Baltic Dry Index. 1054 -23
LIR Gold Target by 2019: $30,000. Revised due to QE programs.
"When it becomes serious, you have to lie"
Jean-Claude Juncker. Luxembourg Prime Minister and president of the Euro Group of Finance Ministers. Confessed liar.
We open, as is getting usual, with yet another
disagreement in the Disunited States of Euroland. The number one country
Germany, publically clashed with the former number one state France. With France
well on its way to needing its own bailout at some point ahead, it’s quite
amusing to see the French finance minister hectoring paymaster Germany and
putting in his pitch to become Europe’s Leading Liar. The position is currently
filled by the Luxembourg Prime Minister.
Unsurprisingly, as Europe’s never ending austerity crisis
rolls on, corruption is thriving in Euroland. The EU, where the accounts haven’t
been signed off as accurate in 18 years, is corrupt from top to bottom. If corruption is OK at the top in Brussels,
why wouldn’t it be OK at the bottom?
Finally, will President Hollande’s fanatical
socialists, force Europe to turn off the lights?
Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it.
H. L. Mencken.
Franco-German rift hampers plan for banking union
BRUSSELS |(Reuters) - Germany and France publicly clashed on Tuesday over plans to put the European Central Bank in charge of supervising banks, deepening a dispute over the scope of the ECB's powers that threatens to undermine one of Europe's boldest reforms.
With time running out to meet a pledge to complete the legal framework for an EU-wide banking union by the end of the year, Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told a meeting of EU finance ministers he said could not support a plan that would give the ECB the final say on supervision.
France's Pierre Moscovici protested against any watering down of a plan central to Europe's response to a five-year banking crisis that promises to unify the way it deals with problem banks and end a previously haphazard approach.
"The right of the last decision cannot be left to the ECB Governing Council," Schaeuble told a meeting of finance ministers in Brussels in comments broadcast to reporters, adding that there could be no deal unless national supervisors had responsibility for most banks.
"A Chinese wall between banking supervision and monetary policy is an absolute necessity," he said, also voicing skepticism that an independent central bank such as the ECB should even take on the tasks of supervision.
Moscovici countered that EU leaders who had given finance ministers responsibility for drawing up a supervisory framework had always placed the ECB at the center of their vision.
"We have no mandate for a dual system of supervision which would call into question the existence of a single system for some banks," Moscovici told the meeting.
The depth of divisions between France and Germany, the two biggest economies at the heart of euro zone integration, pointed to the difficulty of reaching an agreement on Tuesday.
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Juncker Stepping Down French Finance Minister to Head Euro Group?
By Christoph Schult in Brussels 2/04/2012
Next year
is next year," said the Frenchman. "We have other concerns at the
moment," said the German.
As of
Monday evening, however, the two can no longer dodge the question. At the end
of yet another late-evening Euro-Group meeting in Brussels -- during which
finance ministers from the 17 euro-zone member states agreed to provide €40
billion in aid to ailing Spanish banks -- Juncker told his colleagues that he
intended to step down at the end of the year. "I have asked them to name
another minister," Juncker said.
His
departure will mark an end to his seven-year stewardship of the common currency
-- and one that comes not a moment too soon from his perspective. Juncker, who
is also the prime minister of Luxembourg, had long been nonplussed at the lack
of urgency with which his colleagues viewed his approaching departure, assuming
that he would simply carry on until they got around to finding someone.
----Since
this spring, Merkel has thrown her support behind Schäuble as the best
candidate to take over the leadership of the euro-zone body. Some have said her
fixation on nominating her finance minister has more to do with domestic
political concerns given next year's general elections in Germany: It would no
doubt please voters to have Schäuble looking after German taxpayer money in
Brussels.
Euro Crisis Feeds Corruption as Greece Slides in Rankings
By Patrick Donahue - Dec 5, 2012 5:00 AM GMT
The European debt crisis has given way to a new wave of corruption as some of the most hard-hit countries in the turmoil have tumbled in an annual graft ranking, watchdog group Transparency International said.
Greece, in its fifth year of recession and crippled by rounds of austerity, fell to 94th place from 80th -- ranking it below Colombia and Liberia, according to the group’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Ireland,
Austria, Malta and Italy were also among member states in the single currency to slide.
“Transparency International has consistently warned Europe to address corruption risks in the public sector to tackle the financial crisis, calling for strengthened efforts to corruption-proof public institutions,” the
Berlin-based group said in a statement accompanying its annual report.
A resolution to the crisis entering its fourth year continues to elude European leaders as a German-led strategy of scaling back public deficits has retreated amid recessions and economic hardship. The crisis has been accompanied by scandals such as tax-crime allegations in Greece and Italian corruption investigations that brought down two regional governments.
Austria slid nine levels in the ranking to 25th, tying with Ireland, which dropped from 19th place after slipping five rungs last year. Italy, the second-worst ranked among euro-area nations, fell another three to 72rd place.
