'Glitch' Halts All ATM & Online Operations For World's 2nd Largest Bank

China Construction Bank, China’s (and the world’s) 2nd largest of the Big Four, and intimately connected to the CCFD ponzis, has suspended all ATM, online, and mobile banking operations – without warning – due to a “system issue.”

 

Via CCB’s site:

 

As Bloomberg reports,

China Construction Bank (Asia) suspends ATM, online banking, mobile banking and Jetco services due to “system issue,” co. says.

 

ATM services not available today until further notice, co. says in e-mailed statement

 

Online, mobile and Jetco services suspended at 10 p.m. today until further notice: statement

*  *  *

Nothing to see here, move along…




via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1xTMbkG Tyler Durden

‘Glitch’ Halts All ATM & Online Operations For World’s 2nd Largest Bank

China Construction Bank, China’s (and the world’s) 2nd largest of the Big Four, and intimately connected to the CCFD ponzis, has suspended all ATM, online, and mobile banking operations – without warning – due to a “system issue.”

 

Via CCB’s site:

 

As Bloomberg reports,

China Construction Bank (Asia) suspends ATM, online banking, mobile banking and Jetco services due to “system issue,” co. says.

 

ATM services not available today until further notice, co. says in e-mailed statement

 

Online, mobile and Jetco services suspended at 10 p.m. today until further notice: statement

*  *  *

Nothing to see here, move along…




via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1xTMbkG Tyler Durden

BIS Banksters Brazen Backroom Betrayals

The-Bank-For-International-Settlements-at-Night-Photo-by-Wladyslaw

This post originally appeared on Slope of Hope and was written by Bruno de Landevoisin: Today I concentrate my questionable craft on a cunning confidential continental institution situated in Switzerland.  Namely; the Bank for International Settlements, otherwise known as the BIS.  The above luminous photo is of their luxurious Headquarters.

Ten times a year, once a month except in August and October, a small group of well dressed men arrives in Basel, Switzerland.  Carrying elegant overnight bags and stylish brief cases, they discreetly check into the Euler Hotel, across from the railroad station. They come to this quiet city from places as disparate as Tokyo, Paris, Brasilia, London, and Washington, D.C., for the regular meeting of the most exclusive, secretive, and powerful supranational club in the world.

Der-BIZ-Turm-in-Basel-Hauptquartier-der-Bank-fuer-internationalen-Zahlungsausgleich-Archiv-Each visiting member has his own office at the club, with secure telephone lines to his home country. These elite international bankers are fully serviced by a permanent staff of about 300, including chauffeurs, chefs, guards, messengers, translators, stenographers, secretaries, and researchers.  Also at their disposal are a brilliant research unit, as well as a secluded country club with tennis courts and a swimming pool, a few kilometers outside of Basel.

Undoubtedly, we have all heard of this all important international organization, but how many of us really know much about it, or even understand its intended purpose.  The only thing that I knew about this powerful global entity was that it is often described as the Central Bank of Central Banks.  Clearly, BDI should know a lot more about the BIS, and thus I promptly looked into it.  Let’s constructively begin with some benign elementary historical background transcribed from Investopedia, and also lay out the venerable institution’s specific functions & mission statement, directly from the BIS website itself.  After which, EP will inflict major medieval mayhem on these malfunctioning maggots and their central bank fiefdom abomination.

Founding and brief History of the BIS:

Founded in 1930, the Bank for International Settlements is the oldest global financial institution and operates under the auspices of international law. But from its inception to the present day, the role of the BIS has been ever-changing, as it adapts to the dynamic global financial community and its needs.

The BIS was created out of the Hague Agreements of 1930 and took over the job of the Agent General for Repatriation in Berlin. When established, the BIS was responsible for the collection, administration and distribution of reparations from Germany – as agreed upon in the Treaty of Versailles.

images (2)After World War II, the BIS turned its focus to the defense and implementation of the World Bank’s Bretton Woods System. Between the 1970s and 1980s, the BIS monitored cross-border capital flows in the wake of the oil and debt crises, which in turn led to the development of regulatory supervision of internationally active banks.  More recently, it has concentrated its efforts on the global financial stability and capital reserve requirement accords.

The BIS has also emerged as an emergency “funder” to nations in trouble, coming to the aid of countries such as Mexico and Brazil during their debt crises in 1982 and 1998, respectively. In cases like these, where the International Monetary Fund is already in the country, emergency funding is provided through the IMF structured program. 

The BIS has also functioned as trustee and agent. For example, from 1979 to 1994, the BIS was the agent for the European Monetary System, which is the administration that paved the way for a single European currency. 

Today, the BIS has become the central bank of central banks.  The Bank now represents the interests of nearly all of the world’s central bank institutions, and manages a significant share of their reserves, including gold holdings.  The organization now serves and presides over 60 central banks worldwide.  Accordingly the BIS requires the capital/asset ratio of central banks to be above a prescribed minimum international standard, for the protection of all central banks involved. 

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Stated Mission and Function of the BIS:

The mission of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is to serve central banks in their pursuit of monetary and financial stability, to foster international cooperation in those areas and to act as a bank for central banks.

In broad outline, the BIS pursues its mission by:

  • promoting discussion and facilitating collaboration among central banks;
  • supporting dialogue with other authorities that are responsible for promoting financial stability;
  • conducting research on policy issues confronting central banks and financial supervisory authorities;
  • acting as a prime counterparty for central banks in their financial transactions; and
  • serving as an agent or trustee in connection with international financial operations.   

Monetary and financial stability is one of the key objective of the BIS. Bimonthly meetings of the Governors and other senior officials of the BIS member central banks to discuss monetary and financial matters are instrumental in pursuing this goal. The standing committees located at the BIS support central banks, and authorities in charge of financial stability more generally, by providing background analysis and policy recommendations.

bis-_18aThe committees are:

The BIS secretariats prepare the meetings of the committees, draw up background papers and reports and publish the work of the groups they serve.  In addition, several independent organisations involved in international cooperation in the area of financial stability have their secretariats at the BIS:

imagesOk, so now that we are all up to speed on the BIS’s baffling bloviated bullshit, and fully indoctrinated in the organization’s whitewashed history, publicly claimed mission statement and assumed functions, it’s time for The Savant to expose the true nature of this supposedly benign bastion of banking balance.  Trust me, they are anything but the modest measured men of monetary moderation and management they portend to be.  BDI will now expose this incredible institution and unmask these crooks as a conceited cunning cabal of craven carnivorous cannibals bent on global financial domination, who deftly deploy dreaded dastardly debt disbursements the world over.  They will stop at nothing to achieve their ends, absolutely nothing.

