More News, Rumors and Opinions Tuesday Night 5-19-2020
TNT:
Tishwash: The specter of bankruptcy hangs over Baghdad
In an article published yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi revealed his assumption of his duties “in the shadow of an empty treasury, imperfect sovereignty and a loose weapon outside the framework of the state”, stressing that the Iraqi reality “is not envied after 17 years of change ... our country is intended to become An arena for the struggle of others, and the security of our citizens is threatened, not only from the continued ISIS and its sleeper cells, but also from the fugitive weapon.
” Al-Kazemi said, “Restoring the prestige of the state requires that the power of any party not be above the constitution and the law, and that the arms become in the hands of the state and its armed forces.” Referring to the economic crisis that the country is underneath, which revealed the fragility of the economy, by saying:
“The crisis includes all state institutions and their fabric And impede its economic revival, as it did not take place in the last period to promote vital sectors such as industry, investment, food security and others, "calling on political and parliamentary blocs to" support the new government by voting on candidates for vacant ministries. "
Many questions were posed by political sources after Al-Kazemi published his article, especially that it was a "bankruptcy declaration" according to the expression of some, at a time when people familiar with the financial and monetary reality rejected this "description".
These, they told Al-Akhbar, they distinguish between "the storage available at the Ministry of Finance, and the storage available at the Central Bank," noting that former President Adel Abdul-Mahdi received the "storage" from his predecessor Haider al-Abadi and has approximately 20 trillion Iraqi dinars ( Approximately $ 1.6 billion).
Abdul-Mahdi, in his attempt to accommodate the demanding demonstrations that started last October 1, launched a number of reform packages that cost this "storage" approximately 15 trillion dinars (1. Approximately $ 2 billion); Accordingly, Al-Kazemi received approximately five trillion dinars (approximately $ 400 million), and this does not suffice the public sector salaries for one month, prompting the current government to go to the International Monetary Fund to borrow and secure liquidity of five billion dollars in the next few months.
Today, Al-Kazemi’s major challenge is securing public sector salaries. If the government can secure it (about 6.5 billion dollars a month), this means preserving the existing political system, not just the political process.
These concerns are attributed to the decline in oil prices globally, and the income has fallen to below 1.5 billion dollars a month. According to the information, Al-Kazemi’s government reduced its operating expenses, and adopted a policy closer to being a “financial emergency”.
The priority is to secure salaries, and this is what I announced yesterday by securing the salaries of this month without any deduction, provided that the budget is approved monthly, not annually, as usual.
To that, the Iraqi parliament announced yesterday the purchase of 1.363 million tons of local wheat since the beginning of the harvest season in the twentieth of last month, at a time when the Ministry of Agriculture expects that the local production will reach six million tons, in the current season, between April and May .
And last March, Baghdad announced its need to import 1 million tons of wheat this year to “boost the stockpile, in anticipation of problems in supply chains due to efforts to combat the Corona pandemic across the world,” noting that last year, during the government of Abdul-Mahdi, Iraq achieved self-sufficiency in wheat and wheat production. link
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KTFA:
Don961: Trump reveals that he has been using a drug for several days
2020.05.18 - 23:41 Baghdad - people
US President Donald Trump has stated that he is taking the anti-malarial drug "hydroxychloroquine" to prevent corona virus, saying he was not infected with it, while he considered that this drug has an effect on infection.
Trump said, in a press statement, followed by "NAS" (May 18, 2020), that he had been taking "hydroxychloroquine" about a week and a half ago, stating: "I asked the doctor, can I do it, which is a response. If you want it, please ... I take a pill One every day, no symptoms of Ali’s disease. ”
Trump stated that he was subjected to a coronavirus screening test once every two days, indicating that all results were negative.
The US president considered that there is a high possibility that the drug "hydroxychloroquine" has an effect on the Corona virus, asking: "What will you lose if you take this medicine?" LINK
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Samson: Russia is shedding US Treasury bonds as standard
19th May, 2020
Russia reduced its investments in US treasury bills last March by 3 times, to $ 3.85 billion, according to US Treasury data. Thus, for the first time, Russia has reduced its investments in US Treasury bonds by this record size.
During January and February of 2020, Russia increased its investment in US debt instruments, after it had reduced it in December 2019.
He commented on this move to reduce Russia, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, Alexis Rodzianko, saying that Russia’s decision to withdraw funds from US treasury bonds may be due To market factors.
It is noteworthy that the returns of US bonds for 10 and 30 years fell at the beginning of last March to record levels, after a surprising decision by the US Federal Reserve (the US central bank) to cut interest rates by 50 basis points, to a range of 1% - 1.25% due to concerns related to the Corona virus. LINK
Courtesy of Dinar Guru https://www.dinarguru.com/
Pimpy ...I'm really really starting to like this Prime Minister al-Kazemi...The more I read about him the more I really like this guy...he is cracking down on corruption over there in Iraq...al-Kazemi is no joke whatsoever. This guy is draining the Iraqi swamp...
Angel1 ...an ambassador in Iraq in the green zone tells us this past week that the lower denoms are in the banks. We've known that. But they said something brand new that we didn't know...they are ready to disperse the lower denoms...here's what's interesting to me. I don't believe those that were printed in March are inside of the vaults right now. I believe whatever is in the vaults now per our intel, per our source, is going to be distributed, is going to be released and guess what's going to come up the rear back to the vaults? What they have been printing...what I'm excited about is the only reason they're going to print more because there's about to be a distribution of what you already have...that's what I'm excited about...I wasn't just excited about them printing lower denoms. Heck we've already known that. But why are they printing more? Because there is now need for more...they are pushing this bad boy out in phases! ...it's right in front of us...it's time for distribution...
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Keiser Report | What Went Wrong With Warren Buffett | E1542
May 19, 2020
In this episode of Keiser Report, Max and Stacy discuss the simple puzzle of the Chinese finger trap that children often fail to solve because they panic when they should relax.
This applies to the economic system in which the Fed and, to a lesser extent, the government panic and print rather than relax and just let the business cycle play out.
In the second half, Max talks to Preston Pysh of TheInvestorsPodcast.com about what went wrong with Warren Buffett and his style of investing.
They also discuss another legendary investor’s foray into bitcoin.
Paul Tudor Jones has sent the bitcoin community into a tizzy as the hedge fund manager points to the central banks as the reason he wants to own ‘the fastest horse in the race’ against money printing.