LIR Gold Target in 2019: $30,000. Revised due to QE programs.
"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.
No not the
June 6th commemoration of the 70th anniversary of that
other D-Day, the EU’s D-Day is Draghi Day Thursday June 5th. On that
day, the ECB’s Mario Draghi is expected to go “all-in” in favour of Voodoo
economics. In a “take no prisoners” blitz on common sense, Mr Draghi is
expected to lead his fellow ECB banksters “over the top,” and into the upside
down no-man’s land world of negative interest rates. Stay long fully paid up
physical precious metals. There is simply no way of knowing when or how the
ECB's dung hits its flabellum. I suspect that we will not be kept waiting like
mushrooms for very long.
In modern
European thought, this passes for the equivalent financial logic of the EU
Common Fisheries policy. “You caught the wrong fish and they’re already dead? Toss them overboard to “conserve” the
species. ” Don’t care that millions are
starving across the planet. Those
starving or hungry were merely our, US/UK/EU, collateral damage, no matter that
God wanted us all to co-operate through intelligence, and only gave us
“dominion” over the animals.
Today, a
tale of two Europe’s. One heading off towards depression, spurred on by
suicidal sanctions against Russia. The other, free from the curse of the euro.
Internationalist, rather than “little European.”
The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.
Margaret Thatcher.
Europe Manufacturing Cools More Than Estimated as France Shrinks
Jun 2, 2014 9:00 AM GMT
Manufacturing in the euro area slowed more than initially estimated in May
amid weakness in France, adding to evidence of the region’s uneven recovery as
the European Central
Bank weighs more stimulus to shore up growth and inflation. A Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 52.2 last month from 53.4, below a May 22 preliminary reading of 52.5, London-based Markit Economics said today. The index has held above the 50 mark, which separates growth from contraction, for 11 months. Growth in new orders eased, according to the report.
The recovery in the 18-nation region is struggling to gather pace amid sluggish bank lending and annual price gains of less than half the ECB’s goal. Policy makers meeting in Frankfurt on June 5 have said they’re prepared to present a package of stimulus measures if new forecasts show growth and inflation will stay too low for too long.
----While French
manufacturing contracted for the first time in three months, the survey
“highlights some encouragingly strong” performances in countries such as Spain and Italy, Williamson said. In Spain, the
index rose to 52.9 in May from 52.7, the strongest level since April 2010, and
remained close to the highest in more than three years in Italy. In the euro
area, selling prices increased for the first time in three months, according to
the report.
More
Draghi Primes ECB as Inflation Scarcity Alarms Officials
Jun 2, 2014 2:03 PM GMT
Mario Draghi will
confront the threat of deflation this week as he prepares to unleash an array
of measures to jolt the economy and ignite prices. From negative interest rates to conditional liquidity for banks, the European Central Bank president and his colleagues have signaled all options are up for discussion when they meet on June 5. Before then, data tomorrow may reinforce the view that action is needed, with economists predicting a grim mixture of too-low inflation and unemployment near a record
Draghi has braced investors with warnings on a potential “negative spiral” of prices, and will have new ECB forecasts likely to include a lower outlook for inflation (ECCPEST) and growth. Those projections will inform talks in the next three days with his management team and then in the wider Governing Council as officials determine how radical a response is needed.
“If you look at the broader array of economic data that is currently out there, then pretty much all of it points to the need for further stimulus,” said James Ashley, chief European economist at RBC Capital Markets in London. “We’re looking at conventional and unconventional steps.”
More
Below, signs of
desperation setting in in mainstream media.
It’s not often I get to use two “ins”
back to back. First, I think Hank Paulson coined “big bazooka” back in
2008, U-turn Dave was merely a parrot. Next, when the ECB’s foray deep into
voodoo economics blows up, taking the unloved, one size fits all, wealth
destroying euro with it, continental Europe’s going to need something more than
a “bazooka” however big. And that’s before any blowback from imposing suicidal
US demanded European sanctions against Russia. 2014, the year Europe as we knew it collapsed.
"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can
fake that, you've got it made."
Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Europe needs a 'Big Bazooka', but the ECB is preparing a peashooter
Europe’s high command has convinced itself the worst is over, and with a little fine tuning by the ECB, decent growth will return
Ever since David Cameron first
coined the phrase back in the autumn of 2011, we’ve been forlornly awaiting the
arrival of Europe’s “big bazooka”. This was meant to be the set of policy
initiatives that would not just save the euro, and thereby forestall an even
deeper financial and economic collapse, but set Europe back on the path to
growth and stability — both prerequisites for any durable recovery in the UK.