To fully comprehend the self-serving nature of the BIS, one has to understand that it is an autocratic institution run by a very select group of the highest ranking bankers on the planet, representing both private banking interests, as well as those of the vast network of major central banks that are ultimately owned by those same private commercial interests.  It is important to note that these top international bankers have intentionally organized themselves, so as not to be directed by their own national governments for the crucial decisions and actions they take.  In effect, they are a supranational organization, controlled by an elite group of men, who preside over most of the world’s financial and monetary systems of exchange which regulate and facilitate most of the globe’s commerce.

Banking-Elite-infograph

The supreme inner club is made up of the half dozen or so extremely powerful central bankers who find themselves, for all practical purposes, at the apex of an international privately devised monetary system.  Their dubious dastardly dictate, which enshrines the inner club from the rest of the lessor BIS members, is the firm belief that central banks should act independently of their home governments.  Their controlling organization is at the epicenter of global finance, and has inherently become increasingly connected and indispensable over time by design. 

A glaring early example of their self-serving grandiosity can be found in their despicable double dealings before the outbreak and during the hostilities of the 2nd World War.  The following passage, by well respected financial historian Adam LeBor, details the nefarious activities of Thomas McKittrick, a former president of the BIS:

The BIS was founded in Basel in 1930, where it is still headquartered today. Ostensibly set up as part of the Young Plan to administer German reparations payments for WWI, its real purpose was detailed in its statutes: to “promote the cooperation of central banks and provide additional facilities for international financial operations.” The establishment of the BIS was the culmination of the central bankers’ decades-old dream to have their own bank powerful, independent, and free from interfering politicians and nosy reporters. Under the terms of the founding treaty, the bank’s assets could never be seized, even in times of war. Most felicitous of all, the BIS was self-financing and would be in perpetuity. Its clients were its own founders and shareholders, the central banks. The BIS, boasted Gates McGarrah, an American banker who served as its first president, was “completely removed from any government or political control.”

2011-07-16180202McKittrick’s involvement with the BIS began in 1931, when he joined the German Credits Arbitration Committee, which adjudicated disputes involving German commercial banks. One of the other two members was Marcus Wallenberg, of Sweden’s Enskilda Bank, who taught McKittrick about the intricacies of international finance. Marcus and his brother Jacob were two of the most powerful bankers in the world. During the war, the Wallenberg brothers used Enskilda Bank to play both sides and harvest enormous profits. In May 1939 McKittrick was offered the position of president of the BIS, which he readily accepted.

As head of the BIS, headquartered in Basel, from 1940 to 1946, McKittrick played a crucial role in abetting Hitler’s war—and, at the same time, in revealing details about his Nazi colleagues to his friends in Washington, D.C. On McKittrick’s watch, the BIS willingly accepted looted Nazi gold, carried out foreign exchange deals for the Reichsbank, and recognized the Nazi invasion and annexation of conquered countries. By doing so, it also legitimized the role of the national banks in the occupied countries in appropriating Jewish-owned assets. Indeed, the BIS was so indispensable to the overall Nazi project that the vice-president of the Reichsbank, Emil Puhl, who was later tried for war crimes, once referred to the BIS as the Reichsbank’s only “foreign branch.” In the closing months of the war, as American GIs fought their way across Europe, McKittrick was arranging deals with Nazi industrialists to guarantee their profits after the Allied victory.

And additionally from Wikipedia:

As a result of Nazi collaboration allegations, at the Bretton Woods Conference held in July 1944, Norway proposed the “liquidation of the Bank for International Settlements at the earliest possible moment”. This resulted in the BIS being the subject of a disagreement between the American and British delegations. The liquidation of the bank was supported by other European delegates, as well as the United States (including Harry Dexter WhiteSecretary of the Treasury, and Henry Morgenthau),[6] but opposed by John Maynard Keynes, head of the British delegation.

Fearing that the BIS would be dissolved by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Keynes went to Morgenthau hoping to prevent the dissolution, or have it postponed, but the next day the dissolution of the BIS was approved. However, the liquidation of the bank was never actually undertaken.[7] In April 1945, the new U.S. president Harry S. Truman and the British government suspended the dissolution, and the decision to liquidate the BIS was officially reversed in 1948.

Flash forward to Today.  Would the very same elite banking interests not be behind the destabilization and financing of multiple military conflicts sprouting up all over the globe?   After all, the U.S. just finished squandering over $3 trillion endlessly tussling with a fanatical bunch of burka wearing nomads in the sparse mountains of Afghanistan for well over a decade.  In the end, what, and who the hell was all of that money really for?  Might it be multinational bank financing concerns funneling their central bank issued easy money government treasury funding directly into the military industrial complex.

Jihadist1MENA, after years of relative calm imposed by despotic regimes often legitimized by Western commercial interests, suddenly, all at once, seemingly out of nowhere, rose up in a spontaneous combustion of political awareness, the so called Arab Spring, which has brought as much disillusionment as promise.  What was really behind this?  Syria has been in a perpetual state of war due to ISIS insurgents supported by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Israel. Iraq is on the verge of complete disintegration as the same western organized ISIS move in on Baghdad. Libya is erupting, with American, British and French embassy’s being swiftly evacuated. What gives?  Are all of these simultaneous regional conflicts simply a sheer coincidence?  More war financing requirements perhaps.

The Hamas / Israel connection has certainly duped many, even though it is historical fact that the creation of Hamas itself was funded and supported by covert elements of the Israel government. Why did Israel put money and arms at the disposal of Muslim extremist groups like Hamas and ISIS, only to enter into brutal conflict with them later?  Again, are the international bankers involved here as well?  If so, it sure gives a whole new meaning to DeathFlation!

437942389_640The Ukraine crisis is only further intensifying after the attack on Malaysian flight MH17.  In just the past week, the EU has instituted serious economic and financial sanctions, fighting has become even more fierce in the ethnic Russian speaking regions, and Russia itself has been accused of firing heavy artillery into the war zone. Moreover, the U.S. now claims that Russia has demonstrably violated the terms of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces treaty.

Interestingly, assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland recently indicated that U.S sponsored NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) spent over $5 billion fomenting political protest on the ground in Kiev, in order to destabilize and ultimately overthrow the former president of Ukraine, Victor Yanukovych.  Again, who or what institution actually facilitated the financing of such an excessive amount of funds, and why?

Is it simply the bane of proxy war profiteering which is underway, or is something more sinister also a foot here.  Is the western central bank hegemonic monetary system attempting to further impose itself on the arising and defiant BRICS?   Furthermore, since all out military conflict is no longer a viable option, due to assured mutual destruction from imposing nuclear arsenals, another most effective avenue for world domination would be via strategic financial and economic power. Is this what the international banking cabal is now seizing upon?

