Children making ice cream to be sold for the benefit of the church at a meeting of ministers and deacons near Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina
Ilargi: Right, enough with the Goldman Sachs bashing. When everyone form Krugman to Huffington to the Wall Street Journal editors get in one the action, it's time to step back, inhale, exhale and take another look. Sure, Goldman is a cabal bigger and more pernicious then the heads of all the Five Families, and without the code of honor to boot. They steal whatever they can, they cheat whoever they can and they’ll lie to their wives ten times on monday mornings, before breakfast.
But that doesn't mean they are the major problem. Once again, we're getting it all wrong, in the same way we missed the mark complaining about $700 million in AIG bonuses against the backdrop of a thousand times that in Wall Street bailouts. Once you see what that adds up to, it's not wonder that furor died quietly in the night, is it?
Goldman Sachs can only get away with stealing, cheating and lying if they're allowed to do so. There is a very obvious first line of defense against such actions, which should for all intents and purposes be illegal, and where they're not yet, be made so yesterday. You all know who's in that defensive line. You pay them. It's what you call your government.
If your government stubbornly and steadfastly refuses to -in order to stop the cheating and lying- apply the laws where they're applicable, and change them where they need change, why would you expect Goldman to stop engaging in their favorite pastimes? Wouldn't you agree that that is not wholly and entirely the smartest assumption to make?
It's not Goldman that fails. Goldman even does what it is by law required to do: maximize the returns for its shareholders. If it wouldn't, its directors could be sued.
It's not Goldman, it's the government that fails. The government looks after Goldman's interests, bails them out with dozens of billions of dollars, most of which are never repaid, looks the other way when laws are broken, won't change those laws that fail to protect the public etc. The list of where and when the government fails to protect the people who voted it in is so long, and so deep, that if we would take an afternoon to try and list all applicable points, we would by the end want to crawl into a deep dark corner in order to hide the deep dark red color of our cheeks.
And I think that is why we won't make that list, of how our governments fail us. We intuitively know where that would inevitably lead. That is, our own shame.
Because we all know very well who put that government there, the Obama's, the Geithners, Barney Franks, Chris Dodds and Nancy Pelosi's.
Blaming Goldman Sachs for your problems and your anger is nothing but a cheap diversion. Who did you vote for, and if it was the Democrats, what are they doing with their new found power? How is today different from 6 or 4 or 2 years ago? How different? Do you still believe in that change, or is it time to change your beliefs?
Whatever you do, don't blame Goldman. Don’t even blame Obama.
Blame yourself. In the end, that's the only way you can keep a grip on power. And on your life.
Ilargi: Barry Ritholtz got this one nailed. I saw a headline today that he doesn't yet mention: ”Housing starts highest in 7 months". Yeah, right,
US Housing Starts Fall 46%
by Barry Ritholtz
Yet another set of odd and misleading coverage on Housing Starts.BUILDING PERMITS: Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 563,000. This is 8.7% (±3.0%) above (revised) May rate, but is 52.0% (±3.6%) below the June 2008.
HOUSING STARTS: Privately-owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 582,000. This is 3.6% (±11.3%)* above the revised May estimate but is 46.0% (±4.3%) below the June 2008.
What can we tell from this data?
Nothing about monthly change in Starts (data points less than the margin of error are not statistically significant); We can say that permits were up month to month, although how much of that is seasonal is hard to decipher.
The year-over-year data is much clearer: New Starts down 46%, Permits down 52%.
Not exactly green shoot materials here — but given the enormous inventory overhang, less new building is better. And since year-over-year compares the same month, seasonality is not a factor.
Incidentally, much of the media reportage on this was simply innumerate — the numerical equivalent of illiteracy. Not just a little wrong, but totally, embarrassingly incorrect.
WSJ: “Housing starts increased 3.6% to a seasonally adjusted 582,000 annual rate compared to the prior month, the Commerce Department said Friday.”
Bloomberg: Housing starts in the U.S. unexpectedly rose in June as construction of single-family dwellings jumped by the most since 2004, signaling the market is stabilizing. The 3.6 percent increase brought starts to an annual rate of 582,000.
Marketwatch: Housing starts rose 3.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 582,000, the highest figure November.
Reuters: New housing starts and permits jumped more than expected in June, propelled by a rise in single-family homes, a government report showed on Friday. Housing starts climbed 3.6 percent to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 582,000 units, from May’s upwardly revised 562,000 units, the Commerce Department said.
No, that is not what they said at all – plus 3.6% with a margin of error of 11.3% = YOU DON”T KNOW.
I know, this is a pet peeve of mine — but still, it makes you wonder if these people can count to 21 unless they are naked.
~~~
Note the number of monthly improvements which did not prevent big annual drops over the past 3 years:
graph courtesy of Barron’s Econoday
Michigan Jobless Rate Tops 15%, California Sees Record Level
Six U.S. states posted record unemployment rates in June, while Michigan became the first to top 15 percent in a quarter century, threatening to deepen budget crises in capitals across the nation. The total number of states with at least 10 percent joblessness rose to 15, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. Georgia, Nevada, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Florida and Delaware all reached their highest level of joblessness since records began in 1976.
Today’s figures are a blow to states already hammered by falling income and sales-tax receipts. California suffered the biggest drop in payrolls among all states, at a time when its lawmakers are struggling to narrow a $26 billion budget gap that may send its debt rating below investment grade. "It’ll easily be mid-2010 before we see unemployment rates leveling off," said Steven Cochrane, director of regional economics at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Should the labor market fail to recover before the Obama administration’s $787 billion stimulus spending runs out, "states will face more problems," he said, as they struggle with lower tax revenue and higher spending on jobless benefits.
California’s jobless rate held at a record 11.6 percent for a second month, after May’s level was revised from a previously reported 11.5 percent. Unemployment in the District of Columbia exceeded 10 percent for a second month, rising to 10.9 percent. Florida’s unemployment rate climbed to 10.6 percent as job losses that began in the construction industry spread. Unemployment in Georgia, the ninth-largest U.S. state by population, exceeded 10 percent for the first time ever, increasing to 10.1 percent last month from 9.6 in May. Alabama’s jobless rate also crossed that threshold, jumping to 10.1 percent from 9.8 percent.
Employers across the U.S. are trimming positions and delaying hiring even as reports show housing and manufacturing are stabilizing. The economy has lost about 6.5 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. President Barack Obama and economists surveyed by Bloomberg News say national unemployment will reach 10 percent this year. "No region of the U.S. is immune," said Rebecca Braeu, an economist at John Hancock Financial Services in Boston. "The rising unemployment rate is clearly going to hurt consumption. It’ll limit the recovery."
Payrolls in the world’s largest economy fell by 467,000 last month, more than forecast, while the jobless rate jumped to 9.5 percent, the highest level in 26 years. The rate will reach 10 percent by yearend and average 9.8 percent for 2010, according to the Bloomberg survey. Michigan, the heart of the U.S. auto industry, jumped to 15.2 percent from May’s 14.1 percent. General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC have emerged from bankruptcy, and economists predict the slump in auto production may ease as government efforts to stoke consumer spending, including cash payments aimed at reviving car sales, take hold.
Financial firms continue to bleed jobs. New York City’s unemployment rate jumped to 9.5 percent in June, the highest level since 1997, while the state jobless rate rose to 8.7 percent from 8.2 percent in May, figures showed yesterday. New Jersey’s rate increased to 9.2 percent in June from 8.8 percent, while unemployment in Connecticut held at 8 percent. Improving home sales and smaller declines in manufacturing have caused economists to raise projections for growth. Growth will average 1.5 percent in the July-to-December period, helped by stabilization in consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, the Bloomberg survey showed.
Even so, Americans without jobs aren’t optimistic. "I don’t think the economy is turning around," said Gary Lucas, 32, of Atlanta, who was laid off six months ago from a job installing fire-protection sprinklers in buildings. "I don’t see it yet." Lucas said he has put out more than 30 applications with only a few expressions of interest.
Amanda Wright, a certified nurse’s assistant, said she’s been searching for work since 2007, "but nobody is biting." Wright, 22, was unable to get enough financial aid to complete a course in nursing radiology when she returned to school this year, and is tapping her savings and using discounts she gets through her mother’s government job to put her one-year-old son in daycare. "I’ve registered with all the unemployment offices and temp agencies, but nobody calls," said Wright, who also has certifications in customer service and data entry and is looking for jobs in Alabama and elsewhere in Georgia. "The most frustrating part is sitting by the phone, the waiting."
The Solution is the Problem
by Eric Sprott & David Franklin
The US government raised $705 billion worth of new debt in 2008. The debt was raised to pay for a $455 billion budget deficit and $250 billion in "supplemental appropriations" for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2009, the US government will (and must) sell $2.041 trillion in new debt. This debt will pay for a projected budget deficit of $1.845 trillion, supplemental appropriations of $196 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, a fund for pandemic flu response and a line of credit to the IMF. In fiscal 2009, the United States must find buyers for almost three times the debt that was issued last year. Table A presents the ownership breakdown of current outstanding US debt as of September 2008. Each of the debt buyers presented will have to buy three times the debt that they bought last year, by September 2009, in order to balance the accounts of the United States Government.
Given the current state of the economy, it seems frighteningly apparent that a threefold increase in debt purchases by the account holders listed above is a mathematical impossibility. There is simply not enough money in the present economy to support a tripling bond issue in the normal course of business. To confirm this, we have grouped together similar debt holders in order to assess their potential buying capability for fiscal 2009, which ends on September 30th.
We begin with the largest buyers of debt outside of the United States 'Foreign and International Holders' (#2). This group accounts for the largest source of external capital for US debt purchases and represents a very important group to float the deficit. They collectively purchased $564 billion last year, and the US will require them to increase their purchases to $1.6 trillion in 2009. Thus far, they have only purchased $465 billion to March 2009, which is halfway through US fiscal year - and well behind the pace needed to triple last year's purchases.
Current data does not bode well for further purchases either. In fact, April Treasury data revealed that 'Foreign and International Holders' were net sellers of US debt from March to April 2009.4 This is not surprising given the public comments from officials in China, Japan, Russia and Brazil concerning the level of debt issuance by the United States and its potential impact on the US dollar.
Next we assess the pension funds. We combine 'Pension Funds - State and Local Governments' (#9) and 'Pension Funds - Private' (#7), as they both purchase US debt for similar purposes. Last year they collectively purchased a combined total of $52.6 billion of US debt, and under our tripling scenario they must purchase over $150 billion worth of US debt this year. As at the end of December 2008, the last date for which we have data, records show that they have purchased a mere $8.5 billion - so they have a long way to go. In fact, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board recently stated that "it would be dangerous to increase the fixed-income portion of our portfolio at this point." 5 If the Canada Pension Plan is any indication, it is unlikely this group will carry their weight in fiscal 2009. Next, we group together 'Depository Institutions' (#10) and 'Insurance Companies' (#11).
Together they have been net sellers of US debt so far this fiscal year, selling a combined total of $20 billion in US bonds. As a group they made no new net purchases last fiscal year, and were sellers of debt as of the first quarter of this fiscal year. This should come as no surprise, as these institutions have had to deleverage their balance sheets to survive the financial crisis of 2008 and the devastating economic climate of 2009. The US Government will not be able to raise new funds from them, so we can cross them off our list.
Next, we examine 'State and Local Governments' (#4). As you have probably already heard, the majority of State governments are in serious financial trouble. The latest estimates show income tax revenues down a whopping 26% from last year.6 The State of California, which represents the 10th largest economy in the world, is currently on the verge of collapse from economic stress. Seeing as how they were net sellers of US debt last year, we will assume, given their difficulties, that they will be net sellers this year as well - so no help here.
'Mutual Funds', #3 on our list, drove a surge in debt purchases last year as the financial collapse took hold. They purchased $311 billion in 2008, so the US needs them to purchase close to a trillion this year. How are they doing thus far in 2009? A paltry $151 billion as at the end of December - and current data doesn't look promising for further purchases. Assets in money markets funds fell by $72.85 billion over the past week alone, including a large portion of which was comprised of US debt.7 We can safely assume that 'Mutual Funds' will fall short of their one trillion dollar quota for fiscal 2009.
'US Savings Bonds' (#8), which represents US domestic buyers of government debt, were net sellers in 2008 and net sellers again in 2009. This is no surprise to us given the state of the economy. There are no buyers in this category.
'Other Investors', #6 on our list, is a catch-all category. It includes individuals, government- sponsored enterprises, brokers and dealers, bank personal trusts and estates, corporate and non-corporate businesses and other investors. They collectively purchased $141 billion last year, and have currently purchased $158 billion to December 2008. As a group they are on track to purchase over $600 billion in debt this fiscal year. They are the only group realistically capable of tripling the purchases they made last year.
