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Labels: collapse, Crash, crisis, Default, Euro crisis, Spain

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 4:59 AM 0 comments

Even more strangely, they keep pulling out bazooka after bazooka, first unveiling the EFSF which was supposed to raise €1 trillion but failed to raise even €10 billion without having to intervene in its own bond auctions.

Then came the ESM, which was supposed to be another mega-bailout fund, which as before, is having trouble raising funds. After all, if one bailout fund is a dud, why would launching another fix anything?

Oh, and I forgot to mention that both bailout funds will be leveraged... which Europe obviously doesn't have enough of already (the EU banking system as a whole is leveraged at 26 to 1. Lehman Brothers was at 30-to-1 when it imploded).

Indeed, you don't even need to look at the math (though the math is impossible and makes the premise of "saving Europe" even more insane) to know that this can't work. Which is why the idea that the EU as a whole can create mega-bailout funds to put up a "firewall" around its banking system is outright absurd.

The EU is 27 countries. Of these, only 17 use the Euro. And these countries have a long, bloody history of political conflicts with one another. We've already seen hints of this with Germany calling Greece a "bottomless hole" to which Greece responded by portraying German politicians as Nazis.

Spain, France, and the others aren't exactly the best of friends either. And as their respective economies collapse at varying speeds (even Germany posted negative QoQ GDP for 4Q11), political tensions will rise even more rapidly.

So in the end, Europe's bazookas will be firing blanks (assuming they even can fire at all, which their respective efforts to raise capital call into doubt). Which brings me back to one of my central themes for Europe: that you cannot band together such disparate economies and cultures in one monetary union and expect it to work.

Again, this is common sense. And when we add in the math, it becomes even more clear just how insane these political proposals are.

Consider Germany, for instance. As I've noted for months now, that country sports a REAL Debt to GDP of 200% (from former Bundesbank officials' own admissions) when you include unfunded liabilities. And Germany is somehow going to bailout Italy or Spain (which both sport REAL Debt to GDPs north of 300%)?!

Again, the whole thing is absurd. The entire European financial system is just one big house of cards, propped up by the hopes that the ECB can hold this thing together.

But it can't. Europe isn't the US. And the ECB isn't the Federal Reserve. What I mean is that you can maybe fool investors into believing that a financial system is fixed if you're only dealing with one country and one Central Bank. But when you're dealing with 17+ countries, many of which have their own national Central Banks, and you're trying to save this system with a larger regional Central Bank (the ECB) the whole thing is impossible.

Indeed, because of its interventions and bond purchases, the ECB's balance sheet is now PIIGS debt AKA totally worthless junk. And the ECB claims it isn't going to take any losses on these holdings either. No, instead it's going to roll the losses back onto the shoulders of the individual national Central Banks.

How is that going to work out? The ECB steps in to save the day and stop the bond market from imploding... but the minute it's clear that losses are coming, it's going to roll its holdings back onto the specific sovereigns' balance sheets.

So... PIIGS debt is essentially just a monetary "hot potato" that the various Central Banks in Europe are tossing around? And this is supposed to save Europe? Good luck with that.

On that note, I fully believe the EU is heading into a Crisis in the May-June window of time. We have a confluence of negative factors (monetary, political, technical, etc.) hitting during that window of time, which is unlike anything I've ever seen before. And unlike the 2008 Crisis, the Central Banks won't be able to rein this one in.

Why? Because Europe's banking system is $46 trillion in size. And the Fed and ECB are already leveraged to the max having spent all their ammunition combating the Crisis this far.

Labels: Collaps, Crash, crisis, Default, Euro Collapse, europe, Greece

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 10:25 AM 0 comments

The big fat Greek lie being spread throughout the financial community is that "Greece has been saved". It's a lie for the following reasons:

1) Greece did in fact default.

2) Greece now has more debt than it did before the bailout (how does writing off €100 billion Euros in debt and taking on €130 billion Euros in more debt improve this situation?)

3) The Greek economy continues to implode (youth unemployment over 50%, one in ten Greek youth looking for jobs abroad, Greek GDP fell 7% in 4Q11)

4) This Second Bailout was indeed a "Credit event" which the markets have yet to discount (though German investors are already lining up litigation)

5) Germany's finance minister has already admitted Greece may need a third bailout.

Anyone who thinks that Greece is better off, let alone "saved" is out of their minds. The Euro may have been saved for a few more weeks/ months. But Greece is in worse shape than ever.

Indeed, if anything, the Greek situation has made it clear that the whole "give up fiscal sovereignty and implement austerity measures in exchange for bailouts" formula is a waste of time and money. Let's take a look at the progression here.

1) Greece claims it doesn't need a bailout at all (January 2010-March 2010)

2) Greece begins to ask for a bailout (April-May 2010)

3) Greece gets a bailout equal to 57% of its GDP (May 2010)

4) Greece posts a GDP of -4% in 2010

5) Greece announces it won't be able to meet budget requirements/ payback the first bailout on time and asks for an extension (January-February 2011)

6) Greece asks for another extension (May 2011)

7) Talk of Second Greek Bailout begins (July -October 2011)

8) Greece posts a GDP of -6.5% in 2011

9) Second Greek bailout announced/ finalized (February/March 2012)

10) Talk of third Greek bailout begins (March 2012)

No other EU country could look at this progression and think "this looks like a good approach." Indeed, Spain and Italy must be watching what's happening in Greece and asking themselves whether they want to go through this whole process of negotiating for bailouts via austerity measures or not?

