STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 15 July 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 15 July 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 14 July 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 14 July 2015
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Dow Jones 18,053.58 +75.90 (0.42%)
S&P 500 2,108.95 +9.35 (0.45%)\
Nasdaq 5,104.89 +33.38 (0.66%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.40% +0.01 (0.42%)
[font color=black]30 Year 3.19% 0.00 (0.00%) [font color=black]


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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
09/08/14 Matthew Martoma, convicted SAC trader, sentenced to 9 years in prison plus forfeiture of $9.3 million, including home and bank accounts







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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[Hotler]

1. Part of the problem.....

Great fortunes don’t always last. New technology trumps the old, trends wane, management stumbles. Yet a few of the families who made FORBES second annual ranking of America’s Richest Families –we capped the list at 200 members this year — have withstood such challenges. Some, like the Huber family, have survived for six generations, dating back to the 1800s. Each of these clans is worth at least $1.2 billion. Collectively, they’re worth $1.3 trillion. Thirty-three newcomers join the ranks, including the Sackler family, whose company makes pain drug OxyContin; the Greenberg family behind Skechers shoes, and the Trincheros, owners of the fourth largest U.S. wine company.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/billion-dollar-bloodlines-americas-richest-families-2015/ar-AAcDXXo#image=AAcqJWQ|1

[Demeter]

2. And remember what Balzac said:

Le secret des grandes fortunes sans cause apparente est un crime oublié, parce qu'il a été proprement fait.

The secret of great fortunes without apparent cause is a crime forgotten, for it was properly done.

A paraphrase in The Oil Barons: Men of Greed and Grandeur (1971) by Richard O'Connor, p. 47: "Balzac maintained that behind every great fortune there is a great crime." It also appears at the beginning of the novel "The Godfather," published two years earlier.

[Demeter]

3. Killing the European Project PAUL KRUGMAN

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/killing-the-european-project/?_r=1

Suppose you consider Tsipras an incompetent twerp. Suppose you dearly want to see Syriza out of power. Suppose, even, that you welcome the prospect of pushing those annoying Greeks out of the euro.

Even if all of that is true, this Eurogroup list of demands is madness. The trending hashtag ThisIsACoup is exactly right. This goes beyond harsh into pure vindictiveness, complete destruction of national sovereignty, and no hope of relief. It is, presumably, meant to be an offer Greece can’t accept; but even so, it’s a grotesque betrayal of everything the European project was supposed to stand for.

Can anything pull Europe back from the brink? Word is that Mario Draghi is trying to reintroduce some sanity, that Hollande is finally showing a bit of the pushback against German morality-play economics that he so signally failed to supply in the past. But much of the damage has already been done. Who will ever trust Germany’s good intentions after this?

In a way, the economics have almost become secondary. But still, let’s be clear: what we’ve learned these past couple of weeks is that being a member of the eurozone means that the creditors can destroy your economy if you step out of line. This has no bearing at all on the underlying economics of austerity. It’s as true as ever that imposing harsh austerity without debt relief is a doomed policy no matter how willing the country is to accept suffering. And this in turn means that even a complete Greek capitulation would be a dead end.

Can Greece pull off a successful exit? Will Germany try to block a recovery? (Sorry, but that’s the kind of thing we must now ask.)

The European project — a project I have always praised and supported — has just been dealt a terrible, perhaps fatal blow. And whatever you think of Syriza, or Greece, it wasn’t the Greeks who did it.

[Demeter]

4. Greece bailout deal sparks domestic opposition

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/greece-bailout-deal-sparks-domestic-opposition-150713182015462.html

Greek junior coalition partner says it cannot back agreement with EU, as civil servants' union calls for 24-hour strike...The Greek government's junior coalition partner has said it cannot back the agreement announced between Greece and its European creditors, describing the proposed deal as a German-led "coup".

Defence Minister Panos Kammenos, leader of the right-wing Independent Greeks party, said on Monday he had no plans to leave the government but added he would not join a national unity government, the Associated Press news agency reported.

