Irish now go cold as well as hungry

Not content to see Irish just go hungry to fed the bankers, they now expect them to go cold as well......

From The Independent:

HOUSEHOLDERS have been told to deal with freezing weather by buying a barbecue.

A government department reviewed the situation that arose in the past two winters and concluded that every home in the State should have "some barbecue trays" on hand in case they're snowed in.

In conjures up an image of shivering families hunched over a smoking fire in their gardens, cooking sausages while surrounded by blankets, snow and ice.

The Department of the Environment confirmed that it was expecting families to use barbecues for cooking if their gas or electricity was cut off.......read on

France ends cash payments for Gold and Silver

Note this applies to French bullion dealers only.

I just found out that from 1 September it has become illegal for French bullion dealers to accept cash for precious metals purchases. All transactions must go through the banking system via cheque, direct deposit or EFT.

Charles De Gaulle must be ashamed of his country, not only can you no longer redeem fiat cash for a fixed amount of gold or silver but from 1 September 2011 you can no longer exchange fiat cash for Gold or Silver without it first being blessed by a bank - is this the precious metals version of selling indulgences? If so where is today's Martin Luther to set things right?

From the precious metals dealer Joubert:

By Joubert Saturday, August 27, 2011

It's the end of the threshold of € 3000 on precious metals (and all ferrous and nonferrous). The decree of July 29 amends Article L112-6 of the CMF (Monetary and Financial Code).

Any purchase and any sale of physical gold or silver should be paid by check or bank transfer, the first piece, from 1 euro!

We will implement this new rule as of 1 September 2011

Currency Wars, Swiss style

As previously mentioned on this blog Currency is this decade's Weapon of Mass Destruction, and with the Swiss being the recipient of a lot of hot money of late they can bomb the market at will, at least in the short term.

From Bloomberg:

Switzerland opened a new round in a global currency war as fading economic growth forces policy makers to step up efforts to spur expansion.

The Swiss National Bank’s decision yesterday to cap the franc’s rate for the first time since 1978 marked a bid to protect trade hurt by the currency that last month strengthened to records against the euro and the dollar. The franc plunged 8.1 percent yesterday against the euro, the most since the creation of Europe’s single currency. It was little changed at 1.2058 per euro at 10:53 a.m. in London.

The initiative may leave Norway and Sweden vulnerable to unwanted gains in their currencies as countries such as Brazil and Japan fight to limit appreciation amid a flight from the euro debt crisis and near-zero U.S. interest rates. With Group of Seven finance chiefs set to hold talks this week, it also exposes the clash among policy makers counting on exports to offset slumping demand at home......read on

Greek bonds blowout to 97% yield for 1 year on back of German court ruling

(Reuters) - Germany's top court handed the country's parliament a greater say over euro zone bailouts on Wednesday, in a closely-watched ruling that could hamper Berlin's ability to act swiftly to counter a debt crisis that has plagued the currency bloc for two years.

The Constitutional Court in the southern city of Karlsruhe rejected, as expected, a series of lawsuits aimed at blocking German participation in emergency loan packages. Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed that decision as validation of her much-criticized euro zone policy.

But the court also said her government must get approval from parliament's budget committee before granting such aid and appeared to rule out more radical solutions floated by Germany's European partners for solving the crisis, such as joint euro zone bonds.

"This was a very tight decision. But it should not be mistakenly interpreted as a constitutional blank check authorizing further rescue measures," the chief judge Andreas Vosskuhle told plaintiffs, government officials and members of parliament in the courtroom.......read on