Japan which in my opnion is exemplary what happened in Europe before the crises became mainstream news, what happened?

    From the little news squares in the corner of the newspaper (Often the most important news) I was very suprised to read large amounts of ECB money was transferred to the U.S. without any explanation in the mainstream news? I am still wondering where this was all about but I am beginning to get a hunch; These Euro’s where uses to buy up huge amounts of dollars to prop it up. The ECB back than must still bge in a delusional state that this would avoid the worst. Well they where wrong. Read Japanese story under.

    I kept the newspapers somewhere to get back at it and to see how much Euro’s where exactly involved?

    Japan hasn’t entered into the foreign-exchange market since the central bank, at the request of the Finance Ministry, sold a record 14.8 trillion yen ($154 billion) in the first quarter of 2004 in an effort to weaken the currency.

    Buying or selling currencies isn’t a panacea for governments to lift their economies during the global recession as other problems would still remain, such as a credit shortage and stress at financial institutions, Saito said.

    Tamaki will continue Japan’s support for the dollar to remain the world’s reserve currency, Saito said. The Finance Ministry will PROBABLY keep buying U.S. Treasuries, said Tomoko Fujii. A record 45 listed Japanese firms went bankrupt in the year ended March 31.

    FROM: Tamaki to Head Japan’s Currency Policy; Mikuniya Banking Chief http://tinyurl.com/mqvjk8

  16. Youri Carma

    The Swedish debacle is closely linked to the, become before snake eye, Baltic carry trade I think. It just fell apart when the crises started and turning the cheap “carry trades” into very expensive ones. Think this sums it up?

  17. @Danny Moody froody sjamalama dingdong!

    I had kind of a symbolic exprience the other day..To lighten my mood I went to the beach, took a dive. Great sun, warm sand, Hobiecats gliding, kids frolicking, a dog swam by (surprisingly), being in the sea..

    Came home, took a shower, made dinner, something smelled funny. Put my nose to my underarm. My skin smelled like deep decay, the smell you get from long dead animals. No way to rinse it off. I was permeated by it..

    Turned out the beautifull sea hid a cracked sewage pipe, and I had been swimming in shit, along with the kids and the moms and the dads and the dogs…

    Shows you life may look idyllic on the surface, but ignorance of what goes on underneath, well…

  18. Apparantly, back in the 90′s when Sweden was having a rough recession they took some of the banks to court and got back billions. Perhaps this is payback!

  19. @ Danny,
    Ireland is being punished for saying NO the 1st time but God I do hope they will say NO a 2nd time rather than acting out of fear. The Irish are not normally fearful and should be proud of their stance. I hope they know the rest of us are behind them (not that that will do them much good unless we can take the power back). Speaking to an Irish guy recently, he told me that when the MP’s expenses story broke most in Ireland were thinking: Come on England, now’s your chance, we’re with you, just take the opportunity and run with it – guess we failed eh?

  20. So, how does this work…. .anyone?
    The only time anyone starts saving $$$ is now, when interest rates are around zero or minus%. Up until now they have just been spending and pushing up debt levels.
    125% mortgages?
    We in Aus at least have positive interest rates, for the moment.
    Lower and lower interest rates make it hard to save and easier to speculate or just buy stuff, ie housing, shares, gold, gamble online.
    So with minus interest rates and higher bank fees can someone tell me just why we need banks anymore anyway?
    We are now paying for the privilege of keeping Max’s toilet paper in these institutions for a minus return.
    If gold and silver prices are being manipulated now, what of the future there? If Goldman hate gold, gold is gone…. Until they want to make some money on that.
    It seems that the value of assets is unknown due to speculation and governments are trying to stimulate people to spend.
    ….Riiiiiiiight.
    Anyone help me understand this?
    Time to rethink the unthinkable. Governments seem to be impotent and financial institutions fraudulent.
    Goodbye to both.
    We pay our past politicians to travel the world with their lifelong superannuation and gravy train lifestyle. That is past politicians as well as current ones.
    The reason? Zero.
    No real need for things that hurt us. Its like a bad tooth – Remove it.
    Maybe the casino boss at Paulson Casinos inc. might be the king of the world? Bernanke could get a job as the bellboy.
    I have money in bank just because I am doing exactly what the Govts are trying to stop us doing. Do the opposite to what the banks and Govts want us to do – I think I read that piece of advice on this site as well.
    Anyway, I’m just trying to figure out why people listen to the ones who are trying to hurt them. Have another hotdog with us Barack, we think you rock!…….for some reason. D’oh!