"The prime minister of this country was faced with a coup staged by Germany and other countries," Kammenos said after meeting with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, adding "this deal introduced many new issues ... we cannot agree with it."

The announcement is a blow to Tsipras' six-month-old government, which is struggling to maintain its majority in parliament, ahead of Tuesday's vote on the reforms needed to unlock the eurozone rescue deal...

SOME THINGS SIMPLY ARE NOT WORTH IT....AND SOME PROBLEMS ARE NOT FIXABLE.

THE EURO IS IN BOTH CATEGORIES.

THE GREEKS THOUGHT THAT BY JOINING THE EURO, THEY WOULD GET A WELL-RUN CURRENCY...NOT THE SHAFTING THEIR OWN CENTRAL BANK REGULARLY DID TO THEIR CURRENCY. THE CORRUPTION WAS ALLOWED TO KEEP ON RUNNING...AND THIS IS THE RESULT.

BUT WHAT THE GERMANS ARE DOING IS PURE SADISM, ON TOP OF THE REAL PROBLEMS GREECE HAS TO FACE. THAT IS NOT FIXABLE. WALK AWAY, GREECE!

[Demeter]

6. And as for Germany, their theme song is from Cabaret:

[Hotler]

13. I hate Illinois Nazis

[Demeter]

5. Tsipras: Greece Faced Financial Strangling, Will Keep Fighting This content was originally publishe

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Tsipras-Greece-Faced-Financial-Strangling-Will-Keep-Fighting-20150713-0012.html

Tsipras stated that the deal "prevented the financial asphyxiation and the collapse of the financial system

After the eurozone summit ended with a new deal between Greece and fellow member states, left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras released a statement vowing to keep fighting.

Although it acknowledges the “tough measures” Greece will face, which “will inevitably create recessionary trends,” Tsipras's message says his decisions have “prevented the financial asphyxiation and the collapse of the financial system — this was planned to the last detail – having recently been designed to perfection, and in the process of being implemented.”

The Greek Prime Minister promised that “no matter what the burdens will be ... it will not be the case that those who have shouldered the burden during the last years will be stuck footing the bill once more ... those who avoided paying — many of whom were protected by the previous governments — will ... shoulder the burden."

He also emphasized, “we managed to gain the restructuring of the debt and a financing process for the medium-term.” Tsipras also drew attention to the “the growth package of 35 billion euro that we achieved” and hoping that “securing funding for the next three years will create market confidence, so that investors realize that fears of a Grexit are a thing of the past—thereby fueling investment, which will offset any recessionary trends.”

Tsipras vowed that, “Greece will continue to fight, and we will continue to fight, so that we can return to growth, regain our lost national sovereignty” and oppose “the oligarchy that have led to the country’s current state.”

Full statement by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at the conclusion of the eurozone summit:

