“Merely setting interest rates below inflation, however, won’t fully achieve the desired result. The second part of financial repression is convincing a captive audience of buyers to hold government debt at exceedingly low yields. This can be done through the regulation of banks and pensions, capital controls, and good old-fashioned arm twisting…It isn’t hard to find examples of these tactics. The Basel III regulations give banks strong incentives to hold sovereign debt to satisfy their capital requirements. Ireland has pressed their National Pension Reserve Fund into service purchasing government securities and recapitalizing their banking system. Japan Post, the world’s largest pension plan, continues to buy JGBs apace.”

– “Financial Repression: Why It Matters”, Shane Shepherd, Research Associates , April 2013

LINK HERE to the article with additional quotes also

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

Dutch economists Sylvester Eijffinger & Edin Mujagic see western countries implementing policies aimed at reducing or at least slowing down the level of public debt .. “In times of slow economic growth, policymakers’ options are grim .. many Western policymakers are seeking alternative solutions – many of which can be classified as financial repression .. Financial repression occurs when governments take measures to channel to themselves funds that, in a deregulated market, would go elsewhere. For example, many governments have implemented regulations for banks and insurance companies that increase the amount of government debt that they own.” .. this can be done through regulations like Basel Accord which require banks to set aside enough cash to handle unexpected events – the cash is encouraged to be in the form of government bonds .. also another mechanism of financial repression: “Western central banks are using another kind of financial repression by maintaining negative real interest rates (yielding less than the rate of inflation), which enables them to service their debt for free.” .. also there is the mechanism of raiding pension funds: “In many countries, including France, Ireland, and Portugal, governments have raided pension funds in order to finance their budget deficits. The UK is poised to take similar action, “allowing” local government pension funds to invest in infrastructure projects.”

LINK HERE to the article

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

“We are now in an age of financial repression and, as observed by Edin Mujagic, an academic on the matter from Tilburg University, “we have moved into a new stage where we are setting up institutions specifically created for financial repression.” .. Financial repression causes all savers – institutional as well as individual — to lose money. In short, “individual savers are being punished for doing the right thing whereas the people responsible are not” .. 9 minutes

LINK HERE to the video

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

The Federal Reserve, under pressure from lawmakers and state officials, is considering allowing banks to use certain types of municipal debt to satisfy a new postcrisis financing rule.

U.S. regulators are expected to finalize safeguards requiring that banks hold enough liquid assets—such as cash or those easily convertible to cash—to fund their operations for 30 days if other sources of funding aren’t available. Municipal securities issued by states and localities wouldn’t count as “high-quality liquid assets” under the rule, meaning such securities wouldn’t qualify for use under the new funding requirements.

States and localities have warned that excluding their securities could cause banks to retreat from a $3.7 trillion market in which they have increasingly become an important player, which could driving up borrowing costs to finance roads, schools and bridges. Banks have nearly doubled their ownership in municipal securities over the past decade to more than 11%, according to Fed data.

HOW DOES THIS PROTECT THE PUBLIC

WHEN MUNICIPAL DEBT IS THE PROBLEM?

LINK HERE to the article

MUNICIPAL DEBT IS THE PROBLEM!

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

A former banker, Corporate Vice Chairman of a FTSE 100 corporation and founder of Matterhorn Asset Management AG, Egon von Greyez “strongly believes there will be massive wealth destruction in the next few years”.

Von Greyerz personally defines Financial Repression in practical terms as the “manipulation and interference by government in the running of the economy and the lives of normal people”. What this will inevitably lead to he feels will be the “total control of the people and a police state – that is the way we are going in some countries!”

He has been worried about what is presently unfolding since the 1980’s and is very troubled about what he has witnessed and what he clearly saw was coming. “All this was inevitable. It is ridiculous for the central bankers to say they didn’t see this coming. Anyone with just a little bit of intelligence could have seen this coming (of course you can’t be a politician who never see things coming and central bankers are politicians)”.

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

FINANCIAL REPRESSION IS

THE ONLY SOLUTION

(FROM THE GOVERNMENT’S PERSPECTIVE)

How will these deficits be financed when the present budget debates causes such Congressional wrangling & gridlock?

