http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-13/german-self-immolates-front-german-reichstag
German Self-Immolates In Front Of Reichstag
When the topic of public suicides in Europe comes to mind, the natural instinct in the past several years has been to immediately think Greece, which has not only seen its suicide rate explode due to the never-ending economic depression, but witnessed a variety ofactivists take their lives in hopes, so far unmet, of enacting some form of political and social upheaval. Which is why it comes as a major surprise that the latest public self-immolation just took place not in Syntagma Square but in front of the German Reichstag.
From DPA via the Berliner Kurier:
Hundreds of tourists and Berliners on Saturday became eyewitnesses to a spectacular suicide in front of the Reichstag building.A 32-year-old Berliner stabbed himself in the chest according to police at noon at the main entrance of the Reichstag. He then doused himself with a flammable liquid and set fire to himself. Passersby alerted the police and rescue workers. They tried in vain to resuscitate the man. He succumbed to his injuries on site yet.
Naturally the last thing Germany needs is a political suicide at a time when Angela Merkel is being booed not only in Athens but in Stuttgart, which is why the immedaite explanation was one of "personal reasons."
A political motive of his act precluded the police. In the 32-year-old a suicide note was found. The reason for the suicide lies in the personal area, it said.Shortly before the time of the crime around 500 supporters of wind energy lobby between the Chancellery and the Reichstag building had been demonstrating.
A suicide in front of the political symbol of the nation, one which involves self-immolation, for personal reasons? Interesting. Hopefully other Germans don't get any ideas and start expressing their terminal heartbreak by burning down not only themselves in the immediate vicinity of the Reichstag but the proximal building too: because the last thing the Reichstag needs is to burn down. Again. For personal reasons or otherwise.
and.....
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-13/after-starting-riots-greece-merkel-booed-germany-next
After Starting Riots In Greece, Merkel Booed In Germany Next
What does an iron chancellor have to do to be loved these days? After scrambling 7,000 members of the Greek police force out of an early prepaid retirement for her brief, still inexplicable 6 hour visit to Athens last Tuesday, which caused the now usual Syntagma square rioting, Merkel next took the stage in a rainy Stuttgart, in a show of support for the local mayor candidate Sebastian Turner, which promptly devolved into 14 minutes of continuous booing.
Watch below.
More pictures from the same rally, where people apparently were not too keen on WWIII:
Don't worry though - as was reported yesterday, despite violent protests everywhere that the heads of the European oligarchy go, the Nobel peach prize committee saw it fit to reward the continent, where the democratic process has been usurped in every country and replaced with banker imposed technocratic puppets, with this year's peace price. The reasoning, according to Thorbjørn Jagland, head of the Nobel committee, is that Europe shrugged off the euro's woes and said the EU had been a force for peace both after the second world war, binding Germany and France together, and following the bloody slaughter of the 1990s in the Balkans. Too bad Yugoslavia is neither part of the EU nor, of the Eurozone, but details. He added: "The main message is that we need to keep in mind what we have achieved on this continent, and not let the continent go into disintegration again." The collapse of the EU could lead to a resurgence of the "extremism and nationalism" that had led to so many "awful wars", he warned bluntly." Maybe he is referring to the surge of nationalism now seen in Greece, where the neo-nazi Golden Dawn is now the third most popular political power and rapidly rising, soon to be followed by like nationalistic "successes" in other countries, where secession referenda are next on the agenda.
The truth is that a vast majority of Europe's people now want the grand experiment, which merely enriches a small subset of participants while impoverishing everyone else, over and done with:it is this endless pursuit of power and money at all costs that starts wars - not whether Germany and France share a fake currency, that is the cause of the endless bloodshed in Europe. The only reason why wars not only in Europe, but in the world, were avoided for the past several decades, is due to the incursion of gloalbization which merely allowed the encumberance of every global assets with layers upon layers of additional debt, creating money in the process and keeping the oligarchy happy. But it is this oligarchic 'subset' that calls the shots, and the same subset is now realizing the ability to create debt out of thin air in Europe has now ended. And it will gladly take Europe to the edge of war if it means, well, "avoiding war", at least in the Nobel committee's naive version of the world, in the future.
and is not likely to make Merkel more popular at home ......
11:20PM BST 12 Oct 2012
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Ahead of next week’s European Union summit, Mr Van Rompuy unveiled a report which called for the examination of “the pooling of some short-term sovereign funding instruments, for example, treasury bills, on a limited and conditional basis”.
The report was commissioned by the European Council and is designed – once it is finished in December – to be a “time-bound road map to the achievement of a genuine economic and monetary union”.
Mr Van Rompuy – who said the EU was the “biggest peacemaking institution ever created in world history” as it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize – also called for a banking union, with a single supervisory body and a common resolution framework. But, in a move that will be welcomed by the UK, Mr Van Rompuy also said the new regime should be “fully consistent with the single market” and work to “preserve the level playing field across the EU”.
