March 2015 - The Automatic Earth

Iceland To Take Back The Power To Create Money

Mar 312015

March 31, 2015 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 8:30 pm Finance Tagged with: central bank, commercial banks, Iceland, money, parliament 19 Responses »

Iceland To Take Back The Power To Create Money

Gottscho-Schleisner Plaza buildings from Central Park, NY 1933 Who knew that the revolution would start with those radical Icelanders? It does, though. One Frosti Sigurjonsson, a lawmaker from the ruling Progress Party, issued a report today that suggests taking the power to create money away from commercial banks, and hand it to the central bank and, ultimately, Parliament. Can’t see commercial banks in the western world be too happy with this. They must be contemplating wiping the island nation off

Debt Rattle March 31 2015

Mar 312015

March 31, 2015 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:57 am Finance Tagged with: China, construction, deflation, earthquake, ebola, Fed, Greece, Iran, QE, Russia, Shale, student debt 5 Responses »

Dorothea Lange Butter bean vines across the porch, Negro quarter, Memphis, Tennessee 1938 • The US Economy Is Showing Cracks (CNN) • Greek Construction Sector Crumbles By 80% In Just Five Years (Kathimerini) • Bernanke: I Didn’t Throw Seniors Under The Bus (MarketWatch) • The Fed’s Startling Numbers on Student Debt (Simon Black) • The Fed’s ‘Repression’ Has Cost Savers $470 Billion (MarketWatch) • Low US Consumer Spending Points To Slow First Quarter (MarketWatch) • Jumping On Junk: Investors Crazy

Debt Rattle March 30 2015

Mar 302015

March 30, 2015 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:31 am Finance Tagged with: Antarctica, China, Cinderella, Draghi, Fed, Greece, oil, proxy war, tax, Ukraine 6 Responses »

John M. Fox “The new Hudson” 1948 • How The Fed Is ‘Screwed,’ And What Happens Next (CNBC) • Cinderella’s New Moral: Be Rich Or Be A Pumpkin (Lynn Stuart Parramore) • The ECB’s Put – Explained By Draghi (CNBC) • Angola Joins Venezuela Among Biggest Losers Of Oil’s Tumble (CNBC) • China’s Developers Face More Price Pain (FT) • China Central Bank Governor Calls For Vigilance On Deflation (Reuters) • Greece Says Not Backing Down On Debt Relief Goal

Recovery, Geopolitics and Detergents

Mar 302015

March 30, 2015 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 1:38 am Finance Tagged with: detergents, geopolitics, Greece, living standards, power, propaganda, QE, recovery, Ukraine 8 Responses »

Gottscho-Schleisner Fulton Market pier, view to Manhattan over East River, NY 1934 Increasingly over the past year or so, when people ask me what I do, and that happens a lot on a trip like the one I’m currently on in the world of down under, I find myself not just stating the usual ‘I write about finance and energy’, but adding: ‘it seems to become more and more about geopolitics too’. And it’s by no means just me: a

Debt Rattle March 29 2015

Mar 292015

March 29, 2015 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:49 am Finance Tagged with: AIIB, crash, equilibrium, eurozone, Fed, Greece, living standards, QE, Ukraine 3 Responses »

Unknown Butler’s dredge-boat, sunk by Confederate shell, James River, VA 1864 • QE Will Permanently Impair Living Standards For Generations To Come (Guggenheim) • Fed Chases Equilibrium Phantom, Has Not Learnt From The Crisis (Steve Keen) • Fears Of A New Global Crash As Debts And Dollar’s Value Rise (Guardian) • Investors Flee Market At Crisis-Level Pace (CNBC) • China Banks on Sharing Wealth to Shape New Asian Order (WSJ) • China Wants To Compel US To Engage It As

Debt Rattle March 28 2015

Mar 282015

March 28, 2015 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 11:59 am Finance Tagged with: Abenomics, Greece, housing, Monsanto, oil, rift, Warren, Yellen Comments Off

Lewis Wickes Hine Child labor at Gorenflo Canning Co., Biloxi, Mississippi 1911 • Yellen Sees Gradual Pace of Rate Increases Starting This Year (Bloomberg) • Housing Contribution To US GDP Lowest In Post-War Era (Zero Hedge) • The Bottom’s Not In – This Market Is Dumber Than A Mule (David Stockman) • Greek Crisis Nears A Turning Point (MarketWatch) • Austerity Is Greece’s Only Hope (Hans-Werner Sinn) • Varoufakis Denies Resignation, Greeks Accused Of “Gambling” Away Trust (Teleg.) • Alternate

Greece Prepares To Leave

Mar 272015

March 27, 2015 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:52 pm Finance Tagged with: eurozone, Germany, Greece, Syriza, Tsipras 7 Responses »

Wyland Stanley Pedestrians ascending steep grade, San Francisco 1935 Speculation and expert comments are thrown around once more – or still – like candy on Halloween. Let me therefore retrace what I’ve said before. Because I think it’s really awfully simple, once you got the underlying factors in place. But first, if one thing has become obvious after Syriza was elected to form a Greek government on January 25, it’s that the party is not ‘radical’ or ‘extremist’. Those monikers

Debt Rattle March 27 2015

Mar 272015

March 27, 2015 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 8:09 am Finance Tagged with: arctic, asylum, China, deposits, drought, Greece, Putin, rate hike, wealth, Yemen 4 Responses »

Wyland Stanley Transparent Car, General Motors exhibit, San Francisco 1940 • For Most American Families, Wealth Has Vanished (Yahoo!) • Fed Officials Say Rate Hike Plan Intact Despite Weak US Data (Reuters) • China Stocks May Be In Serious Bubble (MarketWatch) • You’re Playing Liar’s Poker at the Wall Street Casino (Paul B. Farrell) • European Central Bank QE Is Masking Eurozone Struggles (MM) • No, Greece Is NOT The Most Unhelpful Country Ever, IMF Says (MarketWatch) • Greek Bank

Kiev, Moscow, Bonds and Haircuts

Mar 262015

March 26, 2015 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 11:19 pm Finance Tagged with: bonds, Jaresko, nuclear, partners, powers, Putin, Ukraine 4 Responses »

Jack Delano Bridge with 5-ton coal bucket, Milwaukee Western Fuel Co 1942 When money managers talk outside their narrow field, nonsense is guaranteed to ensue. No better example than this Bloomberg piece on Ukraine’s ‘debt restructuring’ plans, which are as much a political tool as they are anything else at all. Ukraine’s American Finance Minister has announced a broad restructuring plan with a wide range of severe haircuts for creditors, and she – well, obviously – wishes to include Russia

Debt Rattle March 26 2015

Mar 262015

March 26, 2015 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 8:25 am Finance Tagged with: bonds, China, ECB, EU, Greece, Growth, home prices, perpetual war, Putin, soil, wages, water 3 Responses »

Jack Delano Residents of rooming house for rail workers, Clinton, Iowa 1943 • US Economy Heads Toward Zero Growth in Q1 (WolfStreet) • US Home Prices Are Surging 13 Times Faster Than Wages (Bloomberg) • UK Household Debt Soars By 9% To Hit A Record £239bn (Independent) • ECB Bond Buying To Continue Till Inflation Reaches 2%: Draghi (WSJ) • Europe Blocks Desperate Greek Attempt To Stay Afloat (Telegraph) • Eurozone Said to Give Greece Five Days to Deliver Plan

Older Entries