Posts Tagged ‘Italian bonds’

Notes From Underground: George Soros Gets It Right; Cyprus Follows Britain Down An Ugly Yellow Brick Road

April 10, 2013

Over the last few years of writing Notes From Underground, I have taken his eminence, George Soros (aka the palindrome) to task for advocating that the German polity surrender its sovereign authority to a federal EU entity as he pushed for a harmonization of fiscal authority and then an EU-wide EUROBOND. Previously, Mr. Soros has pushed that the Eurocrats not pursue this Eurobond through a nation-by-nation vote but rather just foist it upon the citizens of Euroland. In a paper released yesterday, Mr. Soros is again pushing a Eurobond backed by a union-wide banking structure and a Euroland harmonized tax system, in which all nations surrender some sovereign authority to a centralized power. There will be no BUNDS, OATS, SPANISH or ITALIAN bonds. It will just be a Eurobond backed by the full credit of the EU fiscal authority. This time around though, Soros does advocate the German government should seek the consent of the electorate.

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Notes From Underground: Spanish Election Provides No Surprise

November 20, 2011

As the polls expected, the Spanish election offered no surprises as the Center Right Popular Party appears to have attained an outright majority and the socialist party has been trounced. The markets appear to want to believe that this outcome is EURO POSITIVE AND SPANISH AND ITALIAN DEBT POSITIVE BUT I WARN THAT IT AIN’T NECESSARILY SO. Did the PP win a historic election so that they can deliver MORE AUSTERITY TO THE SPANISH PEOPLE? HOW MUCH ECONOMIC CONCESSIONS ARE THE SPANISH PEOPLE WILLING TO MAKE? IF THE ANSWER IS VERY LITTLE, THEN WHAT NEXT FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION?

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Notes From Underground: Marco Polo returns to Italy, Bringing Chinese Riches

September 12, 2011

Well, the media was running wild in the last hour of U.S. equity trading with a rumor of the Chinese offering to purchase Italian bondsx. Every time the Euro debt crisis comes to a full boil, rumors arise about the Chinese riding to the rescue and buying beleaguered sovereign debt. In December 2009, the rumors were that the Chinese Investment Corporation [CIC] was interested in acquiring the 25 billion euros of Greek debt that was being road-showed–that was prior to the Greek Debt Crisis and the expected rate was roughly 6.5%.

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Notes From Underground: Larry Summers and His Discontent

July 19, 2011

In Monday’s Financial Times there is a column by Lawrence Summers, the GODFATHER of U.S. economic policy. Mr. Summers offers the Europeans a great deal of advice on “HOW TO SAVE THE EUROZONE IN THE COMING CRITICAL WEEKS.” The article is actually a good policy prospective if there was not the issue of politics that play a large and important role in the EU‘s inability to resolve its fiscal difficulties. Summers wants to believe that the EUROCRATS have the political mandate to negotiate Brussel’s desire for a peaceful, state-supported EDEN of entitlements.

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Notes From Underground: Deceptions and Lies (Or, Just Another Day in the Life of the Western Political Economy)

July 18, 2011

First, let me take to the time to direct you to an article that is critical to the basis of NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND. In the weekend edition of the WSJ there was an interview with Jim Grant titled, “THE SCOURGE of the FAITH-BASED PAPER DOLLAR.”The interview covers many issues that I have covered during the last 20 months and serious, difficult issues are presented in a world-class format. There is a quote that must be shared:

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Notes From Underground: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (or Another Spaghetti Western)

July 12, 2011

It is very difficult to find the GOOD in the global financial world, while the BAD and UGLY abound. The GOOD could be “found ” in low interest rates on BONDS and NOTES in the U.S. Yet when you scratch below the surface, the fundamental reason for a 3% 10-YEAR NOTE is nothing to crow about. Poor employment data and the fear of a credit crisis in EUROPE is forcing investors to find shelter in the debt instruments of the U.S., even as the Washington budget circus captures the headlines. The subtext of the GOOD is that the EUROPEAN DEBT DRAMA almost cratered the global equity markets but support was found for the EQUITIES and ITALIAN BONDS when the ECB purportedly intervened in the DEBT markets by buying Italian and Spanish debt.

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