Juggling Dynamite

So long as investment banks remain the bit in the government’s mouth, we will struggle to get the real economy back on a constructive, sustainable path.  We the people, will continue to be bankrupted by reckless risk-seekers backed by the public purse.  The derivatives market is something in the area of 600 trillion today and taxpayers are being pledged to back stop the solvency of ‘players’.  This is truly insane.  With empty speeches but policies that continally favor Wall Street, Barrack Obama as a leader, has failed his country miserably.  See:  Wall Street’s win on Swaps rule shows resurgence in Washington.

“Wall Street is re-emerging as a force in Washington as it closes in on one of its biggest wins against regulation since the financial crisis.

With must-pass spending legislation making its way through Congress this week, banks seized on an opportunity to attach a measure that would halt a planned restriction on derivatives trading they had long opposed. The industry’s lobbying extended to the highest levels of finance with JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon pressing lawmakers to support the change.

Wall Street’s success, after four years of struggling to persuade Congress to ease the Dodd-Frank Act, is a precursor to more fights next year against some of the law’s hallmarks: the consumer protection bureau and stiff oversight of big financial companies whose failure could threaten the financial system.”

Also see: Jamie Dimon himself called to urge support for the derivatives rule.

And watch: Elizabeth Warren fights back on spending bill provisions

Economist Gary Shilling discusses OPEC, the price of oil and why deleveraging across today’s excessively financialized global economy is only just started.  Getting the credit genie back in the bottle is a painful process.  Here is a direct video link.

If Tom Keene would just let his learned guest get a word in edgewise…

Danielle was a guest today on Talk Digital Network with Jim Goddard, talking about recent developments in the world economy and markets.  You can listen to an audio clip of the segment here.

As goes energy and commodity prices, so goes the Aussie and Canadian dollar.  Both countries experienced an epic consumer debt and housing boom as prices rose.  As a result, both are now particularly ill-prepared for the mean reversion part of the cycle.