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The truth and nothing but....
KEYNESIAN ECONOMICS
Japan's Economy Shows
Limits of Keynesian
Policies...read on
Right of Green Line, Era of Keynesian Economics, Right of Red Line no Gold Standard
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The New Credit Crisis
.We are in the midst of a 2nd Credit Crisis.
.This time the Credit Crisis is centered in Europe
. The first was centered in the United States. read on
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•National Debt: $15.2 trillion
.State and Local Debt $3.0 trillion
.Unfunded liabilities $116 trillion.
•Debt to GDP ratio 99.6% (actually much higher).
•Doesn’t include Federal Reserve or Fannie Mae,
Freddie Mac and FHA obligations.
•Debt Ceiling at $16.4 trillion (up to election).
•Budget Deficit for 2011 was $1.3 trillion.
•Estimated Deficit for 2012 is $1.1 trillion.
•2011 Trade Deficit estimated at $538 billion
(dependent on price of oil).
REAL GDP HAS BEEN
INFLATED BY FED MONEY
PRINTING
.Fed's balance sheet has
increased by $2+ trillion
since end of 2007.
.GDP after revisions was
just over $13.2 trillion
(2005 chained dollars).
.Up about $600 Billion
from bottom.
.Without money printing
would GDP be $11.2
trillion or 16% lower
(comprared to $13.3
trillion in Q4 2007)
.Current dollar GDP is
$15.2 trillion.
Without money printing
would it be $13.0 trillion?
Can the
EU Solve
Its Debt
Crisis
with
More
Debt?
...read on
The United States Economy is seriously
broken
.This Recession is much worse than any
previous post-war U.S. recession.
.Policy tools to fix the economy - easy
credit, bailouts, and government spending -
are no longer working.
.Real root cause of problem - housing
market - has not recovered.
.U.S. is drowning in debt and ability to borrow
has already run out.
Money printing is how this problem will be
handled from now on.
.The U.S. banking system is broken and won't
be fixed for years.
.Banking problem is global.
OTHER KEY ECONOMIC INDICATORS
.October manufacturing PMI U.S. 50.8, China
50.4, UK 47.4,
EU 47.1, Brazil 46.5
.US unemployment rate 9.1%
.Consumer Credit decreasing at 4.5% annually.
.Consumer Confidence at 39.8 worst since
March 2009.
.Retail sales up 8.8% yr over yr, unadjusted for
inflation.
.Official CPI inflation 3.9% yr over yr (Shadow
Stats around 11%)
The Greek default, and this will happen
one way or the other at this point, will
be similar to the demise of Lehman in
2008. Contagion spread throughout the
world financial system. In the U.S. the
close to trillion dollar TARP program
had to be instituted to hold up the
banking system. In total, as much as
$11 trillion in programs (the Federal
Reserve alone had half a dozen major
ones) had to be implemented to patch
things up. The will for such an effort no
longer exists, which will mute whatever
response the authorities come up with,
and will be delayed and muted.
•Two of the biggest issues are
whether developed countries
are in recession and how EU debt
crisis will continue to unfold.
•U.S. Q3 GDP does not indicate U.S.
avoided recession.
•EU banks are not going to be made
solvent by recent bailout decisions.
•Even with 50% selective default,
Greece is still not fixed.
Deal in question.
•Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy still in
trouble.
.Centrals banks pumping money
into system.
RECESSION AND EU CRISIS
October Consumer Confidence Well Into Recession Territory
Daryl Montgomery
The October Consumer Confidence number fell to 39.8. It is once again approaching the all-time lows that
occurred at the bottom of the Great Recession. The number has never reached the 90 level since 2009,
which is the cutoff for a healthy economy. ...read on
.EFSF (European Stability Fund) is
to be leveraged from Euro 440
billion to 1 Trillion euros. THIS IS
BORROWED/PRINTED MONEY
.
EFSF (European Stability Fund)
to be used to buy debt from
PIIGS and for bank
recapitalisation i.e. bailouts.
Banks are to raise capital other
ways first. This will lead to tighter
credit in the EU.
.Dexia Bank already failed,
more to come
PIIGS
Portugal
Italy
Ireland
Greece
Spain
Investors should not be fooled by comparisons of current U.S. bank failures
with the number of failures in the past.
In the early 1900s, there were a very large number of small banks in the
country.
