Stacy Summary: H/t @Mike/Liverpool for the article. Of course, HSBC has been talking about this for the past few years and they are no doubt right for the medium to long term; but, in the short term, this headline is probably a contrarian indicator. Right now, bullish sentiment on the dollar is at only 3% which is lower than where it was just before the dollar turned around last year and rallied ferociously.
“The whole picture of risk-reward for emerging market currencies has changed. It is not so much that they have risen to our standards, it is that we have fallen to theirs. It used to be that sovereign risk was mainly an emerging market issue but the events of the last year have shown that this is no longer the case. Look at the UK – debt is racing up to 100pc of GDP,” he said
Update: Video on dollar carry trade that might interest you.
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@Stacy:
I’m not sure in the case of Zimbabwee the locals were using it as much as being forced to mine it to survive. The African way. Although Harry W said that the Somali refugee did use it for exchange.
It will be interesting to see how things play out with gold. I asked on the other thread why there is such a great discrepancy between the price of gold and silver, but no one seemed interested. Why indeed?
@Stacy:
Nice quote!
Isn’t it interesting how one can apply Derrida’s theory of the sign to other symbolic systems? My views, of course, are only a perspective. I hope that gold survives the nasty bastards’ Plan.
Mish did not write that essay. The man that did was applying the Derridian theory. I wonder who wrote it? His pseudonym was Trotsky. (funny)
@frances snoot – well, your example, of Zimbabwe using it after the collapse of their fiat currency is exactly why gold is still a currency and will always be one
This is Alan Greenspan in May 1999 commenting on Gordon Brown’s sell off of half of Britain’s gold:
“Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world… Germany in 1944 could buy materials during the war only with gold. Fiat money in extremis is accepted by nobody. Gold is always accepted.”
@HarryW:
From the Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/gold/6162659/Gold-price-what-next.html
“But before investors dive in – a word of warning. Even if gold prices continue to rise, UK investors can still lose money if currency movements go against them. Gold is priced in dollars, so if the dollar weakens significantly against the pound this can wipe out any gains made on rising gold values.”
Gold is dependent on the dollar for price. Gold is fixed to the dollar: the dollar plays with the pound.
The case being made for gold as currency relies upon historical antecedent. My heresy, backed by common knowledge, is to indicate that the system of currencies with which the world is now familiar does not allow for the play of gold: hence no nominal value for gold as currency.
You are correct to state that gold does have a nominal value in the commodities market.
Mish Shedlock’s interesting essay addresses a thesis that he has made declaring gold a currency because of monetary demand. But I personally find the argument weak. Here is the link:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2007/06/misconceptions-about-gold.html
I’m afraid fiat currencies do not fluctuate around gold. That would be a nice dance, but more of a flight of fancy than a real event.
@ frances,
I recall hearing a Somali refugee on tv describing how his families wealth all had to be stored in gold to escape the country (and guarded with their lives to ensure escape). Gold has use as a store of wealth in cases of monetary breakdown, and it’s quite an efficient store if one has to physically hold it.
In the terms you give, gold has a nominal value as a commodity for use in jewellery/store of wealth, it’s notional value is represented in fiat currencies which fluctuate around it. They have no nominal value, only a notional one.
To bet on Mish’s analysis is to rely on the faith in an old paradigm rapidly disappearing from the earth.
@Stacy:
The argument may be made for gold as a store of wealth, but the only place gold has functioned as a currency in the last hundred years would be Zimbabwee during the total breakdown of the currency and then only under diress. (Unless there are some Bendouin camel riders still using gold coins for women…)
Gold does not play within the system of currency exchanges: the value of gold is existent only within a notional fixed system. According to Derridian theory of the sign, a sign has two values: notional and nominal. Nominal is the value that is not fixed but a play of the value of other signs. Gold has no nominal value: it is not an accepted form of barter in any financial system. It is not the standard backing any currency. The notional value of gold is fixed to the dollar, not the other way around.
@Tony – some, like Prechter, argue that deflation brings lower gold prices because they see it as a commodity; others, like Mish, see higher gold prices because they view gold as a currency; my bet is on Mish’s analysis as gold has, in fact, been a currency for 5000 years and only a commodity for modern fiat era I believe
I love technicians…I am a piss poor one but I did recoginise that the dollar and the US marketes were negivately correlated. I think the deflationist are winning the argument for now…if inflation means higher gold prices doesn’t deflation mean lower gold and commodity prices, or can THE BANKSTERS print money and buy everything!!? To me the US market might correct 15% and be choppy I don’t see a break anytime soon. I say 2-5 years to crash til then deflation…
@Stacy:
Perusing the question of the body as currency, I found this article. It is interesting how the weakening of Ukraine’s currency had resulted in a rise in prostitution.
