Jean-Claude Trichet, proven the liar this blog always maintained he is!

I will not quote from my many postings of the past on devious dealings of Jean-Claude Trichet, former head of the ECB, but merely quote a passage from what the Acting Man Blog, linked here, has to say on that object today:

Finally investors must come to terms with the fact that when a politician or high-ranking bureaucrat opens his mouth, chances are very good that a blatant lie or grave misjudgment of the situation is about to cross his lips. Here is what the French career bureaucrat and former chief of the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet, said in late July 2011:

“Speculating on Greece defaulting is a sure way to lose money, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was quoted as saying in remarks released on Wednesday.

"Such a speculation would be a sure-fire way of losing money given the decisions taken last Thursday," Trichet told French magazine Le Point, according to a transcript of the interview provided by the ECB.”

And below is the outcome of that speculation that was such a 'certain way to lose money' according to Trichet – it was one of the best trades of the century, in all likelihood it is among the top trades in all of history. 5-year CDS on Greece were once available at a premium of a mere 44 basis points (this was back in 2007). Last week, they went out at 26,000 basis points, an increase of 59,000% in five years. The return since Trichet made the remark quoted above was 'only' 1,000%. As sure fire ways of losing money go, we could think of a few other trades, like buying Greek bonds 'because the EU will never allow Greece to default'

Britain's bank lending to France sky-rockets!

A report from the BIS, linked here, has the surprising news that British banl lending to French public bodies rose by 23% in the second calendar quarter, a quote:

European banks boosted lending to French borrowers 8 percent to $925 billion in the three months ended June 30, according to data released yesterday by the BIS, based in Basel, Switzerland. That was driven by a 23 percent increase in loans to the French public sector by British banks

Interestingly, on the Action Man blog, this afternoon, a detailed posting appeared describing how European banks have been shrinking their asset base to raise new funds, as apparently was the last resort of Dexia. A quote from that report, linked here, is as follows:

The reason is that the euro area banks have now had problems to fund their assets for quite some time, as wholesale and interbank funding markets have dried up. In order to receive funding, many of them have resorted to encumbering collateral. In some places like Spain, Ireland and Greece this has been done to such an extent that banks now have to avail themselves of the euro-system's 'emergency liquidity facilities', where banks borrow funds from their national central banks in exchange for – essentially nothing. Instead of handing over eligible collateral, they simply hand over an IOU they themselves create.

This is also what has tripped up Dexia, as its wrong way derivatives bets required it to encumber more and more collateral, until it no longer had anything left it could pledge. In these deals, lenders usually insist on over-collateralization or significant haircuts, with the end result that not all assets can be funded anymore at some point. This is especially true in cases such as Dexia, where a big interest rate swap trade went totally wrong and more and more collateral was required to keep it afloat.

As Action Man, itself goes on to state, the end game does now seem close for the Euro farce:

So much for the ECB's full-throated assurances – given only a few months ago – that there is 'over € 14 trillion in eligible collateral in the euro area's banking system' and that therefore there 'can not possibly be a liquidity problem in the banking system'. Dexia's case already proves otherwise and obviously by now just about everyone knows that what the ECB contended simply is no longer true.

After the Grand Opera and reception laid on for the retirement of the arch-trickster, Jean-Claude Trichet, last evening, in Frankfurt, which iteslf apparently turned to farce, can the TTITPB find a suitable disguise and escape back to St Malo before the fan finally performs its long pre-ordained task!

Jean-Claude Trichet seems worried about his pension

In broadcast interviews from Paris this morning (well, well, well working on a Sunday!) Jean Claude Trichet seems to have twigged that if the Euro sinks, so too must the ECB and with it too perhaps his pension. His comments may be read in full from Reuter's, here, I offer these extracts:

Jean-Claude Trichet said the European Union's treaty should be changed to prevent one member state from destabilizing the rest of the bloc, and urged stronger governance of the euro zone.
"In my view it is necessary to change the treaty to prevent one member state from straying and creating problems for all the others," Trichet said in interview broadcast on French radio Europe 1 and iTele television on Sunday.
Asked whether this would mean getting rid of vetoes for member states, he said: "To do this, one even needs to be able to impose decisions."

The ECB's degradation of the quality of that it accepts as collateral.

The full list of the lowering in standards of debt acceptable to the ECB for advancing funds can be seen on this link. (H/T Acting Man).

