New Zealand Dollar Breaks Above 72
April 3rd, 2007WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy sell or hold any financial instrument.
If youre gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.
You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.
Now every gambler knows that the secret to survivin
Is knowin what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
Cause every hands a winner and every hands a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.
Kenny Rogers – The Gambler
This isn’t a good way to be making money. I know, some of you might think that the decision to move almost everything we had into Kiwi dollars was a cunning plan, and that we should be patting ourselves on the back right now. Wrong. This move is nonsense and it’s going to slam down so hard that average New Zealanders are in for the shock of their lives.
Mainly, this is wealthy people from all over the place chasing better rates on cash bets. That’s really what’s behind this. In the process, New Zealand farmers are going to get nailed to a cross made out of yen and euros.
Obviously, the world wants what New Zealand has. If the New Zealand Government had any courage at all, they would stand up and demand tangible assets for New Zealand’s premium goods so New Zealand could move toward eliminating its high debt and finding a more sensible economic path to tread. The longer New Zealand plays by the rules established by U.S. and European bankers, the worse off the next bust will be.
By allowing this carry trade nonsense to continue, the New Zealand Government is ensuring catastrophe down the road. They’re trying to curb the spending of New Zealanders with higher rates while allowing this funny money casino to continue for wealthy foreigners. Who’s got the balls to stand up and say “No more carry trade swindling.” Helen Clark? HA New Zealand won’t even demand goods to be labeled with their country of origin so it’s fully nuts to contemplate reigning in the operations of the casino. But it’s too late now anyway. The NZ economy would sink like a rusty old ship that just had a massive hole blown through its guts, far below the waterline, if ANY move was made to even slow the funny money racket. Catastrophe later, I guess, is better than catastrophe now.
If you’re a farmer, you probably know about bullshit, and I’m not talking about the stuff that’s good for your garden. I’m referring to headlines like, Fonterra Pours Out Best-Ever Forecast. Gee. That sounds pretty good:
Fonterra yesterday released its most optimistic forecast yet about global dairy demands, which it says could deliver the New Zealand economy a significant boost over the next decade.
Unprecedented demand means global prices for milk powder (which still makes up the bulk of Fonterra’s sales) have hit all-time highs in the past few weeks.
“This is the most optimistic demand forecast that we’ve ever put together as an industry,” said head of strategy and growth Graham Stuart.
It goes on like that for a while, and if you keep reading, you find this:
As long as the dollar remained stable the co-operative was on track to deliver a payout closer to $5/kg of milk solids next year, he said. It has forecast a payout of $4.15/kg this year.
Fonterra was getting “the highest prices for skim milk and whole milk ever traded on the global market”, van der Heyden said. “Spot prices are going through the roof.”
The strong kiwi dollar was masking the extent of Fonterra’s success in delivering good returns to farmers.
Oh. Woops.
For farmers, the message reported in the newspaper is actually the truth: Work harder, produce more of a better product and wind up with less in your pocket as a result. Why? Don’t bother yourself with the finer details of global finance. We know what’s good for you. Trust us.
I’ve got another message for New Zealand farmers: Get small. Get local. Get out of the global casino before the pit bosses in Wellington and that god damned Business Roundtable wipe you out. Work less and do better? That’s right, if you work for yourself and your community and not some foreign bank and middlemen exporters! (Most banks operating in New Zealand are Australian owned. Kiwibank is a quasi government operation. Rabobank is based in the Netherlands and has a higher credit rating than the New Zealand Government.) These guys are getting way too much out of you and they’re literally taking it out of your hide! Stop playing their games.
Sell your goods directly to your neighbors and people close to you. Use farmers’ markets. Instead of your hard work going to pay banks and middlemen, you will get a better price for your goods. With any luck, American and European farmers will do the same, before their top soil is gone, but I wouldn’t count on it. You can make this transition voluntarily, while there’s still time, or you can make it when chaos and starvation constrain your options, or worse.