Which is a better store of wealth? Gold or the female body?
http://www.eturbonews.com/9780/sex-tourism-spurred-weak-currency-cheap-flights
@Stacy:
Regarding face masks…
Bottom line: Nobody knows whether face masks or respirators really protect against flu.
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/features/swine-flu-h1n1-and-face-masks
I suppose, though, they might have a placebo effect.
Name one fiat currency older than oh 40 or 50 years?
Prostitution.
@frances snoot – “Gold as currency has the same fate as all paper currency.” Say what? Perhaps one day, but it’s been a currency now for 5000 years and is still a currency. Name one fiat currency older than oh 40 or 50 years?
@frances snoot again – you are very right re: face masks not working, at least not those flimsy little surgical masks everyone is using; the ones that really work will set you back about $100 and look very different from what you see; I believe the Japanese, however, wear masks in order not to spread infection? so those masks may work in that situation, like sneezing into a tissue as should be done, but wont’ be
@J. Bonham – I know you asked Max, but since I am here, if you believe in “the coming deflationary depression,” then, of course, CASH IS KING in such a situation. That means your dollars and your gold/silver.
Warren Pollock’s YouTube video series provides a wealth of information and stimulates organized, intelligent thought. I recommend all of his videos and his articles that are available on the web. Thanks for posting some of his work.
Question: “what’s the name of this funny american currency?”
Answer: “lollar”
@stacyherbert I live in Durban on the east coast. Things are cheaper here than other parts of South Africa, but then so are the salaries. Cost of living is not bad, I have been surviving on my savings (comfortably) for the past 11 months from the work I have done over the past 5 years in London and Nigeria. I am young, but I personally don’t know anyone whops struggling. My dad has had to come out of early retirement, he worked really hard to retire just before he hit his 60s, there is no social security here.
I am also working on my first business here, I figure if I can do well in this climate things can only get better. Regarding the media I got used to not watching TV in Nigeria and I haven’t gone back. I really detest print, radio and TV. I love cinema and theater though and of course my podcasts, especially the ones recorded in Paris cafes!
Naomi:
Remember the ubiquitous photos of the world citizen wearing a face mask during the swine flu scare? The art of media rumour is a powerful agency! Never mind that face masks don’t protect people from getting flu. The project was to imprint an icon in the consciousness of the people and later utilize fear as a means for control.
Obama objects to the blogosphere because the control of the press is derived through subsidy, as Obama puts it: “”Journalistic integrity, you know, fact-based reporting, serious investigative reporting, how to retain those ethics in all these different new media and how to make sure that it’s paid for, is really a challenge,”
Why would gold be any different? The media lies filter profit into the coffers of those who pay the media. Ching Ching for China!
Here Naomi: I was anticipating your outrage! Reuters has more disclaimers in this article than any I’ve read!
BEIJING, Sept 21 (Reuters) – China is considering buying gold being offered for sale by the International Monetary Fund, Market News International said on Monday, citing two unnamed government sources, but the report could not immediately be confirmed.
http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINSP48213620090921?sp=true
The China Gold Rush is a figmented fractured flight in fantasy supported by vested interests. Here’s more from Reuters:
Two Chinese central bank officials not directly involved in the issue told Reuters China should consider buying the gold being put up for sale by the IMF, but only at a big discount.
The officials, neither of whom had direct knowledge of the gold strategy, said they were expressing personal opinions.
Gold as currency has the same fate as all paper currency. But much profit might be had if we public believe rumours set to dance in print.
If the report is unconfirmed and the sources are spouting personal opinion why print the story? Because rumour is a powerful mover of men.
If China is buying gold and it is, why the huge frenzy directed to the people of China to buy gold which drives the price higher?
Hi Max,
Just wondering as to what suggestions you might have to deal with the coming deflationary depression. I’m in the US and really don’t know what to do with my dollars. I have about 10% in gold/silver. Some currently in stocks and the rest is in cash.
I understand about the usual disclaimer.