  21. Sorry,
    That was a rant. Got carried away.
    Please forgive.

  22. @ sharon
    we’ve all failed collectively, its not just you guys.

    Fascinating insight into Michael Hudson’s new book.
    http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14195

    Michael Hudson is extraordinary. Of the 3 guys ‘I’d love to go for a pint with’, it would be Michael Hudson, Max Keiser and Groucho Marx.

  23. Another question (as I have noooo answers)
    What is happeneing to the silver price at right of this page?
    Up, down, up, down, up down…..?????

  24. @ Mini US
    Governments are only good for wars and taxes and considering we need either one of those like a hole in the head (or 2 holes in the head) then the simple truth is we not only don’t need government we really should be doing everything in our power to get rid.

  25. Hutterites pose for Alberta Milk ad

    http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/07/02/calgary-milk-ad-hutterite.html

    Three Hutterite men have posed for a milk advertisement, even though many of their culture object for religious reasons to being photographed.

    The trio from the Hutterite Brethren of Viking are posed with sunglasses and suspenders in front of their herd of cows in a full-page advertisement for Alberta Milk this month in Alberta Views magazine.

    Mike Southwood, the general manager of Alberta Milk, said when they planned the campaign they approached a number of Hutterite colonies. Most said no because having their photo taken conflicts with their beliefs.

    “We don’t often get to promote that side of our sector, so we did feel that this was a real opportunity for us,” he said.

    The ad was shot three years ago and has appeared twice before in newspapers without attracting any attention.

    Kurt Wipf, who is in the ad, said the men agreed to pose because it promotes their industry without conflicting with any religious or traditional aspects of their culture.
    Photo exemption for driver’s licences

    In Alberta, Hutterites have won the right not to have their photographs on driver’s licences.

    The Wilson colony in southern Alberta argued in court that the government’s rule violated its charter right to freedom of religion. Members believe the Second Commandment in the Bible (“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image”) prohibits them from willingly having their picture taken.

    The Alberta Milk advertisement is a surprising move, said Ben Graham, who specializes in agricultural marketing, but savvy on both ends.

    “It’s always a benefit for the producer to be profiled and for the producer group or organization that markets the end product to focus on their top producers,” he said.

    James Frideres, who studies Hutterite culture at the University of Calgary, said when there isn’t a religious conflict, Hutterites can be a pragmatic group.

    “They are embracers of technology par excellence. If it makes them more effective and more efficient in terms of their financial activities, they’re prepared to enter into it,” he said.

  26. @Mini US – silver market is very very tiny and summer months are thinly traded so that movement is probably normal

  27. Look at California go down next! Printing IOU’s but there is absolutely no debate about the implications thereof! Which are, of course, that we are printing our own currency, for money is no more than a promised obligation to repay. If only California would create its own interest free Bank: The Bank of California! We are, for god’s sake, the world’s largest economy (i hear this, but i have a feeling there are a few corporations these days pushing us down; Monsanto? Royal Dutch Shell; Goldmann Sachs?)

    On the TV, the mood of the country towards California, in between Michael Jackson and kidnapped marines in Afghanistan, is, very negative. There will be no response from Washington, not that there should be; however, when one factors in the bailouts, etc., then yes, California needs help too, since it is a “public enterprise.” (my quotes)

    The propaganda in America is getting critical. The tide is turning. The “propaganda meisters” are stirring up the population. Perfect timing, when one considers the reworking of the legal and political framework that has taken place over the last six months.

