Jack the Pipper

I was reading George Soros’ criticisms of Germany this morning. If the euro experiment fails, it will be all Germany’s fault, according to Mr. Soros (yeah, okay, sure).

We could refer to our once-upon-a-time Currency Currents that criticized the stress tests administered to US banks, but really we wouldn’t be saying much more than: ‘they were a phony, propaganda-laden strategy that aimed to deceive investors of the obvious risks that remained with US banks.’

China pulled the trigger on the quid pro quo of not being labeled a “currency manipulator” by the US government, by announcing a move to a crawling- instead of the effective fixed-peg exchange rate system they have been employing.

Quiet so far today…but we keep thinking things still ain’t right out there; this isn’t your father’s usual “recovery” from recession. Inflation, or the lack thereof, and the rising potential for outright deflation continue to nag at us.

There’s been a specific, yet passive, global contingent led by the US and somewhat supported by Europe, that believes the Chinese yuan is undervalued, that China possesses an unfair trade advantage by keeping their currency tied down.

I heard about the World Cup opener between South Africa and Mexico and have seen two other “matches” since; all three have resulted in ties. Both Jack and my father-in-law respond the same way – it’s like kissing your sister.

The phrase I think originally went something like this: A million here and a million there; pretty soon you are talking real money. We can only dream our government used numbers with so few digits.

Yes indeed, a two-year peak in Japanese Government Bond futures. We think it could be time for money to start flowing out of Japanese bonds and into some relatively riskier investments inside and outside of Japan.

Reading a post from Yves Smith on her blog nakedcapitalism, from where I took the above quotable, she cites a Financial Times article explaining the imbalances that helped set off this collective recession/financial collapse are bound to worsen.

Actually there has been a lot of good news out there in terms of ongoing production and exports, but many are now seeing through the lens of risk thanks to the Eurozone.