Mark Blyth On Neoliberalism, Brexit, and the Global Revolt Against the 1% and their Unelected Elites

"...a full 95% of the cash that went to Greece ran a trip through Greece and went straight back to creditors which in plain English is banks. So, public taxpayers money was pushed through Greece to basically bail out banks...So austerity becomes a side effect of a general policy of bank bailouts that nobody wants to own. That's really what happened, ok?

Why are we peddling nonsense? Nobody wants to own up to a gigantic bailout of the entire European banking system that took six years. Austerity was a cover.

If the EU at the end of the day and the Euro is not actually improving the lives of the majority of the people, what is it for? That's the question that they've brought no answer to.

...the Hamptons is not a defensible position. The Hamptons is a very rich area on Long Island that lies on low lying beaches. Very hard to defend a low lying beach. Eventually people are going to come for you.

What's clear is that every social democratic party in Europe needs to find a new reason to exist. Because as I said earlier over the past 20 years they have sold their core constituency down the line for a bunch of floaters in the middle who don't protect them or really don't particularly care for them. Because the only offers on the agenda are basically austerity and tax cuts for those who already have, versus austerity, apologies, and a minimum wage."

Mark Blyth

Although I may not agree with every particular that Mark Blyth may say, directionally he is exactly correct in diagnosing the problems in Europe.

And yes, I am aware that the subtitles are at times in error, and sometimes outrageously so.  Many of the errors were picked up and corrected in the comments.

No stimulus, no plans, no official actions, no monetary theories can be sustainably effective in revitalizing an economy that is as bent as these have become without serious reform at the first.

This was the lesson that was given by Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.  There will be no lasting recovery without it; it is a sine qua non.  One cannot turn their economy around when the political and business structures are systemically corrupt, and the elites are preoccupied with looting it, and hiding their spoils offshore.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Flight To Safety

In 2008, their economic worldview and unrestrained corruption precipitated a global economic crisis that literally caused, and is still causing, billions of people to suffer — in response, they quickly protected the plutocrats who caused the crisis while leaving the victimized masses to cope with the generational fallout. Even now, Western elites continue to proselytize markets and impose free trade and globalization without the slightest concern for the vast inequality and destruction of economic security those policies generate...

Corrupt elites always try to persuade people to continue to submit to their dominance in exchange for protection from forces that are even worse. That’s their game. But at some point, they themselves, and their prevailing order, become so destructive, so deceitful, so toxic, that their victims are willing to gamble that the alternatives will not be worse, or at least, they decide to embrace the satisfaction of spitting in the faces of those who have displayed nothing but contempt and condescension for them.

Glenn Greenwald

Next week should be interesting.

Gold did a $100 overnight move last night at one point from the low to the high, before giving some back today.

We are still waiting on a proper breakout, but the ice has been broken.

And we have only just begun.

Have a pleasant weekend.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - And It Is

Let's see how next week goes after the professional class has the weekend to digest what has happened.

I expect the credibility trap to keep them drawing up short of reaching any useful and actionable conclusions.

That was painfully obvious last night and today.

Have a pleasant weekend.

BBC Calls the Election: LEAVE It Is - Gold Spikes To $1350, Silver To 18.20, SP Futures Down 90

I have been watching a live stream of the BBC, and they just called the election for 'Leave.'

The most repeated phrase of the evening from the professional class has been 'this is a wake up call' for Westminster.

Wake up calls may be the order of the day for the status quo.

The politicians are shocked, shocked that the people have rejected the advice, arguments, and warnings of 'the experts.'

Some 'very serious people' are wondering what this means for the future of the EU.

And as always, they never saw this coming.

Gold is trading at 1334, silver at 18, the SP stock futures are down 90 points, and the FTSE futures are down 8%.

The map below shows the support for 'Remain' was centered primarily in the southeast which is London and in the north in Scotland.   The huge majority for 'Remain' in Scotland raises the prospect of another referendum there for independence in order to remain in the EU.

I wonder if the professional establishments of the West will continue to misjudge the depth of the dissatisfaction of the public, counting on their complacency to maintain the status quo.

The November elections in the US may be another interesting situation to watch closely.  The smug sense of complacent entitlement of the Democratic National Committee and their anointed one is striking.