We have been fighting hard for six months now, and we fought until the end to achieve the best possible outcome, an agreement that will enable the country to get back on its feet, and for the Greek people to be able to continue to fight. We faced tough decisions, tough dilemmas. We assumed responsibility for the decision in order to prevent the most extreme objectives from being implemented—those pushed for by the most extreme conservative forces in the European Union. The agreement calls for tough measures. However, we prevented the transfer of public property abroad, we prevented the financial asphyxiation and the collapse of the financial system — this was planned to the last detail — having recently been designed to perfection, and in the process of being implemented. Finally, in this tough battle, we managed to gain the restructuring of the debt and a financing process for the medium-term. We were aware that it would not be an easy task, but we have created a very important legacy. An important legacy, and a much-needed change throughout Europe. Greece will continue to fight, and we will continue to fight, so that we can return to growth, regain our lost national sovereignty. We earned our popular sovereignty. We sent a message of democracy, a message of dignity throughout Europe and the world. This is the most important legacy. Finally, I would like to thank all of my colleagues — ministers, colleagues and associates who gave, along with me, a very tough fight. A fight, which at the end of the day, will be vindicated. Today’s decision will maintain Greece’s financial stability and provide recovery potential. However, as we knew beforehand, the agreement will be difficult to implement. The measures include those that Parliament has voted on. Measures that will inevitably create recessionary trends. However, I am hopeful that the growth package of 35 billion euro that we achieved, debt restructuring, as well as securing funding for the next three years will create market confidence, so that investors realize that fears of a Grexit are a thing of the past — thereby fueling investment, which will offset any recessionary trends. I believe that a large majority of the Greek people will support the effort to return to growth; they acknowledge that we fought for a just cause, we fought until the end, we have been negotiating through the night, and no matter what the burdens will be, they will be allocated — we guarantee this — with social justice. And it will not be the case that those who have shouldered the burden during the last years will be stuck footing the bill once more. This time, those who avoided paying — many of whom were protected by the previous governments — will pay now, they, too, will shoulder the burden. Finally, I want to make this commitment: Now, we need to fight just as hard as we fought to achieve the best outcome abroad-in Europe, to rid vested interests in the country. Greece needs radical reforms in favor of social forces, and against the oligarchy that have led to the country’s current state. And this commitment to this new effort begins tomorrow.

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Tsipras-Greece-Faced-Financial-Strangling-Will-Keep-Fighting-20150713-0012.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english

[antigop]

7. Robert Reich: Hillary Clinton's Glass-Steagall (crossposted in Good Reads)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/hillary-clintons-glass-steagall_b_7798344.html

Hillary Clinton won't propose reinstating a bank break-up law known as the Glass-Steagall Act -- at least according to Alan Blinder, an economist who has been advising Clinton's campaign. "You're not going to see Glass-Steagall," Blinder said after her economic speech Monday in which she failed to mention it. Blinder said he had spoken to Clinton directly about Glass-Steagall.

This is a big mistake.

It's a mistake politically because people who believe Hillary Clinton is still too close to Wall Street will not be reassured by her position on Glass-Steagall. Many will recall that her husband led the way to repealing Glass Steagall in 1999 at the request of the big Wall Street banks.

It's a big mistake economically because the repeal of Glass-Steagall led directly to the 2008 Wall Street crash, and without it we're in danger of another one.

[Demeter]

11. Blinder lives up to his name (as usual)

He's an old Clinton hack.

[Punx]

15. More of the same failed policies

as far as economics go.

That is what I expect from Hillary.

[antigop]

8. Behind Hillary Clinton's High Praise for a Republican Wall Street Guru

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-13/behind-hillary-clinton-s-high-praise-for-a-republican-wall-street-guru

Duffy may be a registered Republican, but he is a Clinton supporter as well. He endorsed Clinton in her 2008 run, saying, “We need a president like Hillary Clinton who understands the important role that financial markets play in our global economy.” He added, “Like no other candidate, Hillary Clinton crosses party lines to combine the visionary leadership and pragmatic problem-solving skills that this country needs in its President.” He gave the maximum contribution of $4,600 to her 2008 campaign.

Duffy declined comment for this article, though Anita Liskey, the managing director of communications at CME, confirmed his current party registration. She told me, of Duffy's relationship with Clinton, “He knows her well and he’s obviously pleased that she mentioned his piece.”

E-mails released last week by the State Department show evidence of this relationship, as Bloomberg’s Jennifer Epstein and Ben Brody have detailed. Duffy asked Clinton to stop by a dinner he was hosting for “150 or so folks from the exchange,” and she in turn asked an aide to help find a moment for Duffy's group to visit the State Department. He was the conduit through which Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican rival in the presidential race, sent greetings.