The call came amid reports that Greece has “caved in” to demands by the troika to impose €9bn (£7.2bn) of austerity measures next year, rather than the €7.8bn set out in the country’s draft budget.
Despite that – and new figures showing the unemployment rate reaching a record 25.1pc – Germany hit out at calls from Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, for Greece and Spain to be given more time to reduce their deficits.
and as for China - China Central Bank says no printing for now....
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-13/china-central-bank-refuses-join-global-print-fest-warns-about-inflation-risks
China Central Bank Refuses To Join Global Print Fest, Warns About Inflation Risks
- Australia
- Bank of England
- Bank of Japan
- Ben Bernanke
- BOE
- Central Banks
- China
- CPI
- European Central Bank
- Federal Reserve
- Gross Domestic Product
- Japan
- Lehman
- Musical Chairs
- People's Bank Of China
- Quantitative Easing
- Reality
- Reuters
- Tim Geithner
While the entire 'developed' world is now openly engaged in destroying the balance sheet of its assorted central banks - the sole means to devalue local currencies, a liability, by accepting ever more toxic 'assets' as currency collateral - thereby pursuing strategies which until now were strictly relegated to the banana republic playbook, there are some countries who see what is coming over the horizon, and refuse to join the printing frenzy. One such place is China, for whom, as we have repeatedly shown the threat of a fast onset of inflation is far greater (3x more bank deposits as a % of GDP than in the US, means a soaring capital market as a result of inflation will benefit far less while a deposit exodus will cause hyperinflationary havoc in minutes) than any other developed world country. And with the inability to hide "non-core" CPI as a result of food and energy being such a greater portion of overall inflationary bean counting than in the US, it means that despite the demands of Tim Geithner for immediate more easing by China, the PBOC is now stuck waiting to import everyone else's inflation: this includes the Fed, ECB, BOE, BOJ, Korea, Australia and all other bank engaged in adding liquidity, while its own hands are quite tied. Because recall that it was only last year that the NYT said that: "Inflation in China Poses Big Threat to Global Trade." Now we are told that lack of inflation poses the same threat, when in reality what they mean is that with the world tapped out, one more source of marginal liquidity is needed. Judging by overnight comments from the PBOC's head Zhou Xiaochuan that liquidity, suddenly so very needed to keep the game of musical chairs going, is not going to come from China just as we have warned for months on end.
From Reuters:
China's central bank governor has warned that quantitative easing policies worldwide could cause inflationary risks, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday.The remarks by People's Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Zhou Xiaochuan come even as analysts credit policy easing from G4 central banks - the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank (ECB), the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England - in the third quarter of the year as underpinning business confidence.
Ironically, unlike before when the West benefited from Chinese easing during periods of stress such as in the Lehman aftermath, this time around it is China who is sowing the fruits of others' relentless easing tactics. Only last night China reported that its trade surplus came well ahead of expectations, at $27.7 billion versus a consensus of $20.5 billion, with exports coming coming nearly double the expected 5.5%.
Chinese data on Saturday offered a sign that G4 policy easing was being felt in the world's second biggest economy, with trade numbers showing exports grew at roughly twice the rate expected in September while imports returned to the path of expansion."The data shows both imports and exports are improving - especially a rebound in export growth reflects a rising confidence after the U.S. and European countries launched further easing policies last month," said Xue Hexiang, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai, after the trade numbers were released.In other words, China is now perfectly happy with the status quo, and is delighted that for once it does not have to be marginal provider of global growth impetus. Instead, it will continue resorting to ultra short-term liquidity intervention strategies such as a reverse repos, which it has been doing for the past several months, and will do no RRR or rate cuts for as long as the threat exists that some other bank will do it for them.Across Asia, central banks are wary about the potential inflationary impact of the Fed's latest quantitative easing, dubbed QE3, as well as policy stimulus unveiled by the ECB.Central banks "should consider draining excessive liquidity injected into the market and eliminate inflationary pressure in the long-term", Zhou was quoted as saying by Xinhua, which cited the Journal of Public Research, a magazine published by the People's Bank of China.China's central bank said in September that it would "fine tune" policy to cushion the economy against global risks while closely watching the possible impact from recent policy loosening in the United States and Europe.
The bottom line is that those waiting for China to come in and provide that last bit of momentum to take the S&P to its all time highs, will be waiting, and waiting, as such an intervention will not come. Why? Thank the Chairman, whose open-ended easing has effectively taken out an even great short-term stock market growth driver, China, out of the picture. And judging by the recent market move, in which the entire QE3 jump has now been faded and then some, Bernanke better have some more magic up his sleeve, ironically, magic which will make any additional "developed world" easing that much less likely.And just as the permabulls were hoping for once they would be right with their 1650 year end S&P forecasts...