We have shown that the majority of traditional buyers of US debt will be unable to increase their debt purchases this year, so we must question how the United States is going to cover this colossal shortfall. Is there anyone else who can buy the required US debt in 2009? Surely the US Government can find someone willing to increase their debt holdings. It may not surprise you to learn that the largest percentage owner of US debt is the United States Government itself. Perhaps this doesn't make immediate sense to some readers, but it is a fact. The debt holdings are held in accounts for the various trust funds the US manages for its future obligations - the largest of which are set aside for Social Security and Medicare. These trust funds are lumped together and referred to as "Intragovernmental Holdings".
The only 'assets' held by these 'trust funds', however, are special-issue Treasury Bonds. Why? Because the US Treasury takes the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes and uses these funds to pay for anything from aircraft carriers to education to welfare. To cover this drawdown, special-issue Treasury Bonds are deposited into the trust funds for Social Security and Medicare as IOU's. When the government issues a bond to one of its own accounts, it hasn't established a claim against another entity or person.
It is simply creating a form of IOU from one of its accounts to another. Put simply, there are no real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are claims on the Treasury, that, when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising taxes, increasing borrowing or reducing expenditures. For all intents and purposes, Social Security and Medicare receipts are essentially considered to be another source of government tax revenue that can be spent each year.
In 2008, the Treasury Department issued the "Intragovernmental Holdings" account $254 billion in bonds (IOU's), and in the first half of fiscal 2009 this account actually became a net seller of bonds. Because the account is not broken down by individual trust fund, it is difficult to see which specific trust fund liquidated their bonds, but we suspect it was Medicare. The benefits currently being paid out of Medicare are already running higher than its inflows, so the difference must have been made up by sales of its IOU bonds.
Obviously this is a very troubling development for the US, and unfortunately it is likely to get worse. This year's Social Security fund is only expected to balance, which is bad news for the government. Along with Social Security, Medicare is one of the trust funds that should be posting surpluses right now in anticipation of the massive future commitments the retiring Baby Boomers will require. As it stands, Medicare is in an operating deficit in 2009 with premiums coming in at $14 billion and outlays totaling $348 billion.8 The difference will be supplemented by sales of its IOU bonds, which will ultimately add to the amount of new government debt that must be sold in fiscal 2009. We won't speculate on what would happen to the Social Security program if new buyers for US debt disappeared, but we should all bear in mind that in that scenario the special-issue 'IOU's' in the "Intragovernmental Holdings" account would be rendered worthless, and the US Government's social 'safety net' would vanish.
This net selling by US Government trust funds adds to the total amount of debt that needs to be marketed, so instead of facing a $2 trillion debt marketing problem in 2009, the US now has a debt marketing problem that is well in excess of $2 trillion. So, after all this, it should be clear by now as to who is going to cover the difference this fiscal year. As the lender of last resort, the only purchaser left is the Federal Reserve. In 2008 they were net sellers of almost $300 billion of bonds, but in the first half of this fiscal year they have been buyers of almost $280 billion of bonds. The Federal Reserve is the lender of last resort and must support the market for US debt. The policy 'solution' that the Federal Reserve implemented in March 2009 is called 'Quantitative Easing'. Given our projections above, this was not an option for them, but a necessity.
Quantitative Easing was pioneered by the Japanese in the early 2000's. It is an extreme form of monetary policy used to stimulate the economy when interest rates are at or close to zero. In practical terms, the Federal Reserve purchases assets, including treasuries and corporate bonds, from financial institutions using newly created money. The Federal Reserve typically controls the 'cost' of money with interest rates, but since interest rates can't be negative, the Federal Reserve now manipulates the quantity of money itself by printing more of it. The official announcement proclaiming this practice was made in March of this year, and it was hailed as a new stimulative mechanism to kick start the economy.
The Federal Reserve's 'solution' to the debt problem is the problem. It has resulted in the Federal Reserve doubling the monetary base of the United States over the span of a mere nine months. Rather than stimulate the real economy, the QE program has instead resulted in increasing weakness in the international market for US bonds - the proof of which can be seen in the chart below. Bond investors are running for the exits, and our discussion above confirms what we see in this chart. Traditional buyers of US bonds are now sellers, and they are exercising a non-confidence vote in the US dollar and in US debt.
As we hope the breakdown above has revealed, the future solvency of the United States as a nation state is currently in jeopardy. It is in far deeper trouble than the mainstream press cares to admit. There are simply not enough new buyers of debt on this planet to support the spending programs of the United States government - and it appears that current holders ofdebt are beginning to sell. Because it is impossible to balance the budget from outside sources of capital, the only source of funds left for the US, in all reality, is continued money printing.
The Federal Reserve's policy of Quantitative Easing is failing. The US budget is ludicrous, spending is out of control, spending promises are out of control, the world knows it - and we know it. For all the pundits who see the economy improving over the next year, we invite you to explain to us how this debt crisis will resolve itself without significant turmoil. We've tabulated the numbers above - and they do not lie. As we wrote this past January, welcome to 2009.
Federal Spending Will Make Us Go Broke
by Douglas Elmendorf , Director, Congressional Budget Office
Today I had the opportunity to testify before the Senate Budget Committee about CBO’s most recent analysis of the long-term budget outlook.Under current law, the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, because federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run. Although great uncertainty surrounds long-term fiscal projections, rising costs for health care and the aging of the population will cause federal spending to increase rapidly under any plausible scenario for current law. Unless revenues increase just as rapidly, the rise in spending will produce growing budget deficits. Large budget deficits would reduce national saving, leading to more borrowing from abroad and less domestic investment, which in turn would depress economic growth in the United States. Over time, accumulating debt would cause substantial harm to the economy. The following chart shows our projection of federal debt relative to GDP under the two scenarios we modeled.
Federal Debt Held by the Public Under CBO’s Long-Term Budget Scenarios (Percentage of GDP)
Keeping deficits and debt from reaching these levels would require increasing revenues significantly as a share of GDP, decreasing projected spending sharply, or some combination of the two.
Measured relative to GDP, almost all of the projected growth in federal spending other than interest payments on the debt stems from the three largest entitlement programs—Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. For decades, spending on Medicare and Medicaid has been growing faster than the economy. CBO projects that if current laws do not change, federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid combined will grow from roughly 5 percent of GDP today to almost 10 percent by 2035. By 2080, the government would be spending almost as much, as a share of the economy, on just its two major health care programs as it has spent on all of its programs and services in recent years.
In CBO’s estimates, the increase in spending for Medicare and Medicaid will account for 80 percent of spending increases for the three entitlement programs between now and 2035 and 90 percent of spending growth between now and 2080. Thus, reducing overall government spending relative to what would occur under current fiscal policy would require fundamental changes in the trajectory of federal health spending. Slowing the growth rate of outlays for Medicare and Medicaid is the central long-term challenge for fiscal policy.
Under current law, spending on Social Security is also projected to rise over time as a share of GDP, but much less sharply. CBO projects that Social Security spending will increase from less than 5 percent of GDP today to about 6 percent in 2035 and then roughly stabilize at that level. Meanwhile, as depicted below, government spending on all activities other than Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and interest on federal debt—a broad category that includes national defense and a wide variety of domestic programs—is projected to decline or stay roughly stable as a share of GDP in future decades.
Spending Other Than That for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Net Interest, 1962 to 2080 (Percentage of GDP)
Federal spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will grow relative to the economy both because health care spending per beneficiary is projected to increase and because the population is aging. As shown in the figure below, between now and 2035, aging is projected to make the larger contribution to the growth of spending for those three programs as a share of GDP. After 2035, continued increases in health care spending per beneficiary are projected to dominate the growth in spending for the three programs.
Factors Explaining Future Federal Spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security (Percentage of GDP)
The current recession and policy responses have little effect on long-term projections of noninterest spending and revenues. But CBO estimates that in fiscal years 2009 and 2010, the federal government will record its largest budget deficits as a share of GDP since shortly after World War II. As a result of those deficits, federal debt held by the public will soar from 41 percent of GDP at the end of fiscal year 2008 to 60 percent at the end of fiscal year 2010. This higher debt results in permanently higher spending to pay interest on that debt. Federal interest payments already amount to more than 1 percent of GDP; unless current law changes, that share would rise to 2.5 percent by 2020.
Two Giants Emerge From Wall Street Ruins
A new order is emerging on Wall Street after the worst crisis since the Great Depression — one in which just a couple of victors are starting to tower over the handful of financial titans that used to dominate the industry. On Thursday, JPMorgan Chase became the latest big bank to announce stellar second-quarter earnings. Its $2.7 billion profit, after record gains for Goldman Sachs, underscores how the government’s effort to halt a collapse has also set the stage for a narrowing concentration of financial power.
"One theme here is that Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan really have emerged as the winners, as the last of the survivors," said Robert Reich, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who was secretary of labor in the Clinton administration. Both banks now stand astride post-bailout Wall Street, having benefited from billions of dollars in taxpayer support and cheap government financing to climb over banks that continue to struggle. They are capitalizing on the turmoil in financial markets and their rivals’ weakness to pull in billions in trading profits.
For the most part, the worst of the financial crisis seems to be over. Yet other large banks, including Citigroup and Bank of America, are still struggling to return to health. Both are expected to report a more profitable quarter on Friday, but a spate of management changes and looming losses from credit cards and commercial real estate have thwarted a stronger recovery. And then there are the legions of regional and small banks that are falling in greater numbers across the country. While many have racked up large losses, they stand to bleed more red ink if the recession wears on. Fifty-three have failed this year, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is girding for scores to follow.
Uncertainties over the economy mean that Goldman and JPMorgan may be enjoying a fragile dominance, industry experts said. JPMorgan reported big declines in its consumer business on Thursday, and it has set aside more than $30 billion to cover future losses from surging credit card charge-offs and mortgage and home equity losses. "Nobody is through this until unemployment turns around," said Moshe Orenbuch, a Credit Suisse banking analyst.
And if regulation being considered in Washington is passed, banks would face new limits on the amount of their own capital they may trade. That could limit the profits that banks like Goldman and JPMorgan make from their trading businesses, and level the playing field, experts say. Other former Wall Street stars like Morgan Stanley, which was hurt more by the crisis and has avoided taking big risks in the new era, may also rebound and begin to take on old rivals.
But for now, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are surging. "The stronger players are positioned to take advantage of the crisis and they will dominate clearly in the near term," said James Reichbach, the head of Deloitte’s United States financial practice. JPMorgan’s renewed strength, like Goldman’s, comes as it vaults ahead of longtime rivals, especially in investment banking, including bond and equity trading, and underwriting debt to help companies issue shares and bonds. Traders took advantage of big market swings and less competition to post big gains in fixed-income and equities.
Michael J. Cavanagh, the chief financial officer at JPMorgan, said its profit and fees from this business were "a record for us in a quarter and a record for anybody at any firm in any quarter." The bank, he added, was "so very proud of those results." It has also profited from the demise of weaker banks to enlarge its market share in mortgages and retail banking. On Tuesday, as the CIT Group, a lender to many small businesses, negotiated with the government to avoid collapse, JPMorgan signaled that it was watching.
"It would be an opportunity for us in these states if CIT was unable to continue lending to borrowers," Tom Kelly, a spokesman at Chase, was quoted by Dow Jones Newswires as saying. And revenue from the retail bank Washington Mutual, which JPMorgan acquired last fall, is starting to help earnings. Morgan is also profiting from its government-assisted purchase of Bear Stearns last year. JPMorgan is now No. 1 globally in equity and debt capital markets, according to Dealogic.
Amid the surge, Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chief executive, has cemented his status as one of America’s most powerful and outspoken bankers. He has vocally distanced himself from the government’s financial support, calling the $25 billion in taxpayer money the bank received in December a "scarlet letter" and pushing with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and others to repay the money swiftly. Those three banks repaid the money last month.
Yet JPMorgan’s transformation into one of the industry’s strongest players is underpinned by the shelter it received from the government: The bank used the money as a cushion until it was able to raise new capital. "There is no doubt all of us benefited from the government help — all of us," said a senior executive at another Wall Street bank. A spokesman for JPMorgan said the bank accepted aid at the request of the government but would not comment beyond that. Few banks have undergone such a turnaround. Only a few years ago, JPMorgan was struggling after years of poor management and a failure to digest a series of big acquisitions. But under Mr. Dimon, it cut costs and strengthened its balance sheet.
The payoff began last year. With the industry teetering on the verge of collapse, JPMorgan snapped up Bear Stearns in March 2008 and Washington Mutual last fall in two government-assisted transactions. Clients say that its growing dominance has given it more leverage to charge for lending and other services. After aggressively lobbying to repay its taxpayer money, Mr. Dimon has also been driving a hard bargain over the repurchase of warrants the government received from the bank last autumn in exchange for taxpayer support.
JPMorgan is now planning to let the Treasury Department auction off the warrants to private investors after the two sides failed to agree on a price. Mr. Dimon is also gearing up for a series of battles in Washington. One is over tighter regulations for derivatives, a business where the bank generates lucrative fees as one of the industry’s largest players. Another is the creation of a new consumer protection agency, which could threaten the profitability of the bank’s mortgage and credit card businesses if it introduces tougher regulations. JPMorgan’s stock has risen 20 percent since early March. It closed Thursday at $35.76.
