Much Maligned Bondholders Do God's Work; ECB Creates Incentive to Gamble

Thanks in part to European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's proposal to make bondholders suffer losses from poor investment decisions was shoved aside.

Said ECB president Trichet in an exclusive interview...

"This is a victory for much maligned bondholders everywhere. I am pleased to announce we have effectively removed the word investing from the vocabulary of bondholders."

"Starting today, bondholders need not be concerned with who they lend money to, why, or what risks there are in doing so."

"Not only will this help ease turmoil in the markets, but bondholders can now think in terms of winning rather than the more mundane investing because the ECB and IMF will backstop all losses from trading bonds."
The above is a translation from today's issue of Le Monde. An official transcript will appear on the ECB's website later today.

In the meantime, Bloomberg has a few sketchy details of the announcement in an article appropriately titled Germany Drops Bond Threat

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

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.

The first test of the twin decisions come today with markets resuming trading after speculation intensified last week that Portugal and perhaps even Spain will require external support. In a third move, Greece was told it could have an extra four-and-a-half years to repay emergency loans totaling 110 billion euros to match the seven-year term under Ireland’s deal.

The German push ran into criticism from policy makers elsewhere, who called it mistimed, and from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, who warned it would unsettle bondholders. Germany yesterday backed away from the pitch for an automatic penalty, agreeing to give the International Monetary Fund a role in determining losses on a case-by-case basis.

Bondholders Do God's Work

In a followup interview Trichet commented, "The debt crisis is over. We are willing to grant Greece and Ireland as much time as they need. If an extra-four-and-a-half years to repay emergency loans proves insufficient, we are willing to wait an extra-hundred-and-a-half years".

When asked if he meant 150 years or 100.5 years, Trichet replied, "I mean as long as it takes to make the ECB whole, forever if necessary. The important thing is for bondholders to never suffer losses. Heaven forbid we should ever unsettle bondholders by insinuating they may have to take some losses. Bondholders in general, not just Goldman Sachs bondholders, do God's work."

Incentive to Gamble

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/11/bond-threat-dismantled-much-maligned.html

:wtf:

I wonder if they actually believe that?

For those that don't understand the 'gambling' concept. It is not what you gamble, nor what you win or lose. The concept of taking a risk by itself means nothing.

It is why and for what reasons you 'gamble' that defines what it means. If you take a gamble to defeat and destroy an innocent person, you can win the gamble and still be in a bad place. If you take a gamble to protect an innocent that is something different. It is not just bravery, it is also how it is used. The reason taking a risk is sometimes important, is not for the bravery, but because it is required in some situations to help people in an imperfect world.

That has to be a made up argument, it simply is not possible for a person to believe that their current distribution system of money is God's work.


I have posted on this topic before.

I would like for them to prove it was heaven that told them what they should do, and that they interpreted it correctly.

They are however living up to what they say, because they are taking a gamble, but they are not rolling financial dice, they are gambling that what God wants them to do is what they do. Maybe nobody ever told them a different way to see it.


I know it is part of the trap of 'none left behind', if they wont burn in a lake of fire, and I truly hope that happens to nobody, although that is just my feeling on the topic, then they can if motivated by loss and reward do anything.

I also know that many think it is their role to treat people bad to turn them to better help from above. They think if they can create enough suffering, then people will turn to God and find truth, then will have stuff like they do. So they think creating suffering is God's work that they do.

Here's the thing, at some point in the 'nobody left behind' concept, there will be no need for people to treat people that way, and then it will be them that will be taught, and when they learn the truth, their memories will hurt them since they will not feel glorious in a helpful way. At that point those memories would have to be softened or removed, and there simply will not be much of them left, with most of what they thought of as being victories will no longer feel that way, or removed to spare them the hurt from the true knowledge of much of those actions.

:shrug:

Who knows for sure. Although for their sake, I hope they also find ways to share joy in life to have those memories and experiences also.

I wish them the best, and hope it was an insincere taunt, although it is also sad if someone made that article up, it is sad to think people believe what that article says.