21aPic1B2102124325_zz_anthems-cover-2007-small

Such an example of a BIS sponsored strategic global economic initiative, by its self-serving megalomaniac banking power brokers, was its behind the scene’s role in devising and pushing forward the concept for a European Union with a single common currency. It established a new role for itself in the postwar world, first as the financial mechanism for American efforts to rebuild Europe, and then for the accelerating project of European unification. Some believe that the trans-national vision of a modern Europe ruled by mandarins in Brussels and Basel was originally hatched and concocted in a secret meetings held at the Bank for International Settlements.

Clearly, the driving force behind the financial engineering ambitions of the elite global bankers at the BIS has always been the same. Namely; to further establish themselves as the indispensable international financial body, whose ultimate authority supersedes any national jurisdiction, thereby interminably dismantling and diminishing the sovereignty of the individual nation states.  In other words, they consolidate their subjugation of the local citizenry by championing the benefits of economies of scale which only globalization can achieve, and, of course, that only their financial frameworks can administer.

The UN, EU, NAU, IMF, WBC, CFR, NATO, WTO, OECD, WHO, and a myriad other IGOs (Intergovernmental organizations), all use much the same modus operandi as the BIS, to expand their dominion.  In the end, it’s mostly about their self-seeking interests, entitled importance and institutional aggrandizement.  Throughout history, elite groups of men have always attempted to subjugate the masses, this is no different.  The once magnificent self determined Republic of the United States, for the people of the people, must stop these globalists dead in their tracks, before their self-serving hubris and unrelenting drive for hegemony brings unsuspecting Americans down on their knees.

images (1)Carroll Quigley, the renown academic historian, in his monumental tome Tragedy and Hope published in 1966, clearly identified the underlying scheme of this scourge.  Having studied the rise and fall of civilizations, Quigley found the explanation of disintegration in the gradual transformation of social “instruments” into “institutions”, that is, transformation of social arrangements functioning to meet real social needs into social institutions serving their own purposes regardless of real social needs.  Many discerning Americans are certainly aware of the prevalence of the false Left/Right paradigm in American politics which is clearly driven by the buying off of politicians via an army of private lobbyists on behalf of avaricious corporate institutions and demanding special interest groups.  There is also a solid case to be made that our multinational banking institutions directly serve to promote this debilitating duplicitous demagoguery.  The once esteemed news networks have also degenerated into a cronyism cesspool of unabashed corporatism, no longer reporting news, but rather dishing out distilled disinformation and various valueless vicissitudes.   Institutional disintegration indeed, Mr. Quigley was flat out dead right back in 66′!

Professor Carroll Quigley directed these poignant prescient words specifically at the Bank for International Settlements: 

“The Power of financial capitalism had a far reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalistic fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences.

The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks, which were themselves private corporations.  Each central bank sought to dominate its government by its ability to control treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence co-operative politicians by subsequent rewards in the business world.”

5200274d57b5d.preview-300The ominous premise of this lengthy EP, leads The Savant to precisely why he has become so increasingly alarmed, in what he absolutely believe is staring the United States right in the face. Just as the once proud independent self governing sovereign nation states of Europe have become subservient to an autocratic international banking class which promptly imposed a common currency, and now actively crafting a fiscal union to complete its ascendancy and authority, the United States is also a prime target in the cross hairs of the financial globalists.  Make no mistake, the BIS, IMF, IFC, OECD and the World Bank are on a maniacal maraudering mission to subvert the existing U.S. monetary system, via a complicit and cunning central bank in our very own Federal Reserve.  In my view, this is the only valid explanation as to why we are systematically being driven off a fiscal and monetary cliff, almost as if we were preforming national financial and economic Hari Kari.  At this point, they have mandated a market cataclysm and deliberately determined the dollar’s demise.  To be sure, the BIS and IMF are waiting in the wings with a new global means of exchange based on an archetype of the presently established SDR mechanism.

Why else is the BIS saying the following today regarding the FED’s current monetary measures?

“The temptation to postpone adjustment can prove irresistible, especially when times are good and financial booms sprinkle the fairy dust of illusory riches. The consequence is a growth model that relies too much on debt, both private and public, and which over time sows the seeds of its own demise.

To return to sustainable and balanced growth, policies need to go beyond their traditional focus on the business cycle and take a longer-term perspective – one in which the financial cycle takes centre stage…They need to address head-on the structural deficiencies and resource misallocations masked by strong financial booms and revealed only in the subsequent busts. The only source of lasting prosperity is a stronger supply side. It is essential to move away from debt as the main engine of growth.”

banksters6Ask yourselves, if Janet Yellen sits on the Board of Directors of the BIS, why have she and her 21st century predecessors been conducting a brazen, unproven, uncharted and surely precarious monetary policy with complete abandon, that totally contradicts the sage and proven advice judiciously laid out above by the very institution which is central to monitoring, regulating and advising on global central bank direction. Something stinks here, it just doesn’t add up.  Is our Federal Reserve, whose top leadership also happens to be elite members of the BIS banking cabal club, actually double dealing here?  Setting us up for a great fall, so the financial globalists can come sweeping in to our rescue, installing themselves as our monetary overlords?  Far fetched, you say?  Remember, this is well within their past predatory precepts, and typical of their self-serving Modus Operandi!

If the Idiot Savant’s take doesn’t convince you, perhaps the view of a multi-billionaire hedge-fund legend on the very same issue might.  Paul Singer in his own words:

We were astounded to learn that the board of the BIS is comprised of none other than the heads of the major central banks of the developed world! Yes – Yellen, Draghi, et al! 

So, these central bankers are simultaneously failing to tell their respective governments that (1) monetary policy has done enough; (2) monetary policy is causing massive risks and distortions; and (3) political leaders must grab the reins and make structural changes, these same central bankers are authorizing BIS reports that will enable them to say, after the coming multifactor crisis, that they told us about the risks.

president-andrew-jacksonWe wonder who from the Fed authorized the report, and why they haven’t shared these harsh views of Fed policy in the FOMC meeting minutes or the endless public speeches by Fed officials. It is duplicitous for the Fed to authorize the views in the BIS report yet keep quiet about them elsewhere. But then, the Fed has never accepted much responsibility for the 2008 crisis, despite its decisions to keep interest rates artificially low for an extended period of time, to do a poor job of regulating the banking system and to abet Fannie and Freddie in their utter irresponsibility. History rhymes. The Fed has created the fuel for another crisis, seems to know it judging by the BIS report, and yet is covering itself with an “I told you so” report from the BIS rather than changing course.

In closing, the following list identifies the current Board of Directors who preside over the Bank of International Settlements today, see if you recognize any of them. 