The latest changes, dated from 21st September, were clearly in preparation for the announcement of the extension of the further currency debasement, fittingly announced by Jean-Claude Trichet, in his final press conference as ECB Chairman, which historians will presumably come to see as the moment of the denouement of the EU Project.

Also from the Acting Man posting linked above comes a fun calculator which allows one to adjust the haircuts of the various PIIGS and immediately see the capital shortfalls for a wide variety of Europe's banks, fills an idle moment or so!

Images from a perceptive article of doom from Acting Man

The BoE's chairman Mervyn King: 'Hurrah, more free money is on its way!'

 

(Photo source: Bloomberg)

Jean-Claude Trichet spots the 'inflation monster'.   

(Photo via info-wars.org)

Link to the Acting Man Blog Posting!

Why do the media keep referring to an "expanded" EFSF?

When what became the EFSF was first announced, it was pitched at One Billion Dollars, as a "shock and awe" announcement, see the 10th May 2010, NYT report linked here. One billion US Dollars was the equivalent to some €560 million, (corrected - thanks IPJ).

In normal EU style, those making the deal had not allowed for the difficulties that would lie ahead and in order to raise funds on a AAA credit rating basis the actual amount that eventually could be lent was limited to €445 Billion on the amount committed by Euro Group members.

The 21st July 2011agreement, presently being voted upon in the Dutch Parliament (leaving Slovakia and Malta remaining to still give their parliamentary OK) does not expand the money available from the EFSF, which remains around €440 billion, of which roughly half has been advanced to Greece, Portugal and Ireland. The areas of what the funds may be used for have been extended, to relieve the pressure on the illegal bond purchases (expanded today as a parting gesture from [ttitpb] Jean-Claude Trichet).

More EU sleight of hand and media manipulation I am afraid. Get ready for more, following today's meeting in Berlin of the main EU players with the IMF, with various wild and unsubstantiated statements about bank re-capitalisation. The fact that no Europeans can now be trusted is becoming the centre of the problem!

Guardian notices Europe's democracy is at risk!

Wow! Even The Guardian has finally awoken to what is afoot in Europe, read the article from here, datelined today from Brussels, with a picture of the "turd in the punchbowl" Jean-Claude Trichet himself! A quote:

Yiorgos Vassalos of Corporate Europe Observatory, a Brussels-based pro-transparency group, expressed concern at a "clear trend" in favour of unelected institutions taking over decision-making. "European powers [are] distancing themselves from voters while at the same time [there is] a growing tendency towards building closer relationships with corporate and specifically financial lobbies.

These two trends are explosive and can only lead to a loss of legitimacy for the EU institutions."

EU tyranny looms - Trichet vs Issing

Two important contributions to the mad descent of the EU towards tyranny have been published over the past day or so.

The first is Jean-Claude's letter to Italy setting out the detail of his illegal assumption of (supreme) power, linked here, while the other is the counter argument, put by former Bundesbank Chief Economist and ECB Board Member, Ottmar Issing as described by Bill Jamieson, in The Scotsman, linked here.

This is all crucially important stuff, almost being completely ignored elsewhere in what is normally the mainstream media's silly season. Ignore it at all our perils! More on the progress of this non-democratically imposed legislative package on Italy from the WSJ, linked here.

Update 0900 BST - A good analysis of the market moves and growing financial dangers is linked here.

Portuguese Bonds to retain face value at EU taxpayers expense!

I was not certain what Trichet meant earlier when he announced that rules regarding collateral had been suspended for Portugal, when I reported on the ECB press conference today.

Thanks to this article in EUobserver, I now fully understand, read here.

In layman's terms, even if the oligopolist US credit rating agencies declare Portuguese Bonds as having no more value than toilet paper, the ECB will accept them as collateral at their full original face value.

EU tax payers, will, of course, have to eventually stomp up the difference between such widely varying sums, even if they are used as toilet paper and delivered covered in Trichet's own merde!

EU shenanigans are getting increasingly disgusting by the day! I am sorry if I offend by illustrating this fact in my comments.

Lazy Greeks or Lazier Germans? Trichet bans Irish Haircuts!

