Spastica Rex

Yesterday we learned that in borrowing a page right out of 2010, when the Greek government was mounting a full frontal assault against CDS traders everywhere (only for Eurostat to tell us that CDS traders had absolutely no impact on Greek solvency), Greece is once again scapegoating unrelated third parties for its problems.

Ever wonder why for the US, it is all about reflating the stock market bubble in order to boost the "wealth effect", if only for a small portion of the population? Or, for that matter, why in China where the Shanghai Composite has gone absolutely nowhere since the Lehman crash (and certainly isn't up some 200% unlike the liquidity-supercharged S&P 500), it is all about preserving the sanctity of the housing bubble? Then the following chart should make it all clear.

The much discussed tumble in the Russian ruble (or as Japan would call it "mission accomplished" if its was the Yen instead of the Ruble) may have stabilized somewhat, and judging by the Russian central bank's response to no longer intervene in the FX corridor-setting market on a daily basis, Russia is hardly too concerned by the impact to the economy as a result of the beating its currency has taken, but where Putin may have brushed off the "speculative" attack on its currency for the time...