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From CNBC: UK 'Vindicated' for Refusing Euro: Chancellor Osborne

Britain's decision of not joining the euro was vindicated by the crisis in the euro zone, as the countries in the single monetary union have lost control of their monetary policy, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne told CNBC.

The UK did not join the euro because that would have meant giving up decision over interest rates and removing exchange rate flexibility, Osborne said in an interview late Tuesday.

"And, you know, I feel that our view has been vindicated by recent events, and I'm very pleased the UK's not part of the euro," he said.

Whaaaattt????!!!! That's not the way I remembered it. As I recall, a man with a proprietary investment style very similar to my own (see "The Great Global Macro Experiment, Revisited") George Soros warned the UK officials not to join the Euro and they ignored his advice.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="680" caption="From a Global Macro perspective, it is actually quite profitable taking the opposing side of Central Bank trades. They are inevitably always wrong! If one were to look at the track record of my public calls via BoomBustBlog over the last 4 years, this assertion is proven true without a shadow of a doubt."][/caption]

He then levered up against the pound as the UK tried to manipulate its currency to fit within the EMU's mandated band. The man reportedly made $1 billion off of that trade (which was a lot of money for a trade back in the '90s) and was labeled a villain. Methinks they should erect a shrine in homage of Soros in Trafalgar Square instead. It appears quite obvious that Soros was right and the UK government was wrong. Here's how Wikipedia puts it:

The BoomBustBlog Ireland Haircut Model has been posted, and it is a doozy. For those who anticipate  the Euro being a slow train wreck, it may not be so slow after all. Professional and institutional subscribers can access it here as a live, spreadsheet embedded into a BoomBustBlog  web page. Users can subscribe or upgrade to gain access. The haircut model is SOOOO damn revealing that I can't keep it all to just site subscribers, thus I have pulled a few bits and pieces out for the general public.

As any who have been following me know, I believe that several European countries are bound to default, ie. restructure their debt. Ireland is in that camp. What makes me so sure about this? Well, its simple math. While I have calculated probable restructuring and haircut scenarios, I am not at liberty to put it out in the public domain just yet, but I can illustrate incontrovertible evidence that shows that Ireland is on an unsustainable path - a path made even more unsustainable by the recent bailout.

Let's take a look at the cumulated funding requirement of Ireland over the next 15 years.

As you can see, the amount Ireland would have to borrow to run the country (even after harsh and punitive austerity measures) is literally more (and substantially more) than the country's projected GDP. These GDP projections are (in part) IMF projections which I have already demonstrated to be grossly over optimistic, see Lies, Damn Lies, and Sovereign Truths: Why the Euro is Destined to Collapse!). As a matter of fact, the tab for Ireland is even greater AFTER the IMF/EU/Bilateral state leveraged into Ireland loan/Pension fund raiding bailout! This is what happens when you try to save a debt laden country with more debt!

As reported by Bloomberg: Ireland Wins $113 Billion Aid; Germany Drops Threat on Bonds

European governments sought to quell the market turmoil menacing the euro, handing Ireland an 85 billion-euro ($113 billion) aid package and diluting proposals to force bondholders to bear some cost of future bailouts.

An oxymoronic comment in and of itself since the market turmoil stems from excessive indebtedness of sovereign states and this event marks the dumping of $85 billion of debt on said indebted state.

European finance chiefs ended crisis talks in Brussels yesterday by endorsing a Franco-German compromise on post-2013 rescues that means investors won’t automatically take losses to share the cost with taxpayers as German Chancellor Angela Merkel initially proposed to the consternation of bond traders.

If bond traders were a tad bit more fundamentally analytical in their perspective, they would realize that the Germans were simply being forthright and honest about an inevitable truth. With the current debt load, Ireland will most likely restructure its debt by 2013 anyway. The German proposal is actually a marked positive in that the restructurings (read, "haircuts") would be uniform, universally agreed upon ahead of time, standardized across the board and known by all market participants - basically a sovereign prepack bankruptcy deal. The so-called "bond traders" as referred to by the MSM, are apparently reported to prefer the anarchy of piecemeal, default as you go, restructurings with no standardized form or fashion. Argentina, here we come!

Is it that some believe that if they stick their heads in the European sand and ignore the problem it will go away in due time?

The first test of the twin decisions came as markets resumed trading after speculation intensified last week that Portugal and perhaps even Spain will require support.

If Ireland continues to have the problems that I believe they will have, not only will Spain and Portugal face their market comeuppance, but other European countries outlined in my Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis series as well.

I have been 100% correct year to date, much more so than the more widely publicized pundits, investment bank analysts and the IMF/EU themselves:

Summary: The BoomBustBlog contagion model easily predicted the actions of the UK and Sweden in aiding Ireland 9 months ago. The model also has some dire predictions for the near future.

Ireland, like several other EMU states, is in a very difficult position. It has built up significant amount of debt on top of a crippled banking system of which it has decided to exchange taxpayer capital for private losses. Like many other EMU nations, it is overbanked, hence is literally dwarfed by both its banking system and the bad assets contained therein (see Erin Gone Broken Bank: The 2nd EMU Nation That Didn’t Need a Bailout Get’s Bailed Out Within Months, Next Up??? November 22nd, 2010).