Labels: Crash, crisis, Debt crisis, depression, Euro Collapse, Greece, Greece bailout

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 6:37 AM 0 comments

Let's say that you just spent a large sum, to the tune of several trillion Dollars, bailing out various businesses that were literally run into insolvency by shortsighted and greedy business practices.

Having spent this money, your next concern becomes avoiding popular outrage as sooner or later folks will find out that this money was practically given away and that everyone else got a raw deal.

So, at that point your primary focus must become convincing the world that your policies worked and that you did in fact save the world.

How do you do this?

1) The businesses you bailed out need to appear successful and profitable again

2) The economy you "saved" needs to look to be in recovery

This is precisely the blueprint for what the Powers That Be have followed post 2009.

Regarding the bailed out businesses, the large banks are posting great profits by writing down bonds they own (and recording this as a profit) and by lowering loss reserves.

Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported an aggregate profit of $26.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, a $4.9 billion improvement from the $21.4 billion in net income the industry reported in the fourth quarter of 2010. This is the 10th consecutive quarter that earnings have registered a year-over-year increase. As has been the case in each of the past nine quarters, lower provisions for loan losses were responsible for most of the year-over-year improvement in earnings...

Fourth-quarter loss provisions totaled $19.5 billion, about 40 percent less than the $32.7 billion that insured institutions set aside for losses in the fourth quarter of 2010. Net operating revenue (net interest income plus total noninterest income) was $3.8 billion (2.3 percent) lower than a year earlier, due to a $4.4 billion (7.4 percent) decline in noninterest income.

http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2012/pr12023.html

Nevermind that most of these profits are illusory and that the policies used to create them (not thinking ahead but focusing on the near-term) are precisely what caused the 2008 Crisis. As long as headlines ready "great profits" all will be well.

Then of course there's General Motors, the other bailout darling.

GM's Crowded Truck Stop

A year ago today analysts rained on General Motors' parade. Wall Street's finest pointed out that GM's strong February 2011 sales were boosted by extremely generous incentives to customers. These turned out to be wholly unnecessary too: Japan's earthquake 10 days later wrecked competitors' supply chains. U.S. carmakers gained market share, slashing inventory and making record profits with solid pricing over the next several months.

While not wishing natural disasters on anyone, GM could use a deus ex machina of some sort this year. Not only did it lag every major carmaker last month with a mere 1.1% U.S. sales gain (fellow bankruptcy victim Chrysler notched 40%). But GM's dealer inventories are also at a post-bankruptcy record of 667,000 vehicles, up 29% versus a year ago and 59% compared to two years ago.

And it's the wrong sort of inventory to boot: With pump prices surging, GM has 116 selling days' worth of trucks gathering dust. Zero percent financing, anyone?

http://blogs.wsj.com/overheard/2012/03/01/gms-crowded-truck-stop/

In this situation, GM is seeing some sales growth, though it's the worst of any major carmaker. However, what the company is really excelling at is delivering cars to dealers, in a sense, maintaining the appearance of economic growth, when in reality the cars are just sitting on the lots unsold.

Here again, the "success" is illusory in nature.

As for the other issue, (making the economy you "saved" look like it's in recovery), you've got Government bean-counters with an entire arsenal of seasonal adjustments and other accounting gimmickry to make the economy look far better off than it really is.

Case in point, the BLS claims we ADDED 243,00 jobs in January. That's an odd claim given that the BLS admits, in the very same report, that without adjustments, the US actually LOST 2.69 MILLION jobs in January.

This is roughly a discrepancy of 3 MILLION jobs. And this 243,000 jobs number for January also comes along with upward revisions that saw roughly 50,000 jobs added in both October and November.

So according to the BLS, the US is on the upswing again, maybe not in a HUGE way, but overall things are improving: we're adding jobs and unemployment is falling (from 8.5% to 8.3%).

In the end, both policies (making the bailed out businesses look successful and the economy strong) essentially boil down to fudging the numbers. And whether or not people fully understand these issues, most Americans have a sense that the Government is lying to them about the "success" of the 2008 bailouts and the recovery.

Put another way, most Americans know that all this talk of recovery is just putting lipstick on a pig. They know that the economic reality facing the US is in fact far worse than the numbers claim. Heck, it's the people are on unemployment, food stamps, and are unable to find jobs that know the real situation in the US.

An equally dangerous problem is the fact that professional investors (institutions, hedge funds, traders) are investing based on this fudged data. We've already seen how this kind of situation plays out before (2007-2008). What happens when the REAL situation in the economy and the financial system comes home to roost? What happens when Americans' retirement accounts get decimated by yet another collapse as most asset managers and financial advisors have yet to even regain their 2008 losses.

Big hint: it won't be pretty.

Make no mistake, the entire "success" of the 2008-2009 bailouts and stimulus is just a mirage. And the people simply aren't buying it. Which is why they're pulling their money from the markets en masse (investors pulled $132 billion from Us-stock based mutual funds in 2011, that's only $15 billion short of the record amount they pulled in 2008).

Labels: Collaps, crisis, Default, depression

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 5:36 AM 0 comments

Investors simply do not understand the significance of Greece. Comparisons are being made to Lehman, but these comparisons are moot for the following reason: Greece is a country not a private institution.

