Contributed by Don Quijones: The first four items the G-8 dealt with was the need for governments to share information to “fight the scourge of tax evasion.” If only their primary targets were multinationals, banks, and hedge funds that pay a pitiful fraction of the taxes they owe in the countries they operate. But they’re going after the little guy.
Europe
‘Total Surveillance’ Officially Brushed Off In Germany
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on ‘Total Surveillance’ Officially Brushed Off In Germany
Chancellor Merkel’s coalition is likely to emerge victoriously from the elections in September, unless a major debacle blows up. So no debacle is allowed to occur until after the election. But just then, new revelations about NSA spying blew up: turns out, all citizens anywhere can be under surveillance by any government, including their own, beyond control and oversight.
The Big Four Central Banks Muddy The Same Sea Of Liquidity, And Then There’s China
by Lee Adler • • Comments Off on The Big Four Central Banks Muddy The Same Sea Of Liquidity, And Then There’s China
Contributed by Lee Adler, of The Wall Street Examiner. The Fed, ECB, BoJ, and BoE all deal with the same banks. Of the Fed’s 21 Primary Dealers, its sole counterparties, only seven are US domiciled. Three are Canadian, eight are European, including three British banks, and three are Japanese. All of them are major players in Europe and Japan.
Former TBTF Bank Chief Receives Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Card
by Don Quijones • • Comments Off on Former TBTF Bank Chief Receives Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Card
Contributed by Don Quijones:Two weeks ago, Miguel Blesa, former president of Spanish savings bank Caja Madrid, went to jail for his role in the bank’s demise. Finally, a TBTF bank chief got nailed for his role in the financial crisis. But it was too good to be true! Now a witch hunt against the judge has begun.
(Spanish) Banks Worse Than Pushers
by Don Quijones • • Comments Off on (Spanish) Banks Worse Than Pushers
France Torpedoes American Movies, Shoots Itself In Foot
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on France Torpedoes American Movies, Shoots Itself In Foot
France vetoed the launch of free-trade negotiations between the EU and the US, though France has racked up a big trade surplus with the US and has much to lose. The problem: cultural protectionism. It wants “an explicit exclusion of the audio-visual sector.” A catch phrase for American movies! And a theme that is in the DNA of the French political class.
Germany Grapples (Again) With The Choice Between Its Constitution And The Euro
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Germany Grapples (Again) With The Choice Between Its Constitution And The Euro
During the hearings before the German Constitutional Court, Finance Minister Schäuble, perhaps unwittingly, put his finger on yet another fatal flaw of the Eurozone: a central bank that could bail out speculators and pile the resulting losses on taxpayers of other countries, no questions asked, whenever it felt like it, without controls – “to save the euro,” as it were.
The ECB’s Forked-Tongue Policy To Save The Euro
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The ECB’s Forked-Tongue Policy To Save The Euro
In theory, Germany’s Constitutional Court could throw a monkey-wrench into the efforts to keep the Eurozone duct-taped together; it could rule against the ECB’s money-printing and bond-buying mechanism, lovingly dubbed OMT, that would create a “brave new Huxley-world of the unlimited debt,” a world where “money is no longer earned but printed.”
The Unthinkable Happens: A Former TBTF Bank Chief Goes to Jail
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Unthinkable Happens: A Former TBTF Bank Chief Goes to Jail
Contributed by Don Quijones: Just when you thought the concept of universal justice was dead, a courageous Spanish judge, Elpidio José Silva, did what no other judge in the Western world, bar Iceland, dared to do: He refused to grant bail to a former top banker, sending him to prison before facing trial for his alleged role in Spain’s financial crisis.