Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The head of Germany's Bundesbank on monetary policy in the current situation:

Jens Weidmann: 'wrong and dangerous' to rely on ECB to resolve crisis

Central banks can only buy time:

 ""Monetary policy can only buy more time. It is like a painkiller which will not erase the reasons but can cause risks and side effects," he said. "

This is really simple, and most knowledgeable observers already knew this.

What are they buying time for? Do they even know, or are they just kicking the can down the road as long as they can until the whole world financial system blows up?

Whatever the central banks the world over intend to be doing, the beneficiaries are the very large financial institutions around the world. And it is all being done at the ultimate epense of the middle clsses worldwide.

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Gold and guns.

A friend with whom I have done some business, Art Massey of Blanchard and Co. sent me this:

"The biggest impact the Bundesbank's (Germany's Central Bank) actions have, though, according to Brebner and Xiao (Deutsche Bank commodity analysts Daniel Brebner and Xiao Fu ), is that they lend further credibility to the shiny yellow metal.

The analysts conclude, "we view the repatriation and upgrade of old gold by the Western World’s central banks as a further positive in gold’s evolution as a legitimate form of money.""

 

This would be my view as well. It appears than the central banks are remonitizing gold without actually saying that they are.
 

After the CBs have their ducks in a row, and have their gold in their vaults, what will happen next? We all know that the huge debts in the world cannot be repaid, but they are all denominated in fiat currencies. Would the world governments pull an FDR and confiscate all privately held gold, then devalue the existing fiat currencies, and issue new money?
 

If they decide they can screw the majority of the people that way, they may well do it.
 

A question was asked in a poll the other day if the government tried to confiscate guns, would you give up yours? 65% said no.
 

Ask the same question about gold. Would you give up your gold (if you have any) so the government could screw you out of the value of it? People did under FDR.....and got screwed.

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Quote of the Day:

"I know some of you may have a distressingly partisan view of the festivities in Washington. You may not be on board with all the jubilation. So look at it this way: Today marks the midpoint of the Obama presidency. In other words, this is hump day. It's all downhill from here!"

-Mark Steyn

The end of the Obama Administration is now getting closer every day. Well, that's a relief.

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Will Britain exit the European Union?

Prime Minister Cameron has promised a referendum, but in 2017. Why the wait? I suspect that  he is afraid the the voters would really vote to do so. Of course, what the voters may want is not what the politicians want. They alwys "know better" than mere people about things like that.

Reuters has an article on this. I doubt there will ever be a referendum.

Big business and big government........cronies forever. To the detriment of all of the rest of us.

Tim Carney of the Examiner has a short piece on this.

"Big Business can afford the added costs of regulations. It can hire up the former senators as its lobbyists to tweak the rules. It can hire the former Food & Drug Administration Commissioners as its lawyers to work around the rules. And it will always get a disproportionate amount of the subsidies."

Who gets hurt? You got it. The little guys.

"Corporate-federal collusion was embodied in ObamaCare, largely written by drugmakers, vociferously supported by hospitals, and driving business to private insurers. Obama’s stimulus was a huge gift to corporate America, with its plethora of subsidies. In the fiscal cliff deal, Obama insisted on a raft of corporate tax extenders. Obama’s “New Economic Patriotism” is a dress for corporate welfare to wear to the prom. Obama supported TARP. He bailed out GM. He signed cash for clunkers. He has set new records in export subsidies. I could fill a book with this sort of thing."

Both political parties have sold out the middle class.

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How optimistic are Americans? Well, Gallup has a poll out that says not very.

"Gallup: American Optimism Hits Lowest Point Since Carter Administration"

When you look at the clowns that are running the country, it is easy to see why. We have the worst president since Jimmy Carter, and the Congress could hardly get any worse than it is now.

A thorough application of tar and feathers is badly needed in Washington.