Man Bites Dog: Switzerland Cancels Bond Sales, Because They Are Running Surpluses

Hmmm....amazing what happens when the voters force the government to live within its means.

From Bloomberg(with bold added by OldSouth):
Swiss officials are making decisions their peers in Greece or Portugal envy: Canceling bond sales as a budget surplus reduces the nation’s borrowing needs. Soaring public debt in the 1990s prompted Swiss voters to approve a constitutional amendment requiring that revenue and expenses must balance over an entire economic cycle, though the government may run annual deficits. 

That restraint has paid off, pushing Switzerland’s borrowing costs to the lowest in Europe as investors rush to the safest investments. Switzerland called off bond sales in November and December, saying it didn’t need additional funds to finance the budget. The benchmark 10-year note yields 1.80 percent, compared with Portugal’s 5.48 percent and Greece’s 9.06 percent. 

Let's read that bit again:

Soaring public debt in the 1990s prompted Swiss voters to approve a constitutional amendment requiring that revenue and expenses must balance..

Let's focus in a bit more, for that reader in Washington DC who keeps checking in:

a constitutional amendment requiring that revenue and expenses must balance...

Ya' gotta speak slowly, short sentences composed of short words, when dealing with our friends in Washington. So, let's explain it in terms they can understand. Again.

The Swiss voters said NO to the guv'mint spending more than guv'mint takes in.

'Surplus' means the guv'mint takes in more than it spends.

When the guv'mint stops spending more than it takes in, it has money left over, and the whole country prospers.

Damn! Why didn't we think of that?

And, they retained their national sovereignity by retaining the integrity of their currency.

Greece is, therefore, not their problem.

Damn! Why didn't we think of that?

Damn!

Apparently, No One Learned One Damned Thing: The Tin Cup Approach To Life

Jesse shared this nugget earlier this evening from Bloomberg.

Ya'll remember OldSouth quoting that bizarre interview with the German finance minister last week?

The one where he admitted 'We don't really know who holds all that Greek debt, and how much is held by whom.'?

You know, that one!

Apparently, the domesticated feline mammalian unit has escaped the portable burlap transportation unit.

JPMorgan’s exposure to the five so-called PIIGS countries is $36.3 billion, equating to 28 percent of the firm’s Tier-1 capital, a measure of financial strength, Wells Fargo analysts including Matthew Burnell wrote today. Morgan Stanley holds $32.4 billion of debt in the region, which equates to 69 percent of its Tier 1 capital, Burnell wrote. 

Now, really, OS is not in the habit of cursing in print, but this one deserves a rousing:

Well, Shhhheeeeeeeuuuuuuuttttt!!

It's so satisfying to say that sometimes, releasing all that air, spittle, frustration and utter disbelief in one extended dipthong.

What sort of moron places 36 billion dollars on the table on: 'I'm gonna buy me a bunch of debt instruments from those paragons of progress and capitalist free markets, Greece and Portugal.'

'OK, spin that there roulette wheel, Bubba! What could go wrong?'

In other words, not one damn thing was learned in the Great Meltdown of 2008, except that no matter how bad the screw-up, Uncle Sam will shovel in enough money to make everything all right.

OS saw a rerun of the classic movie 'Tin Cup' last night. The final ten minutes is almost unbearably painful to watch, which is one reason it is such a great flick. OS was struck by how wonderfully the screenwriters did their job. That 'focal point moment of truth' happens before the carnage begins. 'Tin Cup' Roy McAvoy, totally amped up on his own ego, begins ranting about 'his moment of immortality' as he is about to risk his whole life on a golf shot that has maybe a 10% chance of success. He is Don Quixote at the windmill. His Sancho Panza of a caddy, played by Cheech Marin, totally loses patience and shouts: 'Homes, you don't need your immortality! You need your seven-iron! Lay the ball up!'

Of course, reason did not rule, and that final painful ten minutes proceeds.

Romeo the caddy, the eternal Sancho Panza, stands on the 18th fairway with his friend who has spent his life snatching disaster from the jaws of success, pleading with him to act sanely at least once in his benighted existence. Play the seven iron, reduce your risk, win the US Open. Think of all the people who have invested so much of themselves in you. Play the seven-iron!

Here in the small towns and neighborhoods of America, we don't ask for much from the Great and Good, really. Just that they not act like Tin Cup McAvoy.

We wish they would locate the seven-iron in the bag. Before they blow themselves, us, and everything around them to kingdom come.

Trombone Shorty: A Fresh Voice

Again, out early, in late. But Amazon delivered the Trombone Shorty album ordered last week.

OS is not a huge fan of the latest and greatest heavily hyped pop album, in general.

Trombone Shorty, however, lives up to the press he's received.

Moh' latuh.

End Of April, A Thought For The Culture

It's one of those weeks--out of the house at 8:00 am, back in at 10:00 pm.  No time to think, much less write.

In the meantime, these wonderful words from the Sunday Times on the subject of music and worship. 

It's not a subject the general public spends a lot of time thinking about, but trust OS on this, it really matters.  How we say what we say at what should be our most serious and unguarded moments really matters.


Away we go....