This is not a subtle difference. True, Lehman's derivatives were spread throughout the global financial system just as Greek sovereign debt is. However, investors are missing the true scope of the fall-out a Greek default would create.

First, let's think about Lehman. When Lehman went under, half of the other institutions that were in trouble had already been merged with larger entities (Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch) or had been nationalized (Fannie and Freddie). Those that were still standing after Lehman went under, changed to bank holding companies (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs) in order to receive special access to Fed lending or were nationalized (AIG).

None of these options exist regarding the sovereign crisis in Europe today. If Greece defaults, Portugal can't merge with Spain. And Italy can't be nationalized by Germany or suddenly change itself to a new type of country that gets special treatment from the ECB (it's already getting special treatment from the ECB by the way).

This cuts to the core issues for sovereign defaults in the EU. Here are the facts regarding those EU countries on the verge of collapse:

1) You cannot solve a debt problem with more debt

2) Austerity measures slow economic growth which in turn makes it harder to meet debt payments

This is simple basic common sense. But these are the policies being promoted by EU leaders: we'll give you more money if you implement more austerity measures to get your finances in order. (Stupidity!)

The fact of the matter is that there is simply no way on earth that Greece can get its finances in order (short of a massive default). Greece has terrible age demographics, a lack of economic growth, and cultural issues (e.g. paying taxes is for suckers) that make it impossible for the country to solve its financial problems.

In plain terms, Greece racked up too big of a tab and simply doesn't have the means of paying it. End of story. The world needs to realize this. Because Greece will default and it will default in a big way!!!

The impact of this will be tremendous. For one thing, pretty much everyone is lying about their exposure to Greece. Consider Germany for instance. According to the Bank of International Settlements German bank exposure to Greece is only $3.9 billion (though they state this is only on an immediate borrower basis).

This is a bit odd as according to The Guardian German banks have nearly 8 billion Euros' worth of exposure to Greek debt. And they only include 11 German banks in their analysis. However, of those 11 banks, THREE of them have Greek exposure equal to more than 10% of their total outstanding equity.

But even these numbers are far below the mark. By my own analysis one of the "strongest" banks in Germany alone, by its own admission, has twice the exposure to Greece that the Guardian claims. And this is one of the strongest banks in Germany.

So, when Greece defaults, the fall-out will be much, much larger than people expect simply by virtue of the fact that everyone is lying about their exposure to Greece.

Secondly, when Greece defaults, the other PIIGS (Italy, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal) will have to ask themselves... "do we opt for austerity measures and more debt which obviously didn't work for Greece and will only stifle our economies more? Or do we also default?"

That's a very tough question to answer. But I'd wager more than one of them will opt for default. And if you think European bank exposure to Greece is understated, you don't even want to know how bad exposure to Italy and Spain is (to give you an idea, the German bank I referred to earlier, again by its own admission, has total PIIGS exposure equal to 60% of its equity)!

Folks, the European banking system is literally on the edge of the abyss. This won't be Lehman 2.0. This is going to be something far, far worse. Some of these countries are already sporting unemployment of 20%. What happens when their largest banks go under?

Also, remember that the EU is:

1) The single largest economy in the world ($16.28 trillion)

2) China's largest trade partner

3) Accounts for 21% of US exports

4) Accounts for $121 billion worth of exports for South America

The global impact of an EU banking Crisis will be tremendous. And it's clear the EU is already heading into a recession without a banking crisis hitting. What do you think will be the impact when Europe as a whole experiences its own "2008" only on a sovereign level?

The answer is: we are literally on the eve of a Crisis that will make 2008 look like a picnic.

On that note, if you have not already taken steps to prepare for the next round of the Crisis now is the time to do so while the system is still holding together.

Labels: Collaps, Crash, crisis, Default, Euro Collapse, Euro crisis

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 9:19 AM 0 comments

According to the BLS, we ADDED 243,00 jobs that month. That's an odd claim given that the BLS admits, in the very same report, that without adjustments, the US actually LOST 2.69 MILLION jobs in January

This is roughly a discrepancy of 3 MILLION jobs. And this 243,000 jobs number for January also comes along with revisions that saw roughly 50,000 jobs added in both October and November.

So according to the BLS, the US is on the upswing again, maybe not in a HUGE way, but overall things are improving: we're adding jobs and unemployment is falling (from 8.5% to 8.3%).

These numbers make the Obama administration look good, at least relative to how it's looked in the previous 12 months. However, they're not reflecting as positively on two of Obama's primary support groups: Wall Street and the US Federal Reserve.

As a brief refresher, let's take a look at Obama's top campaign contributors in 2008:

Altogether, the finance industry ponied up $24 million for Obama in 2008. And Wall Street has not only been cutting their growth forecasts but has actually been firing people based on the fact the economy is so rough.

N.Y. faces 10,000 Wall St. cuts through 2012

(From October 2011)

Bank of America Corp. plans to cut 30,000 jobs over the next few years, while UBS AG intends to shave 3,500 jobs and Goldman Sachs Group expects to eliminate 1,000 jobs.

As for the forecasting component:

Wall Street banks curb economic growth forecasts

(From January 2012)

Wall Street banks lowered their outlook for U.S. economic growth due to concerns over the European debt crisis, oil prices, regulatory uncertainties and "continued disarray in Washington," according to a financial industry survey released on Tuesday.

