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Sorry
for the delay. I was out of town last weekend.
I
think it is time to request volunteers to "get the word out"
regarding what you, the readers of this website, now know about how to manage
monetary systems -- and ultimately, the superiority of a gold-based system in
all instances.
Anyone
can be a volunteer, but you must be independently functioning. Just go out
and do stuff. You don't even have to tell me about it.
I
bring this up because the rumors have now become official: a group of
countries led by Russia and China are now overtly calling for a new global
currency system.
Moscow Times: Russia to ask for new currency system at next G20
Reuters: UN to recommend ditching the dollar
The
other thing that's happening, of course, is Ben Bernanke has doused everyone
with gasoline with his plan to print $1 trillion of new cash out of thin air.
It is suspected that this was motivated by a refusal by China and other big
Treasury buyers of the past to buy the U.S. government's paper. So, it looks
like the old international currency system might be a goner in any case.
Does
this have a whiff of globalist NWO influence? Of course, but that doesn't
mean they are dominant here.
If you
can get copies of my book into the hands of various leaders, that would be a
help. This is not as hard to do as it sounds. For example, in autumn 2005
there was a big IMF meeting in Washington DC. Taking advantage of this
situation, an investment conference was scheduled for the same time, and many
central banker types gave speeches. It would have been possible to give a
copy of my book to most of the central bankers in the world that afternoon.
(Unfortunately, it wasn't in print yet.) The next G20 meeting might give
similar opportunities. It's in London on April 2.
A
Russian edition is not yet available, but there are versions in French,
German, Korean and Chinese.
It is
much easier to influence small countries. Those of you in places like
Yugoslavia, Fiji, Tunisia or Guatemala might find that it is not too hard to
get some meetings with government officials.
* * *
"Public/Private
Partnership" Another Banker Scam Confirmed: Well,
lookee here. Just like I told ya: the plan is for the banks to buy each
others' assets (they didn't even bother to disguise themselves as independent
investors), and use up to 95% government fundng. The obvious plan is to buy
assets at way too high prices, take the 5% loss and let the government eat
the rest. Why not buy at $1.05? Then, you'll sell at $1.05, take a $0.05
loss, and in the end the government will eat your crap asset for a $1! I
think people are getting wise to these scams. The more important thing,
perhaps, is that it shows that Turbo Timmy is just another banker criminal,
whose main purpose is to find creative ways of looting the government. Now
Turbo Timmy has to be
fired, immediately, or the rest of the Obama administration will
lose its remaining legitimacy. That would paralyze Treasury for at least a
while.
NY Times: The Next Banker Scam
Chris
Whalen says Turbo Timmy might be gone by June.
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2009/03/chris-whelan-tim-geithner-is-disaster.html
* * *
Debt/equity
swap without bankruptcy: Apparently, it is possible to do a
capital reorg without bankruptcy. In the case of the banks, that would mean a
debt/equity swap without having to actually enter bankruptcy. That could
conceivably be a lot less messy, since the main purpose of bankruptcy was to
facilitate a debt/equity swap. The other purpose was to make the CDS
liabilities disappear, or at least make them manageable in a way that they
could be quietly unwound. I suspect that the derivatives books of these
organizations may prove to be unresolvable. I've thought that the best thing
to do would be to put the entire derivatives operations, or at least the CDS
operations, into some separate unit, where they can do a managed unwind with
no further connection to the original bank/broker. In essense, if the
derivatives book was long 100 CDs and short 100 CDS, but out of the 100 short
only 60 paid up (and 40 were counterparty defaults), then the CDS longs would
get a $0.60 payout, and that would be that. The big CDS mess is still ahead
of us. Some debt guys are talking about a 50% default rate for
non-investment-grade debt going forward. The default rate in 2008 was 4% I
think.
There
are other potentially problematic derivatives operations too, including the
much larger (by notional value) interest rate swaps market. These don't
necessarily need to be liquidated, but it would be good to separate them, and
other broker/dealer business, into a separate operation, in effect
re-enacting the Glass-Steagall separation of banking and broker operations.
There
is no need to move non-performing loan assets anywhere. They will
self-liquidate naturally, with no particular harm done.
I
think there will have to be some government oversight of this process.
Someone needs to step in and say: "OK, time to stop fooling around. This
is what is going to happen." I think that is what people mean by
"nationalization." However, the government need not actually own
the banks, or manage them. If the debt holders were converted into equity in
meaningful size, then the debt holders would be the new shareholders, i.e.
owners.
* * *
CDS at
the front of the line: I was surprised to hear recently that
CDS liabilities are senior to debt. This seemed counterintuitive to me. Also,
it creates some new problems because you can't easily get rid of the CDS
liabilities in a flash-bankruptcy, without someone (like Treasury, Supreme
Court etc.) waving a magic wand over the arrangement, or Congress changing
the laws. Apparently this situation has some interesting history:
Josh Marshall: How the Rules Were Rigged
People
are just figuring this out, which is maybe one reason corporate bonds are
taking a hit. People can't know everything, and maybe corporate bond holders
are just discovering they're junior to off-balance-sheet nonsense that they
don't know about. Yowza! Bank debt owners are getting particularly nervous,
and I would be too as the word is that major smoke is coming out of the big
derivative dealers including JPM.
* * *
Worse
than the Great Depression Watch: The A-Word. David Sirota of
Salon brushes off the A-Word.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/03/07/a_word/index.html?source=newsletter
I
suspect that when people start to become aware of geophysical issues
including weather oddities, volcanism, earthquakes, and sea level rise -- all
of which are on something like a parabolic upward curve -- things will take a
distinctly more A-Word-like feel. The web-bot project says this will enter
public consciousness around May or so.
Web Bot Project at Half
Past Human
* * *
Alternative
Heating Arrangements: After some research, I figure the best
alternatives for single-room heating are vented heaters from Toyotomi:
Toyotomi
Kerosene heaters
Alternatively,
if you have natural gas, try a Rinnai:
Rinnai Gas
Heaters
I
figure that going from typical medium-efficiency central heat to a
high-efficiency single-room heater like this could cut your heating bills by
50%+.
Nathan
Lewis
Nathan
Lewis was formerly the chief international economist of a leading economic
forecasting firm. He now works in asset management. Lewis has written for the
Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal Asia, the Japan Times, Pravda, and
other publications. He has appeared on financial television in the United
States, Japan, and the Middle East. About the Book: Gold: The Once and Future
Money (Wiley, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-470-04766-8, $27.95) is available at
bookstores nationwide, from all major online booksellers, and direct from the
publisher at www.wileyfinance.com or 800-225-5945. In Canada, call
800-567-4797.
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