Month: June 2016

Submitted by Michael Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

It’s quiz time.

I will list a statement. You decide who said it.

The correct answer is either Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, or Hillary Clinton.

34 Statements – Who Made Them?

1. I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families.
2. I will take on corporations that take their jobs to China.
3. I think NAFTA has been a disaster.
4. Instead of passing such trade deals again and again, we must develop trade policies which demand that American corporations create jobs here, and not abroad.
5. TPP is a death blow for American manufacturing.
6. I’m for free and fair trade.
7. We need to bring manufacturing jobs back home where they belong.
8. Globalization has torn down the barriers that have formerly separated the national from the international markets.
9. The top priority of any trade deal should be to help American workers.
10. I heard it about NAFTA. I heard it about CAFTA. I heard it about permanent normal trade relations with China. Here is the fact. Since 2001, we have lost almost 60,000 factories and millions of good-paying jobs.
11. Maybe we should have a trade policy which represents the working families of this country, that rebuilds our manufacturing base, not than just representing the CEOs of large multinational corporations.
12. We must end our disastrous trade policies (NAFTA, CAFTA, PNTR with China, etc.) which enable corporate America to shut down plants in this country and move to China and other low-wage countries.
13. This wave of globalization has wiped out our middle class.
14. NAFTA was the worst trade deal in history, and China’s entrance into the World Trade Organization has enabled the greatest jobs theft in history.
15. I think corporate America has to start investing in this country and create decent paying jobs here.
16. It is a lot cheaper for the American companies to set up plants in China, hire Chinese workers at 50 cents an hour, 75 cents an hour, whatever it is, and have them build the product for the Chinese markets than it is to pay American workers $15 an hour, $20 an hour, provide health insurance, deal with the union, deal with the environment.
17. Connect the dots. Our current trade deficit is causing the loss of over 2 million jobs. Over the last 20 years, while the US has run up over a trillion dollars in trade deficits, millions of American workers have been thrown into the streets.
18. The function of trade agreements like NAFTA is to make it easier for American companies to move abroad, and to force our workers to compete against desperate people in the Third World.
19. Our current record-breaking merchandise trade deficit of $112 billion is costing us over 2 million decent paying jobs. NAFTA, GATT, and Most Favored Nation status with China must be repealed, and a new trade policy developed.
20. The word has to get out to corporate America, they are going to have to start reinvesting in the United States of America. They are going to have to start building the products and the goods the American people need rather than run all over in search of cheap labor.
21. The TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble.
22. I am all for free trade, but it’s got to be fair. When Ford moves their massive plants to Mexico, we get nothing. I want them to stay in Michigan.
23. The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems.
    Globalization has made the financial elite who donate to politicians very wealthy. But it has left millions of our workers with nothing but poverty and heartache.
24. When subsidized foreign steel is dumped into our markets, threatening our factories, the politicians do nothing.
25. Skilled craftsmen and tradespeople and factory workers have seen the jobs they loved shipped thousands of miles away.
26. The current global trading system is distorted not only by barriers to entry in developing and emerging economies, but by the power of special interests in developed countries.
27. We should focus on ending currency manipulation, environmental destruction and miserable working conditions in China.
28. We’re going to stop giving penny of your money to anybody who ships a job out to another country. We’re going to begin to get the tax code to reflect what the needs of middle class families are so we can rebuild a strong & prosperous middle class.
29. Trade needs to become a win-win. People ask me, am I a free trader or a fair trader? I want to be a smart, pro-American trader. And that means we look for ways to maximize the impact of what we’re trying to export and quit being taken advantage of by other countries.
30. I believe in smart trade. Pro-American trade. Trade that has labor and environmental standards, that’s not a race to the bottom but tries to lift up not only American workers but also workers around the world.
31. It’s important that we have an idea of how to maximize the benefits from the global economy while minimizing the impact on American workers. That includes things like real trade adjustment assistance and other support.
32. It’s important that we enforce the agreements we have. That’s why I’ve called for a trade prosecutor, to make sure that we do enforce them.
33. What we have learned is that we have to drive a tougher bargain.
34. Hillary Clinton Voted for virtually every trade agreement that has cost the workers of this country millions of jobs.

Sources

• Bernie Sanders on Free Trade
• Trump on Free Trade
• Hillary Clinton on Free Trade
• Donald Trump’s Jobs Plan Speech

Answers

• Sanders: 1, 2, 4, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
• Trump: 3, 5, 6, 7, 18, 13, 14, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
• Clinton: 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33
• Sanders and Trump: 34 (Sanders first, Trump quoted Sanders)

Flip a coin. As a firm believer in free trade, they are all totally hopeless.

via http://ift.tt/2932hId Tyler Durden

It was not even a month ago when we last looked at the total amount of negative yielding debt around the globe, and were shocked to find that according to Fitch, for the first time in history (obviously), there was over $10 trillion in negative yielding debt. Fast forward 4 weeks later, and the grand total is now $1.3 trillion higher, or $11.7 trillion.