The survey, which included bankers from Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo Securities and Citigroup, forecast that the U.S. economy will grow at a rate of 2.2 percent this year, down from a previous forecast of 3.1 percent.

The January jobs report not only makes these guys look like they can't forecast anything... but that they don't even know how to run their own businesses. It also adds to the image that they're heartless and will lay people off to maintain profits (if the economy is improving, why are they firing people?)

This is not exactly the best policy to maintain for constituents who have put up some big money for Obama's campaigns in the past. One wonders if Obama's campaign managers considered this.

The January jobs report also reflects poorly on the White House's monetary buddy, the Obama's administration's "go to" guy for any kind of uptick in economic data: Ben Bernanke. After all, the Fed has also been cutting its growth forecasts and expecting higher unemployment.

US Fed cuts growth forecasts for 2012

(From November 2011)

The Federal Reserve said it now expects US growth to be weaker and unemployment higher than it thought in its last set of forecasts, as the central bank left the door open to fresh measures to help the world's biggest economy.

Also...

Fed foresees weak US growth through 2014

(From January 2012)

The Federal Reserve cut its US growth forecast Wednesday and said that with business investment and the housing sector depressed, it expected to keep interest rates near zero for another three years

Despite an upturn late last year, the Fed said ongoing economic weaknesses and strains in global financial markets mandated continued easy-money policies...

"I don't think we're ready to declare that we have entered a strong phase at this point.

So add the Fed to the group of people Obama's jobs report leaves looking less than on top of things. On a side note, it also makes the likelihood of more QE or monetary easing from the Fed more remote (if the economy is improving, they have no reason to announce more policies... which is not positive for asset prices... or Wall Street).

This all returns to two primary themes I've been expounding on for months now: that the political environment has changed dramatically in the US and that we are going to see escalating tension between Wall Street, the Fed, and the White House.

The reason for this is simple: the public is growing more outraged by the minute. That anger will have to be directed somewhere. And when push comes to shove, it's likely we're going to see some actual real litigation relating to what happened in 2008-2009.

When this happens, the whole Fed/ Wall Street/ Politician triumvirate will begin to change dramatically. Some of these groups will try to portray themselves as "men of the people" (Obama is doing this, and so is the Fed with its recent town-hall meetings and Bernanke's efforts to appear like a average joe who reads his kindle). Others will prepare for battle (Goldman Sachs' CEO has hired a defense attorney).

How this will all play out remains to be seen. But the debt markets are going to speed this process up dramatically as Europe implodes and the great debt implosion comes to the US. With 48% of US citizens living in a house in which at least one person receives Government aid, you can imagine the impact that the sort of large cuts in social welfare programs that a debt restructuring in the US would have on the political process in here.

My assessment, this January jobs report is the tip of the iceberg. Tensions will be rising in the US over the next 12 months. How exactly this will play out remains to be seen (there are too many factors), but changes are coming to the political arena as well as the monetary balance between Wall Street and the Fed (remember, the Fed actually sued Goldman Sachs last year). These changes will be dramatic.

Labels: Crash, crisis, Crisis Crash, Default, depression

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 6:49 AM 0 comments

I wanted to take a moment to address the notion of serious collapse and/or systemic failure and why it's so hard for most investors to conceive.

First off, most people in general tend to be optimists or to generally believe that things will work out fine. So the idea of catastrophe is not something they spend much time thinking about.

Because of this, and other factors I'm about to explore, the notion of systemic failure is virtually impossible to grasp for most investors. Most professional traders are usually under the age of 40 (in fact they're typically in their mid to late 20s). As a result of this, they:

1) Didn't experience the 1987 Crash

2) Have never seen a Crisis that the Fed/ IMF/ etc. couldn't handle

Let's add a secondary element to this. Most institutional traders today operate, for the most part, based on trading models. These models, in general, are quantitative and based on correlations and patterns, not qualitative judgments.

This goes a long ways towards explaining why the market has developed such simplistic trading patterns. Consider the "Monday market rally" phenomenon we saw throughout 2009-2010. Or how about the Aussie Dollar/Japanese yen correlation to the S&P 500 we saw throughout much of 2010-2011. As one asset manager put it to me recently, the market has essentially become "one big trade" with virtually all asset classes moving tick for tick relative to each other.

Let us consider the mentality these age demographics and professional working tools engender. In general, both of these factors make for short-term thinking and a lack of qualitative analysis. They also mean that items or developments that exist outside the universe of trading models (most of which are entirely based on post-WWII data), are outside the scope of these traders' thinking.

This issue doesn't merely pertain to traders either. Going back 80+ years, there's never been a time in which the markets didn't have a backstop in the form of the Fed/ IMF/ or some other entity. No matter the Crisis that erupted, there was always money printing and other monetary policies to calm the storm.

Now, let's expand our analysis outside of professional traders to include asset managers and other institutional investors, the vast majority of whom are under the age of 60 or so.

Based on this age demographic, we find that there is an entire generation of investment professionals (aged 35-60) who:

1. Have never witnessed nor invested during a bear market in bonds
2. Have never witnessed, nor invested during a credit market collapse
3. Have never witnessed a secular shift in the global economy

Consequently, the vast majority of professional investors are unable to contemplate truly dark times for the markets. After all, the two worst items most of them have witnessed (the Tech Bust and 2008) were both remedied within about 18 months and were followed by massive market rallies.