The BIS Board of Directors:

Chairman: Christian Noyer, Paris

Mark Carney, London
Agustín Carstens, Mexico City
Luc Coene, Brussels
Jon Cunliffe, London
Andreas Dombret, Frankfurt am Main
Mario Draghi, Frankfurt am Main
William C Dudley, New York
Stefan Ingves, Stockholm
Thomas Jordan, Zurich
629283546_0_xlargeKlaas Knot, Amsterdam
Haruhiko Kuroda, Tokyo
Ann Le Lorier, Paris
Stephen S Poloz, Ottawa
Raghuram Rajan, Mumbai
Jan Smets, Brussels
Alexandre A Tombini, Brasília
Ignazio Visco, Rome
Jens Weidmann, Frankfurt am Main
Janet L Yellen, Washington
Zhou Xiaochuan, Beijing

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via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1xTMcoT Tim Knight from Slope of Hope

Jet Pack Ruiners, Toy Gun Grabbers, Eco ATM Luddites (Nanny of the Month, 7-14)

“Jet Pack Ruiners, Toy Gun Grabbers, Eco ATM Luddites
(Nanny of the Month, 7-14)” was produced by Ted Balaker and
originally released on July 31, 2014. The original text is
below. 

In July, police promise confrontations
will happen
 if one town doesn’t ban the open carry of
guns… toy guns. And in Oakland, California going green and making
green just got a bit more difficult with a ban on “Eco ATMs” that
offer cash payouts for old electronics and which local city
officials say incentivize
cell phone theft
. But this month’s top dishonor goes to the
Newport Beach city council, which has prohibitednew
businesses in the “water jet pack” industry
 from opening
along the shoreline.

Officials hope the six-month moratorium addresses concerns
related to “noise, injuries, wakes and a possible proliferation of
the water-propelled devices.”

While it’s true that not everyone can handle the power of
the jet pack
, some of us have been waiting on our jet packs for
a long time. So, step aside Newport Beach city council, because
some of us are
ready to fly.

Approximately 1:30

Nanny of the Month was created by Ted Balaker and is produced by
Balaker and Matt Edwards. Edited by Edwards. Written by Zach
Weissmueller. Opening graphics by Meredith Bragg.

To watch previous episodes, go here.

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via IFTTT

Tennessee Doctor In Self-Quarantine On Return From Liberia Ebola Hotspot

A Tennessee doctor, working at the same Liberian clinic as Dr. Kent Brantly – the Ebola-infected American who was flown to Atlanta yesterday for treatment – has placed himself in quarantine as a “precaution for [his] family.” As ABC reports, Alan Jamison, a retired pediatrician, returned home to Morristown, Tenn., after he was evacuated from Liberia by the aid group he was volunteering for, says he’s “feeling well” and showing no sign of symptoms; and claims since landing in the US, he said he’s had no physical contact with anyone. As Mark St.Cyr notes, the Ebola virus which has been separated from the U.S. populace by the fortune of geological positioning has not only arrived on our doorstep, but was flown in deliberately on its own personal G5. Many are asking questions of; why? But perhaps the more crucial question is ‘what if?’ The what if question was this: “What if they need to bring them back because they had no choice? What if the reason they need to get them into better facilities is for the worst of all reasons? i.e., It’s already here.”

 

As ABC reports,

A Tennessee doctor who placed himself in quarantine after volunteering in West Africa, where the Ebola virus is rampant, says he’s “feeling well” and showing no sign of symptoms.

 

Alan Jamison, a retired pediatrician, returned home to Morristown, Tenn., after he was evacuated from Liberia by the aid group he was volunteering for — working at the same hospital as Dr. Kent Brantly, an American now fighting the deadly virus.

 

I feel very comfortable and I’m looking forward to being able to be with my family again,” Jamison told ABC News via Skype.

 

Since landing in the U.S., he said he’s had no physical contact with anyone and has only been near his daughter, who picked him up from the airport. Jamison said he plans to hole up at home until the 21-day incubation period is completed.

 

“I’m out of the major risk period right [now],” he said. “The isolation that I’m going through right now is in excess of what the CDC suggested for the precaution for my family.”

 

 

Jamison isn’t sure how Brantly, who is in isolation and expected to arrive in the U.S. next week, became infected with Ebola.

 

“He was very cognizant and careful with the hygiene precautions that he used,” Jamison said. “I’m not sure how it occurred that he was exposed.”

After this, perhaps Mark St.Cry’s perspective on “What If?” with regard Ebola is more prescient that he imagined…

Often times we get caught up in the asking of why rather than asking what if. It sounds like such a subtle distinction and for some it’s an exercise not worth pursuing. However, it is sometimes this very innocuous line of questioning that is the only thing that gets at the root of many issues facing not only business in general, but sometimes rooting out the answers one doesn’t want to actually face – never mind deal with.

 

Personally I made many of my marks in business by being the person who more often than not had to pick up the pieces or control their trajectory as to where they may land ahead of time during my tenure in the business world. Today the professional moniker is “an expert in Crisis Management.”

 

Expert is not for vanity’s sake. If I had done it once that could be racked up to chance, twice could be coincidence, but three times and more and you’ve distinguished yourself with a track record.

 

Although I have always been somewhat of a contrarian, it was when a friend of mine years earlier asked me a rhetorical question during a crisis taking place where we lived that shaped much of my reasoning and understandings for years to come.

 

Earlier that day the city where we grew up experienced a power outage causing a city-wide black out that was still not resolved as we were talking later that afternoon.

 

The outage occurred during the mid morning. It wasn’t as if the streets or neighborhoods were cloaked in darkness. Yet, in less than 30 to 45 minutes after the outage started looters began smashing windows downtown and stealing everything that wasn’t nailed down.

 

It didn’t start with just one, it was a mob from all accounts that started the spree.

 

As we were discussing the reasons for “why” and more he made a statement that sticks with me to this day: “You keep asking why would they do this so quickly. The question you need to answer is, what if this is what they were waiting for?” That subtle change in questioning changes everything both in how you address the “why” and more.

 

Again it changes the thought process in how one looks as to deal with situations in their heads while opening up lines of questioning that help one zero in and fix a true underlying issue; rather than addressing or wasting time arguing moot points. i.e., If you only think about why someone is looting in general terms you rationalize the intent (boredom, mob behavior, frustration, etc.) far different from what if the intent was as soon as opportunity showed itself – that was what was to be done.

 

His reasoning was it happened far too quick. He said, “People just don’t lose the power and begin smashing windows 30 minutes later unless that’s exactly what you were waiting for.

 

Whether he was right or wrong didn’t matter. His line of thinking in objective analysis was spot on and I never forgot it. Plus it has served me well these decades later throughout my professional life.

 

So what does all this have to do about the issues today?

 

Well, it has a lot to do with what has just transpired in Atlanta in the willful experiment in both transporting as well as containing one of the world’s worst known viruses to the United States.

 

I use the words “experiment” as well as “willful” deliberately for this has never been done here before.