In a report released earlier, Fitch updates on the “investors’ flight to safe assets following the UK’s EU referendum on June 23” and finds that the global total of sovereign debt with negative yields was a staggering $11.7 trillion as of June 27, up $1.3 trillion from the end-May total. Brexit-related concerns drove more long-dated bond yields negative, with particularly big shifts in German, French and Japanese yield curves during June.

As Fitch notes, worries over the global growth outlook, further fueled by Brexit, have continued to support demand for higher-quality sovereign paper in June. Widespread adoption of unconventional monetary policies, including large-scale bond-buying programs and negative deposit rates, have driven the large increases in negative-yielding debt seen this year.

The chart below highlights the monthly changes in the outstanding par amount of negative-yielding sovereign debt by maturity bucket. The biggest drivers of the total increase during June were seen in longer-dated bonds. For example, German 10-year bund yields swung into negative territory and sub-zero yields moved further out on the curve for Japan — now out to 17 years. Also, in Switzerland, virtually all sovereign debt carried a negative yield on June 27.

As DB’s Jim Reid writes, yesterday we saw the Swiss yield curve actually trade negative the whole way out the curve. The longest dated Swiss government bond due in 2064 (so 48 years) touched -0.0082% at one stage before settling at +0.011% by the close. The chart below shows the Swiss yield curve to show how remarkable this is. We’ve also added the JGB curve where the longest dated bond due in 2056 (40 year) is trading at a minuscule 6bps and the Bund curve where the longest dated 30y bond is trading at 42bps.

Japanese government bonds (JGBs) continue to represent about two-thirds of the global total ($7.9 trillion), while Germany and France each now have over $1 trillion in sovereign debt with sub-zero yields. Japan’s negative-yielding debt total grew by about 18% during the month, while Germany and France’s total grew by 8% and 13%, respectively. European negative-yielding debt increases were offset in part by an approximately $0.2 trillion reduction in the Italian total since May 31. This likely reflected investor risk aversion related to Italy leading up to and following the Brexit referendum.

The spread of negative yields into longer-dated paper was particularly evident in June. A total of $2.6 trillion in sovereign bonds with maturities of seven years or more now trade at a negative yield. This compares with the end-April total of $1.4 trillion.

The increasing amount of long-term negative-yielding debt underscores the challenges faced by large bond investors such as insurance companies that need to match long-term liabilities with similar maturity assets. As more of the global universe of safe assets drops into negative-yielding territory, income for these investors continues to fall.

UK sovereign bonds continue to trade at positive yields across the curve, but the Brexit vote has had a dramatic effect on the UK yield curve. Following the June 23 referendum, 10-year gilt yields dropped by 44 bps to 0.93% as of June 27, according to Bloomberg. 

The $11.7 trillion total, which includes $3.2 trillion of short-term and $8.5 trillion of long-term sovereign debt, is influenced by the dollar’s exchange rate with the yen and euro. During June, the dollar rose slightly against the euro, but weakened significantly (approximately 9%) versus the yen. This had a major impact on the dollar value of yen-denominated negative-yielding debt in our latest analysis, pushing the JGB total up by approximately $0.6 trillion beyond increases that would have occurred on an FX-neutral basis.

via http://ift.tt/290q2vG Tyler Durden

It seems Farage was right… again…

“Can we all just grow up, stop this absolute scare-mongering nonsense?” Farage told CNBC on Tuesday, adding that the FTSE 100 is up 3 percent today. “Can we just end this complete rubbish?”

FTSE 100 is now unchanged from pre-Brexit as Osborne, Cameron and the fearmongers appear to have been proved wrong.

Now what? It seems like Brexit was a good thing after all, so Fruckoff? Portugaleave?

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Moments ago, following the overwhelming passage of a Puerto Rico bailout bill by the US House of Representatives, Congress found itself on the edge of sending the PR debt relief Bill for the president signature, when the Senate, in a 68-32 vote, likewise passed the measure. This makes final passage of the legislation a virtual certainty as sixty votes were needed to clear the procedural hurdle, but only a majority vote is necessary on final passage.

The legislation allows Puerto Rico to restructure $70 billion in debt and establish an outside control board to steer the island’s troubled finances. President Obama supports the package, and is expected to quickly sign it.

Puerto Rico faces $2 billion in debt payments on Friday, creating an effective deadline for passing the legislation that the Obama administration was determined to meet. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to round up support for the legislation. The bill faced opponents across the political spectrum.

The losers in this case are a group of creditors who worry their investments in Puerto Rico’s debt will be eroded fought the bill for months.