@Naomi:
Because China and US top political players know about the policies of the BIS and central bank conduit to move away from paper currency just like Greenspan says.
frances:
Because of the fevered buy on the part of China? Or that gold will not hold value against the nose dive of the dollar?
@WilhelmII:
Fantastic link. Thanks!
The ink blots of ilk known as world leaders!
@Naomi:
My answer to your question:
Both.
@frances Agreed, whatever the G20 does is in the interest of global slavery. *DJ G20 Needs To Agree Fincl Sys Reform “More Quickly”-Medvedev
Interesting article http://www.minwebcoza, title of article “China pushes silver and gold investment for the masses”…..
Our government is telling everyone to jump in a buy stocks, China is telling their people to buy gold and silver…..which government thinks it’s people are fools?
$50-$100 per day? Holy fuck!
@WilhelmII:
Prosecution of the criminal fraud would be a solution.
The “solution” the brilliant minds are giving you is a chance to become a slave in every single way. Time will play this out.
But I appreciate your charity in not taking offense to my perspective.
@frances I understand, but ironically your view has more in common with the Wall St. line than mine. All the bankers are crying, don’t worry about the instability of our Ponzi scheme, worry about the overbearing regulators.
I see regulation as more of the solution than the problem in this case. These banks are committing massive accounting fraud, they should all be nationalized and liquidated. After that the Fed needs to be liquidated as well.
I’m not holding my breath.
@WilhelmII:
I meant we should all strive to achieve unbiased readings: people with extensive background in economics often fail the most due to their training.
Did not mean to be rude.
Politicians underestimated the crises and people were drawn in this delusion in wishfull thinking, fed by the minless MSM that it would be a 1-2 year temporary thing.
That’s why debts were kept on the off sheet balance sheets in the hope they could be washed away in the economical up turn. But it didn’t happen so now these debts are revenging themselves.
Stimulus only can be a tempory thing but now it seems to become an everlasting one. Problem is that the startof position in national debt already was bad and now is getting even worse in this reckless spending politics. It didn’t even realy slowed the economic decline down it just went on.
People like to think in extremes for some reason but what happens now in a relative mild form is an indication for what wil happen in the future but worse or in other words events wil be accelerating. Deflation->Inflation->Inflation.
Furthermore we will see a devaluation war. What a lot of people percieve as Inflation in fact is a deprecation of the dollar. As the dollar declines China plays the same game by printing up as much Yuans as the Americans are printing dollars. A lot of dollars end up in black holes though so are less effective in creating inflation.
FEDs plan is to increase the balance sheet by 50% early 2010 to 3 trill. Commodeties are hammered and more and more dollars wil be printed.
U.S. consumer credit plunged by a record $21.6 billion in July. Banks restrict lending more. Unemployment is set to jump and consumer spending to fall in 2010 as government stimulus runs out.
“Things could get ugly,” said Lawler, an independent consultant in Leesburg, Virginia, who spent 22 years at Fannie Mae, a Washington, D.C.-based government-controlled mortgage- finance company.
“We could be facing a triple whammy at the end of the year: the expiration of the tax credit, the end of the Fed mortgage-buying program and rising foreclosures.”
From: Housing Suffering Relapse Confronts Bernanke Credit Conundrum http://tinyurl.com/kk7mus
Merkel, Steinmeier Face Economic ‘Mess’ as Stimulus http://tinyurl.com/lb2udz
M&A Boom Signaled as Cash Sets S&P 500 for Buyouts http://tinyurl.com/l5w9l7
@WilhelmII:
What are the new regulatory agencies (Geithner indicated would be created) going to concentrate on…risk or notional value? Notional value is the Boogie Man, the boondoggle, the Big Scare. The real killer will be the regulatory structure put in place as a solution.
@frances I read what you wrote. There is a relationship between the amount of derivatives outstanding and the counterparty risk, it’s not like JPM sold all these contracts to itself. Lehman had relatively low derivatives exposure, probably the reason they were sacrificed.
@Obladi oblada I mean their sovereign portfolio is in Treasury and Agency paper, not derivatives. We saw what happened when they got nervous about their Fannie Mae paper, they get on the phone to Washington and the problem is solved.
Re: those SOEs defaulting on derivatives contracts, well, the SOEs and the banks they’re defaulting on are both technically insolvent and live on government bailouts, so I’m guessing it’s not a huge issue.