A message to everyone else: Kiwi dollars, who cares, how does that affect me?
The money is winding up down here because the big consumer economies are doomed, tapped out, collapsing. The shop has been looted and now the criminals are trying to strip the fixtures off the walls. The money is flowing into New Zealand, a small, out of the way place with more sheep than people, and not into the mighty U.S. stock market. How can that be?
U.S. equities are so obviously doomed that Asians and Europeans would rather make reckless currency bets than invest in U.S. companies. This is a shocking criticism of U.S. profligacy and an indication that America’s gig is finally up.
Reckless? Don’t get me wrong, I bet my life on New Zealand, and I’m glad I did. But taking on New Zealand dollar denominated assets is a reckless bet given the debt levels involved. Take a look at the handy Current Account Balance (Per Capita) by Country chart and scroll all the way to the bottom, deep into the red zone where the most indebted people in the world live.
Iceland? I don’t know what happened there. But look at the second and third heaviest debt loads per capita. The U.S. is number two with -$2,778.07 per person. New Zealand is small, but Kiwis know a thing or two about profligacy as well. At -$2,376.76, New Zealand is carrying the third heaviest debt load per person in the world.
And which of the top traded currencies gained the most over the last year, and is now breaking higher?
Forget the bridge, bub, I’ve got some New Zealand dollars to sell ya.
Can New Zealand avoid going down the drain along with the U.S.?
As Americans lose the taste for increasingly expensive Kiwi commodities—in terms of U.S. funny money—how will New Zealand cover those interest payments on the shocking piles of debt that are growing larger by the day?
Borrow more?
I’m sure that Ivy League bankers are making the rounds in Wellington and Auckland, explaining how America did it for decades.
Like the man says, “Know when to run.”
Via: Bloomberg:
Australia’s dollar rose to a 10-year high and New Zealand’s to the strongest in almost two years on their interest-rate appeal and a rally in commodities.
The New Zealand dollar is the biggest gainer of the 16 most traded currencies in the past 12 months, followed by Australia’s. In that time, the Reserve Bank of Australia has raised rates three times to a six-year high of 6.25 percent and New Zealand’s central bank once to a record 7.5 percent.
“Rates are really driving currencies, particularly the Australian and New Zealand dollars,” said Jeff Gladstein, global head of foreign-exchange at AIG Financial Products Corp. in Wilton, Connecticut. “You have a real trend in play here, so it’s going to be hard to unseat that in the very near term.”
Australia’s currency traded at 81.63 U.S. cents as of 12:14 p.m. in Sydney compared with 81.47 cents in Asia yesterday and reached 81.82 cents, the highest since December 1996.
The New Zealand dollar was at 72.22 U.S. cents from 71.91 cents and reached 72.42 cents, the strongest since May 2005.
The Southern Hemisphere currencies extended yesterday’s gains as prices rose for commodities, which make up about 60 percent of Australian exports and 70 percent of New Zealand’s. Gold futures for June delivery gained 0.4 percent in New York and copper futures for May delivery rose to an almost four-month high. World dairy prices are the highest since at least 1986.
“As commodities prices rally, demand for their currency grows,” said AIG’s Gladstein. The New Zealand dollar may rise to 72.60 cents today, he said.
Back Into Carry
New Zealand’s currency has gained almost 19 percent in the past year, exceeding the Australian dollar’s 14 percent rally, as investors take advantage of the higher yields in a strategy known as a carry trade.
“The fact the New Zealand dollar is outperforming the Australian dollar suggests people are getting back into the carry trade,” said Tony Morriss, a currency strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Sydney. “The carry is just too attractive for short term players to pass up.” Australia’s dollar may reach 81.90 cents today, he said.
New Zealand government three-year bonds yield 2.09 percentage points more than in the U.S. and 5.68 percentage points more than in Japan.
