3. TIL Switzerland now has a negative interest rate, meaning that banks lose money ...

TIL Switzerland now has a negative interest rate, meaning that banks lose money if they don't lend and in some circumstances customers lose money if they don't borrow.

US GDP is NOT up if you use inflation adjusted numbers. http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2012/04/finalized-gdp-forecast-for-2012q1.html#.VYxGKPlViko

Wages may be up, but purchasing power is down. It's not just 'how much do you make', but also 'what can that buy'. I have a 20 trillion dollar Zimbabwe note. I am a trillionaire. I can't buy a cup of coffee with it though. You have to remember both sides of the equation.

Unemployment is also misleading because full time employment is down, but part time has increased. So again, fewer people are unemployed... technically. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/08/26/part-a26.html

As for technically insolvent, that has to do with liabilities versus assets. And the TBTF banks have tens of trillions of dollars of exposure to these, with (usually) only billions in assets. It's like this...

I'm 30 years old and have 20 million in debt on $500,000 in income. However, I can keep rolling over my debt, so I only have to pay $250,000 per year. I can handle the debt payments on my $20 million because $250,000 is less than my $500,000 income. But I am technically insolvent since it will take 80 years to pay back $20 million and it's unlikely a. I will live to be 110 years old & b. I will make $500,000/year until I'm 110.

In short, I'm good until someone realizes the mess I'm in, and that's basically what we're waiting to have happen now. That $20 mil I owe? That's not all to the same person. So when enough of my creditors figure out I'm technically insolvent, they will accelerate their portion of the debt payment to ensure they aren't left holding the bag when my insolvency materializes. The day enough of my creditors realize this will be a bad day for all of us.

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