Good background from the Covering Delta blog this evening on trashing a nation's image prior to an invasion. Read it in full from here, or cast your eye over this graphic and extract:

And the mischaracterization of Greeks as “lazy” speaks to a much larger point, and this is that the attacks being leveled against the Greek nation are not only economic and political, but they are also psychological. Whenever a nation comes under occupation, whether that be economic, political or even military, psychological warfare by the occupiers is crucial to maintaining order and stability within the country’s boarders. After all, if a nation feels that it is entirely to blame for its predicament, then it becomes much easier to convince its people that it also deserves to be punished. In the case of Greece, this punishment includes handing over the keys to our government, our sovereignty, and our economic future

No doubt those sick bankers presently salivating over the privatised assets they are about to be donated from the EU political classes they clearly control, will pooh pooh, the OECD data as false time sheets submitted by the untrustworthy Greeks.

Watch out, your country is on their list!

Ireland again had the whip cracked over its head by Trichet this evening, having struck the indebted nation with another quarter per cent interest rate hike this afternoon, he has now confirmed that the Irish State will get no help in their commiment to honour all the debts of all Irish Banks, presumably until the last native Irishman or woman has been forced to leave the country!

Jean-Claude Trichet's new form of ethnic cleansing perhaps?

Trichet's Machiavellian Mendacity at the ECB!

I watched the press conference from the head of the ECB this afternoon. What a truly awesome example of buck-passing, evasion and smug self-satisfaction it truly turned out to be.

In summary, interest rates were raised by another one quarter of one per cent for the Euro Zone and collateral rules for Portugal were suspended.

 Apart from that, the theme was that all the present woes of the countries in the Eurozone were the responsibility of Governments. In the case of the rioting Greeks and whether the policies being pushed by the ECB were in the end enforceable, well that was a problem for the appropriate authorites in that particular country, we presume Trichet here referred to the police, or perhaps eventually the army.

No recognition of the departure from the rules by his non-standard procedures; default or effective default was just not to be contemplated; the rating agencies had flaws (wait for this absolute cracker) resulting from their small oligolopistic structures!

Boasting again and again that the 340 million people of the Eurozone  maintained confidence in a Central Bank that had delivered 12 years of price stability, it seemed everything in Trichet's small world nothing, anywhere could be improved other than by the several ongoing works which he admitted were still in progress.


Towards the end a question was put by a representative of the IHT /NYT I look forward to reading his account tomorrow!


Pontius Pilate could not have done better. After watching these regular ECB scenes down the years, I find it is me who must ask himself "What is truth"?

J-C Trichet in Frankfurt - is the end of the EU Empire being foreseen by Hennessy?

Hennessy has a new product, the cognac Paradis Impérial has landed. At Frankfurt airport, Germany. Anyone lucky enough to be travelling through Heinemann Duty Free at Frankfurt airport terminal 1B between now and the end of August will be able to purchase a bottle or two of Hennessy’s latest creation, the Paradis Imperial. (Read more publicity blurb here)

Named after a blend created for the Dowager Duchess Empress of Russia, Maria Federovna, for her son the Tsar, one must wonder, bearing in mind what happened to the Russian Imperial Dynasty, what lies in store for the Euro, and the euro currency of the developing EU Empire, based in Frankfurt and likely to be further skewered by Jean-Claude Trichet, who today further raised EU interest rates, to the added agony of the EU periphery.

Has Hennessy serendipity? Why only Franfurt? See more on the new product, just released, from here.

There will be more on this blog, during or immediately after, Trichet's press conference from Frankfurt on a more serious note!

What next for the two Jean-Claude Tricksters!

Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, but far more "self-" importantly, Head of the Euro Group (the countries now trapped within the sinking euro currency) was last night clearly to be seen in a state of panic as proven by his public utterances: Juncker warns of further contagion, Forbes; Juncker says Angela Merkel is "Playing with Fire  ...with Extreme Consequences" Business Insider; Greece debt crisis likely to hit Italy, Belgium warns Luxembourg PM, International Business Times, etc.

What news, however, from the prime mover in this disaster, the "Turd in the Punchbowl" himself, Jean-Claude Trichet, for this crisis weekend?  So far, nothing, complete silence!

Trichet's Heir Apparent Struggles on Goldman Sachs

Update 1200 ECT: This video being provided by EurActiv has been heavily cut. I will try to find a version withe the questions being asked included and post it below when I am able.

Trichet dangles privatisation spoils to banks voluntarily rolling over Greek bonds!

