Time For Something New

Fresh from her propaganda speech delivered which encouraged Harvard graduates to be "good global citizens," the WSJ reports that the International Monetary Fund's Christine Lagarde is helping Europe explore politically-palatable alternatives to euro bonds as a way to help solve its worsening debt crisis.

Calling attention to the opportunities available in "this dazzling new world," Lagarde cautioned graduates not to "get trapped by the uncertainties of the present moment."

Lagarde, like Goebbels, also knows that nothing works like repetition.  The word count of her speech used the words: world -- 41X,  global -- 24X, new -- 17X, better -- 11X, common -- 8X, citizens -- 7X, hope -- 3X, forward -- 2X . . . anything to keep from focusing on the uncertainties of the present moment.

Perhaps the reason why is that her solution to the crisis is the same thing that caused it.  More debt.  It's time for something new.

The IMF thinks Europe should consider issuing common short-term debt, guaranteeing sovereign bonds and creating euro-wide deposit insurance, according to recently published research approved by the fund’s top economists. Some of those ideas, the IMF believes, stand a better chance of being adopted by fiscal hawks in Europe.

Euro bills, or commonly-issued debt securities with maturities of under a year, could be drawn up in a variety of ways. All have the aim of spreading the risks for strained economies such as Italy and Spain onto the shoulders of healthier countries such as Germany and France. The IMF has also highlighted a proposal by German economists that would use debt guarantees for the same purpose.

These options, as well as euro bonds, are the kinds of measures Christine Lagarde was referring to Tuesday when she said Europe’s leaders must act more forcefully to fight their financial crisis. “We consider that more needs to be done, particularly by way of fiscal liability-sharing,” Lagarde told reporters in London. “There are multiple ways to do that,” she said.

The bolded words are some of the same points she covertly made in her commencement speech.  They're nothing more than code.  If you want to see the dazzling new world that the world's central planners have in mind for you, watch Europe carefully.

Yesterday's market action was well inside the week's range.  I have no desire to flip a coin.  I either want to add the shorts from higher levels or cover and get long from lower levels -- 1330+ and 1280- on the S&P.  No idea which will come first.

Time to be get ready to leave sunny Arizona soon.  Time to break out the Road Atlas.   Time to plan the next journey.  Time to zero in on the way home.