 

As of right now the Ebola virus which has been separated from the U.S. populace by the fortune of geological positioning has not only arrived on our doorstep, but was flown in deliberately on its own personal G5. Many are asking questions of; why?

 

I was speaking with a friend where I pondered a “what if” rhetorical rebuttal to their questioning of “why” and they nearly froze. As I said before: Changing why to what if many times opens up far more doors than one first believed even available.

 

The what if question was this: “What if they need to bring them back because they had no choice? What if the reason they need to get them into better facilities is for the worst of all reasons? i.e., It’s already here.”

 

Of course this is absolutely nothing more than a thought experiment. I’m not trying to be an alarmist banging pots and pans out in the streets with a sign around my neck claiming “The End Is Near!” Nor, do I have, know, or pretend to know what we should or should not be doing. I’m just asking a question because the answers are far too important and meaningful to not only business, but for much, much, more.

 

Here’s why one really needs to think (and that means clearly and rationally) for there are just too many other things happening that no one wants to even consider, let alone ponder “what ifs.”

 

Here’s what we know as of today. Not speculation, not hyperbole, not innuendo, but fact.

 

First: We know as of today we have an out of control southern border crisis where tens of thousands of both children and more are crossing in droves. Many have confirmed cases of infections diseases such as tuberculosis and others that have been all but eradicated in the U.S. currently.

 

What we also know is: we don’t know who or all the identities of those that crossed are. We know the bulk, but what about god forbid just one terrorist mixed within carrying the deadly Ebola virus. What if that were to be true?

 

Second: We know that there were infected people with this deadly virus detained and isolated after being seen visually suffering from the virus at: an airport. Albeit in the country of origin, but as I said earlier the question to ask is “what if” one made it past?

 

Third: This could have far more impact to western civilization and its society than any conventional means of warfare could ever have. And the people wanting to inflict harm are more than willing to use any and all means to bring about that end. No matter how hard one tries to equate or affix the immorality as to why one wouldn’t or shouldn’t.

 

I’ve talked, debated, and down right argued with people many times over the years where they begin to get up in arms as to defend positions through the “why” frame of reference. Well, “why would people to do this?” or “Why would one do that when …..?” (you can fill in the blank.)

 

What has over turned their soap box over whether it be about business, or just plain discussions on life more often than not is when I posit the “what if.” e.g., What if it doesn’t work? What if that doesn’t happen? What if there’s another reason? What if what you think to be true is in actuality wrong? This is when and where the questioning, reasoning, breakthroughs and more have happened. I believe you get what I’m trying to convey.

 

Don’t take any of this as a slam of the poor victims we just brought back. I have great compassion as well as admiration for these doctors and others that have the courage of their convictions to walk head first into a truly horrific condition as to try not only heal, but to help foster ways as to prevent.

 

These people are doing work where statutes should be erected at every public square in their honor. I understand and can easily rationalize all of the “whys” these people would embark on such truly humanitarian work.

 

What I currently fear is that once again I’m near alone where no one seems to even be thinking, let alone contemplating the obvious…

 

What If?

Finally, if you were wondering just how Ebola outbreaks spread so quickly, SCMP has created the ultimate history of how one of the deadliest viruses on earth, with a 90% mortality rate, is spreading faster than efforts to control it.

 

Click image for large legible version

 

Source: South China Morning Post

*  *  *

So, What If?




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Brian Doherty on Medical Pot vs. the Second Amendment

Rowan Wilson had a Nevada state permit for
medical marijuana. When she set out to buy a gun in 2011, she
visited the shop of a licensed dealer who knew she had the permit
and refused to sell her a firearm. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco
Firearms and Explosives (ATF), it turns out, considers a medical
marijuana permit holder to be an “unlawful user of or addicted to”
a “controlled substance” and thus barred from legally purchasing
guns.

View this article.

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via IFTTT

It Is Much Bigger Than You Think!

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth – not going all the way, and not starting.” … Buddha

GO GATA!

The gold price manipulation scheme will go down as the biggest financial market scandal in US history for numerous reasons. They include the destruction of the free market system in the United States. The manipulation of the gold and silver prices eventually led to the manipulation of US interest rates via the Fed, the stock market via the Plunge Protection Team, and to the currency markets. GATA has been on this case for more than a decade, pounding the table about what was going on. Because there is no free financial market press, our views, backed up by as much evidence as any prosecutor would have in a slam dunk murder case, are not allowed to see the light of day. CNBC, on which I was interviewed by Ron Insana in February of 1999, has boycotted us. So has BNN in Canada. Veteran Bloomberg gold reporter Claudia Carpenter, whom I met in the spring of 1999 in New York, told John Embry, Chris Powell and I in London in 2010 that she cannot mention GATA. And she and Bloomberg never have. It is the rarest of times when Reuters will mention GATA, even though we have been in contact with them for 15 years. I could go on and on. But, perhaps the most telling was the email my colleague CP received from the Financial Times that our subject was “too sensitive” to make mention of … as in we are too right!

Actually, GATA has been on this case for 15 ½ years. And guess what has surfaced the past few years? One financial market scandal after another about market manipulation. Can you say Libor? Can you say the trillion dollar scandal about “rigging” in the forex market? And then we have the mounting lawsuits and charges over the London gold and silver Fixes.

And yet with all the evidence GATA has collected about the manipulation of the gold and silver markets, we are still persona non grata with the press, and even the mainstream gold community.

So, what’s the deal?

One of my favorite quotes emanates from CP: “The United States would rather reveal its nuclear secrets than what it is doing in the gold market.”

It is THAT big a deal!

My old colleague Frank Veneroso, who wrote the brilliant Gold Book in 1998, told Sprott’s John Embry and I many years ago that the gold price suppression scheme was “much bigger than you think.” Frank found out the US Government was taping his phone calls and ever since has shut up about what GATA has to say. Frank was the one who exposed the gold leasing scheme, which is how The Gold Cartel did their thing so many years ago. It is how GATA knows the central banks have well less than half the gold they say they have in their vaults. Frank got his information from a Bank of England source who has since died.

While Frank (known as a Wall Street Whiz Kid in the early 1980’s) made a deliberate decision years ago to quietly disappear from the gold price suppression scheme issue, other widely recognized investment mavericks go ballistic when the subject is brought up…

*Not long after GATA was formed, I saw the very visible Bill Fleckenstein on TV and thought this against the grain maverick would be perfect to enlist into the GATA camp. But he went bonkers about the issue when I spoke to him on the phone. A bit bewildered by the tone of his voice, I searched the internet to get a clue why. The answer came right away. The one sponsor of his new internet site: JP Morgan.

*Which brings us to the widely seen Jim “Mr. Bowtie” Grant. A relative of a Café member here in Dallas did an interview with T. Boone Pickens for his newsletter years ago, which turned out to be the most popular one ever. The interviewer, whom I had met, suggested me (GATA) to be his next one. Grant blew up at the idea. End of story.