    The climate bill represents 1 trillion in new taxes; cap and trade which will effectively lead many business to lead. This experiment has happened in Spain, stripping that economy of five millions jobs. Remember, Spain is considered “new europe,” friendly to US agenda.

    Stacy and Max,
    This is the story in the US. Everything you’re saying about the US dollar is true, but there must be more emphasis on the effort of the US government to crash this economy in order to “achieve the social transformation desired” as the Project for the New American Century described a coming, similar experiment on September 10, 2000.

    Fahrenheit 2009 here in the US. I predict the next fall for October 29th, 2009.

  28. Youri Carma

    @Max Power

    This story reminds me of the story of my best friend who wanted to get with his smiling face in then passport which is forbidden because of the face scanning software unable to recognize you.

    Because his municipal is across the street he could go back every day to try to get someone who would aprove it. He succeeded after going back three times. :)

  29. Will this work? This really shows what the system is. Banks basically are the government. Without popular representation.

  30. @Mother Aarde

    [I]Turned out the beautifull sea hid a cracked sewage pipe, and I had been swimming in shit, along with the kids and the moms and the dads and the dogs…[/i]

    Scheveningen? Were was it? Zarte pad, or near the Harbor?

  31. Mr Supergeek

    Off Topic……No disrespect to the swedes or the amish…eerrr same thing ?..no no the amish are swiss….ah yeah…europe scmeurope whatever…it’s all the same aint it? joking aside… where was I oh yeah…does anyone remember who created the ‘karmabanque/TAM’ ( 9 gig archive) torrent…remember that. I can remember they lived in asia but I can’t remember the persons name well anyway…respect great work good stuff…thanks again..it;s given me and others hours of pleasure……dude.
    (link below it’s still alive and should be seeded)
    http://www.fulldls.com/torrent-others-1770870.html

  32. @Kjr.
    I guess thats what I am asking.
    What is the definition a a bank?
    Govts are supposed to be public servants, paid by the people via taxes to manage the state for the people. (Naive I know)
    Banks were supposed to hold deposits for lending, returns, take a cut ok, etc.
    Now there are so many “banking products” such as derivatives and all those other cool terms that Max talks about that have been invented over the years that the definition a a bank has totally changed.
    As Max calls them “The Robber Banks”.
    They have morphed from what they used to be but have managed to keep the same traditional concept alive through an aura of need.
    Well Its dead I tell you, DEAD!

  33. Ha! Rogue Trader????
    Isn’t that redundant?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8131816.stm

  34. This guy is a lone voice in Australia, brilliant.
    Has some good then/now comparisons from 1929 (from another source)

    http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/

    They all laugh at him the same way they laughed at Peter Schiff.
    Only the public laughers are secretly crying somewhere tonight.

  35. @M Zuiderstrand, Bij tram 12..

  36. stacey I am a london-based investment manager and i love listening to the radio show/ youtube vids etc etc – am quite sure I am just about the only investment professional in London who does listen in avidly and agrees wholly with what you both have to say – causes considerable debate at work ahnd is reflective of mainstream sheeplike behaviour!!
    I radvise a gold and silver fund too – just wondered if you would let me buy you lunch to discuss markets etc and potentially setting up some kind of evening/drinks/presentation for financial market contacts in London – I helped arrange GATA’s recent presentation in London. best
    Ned

    ALSO – everyone should be using http://www.24hgold.com – best website for gold and silver – excellent free interactive charts for gold and silver in multiple currencies.

  37. Youri Carma

    Yep, sure enough a “Shooting Star Formation” comming down like a falling star http://bit.ly/RF613

  38. Youri Carma

    Hells breaking lose here in the Netherlands. Wodan is letting is hammer heard! Hopefully my bedroom doesn’t get flooded this time (fingers crossed).

  39. @Youri

    [i]Hells breaking lose here in the Netherlands.[/i]

    Pardon?