Everybody is entitled to put their own interpretation on the spoken word in response to a very specific question. Asked about credit events and private involvement in the Greece crisis, Trichet responded talking about the private sector possibilities represented by Greek privatisations. This occurred moments ago at the ECB press conference following the ECB decision to leave euro interest rates unchanged.

The message for me was clear, therefore I repeat my summary contained in this posting's headline "Trichet dangles privatisation spoils to banks voluntarily rolling over Greek bonds!"

Trichet's ECB still not facing facts.

My posting to "Orphans of Liberty" with the title "Trichet is the turd in the punchbowl" has now been posted to that website and may be read from this link.

Papandreou faces a revolt! Trichet and "Localism".

GREEK PREMIER George Papandreou, on the day that the 'Troika' are set to deliver the terms for the full surrender of Greek sovereignty to the Euro Group of 'once-upon-a-time' nations, faces a revolt by 16 MPs in his own party, in a Parliament where he only commands a 6 vote majority.

A report from the Irish Times, the leading newspaper of the next country in line for complete dismemberment by the Euro Group, carries a detailed report linked here, but does not mention the issue of the Credit Default Swaps discussed on my blog earlier this week, linked here, which has also received scant attention elsewhere.

The worrying aspect of a possible collapse of the Greek Government, is that this seems to be the new modus operandi of the expansionist EU Empire. Belgium is the longest continuing example, but events in Ireland, Portugal and now Finland all lead to the conclusion that the EU can handle countries much more easily and effectively with a weakened , nonexistent or finely balanced, coalition national governing arrangement.

Even in the UK, where such became necessary after the last election, giant strides have rapidly been made in the EU's power grab, made possible by the complete dependence of the Liberal Democrats on EU funding, quickly becoming equally essential for the ever more treacherous Conservatives.

The EU plans to rule via the Regions and so-called "Localism" which will all be centrally controlled from Brussels, where autocrats will hold all the purse strings. Those of us awake early enough in the UK to hear the farming programme on BBC Radio FourEU, were treated to some stunningly outrageous lies and propaganda supporting this "Localism" project.Read more on the steady advance on the secretive and non-democratic horror that is EU regional policy, from EurActiv, linked here.

We must all fervently hope that Trichet's coming departure from the ECB will have a similar impact as that on an earlier, mostly imaginery Empire, after the death of its Emperor in 814 AD, in whose name Trichet was  hilariously awarded a prize for "European Unity" in Aachen last evening, see my posting below!

ECB's Trichet calls for EU finance ministry! Accepts prize for unity!

Things really do seem on the skids this evening. Earlier I blogged that the ECB seemed to be facing bankruptcy, see the posting beneath this, now reports are coming through that the head of this crazed and out of control organisation, Jean-Claude Trichet, is calling for an EU Finance Ministry, presumably to bail out the EU's Central Bank!

Read more from - New York Times, Wall street Journal and The Guardian

Treasure this excerpt and quotation from the WSJ, as Europe stands poised on the brink of yet another disintegration:

In a speech accepting the Charlemagne prize for European unity, Mr. Trichet said the "union of tomorrow" could include veto power for European institutions over national budgets, and even a common European finance ministry to shape countries' economic policies.

Visit the WSJ link to see a photograph of this smug individual, who has followed his destruction of the ERM, with that of the Euro, as he receives his Charlemagne prize. Few modern day Europeans can have experienced such a career, where one catastrophe has followed so quickly upon others.Fewer still could be so blind to the pointless destruction of so many democracies.

Typical Democracy By-Pass, EU Skullduggery hits hitch in Finland.

Here's a ruse, following the election of the True Finns blocking majority for the Portuguese Bail Out in the new parliament, EPP Vice-President and PM elect decided a simple means to get it through would be to halt negotiations on a new coalition government and get the former parliament to approve more billions to save the doomed Euro, thus huffing democracy!

The problem seems to be that the outgoing governing party (possibly considering they may need votes in the future once again perhaps?,) is not playing ball.

Read the Reuters report from here.

The secret meeting in Luxembourg, on which I posted earlier today, with Juncker stating (having earlier been reported as not in attendance) that Greece will not default.

Well that's alright then..... and Portugal will get its money of course, Finnish voters having been effectively told to go to hell. Will Trichet now stay on at the ECB perhaps?

Emergency ECB Borrowing and Germany's Euro Imperialism (continued).