Because of this, the idea that the financial system might fail or that we might see any number of major catastrophes (Germany leaving the EU, a US debt default, hyperinflation, etc.) is on par with Bigfoot or Unicorns for 99% of those whose jobs are to manage investors' money or advise investors on how to allocate their capital.

If this doesn't worry you, you need to start looking at the actual numbers behind the financial system today. Here are just a few worth considering:

1. US commercial banks currently sit atop $248 TRILLION in derivatives
2. The US Federal Reserve is now buying 91% of all long-term new US debt issuance (at the same time China and Russia are dumping US bonds)
3. Japan already spends roughly half of its annual tax revenues on debt payments and has relied on debt issuance more than tax revenues to fund its budget for four years now (how much longer can this last?)
4. Europe's entire banking system is leveraged at 26 to 1 (Lehman Brothers was leveraged at 30 to 1 when it failed)

!
Folks, bad times are coming. It doesn't matter what the trading programs or "professionals" think about it... the math simply doesn't add up to us having a calm, profitable time in the markets over the next few years.

On that note, the time to be preparing for what's coming is now.

Labels: collapse, Crash, crisis, Default

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 11:54 AM 0 comments

Well the Fed disappointed as I stated it would. How anyone could be surprised by this is beyond me. The Fed was admitting that the consequences of QE rendered it less "attractive" as an option as far back as May 2011.

Moreover, the last six months have shown the Fed to be relying heavily on verbal intervention rather than direct monetary intervention. Every FOMC meeting (and any time the market takes a dive) some Fed official steps forward and promises that the Fed stands ready to help if needed.

The reasons for this are three fold:

1) Why bother with monetary intervention when you can get the same effect from verbal intervention?

2) The Fed is too politically toxic now to simply unveil a massive new monetary scheme without a Crisis hitting first.

3) The Fed is well aware of the consequences of QE (higher food and gas prices) and while it focuses on CPI as the measure of inflation, the political pressure engendered by higher costs of living are certainly on the Fed's radar.

In plain terms, the bar for more QE is set much, much higher than the vast majority of analysts realize. The reason is that the Fed can no longer simply prime up the printing presses if the economy takes a dip.

We've seen this clearly in the last two Fed FOMC statements, in which the Fed downgraded its view of the US economy to posting "modest growth" (Fed speak for next to none) and then offered a "highly accommodative stance," (Fed speak for "we're out of ideas but can always hit the 'print' button") as way of dealing with this.

Let's cut the BS here. The Fed has maintained a more than highly accommodative stance for three years now and U-16 unemployment, food stamp usage, home prices, and virtually every other economic metric indicate that they've done little to boost the US economy in any meaningful way. QE has and always will be about boosting asset prices in the hope that the Fed can stimulate a recovery by getting the S&P 500 to some level.

The only problem with this is that people don't engage in financial speculation to pay their bills. Incomes have and always will be the single most important metric for gauging consumer strength. And the Fed's policies of the last few years have done nothing to boost incomes (unless you work on Wall Street).

If you read headlines stating "Fed Gave Trillions to Banks" and you've been laid off and are living off food stamps, your blood pressure might tend to rise.

And you might tend to vote based on that.

Folks, the reality is that the Fed's hands are tied. That's why they keep issuing these innocuous policies (keeping interest rates low until 5056 or some insane future date) without actually doing anything. They know that additional easing means inflation soaring, which makes the Fed that much more a target of popular outrage.

So if you're counting on the Fed propping the market up throughout 2012 as it did in 2011, you may be in for a rude awakening in the coming months. Every day that we get closer to the 2012 Presidential election, the bar for more QE goes higher and higher. Truly unless we get some kind of major Crisis, the Fed won't be doing much of anything.

So let the traders run their "end of the month" games this week. But don't be surprised if stocks start to take a dive in early February.

Labels: Crash, crisis, Debt crisis, Deflation, End game

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 10:54 AM 0 comments

It is now clear that the Euro will be broken up
in the coming months.

Consider the following statement from Italy's largest bank:

Euro break-up cited as risk in UniCredit prospectus

UniCredit, Italy's largest bank by assets, has cited the
break-up of the euro zone and the collapse of the single
currency as risk factors in the prospectus of its 7.5
billion euro rights issue.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/05/unicredit-ceo-euro-idUSL6E8C547I20120105

Or how about this one straight from two German lawmakers:

Greek Euro Exit Weighed By German Lawmakers, Seen as Manageable

Lawmakers from Chancellor Angela Merkel's party are
stepping up pressure on Greece as it struggles to meet
the terms of its second bailout, saying that a Greek exit
from the euro region would be manageable.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-12/greek-euro-exit-weighed-by-german-lawmakers-seen-as-manageable.html#1_undefined,0_

There are simply stunning comments coming out of
VERY high level sources in Europe. Remember,
as much as Merkel talks about maintaining the Euro,
she needs German lawmakers to back her on that
decision.

And that simply isn't going to happen. The German
courts and German voters simply won't stand for it.

So while Merkel and Sarkozy talk time and again about
solving this situation, the fact remains that moves are
already being made behind the scenes to prepare for
the end of the Euro.

This is not mere conjecture. Numerous EU central
banks have already begun preparing for the possibilty
of printing their old currencies again. Germany is one
of the countries doing this by the way.

