Summer unofficially kicks off this weekend, at least here in the U.S., as we celebrate Memorial Day.
Before we even get to the "official" beginning of summer on June 21, sweat will be pouring from every banker's brow on June 17.
That's the day Greeks go back to the polls to basically determine whether or not they want to remain in the Eurozone.
The game of chicken is on.
Germany has basically said to Greece, we aren't going to ease up on the austerity requirements imposed on you so you could get more money from all of us, so, if you think that by electing a left-wing group of groupies who are campaigning on easing your burdens by leaning on us, your fed-up creditors, go lean on Atlantis instead, cause that's where you'll end up... underwater, and lost.
The Greek politicians - at least the lefties throwing curveballs - think there's no way the Germans will let them exit the currency zone, and of course don't want them to exit the European Union.
They are saying to the population, elect us, we'll spit on their boots and they'll bend over to shine them themselves. And, in the end, we the people will prevail.
Don't You Just Love Democracy at Work?
I'm talking about the "new" democracy; the too-big-to-fail democracy of the bankers, by the bankers, for the bankers.
Greek lefties have figured it out. The greedy bankers that set up the European currency apparatus so they had more borrowers to lend to and the concerted group of co-opted greedy politicians across Europe who got paid to go along with their scheme - which was to bury most of their own in a debt-death spiral - aren't going to let Greece off the hook by letting them exit the euro currency cell block.
That's because the bankers want their money back.
And if Greece renounces its debts and exits the currency jailhouse, well, maybe a few other countries will look at those same bankers and smile. That's all they'll have to do. Because the bankers will know what that smirk means. Next!
So the bankers are sure that they will all have to eat a little interest, and maybe some principal, but they'll come to the rescue at the last second, and Greece's liar loans will be "renegotiated."
But there's only one problem the bankers haven't figured out...
What if the old barter system isn't dead? What if Greece is willing to trade the old-fashioned way? What if euros are seen for what they really are - a currency chain that enslaves profligate borrowers in bankers' basements?
It could happen. This game of chicken could end with the bankers not being able to cross the street, not collect what they're owed, and worse, lose the game of dominos they're playing with the rest of Europe's big borrowers.
Worse, the bankers' "too big to fail" doctrine is being severely scrutinized everywhere.
Worse, for them, that is.
Look at JPMorgan Chase's Bad Trade
It's worse than anybody expected. When all is said and done, losses from this hedge-gone-wrong could total $5 billion, according to some analysts.
This has brought back the limelight on too big to fail, because maybe the banks are too big to fail, but apparently they're also too big to manage.
Wait a minute. If they're too big to manage, does that mean they could fail? No matter how big they are? Wait, does that mean that nothing has changed?
No, people, it doesn't mean anything has changed. Don't panic.
Wall Street is still ripping off stupid public investors and its own Muppet puppet clients. The Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq:FB) IPO just proved that. As if we needed proof?
Now the question is how corrupt are our politicians, really? After JPMorgan's debacle and the Faceplant debacle, will the pimping and pandering politicians in our bought and paid for Congress (and the presidency, for that matter) sweep all this under the rug of regulation and let the bankers continue holding our nation's people and the world's people hostage to their own greed?
We're about to find out.
I, for one, would love to see the Greeks stick it to the bankers and serve notice that democracy is worth fighting for and democracy means not being subject to the tyranny of bankers.
Freedom is worth fighting for. And freedom is worth dying for.
And, don't forget for a moment that this Memorial Day isn't the unofficial start of summer, it is the day we thank God for the men and women who have fought and sacrificed so much, and far too often, paid the ultimate price, for the freedoms we have.
Salute a soldier. Salute every soldier. They deserve it, and so much more.
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About the Author
Shah Gilani boasts a financial pedigree unlike any other. He ran his first hedge fund in 1982 from his seat on the floor of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. When options on the Standard & Poor's 100 began trading on March 11, 1983, Shah worked in "the pit" as a market maker.
The work he did laid the foundation for what would later become the VIX - to this day one of the most widely used indicators worldwide. After leaving Chicago to run the futures and options division of the British banking giant Lloyd's TSB, Shah moved up to Roosevelt & Cross Inc., an old-line New York boutique firm. There he originated and ran a packaged fixed-income trading desk, and established that company's "listed" and OTC trading desks.
Shah founded a second hedge fund in 1999, which he ran until 2003.
Shah's vast network of contacts includes the biggest players on Wall Street and in international finance. These contacts give him the real story - when others only get what the investment banks want them to see.
Today, as editor of Hyperdrive Portfolio, Shah presents his legion of subscribers with massive profit opportunities that result from paradigm shifts in the way we work, play, and live.
Shah is a frequent guest on CNBC, Forbes, and MarketWatch, and you can catch him every week on Fox Business's Varney & Co.