The Bernanke Put

http://twitpic.com/c5z9je

Austerity Causes Greece to be Reclassified as Third World Nation

A major fund manager has reclassified Greece from a developed to an emerging market, in an unprecedented move reflecting the "unfortunate economic tailspin" of the Greek economy, which has threatened the future of the euro.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9904969/Greece-reclassified-to-emerging-market-from-developed.html

Bernanke. The Lying Thief Coward

Bernanke: "You called me a dove, well maybe in some respects I am, but on the other hand my inflation record is the best of any Federal Reserve chairman in the postwar period."

Bernanke's term circled in red:

 

Erdogan

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday declared that Israel and Islamophobia both are a “crime against humanity.”
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sat non-responsively behind Erdogan as he spoke in Vienna.

 

Erdogan two weeks ago:
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan calls Francis Joseph Ricciardone, the US’s new ambassador to Turkey, a ‘rookie’ regarding his remarks on press freedom in Turkey. ‘He does not know Turkey, he does not have any idea which laws there are, and then he walks into a trap and makes a statement,’ Erdoğan says
U.S. Ambassador is a rookie that walked into a trap

Drug War Mexico, NAFTA and Why People Leave

Jolly Banker

Obama's Press Secretary Admits to Lying About Drone Attacks on Innocent Civilians

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Systemic Risk

Watch Bernanke squirm:

 

Spain

A survey showed more than three quarters disapproved of Mr Rajoy as head of the government, while 85 per cent had "little or no faith in him".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/9845625/Spanish-Prime-Minister-Mariano-Rajoy-under-pressure-to-quit.html

MADRID, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A former treasurer of Spain's ruling party, at the heart of a corruption scandal that has hurt Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, was ordered to surrender his passport on Monday while judges investigate millions of euros he deposited in Swiss banks.
Luis Barcenas is accused of using his position to take bribes, evade taxes by hiding the proceeds in Switzerland and launder money through shell companies, charges that carry prison sentences of up to six years and fines
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Ruz banned Barcenas from leaving Spain, seized his passport and ordered him to report to a court twice a month.
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Public interest in the case had largely evaporated until January, when Ruz's investigation revealed Barcenas had Swiss bank accounts once worth as much as 22 million euros ($30 million).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/25/spain-corruption-idUSL6N0BPBUH20130225

Meanwhile, monthly jobs data out later is unlikely to calm nervous markets. Unemployment in Spain now stands at a staggering 26% with no signs of falling.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21319639

Beppe

Beppe Grillo is the symbolic winner in the election. His MoVimento 5 Stelle (MS5 - Five Star Movement) is on the verge of becoming the largest party in Italy by popular vote
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/02/beppe-grillos-five-star-movement-on.html
 

Not Part of the Solution but Part of the Problem

Much of the nearly $2 billion in US aid and training provided to Mexico under the Merida Initiative has flowed to the quasi-military federal police force.
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The report focuses on “enforced disappearances” of civilians at the hands of both Mexico's naval infantry and the militarized federal police — forces that have won favor and hefty funds from Washington during the six-year campaign against the gangsters.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/mexico/130222/mexico-drug-war-disappearances-human-rights-watch-report

KABUL — Afghan President Ha­mid Karzai on Sunday ordered all U.S. Special Operations forces to leave a strategically important province in two weeks, alleging that they had been involved in the torture and murder of “innocent people.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/taliban-target-afghan-intelligence-agency-in-three-suicide-attacks/2013/02/24/559313fa-7e65-11e2-9073-e9dda4ac6a66_story.html

Sequestration

In fact, the final deal reached between Vice President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in 2011 included an agreement that there would be no tax increases in the sequester in exchange for what the president was insisting on: an agreement that the nation’s debt ceiling would be increased for 18 months, so Obama would not have to go through another such negotiation in 2012, when he was running for reelection.
So when the president asks that a substitute for the sequester include not just spending cuts but also new revenue, he is moving the goal posts. His call for a balanced approach is reasonable, and he makes a strong case that those in the top income brackets could and should pay more. But that was not the deal he made.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bob-woodward-obamas-sequester-deal-changer/2013/02/22/c0b65b5e-7ce1-11e2-9a75-dab0201670da_story.html