Over the last 80 years, U.S. banks have become much larger and far fewer
in number so only a percentage comparison makes any sense.
During the Great Depression, 9146 banks failed. That would represent over
100% of the 7932 banks that now exist. Even during the Savings and Loan
Crisis there were more than twice as many banks in business than there are
now. The total number of failures for the Depression and Savings and Loan
Crisis are also for a period of up to 15 years.
We are being starved of one of the most important economic engines of our economy and Western Civilization...OIL
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HISTORICAL INFORMATION SPECIFICALLY FOR A REAL POSSIBLE DEFAULT
IN GREECE - IMPORTANT READ BY REAL E FINANCE
The Friday before the Lehman bankruptcy, the S&P 500 closed at 1251.70. Lehman declared bankruptcy on Monday.
At the end of the week, the S&P 500 closed at 1255.00. The day before however, the S&P rallied off of its intraday low of
1133.50 to a close of 1206.51 (that's a 6.4% intraday rally -- an enormous move for an index like the S&P). So, the first week
after Lehman's bankruptcy it looked like the market wouldn't be impacted that much. It turned out that the actions of central
banks provided investors with a false sense of security however.
By the end of September 2008, the S&P 500 closed at 1166.36. Then at the end of October it was down to 968.75. At the end of
November, it had dropped to 896.24. It actually closed higher the last day of December at 903.25, before falling to 825.88 at
the end of January. By the close of February, the S&P was trading at 735.08. It finally bottomed at 666.79 on March 6, 2009. All
along the way, there were big moves up that coincided with the latest money injections of the central banks.
While mainstream media reports tend to portray the central bank actions and the big rallies they cause as good news for the
market, they are actually an indication that more trouble is on the way. All investors have to do is remember what happened
just three years ago. Yesterday's central bank action indicates that more volatility and lower stock prices are in our future.
Daryl Montgomery
Financial Crises Compared: Eurozone 2010, Asia 1997--.....read article
Volcker Says U.S. Mired in Recession and Inflation is Coming..read on
New EU Plan is Much Ado About Nothing.......read on NEW MEETINGS STARTED TODAY
Real Dangerous Lessons of
1937 -Mises Daily: Tuesday,
February 02, 2010 by
Jonathan M. Finegold
Catalan.....read article
THE REAL INFLATION CYCLE CANNOT BE STOPPED .The U.S. has understated its inflation rate since 1983. .Inflation has not been below 5% in the 1990's and 2000's. .Fed claims there is no inflation.
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Gold and Silver Plummet as Dollar Rallies on EU Woes, ......read on
Dollarization could easily have solved the
problem - let Greece continue to use the
euro, but remove it from the currency union
(Greece would almost certainly have
defaulted on its debt already if this had been
done early on).
The answer of course lies in who is really
being bailed out. French and German banks
together have funded the majority of external
Greek government debt. They also have a
decent chunk of Portuguese government debt.
Just as was the case with the subprime crisis in
the United States, the big banks are the ones
being bailed out.
Most large European banks were already
bailed out is some way, shape, or form then as
well. This would represent a second series of
bailouts for them.
Solving European Credit Crisis
The problems that have arisen in Greece
are those that occur when a government
borrows too much money relative to its
GDP. Eventually the interest payments on
the debt become overwhelming and
default becomes inevitable. Default can
take place in two ways however. It can be
a simple failure to make interest payments
on bonds or it can result from a major
inflation of a currency. With inflation,
borrowers get the nominal amount of
money due them, but that money doesn't
have the same purchasing power.
Since Greece is part of a currency union
and can't print its own money, it can only
default by not paying off its bonds. The U.S.
on the other hand, can print all the money
it wants too, so it can only default through
inflation.
Debt Crisis Back in Greece, U.S.Has Borrowing Problems Too
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The Unforeseen
Consequences of
Credit Legislation
Mises Daily: Friday, January 22, 2010 by
Jeremiah Dyke read article
Gold Breaks Down, Where to Look for a Bottom.. ....read on
Not over
Rumors of Housing's Rise From the Dead Are Greatly Exaggerated...read on
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE FYI:
Debt to GDP Japan
229%-2012
The other major development in
Japan during its two lost decades
was a massive bond bubble, which
caused even long-term rates to
approach zero. This same type of
bubble is now developing globally,
although the powers that be are
denying that this is taking place.
