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The US Leg Of The Blame [FX/CDS/Goatherding] Speculators World Tour Comes To An End In Front Of Tim Geithner’s Office

The meeting between the Greek Minister Of Prime Scapegoating and the US Secretary of Treasury Defrauding ("I used TurboTax") has ended "satisfactorily": idiotic lunacy, which we are now convinced has mutated and gone airborne, has spread and now Geithner is very likely infected. According to preliminary reports president Obama may be contagious as well

Can Someone Please Finally Explain What CDS Are To The Mainstream Media And The Greek Minister Of Prime

This is just getting ridiculous. First the NYT had some choice words over the weekend in describing the whole CDS fiasco, which alas did not have quite the desired effect, and now the BBC is out with a primer on SPECULATION ANALYSIS (yes, a primer), in which it has the following stunner: Government bonds come with an insurance policy, called a credit default swap (CDS).

Barney Frank Asks Top Four Banks To Write Down Second-Lien Mortgages, Claims Have No Economic Value

Full Barney Frank letter: Mr. Brian Moynihan Bank of America Mr.

Joe Stiglitz Slaps The Invisible Hand

Love him or hate him (and based on some recent appearances, notably side by side Hugh Hendry , he hasn't left much room for amorous intentions), Joe Stiglitz once again takes center stage, this time in this appearance at the Commenwealth Club, in which he discusses various things (among which are his grading of Obama, which compared to Dubya' administration, he gives an A+ , and since this is roughly in line with where the rating agencies rate the US, it should raise all sorts of red flags). One of the key topics of discussion is his claim that efficient markets are a myth, and that Adam Smith's "invisible hand" appears as such because it was never truly there

Jim O’Neill’s Weekend Just Got Really Bad, As China Prepares To Nullify Local Government Loan Guarantees

The horrible news hits just keep on coming for Goldman's Jim O'Neill. First the BRIC acronym creator (soon to be largely forgotten when confronted with much more awesome comparables as CRAP and STUPID , the latter of which has already been subsumed for general consumption by CNBC ) is rumored to be getting the boot from Goldman due to his involvement in the Red Knights group which is seeking to acquire the Red Devils (aka Manchester United), and now China just announced it is about to pull the rug out of the entire lending concept when it announces it is nullifying loan guarantees by all local governments. Just to put this in perspective, the impact of this is akin to what Obama did to Chrysler's secured lenders, multiplied by about one Fed dollop of MBS holdings (i.e., trillion), with debtors not even getting the courtesy Steve Rattner K-Y reacharound

While Perusing Official Greek Embassy E-Mails…

Curiously, Zero Hedge just received the following email from the Greek Embassy. Little did we realize that our fringe, breathless ramblings were considered necessary and sufficient to merit official government listserv inclusion. We write today to announce the upcoming visit of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to Washington, DC from March 7-9.

Paging Ken Rogoff: CBO Revises Budget Deficit Higher By $1.2 Trillion, Says In 2020 Debt Will Be Over $20 Trillion, Debt-To-GDP At 90%

It's Friday after the close - time for the government to sneak one past traders, who are already on their fifth moqito.

Frontrunning: March 4

There is no bubble: China punishes 7 banks for loans misused on stocks ( Reuters ) Oh look - consequences: Greek demonstrators took over the Finance Ministry building in central Athens and blocked streets in the city center ( Bloomberg ) Economist - Now comes the pain ( Greece ) Even as ECB says Greece will need further measures: What next - mandatory selling of citizens' kidneys for debt reduction ( Reuters ) Traders seek out next Greece in an ailing Europe ( NYT ) Even as German MPs demonstrate a rare sense of humor - "Greece could sell islands to cut debt" ( Reuters ) Greece offers extra interest on new 10-year bond sale ( Bloomberg ) ECB keeps rates at 1%, weighs PIIGS ( Bloomberg , WSJ ) BOE Holds Bond Purchase Program at 200 Billion Pounds ( Bloomberg ) Inflation hawks should stand down ( WSJ ) Productivity in US climbed 6.9% in fourth quarter as costs fell ( Bloomberg ) Goldman leads slumping M&A market as Buffett deal boosts hopes ( Bloomberg ) ‘Volcker Rule’ Draft Signals Obama Wants to Ease Market Impact ( Bloomberg ) Pento:Is the dollar really safer than the euro ( IBTimes ) Swap vigilantes take heat for euro shortcomings ( Bloomberg )

Daily Highlights: 3.4.10

Asian stocks decline on concern China lending to slow; Euro pares gains. Australia's January trade deficit narrows on increased iron ore shipments. China to boost defense spending by 7.5% in 2010 - slowest pace in a decade.

Daily Highlights: 3.4.10

Asian stocks decline on concern China lending to slow; Euro pares gains. Australia's January trade deficit narrows on increased iron ore shipments.