AIG's European Derivatives May Take Decades to Expire
American International Group Inc.’s trading partners may force the insurer to bear the risk of losses on corporate loans and mortgages for years beyond the company’s expectations, complicating U.S. efforts to stabilize the firm, analysts said. European banks including Societe Generale SA and BNP Paribas SA hold almost $200 billion in guarantees sold by New York-based AIG allowing the lenders to reduce the capital required for loss reserves. The firms may keep the contracts to hedge against declining assets rather than canceling them as AIG said it expects the banks to do, according to David Havens, managing director at investment bank Hexagon Securities LLC.
"For counterparties to voluntarily terminate those contracts makes no sense," Havens said in an interview. "There’s no question that asset values have soured on a global basis. With the faith and credit of the U.S. government backing those guarantees, why would they give that up?" The falling value of holdings backed by the swaps may force AIG to post more collateral, pressuring the insurer’s liquidity and credit ratings in a repeat of the cycle that caused the firm’s near collapse in September, Citigroup Inc. analyst Joshua Shanker said last week. The insurer needed a U.S. bailout valued at $182.5 billion after handing over collateral on a different book of swaps backing U.S. subprime mortgages.
The average weighted length of the European swaps protecting residential loans is more than 25 years, while the span tied to corporate loans is about 6 years, AIG said in a regulatory filing. Contracts covering corporate loans in the Netherlands extend almost 45 years, and the swaps on mortgages in Denmark, France and Germany mature in more than 30 years. The portfolio shrank by about half in 15 months to $192.6 billion on March 31 and AIG’s models show banks will abandon more contracts, said Mark Herr, a spokesman for the insurer. AIG said in a filing last month it expects the banks to cancel "the vast majority" of the contracts in the next year as regulatory changes reduce the benefits of the derivatives for lenders.
"We think we’re right because we’re basing our analysis on actual behavior," said Herr. "The inarguable fact is that half of the portfolio had been unwound at no cost to us as of March 31." The contention that the swaps will last beyond a year is a "theoretical argument that is debunked" by banks’ actions, he said. Last month, AIG said in a regulatory filing that it may be at risk for losses for "significantly longer than anticipated" if the banks don’t terminate their swaps. "Given the size of the credit exposure, a decline in the fair value of this portfolio could have a material adverse effect on AIG’s consolidated results," the company said in the June 29 filing.
The Securities and Exchange Commission asked for AIG to add the disclosure to the insurer’s "risk factors," Herr said. The action wasn’t prompted by any change in the securities backed by the swaps, he said. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Banco Santander SA, Danske Bank A/S, Rabobank Group NV and Credit Agricole SA’s Calyon are also among banks which purchased the swaps, AIG said in a presentation in February pleading for its latest bailout. The banks could be forced to raise $10 billion in capital if AIG were allowed to fail, according to the document.
Santander said through a spokesperson that the bank’s risk of an AIG failure is insignificant and fully collateralized. Calyon declined to comment. Representatives of the other lenders didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment. Counterparties terminated or allowed to expire $27.8 billion in the so-called regulatory relief swaps in the first quarter, and AIG got notice for another $16.6 billion in terminations through April 30, the firm said. Some of the remaining swaps have suffered losses, and AIG posted $1.2 billion in collateral as of the first quarter.
"You’ll have an increasingly toxic pool of credit-default swaps every quarter" as the least risky swaps are terminated, said Donn Vickrey, analyst at research firm Gradient Analytics Inc. "Swaps that are being held are done so for two reasons, either for regulatory relief or because they’re ‘in the money’" which means they are valuable hedges against asset declines. AIG has recognized that some of the swaps are no longer being held for regulatory relief. The insurer reclassified $3 billion in swaps through March 31 that are likely to be kept after the regulatory benefit expires, AIG said. The firm had a $393 million liability on those swaps.
Gerry Pasciucco, hired in November to clean up the Financial Products unit that sold the swaps, said in an interview in December that the European swaps would mature over time without loss and faced very little risk. Pasciucco said in April that future losses will be limited. The $192.6 billion figure for the swaps includes $99.4 billion tied to corporate loans and $90.2 billion linked to prime residential mortgages, the insurer said.
"The sheer size of the portfolio and the ‘black box’ nature of its underlying loans and assets do little to calm fears of further CDS losses," Shanker said in the July 8 research note. "Potential markdowns in the regulatory CDS portfolio may result in collateral calls that would again put pressure on AIG’s liquidity." The government’s rescue includes a $60 billion credit line, $52.5 billion to buy mortgage-linked assets owned or insured by the company, and an investment of as much as $70 billion. AIG plans to reduce its debt under the credit line by $25 billion by handing over stakes in two non-U.S. life insurance units, the insurer said last month. AIG has tapped about $43 billion from the line as of July 15.
Paulson reveals US concerns of breakdown in law and order
The Bush administration and Congress discussed the possibility of a breakdown in law and order and the logistics of feeding US citizens if commerce and banking collapsed as a result of last autumn's financial panic, it was disclosed yesterday. Making his first appearance on Capitol Hill since leaving office, the former Treasury secretary Hank Paulson said it was important at the time not to reveal the extent of officials' concerns, for fear it would "terrify the American people and lead to an even bigger problem".
Mr Paulson testified to the House Oversight Committee on the Bush administration's unpopular $700bn (£426bn) bailout of Wall Street, which was triggered by the failure of Lehman Brothers last September. In the days that followed, a run on some of the safest investment vehicles in the financial markets threatened to make it impossible for people to access their savings. Paul Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat, asked Mr Paulson to reveal details of officials' concerns, which were relayed to Congress in hasty conference calls last year. The calls included discussion of law and order and whether it would be possible to feed the American people, and for how long, according to Mr Kanjorski.
"In a world where information can flow, money can move with the speed of light electronically, I looked at the ripple effect, and looked at when a financial system fails, a whole country's economic system can fail," Mr Paulson said. "I believe we could have gone back to the sorts of situations we saw in the Depression. I try not to use hyperbole. It's impossible to prove now since it didn't happen."
The Oversight committee is investigating the takeover of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, a deal forged in the desperate weekend that Lehman Brothers failed, and which later required government support because of Merrill's spiralling losses. Mr Paulson defended putting pressure on Bank of America when it had last-minute doubts about the deal in December. Not to have done so could have rekindled the "financial havoc" the bailout had calmed.
Hank Paulson Fleeced the American Taxpayers in Order to Save Them
Hank Paulson is deeply empathetic about the American people's plight; absorbing intergenerational levels of debt to cover the costs of unbridled greed and recklessness on the part of Wall Street. Thus, while being raked over the coals at a congressional hearing for his role in the near destruction of the global financial system last fall, and the $700 billion TARP Wall Street bailout package he was able to pull through a terrified Congress as the price of avoiding financial Armageddon, the former Treasury Secretary had this to say about the plight of the American people: "The tragedy is they didn't create the problem. But they would be the ones that would pay the greatest penalty if there was a collapse."
Paulson's statement, while superficially sympathetic to the injustice of the collective innocent paying for the sins of the few, is in substance the manifestation of a disdain for the broad masses that borders on contempt. In effect, he is reiterating a posture that has been consistently maintained by the "masters of the universe" since the onset of the global financial and economic crisis; privatize the profits (especially after radical deregulation) but socialize all losses.
Since last fall, trillions of dollars have been added to the U.S. national debt through TARP, fiscal stimulus packages made necessary by the financial collapse, and other forms of direct and indirect government and Federal Reserve aid to the financial sector. All in the name, we are told, of the American people who, it is claimed, would be subjected to even greater debt and future taxation if Wall Street is not bailed out. The old concept of "moral hazard," still in force when Paulson allowed Lehman Brothers, a competitor of his former stomping ground Goldman Sachs to die, was swiftly ejected when AIG faced bankruptcy.
Now Goldman Sachs is declaring a record quarterly profit, and arrogantly boasting of the billions of dollars of bonus payments that will be dished out to its employees. What the firm that Paulson used to lead as Chairman won't divulge is how much of its profit was due to $13 billion it received in payment from the U.S. taxpayer, using AIG as a pass-through for the payment. Neither will this Wall Street entity make public the impact of tens of billions of dollars in low-interest, taxpayer subsidized loans it now has access to, once Hank Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke changed the rules, and allowed investment banks such as Goldman Sachs to magically transform themselves into bank holding companies.
If Hank Paulson symbolizes the incestuous relationship between Wall Street and government, his attitude reflects how insignificant the general public has become in the minds of those calling the shots and making the critical policy decisions in the wake of the worst economic crisis to afflict the American people since the Great Depression. But when those who caused the disaster are spared the ravages of the unwashed masses who are now being corralled into ever-growing unemployment lines, and instead are basking in the illumination of near record bonus payments, their callousness can at least be understood.
The question that Hank Paulson and his ilk may ultimately be compelled to answer is why should the American people be eternally grateful for their "noblesse oblige" when it becomes crystal clear to them that they have been dispossessed of much of their future as the price for bailing out Wall Street and its architects of our current economic and financial doom.
Shattering the Right vs. Left Prism Once Again: The Wall Street Journal Goes After Goldman and the Bank Bailout
Yesterday's opinion section of the Wall Street Journal offered convincing proof that those who want a progressive financial policy and those who simply want to save capitalism are in agreement about the madness of the administration's Wall Street policies. There, on the editorial page of the capitalist Bible, was a piece taking repeated shots at Wall Street darling Goldman Sachs. And, over on the opposite page, a two-fisted op-ed by former hedge-fund manager Andy Kessler in which he labels the government bailout of Wall Street "a dumb move" and "a bust."
I'm planning to shrink down today's Journal, laminate it, and hand it out anytime someone in the media starts analyzing the economy using the cobweb-covered, tried-and-untrue right vs. left framing. You know that this way of looking at financial policy is dead and buried when Rupert Murdoch's pride and joy is publishing takes that I could happily have written myself. Let's start with the editorial, "A Tale of Two Bailouts," which decries the fact that, thanks to the policies of Tim Geithner and Larry Summers, Goldman "enjoys the best of both worlds: outsize profits for its traders and shareholders and a taxpayer backstop should anything go wrong."
The piece is spiked with disdainful references to "the Goldmans of the world" and "the likes of Goldman, which apparently needs no help printing money," and takes issue with the way "we changed when we stepped in to save certain banks in the name of saving the system." It also dubs Goldman "Goldie Mac," saying: "Goldman will surely deny that its risk taking is subsidized by the taxpayer -- but then so did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, right up to the bitter end."
Compare that to the laudatory language and quotes used by AP business writer Stephen Bernard in his story yesterday on Goldman's "stunning" profit report. Bernard calls the company "the king of post-meltdown Wall Street" and repeatedly quotes a financial analyst who anoints Goldman as "the best of the best," "in a class by themselves," and "the golden child of the market."
The Journal's take -- "We like profits as much as the next capitalist. But when those profits are supported by government guarantees or insured deposits, taxpayers have a special interest in how the companies conduct their business" -- is actually more in keeping with that of Robert Reich, who says that "Goldman's resurgence should send shivers down the backs of every hardworking American who has lost a large chunk of retirement savings in this economic debacle, as well as the millions who have lost their jobs.... Goldman's high-risk business model hasn't changed one bit from what it was before the implosion of Wall Street."
Then there is Kessler's op-ed, which mirrors much of HuffPost's take on the serial missteps made by Obama's senior economic team. "We took the easy way out," he writes, "and, with the help of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's loose 'stress tests,' swept banking problems under the carpet. We waved off mark-to-market accounting and juiced bank stock prices to help them recapitalize, but all those toxic mortgage assets on bank balance sheets are still there as anchors on lending."
Kessler also refuses to buy into the "'green shoots' psychology" that has spread through much of the media -- and rejects the all-too-frequent conflation of the Wall Street economy and the real economy: "By not restructuring banks, by not getting bad loans off bank balance sheets, by not standing up to the massive increases in government debt crowding out private capital, the Fed and Treasury are holding back real economic growth." There is much in the Wall Street Journal that I don't agree with but, when it comes to the failure of the administration to address and fundamentally reform what Kessler calls "the structural problems that got us into trouble in the first place," we are of the same mind.
There is no daylight between a progressive position focused on the paramount need to get the real economy going and one based purely on what makes free markets work. The editorial goes so far as to suggest imposing a tax (yes, the Wall Street Journal is proposing a tax!), an FDIC-style bailout tax to be precise, "for those in the too-big-to-fail camp." We've reached the point where the only people defending the administration's Wall Street policies are the people benefiting from them -- or their good friends, Tim Geithner and Larry Summers.
The Joy of Sachs
by Paul Krugman
The American economy remains in dire straits, with one worker in six unemployed or underemployed. Yet Goldman Sachs just reported record quarterly profits — and it’s preparing to hand out huge bonuses, comparable to what it was paying before the crisis. What does this contrast tell us?
