And here it comes... You'll need the "mark" of the beast to trade in the new system; ie, audited financials stamped "accepted" by a new world regulatory panel.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

That's what I've been thinking. They've kinda run out of tricks. As I see it they have basically three things left they could try.

1. Spend a huge amount of government money on buying stock. This would essentially nationalize business and inflate the heck out of the currency.

2. They could start a big war and try and distract everyone from the stock market.

3. Close the markets for several months. At the start of WWI the markets were closed for 6 months to prevent a crash. I don't see any reason they wouldn't try it now.

Oh, what a tangled web.

The reason Fratto is saying that is the US market will be closed Monday for a Holiday. They figure they will have it done by Tuesday.

Just for clarity sake, the NYSE is not scheduled to be closed for Columbus Day. The market should be open Monday.

http://www.nyse.com/about/newsevents/1176373643795.html

In the past, when I read of the idea of a central world money authority, and all that type of "mark of the beast" stuff, I thought it too far out to even think about. Just wacko talk.

But, just the past six weeks have shown all too clearly the collusion between governments and bankers and the "creme de la creme" of financiers.

So, now, I am of the opinion of "who can say for sure"? The forces that would seek to control our money, our work and our home ownership have a pretty simple path to follow, if they want to. And, who is really opposing any of these radical concepts? Would any Briton have thought, just four months ago, that their government would end up being an investor in their banks? How many Americans would have thought that it would be conceivable for the U.S. government to suddenly increase the national debt by a factor of 50% so quickly, to pick up private sector financial obligations? And, having done all that, in order to avoid a market collapse that seems to be coursing along all the same? And, on and on, country by country.

So, would anybody today doubt the possibility that a whole new world currency could emerge? One that would override all past savings by individuals and commitments by governments?

It is scary.

Link

My guess is that the Europeans won't have the stomach for a big loss in their markets and will be pushing for this.

For it's part, the US will prefer to inject however much capital it takes to avoid something like a market holiday. The rest of the world isn't organized enough for that kind of rapid response, hence the market holiday talk.

In related news..

I've decided to "rewrite the rules" regarding my own financial situation. Marvelous solution, don't you think? I'm quite pleased, I'd never thought of it before -- just rewrite the rules!

I believe he already retracted that "statement" by saying "no world leader suggested that".

Italy's current PM : political leaders are discussing the idea of closing the world's financial markets while they "rewrite the rules of international finance ...

Singapore's former PM : when the current financial crisis is over, there will be a rethinking of the international financial system ...

This has got to be a pretty good coincidence, or they know something that we don't, eh?

Anyone received the memo on what this "new financial system" is going to be?

International Finance 2.0 ?

Obviously, the U.S. is going to be much more reluctant to go along with any kind of bank holiday/market closure. But if the market losses were to continue going into next week the pressure to go forward with that would increase. Obviously right now the credit markets have yet to unfreeze. Short of guaranteeing all interbank loans I do not see a way to fix that.

I thought this was such a good overview as we head into the new week I wanted to share it. Illargi from The Automatic Earth:

Ilargi: New round, new rules, new prizes. Every new day brings a whole new game. What was presented as smart and necessary yesterday, today is revealed as dumb and useless. The White House rethinks the $700 billion, McCain does Letterman, and Obama says this is not the time to panic. Nobody who says that ever volunteers what the right time is.

All countries around the globe may guarantee all deposits. Even if they can’t afford to, they can no longer afford not to. Likewise, they’ll buy big stakes in banks, so you can all kind of pay interest to yourselves and pay through the nose for the privilege. And why not guarantee all interbank lending in the process. Or all mortgages. Money is no object.

Tomorrow is a holiday in North America, and Europe, especially England, may suspend trading. Yeah, that’s a great way to boost confidence.

Meanwhile, all these banks have untold billions in useless pieces of paper marked down as valuable "assets" on their sheets. And no goverment on the planet can make that stuff do a Lazarus. So all those trillions in public money will evaporate as soon as they touch the ground running. There’s no escaping it.

Moreover, since the $2 trillion already lost in the US alone means that some $20 trillion will be gone in credit available to the market, there’s only one direction to go from here. Down down deeper and down.

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/