Author Archive
The more times you hear that a particular turn of events is “unthinkable”, the more likely it is to take place and the SOONER it will take place. The more times you hear a radical change of policy described as “politically impossible” the more likely it is that the change is desirable and the more dire the consequences will be if the change is NOT made.
What Is “Dysfunctional” Here?:
In the eyes of those who run financial markets – not just in the US but all over the world – a “dysfunctional” government is one which puts any impediments whatsoever on unlimited credit creation. Given the $US hundreds of TRILLIONS of “derivatives” extant, any such “limits” or even the thought that there ARE any limits is dangerous in the extreme.
THE INVINCIBILITY OF IGNORANCE?
Let us begin with two rhetorical questions, statements which do not really require an answer because it is implicit in the question. Is there anyone out there with access to any rudimentary form of news – mainstream or otherwise – who did not expect Mr Sarkozy to be beaten by Mr Hollande in the second round of the French elections on May 6?
Trading By The Numbers
The first thing about modern markets, the thing that must never be forgotten, is that most of the “trading” which goes on in them is untouched by human hands – or brains. To an overwhelming extent, modern markets are “automated”. By “automated” we mean that at least eight out of ten (some estimates put the ratio higher) of all transactions are controlled exclusively by means of computers and the programs built into them.…
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The Hazard Of Financial Morality
We have all heard of “moral hazard”. It is something that was said to have kept Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson awake at night when he was agonizing over how to thaw out the frozen inter-bank credit system in mid-late 2008. Moral hazard is defined as the risk that the monetary powers that be take when they create “money” out of thin air for the express purpose of bailing out banks and corporations whose failure would drag the entire economy down with them. …
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