  40. Richard@lattitude30N

    @Mother Earth: Yuck!! South of here ( here is Broward County FL) there are constant alerts from the officials about Biscayne Bay fecal water pollution…same reason…

  41. Well, in many aspects we are beginning to live in our own shit.
    It won’t be long until everything is covered with it.
    Shit will take over the world.
    Check out the NYC sewer system: http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/554621/13324ada/levende_poep_gevonden_topic_.html

  42. Poop is alive!

  43. @ M
    Oh man that is grossssssss.
    Hahhahahahaha.

    Thats it! Poop is morphing into something else. Maybe as the Banks morph into Poop, Then Poop morphs into the new financial system of tomorrow.

    This would make a cool Movie. Like the day of the Triffids.
    “The Day of the Poopy”

  44. Or that could be the new bubble.
    Its not online gambling…..

    Its gonna be selling Wall Street Poop on E-Bay.
    “Trade Poop” on Wall Street.

  45. @richard Nice subject huh..Guess I’m now a newly baptized man, born again into the fecal religion. I feel envigorated. Lets hope it doesn’t give me dystopian nightmares..

  46. Negative savings rate? Does this mean that they pay me 0.25% to borrow money? If this were the case it would set up a massive carry trade, right? You wouldn’t even have to carry it far, just over to Norway, which Stacy says is the only country worth investing in.

    Alternatively, perhaps bankrupt Sweden will invade Norway (they were once one country) for the oil.

  47. Ooops!
    Too late.
    Thats been happening for years!

  48. Wow.
    As food becomes scarce in the future due to global warming, etc. poop will dry up (Pardon the pun).
    This could be quite lucrative in the long term as such scarcity will cause the poop price to rise.

  49. You can’t go long poop ;-)

  50. @M – ummm, thanks for that link . . .

  51. Hey ME.
    Whats the name of that new fecal religion?
    That can be lucrative too.
    People will follow anything!

  52. Mike2liverpool

    China goes Shopping:_
    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZq2xVbh.Gt4
    SO many $ to spend!!!
    Mike

  53. @mini us Eh..The Order of the Other Orifice? Batizement does carry risks..

  54. @ Mother Earth
    Hahahhahaha

    O.O.O. – I’ll just go swimming at Bondi and I’m in, thanks.

  55. Coffee Art, Fecal Invasions, and Swedish Banking rates…

    there is a connection here…

    Areolae…
    hairy ones…

    So the Hutterites don’t need to have their photo taken for Driver’s Licenses and Muslim women can wear a veil to the voting booth?

    THAT’S IT
    I’m going to get a giant plastic pumpkin and wear that on my head next time I get my photo taken or vote…
    Cuz it’s my religion… I’m a Halloweenie…

    as well, I am an official POEE Priest of the Sacred Chao,
    FNORD…
    My God is sexier than your God…

    Long Live the Poop Pipe…

  56. @all – okay; since y’all keep talking about the poopies and you are expressing a wish to go long on it, I have created:

    The Crap and Trade System

    What do you think?? Are you in?

  57. Palantíri

    @chris – it means if you want to deposit money in my central bank you need to pay me 0.25 % interest from your own money.

    Norway and Sweden were not one country but a union of two separate states with a common monarch (I think it is called a Personal Union)

  58. @ Stacey

    Sure thing.
    Would it be like coal and Iron Ore?
    ie degrees of grade quality
    or just straight cash(toilet paper) for goods?

  59. @ stacyherbert
    Sorry about the ‘e’

  60. Have y’all been at the stoney bangs or what with all this shite talk!?

  61. @stacey But,but, I was all set for the baptizements..Holy crap!, this way I’ll never be a messiah!

    Does that mean that if I prevent shit from happening I get crap credits? What about bs in the media..

    Tradin’ on the CRAPEX, drivin’ me Maserati, forgin’ me CCO’s ;-)

  62. I hope my parents arent an indicator of voting sentiment in regards to Lisbon but I fear they are. 50s, middle-class, always vote & heading for retirement. First time out they were strongly in the no camp. Like the majority, they saw through the spin of the mainstream parties. But that’s all changed in the last year. Now they’re scared, and scared little PIIGies dont act rationally.

