Financial crisis

The American bank Citigroup has just been condemned by the Department of Justice to pay a fine of $7billion for its role in the subprime crisis.

Banks have not really taken preventive measures against sudden changes in their environment, and that their gross underestimation of risk puts them in a fragile position, should anything unexpected happen

In January of 2014, economists were predicting a 2.6% growth, and we get a result of -2.9%. This catastrophic number has been totally ignored by the markets and talked down by the Fed, of course, but this will make the return to reality that much more painful.

Currency In Circulation vs Gold & Total Credit Market Debt vs Gold. Charts by Nick Laird.

We often talk in these pages about the difficult situation facing Europe’s southern countries, but the financial crisis is also affecting countries that are considered sound and that have a good reputation. This is the case with Austria, facing difficulties with its banking sector.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) just published a statistical study on the amount of derivatives worldwide at the end of 2013, and they reach the astronomical amount of $710 Trillions ($710,000,000,000,000).

There always is this media noise, constantly repeating itself, about optimistic growth predictions, but only real results should count, and they are not good at all.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Germany’s central bank would accept a move by the ECB in June if the outlook on inflation warrants it. The Buba now is siding with the general assumption that we have to fight deflation risks by turning on the printing press.

The Fed is trying to control the price of gold below $1,300 and the price of silver below $20. Every time the Fed speaks flash crashes in gold and silver happen, which has probably kept the dollar from falling more as a consequence.

So what’s new in the States? The recovery... which needs more and more time to become a reality. Judge by yourself : Growth in the first quarter plummeted to a meager 0.1%. The explanation from official sources? Snow...