Their e-mails have taken a more personal tone, as well. In May 2009, as Bloomberg’s Zachary Mider reported, Duffy e-mailed Clinton to invite her to a company event, and added, “You’re doing an incredible job.” In September came another invitation—and additional words of praise. “Once again,” he wrote, “you’re doing an amazing job.” She responded this time that she would try hard to be there, and later apologized for the delay. “I've been hip deep in the rollout of the Afghanistan strategy,” Clinton said, “I hope you, your family, and the futures markets are all well!”

[Demeter]

12. Meet the new Timmeh

same as the old one

[Hotler]

14. it is sad that there are many here on DU and in this country that will.....

blindly support HRC. No wonder the American people have no will to take to the streets fighting mad.

Hotler could not amass enough citizens to sustain a front. The enemy has broken through. The war is lost. All members of SMW pack you things. A plane leaves in an hour to take you South.

I have no hope. I see no future.

How is that for being melodramatic?????

[Demeter]

9. Tormenting Greece is about sending a message that we are now in a new EU

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/tormenting-greece-is-about-sending-a-message-that-we-are-now-in-a-new-eu-1.2283593

No deeper divide than that between those brought to heel and those who shout ‘Heel!’

What’s the difference between the Mafia and the current European leadership? The Mafia makes you an offer you can’t refuse. The leaders of the European Union offer you a deal you can neither refuse nor accept without destroying yourself.

The European Union as we have known it ended over the weekend. That EU project was all about the gradual convergence of equal nations into an “ever closer union”. That’s finished now...The whole notion was underpinned by three conditions. One was that the process of European integration was consensual – each member state would pool more and more of its sovereignty because it freely chose to do so. The second was that these incremental steps were, to use the terms applied to monetary union in the Maastricht treaty, “irreversible” and “irrevocable” – once they were taken, there could be no going back. The third, unspoken but completely understood, was that Germany would restrain itself, accepting, in return for the immense gift of a new beginning that its fellow European countries had given it, that it must refrain from ever trying to be top dog again. Each of these fundamental conditions was torched over the weekend.

Firstly, Greece’s sovereignty is no longer pooled – it has been surrendered after what EU officials gleefully called “mental waterboarding”.

By closing the Greek banks, threatening Greek voters and countering the Greek government’s surrender with terms designed to be utterly humiliating, the EU and euro zone leadership finished off the notion of consent. All the waffle about solidarity and respect has been exploded and we are left with an EU based on six little letters: or else.

A new idea has been shoved into the foundations of the EU – the idea that a member state can and will be brought to heel. And brought to heel, not quietly or subtly, but openly and ritually in a Theatre of Cruelty designed for that sole purpose.

The whole idea of making flagrantly provocative demands – the initial insistence that €50 billion of Greek public assets be placed in a fund in Luxembourg being the most spectacular – was to demonstrate, not just to Greece but to all member states, that the EU is now a coercive institution. And as a coercive institution it has moved into a state of profound division. There is no deeper divide than that between those who are punished and those who do the punishing, between those who are brought to heel and those who shout “Heel!”

Revenge-fuelled madness

As if this seismic shift were not enough in itself, the euro zone leaders managed at the same moment to destroy the second underlying assumption of the European project. In a mood of revenge-fuelled madness, they formally put on the table Wolfgang Schäuble’s pet formulation of a “temporary” Greek exit from the euro, thus casually tearing up the Maastricht treaty. In the long term it matters less that this threat was not carried out than that it was made and deemed acceptable. Once that happened, all the irreversibles of the European project became reversible; all the irrevocables became revocable. From here on, every step the EU takes is contingent and provisional. Angela Merkel boasted that Plan B proved unnecessary – but now every European Plan A has an implied Plan B. The official EU has become the provisional EU.

German restraint

The third condition was Germany’s self-restraint. In 2012, the former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt warned that the EU would be “crippled” if “we Germans allow ourselves to be seduced into claiming a political leading role in Europe or at least playing first among equals”. Many of Germany’s leading thinkers, from Günter Grass to Jürgen Habermas, have issued similar warnings. It is not accidental that these warnings came from men old enough to remember Nazism and their country’s physical and moral post-war devastation. The generation now in power in Germany seems to have forgotten everything. It is now not even a case of being “first among equals” – Germany is first in a new Europe of unequals.

