Wednesday, April 18, 2012

IMF Chief Jackass Calls for Taxpayer-Funded Bank Recapitalisations to Avoid Painful Deleveraging; Mish Says Fire the Parasites and Disband the IMF

Yesterday TrimTabs president & CEO, Charles Biderman, proposed Firing All Government Economists and Disbanding the BLS, BEA and Census Bureau

I countered with ...

"Biderman's proposal a mere down payment on what needs to happen. In addition to getting rid of the BLS, the BEA, and the census bureau, we also need to get rid of the Fed, the department of energy, student loans, crop subsidies, the small business association, Davis-Bacon, prevailing wage laws, collective bargaining, and all sorts of other programs that at best accomplish nothing at tremendous cost, and in most cases do further economic damage because of graft, inefficiencies, and bad reporting."

Neither of us mentioned the ECB, central bankers in general, or the focus of this column, the IMF.


IMF Chief Jackass Calls for Taxpayer-Funded Bank Recapitalisations

Please consider the Financial Times article IMF sees banks deleveraging by $2.6tn
A drastic contraction of European bank balance sheets during the next 18 months could jeopardise financial stability and economic growth in Europe and beyond, according to forecasts from the International Monetary Fund.

In its Global Financial Stability Report, published on Wednesday, the fund warned that European banks looked set to shrink their balance sheets by $2.6tn (€2tn) over that period. Unless officials improved their policy response, the IMF said, European banks would dump almost 7 per cent of their assets by the end of next year.

José Viñals, director of the monetary and capital markets department at the fund, said: “The key is to recapitalise, restructure and resolve.”

The warning comes a day after Olivier Blanchard, the fund’s chief economist jackass, called for taxpayer-funded bank recapitalisations to be put back on the policy agenda to counter the risk of a painful deleveraging.
Fire the Parasites and Disband the IMF

Did taxpayers force banks to make stupid loans? If not, why should taxpayers bail out the banks and bondholders?

Have the efforts to do that worked so far? Is Greece in better shape? Portugal?

Did housing prices in the US recover after US taxpayers bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bondholders such as PIMCO?

Take a good look at Iceland. It is recovering because Iceland made banks and bondholders take a hit. Instead, the IMF wants to burden already over-burdened taxpayers so the likes of banks and bondholders (the wealthy class) can be made whole.

Supposedly this will get banks to lend. How can it? Taxpayers have seen prices rise, wages fall, and taxes go up, all of which leaves them in a much worse position to borrow and spend.

Who exactly do these jackasses represent?

The answer is obvious. The IMF is not setup to help countries or taxpayers, it was created to rob countries, rob taxpayers, and generally wreak havoc in times of trouble just so the wealthy class can be bailed out again, and again, and again, whenever the banks and bondholders get in trouble by taking on excessive risk.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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