Debt Rattle Mar 5 2014: Time A For A Little Down Time In America
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Howard Hollem for OWI D-Day in Times Sqaure June 6 1944 The drivel that lies like a blanket over our societies still directs traffic, markets, news an
[See the full post at: Debt Rattle Mar 5 2014: Time A For A Little Down Time In America]Let’s see if I got this right.
Almost $2B is due for the gas bill.
The E.U. is offering $15B.
The Ukraines said they need $30B.
The people of Kiev have been on strike for +3 months.
The runaway president has taken untold Billions with him.
Future productions will not be able to pay back the bankers what they are owed.
Assets will be seized and divided up among the wealthy and the powerful.
Those people who are not well connected will have to grin and bare it.
At the end of the IMF deal, prices will go up and the economy will become more efficient.I think you have it, Jal.
The $15 billion to Kiev from the west along with that Russia is offering,,,will mostly end up with Gazprom, by design.
But it’s not really money. It’s just multi-colored government IOU paper with unlimited sources of supply.
Meanwhile, the illusion of developed market’s expanding growth can remain irrational much, much longer than most Proles can remain solvent. Hell, Japan is still here after 30 years of “crisis.” We only really began ours 6 years ago.
Meanwhile, I guess we can buy Russian energy shares and American defense stocks and join the fun, as Putin trades McCain’s NATO Missiles in Poland, for Russian ones in Cuba, and the EU gradually learns where it’s bread is really buttered.
Still, it might be a good idea to remember what one Hedge Fund manager said a while back, re; reigniting inflation, and the QE’s. Paraphrased; ‘One $trillion didn’t do it, hell, four $trillion didn’t do it. But some trillion someday will.’
BP separates on shore from off shore operations?
Where is the EU going to get the $15 billion? It’s a mystery to me. $15 billion for a country that barely exists anymore and isn’t an EU member. This will be popular. Aren’t there EU elections coming up? Not that it will make any difference I guess. The good part of this story is if it goes through at least somebody is going to be paid back. EU banks mainly. It seems the rest of today’s stories are about people who are not going to be paid back.
The other great thing about this Ukraine bailout is that apparently it isn’t a loan. I didn’t see the word loan anyway. It does occur to me a few billion quickly poured into what passes for a government would go a long way in creating a government that functions, sort of, again. Which I think is the point. Plenty of serious people with their hands on that kind of money to hand out can make a lot of friends fast and after all money is legitimacy.
Let’s see if Obama has the balls to throw into the kitty. His opponents are all for blowing something up over there but I doubt they want to send cash to be blown up. I fail to see the necessity of actually appropriating the money however. In a crisis why bother with such formalities. I am not kidding on this. ‘Money’ is just keystrokes, among friends, after all. No keystrokes for Detroit or Chicago of course. Well maybe Chicago, a bit.
I will say the Ukraine narrative here or Orlav’s or on other alt sites is so opposite of the US media one I’m not willing to throw in fully with the alt view. Despite my knowledge of all the sins of US ‘news’ I’m not ready to buy Putin’s Russian version verbatim either. Waxing philosophical no story, no narrative, can encompass reality.
Ilargi – “Maybe a piece of reality that stares us in the face is what we need. Maybe it’s time a for a little down time in America. Maybe a nice chunk of real hardship wouldn’t be all that bad.”
Couldn’t agree more. It really is the only way people ever take a good, hard look at themselves and their lives. Everybody’s on automatic pilot, and the plane is heading in the wrong direction, except they don’t see it. Suffering is what wakes you up. It’s essential for growth, or any kind of “deep” growth. Without some suffering, which would allow people to step off the treadmill for awhile and look around, I don’t hold out much hope for the planet.
Charles Hugh Smith says, “Ukraine: Follow the Energy”.
“Many have noted that the Russia economy is critically dependent on oil and gas exports to the EU. It should be noted that the converse is less true every day about EU dependence on Russian oil and gas. The Wall Street Journal even had a line about an EU proposal to push natural gas EAST to the Ukraine. It’s hard to understand that passage or where the natural gas could come from unless one understands the North Africa to southern Europe gas pipelines. […] [see map]
LNG exports are going to become a weapon in the struggle for geopolitical influence and control.
This highlights another problem for Russia/Gazprom. Its present natural gas advantage in Europe now rests mainly on its pipeline infrastructure. This advantage is fading due to the current and proposed pipeline projects running through Turkey to Europe, plus LPG terminal & ship developments, plus the five trans-Mediterranean pipelines from Libya, Algeria and Morocco to southern Europe, plus local shale gas plays…
The Ukraine is not the only country becoming less systemically important to Europe for natural gas supply. So is Russia. Current events will only accelerate everyone’s efforts to diversify away from such an unstable and apparently dangerous supplier.
I think the long-term fallout from the Ukrainian Crisis will be similar to China’s attempt to exploit its temporary low price monopoly position in rare earth metals a few years ago. The result is rare earth metals are becoming less rare by the day as alternate mines outside China are opened and reopened.”
https://www.oftwominds.com/blogmar14/Ukraine-energy3-14.html
“Chronology of the Ukrainian Coup”
Raleigh,
I’m not terribly impressed by CH Smith’s deep state narrative, and I think it’s pretty much nonsense to claim that the deep state fights the banking system. As for Russia’s power waning due to LNG, that to me shows someone who’s not very literate when it comes to energy.
As for you yourself, I’d be more interested in your own opinions than a constant flow of articles from third parties. At least combine the two, I’d say.
To be fair, Raleigh did share his own opinion:
“Couldn’t agree more. It really is the only way people ever take a good, hard look at themselves and their lives. Everybody’s on automatic pilot, and the plane is heading in the wrong direction, except they don’t see it. Suffering is what wakes you up. It’s essential for growth, or any kind of “deep” growth. Without some suffering, which would allow people to step off the treadmill for awhile and look around, I don’t hold out much hope for the planet.”