And all for what? Why has the European Union been so radically redefined? Not for the sake of the Greek people, of course. No sane person believes that austerity and asset-stripping are the recipe for Greek recovery. For international financial discipline, then, to prove that all debts must be paid? Hardly – consider that in March the IMF, with almost no fuss, announced a financial package for a European country that is far more corrupt, unstable and oligarchic than Greece.

Ukraine write-offs

Ukraine got €36.1 billion in assistance from the IMF, including write-offs of previous IMF loans worth between €13.5 billion and €18 billion. There is little chance of any of this money ever being paid back. And yet Angela Merkel and the other EU hardliners had no problem with any of this. Why? It’s the politics stupid. Pouring money into corrupt and oligarchic Ukraine was about sending a political message. And tormenting Greece is also about sending a political message. The message is that we are in a new EU now, one that has a dominant power at its centre and a single acceptable ideology. Those who founded it believed that such a union could not survive. The current leadership apparently knows better.

[Demeter]

10. The Troika And The Five Families

http://www.theautomaticearth.com/2015/07/the-troika-and-the-five-families/

Personally, like most of you, I always thought Germany, besides all its other talents, good or bad, was a nation of solid calculus and accounting. Gründlichkeit. And that they knew a thing or two about psychology. But I stand corrected. The Germans just made their biggest mistake in a long time (how about some 75 years) over the weekend. Now, when all you have to bring to a conversation slash negotiation is bullying and strong arming and brute force, that should perhaps not be overly surprising. But it’s a behemoth failure all by itself regardless.

First though, I want to switch to what Yanis Varoufakis told the New Statesman in an interview published today, because it’s crucial to what happened this weekend. Varoufakis talks about how he was pushing for a plan to introduce an alternative currency in Greece rather than giving in to the Troika. But Tsipras refused. And Yanis understands why:

“Varoufakis could not guarantee that a Grexit would work …

…[he] knows Tsipras has an obligation to “not let this country become a failed state”.

What this means is that Tsipras was told by the Troika behind closed doors, to put it crudely: “we’re going to kill your people”. He was made an offer he couldn’t refuse. And Tsipras could never take that upon himself, even though the deals now proposed will perhaps be worse in the medium to long term, even though it may cost him his career. Criticism of the man is easy, but it all comes from people never put in that position. Varoufakis understands, and sort of hints he might have had second thoughts too if he were ever put in that position.

There’s not much that separates Schäuble and the EU from the five families that rule (used to rule?!) New York City. If you need proof of that, come to Athens and check out the devastated parts of the city. Germany and the Troika are as ruthless as the mob. Or, rather, they’re worse. My point is, their attitude and antics will backfire. You can’t run a political and/or monetary union that way. And only fools would try.

The structure of the EU itself guarantees that Germany will always come out on top. But they can only stay on top by being lenient and above all fair, by letting the other countries share some of the loot. To know how this works, watch Marlon Brando, as Don Corleone, talk to the heads of the five families in the Godfather. You need to know what to do to, as he puts it, “keep the peace”. He’s accepted as the top leader precisely because the other capos understand he knows how.

The Germans have shown that they don’t know this. And therefore, here comes a prediction, it’ll be all downhill from here for them. Germany’s period of -relative- economic strength effectively ended this weekend. The flaws in its economy will now be exposed, and the cracks will begin to show. If you want to be the godfather, the very first requirement is you need to be seen as fair. Or you will have no trust. And without trust you have nothing. It is not difficult. Germany will never get a deal like the EU has been for them, again. It was the best deal ever. And now they blew it, and they have no-one to blame but themselves. And really, the Godfather metaphor is a very apt one, in more ways than one. Schäuble could never be the capo di tutti capi, no-one would ever trust him in that role. Because he’s not a fair man. But he still tries to play the role. Big mistake.