*And that takes us to the veteran Doug Casey, who called the gold price suppression scheme people “ridiculous” in a Kitco interview. Not content to leave that alone, he went out of his way recently to blast the GATA camp at a Sprott Global conference … indirectly calling those who see the gold world our way “idiots.” Now, this is truly bizarre as Eric Sprott and John Embry of Sprott Asset Management are two of our biggest supporters. What can that guy be thinking of and why does he go out of his way to be so insulting?

Fleckenstein, Grant, and Casey are known for their individualistic thinking outside the box. Yet when it comes to what GATA has to say, they erupt. While they are all individuals, as a group it is about taking on “all the money and power in the word.” They like to be known as “edgy” in the establishment world, but not to be known as taking them on. Think of them as wearing the flashy pants at a conservative country club. Yet what they don’t want is to get thrown out of the club for being unacceptable.

Is what GATA has uncovered bigger than what these four iconic people of sorts want to deal with? I think so. Because each year it is becoming more apparent that we don’t have free markets anymore in the U.S.; nor a free financial market press, and the control has escalated to even manipulating the financial market data.

What is evolving here is a massive breakdown of our financial market system and eventual chaos in our economy because of this orchestrated control. The United States has become the avant-garde communists of the day. How ironic that we fought them and their “system” for so long only to end up doing so much of what they did. The tragedy is that it will all blow up down the road and the average American, who is clueless of what is going on, will be devastated.

When it comes to the extent of all this manipulation, GATA is not alone…
Is All of Our Financial Data Manipulated?

Author : David Schectman
Miles Franklin
Published: August 1st, 2014

Sprotts Thoughts published a recap of their recent conference held in Vancouver. I want to comment on a portion of what Henry Bonner wrote:

    Andy Schectman, who started the precious metals coin dealer Miles Franklin alongside his father, struck a chord: Is gold being knocked down on purpose? “Who in their right mind sells that much gold all at once?” he asked, referring to the massive dumps of gold futures into the market last year.

    Doug Casey would kick up controversy by taking on this issue later on.

    Doug categorically denied the notion that precious metals were being controlled in his Friday talk. The powers that be “don’t care” about gold, he said, “they don’t consider it money.” And besides, prices are manipulated anyway by market participants, as that is how markets work, but not suppressed by governments and bank cartels.

    -Sprott Global.com, July 30, 2014

Within our industry there are a few people who strongly disagree with the premise that the price of gold and silver are manipulated or that there is some kind of government or Fed-led conspiracy to hold prices down. As mentioned above, Doug Casey is in this camp, and so is my friend Trader David R. I have taken heat in the past for presenting David R’s views. My response was that we like to consider both sides of the issue.

We have a strong relationship with the folks at Casey Research and respect what Doug has accomplished along the way. I have no problem with his view that gold and silver are not manipulated – I just don’t happen to agree with him. Our friends Chris Powell and Bill Murphy at LeMetropole Café tend to agree with our view. They are at the forefront of the “manipulation is real” issue. One thing I can say about both Casey and the LeMetropole Café boys – they are all sincere with no hidden agenda. They are still pro-gold, but they build their case without lending credence to manipulation.

Frankly, I am surprised that Doug Casey takes the position that he does. He has been heavily involved in the gold newsletter and investment industry since the 1980s. I spoke at a seminar in Hong Kong with Casey in the mid-80s and he was one of the “gold bugs.” But just because people like Casey and Trader David R are convinced that gold is not manipulated (or no more than any other commodity) they are still both very gold-bullish. They just believe that gold and silver are assets worth owning without relying on the “manipulation.” So I am not bothered by their views

Andy Hoffman and Bill Holter get hot under the collar when people like Casey and Trader David R express their views. How can they possibly believe that gold and silver are NOT manipulated when there is so much evidence to the contrary? A good point, and I feel the same way – but I don’t let my blood pressure rise when people who understand the importance of owning gold and silver happen to believe that the bull market in both metals will reach extraordinary heights, without using conspiracy or manipulation to build the case upon.

Our readers know all the arguments by now. I present the conspiracy/manipulation view every time I write. I find it hard to believe that any intelligent and logical person can look at the FACTS and come to another conclusion, but since when is there 100% agreement on anything? The real question is “What do YOU think?” We feel that we give you all the information you need to not only own gold and silver, but to feel comfortable that you have made the correct decision, and we are certain that you will reap the rewards of being right, while most Americans will be wrong. Just remember, Casey and Trader David R are on our side and they are bullish too. They are not the bad guys.

Speaking about manipulation – how about yesterday’s media blitz praising the strong economic numbers for the second quarter. Read what Zero Hedge has to say about this in the Featured Articles section. In the past year, over half of U.S. growth is from INVENTORY ACCUMULATION. All of our financial data is manipulated by our “no longer free and objective” press. It’s not just gold and silver, but the government’s data and the news put forth by the media. Even my wife, who is well read and very savvy said to me, “What do you think about the strong economic growth?” after reading about it in the newspaper. I had to explain it to her – and if she was unaware, I assure you, 99.9% of all Americans are unaware of what is happening.

-END-

Sounds familiar, eh?

Yes, it is hard to understand how anyone with an open mind, and has taken the time to review all the evidence about all this manipulation, doesn’t agree with the obvious. These days hardly a week/month goes by without a collusion scandal surfacing. It is an epidemic.

GATA is short for The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee. We were formed to expose how certain bullion banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan were violating anti-trust laws by suppressing the gold price … hence our name. Eventually we realized the scheme was bigger than WE thought and included the Fed, Treasury, BIS and other central banks.

So, look what surfaces a few days ago:

Democrat & Chronicle
Rochester
Kodak alleges aluminum pricing conspiracy

Matthew Daneman, Staff writer 10:16 p.m. EDT July 29, 2014

Eastman Kodak Co. has joined a long line of companies accusing a collection of financial and commodities giants of colluding to artificially pump up the price of aluminum.

Kodak filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, complaining that such parties as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the London Metal Exchange Ltd. were part of a conspiracy to violate the federal Sherman Antitrust Act and New York’s Donnelly Law.

The defendants are facing dozens of similar such suits that were filed around the country before being consolidated in December 2013 to the Southern District of New York and Judge Katherine B. Forrest.

Rochester-based Kodak said its suit is largely based on news releases and media reports about those suits and about federal regulators and lawmakers increasingly looking into the issue. Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Bill Baer told the House Judiciary committee last November that “this is a matter we are looking at.”

The Kodak suit also cites global aluminum production and consumption data to argue that “there is a substantial oversupply of aluminum, especially considering the vast supplies of aluminum held in warehouses.”

Kodak alleges the defendants hoarded aluminum in warehouses and periodically swapped their holdings among one another “in order to add to the artificial scarcity and conceal the conspiracy.”