I blogged yesterday on Ireland's coming default and Germany's Euro Imperialism, here and here. Both topics require further explanation and elaboration.

Something very fishy is going on between Ireland, presently without a government during its election campaign, and the ECB. An article in the Irish Times this morning, linked here, titled "Irish banks spark surge in emergency ECB borrowing" includes this startling information:

The lenders have used about €15 billion in bonds – State-backed IOUs – issued by the National Asset Management Agency as collateral, or security, to borrow the money.

The Nama bonds, however, are being auctioned with the deposits so they could no longer be used to support week-long loans, given that their sale is expected shortly.

This forced Anglo and Irish Nationwide to swap their existing week-long loans with the ECB for overnight borrowings to pave the way for a quick sale to take place.

The Irish Central Bank referred queries to the ECB, which said it did not comment on the borrowings of individual banks. Anglo, Irish Nationwide and the National Treasury Management Agency, which manages the Government’s banking interests, had no comment either.

The study by Richard Conquest on German Economic Policy and the Euro 1999 - 2010, linked from this blog yesterday and again from here, had the following comments on ECB chief, Jean-Claude Trichet's role in the aggressive destruction of the economies of the EU's non-German economies, which I have branded on this blog German Euro Imperialism, which is almost exactly along the lines of the eventual complete economic domination of Europe prdicted in my novel Millennium Blitzkrieg, published in 2000, which predicted that by 2014, with Europe subdued, German ambitions would turn to the USA. The studies more pertinent quotes are below:

From Page 12

The realities of the situation cannot be freely admitted by the political elite because to attribute any of the blame for Europe’s malaise to the Euro would at once confirm the worst suspicions of the financial markets and precipitate a market-driven crisis that would quickly pass beyond the control of any government. Or, indeed pseudo government such as the Brussels establishment. As time goes on this situation will only become more acute and crises more violent and economically destructive. So,for the time being at least, denial by the elite is the most expedient stance – stating and insisting upon that which they know to be untrue.
Most worrying of all, perhaps, is the fact that the President of the European Central Bank, Jean Claude Trichet, speaks in very much the same terms as the political class. He does not pursue an impartial, objective assessment of economic conditions which would allow the formulation of an appropriate monetary policy response. This is after all the proper function of a central bank governor. But no,

From Page 13

rather, he serves an overtly political purpose. It is not for him to say, for example, which countries should remain in the Eurozone and which should leave. He flatly denies the possibility of the latter option, a manifestly absurd and very political position. History dictates that the politicisation of money always ends in disaster and Trichet is working actively to remind us of the validity of this observation

From Page 15

How could it ever have been seriously argued that the fast-growing Spain, with its enormous trade and current account deficits, apparent well before the coming of the Euro, should share a common interest and exchange rate policy with a slow-growing and export dependent Germany, luxuriating in huge trade and current account surpluses? It was always a recipe for disaster but the political class, including Trichet, are in their comfortable state of denial and of course, in receipt of lavish rewards for their incompetence.1

Footnote 1 on Page 15

Can it be any surprise to learn that Trichet is the latest recipient of the ‘Vision for Europe’ award? Previous laureates have included Jacques Santer, Jean-Claude Juncker, Jean-Luc Dehaene and Helmut Kohl, a depressing and dreary collection of functionaries in the ‘leadership’ of Europe. This award is granted ‘in recognition of outstanding achievements in taking Europe into the future’; self-evidently an exercise in fatuity.The first recipient of this self-congratulatory award was Jacques Santer, former EU President, forced from his extravagant sinecure by Paul Van Buitenen’s devastating accusations of corruption and fraud.

From Page 35

This grim situation has prompted intermittent debate in Italy’s political and economic circles about the desirability or not of that country remaining within the Eurozone – whatever fatuous noises Trichet might make on this issue. The problem then is that this debate is now a matter of concern to German economists and politicians.


From Page 55


Unfortunately there can be no such happy ending to the nightmare of the Euro. Although its disintegration would be economically beneficial in the long term, its demise will be extremely destructive in the near to medium term. The example of the UK simply illustrates that there is life after Euro-folly. However, in the same way that we could not expect that the government would deliver Britain from the absurdities of the ERM, so Europe cannot expect that the likes of Herman Van Rompuy, Manuel Barosso, Jean Claude Trichet and the other grandees and potentates of Europe will deliver the Eurozone from the destructive absurdities of the Euro.