Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
- Raucous Caucus: Largest Missouri Caucus Shut Down Before Delegates Chosen
- China Halts 10 More Airbus Orders; Global Trade Wars Not Winnable and Should Not Be Fought
- Stress Test Farce Shows Bank Shares Still Are Not Cheap
Raucous Caucus: Largest Missouri Caucus Shut Down Before Delegates Chosen Posted: 18 Mar 2012 10:04 PM PDT Those awaiting complete returns from the Missouri caucus may be in for a long wait. The St. Charles County caucus was shut down before delegates were even chosen. St. Louis Today reports Raucous GOP caucus in St. Peters is shut down In St. Charles County, which was to have been the biggest single prize of the day, the caucus was shut down before delegates were chosen after a boisterous crowd objected to how the meeting was being run, including an attempted ban on videotaping. Two supporters of presidential hopeful Ron Paul were arrested.I received an email from a cameraman who was arrested at the caucus for videotaping the event. Here is the footage. Link if video does not play: Missouri Caucus Rigged Fraud Second video showing the fraudulent selection of caucus chairman. Link if video does not play: St. Charles MO Hijacked Caucus Real Clear Politics now shows Missouri Caucus results moved from March 17 to April 21. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List |
China Halts 10 More Airbus Orders; Global Trade Wars Not Winnable and Should Not Be Fought Posted: 18 Mar 2012 07:01 PM PDT In retaliation for the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, China Halts 10 More Airbus Orders China has suspended the purchase of 10 more Airbus jets, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, raising the stakes in a potentially damaging trade row over European Union airline emissions charges.Trade Wars Not Winnable and Should Not Be Fought This is exactly the kind of spat Romney is bargaining for when he threatens to label China a "currency manipulator". China is of course a "currency manipulator". Then again the Fed is an "interest rate manipulator" hoping to sink the US dollar. The EU wants the euro to fall (just not collapse), and Japan has intervened to sink the Yen. Switzerland's central bank has intervened to suppress the value of the Swiss Franc. In short, every major nation on the planet is manipulating currencies either directly or indirectly via interest rate policy. Global trade wars are not winnable. If Mitt Romney is elected and he does what he says he will do, expect a devastating collapse in global trade. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List |
Stress Test Farce Shows Bank Shares Still Are Not Cheap Posted: 18 Mar 2012 10:19 AM PDT Last week the Fed conducted yet another "Stress-Free" test purposely designed to conclude banks are in better shape than they really are. The parameters seemed strict.
15 out of 19 banks passed based on a measure of "regulatory capital". The four stress test failures are Citigroup, Ally, Suntrust and MetLife. "In fact, despite the significant projected capital declines, 15 of the 19 bank holding companies were estimated to maintain capital ratios above all four of the regulatory minimum levels under the hypothetical stress scenario," the Fed said.Bank with Negative Tangible Equity Passes Stress Test Anyone who can think knew in advance the stress test would be a farce, but Jonathan Weil dug up the real dirt in his Bloomberg report Class Dunce Passes Fed's Stress Test Without a Sweat. The most important thing to understand about the Federal Reserve's latest stress tests is what they were not intended to do. Their purpose wasn't to test whether the nation's biggest banks could survive a financial blowup like that of 2008 without government assistance.Weil went through Regions' balance sheet, using the company's own footnotes as to fair-market values of their financial assets and liabilities and concluded "Regions' tangible common equity was negative $525 million as of Dec. 31." In short, the test was a joke, although it had its intended effect. Shares of Regions and other large banks soared, and Regions raised $900 million selling common shares on Wednesday. The company, which hasn't reported an annual profit since 2007, plans to use the money to help repay the $3.5 billion it got from the Treasury Department in 2008.Bank shares may look "cheap" but they aren't. The latest "stress-free" test by the Fed proves as much. How much longer the market lets the Fed get away with this nonsense is anyone's guess. I would have thought silly season would have been over long ago. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List |
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