Threads in the news:
US: The biggest news in the US continues to be the NSA spy scandal with increasing recrimination flowing from the US toward those harbouring the fugitive Edward Snowden. A good article below from McClatchy points out that the US does the same for dissidents from countries like Iran. I highly recommend that one. In other news, the Supreme Court has ruled on the US voting rights act and dealt a ‘blow’ to it according to the Wall Street Journal. This story is fairly new so I don’t have a bunch of links on it. There are no big stories in the markets outside of the continued analysis of the Fed’s tapering comments.
Europe: The biggest story is in Ireland, where the Irish Independent has revealed a serious of tape recordings of bailed out Irish bank Anglo Irish’s executives talking about the bailout in 2008. There is a lot of controversy surrounding these tapes because they suggest that the executives were not forthcoming about the scale of the problems in the bank and simply wanted the government to get some ‘skin in the game’ in order to get the full bailout they did eventually get. The Irish bank bailouts eventually led the government to its own bailout and taxpayers are very angry.
Asia/EM: In the emerging markets, it continues to be a story of market volatility and worry about rising interest rates. As I have been saying for some time, the locus of greatest financial risk has moved away from Europe to emerging markets. All eyes are on China still because it is not clear how much pain they are willing to mete out in order to reduce froth in the shadow banking credit arena. The potential for an ugly unwind that craters growth has increased significantly.
Links below
China
Liquidity crunch a catalyst for big China slowdown – analysts /Euromoney magazine
China’s ‘Shadow Banks’ Fan Debt-Bubble Fears – WSJ.com
‘Crazy’ levels of pesticides found in Chinese herbs | South China Morning Post
United States
Gensler Staring Down Administration and Banks on Derivatives Reform « naked capitalism
Larry Summers: We have to do better on inequality – FT.com
Dalio’s Bridgewater seen as a loser in market sell-off -sources | Reuters
Economists Are Asking: Did Bernanke Tip Fed’s Hand? – NYTimes.com
Two Fed officials downplay worries over end to stimulus | Reuters
The Bernanke Fed is playing with deflationary fire – Telegraph Blogs
Europe
UK borrowing costs hit two-year highs – Telegraph
Italy court finds Berlusconi guilty on sex charges | Reuters
Irish banks
Anglo Irish bankers ‘tricked’ government into bailout – Telegraph
Explained: The bank guarantee controversy – Independent.ie
EFSF gives Ireland extra seven years to pay off €20bn in loans – Independent.ie
Finance Minister had ‘no idea Anglo phone recordings existed’ – Independent.ie
Former executive John Bowe denies misleading Central Bank – Independent.ie
Top executives laughed off concerns about abuse of bank guarantee – Independent.ie
These tapes are just the tip of the iceberg – we need a proper inquiry – Independent.ie
Behind the banter and bravado, this was an enormous fraud on us all – Independent.ie
Abuse the bank guarantee, don’t get caught – David Drumm – Independent.ie
Anglo tapes making debt deal more difficult – Gilmore – Independent.ie
Day one: Listen to the full Anglo recordings – Independent.ie
We might not use ESM to pay for banks’ rescue after all – Noonan – Independent.ie
NSA
Candidate Obama Debating President Obama On Civil Liberties vs. Government Surveillance | Techdirt
David Gregory Is What’s Wrong With Washington « The Dish
Daily Kos: US & NSA Accused of Criminal Privacy Violations in Dozens of Nations – Snowden Blowback
Hacker group claims FBI tracking Apple users | Toronto Star
From September
Jakob Augstein: Data Spying Programs Threaten German Security – SPIEGEL ONLINE
All eyes on seat 17A as reporters head to Cuba without Snowden | Reuters
Kocherlakota Says Fed Policy Guidance Is ‘Insufficient’ – Bloomberg
Anger at U.S. complicates efforts to capture Snowden | McClatchy
“I Am Sorry That It Has Come to This”: A Soldier’s Last Words
Anger mounts after Facebook’s ‘shadow profiles’ leak in bug | ZDNet
Surge in ‘digital dementia’ reported – Independent.ie
Tech