It's Probably Nothing

POLL
As the Democratic National Convention begins, do you feel better off financially than you did four years ago?
Yes, and things will get better (10138)

22%
Yes, but things will get worse (2430)

5%
No, but things will get better (6910)

15%
No, and things will get worse (27223) - your vote

...... just sayin'

Anyone who keeps their savings in a Spanish/French/Italian bank has crap for brains - or belongs to the organized crime groups who run these laundromats. So there's a run on mafia banks - go for it!

"...an amount equal to 7 percent of the country’s overall economic output ..."

...otherwise know as every red cent they had after taxes.

When will the August figures be out for the spanish bank run? I've only been able to find for July, with most reports still linked to reports that came out in June / May.

I did find at Zerohedge, a report on Greece moving to a 6 day week, that ought to work... until they're utterly dependent on that increase in tax revenue, and have of course spent it all and more.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/leaked-troika-letter-demands-greek-workweek-be-expanded-six-days

Over the summer there also has been accelerated outflow of institutional capital from the Europe's periphery. Eastern Europe is another region in panic. Deflationary contraction has started.

Another area to watch is China.

The problem is most of their economic numbers are provided to the central government by provincial governments; who get their information from local governments. And unfortunately each layer of government tends to embellish the truth, hide the bad news, or downright lie. They are bureaucrats in a country that loves to execute scapegoat bureaucrats after all.

This is starting to remind me of the R A Heinlein story, "The Year of the Jackpot."

Spain is up now, Italy is on deck and France is in the hole. The US is cleaning up on the other side of the bracket.

Revelation 6

5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”

What is interesting is the run on banks - which only puts further pressure on their already paltry capital ratios - combined with a precipitous drop in the velocity of money. Central banks are creating money like crazy, but people are just withdrawing it and not spending. It's the proverbial 'pushing on a string'. The much-maligned Keynes referred to 'animal spirits' - the confidence of the people to invest in tomorrow and to spend for today. When those spirits are shattered, it is very hard to revive them. As The Economist dryly notes, "ertainly, attempts by politicians and others to talk up confidence by making optimistic noises about economic prospects have rarely done much good."

This, to me, will be Mitten's big challenge if he defeats Bambam. There is a tremendous amount of capital sitting on the sidelines these days, and a lot of money socked away in sock drawers. If he can convince his friends in business to make some big announcements, re-open some factories or expand some existing ones, he might be able to turn things around. But so long as the animal spirits lie dormant, America's in for big trouble.