The ECB, EU, IMF and individual states UK and Sweden (in a bilateral agreement) have agreed to bailout Ireland and its mired banking system. It is interesting to note that there are actually individual countries that have volunteered (out of the goodness of their collective hearts) to assist Ireland outside the collective (UK and Sweden offer over €9bn in bailout loans). The secret of said generosity is in the charts.

I have been warning of this potential in Spain for nearly two years (January of 2009, reference Reggie Middleton on the New Global Macro – the Forensic Analysis of a Spanish Bank after a trip to the Costa del Sol by way of Málaga). I will spend the Thanksgiving holidays working on the Irish and Spanish haircut updates and fine tuning the contagion model for subscribers and I will attempt to publish the analysis in a very rich format (with dynamic models, graphics, video, etc. on BoomBustBlog, Barnes and Noble Nook/Kindle via ebook format, and through YouTube)  On that note, Bloomberg reports: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the prospect of serial European bailouts was “exceptionally serious,” sending the euro to a three-month low as officials estimated saving Ireland will cost 85 billion euros ($114 billion).

Irish bonds dropped and the premium that investors demand to hold Spanish debt over German counterparts jumped to a euro- era record as the relief rallies triggered by Ireland’s Nov. 21 aid request evaporated. Traders are now betting the turmoil that started in Greece a year ago will spread to Portugal and Spain.

“The markets currently have virtually zero confidence that the bailout in Ireland will solve the European crisis,” Charles Diebeland David Page, fixed-income strategists at Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets in London, said in a note today. “With markets effectively in a position to dictate policy, the risk is that the credibility crisis shifts to more sizeable European Union countries and thereby poses a greater risk to the system as a whole.”

Contagion is spreading through the euro region as Ireland hammers out an aid package with the EU and the International Monetary Fund to save its banking system. The European Commission estimates Ireland may need 85 billion euros, according to two officials who were on a Nov. 21 conference call of finance ministers. Of the total, 35 billion euros would go to banks and 50 billion euros to help finance the government.

The euro dropped 1.8 percent to $1.338 as of 4:55 p.m. in London. The yield on Ireland’s 10-year bond rose 35 basis points to 8.65 percent. The spread on Spanish 10-year bonds over bunds rose 28 basis points to 236 basis points.

Merkel Risks

Merkel today chose to highlight the risks facing the euro even as bailout talks destabilize Ireland’s government. Speaking in Berlin, she said while she didn’t want to “paint a dramatic picture,” it would have been hard a year ago to “imagine the debate” now taking place in Europe. The German leader is stressing the threat to the euro posed by indebted member countries and is pushing German plans to make investors help pay for any future crisis in the currency area.

“I won’t let up on this because otherwise that primacy of politics over finance can’t be enforced,” Merkel said. “It remains our task to keep calling for tough measures and tough conditions, but also to express clear support for the euro.”

Merkel’s stance has drawn opposition from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and leaders in Spain and Greece, who say it risks derailing euro-area nations’ deficit- cutting efforts.

In other words, Merkel is being too damn honest and forthright in her public pronouncements. So be it. This is an excerpt of what we used to prep and warn paying subscribers regarding Spain since the beginning of the year (excerpted from Spain public finances projections_033010):

In January of 2009 (reference Reggie Middleton on the New Global Macro – the Forensic Analysis of a Spanish Bank ), and after a trip to the Costa del Sol by way of Málaga I became highly suspicious of the spillover effects of bubble credit and excessive reliance on construction that the European nations had and absorbed from the private sector banks. At first this was focused on Spain, but then my team of analysts and I widened our scope to all of Europe, and found that there was a contagion waiting to manifest. This was a full year and a half before most even admitted there was a pandemic problem (and to this day, there are still some naysayers). Here's a quick time line and link fest of all of the misunderstandings, misinformation, disinformation and outright lies that have led us up to this point...

Around February 7, 2010, many sell side analysts and geo-political pundits stated that there was no European sovereign debt  "crisis", not to mention a "pan-European" crisis. I responded with The Coming Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis – introduces the crisis and identified it as a pan-European problem, , not a localized not a, not localized one. Of course, this was absolute blasphemy within the circles of those smart guys who knew what they were talking about. I then went on with What Country is Next in the Coming Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis? – illustrates the potential for the domino effect and followed up with:

1. The Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis: If I Were to Short Any Country, What Country Would That Be.. – attempts to illustrate the highly interdependent weaknesses in Europe’s sovereign nations can effect even the perceived “stronger” nations.

2. The Coming Pan-European Soverign Debt Crisis, Pt 4: The Spread to Western European Countries

More and more "experts" on the matter explained how the situation is overblown- Greek Crisis Is Over, Region Safe”, Prodi Says – I say Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

Summary: This is an extensive post designed for those who want to truly comprehend what I perceive to be both the root causes and the practical solution to the Irish sovereign debt problems and the threat of Pan-European, or possibly global, financial and economic contagion. It contains a lot of applied concepts that veer outside of the realm of finance and economics and into human nature and psychology - alas, that is what I consider reality. For those that wish to skip to the pure financial aspects of why I believe Ireland is destined to default (and how they are hiding debt with the complicity of other parties), scroll down to "Real World Examples of the Social Science Concepts Above". To get the full gist of what is going on, continue reading below. I will continue this post within 24 to 48 hours with our calculation of Irish sovereign debt haircuts and some likely contagion effects.