A JPMorgan spokesman said Tuesday the company declined to comment. In a statement Tuesday, Goldman Sachs called the Kodak suit “without merit and we intend to vigorously contest it.”

Kodak is a big user of aluminum for its lithographic printing plates. While the company says it has had to pay artificially inflated aluminum prices because of the conspiracy, Kodak in its suit did not have an estimated amount of how much it has been harmed. Its suit asks for unspecified damages.

Among the defendants are Metro International Trade Services LLC, Pacorini Metals USA LLC and Henry Bath LLC, which own and operate various London Metal Exchange-certified warehouses; and Glencore Xstrata PLC, a commodities trading and mining company.

In the face of growing criticism from industrial customers about supposed raw material collusion, as well as the Federal Reserve last year saying it would review a years-old decision that lets banks into the physical commodity business, JPMorgan in March agreed to sell its physical commodities business.

-END-

Well hello!

A decade and one half later after GATA’s inception the same names keep surfacing when it comes to conspiring and manipulation.

JP Morgan is something else. First of all, it is the Fed’s bank, which directly links them to the gold price suppression scheme. And if there is a financial market scandal, their name almost always pops up. As of August 2013, the Department of Justice had 8 ongoing investigations into JP Morgan. Does Madoff sound familiar? JP Morgan was fined over $2 billion for its role in the Madoff Ponzi scheme, conspiracy scandal. All of this is not new. Price-fixing cases are conspiracies and the U.S. Justice Department said there was an epidemic of them in the late 1990’s when prosecuting Samsung for such doings. Nothing has changed since then.

Now look at this beauty…

CFTC Charges J.P. Morgan Securities LLC with Repeatedly Submitting Inaccurate Large Trader Reports and Imposes a $650,000 Civil Monetary Penalty

July 29, 2014

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and simultaneously settling charges against J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (JPMS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and a CFTC-registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), for submitting inaccurate reports to the CFTC relating to the required reporting of positions held by certain large traders whose accounts are carried by JPMS. The reporting violations occurred despite the CFTC notifying JPMS of numerous errors in its reports. The CFTC Order requires JPMS to pay a $650,000 civil monetary penalty to address its unlawful conduct.

The reports are known as the “large trader” reports and are used by the CFTC in order to evaluate potential market risks and monitor compliance with CFTC requirements.

CFTC Director of Enforcement Aitan Goelman commented: “The large trader reports are vital to the CFTC’s role in monitoring market behavior and are important to members of the public, many of whom rely on that information in forming trading strategies. Therefore, submission of accurate and reliable data to the CFTC is essential. The CFTC will be vigilant in enforcing these rules in order to ensure the integrity of the regulatory structure and to maintain transparency in the markets.”

The CFTC Order specifically finds that since at least 2012, the CFTC was notifying JPMS about errors in its large trader reports, which increased in frequency throughout the year. CFTC Regulations require FCMs to submit information on a daily basis for certain large traders, such as the number of open futures or options positions; the number of delivery notices issued or stopped; and the number of Exchange For Related Positions (EFRPs). In December 2012, the CFTC notified JPMS that the on-going problems were unacceptable. JPMS, relying on its third-party vendor that generated the reports for JPMS, assured CFTC staff that the problems would be resolved on or before the end of January 2013. However, JPMS continued to submit large trader reports that contained hundreds of errors throughout the period from February 1, 2013 to February 2014.

Accordingly, the CFTC Order finds that JPMS violated Section 4g(a) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), 7 U.S.C. § 6g(a) (2012), and CFTC Regulation 17.00(a)(1), 17 C.F.R. § 17.00(a)(1) (2013), with respect to its large trader reporting of delivery notices and EFRPs in connection with futures positions.

In addition to imposition of the $650,000 civil monetary penalty, the CFTC ordered JPMS to submit a certified statement of compliance within 120 days of the entry of the CFTC Order stating that it has completed enhancements to its systems and procedures related to reporting of delivery notices and EFRPs, and has tested such systems and procedures to ensure that they now comply with the requirements of the CEA and CFTC Regulations.

The CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this matter are Allison Baker Shealy, George H. Malas, and Paul G. Hayeck, with assistance from CFTC Office of Data and Technology staff Jorge Herrada, Margaret Sweet, Howard Rosen, Marshall Horn, and Yolonda Herron.

Media Contact
Dennis Holden
202-418-5088

-END-

So how is anyone supposed to know what is what by looking at the published reports on the gold and silver markets. As veteran Café members know, it has long been my opinion that JP Morgan was trading for The Gold Cartel, including the US Government, by using offshore accounts, which could not be traced. Based on this development, that could easily be the case. What is clear is that this discovery, one which received little to no attention, bolsters GATA’s contention that the gold and silver markets reek of corruption everywhere you turn.

For those of you who want to become more familiar with some of what GATA has put together over the years about the gold/silver price suppression scheme, I strongly suggest you read Chris Powell’s stump speech titled, “Gold price suppression — why, how, and how long.” It was given last fall and early this year in New Orleans, New Zealand, Australia and Suriname. It can be found here:

http://ift.tt/1eXD3Wt

Yes, it IS bigger than you think and when it all sees the light of day will lead to the biggest financial market scandal in US history. That will include market collapses, force majuere, a panic re unallocated gold accounts, a scandal over a real audit of US gold supply, one investigation after another of how this could have all happened, etc.

But, more importantly, for those who read this, it is also leading to an extraordinary investment opportunity … that being an explosion in the gold and silver markets. Because of The Gold Cartel, their prices have been forced down to artificially low levels. If the price of gold had just kept up with inflation, that price would be at least DOUBLE what it is today. The price of silver reached $50 thirty four years ago, and just about that a little over three years ago. It won’t be too long before that level is taken out with $100 an ounce as the next target.

Fortunes will be made by those onboard.

Bill Murphy
Chairman
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee
http://ift.tt/XYQ5f4




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Portugal's Insolvent Banco Espirito Santo To Be Bailed Out, Existing Equity To Be Wiped Out

When a week ago, the third and final Banco Espirito Santo HoldCo went bankrupt

… we knew it was only a matter of time. Sure enough, following Friday’s record collapse in the stock price of Portugal’s mega bank after even Goldman decided it had enough and pulled the plug on an equity investment it had made just three short weeks earlier (apparently with zero Due Diligence) following massive losses, and whose failure even Portugal’s president Silva finally admitted could be a systemic event, the local Diario Economic reports that Banco Espirito Santo is about to be nationalized, i.e. bailed out.