@Willem II
Now the 81 Trillion dollar question is: How does China’s stance vis a vis derivatives affect the value/stability of said port-f*ckin’-folio and how does it affect foreign banks to continue to use said port-f*ckin’-folio..
f*ckin’-folio
@WilhelmII:
LOL!
Okay, I bow to your superior economic knowledge. But why do you bright boys turn off your brains when it it time to read?
The aquarium water was my figurative nonsence speak for notional derivative value. The fish would be counterparty risk. The shark is only representative of the greed which fuels the elite machine.
The matter is not to look at the tangible because the Big Boys are working at a net which is intangible. The media lies and distractions will cover all their activities nicely.
Pardon the expression: we are really seriously screwed.
Example of risk management driving operational functions at UK banks:
“If a business is too complex to produce a living will then it’s almost certainly too complex to manage and represents an unacceptable regulatory risk,” Myners told a Financial Times conference.”
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/09/18/business/business-uk-britain-financial.html
Goody Goody. Bank euthanasia!
@frances The outstanding derivatives contracts are not the water level, they represent the size of the fish. Goldman Sachs has the highest counterparty exposure relative to capital of all these banks, hence they’re too big to be eaten.
Pursuant to the earlier link about Geithner’s reform ideas:
“In preparation for the G-20 meeting, to be held Thursday and Friday in Pittsburgh, global policy makers have sketched the outlines of a plan that will penalize risk-taking in a number of new ways.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125349166984426543.html
The article is dishonest in that it does not indicate that the large monopoly money interests will be able to deflect risk through management strategy (which they have been preparing all along) while the littler banks wills desicate.
Capital gains for the few; despair for the many.
Get ready for the two-tiered system.
@Wilhelm II: I had perceived that the entire list ( 47,000-52,000 ) was UBS clients only..Not so???
@WilhelmII:
“The notional values are very helpful because they give us an idea of the counterparty risk in the system.”
It doesn’t matter how much water is in the fishtank if a shark is engaging in a feeding frenzy. The shark in this instance also makes the rules.
You may like the notional values for your own quantitative analysis of the situation but remember the numbers may be seen in two lights. One is the notional value of the number. The other is how that number plays within a system.
All notional values at this point are heresy. The system is concentrating on risk management: all notional values are questionable. The chart on the values comes from where? BIS. The rules for risk are coming from where? BIS.
Go figure.
http://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/speeches/2008/tfg080609.html
Here’s Geithner’s assessment of the financial crisis in 2008. Notice this sentence:
What should be done to reduce these vulnerabilities?
The vulnerabilities concerning Geithner he indicates here:
This combination of factors put upward pressure on asset prices and narrowed credit spreads and risk premia, and this in turn encouraged an increase in leverage across the financial system.
Here’s Geithner’s resolve:
First Repair, Then Reform
(repair was the gob-job of throwing money out of the BB helicopter’s bailout and lending facilities)
Reform:
Any agenda for reform has to deal with three important dimensions of the regulatory system.
Regulatory policy. These are the incentives and constraints designed to affect the level and concentration of risk-taking across the financial system. You can think of these as a financial analog to imposing speed limits and requiring air bags and antilock brakes in cars, or establishing building codes in earthquake zones.
Regulatory structure. This is about who is responsible for setting and enforcing those rules.
Crisis management. This is about when and how we intervene and about the expectations we create for official intervention in crises.
Here’s the impetus:
These are the incentives and constraints designed to affect the level and concentration of risk-taking across the financial system.
After UK taxpayers bail out crumbling business, business ups the stakes to future taxpayers saying they cannot afford students anymore:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8263672.stm
Considering they would be on the dole if not for the taxpayers and older students I wonder if the students will respond with pride and dignity, or just meekly accept their Tesco degrees.
If they do wish to fend off the CBI they can get some help here.
Ah yes, China considering buying that ~400 tonnes of shiny yellow bricks.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/reuters/2009/09/21/2009-09-21T090755Z_01_SP483707_RTRIDST_0_GOLD-CHINA-UPDATE-1.html?partner=moreover
@ Mike/Liverpool 2009
Will it be tomorrow ?
