Category Archives: Zombie Fund

NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Greece has supposedly received a bailout, and markets across the globe are soaring. In fact, they are rising in the same manner they did a few months after the bailout of the U.S. financial system, now known as the Emergency Economic Stabilization act of 2008. the truth, however, is there is no such thing as a complete and genuine bailout. there is only a transfer of the burden from the government and banks to the middle class. In this latest example of government interference in the cathartic rebalancing that the free market demands, the troika (the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union) has agreed to leverage their European bailout fund to $1.4 trillion. where is this money supposed to come from? Perhaps from the Chinese, but I sincerely doubt Beijing would divert one-third of its currency reserves to purchase European debt. even if they did, the Chinese would have to sell bonds of another country — most likely U.S. Treasuries. but that would send yields sharply higher here, and the Chinese would then soon be on the spot to bail out the U.S. the government of Greece must be elated because the principal on its debt has been cut in half. And European banks must be filled with alacrity because even though their holdings of Greek debt have been halved, governments have promised to recapitalize them with at least $150 billion. although this amount will prove woefully inadequate in the end, the commitment has been made and insolvent institutions will be allowed to live another day. but what about the citizens of Europe? if you are a private owner of Greek debt, no money will fill your hole. What you can look forward to is the European Central Bank’s inevitable printing of hundreds upon hundreds of billions of euros to support insolvent banks and countries. And that’s the point that is lost as the politicians pat themselves on the back for coming up with these bailouts. they are indeed capable of saving insolvent institutions, but in the process they bankrupt the middle class via inflation. the rich can afford to own gold and certain assets that rise when central banks counterfeit money. but middle-class citizens become decimated because they can’t afford to properly hedge against the destruction of the purchasing power of the little currency they own. is it really any mystery why gold and gold stocks skyrocketed right after the announcement of the agreement to bailout Greece? European citizens of any means rushed to avail themselves of gold, the proven store of wealth when governments are busy debasing their currencies.

Bailouts Create Zombie Club of Nations: Opinion