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

LINK HERE to the video

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

– Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer
LINK HERE to the article

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

With an exponentially increasing number of Americans & U.S.-based companies renouncing their citizenship, the U.S. State Department is now looking to raise the cost of renunciation from U.S.$450 to U.S.$2350on individuals .. [Cliff Note: Expect similar regulations or rule changes soon to keep U.S. corporations from renouncing their citizenship through overseas corporate inversions, like what Burger King is doing now .. America’s corralito tightens .. ]

LINK HERE to the article

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

FINANCIAL REPRESSION IS

COMPLETELY DISTORTING

THE PRICING OF BOND RISK

(The RISK is in FIAT US$ CURRENCY)

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

The founder of the well recognized Canadian web site Stockhouse Media Corporation and CEO until 2002, Jeff Berwick says “around 2003 I woke up and started studying and learning (and I am still doing that to this day) and the more you learn the deeper this ‘rabbit hole’ gets! We are living under a financial system that is completely not real! People are going to find this out pretty soon!”

Berwick defines Capitalism as “the free voluntary transactions of human beings where every transaction improves the lives of eveyone. They (government) have been portraying capitalism as evil.”

Because of this the future suggests to Berwick that ” whoever loses the least over the next decade, will win the most! It is going to be a game of not losing everything.”

“We are going to go through the ‘Great Transition’ in the not to distant future which the internet will facilitate and which could potentially be the saviour of humanity. The real issue over the next few years is trying to get enough people to understand what is wrong about this world and what could be right about it. Then let the people decide”

His recommendation for Americans who he believes ‘are the most asleep people in the world (from his perspective living outside America), is to “put your assets into hard assets that Janet Yellen can’t counterfeit into obscurity.”

FINANCIAL REPRESSION in Jeff Berwicks words:

“Financial Repression all started in 1913 with the foundation of the third central bank of the US, the Federal Reserve. Income tax came into existance with the same act which people should find interesting! …. The Repression as you call it (Oppresssion as I call it) of the Central Banking, Communist System has been hidden from people because of a tremendous amount of productivity…. the government and bankers tell people things are good because of them – in actuality things are worse because of them – a lot worse. Hardly anyone sees this…. they have taken away from the true human potential.”

The answer is that “we need an awakening where people begin to realize what is going on and move beyond this really horrible system of statist, communists, central bankers, fiat currencies and go to a solid money (like precious metals and bitcoin) and allow the markets to make decisions”.

“People need to wake up, turn off their TV (it is literally ‘programming’) and start listening to real information. People need to break free from these chains. If they don’t, unfortunately they will get hurt in this coming “Great Transition”. As in life someone always has to pay for mistakes and some people are ging to pay more than others. We are unfortunately all going to have to pay. It is going to be a dramatic period and incredibly stressfull…. America is going to be ground zero for this transition “

“There is going to be a great evolution in everything we know today in the next decade. It is going to be biblical in proportion. The sooner you start to look into these things (whether gold, silver, real estatre, bitcoin) the better”

LINK HERE for MP3 Podcast

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

– Nick Giambruno, Senior Editor InternationalMan
LINK HERE to the article

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

MONEYWEEK.COM article points out the worse things get on the European financial/economic crisis, the more pressure there is on the European Central Bank (ECB) to print money

– stocks will likely go up as this happens on the anticipation that the ECB will given in & start money printing

.. “TheECB would print money and use it to buy eurozone government bonds, in order to prop up the region’s banking sector, and to encourage more risk-taking by lenders and investors. Of course, any hint of more money-printing always cheers the market, and European stocks reacted well to the news.”

.. the article points to how U.S. & UK stocks have similarly reacted positively on all the money printing

.. whether all this money is good for the economy or whether it even benefits the economy in any positive way is another question

.. in terms of investing, the article suggests sticking with countries that are looking to do more money printing & that have relatively inexpensive stock markets, such as Europe or Japan

.. the article emphasizes the approach of financial repression taken by the U.S. & UK in keeping interest rates down & allowing inflation to rise in order to pay off some government debt via inflation, rather than by defaulting or cutting back spending

.. most western world governments are in this bind, so that “we could see interest rates staying lower than markets expect for some time. And in the longer run, we could see a lot more inflation than we’ve been used to as well”

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

Businessweek reports that earlier this month, the Russian government seized its citizens’ pension contributions – 6% of Russians’ salaries is invested in financial markets, earmarked for their retirement, but this year that $8 billion in contributions will finance Russian spending instead .. “Russia is not the first country to confiscate pension assets to pay its bills, and it probably won’t be the last .. For governments facing financial pressure, billions of dollars of pension assets proved too tempting to resist.” .. Argentina recently “nationalized” $30 billion of pension assets & Hungary, Poland, Portugal, & Bulgaria have done the same ..
LINK HERE to the article

“In most countries, it’s extremely unlikely that the government will outright seize pensions. In America, it’s nearly impossible to change Social Security or Medicare benefits, and the idea of the U.S. government confiscating everyone’s 401(k) is unimaginable to all but the most ardent conspiracy theorists.

