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Summary: Greece is bust. Global economy is in recession. Wikileaks released a massive collection of documents that are embarrassing or incriminating to probably everyone. In U.S. banks are getting screwed by the government. It is going to be an interesting week to say the least. I just put a Calendar page online. The weekend’s links concentrate on the euro situation and also the U.S. announcement to sue the banks on the mortgage scandal. On Friday I posted a "fiction" piece part 1 on the Asian crisis.
Quote of the day: “Well, thank you very much indeed.” – Also Sprach Analyst on the European crisis
EFSF, Greek bailout, more later. Not all will pass. |
EURO CRISIS
This WEEK in the European Union – euobserver.com
Coming Next Week From Europe: Still More Bad News – MarketBeat / WSJ
Good roundup from Friday.
“The situation can only get worse, since nobody's interests align.”
Are Political Suicides Needed to Save Greater Europe? – The Curious Capitalist TIME
IMF, commission and ECB clash with Athens on budget-gap fix, IMF: “I expect a hard default definitely before March, maybe this year, and it could come with this program review. The chances for a second program are slim.”
Lindner: “This is not about non-binding statements of intent, but contractually secured reciprocity for the emergency loans.” Solms: “It should be considered whether a restructuring and exit from the euro would offer better perspectives for the currency union and Greece itself.”
“If we have a euro bond where Germany guarantees 27 percent, France 20 and Greece 2 percent then the rating of the euro bond would be CC, which is the rating of Greece.”
Bank run: “European banks are shifting their cash assets out of European banks and putting much of them into US banks.” Good charts
Europe's Banking System: The Transatlantic Cash Flow – The Street Light
From this week’s The Economist:
The situation is bad everywhere, but in Europe it is worst: confusion on what is wanted, how to do it and how to make everyone agree on it: The world economy: Mountains to climb
“Banks in Greece are banding together. Even that may not save them” : Greek banks: Dance of the dead
“The EU’s currency crisis takes its toll on the ruling coalition”: Germany: Angst over the euro
“The debt crisis is exposing problems in the basic design of the European Union” : The end of Monnet
FINANCIAL CRISIS
If you take out the richest 1% of the population, the rest has not gotten ahead much compared to many other developed countries during the past 30 years.
What Does ‘Economic Growth’ Mean for Americans? – Economix WSJ
Traditional venues favored to minimize risk
Investors Flee Dark Pools As Market Volatility Erupts – MarketBeat / WSJ
Mortgage scandal and law suits
New Mortgage Suits: U.S. Financial Problems Are Far from Fixed – The Curious Capitalist / TIME
FHFA Lawsuit vs Bank of America, Merrill & Countrywide – The Big Picture
Fannie and Freddie’s revenge – alphaville FT
Goldman's Dan "Shitty Deal" Sparks Sued For Selling “Junk,” “Dogs,” “Big old lemons,” and “Monstrosities” – Zero Hedge
Full FHFA Statement Disclosing Suits Against 17 Banks (Including Such Dead Man Walking As SocGen) – Zero Hedge
TARPed, RETARPed, And Then DETARPed – Zero Hedge
CHINA
“Chinese companies, like companies everywhere, do best when they are privately run. In China, however, the state is never far away”
Privatisation in China – Capitalism confined – The Economist
45 minute video lecture by John Garnaut & US-China Institute
Is China Becoming a Mafia State - HistorySquared
OTHER
Is peak oil real? – Pragmatic Capitalism
John Mauldin’s Outside the Box features an article from Wells Fargo’s chief economist
Dynamic Economic Decision Making – The Big Picture
DIVERSION
Great wallpaper material from St. Louis Fed Ok collection of 11 links to articles on psychology and neurology, some related to trading. The rest of the site is also worth a look.
ShrinkyLinks - Attitrade
Why the Impossible Happens More Often – The Technium / kk.org
The new middle classes rise up – The Economist
Causal Inference and False Positives – A Dash of Insight
Saturday links: middle class malaise – Abnormal Returns
“The risk business can tell us a lot about catastrophes. Why don't we listen?”
The God Clause and the Reinsurance Industry – Businessweek