First, it tells us that Goldman is very good at what it does. Unfortunately, what it does is bad for America. Second, it shows that Wall Street’s bad habits — above all, the system of compensation that helped cause the financial crisis — have not gone away. Third, it shows that by rescuing the financial system without reforming it, Washington has done nothing to protect us from a new crisis, and, in fact, has made another crisis more likely.
Let’s start by talking about how Goldman makes money. Over the past generation — ever since the banking deregulation of the Reagan years — the U.S. economy has been "financialized." The business of moving money around, of slicing, dicing and repackaging financial claims, has soared in importance compared with the actual production of useful stuff. The sector officially labeled "securities, commodity contracts and investments" has grown especially fast, from only 0.3 percent of G.D.P. in the late 1970s to 1.7 percent of G.D.P. in 2007.
Such growth would be fine if financialization really delivered on its promises — if financial firms made money by directing capital to its most productive uses, by developing innovative ways to spread and reduce risk. But can anyone, at this point, make those claims with a straight face? Financial firms, we now know, directed vast quantities of capital into the construction of unsellable houses and empty shopping malls. They increased risk rather than reducing it, and concentrated risk rather than spreading it.
In effect, the industry was selling dangerous patent medicine to gullible consumers. Goldman’s role in the financialization of America was similar to that of other players, except for one thing: Goldman didn’t believe its own hype. Other banks invested heavily in the same toxic waste they were selling to the public at large. Goldman, famously, made a lot of money selling securities backed by subprime mortgages — then made a lot more money by selling mortgage-backed securities short, just before their value crashed. All of this was perfectly legal, but the net effect was that Goldman made profits by playing the rest of us for suckers.
And Wall Streeters have every incentive to keep playing that kind of game. The huge bonuses Goldman will soon hand out show that financial-industry highfliers are still operating under a system of heads they win, tails other people lose. If you’re a banker, and you generate big short-term profits, you get lavishly rewarded — and you don’t have to give the money back if and when those profits turn out to have been a mirage. You have every reason, then, to steer investors into taking risks they don’t understand.
And the events of the past year have skewed those incentives even more, by putting taxpayers as well as investors on the hook if things go wrong. I won’t try to parse the competing claims about how much direct benefit Goldman received from recent financial bailouts, especially the government’s assumption of A.I.G.’s liabilities. What’s clear is that Wall Street in general, Goldman very much included, benefited hugely from the government’s provision of a financial backstop — an assurance that it will rescue major financial players whenever things go wrong.
You can argue that such rescues are necessary if we’re to avoid a replay of the Great Depression. In fact, I agree. But the result is that the financial system’s liabilities are now backed by an implicit government guarantee. Now the last time there was a comparable expansion of the financial safety net, the creation of federal deposit insurance in the 1930s, it was accompanied by much tighter regulation, to ensure that banks didn’t abuse their privileges. This time, new regulations are still in the drawing-board stage — and the finance lobby is already fighting against even the most basic protections for consumers.
If these lobbying efforts succeed, we’ll have set the stage for an even bigger financial disaster a few years down the road. The next crisis could look something like the savings-and-loan mess of the 1980s, in which deregulated banks gambled with, or in some cases stole, taxpayers’ money — except that it would involve the financial industry as a whole. The bottom line is that Goldman’s blowout quarter is good news for Goldman and the people who work there. It’s good news for financial superstars in general, whose paychecks are rapidly climbing back to precrisis levels. But it’s bad news for almost everyone else.
Earn Like Goldman Sachs, a How-To
Goldman Sachs has proved once again that it knows how to make money. Wednesday’s announcement of a record quarterly profit of $3.44 billion ($) has spurred debate over how the bank did it. In addition to making money via its own trades, Goldman profits by advising clients about deals. Some of that advice has proved quite savvy. As we reported last year, one of Goldman’s money-making strategies was to encourage some clients to bet on declines of the creditworthiness of a range of states — including California, New Jersey, New York and Florida. Goldman advised hedge funds to take the bets by buying credit default swaps, the insurance-like financial instruments that have been blamed for contributing to the financial meltdown last fall.
The strategy angered California Treasurer Bill Lockyer because his state was paying Goldman millions to help market the same bonds that Goldman was advising other clients to bet against. This week’s announcement of huge profits — and the likelihood of near-record bonuses — at Goldman led us to wonder how much investors could have earned by following Goldman’s controversial advice. Basically, if you had bought swaps against $10 million in California bonds in July 2008, it would have cost just under $80,000. Today, you could theoretically sell those swaps for $350,000 — making a 338 percent profit.
For bets on credit a downgrade of New York, the profit would have been 575 percent, according to data provided by Markit, which tracks credit default swaps. Of course, there are lots of caveats buried in these numbers. Notably, the prices assume that someone would want to buy the swaps, and that they would have the cash to do so. But fundamentally, it looks as if Goldman was right to advise clients that betting against states was a good way to make money. California didn’t like it because, as Lockyer’s spokesman said at the time, drumming up bets against California bonds could further undermine confidence in the state’s ability to repay its debts.
That, in turn, could force the state to pay higher interest rates to borrow money, and cost taxpayers tens of millions at a time when the state is facing one of the worst budget crises in its history. So who are the people who’ve promised to pay up if California, or other states, cities and municipal entities, default? There’s no way to know, because the swaps are still unregulated — though Congress is debating if and how to change that. For the record, it doesn’t look as if many people followed Goldman’s advice, which the company said it stopped giving around October.
Fewer than 200 contracts for swaps on California bonds are out, with a net value of just under $760 million, according to the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. For Florida, there are 133 and for New York, there are 95. Those figures are dwarfed by the numbers of swaps on companies, such as Southwest Airlines, which has over 4,600 contracts covering nearly $2.5 billion of underlying debt. Even that is considerably fewer than the contracts on another company: Goldman Sachs. There are over 6,500 contracts on Goldman, covering $5.3 billion of debt.
This Sure Doesn't LOOK Like A New Bull Market
I have previously written that I am not particularly bullish or bearish on stocks right now, and believe that investors should have a normal or benchmark weight to the equity markets. There is no doubt that some news is improving. Monetary policy has caused volatility to decrease exactly as history would have suggested, initial jobless claims (the indicator that I feel should be investors’ #1 economic indicator) is starting to improve regardless of the much-noted difficult seasonal adjustments, and the leading indicators of corporate profits growth appear to be bottoming. In addition, fiscal policy stimulus is still working its way through the various government procurement systems and is likely to boost economic growth.
On the other hand, there is still quite a bit of incremental bad news: Goldman Sach’s recent earnings and compensation announcements are likely, in my opinion, to incite Washington to further regulate the financial sector, emerging market valuations are again (and perhaps too quickly) approaching extremes, credit growth remains subdued, and rising commodity prices are acting as a "tax increase" on the consumer and, therefore, are ultimately acting to stimulate deflation rather than inflation..
No one seems the least bit aware that leadership always changes during bear markets, but it hasn’t changed during the recent market upturn. Either this cycle is going to be extremely unique and break a solid historical pattern, or this isn’t the bull market that many believe. I find it particularly disconcerting that no one is discussing this historical fact, and are assuming that the prior cycle’s leadership should be the new leadership.
Rising volatility and bear markets are caused by changes in the economic environment. The economic backdrop changes and the old leadership, which was suited for the prior economic environment, begins to underperform.
Volatility accordingly increases. A new market leadership begins to emerge that is better suited for the forthcoming economic environment. A dramatic example of this typical change in leadership occurred subsequent to the peak of the Technology bubble. As the Tech bubble deflated, the old leadership (technology/media/telecom stocks) was replaced by new leadership which was better suited for the soon to emerge easy-credit environment. It remains perplexing that many investors still don’t appreciate that credit was the common thread among the global growth stories of the past 5-7 years. Commodities, housing, small stocks, emerging markets, hedge funds, private equity, short US dollar, etc. are all extremely credit-sensitive investments.
It concerns me that market rallies are being led by the prior cycle’s leadership (financials, energy). This doesn’t make a lot of sense if the global economy is heading into a period of more sober credit and lending, yet market observers seem to be ignoring this critical point. If the global economy is indeed returning to a credit-driven period, then of course one should overweight emerging markets, commodities, hedge funds, private equity, and sell short the US dollar. I’m skeptical that such cheap and available credit lies ahead, and suggest that investors sell the present credit-related market leadership into strength.
Recovery: Where Will the Jobs Come From?
Health care and education will keep adding jobs. Manufacturing employment will rebound as the global economy revives, but a big cut in the jobless rate will take years. The good news is that the downward momentum of the Great Recession is subsiding. The financial panic that seized the global capital markets has eased. CEOs are no longer acting as if depression looms. That said, the consensus forecast is for the economy to emerge slowly out of the downturn.
The recovery won't feel much like one, and that's bad news for a labor market where 6.5 million jobs have been lost since the recession began. With the unemployment rate climbing toward double digits, it isn't only Republican lawmakers who are wondering "where are the jobs?" "It's always the case that in the depths of the recession it's hard to say where the jobs will come from," says Barry Bosworth, economist at the Brookings Institution. So, where will the jobs come from? The White House Council of Economic Advisers recently asked just that question. To come up with an answer, the economists updated the Bureau of Labor Statistics' job projection numbers that were last published in 2007. The CEA's projections run from 2008 through 2016.
To some extent, the CEA's answer to the trillion-dollar question is: where they're coming from now. (See the accompanying chart.) Health care and education are two sectors of the economy that have expanded throughout the downturn, and both are expected to account for a major share of job growth over the next several years. Employers in all industries will favor workers with skill and education ranging from certificates earned at community colleges to higher degrees. On the other hand, retailing is likely to continue shrinking.
Cyclically, export-oriented industries should get a boost as the global economy revives. American-made goods are increasingly competitive, with the dollar relatively weak compared with other major foreign currencies. Indeed, Bosworth expects a sharp rebound in manufacturing employment, especially in the manufacturing-heavy Midwest. It wouldn't take much of a pickup in orders for manufacturing management to recall laid-off workers. "The long-term trend is bad," he says. "But the cyclical trend will be positive because it got clobbered so badly."
Economists believe there will be job growth over the next several years. The Great American Job Machine is grinding away slowly at the moment. But job creation is something the U.S. eventually does well. Problem is, it could take years to work down a 10%-plus unemployment rate to more acceptable levels, say, in the 5% range. Wages are likely to be anemic, too, considering how tough the competition will be among laid-off workers for jobs. Income inequality could worsen. "I'm reasonably confident about the state of employment," says Joshua L. Rosenbaum, economist at the University of Kansas. "I worry more about the income level we will have."
The wild card in all this is that job forecasts are notoriously unreliable. The reason is technological innovation and the discovery of new ways of doing business. Innovations can generate jobs—if they materialize. For instance, in 2003 a quarter of American workers were in jobs that weren't listed in the Census Bureau's occupation codes in 1967. You sure won't find words like "Web designer" or "mobile-phone salesperson" in the LBJ-era list.
"What's unpredictable are the physical gizmos that will trigger a multiplier effect with employment," says Amar Bhide, visiting professor of economics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Daniel Boorstin, the late historian, captured the dynamic this way in a 1987 essay: "Who, for example, could have predicted that the internal-combustion engine and the automobile would breed a new world of installment buying, credit cards, franchises, and annual models—that they would revise the meaning of cities, and even transform notions of crime and morality with no-fault insurance." Problem is, no one can say whether such innovations will appear. Until they do, the prospect is for higher unemployment in the short run and a slow climb into mostly knowledge-based jobs somewhere down the road. The jobs machine may have to wait for a new power source to kick it back into high gear.
S&P 500 Rally Poised to End, DeGraaf Says
The 34 percent rebound in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since March shows few hallmarks of a bull market, and stocks will probably stagnate for years, top- ranked analyst Jeffrey deGraaf said. The S&P 500 is at a level it first surpassed in 1997 even after the steepest quarterly advance in a decade, and is down 43 percent from its October 2007 record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The main benchmark for American equities probably will continue to make "no net price progress" for at least two more years, deGraaf said in an interview. The index rose to 905.84 yesterday.
"The market in my best estimation is probably range-bound between roughly 1,000 on the upside and 700 on the downside, but I would put the risk to the downside," he said. DeGraaf is a senior managing director at ISI Group Inc. in New York and was the top-ranked technical analyst in Institutional Investor magazine’s poll for the past four years. Technical analysts base predictions on price and volume charts. Investors who took deGraaf’s advice when the advance began were rewarded. In a Bloomberg Television interview on March 13, he described the gain as the "best bear-market rally that we’ve seen during this bear market." The S&P 500, which had advanced 11 percent from the March 9 low as of that date, climbed another 26 percent to a seven-month high of 946.21 on June 12.