However, it’s not unrealistic to think that the American government could take a bigger bite out of individuals’ 401(k) assets with higher tax rates: Income taxes are at historic lows, and if the American government needs to raise revenue in the future, taxes on 401(k) withdrawals may be higher (along with taxes on everything else).

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

Casey Research’s Nick Giambruno sees an emerging pattern of wealth confiscation globally, identifies Portugal as a likely next country candidate in this regard .. “It starts out with government officials telling you everything is all right—when clearly everything is not all right.” .. here is a summary of the pattern:

1. COUNTRY GETS INTO SERIOUS FINANCIAL TROUBLE

2. OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT DENIALS

3. SURPRISE BANK HOLIDAY/CAPITAL CONTROLS

4. CONFISCATION

Portugal is clearly at the first stage in the pattern—serious financial trouble .. recommends taking your money out of Portuguese banks while you can .. “When it comes to protecting yourself from confiscations, capital controls, bank holidays, and other desperate measures of an out-of-control government, it’s absolutely essential to take action before it’s too late .. While the window is still open for those in the U.S. to protect themselves, the warning signs are clearly there. And the writing is on the wall.” .. another example of financial repression.

link here to the article

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

“‘Since the financial crisis, the world’s central banks have collectively put more than $10 trillion into the financial system. This kind of money printing is literally unheard of in modern history. And it has set the stage for a roaring wave of inflation.’ — Graham Summers, analyst .. With the world in a deflationary recession, I now doubt we’ll see new highs in the D-J Averages. But with enough QE, it might be possible .. With deflation enveloping the world, investors have been racing to buy Treasury bonds, whose yields have sunk to record lows. My survival choice in investments continues to be silver and gold .. Today it finally happened: I received an advertisement from a firm featuring a scare I’ve been waiting for. There are two ways for the government to handle its outrageous debts. The first is reneging, as per Argentina, but this is unthinkable. The second way is via inflation — inflate enough and your debts appear to shrink. Ah, but there’s a third way, and it’s confiscation of wealth. Don’t think this is impossible, because governments will do whatever they have to to remain in power. How about confiscating all individual wealth above $200,000, for which the government will give you stubs which will say IOU. This will be a switch on the 1933 confiscation of gold. This time it may be confiscation of cash. Finally, something new to worry about.” .. it’s default or financial repression, take your pick.

– Richard Russell*

link here to the article

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

• WHOLESALE SECURITIZATION OF LOANS
• REPO COLLATERAL ACTIVITES OF THE SHADOW BANKING INDUSTRY

NOT THE RETAILING OPERATIONS OF MAKING (EXPENSIVE) SMALL BUSINESS LOANS!

Small Business has historically been the life blood of America.

It no longer is for a consolidated banking industry.

THE BANKING INDUSTRY

IS NO LONGER EFFECTIVELY

SERVING AMERICA!

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

Government Policy was about:

“positively incenting & directing actions”

Government Policy is now about:

“negatively forcing & impeading actions”

READ: Treasury Officials Prepare Options to Address Inversions 08-19-14 WSJ

Treasury Department officials are assembling a list of administrative options for Secretary Jacob Lew to consider for ways to deter or prevent U.S. companies from reorganizing overseas primarily to avoid paying federal taxes

Some Democrats in Congress believe lawmakers should pass a stopgap measure to deter companies from pursuing the deals, while some Republicans have said the only way to stop inversions is through an overhaul of the tax code.

others believe the White House has ample flexibility to step in and have raised different ideas for administrative actions, including

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

Now the government is forcing Public Pensions into Stocks

Some 50% of all US pension fund assets are invested in stocks and only 20% in Treasurys

UNDERSTAND

“SHORTING” & “PUT DERIVATIVES”

to know how

THE GREATEST WEALTH TRANSFER IN HISTORY

IS BEING SET-UP TO EVENTUALLY BE EXECUTED

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.

Its Called FINANCIAL REPRESSION

When an Unelected, Private Institution (The Federal Reserve), Owned by the Banks, Controls the Money Supply & Interest Rates this occurs

“Permit me to issue the money of a nation, and I care not who makes it laws”

Mayer Amschel Rothchild, Banker 1790

Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed in this blog post may or may not be representative of the views or opinions of the Financial Repression Authority.