let me explain how the collapse of the euro union will proceed ....

the smart money gets its money out, and converts it to hard assets.

the dumb money leaves its money in, on assurances that the market always grows over history: this means, that the sheep always grow a new batch of wool.

you can tell the smart money from the dumb money, because the smart money lives in chateau's and uses the bad brandy to make alcohol for the old bentley's.  the dumb money gets jobs at the night counters at 7-11, and take a round or two during evening robberies.

then, greece, italy, spain, ireland and france default.  then, the stock markets go in the toilet.  when the smart money is wrung out, when the piss is boiled out of the kidneys, then the chits, puts, margins and leveraged & derivative obligations get called, and everyone is once again reminded that debts are debts and cannot be paid with wishful thinking and extended time lines.  (not if, then, but, when then.  sooner or later, it makes no difference.)

then.  and only then.

as eli wallach more or less said to yul brenner in "the magnificent seven," "if god didn't mean the sheep to be shorn he wouldn't have given them wool."

this is something sheep should be mindful of, but don't seem to be.

john jay @ 12.18.2011

p.s.  governments go first.  then, banks.  with funny names, that build in the tidal flats and tsunami plains.  the old ones, on the high and rocky ground with the good angles of fire and enfilade, remain, with the money, the real money, firmly in hand. 

you can tell the difference in the banks: the old ones don't have the service counters, nor free checking accounts, nor neon "open" signs.  just a little dust on the wine bottles in the cellar.  

there is no hurry.

Comments

[PacRim Jim]

Good thing that, as they have pronounced for decades, Europeans are so much wiser than Americans. Otherwise, their economies could collapse.

[john jay]

jim:

laughing.

"otherwise ... ."

yes, indeed.

john jay