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Yesterday was another dull day on Wall Street. The Dow rose 2 points. Oil held at $81. Gold didn’t move enough for us to remember, one way or another.
The recovery continues…or so says the mainstream financial press. But the economy is still losing jobs…and people are still getting poorer.
(more...)China says it is continuing to buy US bonds “every day.” It doesn’t have much choice. It earns money by selling things abroad. In fact, exports in February were up more than 40% over February ’09. This leaves it with a lot of foreign money – most of it in dollars. What can it do with so much money?
(more...)The private sector ruined itself in the bubble of ’03-’07. Now, it’s the public sector’s turn. All over the developed world – with a few exceptions – the feds are adding debt at an alarming rate.
The US has already passed “the point of no return,” says a report from Casey Research. Ken Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart put that point where external debt passes 73% of GDP or 239% of exports. IMF data, says the Casey team, shows the US has already gone too far on both scores, with external debt at 96% of GDP and 748% of exports.
(more...)Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the rally. The Dow rose a piddly 11 points. Gold sold off $1.
This rally has gone on for so long most people think it is not a rally at all, but a new bull market. Worldwide, it has taken equities up some 73%…making it one of the greatest rallies ever.
(more...)As we’ve pointed out before, there are two parts to a political system. One part is shrewd, calculating and corrupt. The other is stupid, senseless, and earnest. The first is surprisingly predictable. The second is predictably surprising.
Like the two sides of the brain, people use politics both ways. On the right side, they use it to do something that is completely preposterous…and often completely at odds with their own interests.
(more...)If you don’t read the newspapers you run the risk of missing something. Of course, if you do read them, you run the risk of catching something.
Not much in the financial news worthy of comment this morning…
The Dow gained $13. Gold lost $13. Nothing much to say about it…
(more...)As I was floating down impassible rivers
I no longer felt myself steered by the haulers…
– Arthur Rimbaud, “The Drunken Boat”
The news yesterday pushed against us like a gentle wind. Pending house sales were bad. Consumer spending was good. Unemployment was bad. Manufacturing was good.
(more...)“The world’s largest shopping mall is almost entirely empty,” says a headline now making its way around the Internet. The mall is not one of America’s consumer emporia. It is not in the US at all. Instead, it is in the Middle Kingdom…and twice as large as the “Mall of the Americas.”
(more...)“The US is insolvent,” says a report from a hedge fund. As of the third quarter of last year, the federal government had assets of $2.67 trillion and total liabilities of $14.12 trillion.
That leaves a net negative position of more than $11 trillion. By the way, this is projected to get a lot worse, fast. The feds are expected to increase their debts by about $3 trillion more over the next 2 years. Federal spending is out of control…the feds have lost control of their own budget, let alone the economy.
(more...)The Greek story is a universal tale… It will soon be played by the UK…and then it will be the US.
Let us summarize: Innocent fellows are seduced by debt. They fall in love with deficits. Debt proves to be an evil temptress. Our heroes are ruined.
Isn’t the story more or less the same in Britain and America too?
(more...)Miserable cities…ghost towns…angry voters…
Market flash:
The Dow was flat yesterday. Gold rose $2. And Greece said it was making progress towards cutting its deficit.
Yesterday we looked at America’s most miserable cities. Today, let’s take a gander at its new “ghost towns.”
(more...)Since the feds can’t grow their way out of debt…they’ll have to try to inflate their way out.
Trouble is, first…central bankers don’t have that good a grasp of inflation. They can control the amount of money in the monetary base at the Fed. But they don’t really control what happens to it next. For a long time, prices don’t necessarily react…because, in a depression, the velocity of money slows down to a crawl. The banks don’t lend; the money doesn’t get around…and it doesn’t feed into consumer prices. Then, all of a sudden, people realize that there dollars are losing value…suddenly, they are eager to send them on their way. Velocity increases – fast. It is as if they had put cash in a particle accelerator. Instead of 6% inflation, the CPI goes to 12%…or 25%…or 100%.
(more...)