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Grayson Rips Bernanke Over Latest AIG Bailout, Insinuates Attempted IRS Fraud In Grossly Illegal Deal, 12/08/2009
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Guest Post: Head of California’s Cap and Trade Offsets Program: Cap and Trade Won’t Work for Climate, It’s a Scam, December 8, 2009
'...mine goes back four millennia. We need financial history to free us from the trap of our own personal experience...'<blockquote>'Ken and I are of one mind. His book [[i]This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly[/i]] goes back eight centuries, mine goes back four millennia. We need financial history to free us from the trap of our own personal experience which (unless you're Paul Volcker) is just too short to offer a reliable guide to the range of possible crises we may face.'
- Niall Ferguson (
Why Niall Ferguson is still bearish, Nov. 24, 2009)</blockquote>
'...industry narcissism: the complete and utter inability to recognize and take responsibility for the damage it has wrought.'<blockquote>'Tall Paul is my hero. I would go further than he did in a speech in Sussex. The case can made that financial innovation of the OTC derivatives variety, which has mushroomed from 1992 onward, has been at best a wealth transfer device from the real economy to the financial economy, and has probably exacted a net cost on society as a whole.
As much as that notion might seem intuitively obvious to many readers of this blog, it would take a fair bit of certain to be impossible data gathering to demonstrate it. The beauty of OTC markets is that the information one would need resides with the dealers. They have no reason to give it up, and the regulators haven’t been and continue not to be too keen to go after it. And we are talking such a long period of time that many of the records are long gone.
But the remarkable bit isn’t that Volcker said what he said; he’s made it clear that he takes a dim view of the nonsense that the industry has chosen to wrap in the mantle of innovation. It’s that the listeners were stunned. This is yet another proof of industry narcissism: the complete and utter inability to recognize and take responsibility for the damage it has wrought.'
- Yves Smith,
Volcker: Little Evidence Financial Innovation Has Helped Economy, December 9, 2009</blockquote>
'...the financial crisis last autumn was "frightening." '<blockquote>'Baroness Vadera admitted that the apex of the financial crisis last autumn was "frightening." She added: "I still have nightmares about it." '
- Louise Armitstead,
Baroness Vadera: 'I still have nightmares about the financial crisis', 08 Dec 2009</blockquote>
'...troubles in the Emirate are expanding to the shores of Western banking.'<blockquote>'At this point Dubai’s woes are well documented, even though financials anticipated the nonpayment of Dubai World, or at least related entities, for quite some time. Nonetheless, experts interviewed for this piece by
HousingWire indicate that troubles in the Emirate are expanding to the shores of Western banking.'
- Jacob Gaffney,
VIEWPOINT: The Cost of Dubai is Worldly, December 8, 2009</blockquote>
'Most in the United States are too U.S. centric, not understanding any of the economic problems or currency problems elsewhere.'<blockquote>'I doubt the EU dissolves, but it clearly is not the safe haven have many think it is. Loans made to the Baltic states are in trouble, Greece itself is in serious trouble, and Spain is in serious trouble as is Ireland.
Most in the United States are too U.S. centric, not understanding any of the economic problems or currency problems elsewhere. Currency and fiscal problems are everywhere one looks.'
- Mish,
EU Ready to Bailout Greece; Debt Downgrades in Baltic States; Can Euroland Even Survive?, December 09, 2009</blockquote>
'...what would happen if the Greeks started printing euros without ECB approval.'<blockquote>'Central bankers in the euro zone are already speculating, behind closed doors, what would happen if the Greeks started printing euros without ECB approval. There is no answer to the question, and that makes central bankers from Lisbon to Dublin even more nervous than they are already.
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Particularly vexing to the remaining EU countries is the fact that Greece has profited from its EU membership for decades. Year after year, net transfers from Brussels have exceeded payments moving in the opposite direction by €3 billion to €6 billion. These numbers, too, have often been suspect. At times, the land area declared for agricultural subsidies was incorrect, and sometimes approval conditions were not met.
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The EU has now begun a tougher approach to Greece. Three weeks ago, the government in Athens received a rebuke from Brussels, followed by another one last week. So far, however, the Greek government has shown little inclination to take any significant steps. It does intend to reduce the deficit, but only to 9.1 percent next year. This is far too little for many European foreign ministers. As the new Greek finance minister, Giorgos Papakonstantinou, recently announced, the country will need at least four years to get its deficit under control "without jeopardizing the economic recovery."
But by then the government deficit will have reached about €400 billion, or about 150 percent of GDP. Servicing that amount of debt, even at current interest rates of about 5 percent, will make up at least one third of government spending.'
- Wolfgang Reuter,
Greek Debt Poses a Danger to Common Currency, 12/08/2009</blockquote>
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How Bad Could It Get?, December 9, 2008