Related: The Inconvenient Truth About the Kiwi Dollar
New Century, Biggest Subprime Casualty, Goes Bankrupt
April 2nd, 2007Via: Bloomberg:
New Century Financial Corp., overwhelmed by rising defaults from borrowers with poor credit records, became the largest subprime mortgage lender ever to fail as it filed for bankruptcy today.
New Century plans to sell most of its assets within 45 days, said the Chapter 11 filing in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware. About 3,200 people, more than half the workforce at the Irvine, California-based company, will be fired. New Century said it already agreed to sell its mortgage billing and collections unit to Carrington Capital Management LLC for $139 million.
The company rode the U.S. housing boom to become the largest independent mortgage lender to subprime borrowers, only to collapse as interest rates rose and home prices fell. New Century’s market value soared to more than $3.5 billion in December 2004, and last year it made about $60 billion in loans. Like rival firms, the company lowered its lending standards to keep business flowing after demand slumped.
“They’re clearly going to be the poster child for bad practices in the mortgage industry,” said Matthew Howlett, an analyst at Fox-Pitt Kelton in New York. “When all is said and done, the management team will be to blame.”
The court filing protects the company’s assets from creditors. They include many of the Wall Street firms that financed its mortgage loans, such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Credit Suisse Group.
Related: Money: Going Tactical
Iran Accuses U.S. of Violating Its Airspace
April 2nd, 2007The U.S. might be trying to get the Iranians to “paint” aircraft with their air defense systems. The U.S. would use this intelligence for final target selection for the initial phase of the attack. Air defense and communications systems will be hit first.
Via: People’s Daily:
Two U.S. airplanes have violated Iran’s airspace in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, Iran’s state television Sunday quoted a local military commander as saying on its website.
The airplanes on Saturday trespassed Iranian airspace from the northwest of Abadan, Khuzestan province, and disappeared from its southwest, said Colonel Aqili, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Abadan.
“The planes cast out white smoke trails, attracting the local people’s attention,” he was quoted as saying, but without giving the types of the two U.S. airplanes or their duration of the alleged violation.
March Contributions
April 2nd, 2007Cryptogon and Farmlet readers made March an incredible month for contributions. Total earnings came to $975.24. That includes $5.90 in AdBrite earnings.
That total is just shy of double the monthly goal of $500! Many thanks to all of you.
We had four Blue Host web hosting signups in March. Blue Host continues to amaze me with what they provide for $6.95 per month. Cryptogon activity is now well within the non-trivial range, and Blue Host has been excellent. (Recent denial of service attack survival story.) Farmlet traffic is increasing as well. Each Blue Host account is capable of hosting six completely separate domains. Both Cryptogon and Farmlet are hosted on the same exact hosting package that readers are signing up for here.
Amazon activity was also very heavy in March. This was the best month for Amazon commissions ever. Product purchases ranged from a used copy of Spider’s Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq (excellent book, by the way), all the way up to a Ladycomp (mentioned here). It all adds up!
I started posting some of the items that people are buying in the Store; the logic being that other Cryptogon readers might have similar interests. Cryptogon readers order some far out stuff, man. If you’re curious, check it out.
Thanks also to readers in Germany who remembered to get their Amazon goods via Cryptogon. Below are the links to all of the Amazon sites that I have an affiliate relationship with. If you live in the U.S., Canada, UK, Germany or France, please remember to begin your session on Amazon via these links.
amazon.com – amazon.ca – amazon.co.uk – amazon.de – amazon.fr
They are always posted in the Store for future reference.
Thanks again!
Los Angeles Suffers Longest Dry Spell in 130 Years
April 2nd, 2007Via: Breitbart:
Los Angeles is going through its longest dry spell in at least 130 years, the National Weather Service said Sunday, fueling fears of rampant wildfires which have plagued the US west coast in recent years.
“The rain season is currently the driest to date in downtown Los Angeles since records began in 1877,” the weather service said in a statement.