There’s only so many opinions out there – not everyone’s will be unique. Sometimes it’s just easier to look around at what has been said and say “yeah, I agree”.
And quite frankly, there’s a lot of repetition here at TAE and the other financial/economic/energy intellectual ghettos I slum in. That’s not a criticism – it’s just my opinion that a lot of the “big stuff” (only at least key/important stuff) has been discussed (and explained in wonderful & thoughtful detail by Nicole), and now we all just look to the little daily events, waiting for the “big one” to hit once again. That’s probably one of the reasons why we get so many Raulian overview Debt Rattles as opposed to Fossian in-depth treatises these days on TAE (that and I’m sure Nicole is busy with tours and whatnot).
Again, not a criticism – both styles are appreciated for what they are and both serve their purpose – just the way things seems to be this late in the game.
Cheers,
Variable“That’s probably one of the reasons why we get so many Raulian overview Debt Rattles as opposed to Fossian in-depth treatises these days on TAE (that and I’m sure Nicole is busy with tours and whatnot)”.
I do hope we get more Nicole some time in the future. While all this “big stuff” is important, little people like me worry about little stuff – like the ever increasing rent. 6 years ago, Nicole was instrumental in my decision to sell my house. Now, as that decision looks worse and worse over time, I look to her for help and insight, yet I feel she is nowhere to be found 🙁
Variable81 – thanks for sticking up for me and posting the opinion I did give. Appreciate it. I often just post a link because others say it so much better than I can, or they have a different opinion.
Ilargi – criticism noted and understood. Opinion? Hard to form one when there is very little transparency and so many dissenting articles. Some say what’s happening in the Ukraine is just to take our eyes off the ball (the financial crisis). Others say it’s the Shock Doctrine, IMF loans, privatizing the country; while still others say they’re trying to strangle Russia (which I think is the ultimate goal). One reason cited for the final collapse of the USSR was that the U.S. bankrupt them with cheap oil prices (and I do remember getting gasoline in the low 30 cent range for a good part of late 80’s/early 90’s.) Very difficult to see the principal reason; perhaps it’s all of the above.
It’s hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. Example: commodity prices are rising because there’s a genuine shortage, it’s the weather (ha!), or it’s speculation by commodity traders, or people putting their money somewhere because there’s nowhere else to go in order to get a return, or outright manipulation? Who do you listen to in order to form an opinion? Because unless your intuition is pretty acute, opinions don’t form out of nothing? Then you finally reach articles that get a little closer to the truth – hoarding of commodities in warehouses (i.e. Goldman Sachs/JP Morgan) or in Hong Kong/China. Probably all of the above again.
Even topics such as raising the minimum wage set my head reeling. Of course we should raise the minimum wage, some say, because that would help the “people”. Yes, it would, but it also keeps the game going, and do we really want to see that happen? Everybody gets more money, they go out and spend that money, demand rises, prices increase, and pretty soon they’re back asking for more money. But, hey, the game is kept afloat and the elite keep cashing in, the population increases because times are good, and along with that comes more polluting and strip-mining of the planet. Is that what we want? I mean, there comes a time when this particular way of life will have to end. Short-term versus long-term thinking. I tend to think long-term because I’ve got children that I want to see have good lives, and the way things are going I don’t see that happening.
No deep state? (It’s so much easier to absorb when you think others, other than the ones we see in the news, are behind the scenes.) In other words, what we see is what we get? Geithner was and is a little prick, along with the rest of the bankers? Nobody is pulling their strings? They’re the ones pulling the strings? Obama “is” actually a neo-con, he “has” aligned himself with psychopaths (the ones who are front and center), who are bent on bailing themselves out and continuing the fun? The Deep State is not deep at all – it’s right in front of our eyes? That probably is the case, but surely there has been a deep collusion among the central banks of Japan/China/U.K./European Union/U.S.
I do think they are keeping a lid on any insurrection by making sure the poor get shelter/food/bread and circuses (of course, it benefits the elite because 1) they keep the game going and 2) they greatly benefit from these programs themselves – ex. JP Morgan with EBT cards, etc.) There will be no uprising unless and until these programs cease. Savers have been thrown under the bus because they could be (who saves anymore?).
I also resent that I should even have to be paying attention to this sh*t. Whenever people are fighting for their lives, creativity is stifled. I’d much sooner be doing research in another field, but I find I’m drawn back into this crap simply because I’m trying to keep my head above water. The short-term thinking, psychopathic elite are fighting hard to maintain their system of looting (hey, it’s been good for them). Psychopathy is something I have done extensive reading on. Good luck to us! is all I can say.
Not much of an opinion, but there it is. Yes, I think it will fall apart eventually, but perhaps after Cory and I have already done so.
Raleigh et al,
I didn’t mean no deep state (if anything, more of course that exists, so why make it a topic), but when I see him claiming the deep state is fighting the banks, I want to see proof, since from where I’m sitting it’s at least as likely the banks are the deep state.
Didn’t mean all of your opinions in one go either, but a few words on what you think about the quotes you post when you post them, makes them more interesting in my view. Not that what you wrote now is not appreciated. I appreciate everyone’s posts here a lot, and find it a shame the discussion and participants don’t expand more, like in our Blogger days. Maybe the machine has to start huffing and puffing for real again to get there.
As for the repetition topic, I think that is probably largely in the eye of the beholder. If you don’t like hockey, or soccer, or football, or Formula 1, or figure skating, all these things easily get to appear extremely repetitive, but obviously not for everyone.
And yeah, it would be good if Nicole returns on a more regular basis to the site, I fully agree.
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