Economists: Le Pen Victory Would Lead To "Massive Sovereign Default", Global Financial Chaos

Economists: Le Pen Victory Would Lead To "Massive Sovereign Default", Global Financial Chaos


by Tyler Durden
Feb 10, 2017 9:02 PM

With two months left until the French election, analysts and political experts find themselves in a quandary: on one hand, political polls show that while National Front's Marine Le Pen will likely win the first round, she is virtually assured a loss in the runoff round against either Fillon, or more recently Macron, having between 20 and 30% of the vote; on the other, all those same analysts and political experts were dead wrong with their forecasts about both Brexit and Trump, and are desperate to avoid a trifecta as being wrong 3 out of 3 just may be result in losing one's job.

Meanwhile, markets are taking Le Pen's rise in the polls in stride, and French spreads over Germany are moving in lockstep with Le Pen's rising odds. In fact, as noted earlier in the week, French debt is now the riskiest it has been relative to German in four years.

Why are markets spooked?

As per her recently released manifesto, Le Pen has promised to unilaterally take France out of the Euro within six months, sparking concerns over what might happen then. The answer comes from the National Front itself, which overnight revealed its plans to the FT, suggesting that €1.7 trillion of French public debt would be redenominated into francs if the far-right National Front party gets into power.

Read the rest here: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-...default-global-financial-chaos-economist


Germany moves 100 tonnes of its gold from New York to Frankfurt

February 10, 2017
Source: The Local

Germany's central bank said on Thursday it sped up the process of bringing its gold home from foreign vaults in 2016, moving more than 200 tonnes from New York and Paris.

The Bundesbank relocated some 216 tonnes of the precious metal to its headquarters in Frankfurt last year, including 111 tonnes from New York and 105 from Paris.

That amount was a slight increase over the 2015 total of 210 tonnes, while 2014 saw 120 tonnes moved and 2013 just 37 tonnes.

During the Cold War, the Bundesbank kept much of its reserves outside the country for fear of Soviet invasion.

Scares that there might be less gold in the foreign vaults, that the ingots stored abroad might be tampered with, or that Germany might not be able to retrieve its gold have long been a feature of politics.

But the Bundesbank finally launched a relocation programme after authorities demanded more transparency about how much gold it held and where during Europe's debt crisis.

Read More... http://www.blacklistednews.com/Germ...York_to_Frankfurt/56779/0/38/38/Y/M.html

New World Order Threatened by Populist and “Illiberal” Forces, Say Globalists

Globalists claim populist politicians seek to create an "axis of fear"

Clifford Cunningham | Infowars.com - February 13,

The world is facing a “post-truth, post-West, post-order” era fueled by the rise of populist and “illiberal forces” according to a report from the Munich Security Conference.

“The world is facing an illiberal moment. Across the West and beyond, illiberal forces are gaining ground,” said this year’s report from the Munich Security Conference. “From within, Western societies are troubled by the emergence of populist movements that oppose critical elements of the liberal-democratic status quo.”

The report blamed the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, the election of President Donald Trump, and the rise of Eurosceptic parties across Europe on a “cultural backlash” against “so-called ‘globalism.'”

“The main dividing line in politics runs less and less between left and right but between a liberal cosmopolitan pole and a populist (or even xenophobic authoritarian) one,” the report said. “Populist parties reject the cultural modernization in Western societies and revolt against what they perceive as threats to the nation, ranging from immigration and cosmopolitan elites to international institutions.”

Populist political candidates are “experts in the politics of agitation” who seek to create an “axis of fear” that “exploits insecurities and grievances of the electorate, often by twisting the facts or even by spreading outright lies that speak to the preconceptions of their supporters.”

Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, claimed the populist candidates running for office across Europe and the United States are in fact authoritarians who seek to overthrow Western democracies.

“Are we entering an era of illiberalism, where authoritarian governments are going to replace more and more traditional Western, value-based democracies? I think it is right for us to be concerned about this crisis, this decline of the West — the disappearance of the classic leadership nation of the West, the United States,” he said. “Is global governance coming apart at the seems? Do our international institutions work as they should be working? Look at the United Nations, look at NATO, look at the OSCE, which is desperately trying to help resolve the Ukraine conflict.”

“[There are] many questions regarding the stability of global governance, about the validity and the strength of the international system, of global order.”

The 53rd Munich Security Conference is set to take place between February 17-19, with Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary General James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary General John Kelly, and almost a dozen members of Congress set to represent the United States.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, European Council President Donald Tusk, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, more than 30 heads of state, and over 80 foreign and defense ministers are also expected to attend.

The Munich Security Conference was founded in 1963 as “Internationale Wehrkunde-Begegnung” by Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin, a former member of the Wehrmacht who was part of the plot to assassinate Hitler at the Wolf’s Lair on July 20, 1944.