When massive government
stimulus causes interest rates to
drop, it is because of a liquidity
trap - money does not flow into the
real economy and so the economy
doesn't significantly benefit from
stimulus. Eventually a steep
depression develops (what has
prevented the depression phase
so far in Japan is that its
population had enough savings to
pay for the last 20 years of stimulus
- sort of like rich people who have
no income, but still manage to live
well by slowly selling off all of their
assets). The only way out of this
depression is to reignite economic
growth with inflation. The
Japanese have yet to figure out
how to do this and U.S. monetary
authorities are still reluctant to
pursue this option.
Citizens of the fiscally solvent
EU countries are getting tired of
paying to support what they
see as the profligate spending
habits of the EU's weaker
economies.
The bailout efforts have been
lead by German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, but support
within her country has never
been strong for them.
Her ruling party has lost six
regional elections this year,
including one in her own home
state this weekend. Any more
pro-bailout efforts will only
further weaken her politically.
A Technical Look at Gold and Silver at the End of 2011- read on
This alternating news flow is
repeating over and over again.
Investors should pay attention to the
big picture however and not the
noise of the day. The important thing
to realize is that we are in a second
global credit crisis.
Credit crises follow certain patterns,
which include: recognition of
overpriced financial assets, money
flowing into safe havens, increased
market volatility, rising costs for
financial insurance, and various
forms of government action to stop
the problem. The specifics of the
current credit crisis are below...
.read on
CREDIT CRISES FOLLOW CERTAIN PATTERNS
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If you can't win under the existing rules of
the game, simply change the rules. Wall
Street firms were losing big money during
the Credit Crisis, but not only did the
federal government come to their rescue
with truckloads of taxpayer money, but
accounting rule changes were also
instituted to make their financial position
look much stronger. The much improved
earnings for the banks and investment
houses showing up today are the result of
both and not an improved economy.

What led to the tragedy of the Great
Depression in the 1930s were major
missteps from the Federal Reserve and the
federal government. The Fed put the
interests of the banking community over
those of the American public and this is
what depression. This was combined with
an ongoing campaign of denial of the
problem on Washington's part. Herbert
Hoover gave a press conference in June
1930 announcing the Depression was over
(it was only just beginning). The similarities
to all the talk coming out of Washington
today about economic recovery should
give investors pause.
While the Federal Reserve and its
mainstream economist toadies claim
deflation is a problem, the evidence points
to the opposite. Excess money printing has
always led to inflation and things will be no
different this time. The other thing that will
be no different this time is that the
government bodies responsible for
creating inflation will deny that it exists and
when it becomes so obvious that it can't
be covered up anymore, they will then
deny responsibility. Before this continues
any further, you might want to pick up
some hard assets and strong currencies.
The Risks to the Global Financial System in 2012...read on
How Today's "Deflation" Can Turn Into Tomorrow's Hyperinflation...read on
REAL FINANCE POWER POINT MEDIA TARGETING IMPORTANT FINANCIAL ISSUES
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U.S. Non-farmPayrolls -- The Statistical Illusion of Jobs...read on
Keynesian economics became the
almost universal approach for
economic policy in the developed
economies after World War II. Keynes
recommended initiatives, stimulus
during a downturn and paying off the
stimulus debt during the recovery, got
horribly mangled to more and more
stimulus during a downturn and
somewhat less stimulus during a
recovery. This is essentially an
ongoing money-printing scam.
Like many scams, it works well as long
as it doesn't get out of control.
Eventually though some huge crisis
becomes inevitable after decades of
excessive stimulus and the economy
falls apart. Stimulus no longer works
then. After two decades, the
Japanese have failed to realize this.
The economic establishment in the
U.S. is equally oblivious.


Consumer spending accounts for
72% of GDP. Consumers without
confidence don't spend. Consumers
without jobs and credit don't spend
either. Nevertheless, the government
has consistently reported an
increase in consumer spending
taking place while total wages and
salaries have fallen and available
consumer credit has been reduced.
Government stimulus programs didn't fix
the housing and car markets, but merely
made them look better. This works for a
while, but reality eventually rears its ugly
head. A report from Europe today said that
"the continent's major banks have more
potentially risky government debt on their
books than was disclosed during stress
tests earlier this year." This wasn't exactly a
piece of information that required the skills
of Sherlock Holmes to uncover. At the time
of their release, the stress tests were
roundly criticized as being a phony PR
gambit that set the bar so low that any
bank not declaring insolvency in the next
week would pass. Stocks of course went
up on the news back then and today they
are going back down.