The people here in Greece are being forced to pay for years for something they were never a part of, and that they never profited from. The profits all went to a corrupt elite. And if there’s one thing Don Corleone could tell you, it’s that that’s a bad business model. Because it leads to war, to people being killed, to unrest, and all of that is bad for business.

I must admit, I thought the Germans were smarter than this. They’re not. That much is overly obvious now. No matter what happens next, deal or no deal on Greece, and that’s by no means a given yet, don’t let the headlines fool you, no matter what happens, Germany loses. It’s not just about Greece, it’s about the whole EU. The Troika thinks that by scaring the living daylights out of the periphery, its power will increase. They even think it’ll work with France. Good luck with that. They’ll be facing Marine Le Pen soon, and Podemos, and M5S, and these antics will not work on them.

I guess the main thing here is that Don Corleone was not a psychopath or sociopath, and that’s more than you can say for Schäuble and Dijsselbloem and Juncker and their ilk. These people simply lack the social skills to lead any organization, because all they understand is power and force, and that is simply not enough. While brute force may look attractive and decisive and all, in the end it will be their undoing. I’m sure the vast majority of them have seen the Godfather films, but they’ve just never understood what they depict; they don’t have the skillset for it.

Germany just killed its golden goose. And boy, is that ever stupid. They could have had -again, relative, we’re in a recession- peace and prosperity, and they’re blowing it all away.

MORE

[mother earth]

16. Rob Kirby-World Domination by Bankers at Stake in Greece, USA Watchdog

Published on Jul 14, 2015

Is Greece the template for other counties around the world with extreme debt problems? Financial expert Rob Kirby says, “This is very aggressive, and to suggest this is a template for what’s going to be done in other countries is sort of like saying a mugging has a template. Muggings are very aggressive, nasty acts, and when you are being mugged, you have fight or flight reflexes. When you get into a dustup with anyone, how it is going to end is anybody’s guess. . . . It seems to me the bankers will use anything at their disposal, including threats and including offing people. This is a very nasty, nasty game. What is at stake here is world domination. . . . You cannot solve an issue of indebtedness by adding more debt. That is exactly, in a nutshell, what they are trying to do with Greece. They are trying to fix the Greek debt problem by giving them more debt, and that cannot be done.”

[magical thyme]

17. Greece and the Union of Bullies

The FT reports how, having reached an impasse in their negotiation, around 6 a.m., Merkel and Tsipras went to leave the room and President of the European Council Donald Tusk physically prevented them, saying “there is no way you are leaving this room”.

Alone, sleepless, with other leaders reportedly taking turns on him in a process which one EU official described as “extensive mental waterboarding”, looking like “a beaten dog”, Tsipras finally succumbed.

In any ordinary circumstances, in most legal jurisdictions, such an agreement would be considered void; obtained by coercion and under duress. In Euroland, it seems, such considerations do not apply...

....In one horrific night, Germany and its allies within the Eurozone demolished that illusion. They asserted their dominion, wrested sovereignty by coercion and under threat of revoking Greece’s status.

As Fintan O’Toole wrote in the Irish Times, there was another, unspoken condition: “that Germany would restrain itself, accepting, in return for the immense gift of a new beginning that its fellow European countries had given it, that it must refrain from ever trying to be top dog again.” Many believe that this, too, has been totally trashed. How will this play out, I wonder, in the context of the upcoming in-out UK referendum? Badly, I would venture.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Greece-and-the-Union-of-Bullies-20150714-0017.html

[mother earth]

18. TY, for this.

[Demeter]

19. IN A A WORD:

Ιησούς !

Ii̱soús !

[Fuddnik]

21. It's all Greek to me.

[Demeter]

20. VE HAF VAYS TO MAKE YOU VALK!

This is criminally insane. Tsipras needs to tell them where to get off, and take the Greeks out of the Promised Land, a kind of Reverse-Moses.