Monday, October 22, 2012

UK more vulnerable to systemic banking tremors than Ireland


That's gross debt, not net debt; but it's the equivalent of balancing two squirming elephants instead of two oranges. Thank you, banks.

Data from: Graham Summers, Phoenix Capital Research.

INVESTMENT DISCLOSURE: Mostly in cash (and index-linked National Savings Certificates), but now planning to build up some reserves of physical gold via regular saving.

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7 comments:

  1. Jim in San Marcos24 October 2012 at 05:12

    Hi Sack

    Where did you get the chart from? I can believe that Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain should be at their worst but only Ireland shows up.

    The UK may have a problem, but is it that bad? I think who ever drew up the chart was smoking something.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jim in San Marcos24 October 2012 at 05:13

    Where did you get the chart from? I can't believe that Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain should be at their worst but only Ireland shows up.

    The UK may have a problem, but is it that bad? I think who ever drew up the chart was smoking something.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sackerson24 October 2012 at 08:14

    Hi, Jim!

    I made the chart myself, and I don't smoke (anything). It's based on the info in the link below the chart.

    This is GROSS debt, so like with derivatives, you could argue so what, look at the overall balance of money in and money out; but as with derivatives, the sheer scale of the operations is such that a hiccup in the system could be very disruptive. Hence my analogy of juggling elephants instead of oranges.

    Look at Max Keiser's latest interview with a British Government minister (second half of vid):

    http://youtu.be/msoORfsXQpc

    The UK is comprehensively stuffed (our term for it). Max's guest pretty much admits that we're enslaved to the Big Four banks and the City of London. You Americans have 8,100 banks that can take over if and when your mega-criminals collapse. Matter of fact, I've been wondering what would happen if the US reissued the dollar in a new form and didn't replace all the ones held offshore.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sackerson24 October 2012 at 08:17

    Correction: you have 7,657 banks:

    http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/banking_finance_insurance/banks_savings_institutions_credit_unions.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bill Morris26 October 2012 at 03:07

    Sackerson,

    I am a tad confused. I thought that the total debt to GDP of the UK was around 500% (graph here: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZIvs6y8bai4/T7FbEbrq7mI/AAAAAAAAAGg/8xSiKYfJ188/s1600/worldwide+debt+by+countries.jpg). I am certain I am misunderstanding this as I am no economist or financial expert, but I do agree with you on Gold - hold physical hold, and don't wait until the bottom of the market to see like GB did:)
    alternative investing

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sackerson26 October 2012 at 06:56

    Hi, Bill. There's the total debt in the economy - and I understand your figure is correct - but here it's about debt owed by the banks (not adjusted for debts to them). So many ways to measure and define debt, and some of them desogned, I suspect, to give us false and misleading reassurance.

    Gold - wish it wasn't so expensive. I don't want to make a killing - too late for that - but just hold onto what we've got.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Martin Cooper5 November 2012 at 10:17

    its nice post thanks for share
    free debt management

    ReplyDelete

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