Nowhere in the world is the current
interest-rate spread more extreme than in
the Eurozone (the epicenter of the current
credit crisis). Greece is leading the pack
with ever-rising yields on its government
paper, while German rates keep falling.
Why the U.S.
Unemployment
Numbers Can't Be
Trusted ...read on
__________________________________________
Road to recovery-2012
Retail Sales and Employment Not as Good as First Reported..read on
The EU Has Fallen Into a Liquidity Trap and It Can't Get Up...read on
HYPERINFLATION
There have been a number of
impediments in how economists look at
hyperinflation that have prevented
original thought (and sometimes any
thought at all) in this area. Here are the
necessary ideas:
1. Inflation is a currency losing its value
(an idea most mainstream economist
can't seem to grasp).
2. Severe deflation is a precursor to
hyperinflation. They are not inconsistent
events as is generally thought, but
deflation sets the stage for hyperinflation.
3. Disinflation/deflation and inflation
need not by symmetrical. For instance, if
there is 30 years of disinflation, this
doesn't have to be balanced by 30 years
of inflation. The same amount of inflation
could take place in only months or even
weeks, let alone 30 years.
4. Inflation doesn't have to be a
continuous phenomenon. The chart can
have gaps in it with prices going up
significantly overnight. Furthermore this
can start from a low point where almost
no inflation exists.


The first job loss number was reported
three years ago in August 2007 and after
over $3 trillion plus in deficit spending
since then, the U.S. employment situation
has managed to only reach a state of
controlled bleeding. There were an
estimated 6.6 million students graduating
from school last year and eventually most
of them will need a job. That implies the
U.S. needs 550,000 new jobs a month to
absorb former students into the labor
force. People are of course always
leaving the labor force as well because
of retirement and for other reasons such
as giving up looking for a job because
none are available. It has been generally
accepted for a long time that the U.S.
must add at least 200,000 jobs a month to
just accommodate new people looking
for work. Even after getting to that level,
and we are still losing jobs not gaining
them, there is then an additional 8 million
jobs that have to be created to replace
those lost during the Credit Crisis. So far,
it's just not happening.!

UNEMPLOYMENT
Investors should look to Japan for a
lesson on how inept central bank
and fiscal policy can lead to
decades of a failed economy and
low stock prices. The Nikkei closed
at 9213 last night, more than 75% off
from its high around 40,000 on the
last day of 1989. The Japanese
economy has been in the doldrums
for two decades now. In the United
States, it's three years and counting.
Altogether, July durable goods orders
indicate that the manufacturing sector of
the U.S. economy is rapidly turning south.
This is particularly troubling because it
was manufacturing that had the biggest
upturn in the last year (the four times
larger service sector didn't improve
nearly as much). What will provide
economic growth, now that
manufacturing is weakening? An even
more important question is: If some of the
manufacturing numbers are as bad as or
worse than the bottom of the Credit
Crisis/Great Recession and this is also true
of the real estate market, how is it
possible that the U.S. economy is not
currently in another recession?


The Great Recession began in the housing
market after subprime loans started to
default in large numbers in 2007. The U.S.
economy will continue to have difficulties
until all the excesses are ringed out of
house prices. Government policy has
instead been geared toward stabilizing
the market with temporary fixes. The
Federal Reserve instituted a number of
programs to funnel money into the
mortgage markets to protect the banks
that had too much exposure to real estate
loans and the Obama administration has
created programs like HAMP (Home
Affordable Mortgage Program) to lower
the foreclosure rate.
A case can be made however that the
EFSF money isn't really borrowed, but a
form of money printing instead. If
governments borrow without the ability to
actually pay back the money without
inflating their currency, they are printing
money. EU countries are already highly
indebted just like the United States
(Japan is in even worse shape). The fact
that there is a debt crisis in a number of
Eurozone countries is confirmation that
the level of debt is beyond the point of no
return. So a more accurate portrayal of
what is going on with the EFSF is that
money will be printed, this counterfeit
money will be leveraged by borrowing
against it and this will solve the problem
of too much debt.
Real e finance Is wondering if
QE3 is happening right now?
Real e Finance