On Thursday this week we get the
latest instalment — more action from the European Central Bank to address the
developing threat of price deflation, and the already established reality of
economic stagnation across much of the euro area. What’s promised, however, is
less big bazooka and something more akin to a peashooter. The imposition of a
negative deposit rate, the effect of which is to penalise banks for holding
reserves with the ECB in an effort to force them to lend, seems to be pretty
much a done deal.
Further measures to incentivise
lending — such as some kind of copycat version of Britain’s Funding for Lending
scheme — may also be forthcoming. We can be pretty sure, however, that whatever
the ECB governing council is able to agree, it will fall a long way short of
the required “big bazooka”.
Neither the negative deposit rate nor a
second round of the ECB’s long-term refinancing operation (LTRO), but with
knobs on to incentivise lending to the real economy, will do the trick.
Europe’s economic and political malaise requires much deeper surgery than a
little monetary fiddling around the edges.
Normally I would go along with this
analysis, but regrettably, the eurozone is something of a special case. It’s
not just the policy constraints and compromises of the single currency, though
as a barrier to recovery these are challenging enough; the more immediate
reason is a near-12pc unemployment rate, with some countries experiencing
levels of joblessness not seen since the Great Depression. As long as
unemployment remains as high as this, it’s nearly impossible for countries to
generate the internal demand necessary for durable growth.
More
Below, the
other “Europe.” End the euro, let Europe be free again to prosper and thrive.
UK manufacturing activity remains buoyant in May
Robust expansion opens door for mergers and acquisitions, say analysts, as activity rises for 15th straight month
Manufacturing activity in Britain
increased for the 15th straight month in May, in further signs that the
recovery is broadening out.
Growth was underpinned by strong
domestic and overseas demand, according to survey compiler Markit. It said the
broad-based expansion reflected "stronger economic conditions", as
small, medium and large enterprises all hired more staff.
Rob Dobson, senior economist at
Markit, said a "sharp re-acceleration" in demand for goods such as
plant and machinery suggested that business investment was growing strongly.
“The upturn remains broad-based
by sector and is being enjoyed by SMEs and large-scale producers alike,"
he said. "A strong domestic market is meanwhile being supplemented by one
of the best growth phases for new export orders in the survey history. The
benefits of the manufacturing upswing are also being shared with the wider
economy through solid job creation."
While the Markit/CIPS
manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) eased to 57 in May from 57.3 in
April, activity remained well above the 50 level that divides growth from
contraction and was in line with market expectations. Markit described May's
expansion as "one of the highest readings in the survey's history".
Analysts said the recent strong
run of growth in the sector could trigger a buying spree for companies wishing
to expand. "As we move further into 2014 and levels of optimism begin to
grow, we could start to see increased activity in the M&A space as
manufacturers look to further drive cost efficiencies and find more ways to
expand into growth markets,” said Mike Rigby, head of manufacturing at
Barclays.
---- “As
manufacturing only makes up a small share of the UK economy, around 10pc, these
positive data are unlikely to shift the Bank of England’s MPC on to the path of
normalising monetary policy on their own," said Mr Dobson. "The first
piece of that puzzle nonetheless seems to be in place and, if accompanied by
further surging growth elsewhere in the economy, the clearer picture unfolding
could raise the stakes for an earlier than expected step in that
direction."
More
If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it.
W.C. Fields
At the Comex
silver depositories Monday
final figures were: Registered 56.08 Moz, Eligible 119.18 Moz, Total 175.26 Moz.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally
doubled over.
No crooked banksters or bent politicians today, just an update of the ECB pilot arriving in Dune, Heligoland. The video is well worth viewing. Click on the link for the video. But will Europe under the euro and ECB, be lucky enough to stand up and walk off away from the disastrous euro? Stay long fully paid up precious metals for the crash.
Below, more on why the EU is headed for a future minus the UK. Perhaps we can persuade them to keep Scotland though. Shame about Scotland’s fish. Time to leave Europeans to the Germans. The world has more to offer than just the Decline and Fall of the EUSSR.
"Too bad ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation."
Henry Kissinger
Plane almost lands on sunbather on German beach
A sunbather in Germany received the shock of his life when an aeroplane almost landed on him as he was stretched out on the sand
A man stretched out on the sand in northern Germany had a lucky escape when a light aircraft came in to land almost right on top of him.Video footage obtained by German tabloid newspaper Bild showed the small plane, a Piper PA-28-181 Archer II, coming in to land on the airstrip at Dune – a touristic islet off Heligoland.
The pilot descended towards the airstrip, but got increasingly close to the white sands – and the man lying face down beneath him.
"I was watching the planes come into land," said Rainer Schmidt, 52, who shot the video. "I had seen five planes land before this one came in. I instantly realised that this one was coming in to land far too low.
"The others were at least six metres high. It was so close to the man on the beach. The man was very lucky."
Another sunbather, Uwe Kaiser,
said: "The man who was almost hit was lying down and he turned over to
look after seeing the plane coming and then instantly flung himself down in the
sand as it crossed over him. It really was a close shave."
