Vultures Circling Argentina, Disconnect At The Fed

[marmar]

from the Working Life blog:


Vultures Circling Argentina, Disconnect At The Fed
Posted on 20 August 2014


It might look these events are completely unrelated but there is a tie between the extortion underway of Argentina courtesy of a hedge fund, on the one hand, versus the cluelessness at the Federal Reserve Board about what is actually happening to real people.

The vulture is Paul Singer, the hedge fund billionaire who runs Elliott Management. The very short story is that he won’t take a discount on bonds he holds from Argentina’s defaulted bonds–contrary to just about all the rest of the claimants who negotiated a deal with Argentina that would still hand them a nice tidy 300 percent profit.

Argentina is trying to get some legislation passed in the U.S. to help out but certainly this sums it up:

Argentina has refused to pay the holdouts, calling them vultures whose actions are akin to extortion, comments which were repeated by Mr. Kicillof on Wednesday. Both sides failed to reach a court-mediated settlement last month, and on July 30, Argentina slipped into a default after a $539 million interest payment to other bondholders was blocked.

On Wednesday, Mr. Kicillof said the government would extend the option to swap the original bonds with those to be issued under Argentine law to its holdout investors who did not participate in previous debt restructurings.

“Mr. Singer can come here and show up at the counter and receive payment, obtaining a 300 percent profit,” Mr Kicillof said. But, he added, “that isn’t enough for Mr. Singer because he’s a vulture.”

.....(snip).....

The point is that, underneath both events, is the same problem: the financial mandarins still call the shots and are always looking for a way to fuck the regular person, whether s/he lives in Argentina or on Main Street U.S.A. ..............(more)

- See more at: http://www.workinglife.org/2014/08/20/vultures-circling-argentina-disconnect-at-the-fed/#sthash.5hmT5fQq.dpuf

[GeorgeGist]

1. What is so wonderful about an economic system which allows a few INDIVIDUALS ...

to hold an entire nation hostage?

And a USA that agrees with the INDIVIDUALS.