As Bee Colonies Disappear Across the Nation, Experts Are Wondering Why
April 2nd, 2007Via: Jacksonville Daily News:
Louie Foy has been charming Mother Nature’s pollinators for more than 40 years. Foy, who keeps bees at his home in Verona, makes honey from his tiny pets and knows everything about them — when they breed, what makes them angry, when they die.
But for the past three weeks, Foy has been stumped. He can’t figure out what drove some 30 of his colonies away.
“They just disappeared,†Foy said. “I have a few dead ones left but very few. Most of them, there’s just nothing there, and I have no idea why.â€
Researchers throughout the country are scrambling to find out too. They wonder why colonies like Foy’s are vanishing without a trace or warning. Coined “colony collapse disorder,†or CCD, scholars have several theories but no conclusions.
Area beekeepers learned about it in January at the American Beekeepers meeting in Austin, Texas. Concerns were raised by Maryann Frazier, an apiculture extension associate at Penn State University.
“During the last three months of 2006, we began to receive reports from commercial beekeepers of an alarming number of honey bee colonies dying in the eastern United States,†Frazier said at the meeting. “Since the beginning of the year, beekeepers from all over the country have been reporting unprecedented losses.â€
Although Onslow County has no large commercial beekeepers, some mid-level breeders are feeling the pinch.
“This is a relatively new thing; there’s a lot about it we don’t know,†said Jeff Morton, horticulture specialist for Onslow County Cooperative Extension.
Top apiarists, or bee specialists, explained common symptoms and theories surrounding the ailment during the January meeting. Experts believe the disorder affects the bees’ immune system, causing them to flee and die off.
One way scholars are hunting for a cure is through bee and hive autopsies. Attention has also been drawn to nearby colonies that remain but inexplicably become weakened.
Uninsured Patient Billed More than $12,000 for Broken Rib
March 31st, 2007Via: San Francisco Chronicle:
There are 47 million people in this country without health insurance. Richmond resident Joey Palmer is one of them.
He learned how costly this can be after fracturing a rib in a relatively minor motorcycle accident and subsequently being hit with a bill for more than $12,000 from San Francisco General Hospital.
“There’s no way I could pay something like that,” Palmer, 32, told me. “I’m not a bum, but I’m not making a lot of money right now. How is anyone supposed to pay a bill like that?”
Iman Nazeeri-Simmons, director of administrative operations at San Francisco General, said she sympathizes with Palmer’s situation.
“It’s not us,” she said. “It’s the whole system, and the system is broken. We need to look closely at making changes and at how we can deliver care in a rational way.”
Palmer’s story illustrates the broader problem of runaway health care costs in the United States and a system that leaves millions of Americans to fend for themselves.
It also underlines the importance of universal coverage that guarantees affordable health care to anyone, anywhere — a goal that’s become a central issue in California and in the current presidential campaign.
“We are the only developed country that doesn’t cover all its people,” said Stan Dorn, a senior research associate at the nonpartisan Urban Institute. “We also spend a lot more than the rest of the developed world.”
The United States spent an average of $6,102 per person on health care in 2004 (the latest year for which figures are available), according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Canada spent $3,165 per person, France $3,159, Australia $3,120 and Britain a mere $2,508. At the same time, life expectancy in the United States was lower than in each of these other countries and infant mortality was higher.
Children Face Criminal Checks from the Cradle
March 31st, 2007Via: Telegraph:
Checks will be made on all children to identify potential criminals under an extension of the “surveillance state” announced by Tony Blair.
A Downing Street review of law and order also foreshadowed greater use of sophisticated CCTV, an expanded DNA database and “instant justice” powers for police.
The review is intended to chart a course for the next 10 years by focusing more “on the offender, not the offence”.
Most crime is committed by a small number of offenders who could be identified almost from birth, ministers believe.
Mossad’s Nazis
March 31st, 2007Even if you’re numb to this kind of information, as I am, the following article is really far out.