Since then, there’s been "a definite decrease or decay in the position of the bulls" as measured by volume and the numbers of advancing and declining shares, deGraaf said. Since May, volume on the New York Stock Exchange has averaged 1.24 billion shares a day, compared with 1.63 billion a day during the previous 12 weeks. At the same time, drops in the prices of some commodities and strength in the Japanese yen relative to higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar indicate that investor confidence in the global growth outlook is waning, deGraaf said. The aftermath of a credit crisis such as last year’s, in which banks globally lost $1.47 trillion as debt default rates climbed, creates conditions that "have a tendency to foster more trading ranges than they do trends," deGraaf said. Declining worker productivity is one such obstacle, he said.
The U.S. stock market may follow a path similar to Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average from 1992 to 2000, he said. The average fell 40 percent during that span even as it posted five quarterly advances of at least 10 percent. "Japan from 1992 to 2000 was in what aviators call a phugoid -- which is just this long oscillation in price," deGraaf said. "It looks to us like there’s a reasonable probability that we’re going to enter into a similar period, with more government intervention and all these things that tend to come about after a bubble, particularly one that’s been driven by credit."
Ilargi: I don't think I've posted this particular video beofre. It's well done. But I must admit I'm getting a bit tired of the "Audit the Fed” theme. Sounds nice and all alright, I know. One question though: on whose authority? What irt comes down to is that you can't audit the Fed without abolishing it. Which is not something I would fight against. Still, a dose of reality is called for. It's not going to happen, that audit.
The Fed Under Fire
FOMC Forecasts - Reality or Fantasy?
It takes some time to work through the minutes from the June FOMC meeting. They are, in the words of David Altig, "meaty." Altig concentrated his remarks on the implications of the Fed's balance sheet explosion. I found myself pulled to the various economic projections spread throughout the minutes. Do those projections pass the laugh test? Are they realistic? Are they optimistic? Or just plain delusional? I think a little of all those descriptions are accurate.
The staff's projections comes first, and appear to be what Calculated Risk describes as an "immaculate recovery":In the forecast prepared for the June meeting, the staff revised upward its outlook for economic activity during the remainder of 2009 and for 2010…The staff projected that real GDP would decline at a substantially slower rate in the second quarter than it had in the first quarter and then increase in the second half of 2009, though less rapidly than potential output. The staff also revised up its projection for the increase in real GDP in 2010, to a pace above the growth rate of potential GDP. As a consequence, the staff projected that the unemployment rate would rise further in 2009 but would edge down in 2010. Meanwhile, the staff forecast for inflation was marked up. Recent readings on core consumer prices had come in a bit higher than expected; in addition, the rise in energy prices, less-favorable import prices, and the absence of any downward movement in inflation expectations led the staff to raise its medium-term inflation outlook. Nonetheless, the low level of resource utilization was projected to result in an appreciable deceleration in core consumer prices through 2010.
Looking ahead to 2011 and 2012, the staff anticipated that financial markets and institutions would continue to recuperate, monetary policy would remain stimulative, fiscal stimulus would be fading, and inflation expectations would be relatively well anchored. Under such conditions, the staff projected that real GDP would expand at a rate well above that of its potential, that the unemployment rate would decline significantly, and that overall and core personal consumption expenditures inflation would stay low.
Leaving aside inflation (which will stay low over the long term if you assume that expectations remain anchored), the staff upgraded the forecast for 2009, is expecting growth to rebound to potential next year (which, is now less than six months away) and then acce lerate further in subsequent years. Is such optimism justified? Yes and no.
I think it is fair to say that mounting evidence points to the formation of a rather clear bottom in the most recent stage of this economic cycle. Hear I refer to the sharp contractions beginning in late 2008, not to the "official" start of the recession in December 2007. Indeed, I think one would have to be almost blind to not see the clear signals emerging in a wide range of data, such as the ISM data:
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See also consumption data:
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Not to mention to mention the initial claims data (see CR and his caveats). To be sure, one could worry that industrial production continues to fall, but note the rate of decline is slowing and capacity utilization looks to be stabilizing. Moreover, the recent stability in auto sales will lend support for manufacturing in the months ahead:
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Notice that the vehicle sales increased 1.3% during the quarter, pointing to a gain in this component of GDP. As always, do not underestimate the data impact of moving from significant declines to just flattening out. With such clear evidence of bottoming out emerging, not only does the near term data get a boost, but downside risks fall - and both point to upward revisions of near term forecasts.
The more interesting parts of the staff's forecast are in the 2010 and beyond range. The fact that they suggest immaculate recovery, I suspect, is largely a model driven outcome. Econometric models tend to force forecasts back to trend, and, in this case, are likely fighting with a large gap between actual and potential GDP. The only way to close that gap is through rapid growth which would in turn lead to "significant" declines in the unemployment rate.
How should we handicap this optimistic forecast? First off, I would remind readers that the bar has been lowered. The long run growth forecast from the FOMC participants are in the 2.5-2.7% range. While this is not a revision, I think commentators tend to forget how much the bar has been lowered since the late 1990s, when some foresaw potential growth as 4% or higher. Likewise, I believe evidence was building prior to the recession that the corresponding job growth rate is around 100k a month. In other words, 100k holds the unemployment rate roughly steady, rather than the 150k that is commonly suggested. In short, diminished expectations likely help the forecast clear the hurdle of reducing the unemployment rate in 2011 and beyond.
Moving toward the diminished expectation for potential output, I suspect, will not be terribly hard to accomplish. Stabilizing consumer spending itself will go a long way toward keeping GDP growth in positive territory as will just a lessening of the inventory drag. Moreover, fiscal stimulus will add positively over the next year, as will the external sector, especially if China can maintain its current dynamic and a weakened US consumer continues to weigh on import growth. And if consumer and export spending hold together, then investment spending will also cease to be a drag.
That said, positive territory for growth could easily be consistent with an economy limping along above recession but insufficient for any significant job growth, a scenario that remains my favorite. Given that 70% of the economy is driven by consumer spending, I find it hard to believe that you can supercharge growth well above potential without the active participation of households. We know, however, that households continue to struggle under heavy debt burdens which, combined with the now tighter underwriting conditions that are likely to be more permanent than temporary, suggest that spending growth is likely to be constrained sufficiently to prevent supercharged growth. I would imagine that to propel consumption growth to rates consistent with the staff's forecast, the staff must be anticipating significant real wealth gains sufficient to drive savings rates back to zero. That, I believe imply a housing rebound…which I can't see unless conditions revert back to the "let's give everyone one with a pulse a loan" era.
Could the Fed staff really believe that the stage is set for such a rebound? More importantly, could FOMC members? Perhaps some do, at least that is the impression from the growth projections:
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The range of growth expectations is quite wide, as noted in this Bloomberg article. Some policymakers are expecting a solid V shaped recovery evolving in 2010, while the other side of the spectrum is looking for a more gradual acceleration to potential growth (the scenario I tend toward). The latter scenario suggests a jobless recovery, with growth insufficient to make much of a dent in unemployment. From a policy perspective, such a scenario points to additional pressure to ease further, complicated by the unknown impact of general balance sheet expansion. It certainly does not point to any rush to unwind the liquidity/credit support programs. The optimistic view implies the opposite, a concern that programs need to be unwound quickly, with a rapid move to normalize interest rates. Until the 2011 forecast comes more fully into view, sometime around the second quarter of 2010, policy will remain in a holding pattern. But note that the wide range of forecasts imply a wide range of Fedspeak, which will lend an irritating feature to the discourse: Seemingly opposite opinions nearly side by side in the press.
A final point: The range of forecasts, both high and low, can be used to argue against another stimulus package as the direction of growth is headed in the right direction. This is especially the case if unemployment stabilizes, even if at a relatively high level. Moreover, note that US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is on something of a world tour, first China, now the Middle East, promising US fiscal restraint:"Policies of the United States are designed to lay the conditions for a strong dollar," Mr. Geithner said on Tuesday, adding: "We are very committed ... to making sure that as we get through the crisis, we bring down fiscal deficits and we reverse these extraordinary interventions we've taken."
I suspect conditions would need to deteriorate markedly in order to force the Administration to push a fresh round of stimulus. That is not the Fed's projection.
Bottom Line: Clear signs of a bottom are an obvious reason to stabilize and boost near term forecasts. Still, the Fed staff's projections appear overly optimistic, seeming to imply that future dynamics will be very similar to the past. I am skeptical. Remember to take forecasts relative of potential GDP in context of diminished expectations. The wide range of projections speaks to an interesting spectrum of Fedspeak in upcoming months. The game will be to track the data, being wary not to read to much into a short-lived bounce off the bottom. I side with the low end of the FOMC forecasts; call me a pessimist. Place your own bets, being prepared to adjust with the data.
Obama Names Goldman Sachs’s Hormats to State Department Post
President Barack Obama announced today he was nominating Robert Hormats, a vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, to a top economic position at the State Department. Hormats, 66, will serve as undersecretary of state for economic, energy and agricultural affairs. He served as deputy U.S. trade representative from 1979-1981 and in other posts at the State Department throughout his career. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a speech July 15 that she hoped to make economic policy and trade a larger part of U.S. diplomacy. "The role of the economic agenda of the State Department needs to be strengthened," Clinton said. Obama also is nominating Lee Feinstein, an adviser to Clinton, as ambassador to Poland, the White House announcement said.
Banks' red ink shows consumers still bruised
Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc raised huge red flags on Friday with quarterly results that suggested the U.S. consumer remains sorely injured as the global recession drags on.
Both Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank, and Citigroup, No. 3, reported big increases in delinquencies among credit card customers and warned that things will get worse. The results also indicated it will take time to scrub the worst effects of soured loans to mortgage and business customers off the banks' balance sheets.
"All in all, our quarter comes down to mortgage and credit card losses," said Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit. "Cards and mortgages are what we need to work through." That could signal more trouble for an industry whose failures large and small helped drive the economy into recession 19 months ago, a downturn that shows little evidence of coming to an end. "Credit issues are already serious, and we still haven't seen the full fallout from commercial real estate," said Bill Fitzpatrick, an analyst at Optique Capital Management in Milwaukee. "Bank of America and Citigroup have raised a lot of capital, which can help them stomach the losses we know are coming."
The banks' results contrast with much better performances reported earlier this week by Wall Street rivals Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. But the results didn't shock analysts and were enough to help financial stocks hang on to strong recent gains. Shares of Bank of America dropped 2 percent on the New York Stock Exchange, while Citigroup was fractionally higher. The S&P Financial index, which jumped more than 10 percent in the first four trading days this week, was down 1.15 percent.
Bank of America, under pressure to integrate its shotgun acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co, warned of a fresh surge in loan delinquencies, especially in credit cards, and set aside $13.38 billion for bad loans for a second straight quarter. Net income was $2.42 billion, topping Wall Street forecasts. Citigroup, whose headline $4.28 billion quarterly profit was due to gains from the sale of its Smith Barney brokerage into a joint venture, said credit costs jumped by $12.4 billion, including the addition of $3.9 billion to loan loss reserves.
"They both seem to reserve a lot for credit losses in all parts of the business. That's the bad news," said Walter Todd, portfolio manager at Greenwood Capital Associates in South Carolina. "The good news is the bank earnings looked really strong, which should be the case." Still, the results could sharpen scrutiny of the banks' management, particularly their ability to manage risk after the U.S. government stepped in with a series of bailouts and a $787 billion economic stimulus program. Bank of America and Citigroup each received $45 billion of taxpayer funds.
Consumer surveys show concern over mounting U.S. job losses, and mixed views of the Obama administration's strategy for economic recovery. U.S. home foreclosure activity rose to a record high in the first half of the year. The banks' results also underline how the industry, girding for the most sweeping regulatory reform since the Great Depression, is still under immense pressure from credit losses.
"You look at these numbers and I would have to think there's still a lot of caution," said Fred Ketchen, director of equity trading at ScotiaMcLeod in Toronto. "I don't think they have taken any of that concern away. There are still some challenges to overcome in the U.S. financial sector." Most remaining large U.S. banks are due to report quarterly results next week, including Wells Fargo & Co and Morgan Stanley.
Citigroup Posts $4.28 Billion Profit on Smith Barney
Citigroup Inc. posted a $4.28 billion profit, less than analysts estimated, as surging loan losses cut into a gain from selling control of the Smith Barney brokerage unit. Second-quarter earnings were 49 cents a share, compared with a loss of $2.5 billion, or 55 cents, a year earlier, New York-based Citigroup said today in a statement. Excluding the Smith Barney gain of $6.7 billion, Citigroup had an operating loss of 62 cents a share. That compared with a 33-cent average loss estimate of 12 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
Consumer and business loan delinquencies kept rising, giving Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit little relief from the financial crisis that forced him to take a $45 billion government bailout and unload some of his biggest units. The bank, once the nation’s largest by assets, now ranks third after Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. "This company is going to be shrinking," said Ed Najarian, an analyst at institutional brokerage International Strategy & Investment Group in New York. "You’ve got to factor that into your analysis of the ability to absorb losses over the next 18 months." The bank’s costs for bad loans in the quarter jumped by 75 percent to $12.2 billion. Late credit-card loans increased to 3 percent of the total, from 2.1 percent a year earlier.
