October 20, 2012

The State of Present Day Europe from the words of Hugh Hendry

Hugh Hendry was present at the Milken Institute Conference that was held recently and Hendry was in fullform as he delivered another one of his usually expressive speeches about the state that Europe is at the moment. The young and shrewd Hendry started off his talk with the statement that "All of Europe has defaulted" and that,

"The political economy in Europe is such that the politicians chose to default on their spending obligations to their citizens in order to honor the pact with their financial creditors and so as time goes on, the politicians are being rejected".

Throughout the time he took stage, he went through the different consequences of Mr. Hollande's election as France's premier, the tough policies adopted by Luxembourg and the fact that Europe is left with only one inspiration and that is fiction since no one can really make out how bad the situation in Europe actually is. He discusses a new method for going forward, talks about the failures of fixed-rate exchanges, why the Weimar tragedy took place, why a union transfer can never happen and what was the reality behind Ayn Rand's story. You will get a very good idea of the situation in Europe when you watch this discussion.

Hendry goes on to tell what the underlying reality is,

"The underlying reality that what the European monetary union is about is not about preventing a third so-called European civil war, it is essentially about making someone (France, Germany or both) a Great Power, a European Hegemon, and a global player."

Hendry takes stage around the halfway mark of the discussion and starts talking about the British point of view about the flawless German mind and why a union transfer cannot take place in Europe. Fifteen minutes later, he is having a go at Germany again as he explains why its housing bubble will never take place. Furthermore, at 52:00 he tells about his expectations for a strong US dollar. At the start of the hour mark, he recollects why he could not finish Ayn Rand's Atlas simply because it was just too much a close description of the world that we inhabit today.

He was quoted as saying,

"We have reached a profound point in economic history where the truth is unpalatable to the political class - and that truth is that the scale and magnitude of the problem is larger than their ability to respond - and it terrifies them."
Hugh Hendry is a fund manager at Eclectica Asset Management. He has become prominent in the United Kingdom for his commentary on the financial crisis. Hendry has been referred to as "the most high-profile Scot in the controversial (Hedge Fund) sector."