As The Hill notes, an advertising campaign, believed to be backed by creditors, charged that the legislation was a taxpayer bailout of Puerto Rico, though no taxpayer funds would be provided through the legislation. Civil society groups in Puerto Rico also opposed the legislation, arguing an oversight board created by the measure would supersede the will of the Puerto Rican people. They received loud support on the Senate floor from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.),

Despite the opposition, party leaders backed the package and were able to cobble together enough support to get to 60 votes, handing a victory to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). 

The legislation’s advancement is also a significant victory for the Obama administration, which served as the lead negotiator for Democrats, hammering out a package with House Republicans over weeks of talks.

Intense lobbying surrounded the bill for months on Capitol Hill, as a raft of investors in Puerto Rican debt descended on the Capitol to try and carve out the most advantageous package possible. Lawmakers were bombarded with pressure from all sides, as creditors jockeyed for optimal position in the final package, which would determine who gets paid how much from what is left of Puerto Rico’s revenue.

What happens next? Some more details:

With the bill apparently set to become law, Congress will have taken steps to address a deepening economic, fiscal, and humanitarian crisis on the island. Years of economic decline had led to a mass exodus of Puerto Ricans to the American mainland, driving down its revenues and eventually leaving it without enough government funds to pay off its debt.

 

The island’s status as a U.S. territory left officials there with no recourse, since a quirk in the bankruptcy code leaves territories without access to the same bankruptcy protections afforded to states and municipalities. In effect, the island needed Congress to pass a law, in an election year, to get out from under its crushing debt load.

 

The island has had to slash public services in an effort to stay afloat, and the White House warned that even more severe steps, like the shuttering of hospitals, could come without congressional action.

 

But now, the bill freezes any legislation from creditors, and allows the oversight board to step in and work towards an affordable debt restructuring package for the island.

 

Liberal lawmakers griped about side provisions that relax labor regulations on the island. Democrats also were peeved that Republicans brought the bill straight to the floor without the opportunity to try and amend it.

The most immediate future, however, is far simpler:

• PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR SAYS COMMONWEALTH WILL DEFAULT ON JULY 1

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Via VoxDay blog,

Marine Le Pen writes a powerful argument for nationalism and the end of the EU in the New York Times:

The European Union has become a prison of peoples. Each of the 28 countries that constitute it has slowly lost its democratic prerogatives to commissions and councils with no popular mandate. Every nation in the union has had to apply laws it did not want for itself. Member nations no longer determine their own budgets. They are called upon to open their borders against their will.

 

Countries in the eurozone face an even less enviable situation. In the name of ideology, different economies are forced to adopt the same currency, even if doing so bleeds them dry. It’s a modern version of the Procrustean bed, and the people no longer have a say.

 

And what about the European Parliament? It’s democratic in appearance only, because it’s based on a lie: the pretense that there is a homogeneous European people, and that a Polish member of the European Parliament has the legitimacy to make law for the Spanish. We have tried to deny the existence of sovereign nations. It’s only natural that they would not allow being denied.

 

Brexit wasn’t the European people’s first cry of revolt. In 2005, France and the Netherlands held referendums about the proposed European Union constitution. In both countries, opposition was massive, and other governments decided on the spot to halt the experiment for fear the contagion might spread. A few years later, the European Union constitution was forced on the people of Europe anyway, under the guise of the Lisbon Treaty. In 2008, Ireland, also by way of referendum, refused to apply that treaty. And once again, a popular decision was brushed aside.

 

When in 2015 Greece decided by referendum to reject Brussels’ austerity plans, the European Union’s antidemocratic response took no one by surprise: To deny the people’s will had become a habit. In a flash of honesty, the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, unabashedly declared, “There can be no democratic choice against the European treaties.”

 

Brexit may not have been the first cry of hope, but it may be the people’s first real victory.

With eloquent nationalist leaders like her, Viktor Orban, and Matteo Salvini, among others there is reason to believe it will not be the last one. The EU is immoral, unnatural, anti-democratic, and evil. The sooner it collapses, the better off everyone will be.

The globalists are the Nazis of the 30s and 40s and the Communists of the Cold War. They are the enemy of Man. As Le Pen aptly notes, "more and more, the destiny of the European Union resembles the destiny of the Soviet Union, which died from its own contradictions."

One thing is certain: Britain’s departure from the European Union will not make the union more democratic. The hierarchical structure of its supranational institutions will want to reinforce itself: Like all dying ideologies, the union knows only how to forge blindly ahead. The roles are already cast — Germany will lead the way, and France will obligingly tag along.

 

Here is a sign: President François Hollande of France, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy and acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain take their lead directly from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, without running through Brussels. A quip attributed to Henry Kissinger, “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?” now has a clear answer: Call Berlin.

 

So the people of Europe have but one alternative left: to remain bound hand-and-foot to a union that betrays national interests and popular sovereignty and that throws our countries wide open to massive immigration and arrogant finance, or to reclaim their freedom by voting.

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