Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
...UK troops in Iraq going home...? (Cartoon)
...[WAR: Puh-leaze! Iran is not going to nuke the US!
But I wouldn't put it past Israel/Mossad to pull off another false flag in the US.]
...[The only bright spot in the dark economy!]
Deutsche Bank has refused to redeem a bond issue in an unprecedented move that has rattled Europe's credit markets and cut short the relief rally following America's dramatic move to zero rates.
Deutsche Bank, Germany's top lender, said it had chosen not to exercise a "call option" on a subordinated bond worth €1 billion, breaking an iron-fast code in the credit markets.
The travails at Deutsche are the latest sign that credit stress is continuing to plague Europe's lenders, despite a blanket bail-out by EU governments in September.
The ECB is coming under heavy pressure to follow the Federal Reserve and central banks of Canada, Britain, Switzerland and Sweden in slashing rates and exploring emergency options.
There is now a stark divide in philosophy between the ECB and almost every other central bank.
The result has been a sudden shift of funds into the euro over recent days.
(And: The Euro at £0.93 and $1.44)
The crisis is so bad that governments are ready to print money to stop the economy seizing up.
Never before has the turning of the year brought such a transformation for the economic landscape.
When the sun rises on January 1, it will do so on a world which has changed beyond recognition.
If anyone harboured doubts as to the scale of the crisis, these would have been dispelled on Tuesday night.
Not only did the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate to zero; it also indicated that it will leave rates there for some considerable time and that it will pull out the big guns – in other words ready the printing presses – to fight the worsening crisis.
This has alarming precedents: it was the printing presses that did for Weimar Germany, and sparked Zimbabwean hyperinflation.
Mainly, though, just as the millennium bug sparked fears of a computer meltdown, the worry is that zero interest rates would cause an unpredictable chain reaction of destruction in the financial system.
(German press: The Fed's "Don Quixote fight")
...An illegal Ponzi Scheme? (Cartoon)
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