In plain terms, the Euro in its current form is finished.
When it breaks up we will see widespread defaults
across the EU. And what follows will make 2008 look
like a joke.

So if you have not already taken steps to prepare for the next
round of Euro Crisis... you need to do so now!
Once the Euro breakup is announced it will be too late
as panicked selling pushes the market into collapse.

Many people will see their portfolios destroyed by this.
Now is the time to make sure you're not one of them.
I can show you how. Indeed, few investors can match
my ability to make profits out of a Crisis.

Labels: Crash, crisis, Debt crisis, Default, Euro finished

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 6:44 AM 0 comments

We are now into the second week of 2012 and frankly I can't see any fundamental reason to be bullish about things. The European debt Crisis continues to accelerate, with France's borrowing costs rising dramatically and the yield on Italy's ten-year back above 7% despite massive intervention on the part of the ECB.

Indeed, it's quite telling that the one country that kicked off the entire EU Crisis, Greece, still hasn't gotten its fiscal house in order: there's only 37 billion Euros' worth of aid left from the first bailout of 110 billion Euros... and the EU has yet to hammer out details of the second Greek bailout, worth an additional 150 billion Euros.

If the ECB/ IMF/ Central Banks cannot solve the Greece situation... what hope do they have of tackling the larger issues of Italy and France? Heck, even Germany now sports a Debt to GDP ratio that exceeds Maastricht Treaty requirements and they haven't recapitalized their banks.

As a result of this, shares of even the supposedly "rock solid" German banks have come under stress, breaking down into the gap established during the 2008 Crash.

Aside from Europe, we find signs of a brewing solvency Crisis in Japan, an economic slowdown in China, Iran is playing war games with the Strait of Hormuz, and the US is entering a second recession within the context of a larger Depression.

Against this highly deflationary backdrop, the one primary prop for the markets is hope of more juice/credit from the world Central Banks. However, even that prop is rapidly losing its strength: the gains of the last coordinated Central Bank intervention lasted just a few weeks before the market rolled over again.

Moreover, if the world Central Banks are about to launch another massive wave of liquidity, the commodity space sure isn't picking up on it...

Gold has broken its post-Crash trendline:

While Copper appears to be forming a massive Head and Shoulders top:

Does this mean that the markets are about to plunge straight down? No. But these charts do serve as massive warnings that anyone expecting another round of QE or some other huge monetary stimulus from the Central Banks may be in for a RUDE surprise.

With that in mind, this week's action will go a long ways towards explaining where we're heading from here. Start of the Year buying is over and holiday ebullience is fading fast. Put another way, the market is on very thin ice.

Labels: Crash, crisis, depression, recession

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 3:31 AM 0 comments

In 2008, the Central Banks, lead by the US Federal Reserve, decided not to "take the hit." They've since spent trillions of Dollars propping up the financial system. By doing this, they've essentially attempted to fight a debt problem by issuing more debt.

The end result is similar to what happens when you try to cure a heroine addict by giving him more heroine: each new "hit" has less and less effect.

Case in point, consider the Central Banks' coordinated intervention to lower the cost of borrowing Dollars three weeks ago. Remember, this was a coordinated effort, not the Federal Reserve or European Central Bank acting alone.

And yet, here we are, less than one month later, and European banks have wiped out MOST if not ALL of the gains the intervention produced.

Here's the Irish Bank Allied Irish Banks:

This is actually the best of the bunch I'm going to show you (by the way, this was a $4 stock at the beginning of the year).

Here's the Spanish Bank Santander:

And lest you think it's only the PIIGS banks that are in trouble, here's French bank Credit Agricole:

And here's Germany's Commerzbank:

In plain terms, the Central Banks are losing their control of the markets. Given that they are the only thing that stopped systemic collapse in 2008, this does not bode well for the markets.

Labels: Collaps, Crash, crisis, Debt crisis, Euro crisis

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 4:26 AM 0 comments

One of the biggest problems facing the world today is the fact that most world leaders have little if any business experience. Those who do are inevitably investment bankers/ financiers who, while technically businessmen, have expertise primarily in financial engineering, NOT manufacturing goods or services that create actual job growth.

With that in mind, when analyzing what's happening in Europe, it's wise to consider what ACTUAL businesspeople are doing today with their corporations' cash rather than what leaders are claiming is true about the financial system.

Case in point, every other week we are told that Europe's problems will soon be solved and that the EU will be stronger then ever. If this is indeed the case, I wonder about the following story:

European CEOs Move Cash to Germany In Case of Euro Breakup

Grupo Gowex, a Spanish provider of Wi-Fi wireless services, is moving funds to Germany because it expects Spain to exit the euro. German machinery maker GEA Group AG is setting maximum amounts held at any one bank...

"A couple of weeks ago I would never have thought about having conversations on the probability of the euro disappearing, but now there is more speculation on such a scenario," Wolters Kluwer NV (WKL) CEO Nancy McKinstry said in a Nov. 29 interview at the company's headquarters outside Amsterdam...

Kingfisher Plc (KGF), Europe's largest home-improvement retailer, has considered plans for the possibility of a collapse of the euro region and will focus on cash generation to account for that possibility, Chief Executive Officer Ian Cheshire said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/wary-european-ceos-move-cash-to-germany-to-protect-against-breakup-risk.html

These are REAL businesspeople who RUN corporations, preparing for the breakup of the Euro by moving their cash to Germany. Read the above article: it features executives from companies throughout Europe all of whom state they are preparing for a Crisis and the potential of a Euro breakup.