Smith Barney, now part of a joint venture controlled by former Pandit employer Morgan Stanley, had $10.2 billion of revenue last year, or 19 percent of Citigroup’s total. The results included costs of $1.6 billion taken under a bookkeeping rule that forces banks to account for increases in the market value of some of their liabilities. Citigroup recorded a $2.5 billion gain from the rule in the first quarter, when concerns about the bank’s creditworthiness led to declines in the value of the liabilities. Investor confidence in Citigroup rose during the second quarter, as measured by prices for its bonds, leading to an increase in the liability values.
In a June 30 report, Jeff Harte, an analyst at Sandler O’Neill & Partners LP in Chicago, had predicted $1.4 billion of costs from the accounting rule. Citigroup also recorded a $333 million cost after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on May 22 assessed a fee on banks to help replenish the agency’s bank-rescue fund. Harte had estimated the fee at $296 million on a pretax basis. The results were "somewhat encouraging," because the bank didn’t have to set aside as much for future loan losses as some investors expected, Gary Townsend, chief executive officer of Hill-Townsend Capital LLC in Chevy Chase, Maryland, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
"We’ll be watching how quickly they’re able to sell off assets like Smith Barney and use that to reinforce the capital structure, and eventually build what they have to have to repay the government," Townsend said.
Citigroup gained 4 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $3.07 in composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange at 10:59 a.m. The company’s shares are still down from a December 2006 peak of $56.41. They jumped 17 percent this week through yesterday amid economic reports signaling the worst of the recession may be over.
The businesses that Pandit plans to keep, grouped in a division called Citicorp, had a $3.06 billion profit in the quarter, down 11 percent from a year earlier. Stock-trading revenue fell 28 percent to $1.1 billion and private-banking revenue fell 20 percent to $477 million, overwhelming a 26 percent gain in fixed-income trading revenue to $5.57 billion. Debt underwriting climbed 14 percent to $751 million. Citi Holdings, the division of businesses that Pandit is selling or winding down, including the Smith Barney results, had a $1.36 billion profit, compared with a $5.23 billion loss reported a year earlier. Absent the Smith Barney gain, the division had a $5.36 billion loss.
"Our most significant challenge now remains consumer credit," Pandit said in the statement. "Losses in our consumer businesses have been growing for some time, but we see some positive signs of moderation in those loss trends." Citigroup’s operating loss contrasted with profits posted by its biggest rivals. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America said today second-quarter profit was $3.22 billion. New York-based JPMorgan yesterday reported second-quarter earnings of $2.7 billion, up 36 percent. On July 14, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which also has its headquarters in New York, posted a 65 percent increase in profit to $3.44 billion.
Citigroup plans to dilute current shareholders by 76 percent under a plan to convert $33 billion of preferred shares and $25 billion of the government’s bailout stake into common stock. Under that conversion, set to begin as soon as this month, the government would end up with a 34 percent stake. Pandit, 52, who took over in December 2007 following the ouster of Charles O. "Chuck" Prince, has sold 23 businesses since then and cut jobs from a workforce that had ballooned to 375,000 employees.
The former hedge fund manager and Morgan Stanley investment banker now says he wants to cast off operations outside of branch banking, investment banking and trading to remake Citigroup as a one-of-a-kind financial institution able to serve consumers and multinational corporations in more than 100 countries. Pandit said in a June 15 speech in Detroit that he expects slow U.S. economic growth in coming years because Americans are saving more and borrowing less. That means Citigroup must use profits from its global banking network, especially in emerging markets, to restore its health, he said.
"As every businessperson knows, the best way to repay debt is to earn your way out of it," Pandit said. In the second quarter, the bank’s international revenue wasn’t insulated from the global economic slowdown. Citicorp’s consumer-banking operations in Asia had a profit of $272 million, down 40 percent from a year earlier. In Latin America, consumer-banking had a $70 million profit, down 79 percent. In Europe, the business had a loss of $110 million, compared with a $37 million profit a year earlier. In the U.S. and Canada, consumer-banking had a $15 million loss, compared with a $169 million profit.
FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair has questioned Pandit’s leadership and wants the bank to reduce risks by selling businesses, including some overseas, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month. On July 9, Citigroup replaced Edward "Ned" Kelly as chief financial officer after FDIC officials told Chairman Richard Parsons they were concerned Kelly lacked the proper credentials, people familiar with the matter said last week. Kelly was shifted to a role overseeing strategy.
"For any of the major banks right now, they are under the microscope and there is a lot pressure on them," Peter Sorrentino, who helps oversee $13.8 billion at Huntington Asset Management in Cincinnati, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "It is very difficult in this climate to do what you believe to be the right thing when you have got so many constituencies looking over your shoulder." Kelly’s replacement as CFO, John Gerspach, had eight days to prepare for an 11 a.m. conference call today with analysts and investors. He and Pandit are scheduled to brief them on the bank’s efforts to shrink its roughly $1.85 trillion balance sheet and grapple with another $165 billion of off-balance-sheet assets that may have to be consolidated under pending accounting rules.
Bank of America Posts Profit Drop, Sees Weak Economy
Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, said second-quarter profit declined and the company set aside more money for losses as Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis predicted the weak economy will persist into 2010. Net income fell 5.5 percent to $3.22 billion, or 33 cents per diluted share, from $3.41 billion, or 72 cents, a year earlier, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said today in a statement. The stock slipped 2.4 percent in New York trading.
Bank of America’s report follows better-than-expected results from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. earlier this week. While competitors have repaid U.S. rescue funds and freed themselves of extra U.S. scrutiny, Lewis must repair relations with regulators after clashes over the bank’s pursuit of Merrill Lynch & Co. and demands that he raise $33.9 billion in capital. "We have to get through the next few quarters," Lewis said on a conference call. "Profitability in the second half will be much tougher," he said, citing the anticipated absence of one-time gains that boosted results so far this year.
Bank of America declined 28 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $12.89 at 12:17 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Citigroup Inc. said today it swung to a second-quarter profit, beating analysts’ estimates, and the stock advanced as much as 5.6 percent. Profit in global banking increased 74 percent to $2.49 billion at Bank of America, aided by a gain from selling the merchant processing business. Earnings at the unit that includes trading of bonds, equities and currencies more than quadrupled to $1.38 billion on improved credit markets.
The home loan and insurance unit lost $725 million, even as revenue tripled, on credit costs and expenses to help homeowners modify their loans. The bank sees signs that some loan losses may abate, with late payments flattening and home prices stabilizing in California’s hardest hit markets, Lewis said. Card services swung to a loss, and the new federal law curbing interest rates and fees may slice revenue, the bank said. The provision for credit losses, money set aside to cushion against bad debts, was $13.38 billion, the same as the previous quarter. Assets no longer collecting interest rose to $30.98 billion from $25.6 billion on March 31 and debts the bank doesn’t expect to be repaid jumped 25 percent to $8.7 billion.
The credit-card unit’s $1.62 billion loss compared with a $582 million profit last year. New regulations approved by Congress may trim revenue from cards by as much as $700 million in 2010, Lewis said. "It’s enough to get your attention," he told analysts, adding that the bank is looking for ways to mitigate the damage. Bank of America suffered rising defaults on real-estate loans tied to retail and office properties, while the level of troubled loans to home builders and developers stabilized, Chief Financial Officer Joe Price said.
One-time items included a gain of $5.3 billion from the sale of a stake in China Construction Bank Corp. and dividend payments to the U.S. bank rescue fund, which holds $45 billion of preferred stock. Bank of America posted its second straight quarterly profit after a $1.7 billion loss in the last period of 2008, its first losing quarter in 17 years. Federal Reserve stress tests in May found the company may face as much as $136 billion in losses through 2010, and regulators told the bank to raise more capital. Lewis, 62, said U.S. officials were underestimating the bank’s earnings power, and then raised more money than they demanded, ending the campaign with about $38 billion.
Regulators and lawmakers have pressured Lewis to prove that agreements last year to buy Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. home lender at the time, and Merrill Lynch, the largest brokerage, can pay off as unemployment reaches the highest level since 1983. Countrywide was acquired a year ago after the home lender almost collapsed under the weight of defaulting subprime home mortgages. Merrill’s acquisition "is going to work out," said Bill Fitzpatrick, an equity analyst at Optique Capital Management, which manages $900 million, including Bank of America shares, in Racine, Washington. "That’s why they are profitable here in the second quarter. They would not be, outside of the Merrill Lynch revenue."
Lewis had considered backing out of the Merrill Lynch purchase in December as losses spiraled toward more than $15 billion in the fourth quarter. The bank completed the deal in January after then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson threatened to have Lewis ousted if the deal was scuttled because regulators feared Merrill would collapse and threaten the financial system. Shareholders stripped Lewis of his chairman’s title in April after criticism that he withheld information about Merrill’s mounting losses, and his tenure may face more scrutiny from the U.S. Documents tied to the Merrill bailout, dated Dec. 21 and released at a congressional hearing yesterday by Representative Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat, show regulators planned "more intrusive review and involvement by the U.S. government in the selection of management" and the board in return for U.S. funds to salvage the Merrill deal.
The resulting package included $20 billion in new capital and $118 billion in asset guarantees. The latter accord was never signed or tapped, generating another clash with regulators over whether Bank of America owes part of a promised $4 billion fee to the U.S. The bank told analysts that issue will probably be resolved within the next 30 days. Separately, regulators told the bank in a May memorandum of understanding to overhaul its board and improve risk and liquidity management, said a person familiar with the matter.
Former lead director Temple Sloan and five other former bank directors resigned since the April annual meeting, while four new directors with banking and regulatory experience joined the board. Chief Risk Officer Amy Brinkley also announced her resignation during the quarter as a Congressional investigation of the Merrill transaction revealed Fed and Treasury officials’ criticism of Bank of America’s risk-management practices. "Both Merrill Lynch and Bank of America are on a healthy track and the $38 billion capital raise shows the markets gave a resounding endorsement of the company, which in combination is a very strong report card on Ken," bank spokesman James Mahoney said yesterday. "The board has also strongly endorsed Ken’s leadership."
While Lewis faces pressure from regulators, bank investors believe government is delving too much into a private company’s affairs, Andrews said. "The more the government leans on Ken Lewis, the more investors are going to rally around him," he said.
GE second-quarter profits fall by 47%
General Electric’s quarterly profit plunged by almost 50 per cent as slumping economies crimped demand for industrial equipment. Net income from continuing operations fell by 47 per cent to $2.9bn, or 26 cents a share in the second quarter. Per-share earnings beat analysts’ average estimate of 24 cents as cost cuts and tax benefits helped offset disappointing top-line results. Total revenue slipped 17 per cent to $39.1bn, short of expectations. GE’s shares lost 6.1 per cent to $11.64 in early afternoon trading in New York.
"In a global economic environment that continues to remain challenging, GE delivered solid second-quarter business results," Jeff Immelt, GE’s chief executive, said in a statement. "We are executing through the recession by aggressively controlling costs and driving working capital improvements while continuing to invest for future growth." Finding little reason to believe an economic rebound was imminent, GE trimmed its profit forecast for its industrial and media businesses. In a conference call with analysts, Jeff Immelt, chief executive, said earnings from the company’s non-financial divisions would be flat this year; in December he had forecast growth of as much as 5 per cent.
While GE’s industrial businesses, which range from aircraft engines and wind turbines to medical imaging machines, boast a record backlog of $169bn, new equipment orders slipped 42 per cent during the second quarter to $8.5bn. Service orders rose 2 per cent in the period. Investors remained wary of GE Capital, whose earnings slumped 80 per cent during the quarter from a year ago. In spite of its struggles, Mr Immelt said the division was "ahead of schedule" in its timetable to become a more "focused" financial services company and remained on track to be profitable for the year. GE has continued to shrink GE Capital’s portfolio of commercial and consumer loans and reduced its borrowing needs.
The company’s executives also sought to make its case against a provision in the Obama administration’s sweeping plan for financial-services industry reform that would call for separate commercial and financial entities. The proposal prompted speculation that GE would be forced to divest its finance arm. "We have talked to a number of people in Congress, and we have heard considerable scepticism about many of the features of the white paper, but particularly on this aspect of the white paper," said Brackett Denniston, GE’s general counsel.
"And we have also heard considerable support for the idea of not breaking up the existing structures for grandfathering." The industrial, technology and media divisions also saw profits fall. Earnings at NBC Universal were off by 41 per cent as advertising revenue plunged. Only GE’s energy infrastructure unit showed growth in the quarter. The Connecticut-based company has increasingly looked overseas to expand into markets with more growth potential. GE boasted that industrial revenues were up by 31 per cent in China and 46 per cent in India.
Last month GE announced a $500m deal to supply new gas and steam turbines to the Kingdom of Bahrain as the company continues to push for a greater presence in the Middle East to counteract troubles in its domestic market. It also recently announced an $8bn commercial finance joint venture with Mubadala Development, Abu Dhabi’s state investment vehicle. Shares of GE fell by 5.7 per cent to $11.7 by mid-afternoon on Friday and are off by 62 per cent from their 12-month high.
