Watch politicians actions not their lips

There is a rumour current in Brussels that many of the Eurocrats are seeking safe bank funk holes for their money. This follows on the stories of some Euroland banks being in difficulties and leading to the Fed organised dollar easing of swap lines. Its a very indicative development. These people will know more of what is really going on than the journalists. If they are checking out the lifeboats its a sign that the Titanic project may be in real difficulties.

I remember once when I was at the BoE as a result of some research I had done I wrote a note on the parlous state of some UK insurance companies. I was amazed the people who then approached me to say if the insurance office they had their funds with was in trouble! They were not bothered at all about the systemic risk to our financial structures which was why I had written the note!

Alan Wood sent me a copy of a rather amusing variant on the flogging a dead horse syndrome that is currently in vogue in Brussels

 The Dead Horse Theory

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that; When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, best strategy is to dismount.

 

 

 

 

 

However, in our government more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

?1. Buying a stronger (and more expensive) whip.
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?2. Changing riders.
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?3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
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?4. Arranging to trips to other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
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?5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
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?6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
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?7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
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?8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase efficiency.
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?9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.
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?10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.
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?11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some live horses.
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?12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.
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?And of course....
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?13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

 

Many a true word is spoken in jest! Many horses died in Napoleon's retreat from Moscow but maybe Sarky has not read his history. General Winter defeated Napper and Adolf. I hope the economic winter will defeat Sarky and Merky.