And if you think that politicians have somehow solved the banking crisis... read the following:

Eurozone banking system on the edge of collapse

If anyone thinks things are getting better then they simply don't understand how severe the problems are. I think a major bank could fail within weeks," said one London-based executive at a major global bank.

Many banks, including some French, Italian and Spanish lenders, have already run out of many of the acceptable forms of collateral such as US Treasuries and other liquid securities used to finance short-term loans and have been forced to resort to lending out their gold reserves to maintain access to dollar funding.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8947470/Eurozone-banking-system-on-the-edge-of-collapse.html

If a bank has to resort to lending out GOLD reserves in order to get DOLLAR funding so it can maintain liquidity... then it's on its deathbed. And this is happening in France, Italy and Spain RIGHT NOW.

It's time we admit the truth, the EU and its banking system are literally on the edge of collapse. Think 2008... for an entire region. And politicians are going to solve this mess with a March 2012 meeting!?!

The impact of what's coming will be TREMENDOUS. Europe's banking system is over $40 trillion in size. The EU, taken as a whole, is:

1) The single largest economy in the world ($16.28 trillion)

2) Is China's largest trade partner

3) Accounts for 21% of US exports

4) Accounts for $121 billion worth of exports for South America

So if the EU banking system/ economy collapses, the global economy could enter a recession just based on that one issue alone (ignoring the other issues in China, Japan, and the US).

Make no mistake, we're heading into a Crisis that will make 2008 look like a picnic. If you've yet to prepare for this, I suggest you do so now.

Labels: Collaps, Crash, crisis, Debt crisis, Default, Euro finished

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 4:25 AM 0 comments

The thought that should be on every investor's mind today is "Why did the Fed have to stage the coordinated intervention yesterday?'

Put another way, what exactly does the Fed know that we don't?

The whole thing smells fishy to me. Aside from the fact that the Fed clearly leaked its intentions as early as Monday night (hence the reason stocks rallied while credit markets weakened), there's something peculiar about the fact the Fed chose to do this at the end of November.

Why November 30? Why not today or Tuesday?

I think the answer is that the Fed stepped in to help its institutional investor/ hedge fund buddies. November was a horrible month for this crowd. And with Bank of America approaching $5 per share (a level which would require many institutions to liquidate due to regulations), the Fed was also helping out its favorite insolvent bank as well.

Aside from this, Europe was approaching the End Game. Germany won't permit the ECB to print nor to issue Euro-bonds. The EFSF plan was dead before arrival, failing to even stage a 3 billion Euro bond auction without having to step in and buy the bonds itself. And the IMF wasn't going to be an option either.

Put another way, ALL other bailout options had failed for Europe. The Fed was the lender/ intervener of last resort. That alone should have everyone worried as it indicates just how dire things had become in Europe.

However, there's something far more worrisome about the Fed's move which is that: IT SOLVES NOTHING.

Europe is facing a solvency crisis. Lowering the cost of borrowing Dollars does absolutely ZERO to help European banks raise capital. All it does is provide even more easy credit... which of course is the entire problem to begin with.

Banks across Europe are leveraged at an average of 26 to 1. This means that they own 2,600 times more assets (read: loans made to consumers, businesses, etc) than they do have equity.

At these leverage levels, if the assets fall even 4% in value, you've wiped out ALL equity, rendering the bank bankrupt!

In this situation, providing more liquidity to these banks helps in terms of short-term operations, but it does nothing to address the core issue which is too little capital and too much leverage.

So this move, as dramatic as it was for the stock market has done NOTHING to solve Europe's solvency crisis.

Indeed, we have reports that a large European bank was on the verge of collapse last night. Things are so bad that Germany has drawn up legislation to allow countries to leave the Euro while remaining in the EU.

I believe Germany itself will be using this option in the next few weeks as it realizes that it cannot and will not be able to prop up the Euro any longer (even Germany doesn't have the 1 TRILLION Euros' in capital that European banks need).

So do not be fooled. The Fed's move didn't fix anything. At most its bought the markets a few weeks' time before the whole mess comes crashing down.

So if you have not taken steps to prepare for this, the time to do so is now.

I can show you how.

Labels: Crash, crisis, Euro crisis, Euro default, liquidity, stocks

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 11:15 AM 0 comments

With the European End Game now in sight, the primary question that needs to be addressed is whether Europe will opt for a period of massive deflation, massive inflation, or deflation followed by inflation.

Indeed, with Europe's entire banking system insolvent (even German banks need to be recapitalized to the tune of over $171 billion) the outcome for Europe is only one of two options:

1) Massive debt restructuring

2) Monetization of everything/ hyperinflation

These are the realities facing Europe today (and eventually Japan and the US). Either way we are talking about the destruction of tens of trillions of Euros in wealth. The issue is which poison the European powers that be choose.

Personally, I believe we are going to see a combination of the two with deflation hitting all EU countries first and then serious inflation or hyperinflation hitting peripheral players and the PIIGS.

In terms of how we get there, I believe that in the next 14 months, the following will occur.

1) Germany and possibly France exit the Euro

2) ALL PIIGS defaulting on their debt

3) Potential hyperinflation in the PIIGS and peripheral EU countries

Regarding #1, we are already beginning to see hints of this development in the press:

DEATH OF THE EURO: SECRET PLOT TO WRECK THE CURRENCY

Ministers are understood to be deeply concerned that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel are secretly plotting to build a new, slimmed down Eurozone without Greece, Italy and other debt-ridden southern European nations.