The pilot, Juergen Drucker, 52,
admitted that he misjudged the approach – but said that he had not seen the man
because he was lying down.
"It was me that was flying
and I am really sorry. I have to say, as the pictures show, that it wasn't one
of my greatest achievements in the cockpit."
After the bumpy landing, Mr
Drucker was able to patch his plane up and fly home the same evening.
The sunbather, however, decided
to find a safer place to sunbathe, and was seen standing up and walking off.
Which Euro grandee will be our next president?
Last updated:
June 2nd, 2014
It makes no difference how you
voted – the European Commission always gets back in.
Last week the British people
voted overwhelmingly for Eurosceptic parties. Today in Brussels we are left
with a 1/28th say over which Euro grandee gets to call themselves “President of
Europe”.
Will it be Jean-Claude Juncker,
favourite of the Brussels insiders, for his fervent advocacy of a single
European State?
Or perhaps it’ll be former
Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt. At least when he sneers at our
country, he does so openly, as this video shows.
Perhaps, in the belief that he's just the straight sort of guy needed to soften up us Brits, the Eurosystem might decide to give the job to Tony Blair. "What influence we have", the Euro lobbyists will then shriek, "A Brit, at the top table!"
Given his record running this country, who better to teach the Europeans about massive, uncontrolled immigration? Who better to preside over EU wide bank reform, seeing how he handled the UK banking bubble?
President Blair might even be able to improve Europe’s global competitiveness in the same way that he fixed ours. Last time Blair got the EU to agree to a reform programme intended to make Europe the most competitive part of the global economy by 2010, things didn't go quite the way he promised
More
The Democratic Deficit: Europeans Vote, Merkel Decides
By SPIEGEL Staff
Before the European
Parliament election last month, voters were told the poll would also determine
the next Commission president. In a silent putsch against the electorate,
Angela Merkel is now impeding the process. She fears a loss of power and
Britain's EU exit.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
had hardly begun her speech last Friday before she got right to the point. With
her hands set on the podium in front of her in the Regensburg University
auditorium, she said: "I am engaging in all discussions in the spirit that
Jean-Claude Juncker should become president of the European Commission."
German news agency DPA immediately sent out a headline reading: "Merkel:
Juncker To Be EU Commission President."
And yet, if that is what she
really wanted, it's a goal she could have achieved as early as last Tuesday.
Instead, she opted against it. One can, of course, choose to believe the words
Merkel delivered last Friday in Regensburg. Or one can focus more on her
actions. Thus far, her actions have spoken a different language. It is the
language of one for whom the voters are secondary.
The European Union election at
the end of May has led to an unprecedented power struggle between the European
Parliament and the European Council, made up of the 28 EU heads of state and
government. It is a vote that could change the EU more than any past European
election. The next several weeks will determine just how democratic the EU
wants to be, whether the balance of power in Brussels will have to be
readjusted and whether Merkel is really the leader of Europe. With European
Social Democrats set to play a key role in the EU struggle, the immediate future
could also determine the stability of Merkel's own governing coalition in
Berlin, which pairs her conservatives with the SPD.
Should
the European Parliament get its way in naming the next European Commission
president, it would mark a significant shift of power away from EU leaders, and
they likely wouldn't get it back. It is a development that would make the
European Union more democratic and more like a nation-state. But that is
exactly what Britain wants to avoid, and any such development could drive the
country out of the EU.
Should
Parliament be defeated, it would be tantamount to the betrayal of all voters
who believed that the election victor would become the next European Commission
president. Merkel herself, at a campaign rally one day before the election,
urged people to "use your vote to ensure that Jean-Claude Juncker becomes
the president of the European Commission." Democracy suffers if such an
exhortation loses its validity once the ballots have been cast.
More
Sir Humphrey: Minister, Britain
has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last five hundred
years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the
Dutch against the Spanish with the Germans against the French, with
the French and Italians against the German, and with the French against
the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change
now, when it's worked so well?
Hacker: That's all
ancient history, surely?
Sir Humphrey: Yes, and current
policy. We 'had' to break the whole thing [the EEC] up, so we had to get
inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn't work. Now
that we're inside we can make a complete pig's breakfast of the whole thing:
set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the
Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased; it's just
like old times.
Hacker: But surely we're
all committed to the European ideal?
Sir Humphrey: [chuckles]
Really, Minister.
Hacker: If not, why are
we pushing for an increase in the membership?
Sir Humphrey: Well, for the
same reason. It's just like the United Nations, in fact; the more
members it has, the more arguments it can stir up, the more futile and impotent
it becomes.
Hacker: What appalling
cynicism.
Sir Humphrey: Yes... We call it
diplomacy, Minister.
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