Given the problems with SVB and Credit Suisse, it's probably not a surprise that the banking index is showing stress.
But what is going on in short-to-medium term Treasuries is far more disturbing.
Friday, Joe highlighted a Scheerpost titled:
What Will Happen When Banks Go Bust? Bank Runs, Bail-Ins and Systemic Risk
After the 2008 crash many central banks enacted low and negative interest rates for any financial institution that could borrow directly from the central bank, or indirectly from those favored financial institutions. This cheap money spigot for the wealthy, to the tune of tens of trillions of dollars, never got turned off until this year, when inflation finally crept into the economy.
The Members Exchange (MEMX), an independently owned stock exchange, went fully live last October, although it's been operating for two years. Working within this stock exchange is MEMX LLC, which is an SRO (Self-Regulatory Organization). It says that it is independent.
Democracy does not mean merely that we hold elections. Communists had elections. Election campaigns are not the sum total of democracy. Democracy means the elected government obeys the expressed preferences of the electorate. We don't have that anymore. See [EVIDENCE OF DEMOCRACY FAILURE] below.
The ability of the citizens of the US to affect political change by electoral means ended with the 1980 election, when the CIA intervened in the electoral process (The October Surprise).
The old politics is dead. Citizens United granted unlimited, anonymous political bribery to the transnational billionaire class. The legacy media has been conglomerated down to six companies, while the platform media companies (Google, Facebook, Twitter) have instituted censorship and banning. Sock puppets, trolls, doxers, and other slime have demolished the promise of honest intellectual internet debate.
It's Day 311 of the Year 2018 CE
So, November 7, 2018 - for my reference if nothing else.
$243 Billion is the total amount of fines that major banks have paid for criminal behaviour since the start of the 2008 crisis. That's more than the GDP of Portugal.
It's amazing just how little was fixed after the 2008 financial crisis that the big banks caused.
Last week's IMF meeting couldn't have made that any more clear.