In the Chinese tradition, the autumn season is associated with the colour white, the sound of weeping, the emotions of both courage and sadness, the lung organ, the metal element, and a white tiger. Autumn is also connected in Chinese thought with the direction west, considered to be the direction of dreams and visions.
http://www.earthsky.org/blogpost/Blogs/autumn-equinox-cycles-of-nature-and-chinese-philosophy
If you consider that Canada only has the agricultural productivity to support 35m people
AND
that the US with its nicer weather cannot exceed 3x Canada’s agricultural capacity (a population of ~105m)
then the following is of no shock value whatsoever:
Population Reduction after economic collapse 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzUvFRZH7mg
Any Canadian analyst that specialized in US internal goings on will probably tell you [off the record] that they would be nonplussed if the US vaporized 90% of its population if a national health care system somehow became law (as 290 m are living on borrowed time).
The forex market is a 2 trillion dollar a day market and everybody wants a fraction of that huge amount. Is the Forex Typhoon a Scam? http://bit.ly/k4nC2
@frances This is the argument that many a banker has used to obfuscate the danger of these OTC derivatives: the notional values tell you nothing because they all “net out.”
The notional values are very helpful because they give us an idea of the counterparty risk in the system. Doesn’t matter which way these HSBC/JPM gold derivatives are positioned, and I think we all know anyhow, if their counterparties default then they’re on the hook.
@Richard@lattitude30N I was disagreeing with this statement:
“but that list is a taste of the names we all summise are world class financial criminals and complicit terrorists”
Seems more likely that list was mostly small time tax dodgers, the smart crooks would go with private Swiss banks that don’t have a presence under US jurisdiction.
So the US is splitting the dollar like a stock against other stocks makeing it seem those stock increase in the number of dollars they represent?
Why is everyone getting so het up about the H1N1 flu vaccine?
It’s made the same way as a seasonal flu vaccine, and no-one ever complained about that (well, at least, not anyone at risk of dying from seasonal flu).
However, the notional amount of derivatives contracts does not
provide a useful measure of either market or credit risks.
@Wilhelm II & O &O:
This is from the OCC report concerning notional value of derivatives which is the source of strain in your arguments. My postulation is that the notional value is not the value that is meaningful. The sentence says that notional values do not provide an accurate measurement of risk.
Toss out notional values for now: the banks are covering their asses with small squares of toilet tissue. Risk is the factor at hand: life or death depends on the successful adherence to new risk standards.
Liquidity will dry up like a raisin.
IMHO
@Wilhelm II: “not sure about that”,,,I’m not certain what we are in disagreement about….my query was wondered how the list of 300-3000 was compiled given that the known list is 47,000 to 52,000 names….Look back on the many shinanigans now ongoing…The former BCCI fiasco…the Cayman’s unable to pay their civil employees, Turks & Caicos returned to British rule…Allan Sanford’s use of Aruba to launder drug money (alleged) the original National City Bank ( now Citi ) was always a government conduit for covert operations…Madoff’s offshoring his profits( there is a Madoff Bank named in the BIS list of client banks…see http://www.thekomisarscoop.com …and rumors that much of the money went to Israeli banks…I am only wondering how the short list is compiled…
@ItalicBold – what are the costs of living like? In CapeTown? Also, how about the media? Any interesting broadcasters?
@Mike: Pound hits five-month euro low
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/64bc4542-a68f-11de-bd14-00144feabdc0.html
Living in an emerging market (South Africa), I can tell you that things are certainly in much better shape here than the UK (I left Nov 08). We are having a recession but I don’t know anyone here who’s struggling. The rand at one stage was the strongest performing currency this year according to Bloomberg, not sure if it still is, but it is doing very well. To be honest the picture on risk in SA hasn’t changed, our financial sector has always been in much better shape than in the UK or US. But who looks at fundamentals anymore anyway?
hmmmm………I love the smell of burning currancy in the morning…
Stacy, after the G20 i think BLIGHTY gets it!
A “TOB” followed by an IMF loan………………:)
Mike
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MINEWEB RADIOCourt approves Harmony Gold deal: Kobus du Plooy – executive director, Pamodzi Investment Holdings
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IMF will sell up to 403.3 tonnes of gold – could begin next week
The International Monetary Fund said it will sell one-eighth of the agency’s gold reserves-without disrupting the gold market – beginning at the end of this month.
http://www.mineweb.co.za/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page34?oid=89504&sn=Detail
@Obladi oblada $81 trillion is their total derivatives, $92b (not $81b) is just their gold derivatives. Page 30, Table 9 of that PDF.
@gonzomarx LA Times plays hardball with the Saudis over some alleged $2b bribe and possible misuse of an airplane, what a joke.
