If You Live Anywhere Other Than America Or Korea, These Will Be The Two Big News Stories Today..

Asia Session: Awaiting the Irish Budget

The Euro continued to move higher in Asia as markets looked ahead to the hopeful passing of the 2011 Irish budget which is due later in the day. Now loaded with new austerity measures in order to appease the EU and IMF after securing a bailout package the proposed Irish budget for 2011 was to be put in front of the parliament later today. The passing of the budget without any hitches would surely help the Euro currency and that optimism was seen in today’s Asian moves from 1.3280 to 1.3350 in EUR/USD. The ECB’s move to extend its bond purchasing program also proved beneficial to the European currency as investors welcomed the determination of the European Central bank.

At the moment, the proposed budget looks like it will pass. Of course, bankers and politicians are pretty happy with that projected outcome, but the non-ultra rich, non banker, non politicians aren't happy, and will be expressing their displeasure later today, and probably frequently for quite some time..

And then there's the World wide bank run, originating in France, scheduled for today.  Your host?  Eric Cantona.:

Following an idea put forward by Eric Cantona recently the 7th December is planned to be ‘bank run’ day. The general idea is that nowadays protesting in the street doesn’t achieve much – but if we all withdraw our money from the banks at the same time the banks will collapse.

Will this destroy the European banking system?  Probably not, and most likely not in America, but people in other countries are paying attention, and we won't know what the end result will be tomorrow, or in the near term..  And it all starts today.

So much information, so much to disseminate, so little time..

Ireland's Ruling Government Is About To Have Their Ass Handed To Them

Come January, it's payback.  The Irish are mad, and ready to kick some Fianna Fail ass.  The other traditional opposition parties(Fine Gael, in first, at the moment, Labour in second and Sinn Fein, third) are crushing Fianna Fail(by default) which has dropped to last place in the "major" parties (not counting the Greens), and elections are slated for the second week of January.  In a quirk of Irish politics, Fine Gael is to the right of Fianna Fail, but works with Labour, which is similar in spirit to the progressive left of the American Democratic Party.  (It would be nice to have that cooperation stateside, but, you know..)

Fianna Fail has seen their popularity plummet from 42 percent to 13 percent, and are projected to lose as many as 55 seats in this disaster election scenario created by their greed and unshakable allegiance to the banks that got them in trouble in the first place.  And now, members of its own party might not follow suit for  December 7th's budget vote.  And if the budget doesn't pass and Ireland refuses the bailout and the entire government collapses, this will cause a whole new set of problems for the EU, the IMF, and bankers from other countries.  Stay tuned..

Well, That Was Quick, Ireland Edition

Irish PM is forced to agree to dissolve government. Holy Crap! Excerpts in italics:

Amid calls for his immediate resignation from at least two MPs in his own Fianna Fail party and the withdrawal of support from coalition partners the Green Party, Prime Minister Brian Cowen was forced on Monday to announce the pending dissolution of his government.
..
The turmoil and political uncertainty following a bailout that was meant to bring stability has done little to calm markets; despite hopes the package would ease Ireland’s debt crisis, borrowing costs barely budged and the euro declined in the markets Monday. This has heightened concerns among European leaders that the rescue has failed and that further bailouts may be needed to prevent a run on Portuguese and Spanish banks and bond markets.

Hours after the European Union and the Washington-based International Monetary Fund negotiated an €85-billion bailout-loan package on Sunday, the Green Party, which holds the balance of seats that allows Mr. Cowen’s Fianna Fail to govern, delivered a poison-pill announcement: it will pass the brutal austerity measures required as part of the bailout, but at the cost of killing the government.

Green Leader John Gormley, expressing the views of increasingly furious Irish citizens, said he would allow the government to pass a four-year program to slash a further €15-billion from government spending through tax hikes and service cuts in the Dec. 7 budget bill. But he demanded a national election in January in return, a move that will almost certainly end the career of Mr. Cowen and possibly eviscerate his party.
And:
The allies of the Prime Minister, or Taoiseach, wasted little time in delivering the long knives on Monday, distancing themselves from a leader who has infuriated voters by insisting for weeks that Ireland’s sovereignty would be kept intact – and by keeping Ireland’s low 12.5-per-cent corporate tax in place while raising taxes and slashing welfare.

Let the protests begin!

And, because it's Ireland, the Real IRA's gonna kick it up a few notches..

The speed of this whole process has been so much faster than any "mainstream" analyst dreamed it could be.. Last week, a bailout was proposed and implemented, and yesterday, it failed. And Ireland begins a descent into.. No one knows. And the pace of these events is accelerating..

Portugal's next(Oops!). Then Spain. And Italy? And then?

Pay close attention: History is being made right before our eyes.