  63. @stacy and my e as well..

    Maybe I can do a report from the locus crapii on the parallels between crapology and keynsian economics..

    By the way, You are all blessed..

  64. Youri Carma

    Now I come to think of it, not to toot my horn here, that I predicted this negative interest rates as somtin banks would gonna do and they are doing it right now.

    Be ware that if you don’t think your bank charches you with negative rates it’s just because instead they call it “administration” costs.

  65. @Max Keiser
    Can we just list ALL BANKS (except for Karma Banque) on the Karma Bank register?
    Lets just buy assets like gold and oil, like the Chinese and boycott banks.
    Peter Schiff says that people in the US should just stop paying their mortgages.
    Bring it on guys. Lets go for the top. Then Coke, etc will follow!

  66. Imagine the new bankless and governmentless world with Mother Earth as our spiritual leader.
    o.o.o. Forever.

  67. Speaking of the Chinese,

    They are throwing $1.74 BILLION at Teck Resources (a Canadian Mining company with ugly debt)

    they’ll be taking a 17.5% stake in the company now…
    I wonder if they are paying for it with American Treasury Bills ?

  68. @Max and Stacy
    Mad mad idea.
    Could Max go back?
    I mean go under cover?
    Get a job at Goldman Sachs and destroy it from the inside.
    Be a Rogue Trader or something.
    I guess jail is the downside, but he’d be a martyr.
    We’d all come visit.

  69. The Crap and Trade index: sell shit for toilet paper.

    Would be better than the markets we have operational nowadays. More understandable also.

  70. @Mini US,
    unfortunately, Goldman Sachs is “too big to fail”

  71. Yeah, I hear ya redzebra.
    No matter what Max did they would survive.

    BTW I love that image on the Gulag Wealth Fund link on this page.
    The statue of liberty firing a tazer gun.
    Cooooool

  72. Goldman Sucks may be “too big to fail”
    but they aren’t bullet-proof…

    I just found out yesterday that Mark Carney,
    Governor of the Bank of Canada,
    is ALSO GS alumnus

    (From Wiki)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Before joining the public service, Carney had a thirteen-year career with Goldman Sachs in its London, Tokyo, New York and Toronto offices. His progressively senior positions included co-head of sovereign risk; executive director, emerging debt capital markets; and managing director, investment banking. He worked on South Africa’s post-apartheid venture into international bond markets, and was heavily involved in Goldman Sachs’s work with the 1998 Russian financial crisis.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    these goat-blowers are ubiquitous…
    how many other countries have they politically infiltrated?

  73. TheBlackSwan

    Hi Max ‘n’ Stace

    Negative interest rates eh,… the banks only hold fractions on deposit as it is, charging savers is akin to shooting yourself in the balls, near suicide. These actions could lead to the mother of all bank runs

  74. Crap and Trade!!

    You mean I can print my own money!

    Cool.

  75. how would OPTIONS be traded on the CRAPEX ?

    I’m offering a 16 sheet, 2-ply quilted option,
    that expires at 9am PST

  76. @ Giuseppe Bagodunutti

    Well the leader of the current main opposition party in Australia also worked at GS. So, if he wins the next election after being only 25% in the polls you think there may be a smelly rat?

    @The Black Swan
    Karma Banque the banks and short them. Its a winner (except for the ones that can’t fail of course)
    Oh hang on, thats probably Golman Sachs’ plan too. To remain the last bank standing!
    Oh, and the world may be sick for a while as well.

  77. Hahahahahhahaha
    But then there will be Green bloody shoots!!!!!
    So everything will be OK again!!!!!!

  78. Cant post comments for some reason?

  79. juergenwahl

    Crap and trade? How wonderful – I’m all for it!

    “The Outhouse of the Rising Sun”
    by Asha Holla
    performed with no success at all by Nelly Turdfarto

    An outhouse stands in New Orleans
    They call The Rising Sun.
    It sits upon a pile of crap
    Which, I’ll bet, weighs a ton!