Nazi war criminal working for Mossad: Check
Nazi war criminal’s Mossad handler also happened to be a drug dealer: Check
Catholic priest Nazi sympathizer with large amount of cash: Check
Wimpy’s burgers: Check
Via Haaretz:
In the late 1940s, Walther (Walter) Rauff, an SS officer who was responsible for the murder of at least 100,000 people and was wanted by the Allies as a war criminal, was employed by the Israeli secret service. Instead of bringing him to justice it paid him for his services and helped him escape to South America. Documents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that have been released over the past several years show that the Americans were aware that Rauff’s case was not exceptional.
…
The fact that Rauff supplied intelligence to Israel has been published before, but for some reason the reports did not generate a public debate over the moral implications of Israel’s providing protection to a major Nazi criminal, who was the subject of an international campaign by Nazi hunters Simon Wiesenthal and Beate Klarsfeld to bring him to trial. Similarly, the renowned U.S. Holocaust researcher Richard Breitman, who as director of historical research for the Nazi War Criminal Records Interagency Working Group reviewed Rauff’s CIA file, chose to ignore information indicating that Israeli intelligence systematically employed Nazis in Arab countries.
…
According to CIA records Rauff’s handler was Ted Cross, whose Hebrew name was David Magen. Cross was recruited in 1948 for clandestine activity by Asher Ben-Natan, director of operations in the Foreign Ministry’s Political Department, which served as the precursor to the Mossad. Cross was fluent in several languages and had served in British intelligence in World War II.
According to an article by Gil Meltzer in the daily Yedioth Ahronoth from a year ago, Cross – who was from a wealthy Jewish Budapest family named Gross – was an international adventurer, a hedonist and a womanizer. To pay for his flashy lifestyle, he dealt in drugs. When Israel discovered that he had also sold his services as an agent to Egypt – for the very handsome sum of $20,000 – he was arrested and sentenced to a lengthy prison term. After his release he went into the restaurant business and, among other things, helped found the Wimpy’s hamburger chain.
…
The CIA received information that Rauff had acted on behalf of British intelligence in Syria and gave his handlers a copy of the Syrian intelligence service and political police reorganization plan. He seems to have been the servant of several masters at once. According to the CIA documents, in November 1949 Rauff arrived in Rome from Beirut and stayed at the Pensione Telentino under the name of Walter Ralf. Sources at the hotel said that he had little money and lived frugally. He had no visitors and received only a few telephone calls. A Catholic priest known for his Nazi leanings gave Rauff 40,000 lire. On December 17, 1949, Rauff set sail for Ecuador. Both the ticket and his passport were supplied by either Israeli or British intelligence.
The Weirdest Story You Will Read Today
March 30th, 2007Travolta. Scientology. Global Warming. Other planets. Dome cities.
Via: This Is London:
His serious aviation habit means he is hardly the best person to lecture others on the environment. But John Travolta went ahead and did it anyway.
The 53-year-old actor, a passionate pilot, encouraged his fans to “do their bit” to tackle global warming.
Travolta, a Scientologist, claimed the solution to global warming could be found in outer space and blamed his hefty flying mileage on the nature of the movie business.
But his appointment as a “serving ambassador” for the Australian airline Qantas doesn’t seem to have much to do with the movies. Nor does a recent, two-month round-the-world flying trip.
“It [global warming] is a very valid issue,” Travolta declared. “I’m wondering if we need to think about other planets and dome cities.
“Everyone can do their bit. But I don’t know if it’s not too late already. We have to think about alternative methods of fuel.
“I’m probably not the best candidate to ask about global warming because I fly jets.
“I use them as a business tool though, as others do. I think it’s part of this industry – otherwise I couldn’t be here doing this and I wouldn’t be here now.”
Travolta’s five private planes – a customised £2million Boeing 707, three Gulfstream jets and a Lear jet – are kept at the bottom of his garden in the US next to a private runway.