Real Estate Worries Some GE Analysts
General Electric is likely to meet analyst earnings expectations Friday before the market opens. But investors may ignore that news. Instead they will look carefully at what GE acknowledges is a trouble spot: real estate. GE's profit will be half what it was a year ago, and it can thank the government for a portion of those earnings. GE has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of government-assistance programs. Investors will focus on GE Capital, which represented about 35% of GE's net income in the first quarter, and continues to battle losses and delinquencies.
Real estate represented 13% of GE Capital's assets at year end, and a hefty chunk of its then-$85 billion real-estate portfolio represents more-risky equity exposure, rather than debt. Deutsche Bank predicts a $191 million loss in GE Capital's real-estate-equity division in the quarter, down from a $484 million gain in the same period a year ago. Compared with real-estate losses at other firms, GE's may be smaller, leaving investors to gripe that the valuations of GE's holdings are higher than they should be.
GE must use accrual accounting methods that don't mark to market real-estate declines. Some banks generally need to mark to market, like Goldman Sachs; commercial real estate proved a rare chink in Goldman's strong second-quarter results this week. Hedge fund FrontPoint Partners, which made the case for GE as a short position earlier this year, estimates GE has as much as $20 billion or $25 billion in future losses in its real-estate portfolio on a mark-to-market basis. GE acknowledges the challenging environment but says it is a moot point because it plans to hold assets. It says it has been careful in its real-estate deals and in managing losses.
In March, GE said it had a 1.2% delinquency rate, compared with 5.4% for commercial banks. Several analysts maintain GE's provisions for overall losses within GE Capital should be higher and continue calling for GE to set aside more cash to cover losses in GE Capital. GE's plan on that score will be something they will look forward to hearing more about on the company's call.
The Earnings Bomb Inside GE Capital
GE (GE) gave a presentation a few weeks ago designed to calm investors' fears that the company's huge financial services division, GE Capital, is just another Bear Stearns with a friendly logo. The presentation helped, and GE's stock has recovered some of its horrific losses. As of this morning, it's back above $11 (down from $40+ 18 months ago).Some investors, however, are not convinced. The inimitable Steve Eisman of FrontPoint Partners, for example, who was immortalized last year in Michael Lewis's article about the end of Wall Street, detailed his thoughts about GE at Jim Grant's annual conference a few days ago.
An investor in attendance was kind enough to forward Steve's slides, and we've excerpted some of them below. Here's his bottom line:
GE Capital is currently hiding $40-$45 billion of embedded losses in the GE Capital portfolio. This $40-$45 billion of losses, if rinsed through the income statement all at once, would wipe the company out. In fact, if GE weren't able to fund itself with the "heroin injection" of the government's commercial paper program, it would already be bankrupt.
So is GE toast?
No. Unlike banks, GE is not required to mark its assets to market, so Eisman thinks the company will just hobble along for years as the bad news gradually works its way through its income statement (the very definition of a zombie bank). The losses will hammer GE's earnings, though. Especially as the performance of the industrial business deteriorates.
We asked a GE analyst why the company seems unwilling to acknowledge this:
"Because they're living on Planet GE," he said--"which is not even in this solar system."
Here are some of Steve Eisman's slides:
First, the bottom line: $41-$46 billion of embedded losses (bear in mind that these are all estimates. GE would probably violently disagree):
And now the details... Eisman says GE's asset quality is low and that the company under-reserves relative to its competitors:
If GE were to increase its reserves to match the rest of the industry...
This would result in a huge hit to pre-tax earnings:
Next, the specific assets. If GE's financial investments were marked to market, the company would have to take an estimated $9 billion loss.
Marking GE Capital's securities to market would result in an estimated $5 billion hit.
Next, GE's residential European mortgage portfolio. The Polish and Hungarian mortgages are paid in Swiss Francs. Unfortunately, the folks who are supposed to pay them are paid in zlotis, etc--and the value of these currencies has plummeted against the Swiss Franc. Steve Eisman re-calculates the loan-to-value ratios in the local currencies:
The UK mortgage portfolio is hurting, too.
Then there are GE's Commercial Real Estate holdings. Eisman thinks this portfolio is worth up to 40% less than its carrying value. Why? Because most of the holdings (securities and buildings) were acquired at the peak of the market. An investor familiar with GE's real-estate investment timing described GE's timing this way: "Why don't you just put a fucking gun to your head and blow your brains out?")
Add all this up, Steve Eisman says, and you get $41-$46 billion of embedded losses on a $600 billion book of assets--enough to cripple GE's earnings for years.
Roubini: Views on Economy Unchanged Despite Reports
Nouriel Roubini, the economist whose dire forecasts earned him the nickname "Doctor Doom," said after markets closed Thursday that earlier reports claiming he sees an end to the recession this year were "taken out of context." "It has been widely reported today that I have stated that the recession will be over 'this year' and that I have 'improved' my economic outlook," Roubini said in a prepared statement. "Despite those reports ... my views expressed today are no different than the views I have expressed previously. If anything my views were taken out of context."
Several business news outlets, picking up on a report initially from Reuters, earlier Thursday cited Roubini as saying that the worst of the economic financial crisis may be over. The New York University professor was quoted by Reuters as saying that the economy would emerge from the recession toward the end of 2009. Reports of his comments helped trigger a late rally in the stock market. Roubini added late Thursday that he sees no economic growth before the end of 2009.
"I have said on numerous occasions that the recession would last roughly 24 months. Therefore, we are 19 months into that recession. If as I predicted the recession is over by year end, it will have lasted 24 months with a recovery only beginning in 2010. Simply put I am not forecasting economic growth before year's end." Roubini predicts a shallow recovery, with growth averaging about 1 percent over the next few years. He also sees the possibility, he reiterated, of a "double-dip" recession toward the end of next year.
"On one side, early exit from monetary and fiscal easing would tip the economy into a new recession as the recovery is anemic and deflationary pressures are dominant," Roubini said. "On the other side, maintaining large budget deficits and continued monetization of such deficits would eventually increase long term interest rates ... and thus would lead to a crowding out of private demand. "While the recession will be over by the end of the year the recovery will be weak given the debt overhang in the household sector, the financial system and the corporate sector; and now there is also a massive re-leveraging of the public sector with unsustainable fiscal deficits and public debt accumulation."
British Airways turns to pension fund in £600 million cash call
British Airways has announced plans to raise more than £600m of fresh funding in an attempt to avoid being dragged into involvency by the slump in the aviation sector. The cash-strapped airline will raise £300m by selling convertible bonds and take control of another £330m in bank guarantees that had previously been set aside for its pensioners in the event of the airline falling into insolvency. This comes just three days after BA warned it might not have enough liquidity to survive the economic downturn.
The chief executive, Willie Walsh, said the company was taking action to "strengthen our position within the industry". "This goes hand-in-hand with our cost reduction and efficiency initiatives, which are designed to create the right conditions for our sustainable, long-term profitability. It also supports our continued investment programme to maintain our position as a leading global premium airline," Walsh added. BA revealed this morning that it expected to have lost about £100m between May and July, adding to the record £401m loss it suffered in the last financial year.
"It's always disappointing to make a loss, but this is better than the market expected," said Walsh. The funding moves announced today will raise BA's total cash reserves to about £2bn. A BA spokesman said that its pension trustees had agreed to hand over the bank guarantees – effectively a £330m overdraft in the event of BA going bust – to help ensure the company's long-term survival. "The trustees took the view that it is better to have a stronger BA," he explained. "Previously, the pension fund could call on this guarantee, now BA can." Shares in BA rose by 6% at one stage this morning, and were up 2.6% in afternoon trading at 135.6p.
BA said the £300m convertible bond, which is subject to a shareholder vote, was oversubscribed this morning. "We're very happy with the level of interest," said BA's chief financial officer, Keith Williams. BA has indicated that the bonds will be convertible into between 15% and 20% of its share capital in 2014. Convertible bonds dilutes existing investors' holdings less than a rights issue. They also incur a lower rate of interest than other types of borrowing. The scale of BA's recent losses and the state of the wider airline market has sparked speculation over its future. BA insists that it is taking action to remain competitive. One example cited by Walsh at BA's annual general meeting on Tuesday was the decision to pull business class seats out of its planes.
"Fewer business travellers will choose the premium cabins, and those who do will pay less," Walsh told shareholders. "Hanging on in there and just hoping for old high-roller times to return is the road to oblivion."
The airline faces a battle with unions over its plans to cut 3,700 jobs. Walsh pointed out that the airline has already reached deals with pilots and engineers, and said he was "solely focused" on finding agreement with other groups such as cabin crews. "Talks are ongoing. I expect they'll continue for a number of weeks and I remain very positive," said Walsh, who rejected the suggestion there was a risk of industrial action.
IMF warns pound could be at risk from uncertainty
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that Gordon Brown risks a run on the pound if he does not set out a clear path for reducing national debt. In a report published yesterday following a staff mission to Britain in May, the IMF said that a "credible plan" was needed to reverse the rapid deterioration of the public finances if confidence in the UK was to be upheld. "Market conditions suggest the UK has been getting the benefit of the doubt, both in the Government bond market and also the foreign exchange market," said Ajai Chopra, the IMF's mission chief for the UK. "This benefit of the doubt is not going to last forever and it's going to be important that the Government does not test the limit of the market's confidence.
"The authorities will need to move more aggressively in their fiscal consolidation plans and to be specific it will be important to set public debt on a firmly downward path faster than is envisaged in the 2009 Budget," he added. The IMF said the structural fiscal position was weak even before the financial crisis erupted and predicted gross debt is set to double over the next five years to 100pc of gross domestic product. George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said: "The IMF could hardly have delivered a more damning verdict on the Brown years - and it vindicates Conservative warnings about the debt crisis."
Mr Chopra said that although that it was too soon to impose fiscal tightening, specific plans should be formed now so that they could be implemented once economic recovery was under way. The IMF predicts the UK economy will shrink by 4.2pc in 2009 before growing 0.2pc in 2010. The report added: "Should fiscal sustainability come into question, interest rates would rise despite monetary easing efforts, the ability of the Government to provide support to the financial sector would be severely limited and pressures on the currency could emerge."
Mr Chopra said the Government had been "ahead of the curve" by introducing bold policies, and said the authorities' focus must remain on strengthening the banking system, injecting more capital if necessary. He addedthe banking system was still too weak in its current state to support a strong recovery in the UK. Separately, the Prime Minister yesterday defended his response to the banking crisis and the decision to preserve the tripartite regulatory system where the Treasury, Financial Services Authority and the Bank of England each have a role. Mr Brown denied that Mervyn King, the Bank's Governor – who wanted the Bank to gain new powers – had become a "loose cannon" when asked by MPs. "The Governor does a good job and people recognise his talents, and that's why he was reappointed for a second term," Mr Brown said.
Kazakhstan central bank grapples with CDS headache
Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, lies thousands of miles from London's trading rooms - let alone the political lobbyists in Washington. This summer, however, Grigori Marchenko, the Kazakh central bank governor, has reason to follow the US and UK debate about the future of credit derivatives with particular interest. By the end of this month, Kazakhstan is supposed to restructure two of its highest profile banks, BTA and Alliance, which have all but collapsed in recent months. This reorganisation would be emotive and challenging in any circumstances, given the complexity of Kazakhstan's domestic political scene. .
But the saga also has an element of international controversy because of the presence of credit derivatives. Back in the heady days of the credit boom, from 2004 to 2007, numerous western banks rushed to provide finance to Kazakh banks - and some, such as Morgan Stanley, also hedged their exposure using credit derivatives. That trade may have left some players with a net "short" position in the banks (meaning they stand to benefit if the company goes into default). What Mr Marchenko is trying to understand is how these incentives are affecting credit behaviour.
"This is a whole new ball game - I don't think anyone was prepared for what has happened here," says Mr Marchenko. "There is a new class of financial institutions now who are speculating that BTA [and others] go into a default . . . rather than in keeping the bank as a going concern. There is an underlying principle of restructuring that all investors should be treated equally. But what if everyone [in the creditor group] accelerated [the process of default]?" This question of "acceleration" is crucial because of the behaviour of some BTA creditors. This spring, when it became clear that BTA was hovering near collapse, the government tried to organise a restructuring. But before it was completed, Morgan Stanley and another large international creditor demanded repayment of their loans, which BTA refused to do.
Soon afterwards, Morgan Stanley asked a committee linked to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association in New York to rule whether CDS contracts linked to BTA could be activated. The ISDA committee ruled there was a default, ensuring that Morgan Stanley (and others) could duly claim on the CDS. Morgan Stanley has declined comment. But traders with good knowledge of the Western banks' market strategy believe that the foreign groups were mostly using CDS to protect themselves against potential losses on loans, not to short BTA. In practice it is impossible to tell the real motive because while the DTCC in New York collects some overall data on CDS trading - which suggests there are $700m contracts outstanding - the banks do not need to disclose who is short, or not. "The problem is that the CDS market is not transparent," says Mr Marchenko.