    This outhouse is an awful place
    Built from the wage of sin.
    When poor folks go to take a dump
    They’re never seen again!

    The pit is filled with noxious fumes
    That have a sul’frous smell.
    They say if you should slip and fall
    You’ll slide straight down to Hell!

    One day my father went inside,
    To pass a plate of beans:
    His body filled with so much gas
    It ruptured at the seams!

    My mother liked her cabbage boiled,
    It caused a lively sound,
    They rushed her, fizzing, to “The Sun” –
    She nevermore was found!

    And I’ve had too much spicy food –
    I’ve really got to “go!”
    But one step through that half-moon door
    Will mean the end, I know!

    [Crap n’ Trade insert:
    Economists thought Crap ‘n Trade
    Would end the evil spell,
    Then when they got knee-deep in filth,
    They couldn’t stand the smell!

    The money folks said “Tax and Spend
    Will solve all of our fears,”
    But when the Piper claimed his due
    They were deep in arrears.

    There is an inconvenient truth:
    When Finance calls the shot,
    Production withers on the vine,
    And we’re flushed down the pot!]

    You may think you’ll avoid this fate
    By exercising care.
    But on some rumbling, bloated night,
    You’ll find it everywhere!

    So mothers please warn your daughters,
    And fathers tell your sons:
    “High tail it fast from New Orleans
    If you have got the runs!”

  80. Palantíri

    @TheBlackSwan – it is the deposit rate to the Central bank not ordinary banks. Ordinary people and companies do not deposit in the central bank, only banks do (exceptions only in special cases). The rate in an ordinary bank may be very low but it is not negative yet. However it is probably lower than the inflation rate so the money you have in the bank will lose its value anyway so go buy gold with it if you can. http://www.dailymarkets.com/releases/2009/07/01/riksbank-cuts-key-rate-offers-sek-100-bln-loans-to-banks/

  81. frances snoot

    @ Guiseppe:
    I’m in. Halloweenie that is. :) I like sexy gods. If you all want religion, watch this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuuMOvy1KNE

    Why do the new gurus always look like the old gurus? I thought we were getting change! :(

  82. frances snoot

    @STACY:
    Definately, bring on crap and trade!

  83. I had my concerns about refi with Wells Fargo. The whole deal sounded great as long as I could get a lower rate than what I have at present, and the worst part of the deal was WF wanted to fold all my back due payments and penalties into the note and refi the whole amount. I have only had the home for 4 years so I have no equity. If I go with WF’s deal I will end up owing more than the original loan at a a higher rate of interest. wtf?

    I just want my savings back, my job back, a fair return on my investments, my rights and my f@cking country back.! So I hope to default on all the “credits” as credits are not money, and therefor do not exist outside of the either zone.

  84. Goldman Sachs connections…Put on a pot of coffee…This is s blood sucking squid..They run the globe.

    http://www.muckety.com/Goldman-Sachs-Group-Inc/5000806.muckety

  85. R Andersson

    “Sweden cuts rates to NEGATIVE .25%”

    This is obviously based on some kind of misunderstanding
    and poor research.

    Facts: Sweden cuts rates from 0.50% to 0.25% (positive)

  86. The repo rate is .25%, the deposit rate is -.25%

  87. @WL……………”Goldman Sachs connections…Put on a pot of coffee…This is s blood sucking squid..They run the globe.”

    Know any hitmen you could pass that list of GS directors on to?

  88. HI Stacy,

    love cycling with your show buzzing my braincells. You may be interested in my most recent Renegade Economists podcast, where Hudson defines globalisation and the banking – real estate nexus in his standard rapid fire manner. He defines why the US economy is beholden to the banks and discusses the Eastern European fiasco. Check last weeks interview with him too.

    Download Hudson on Grand Theft Monopoly

    Read show notes

  89. Love the Crap and Trade, it’s ….craptastic!