To the un-initiated layman, fluctuations in the European bond market and the rapid downgrade of credit ratings throughout the southern zone would indicate a level of unacceptable risk but for the taxpayer bailed-out banks, it spells a mega bonanza.
“In muck, there’s brass!”, as they used to say in some formerly industrial regions of Britain. The Eurozone’s engineered panic and it’s fallout is the result of a decade of un-restrained, fraudulent gambling and the free-range tax slaves must now somehow be recruited to assume the debt as their own. That’s a win in any banker’s books but convincing the Mob of Rome they should ‘feel’ responsible is a wishful thought too far.
“The auctions will go well, in the sense that they must go well,” said Harvinder Sian, a senior bond strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London. “There will be a galvanizing of opinion in the domestic sector certainly.”
Italians know the name of the game, they’ve enjoyed the flutter as long as it’s lasted. Let’s keep in mind it was their American cousins who figured out that as long as their Vegas casinos pumped pure oxygen through the ventilation systems, it gave a clear-headed euphoria to influence people to take risks they’d normally avoid. The wide consensus trick may work on the Germans but not these wise-guys, fagettaboutit!
Academics and rating agencies agree on the arithmetic but long-term bond issue presumes the longevity of governments that are looking less stable by the second. Berlusconi claimed he won’t run again but he may as well have been talking about chasing young skirts, Italians are hunkering down, they know how to thrive in true Anarchy. Refuting debt is practically a national pastime and history is littered with tall tales of independence struggles on the Italian landscape, one right after the other.
If the bailed-out bond traders were ready and willing themselves to convert to debt collectors on their widget’s maturity, the picture would be brighter but still not enough to guarantee a return in anyone’s twilight years. Pass-the-parcel experts don’t have to stomach or face the sad results of their marauding raids, selling from the left and shorting from the right since the institutional managers have a legal requirement to react according to signals in the flowcharts. If it looks to you as though the entire system was built for banker’s convenience, you’re not far from guessing what’s next.
It was recently suggested that every British taxpayer should receive actual shares in bailed out banking institutions but with this sort of exposure, no one in their right mind would want to be associated with such cesspools of bad judgement. The time has come for The City to reflect on whether they provide a valuable service to society or if theirs is simply a confidence game rooted in sleight of hand backed by the baffling algorithms of over-indulged madmen posing as brainiacs. We’re not very impressed!