Well-placed Brussels sources say Germany and France have already held private discussions on preparing for the disintegration of the Eurozone.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/283060

FRENCH AND GERMANS EXPLORE IDEA OF SMALLER EURO ZONE

German and French officials have discussed plans for a radical overhaul of the European Union that would involve setting up a more integrated and potentially smaller Euro zone, EU sources say.

"France and Germany have had intense consultations on this issue over the last months, at all levels," a senior EU official in Brussels told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

"We need to move very cautiously, but the truth is that we need to establish exactly the list of those who don't want to be part of the club and those who simply cannot be part," the official said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/09/us-Eurozone-future-sarkozy-idUSTRE7A85VV20111109

With no one willing to foot the bill for the EFSF the markets are hoping Germany will step in and save the day. However, the German constitution forbids Germany from backing Euro-bonds.

German EconMin: court verdict rules out Euro bonds

German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said on Thursday the constitutional court's ruling on Euro aid made it clear that joint Euro zone bonds were not an option.

Addressing left-wing opposition parties in the Bundestag lower house of parliament, Roesler said: "You continue to talk up Euro bonds although the constitutional court yesterday made it clear that as transfer union such as the one you propose on the left will never be possible, never be allowed."

"We don't want it politically, either, and we will not let the German taxpayer be obliged to pay for the debt of other countries," he said in a parliamentary budget debate.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/08/Eurozone-germany-Eurobonds-idUSB4E7K600L20110908

Moreover, Germans will simply not permit the monetization of debt. Weimar's hyperinflation happened in the early 1920s and is still fresh in the memories of the German people (those who lived through it undoubtedly told their children and grandchildren about it). So the German people will not tolerate price instability in any form.

Germany is not alone in having little or no desire to attempt to backstop the system. Indeed, NONE of the G20 countries wish to support the EFSF from a monetary standpoint (yet another sign that the bailout game is ending).

No new Euro zone money for debt crisis at G20

The Euro zone won verbal support but no new money at a G20 summit on Friday for its tortured efforts to overcome a sovereign debt crisis, while Italy was effectively placed under IMF supervision.

Leaders of the world's major economies, meeting on the French Riviera, told Europe to sort out its own problems and deferred until next year any move to provide more crisis-fighting resources to the International Monetary Fund.

"There are hardly any countries here which said they were ready to go along with the EFSF (Euro zone rescue fund)," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/04/us-g-idUSTRE7A20E920111104

So... everyone claims they want to support the EFSF... but no one wants to commit the money. Moreover, Germany's constitution forbids the backing of Euro bonds... and the EFSF itself has failed to stage even a three billion Euro bond offering under normal market conditions.

Again, the bailout game is ending. Under these conditions, I believe Germany and France will push to either:

1) Leave the EU

2) Draft legislation that allows countries to leave the Euro but remain in the EU

3) Propose kicking out the PIIGS from the Euro

Whichever one of these options Germany opts for, the Euro will collapse. Indeed, the primary reason the Euro has been rallying since October is due to French banks and others selling assets (buying Euros) to recapitalize themselves.

Put another way, the Euro rally is in fact NOT a sign of currency strength. Instead, it is a sign that the major players are moving to cash (Euros) in an attempt to lower their exposure to PIIGS' debt.

Indeed, if we look at the bond or credit markets, it's clear we're into a Crisis far greater than 2008. Forget the stock market rally. Stocks ALWAYS get it last (just like in 2008). And before the smoke clears on this mess we're going to see sovereign defaults, bank holidays, riots, and more.

Many people will lose everything in this mess. Yes, everything. However, you don't have to be one of them. Indeed, I can show you how to turn this time of collapse into a time of profits.

Labels: chaos, crisis, Euro crisis, Euro default, stocks

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 7:22 AM 0 comments

Europe is done. Finished.

The powers that be over there have completely lost control of
the markets. Germany just staged a horrific bond auction and
the ECB is intervening several times a day to stop Italy's bond
market (the world's 3rd largest) from imploding.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

The debt contagion has now spread to Spain, Italy, and even France.
It's quite possible France will lose its AAA rating in the near future.
We also have Germany threatening to leave the Euro outright if
the ECB prints money.

Which means... it's the End Game. No matter what, the defaults are
coming and the Euro will implode.

This is the reality for Europe. The whole system will be going down,
it's only a matter of time. And when it does collapse, it's going to
make Lehman Brothers look like a joke.

I know the markets have yet to fully realize this... but it took them a while
to realize 2008 as well. And when they did, things moved VERY quickly.

So if you have not already taken steps to prepare for systemic failure,
you NEED to do so NOW. We're literally at most a few months, and
very likely just a few weeks from Europe's banks imploding.

Take steps to prepare our loved ones and personal
finances for systemic risk:

You need to know:

1) how to prepare for bank holidays
2) which banks to avoid
3) how much bullion to own
4) how much cash is needed to get through systemic crises
5) how much food to stockpile, what kind to get, and where to get it

ask me at: generalfoundation@safe-mail.net

Labels: Crash, crisis, Euro crisis, Euro default, risk

# posted by Generalfoundation @ 7:42 AM 0 comments