Another Conspiracy Theory Becomes Fact: The Fed's "Stealth Bailout" Of Foreign Banks Goes Mainstream | Zero Hedge

Another Conspiracy Theory Becomes Fact: The Fed's "Stealth Bailout" Of Foreign Banks Goes Mainstream | Zero Hedge: "Back in June 2011, Zero Hedge first posted:

"Exclusive: The Fed's $600 Billion Stealth Bailout Of Foreign Banks Continues At The Expense Of The Domestic Economy, Or Explaining Where All The QE2 Money Went"
which we followed up on various occasions, most notably with

"How The Fed's Latest QE Is Just Another European Bailout" and
"The Fed's Bailout Of Europe Continues With Record $237 Billion Injected Into Foreign Banks In Past Month.""



'via Blog this'

Largest Public Pensions Face $2 Trillion Hole, Moody’s Says - Bloomberg

Largest Public Pensions Face $2 Trillion Hole, Moody’s Says - Bloomberg: "The 25 biggest systems by assets averaged a 7.45 percent return from 2004 to 2013, close to the expected 7.65 percent rate, Moody’s said in a report released today. Yet the New York-based credit rater’s calculation of liabilities tripled in the eight years through 2012, according to the report."





So I wonder what will happen once the Fed enhanced returns are no more ..... if they returned 7.45% while this was happening



'via Blog this'

BestBuy issues $1.5Billion in unsecured debt in Q1 and uses $1Billion of it to buy back their own shares - CapEx unchanged to lower

'via Blog this'

All joking aside, here's what happened: in Q1 BBBY issued $1.5 billion in Senior Unsecured Notes, and promptly used $1 billion of this to buyback its own shares. Because this time the credit bubble is different.

Thank you Bernanke.

Just 3 WTF Earnings Charts | Zero Hedge

Just 3 WTF Earnings Charts | Zero Hedge: "Chapter 2: Top-Down Hockey Sticks

Despite these chronic historical downward-revisions, Forward S&P 500 EPS estimates continue to surge (driven by large market cap effects and the hockey-stick hopes and dreams)"







Net earnings revisions have been positive only 12 times in the last 104 weeks...







'via Blog this'

The Scotland Referendum: Who Voted How And Why? | Zero Hedge

The Scotland Referendum: Who Voted How And Why? | Zero Hedge: "he following post-referendum poll from Lord Ashcroft does a good summary of who voted how and why. However, the most telling distinction is the following:



Voters aged 16-17: YES: 71%; NO: 29%



Voters aged 65+:    YES: 27%; NO: 73% 



How will last night's vote look like in 5, 10 or 15 years when today's 17 year olds are Scotland's prime demographic?"



'via Blog this'



Scotland, Scottish Independence, Scotland vote

Missing Men in U.S. Workforce Risk Permanent Separation - Bloomberg

Missing Men in U.S. Workforce Risk Permanent Separation - Bloomberg: "The pace of decline was among the fastest during the last two contractions and the drop has continued in the current expansion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from Labor Department reports. This shows the labor-market recovery isn’t strong enough for some men to find jobs or even continue looking.

"



'via Blog this'

Why Scotland Has All The Leverage, In One Chart | Zero Hedge

Why Scotland Has All The Leverage, In One Chart | Zero Hedge: "And yet, as always, the bottom line is about leverage and bargaining power. It is here that, miraculously, things once again devolve back to, drumroll, oil, and the fact that an independent Scotland would keep 90% of the oil revenues! As we showed several days ago, Scotland's oil may be the single biggest wildcard in the entire Independence movement.

It is this oil, and its interconnectedness within the UK economy, that as SocGen's Albert Edwards shows earlier this morning, is what gives Scotland all the leverage."



'via Blog this'



Also-

The New York Times reports:

Scottish nationalists have long argued that being governed from London has deprived their country of its fair share of the wealth from Britain’s oil and natural gas fields, which mostly lie in North Sea waters off their shores.

“It’s Scotland’s oil” was the rallying cry in the 1970s that helped raise the profile of the Scottish Nationalist Party, which now leads the country and is pushing for a vote to secede in the referendum on Thursday. Alex Salmond, the politician leading the separatist movement, has pointed to North Sea energy as the treasure that would help finance an independent Scotland — ensuring that the country could continue the generous public spending, including free university tuition, that he is promising voters.

Al Jazeera notes:

Massive oil reserves in the North Sea are at the heart of the Scottish independence debate. Many are questioning whether the reserves are just for Scotland or if the rest of the United Kingodm should continue to benefit from their profits.

NBC writes:

The ‘Yes’ campaign … says Scots should have total control of their own affairs and that revenue from Scotland’s offshore oil fields would sustain the country’s economy.

In addition, as Max Keiser explained:

(1) The UK can now borrow cheaply using the giant Scottish oil reserves as collateral

(2) If Scotland leaves, the collateral (oil reserves) is no longer available

(3) So the cost of borrowing money for Britain skyrockets

SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE, SCOTLAND, NORTH SEA OIL