Same LA Times defends all the trillions in bailouts, they never ever will go against the corrupt politics-banking nexus that Obama/Emmanuel/Axelrod/Summers currently direct. I mean, post-bailout Citigroup was going to *buy* a new jet before some Congressman leaned on them.
At least the Saudis provide something useful to the average American, not like the pickpocket bankers.
@Willem II
Its 81 TRILLION in derivatives outstanding..
@Richard@lattitude30N Not sure about that. We’re only talking about UBS clients. Why would a successful Marc Rich type hiding large sums in Switzerland be so foolish as to bank with an international investment bank traded on the NYSE? It’s not like this vulnerability of UBS/CS was not known before this incident.
Slightly Off Topic , but the principle is the same.
his movie will never be on TV in America Because it exposes the truth behind the Main stream Media’s biggest REVENUE SOURCE (Big Pharma)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHl0rS5tGJE&feature=related
The education process of Medical Doctors is somewhat similar to that of Economists … learning the “party line”.
Ignoring common sense and blinding people wit “science” to secure their profits.
… which is why I agree with Wilhelm II .. the De/Inflation noise in the media just takes people’s eyes off the ball : which is simply put : institutionalized corruption.
e.g. Madoff was NasDaq chairman at the same time he was ripping people off .
Has the MSM discussed this in detail .. NO !
@Wilhelm II
That’s 81 TRILLION
G-20 Bank Push Risks Profits From Goldman to Barclays (Update1)
http://tinyurl.com/lq3lvp
So this is the scope of what we can hope for at G20 which will be watered down by the final communiqué.
this quote from the article is priceless! oh where to begin the parsing
“To be sure, Goldman has demonstrated that higher capital and lower leverage don’t always mean reduced profits”
Former FBI chief defends flow of money to Saudi ambassador
http://tinyurl.com/l6dpak
@Wilhem II: Most likely so…but that list is a taste of the names we all summise are world class financial criminals and complicit terrorists….the IRS does have an unwritten policy of selective prosecution throughout their history….but one has to wonder how they eliminated the bulk of the potential scofflaws
@Richard@lattitude30N Doubtful that the IRS really has the legal bandwidth to go ahead with 65K cases in the next few years. Besides, the US needs the money, no amnesty means nobody comes in from the cold and pays up.
@ max & stacy
howcome you guys havent if not covered then at least touched upon in passing the proceedings of the Villepin~Sarkozy case currently in french court…? Strauss-Kahn, head of imf, is also involved…..seems juicy enough for you two!
@Wilhelm II: Listened to Jim Willie’s 9/19/09 radio blog broadcast where he suggested an imminent major US bank failure ( “Citi or Wachovia”)…I am aghast as he neglects to include in his analysis that the major TBTF banks are safe havens due to their utilization as laundering agents for vast covert NSA/CIA/MI6 and other agency monies for more than 60 years…..UBS, BofA and Barclay’s are other such banks…I make this statement even though the solvency of the above banks is suspect….One wonders why the UBS v. USA recent lawsuit only garnered 300 to 3,000 tax scofflaws when the whistleblower disc ( evidence) clearly names 47,000 to 52,000 potential scofflaws….could there be that many covert accounts on the list??? just asking….
i wonder how much of the dollar issue will be dealt at Pittsburgh if at all? at least publicly
Bailed-out Lloyds faces tax avoidance allegations
http://tinyurl.com/lsxufy
The Next Crisis Nobody Is Talking About
http://tinyurl.com/mealgc
Russia, US, Israel, Iran and Caspian Oil
2 Nobel Economists Confirm that Credit is NOT Created Out of Excess Reserves
http://tinyurl.com/ngmvgj
HSBC has $19b in outstanding gold derivatives, equivalent to a cool 650 tonnes at today’s prices. Only topped by JPM with $81b in gold derivatives. http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/release/2009-72a.pdf
They’re also notorious for money laundering. So successful at this once might surmise that they didn’t even need a bailout during the entire crisis.
In German : HSH Nordbank gives GS 45 mio.$, although they were not obliged to lawyers discovered.
Landesbank „schenkt“ Goldman Millionen
http://www.faz.net/s/Rub58241E4DF1B149538ABC24D0E82A6266/Doc~EF4CDF4F13F5443C7926FFF4F99CC5CC3~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
Bye bye