The details from Bloomberg, about the transaction that will wipe out the existing equity and replace it with 100% ownership by the Resolution Fund:

  • Portugal may use the Resolution Fund to recapitalize Banco Espirito Santo, Diario Economico reports, citing unidentified people linked to the process.
  • Resolution Fund may inject more than €3 billion
  • A “bad bank” may be created for the toxic assets of the credit portfolio: paper
  • Solution aims to rescue Banco Espirito Santo without spending taxpayers’ money, and is being prepared by the government and the Bank of Portugal: paper
  • From Aug. 4, Banco Espirito Santo will leave the stock market and will be 100% owned by the Resolution Fund, an entity created in 2012 and financed by Portuguese banks and by revenue from the special contribution that the banking sector pays the Portuguese state
  • Resolution Fund will have to be given enough resources to capitalize Banco Espirito Santo, and according to legislation this can be done through a state loan or through a new special contribution imposed on the 84 institutions that contribute to the fund
  • Part of the €6.4b that the Portuguese state still has available in the bank recapitalization facility that was included in Portugal’s bailout program may also be used to give the Resolution Fund the necessary resources to capitalize Banco Espirito Santo
  • Portuguese authorities’ plans predict that the bank will be sold in the stock market within six months, with the proceeds from the sale being used to repay the Resolution Fund

So Portugal’s “less insolvent” smaller banks will fund the bailout facility to rescue the nation’s most insolvent mega bank. What can possibly go wrong…

Incidentally, the most fun we had was the part where they said no taxpayer money (read German) would be used to bail out yet another insolvent European bank.

So much for Europe’s self-sustaining recovery in which no bank will be henceforth rescued.

That said, expect some combination of bail-out with bail-in elements, meaning the sub bonds are most likely about to be wiped out as well.

 

The only question is what happens to the seniors.




via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1shDdgI Tyler Durden

Portugal’s Insolvent Banco Espirito Santo To Be Bailed Out, Existing Equity To Be Wiped Out

When a week ago, the third and final Banco Espirito Santo HoldCo went bankrupt

… we knew it was only a matter of time. Sure enough, following Friday’s record collapse in the stock price of Portugal’s mega bank after even Goldman decided it had enough and pulled the plug on an equity investment it had made just three short weeks earlier (apparently with zero Due Diligence) following massive losses, and whose failure even Portugal’s president Silva finally admitted could be a systemic event, the local Diario Economic reports that Banco Espirito Santo is about to be nationalized, i.e. bailed out.

The details from Bloomberg, about the transaction that will wipe out the existing equity and replace it with 100% ownership by the Resolution Fund:

  • Portugal may use the Resolution Fund to recapitalize Banco Espirito Santo, Diario Economico reports, citing unidentified people linked to the process.
  • Resolution Fund may inject more than €3 billion
  • A “bad bank” may be created for the toxic assets of the credit portfolio: paper
  • Solution aims to rescue Banco Espirito Santo without spending taxpayers’ money, and is being prepared by the government and the Bank of Portugal: paper
  • From Aug. 4, Banco Espirito Santo will leave the stock market and will be 100% owned by the Resolution Fund, an entity created in 2012 and financed by Portuguese banks and by revenue from the special contribution that the banking sector pays the Portuguese state
  • Resolution Fund will have to be given enough resources to capitalize Banco Espirito Santo, and according to legislation this can be done through a state loan or through a new special contribution imposed on the 84 institutions that contribute to the fund
  • Part of the €6.4b that the Portuguese state still has available in the bank recapitalization facility that was included in Portugal’s bailout program may also be used to give the Resolution Fund the necessary resources to capitalize Banco Espirito Santo
  • Portuguese authorities’ plans predict that the bank will be sold in the stock market within six months, with the proceeds from the sale being used to repay the Resolution Fund

So Portugal’s “less insolvent” smaller banks will fund the bailout facility to rescue the nation’s most insolvent mega bank. What can possibly go wrong…

Incidentally, the most fun we had was the part where they said no taxpayer money (read German) would be used to bail out yet another insolvent European bank.

So much for Europe’s self-sustaining recovery in which no bank will be henceforth rescued.

That said, expect some combination of bail-out with bail-in elements, meaning the sub bonds are most likely about to be wiped out as well.

 

The only question is what happens to the seniors.




via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1shDdgI Tyler Durden

Israel Eavesdropped On John Kerry

When it comes to diplomacy, John Kerry may have rapidly become the biggest laughing joke in US State Department history, but that doesn’t mean his exchanges weren’t valuable to others. Others such as Israel, whose relations with the US have gone from worse to atrocious in recent months, and which as Spiegel just revealed, had eavesdropped on John Kerry on at least one occasion, during Mid-East peace negotiations. Israel would then use the information obtained from the calls during its own negotiations in the Mideast conflict.

Further, Spiegel reports that at least one other intelligence service also listened in as Kerry mediated last year between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states. The German publications adds wryly that “revelations of the eavesdropping could further damage already tense relations between the US government and Israel” although with Netanyahu openly refusing Obama’s demands about a Gaza ceasefire, one wonders just how much worse things between the two “allies” could get.

From Spiegel:

During the peak stage of peace talks last year, Kerry spoke regularly with high-ranking negotiating partners in the Middle East. At the time, some of these calls were not made on encrypted equipment, but instead on normal telephones, with the conversations transmitted by satellite. Intelligence agencies intercepted some of those calls. The government in Jerusalem then used the information obtained in international negotiations aiming to reach a diplomatic solution in the Middle East.

 

In the current Gaza conflict, the Israelis have massively criticized Kerry, with a few ministers indirectly calling on him to withdraw from peace talks. Both the US State Department and the Israeli authorities declined to comment.

 

Only one week ago, Kerry flew to Israel to mediate between the conflict parties, but the Israelis brusquely rejected a draft proposal for a cease-fire. The plan reportedly didn’t include any language demanding that Hamas abandon its rocket arsenal and destroy its tunnel system. Last year, Kerry undertook intensive diplomatic efforts to seek a solution in the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but they ultimately failed. Since those talks, relations between Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been tense.

Of course, Israel was merely taking advantage of State Department stupidity in communicating on an unsecured line: it certainly wasn’t the first or last time. Recall that it was in February when Russia leaked the infamous “Fuck the EU” phone conversation, in which Victoria Nuland made very clear that the puppetmaster behind the Ukraine regime change was none other than the US. In other words, Israel spied on the US: perfectly normal behavior by a country which knows that its one-time BFF is starting to pull away and support Iran of all countries. However, it doesn’t explain the following recent revelation: New Snowden Document Implies NSA May Be Putting Israel’s Security Ahead of America’s.

It also doesn’t explain headlines such as this one: “U.S. Congress approves $225 million for Israeli ‘Iron Dome’ system.”

Or perhaps until such time as the American people wake up and finally demand a Congress that is accountable to the people of the US and not to banker, corporate and/or foreign lobbies, it explains just about everything.




via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1o1p72C Tyler Durden