All Currencies are Bitcoin Now
How're you gonna make your way in the world, when you weren't cut out for working?
When your fingers are slender and frail, how are you going to get around in this sleazy bedroom town if you don't put yourself up for sale?
You said you were an actress, yes I believe you are, I thought you’d be a star
So I drank up all the money with these phonies in this Hollywood bar These friends of mine in this Hollywood bar
Loneliness and frustration, we both came down with an acute case
When the lights came up at two, I caught a glimpse of you
Your face looked like something death brought in his suitcase
Your pretty face, it looked so wasted
Another pretty face devastated
I use to feel Desperadoes Under the Eaves was Warren Zevon's best song about Los Angeles, but in the last few weeks, I've started to lean more toward The French Inhaler. Maybe my changing view has more to do with looking at global currency markets than Los Angeles?
The FT has piece on the Korean won,
“South Korea looks at ‘contingency plans’ to stabilise the won. Finance minister steps up verbal intervention as currency hits 13-year low against the dollar.”
Phew, the won has “weakened” 17% against the dollar this year. Good luck with that verbal intervention.
The FT continues,
“Analysts expected the currency to continue its descent until the end of this year, dragged down by the Fed’s aggressive monetary tightening and Seoul’s ballooning trade deficits.”
Once, one of the Asian export “Tigers,” today,
“The country reported a record trade deficit of $9.47bn in August as export growth slowed while higher prices of oil and other commodities inflated the country’s import bill.”
The South Koreans aren't alone. The Yen is down 30%, Euro 20%, Pound 25%, and the South African Rand 20%. The Fed continues to export inflation trying to control inflation in the US.
The FT also has a piece by Mohamed El-Erian. You remember Mr. El-Erian? He and Bill Gross made billions at PIMCO with the decades long bull market in bonds brought about by Fed monetary and DC regulatory policy.
Mr. El-Erian has joined the interest rate raising club, bonds be damned, writing,
“The good news lies in the twin prospect of economies putting behind them a long period of inefficient allocation of resources, and value being restored to markets heavily distorted by over-protracted central bank intervention.”
“Inefficient allocation of resources,” never heard much about that from any part of the finance industry during the Great Bond Bull. In fact, me, I always thought the idea was just the opposite. Paper-over the ever expanding inefficiencies with the Fed pumping more and more money into the financial sector.
Joe, aren't you exaggerating? After all Bitcoin's down 70%! Well, Mr. El-Erian says, “It is an instability that will intensify in the coming months.”
Place your bets.