----In addition to its status as the birthplace of the euro- area debt crisis, Greece is ranked the most corrupt country in the 27-nation European Union. Policy makers trying to tackle the country’s mounting debt have also focused on its broken revenue system as the government attempts to track down tax evaders. Total unpaid taxes in the country amounted to 42 billion euros, the Finance Ministry said in September 2011.
Greece in September froze bank accounts, shares and properties in 121 tax evasion cases, with Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras saying that “tolerance of tax evaders, no matter how high up they are, is over.”
In Italy, probes this year toppled regional governments in Lombardy and Lazio, home to Milan and Rome, respectively. Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose party members ran the two defunct regional administrations, was convicted by a Milan court in October on unrelated tax fraud charges and sentenced to four years in prison. Berlusconi, a billionaire media magnate, remains free as his lawyers prepare an appeal.
Paris Faces Darkness as City of Light Set for Illumination Ban
By Helene Fouquet - Dec 4, 2012 11:01 PM GMT
Paris’s legendary label as the “City of Light” may soon lose some of its
luster. The French minister for energy and environment unveiled last week a proposal for lights in and outside shops, offices, and public buildings -- including the flagship Louis Vuitton store and the Lido cabaret house on Paris’s Avenue des Champs Elysees -- to be turned off between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. starting in July. The plan, to be applied across French cities, towns and villages, is aimed at saving energy and money and showing “sobriety,” Minister Delphine Batho said.
The move has provoked an outcry from merchants, who say the government is being insensitive to France’s image as the world’s No. 1 tourist destination. They say the rule, on top of existing bans on Sunday store openings and night shopping, will hurt business at a time when the French economy has barely grown for a year and unemployment is at a 14-year high.
“Great! Another positive message sent to citizens and to tourists: the city will go dark!” said Sofy Mulle, vice- president of the France’s Commerce Council, which represents all of the country’s 650,000 merchants employing about 3.5 million people. “We are ready to make efforts, but the government is cutting a fine line between sobriety and austerity. Surely, we can work out environmentally friendly solutions that have less impact on our society and our economy.”
"The most puzzling development in politics during the last decade is the apparent determination of Western European leaders to re-create the Soviet Union in Western Europe."
Mikhail Gorbachev
At the Comex silver depositories Monday final figures were: Registered 38.86
Moz, Eligible 104.54 Moz, Total 143.40 Moz.
Looks to me like there might be large deliveries coming up in the
December contract. Silver continues to flow into the silver depositories.
Crooks and
Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally
doubled over.
Today, the USA
backs Japan in its clash with China over the disputed Diaoyu Islands. Using the
weasel word “administration,” instead of sovereignty, Uncle Sam effectively is
empowering Japan’s extreme right wing to step up the dispute with China. The US
Navy is now at the disposal of Japan. Quite why anyone in Washington wants a
clash with China next year, is an open question. Under the terms of the Cairo
declaration and the treaties that ended WW2, sovereignty of the islands would
seem to clearly lie with either China or Taiwan, and the islands were supposed
to be returned by Japan. Stay long physical precious metals. China will
probably retaliate against US interests once President Obama signs the bill.
Senate OKs bill stating Senkakus covered by Japan-U.S. security pact
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, Kyodo
The U.S. Senate approved a key defense policy bill Tuesday stipulating that
Washington acknowledges Japanese control of the Senkaku Islands and that they
fall under the scope of a bilateral security treaty.The islands are administered by Japan but also claimed by China.
The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2013 which covers a year from October said, "The United States reaffirms its commitment to the government of Japan under Article V of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security."
"While the United States takes no position on the ultimate sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands, the United States acknowledges the administration of Japan over the Senkaku Islands," the bill said, adding, "The unilateral actions of a third party will not affect United States acknowledgement of the administration of Japan over the Senkaku Islands," a phrase apparently referring to China's aggressive stance on the dispute with Japan over the islets in the East China Sea.
Under the Japan-U.S. security treaty, the United States would defend Japan in the event of an armed attack.
U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill after passage of the House of Representatives.
More
Cairo Declaration
The Cairo Declaration was the
outcome of the Cairo Conference in Cairo, Egypt, on November 27, 1943. President
Franklin Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of
the United Kingdom, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China
were present. The declaration developed ideas from the 1941 Atlantic Charter,
which was issued by the Allies of World War II to set goals for the post-war
order. The Cairo Communiqué was broadcast through radio on December 1,
1943.[1] The Cairo Declaration is
cited in Clause Eight (8) of the Potsdam Declaration, which is referred by the Japanese
Instrument of Surrender.
All the territories Japan has taken
from China such as Manchuria (Dongbei), Formosa (Taiwan), and the Pescadores
(Penghu), shall be restored to the Republic of China.
Potsdam Declaration
"Japanese sovereignty shall be
limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor
islands as we determine." As had been announced in the Cairo Declaration
in 1943.
The monthly
Coppock Indicators finished November:
DJIA: +103 Up. NASDAQ: +123 Up. SP500: +125 Up. Still time for the
Santa Clause rally?
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