Sun 2010-02-28 13:32 EST

GEAB N°42 is available! Second half of 2010: Sudden intensification of the global systemic crisis -- Strengthening of five fundamental negative trends

Marie-Helene Caillol

LEAP/E2020 is of the view that the effect of States' spending trillions to <<; counteract the crisis >> will have fizzled out. These vast sums had the effect of slowing down the development of the systemic global crisis for several months but, as anticipated in previous GEAB reports, this strategy will only have ultimately served to clearly drag States into the crisis caused by the financial institutions. Therefore our team anticipates, in this 42nd issue of the GEAB, a sudden intensification of the crisis in the second half of 2010, caused by a double effect of a catching up of events which were temporarily <<; frozen >> in the second half of 2009 and the impossibility of maintaining the palliative remedies of past years...The sudden intensification of the global systemic crisis will be characterised by the acceleration and/or strengthening of five fundamental negative trends: . the explosion of the bubble in public deficits and a corresponding increase in state defaults . the fatal impact of the Western banking system with mounting debt defaults and the wall of debt coming to maturity . the inescapable rise in interest rates . the increase in issues causing international tension . a growing social insecurity.

2010; available; fundamental negative trends; GEAB N°42; Global systemic crisis; strengthen; Sudden intensification.

Fri 2010-02-12 21:31 EST

The Cash Committee: How Wall Street Wins On The Hill

Ryan Grim and Arthur Delaney

...In the fall of 2008, Democrats took the White House and expanded their congressional majorities as America struggled through a financial collapse wrought by years of deregulation. The public was furious. It seemed as if the banks and institutions that dragged the economy to the brink of disaster -- and were subsequently rescued by taxpayer funds -- would finally be forced to change their ways. But it's not happening. Financial regulation's long slog through Congress has left it riddled with loopholes, carved out at the request of the same industries that caused the mess in the first place. An outraged American public is proving no match for the mix of corporate money and influence that has been marshaled on behalf of the financial sector...

Cash Committee; Hill; Wall Street wins.

The Wall Street Examiner Tue 2009-10-06 09:27 EDT

From Black Scholes to Black Holes (part 4- Finance)

...the problems associated with mortgage finance pale in comparison to those associated with derivatives. Warren Buffett famously called these securities financial weapons of mass destruction, but I think he understated the problem. These securities are far worse- a Ponzi scheme even Carlo wouldn't have dreamed of. We can choose to fire a WMD, but these securities have taken on a life of their own and they will, in my view, drag everything financially tied to them into oblivion- into a black hole...In the end the remaining banks will merge into one and money, instead of light, would never be able to escape as the fallacy of netting benefits- the assumption that they are all similarly valued- is exposed.

Black Holes; Black Scholes; finance; Part 4; Wall Street Examiner.

Tue 2009-01-06 00:00 EST

Jesse's Café Américain: US Treasuries and our Horribly Distorted International Currency Exchange Mechanism

Jesse's Café Américain: US Treasuries and our Horribly Distorted International Currency Exchange Mechanism; ``The key to recovery is the median real hourly wage, not the further expansion of credit and the perpetuation of an economic system based on an inefficient drag on economic growth by percentage-taking banks and rent-seeking elites who add little or no productive value.''; James Grant: Insight: Return-free risk

Horribly Distorted International Currency Exchange Mechanism; Jesse's Café Américain; Treasury.