Thus far, the Kazakhs are not seeking to ban CDSs. "Abolishing [CDS contracts] might be a bit radical - it is easier to regulate CDSs than prohibit them entirely. They grow like mushrooms in the dark," says Mr Marchenko. The central banks wants to see "a middle-of-the-road approach - only those companies and institutions that own underlying securities should be allowed to buy CDS. There should be better disclosure and central clearing". Such calls are not limited to Kazakhstan. In the US, there is concern that credit derivatives might be creating perverse incentives, after the bankruptcy of some American groups. Western regulators are actively promoting measures to introduce more transparency and place CDS in a clearing house. Some US politicians also want to limit the use of these contracts to hedging, although this is a minority view.
Western bankers, for their part, retort that the CDS is simply a red herring in the case of the Kazakhs. They point out, irrespective of CDS, the state of Kazakh banks is pretty opaque. On paper, the government has set a deadline of the end of the month for restructuring the banks. However, this is proving "extremely complicated", says Michael Carter, chief executive of Visor Capital, a Kazakh investment bank. BTA, for example, has foreign debts of $9bn (more than half of all borrowing) - but it also has "assets throughout the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] that the government is slowly finding that it does not control", Mr Carter says. Several billion dollars of these assets have apparently vanished into a black hole - to the surprise of the Kazakh government and western creditors.
The government has now appointed Lovell, the law firm, to hunt for the missing assets. Goldman Sachs, which was acting as an adviser to the government, has resigned for reasons that - like much else - are unclear. Lazard Freres has replaced Goldman and is trying to organise a creditors' committee. "We believe there should be a market-based solution, and it should be resolved in an amicable way," Mr Marchenko says.
It is far from clear whether Lazard Freres will find a way to resolve these conflicting interests - or what the long-term impact will be. Last month, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's president, told parliament that the Kazakh banking system had "failed the test". He called on local regulators to develop a new model for banks that would prevent them from borrowing too much from western banks in future. "The key point that everyone is forgetting is that [bankers] would not have lent as much money to Kazakhstan if they had not been able to hedge their exposure with CDS - there was just too much risk," says one western banker. "Now everyone fingers CDS. But these events also show why hedging is so important."
116 comments:
I would put it in slightly different language but am somewhat in agreement with at least the tone of this entro.
Sure, GS is full of corrupt practices--and it (corruption) is a part of every major high finance institution I suspect.
But all of us have been sleepwalking for a long time with regard to our overwrought lifestyles and seem to have had blinders on to the many warning signals present.
We are so disconnected from the earth and natural processes that we sometimes don't even recognize them.
This is far more than a financial meltdown. It is something akin to the earth cleansing itself from some silly little two-leggeds crawling around on the surface.
IMHO
Woo Hoo!
Finally a post like this on the front page :D
Been waiting for this one, was wondering when you'd give the grand smackdown to the people.
No one forced them to elect the same officials again.
No one forced them to take loans they could never afford to pay back.
No one forced them to live lives of luxury through debt, they made this choice on their own.
No one forced the people to ignore peak oil and the other ugly realities of the world.
Nope, people choose to be ignorant and blind. Those who seek the truth have a great resource, it's called the 'interwebs' and the library.
The truth is out there(/in here for those spiritually inclined), the biggest obstacle is that person staring back in the mirror.
The Fed ?
Nationalize it !
Many people expend a lot of energy protesting against their irresponsible, unresponsive government. It seems like a terrible waste of time, considering how ineffectual their protests are. Is it enough of a consolation for them to be able to read about their efforts in the foreign press? I think that they would feel better if they tuned out the politicians, the way the politicians tune them out. It's as easy as turning off the television set. If they try it, they will probably observe that nothing about their lives has changed, nothing at all, except maybe their mood has improved. They might also find that they have more time and energy to devote to more important things.
- Dmitry Orlov, Closing the Collapse Gap
I was thinking today about the intensions of Bush Jr. and Obama.
I always hated Bush, especially during the run up to the Iraqi War. At the time I was not peak oil aware, nor was I energy aware. I never bought the Bush/Cheney argument that we needed to protect our country against WMD or Iraqi aggression at all. And because I didn't see U.S. ships pillaging Iraqi oil onto tankers, I didn't think it was about oil either. I had to settle (at that time) that Bush was just plain stupid. Now I 100% think Bush’s intensions were to end the embargo, on our terms, and free up the oil to the world markets. Maybe he originally wanted to free up the oil to US oil companies but that plan got sidetracked to world markets.
Now to Obama. I believe Obama entered office with the best of intensions. I think he also started his campaign knowing his every move, as the first minority President, would be scrutinized in history. He soon realized that our financial situation had him by the balls. I don't think he's simply robbing from the poor to pay off the bankers and other financial institutions. Could his rationale be that he truly knows just how phucked we are, and he is giving in just to buy the US, or the western world, another year or two of about the same standard of living that we're used to? Could it be that he just doesn't have the courage to tell it as it is, and act accordingly –as painfully as that would be?
Now, if I were in the Denninger crowd I’d be yelling off with his head. -but those guys think we can go back to good old fashioned capitalist prosperity. All we have to do is clean out the corruption -so they have a different take on things.
@ Coy Ote:
Nicely said. Few in the US regard this as even the economic debacle that it is, much less our first encounter with the limits of the planet. Don't expect enlightenment soon...
I & S
Thanks for posting the bits about funding the US deficit. I have been asking myself the same question, "How will we fund the Federal Gov't" deficits?
I have been expecting some sort of failed bond sale, but, no, the spending continues unabated. Nothing like the problems California (my state) is now facing.
While the authors worry that there ain't no mo money in the kitty, the debt is still sold, in spite of Fed. QE policy. Will the music ever really stop?!
Perhaps China's failed bond sales are a bit of the Canary in the coal mine, we will have to see ...
I cannot resist commenting on the sweet treats photo above. That and sugar cookies were a major hobby of my family during the 30's to 50's. We preferred vanilla but occasionally had other flavors including chocolate chip and lemon sherbet. The ice was heavily salted to lower melting temp. Near the end it took muscle to turn the crank. After carefully removing the salt the dipper was removed along with some ice cream and given to the lucky children. The container was then repacked with ice and salt for further hardening. This ice cream had a lower melting point than commercial ice cream. Because of this one had to be careful to take small bites or risk a momentary frontal headache.
Get mad at the government, come on. I don't buy it. I think your logic's off on this one, "I" Man. Goldman IS the government, and the government IS Goldman. And that's just one of scores of examples. The revolving door between corp/govt flows like a gushing river: the defense industry, banking/Geithner etc, FDA/Monstanto-Michael Taylor, USDA/Cattle Assoc, and on and on, and on, and on. Government and corporate power are one. We're dealing with fascism not socialism, and certainly not a democracy. We have no viable tools to fight the government with. It's a two-party monopoly system where both parties are bought and sold to the highest corporate bidder.
This is a funny video posted by Mish...the daily show....it is a laugh. http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/07/daily-show-financial-guru.html
I do have one question, especially with how I view things will go:
If the end comes with Mad Max, of what difference is solvency?
Coy Ote may have it right -- some of us (if not all) are going to get cleaned off the Earth.
"Get mad at the government, come on. I don't buy it."
I don't know, my fairweather friend. I think maybe you don't get it.
Of course, Goldman should try to maximize the profits - by competing in the marketplace, not by bribing politicians. Today's political reality is that politicians need to raise a lot of campaign donations, to stay competitive when elections come. The general population is allowed to determine what the politicians are saying in the election campaign, and the rich with their donations are allowed to decide how politicians vote when there is no electrion campaign. No one gives more campaign donations than the Wall Street banksters.
Someone, be it our honorable hosts, or another one of our well informed and formidable posters, needs to provide an opinion on my above post, or I will be subjected to watching, with my wife, the unbearable HGTV programs for the foreseeable future. Apologizes for all the commas. ,,,,
Ilargi,
you are of course correct that we the people are to blame for this mess. If only a semblance of self reliance and self determination was present in the general population things would be much different.
I am from Massachusetts where 92% of the legislature is far left democrat. And you know what? They still cannot get anything done because of infighting! I am of the libertarian bent ( read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress) and cannot fathom why power of office should command so much effort, at the expense of the people.
Sorry to rant, but there is so much sickness, now all out in the open, that I have no idea why the pitchforks are not out. American Idol did its job well.
Great post, one of my favorites.
Ilargi you could have just ran the George Carlin American dream clip on Youtube and saved writing all of that.
Same truth and the same thing.
Paulson just causally admitted to threatening Ken Lewis during the TARP extortion before Congress.
The MSM covered this.
Nothing will change, no one will be investigated, no one will be indited, because it was an 'in your face' moment by an ex-Goldman Capo to show the U.S. Public that they GS, can do anything they want, anytime they want, and nothing will happen, because GS is effectively the defacto US government at this point.
That's what the gesture for.
Hank could have just as easily given everybody, in the room and to the camera, the finger and still, nothing would happen.
In your face kids.
The fact that he demonstrated, in public, his confidence that no one can or will lay a glove on him, highlights in large Neon Letters that even the charade of a democratic veneer is gone.
Short of someone rolling up with a tank in front of Congress a la Yeltsin, nothing will change.
Anybody calling on you, at this late, late hour in the passion play, to write your Congress Critter or 'peacefully protest', is the same type of brillant individual who would have advocated writing letters to the Reichstag after the Big Fire. Futile is not really the word I'm looking for, misguided naivete, maybe. Suicidal, that's it, that's what that kind of gesture is, because it will make it so much easier for Fatherland Security to round you up when the Time Comes kids.
Take whiff. Smell the wind, lick your finger and hold it up before you fire off your post-it note begging Congress and the Whitehouse to See the Light, Come to the Light.
Your time to act was decades ago.
I don't think backdating the postmark will work.
~Resistance is Feudal~~
When a borrower defaults, money is not destroyed. It has been spent already, so how can the bank destroy it? It is in the hands (or bank accounts) of home builders, carpenters, lumber companies - or maybe they spent it already too. Defaults are inflationary. Show me where I'm wrong.
While it will take some time to bottom out, the rate of job loss is declining. It must do this before it bottoms out.
To Ilargi and Stoneleigh if the rate of decline is itself declining how is it that you see the country falling off a cliff. This does not make sense.
The rate of job decline will vastly accelerate in the fall.
Jobs will drop even faster because they are part of a positive feed back loop.
Jobs will plummet because mortgage defaults will skyrocket.
Why will mortgages defaults skyrocket?
Because people are losing their jobs AND because the ALT A's and ARM resets are going to kick in this fall and they represent FOUR (4) times the asset value of the sub-primes.
You remember the Sub-Primes don't you?
If the Sub-Prime collapse produced quite a catastrophe, just imagine something four times as large in Alt-A's WITH the present unemployment figures on top of it.
It will drain the blood out of many heads before it's over.
Mortgages are payed with wages.
In case you haven't noticed, people are so desperate for jobs, they are offering to work for FREE.
WAlmart puts an ad out for a dozen jobs and thousands apply for a MINIMUM wage pay position.
These new low pay/no pay jobs are not going to pay the mortgages.
Hence the defaults, hence the increased unemployment because so many US jobs are/were tied to Houses, which are tied to mortgages.
Round and round we spin in the Death Spiral.
If you doubt this, tell me where the new high wages jobs that can pay mortgages will materialize out of?
A hat?
A 'green bubble'
Government 'make busy work' New Deal wannabes?
The 'private sector'? hahaha
Fat chance.
The F.I.R.E. economy burnt down.
Pretty ironic.
That's why you can smell sulfur everywhere.
~Beelzebub~~
Getting angry/sad/frustrated about our situation is a pointless exercise.
We are about to be sucked into a great catastrophe. Was it avoidable? No. Humans have limited neurological programming, and those limits are about to be highlighted for all to see.
If we could play God for a moment, and rerun the experiment 100x with 100 different groups of humans, I think the experiment would yield pretty much the same collapse every time +/- a few hundred years.
As Ilargi said a while ago, "until we hit the brick wall a 100 mph, we will deny the existence of the wall."
Had a interesting conversation today.
One of the chores at the lab is certifying welders.They make test plates,we abuse them.Takes 3-4 hrs,and usually we have time to chat about the trade ect...
Today I had a very interesting conversation with a welder/steamfitter.The guy specializes in petroleum refineries.He was down here for a couple of months to see family,but was planning to return to the oilsands projects,because according to him,they are screaming for hands,inspectors ,fitters,...anyone who knows how to put steel together.He said they are hitting all the US halls for hands,'cause there is a huge push to get all those projects online NOW....
This is a little strange...
...there is oil stockpiled all over the place...the economy is dead in the water[sinking,in reality]...
oil is falling...
Yet this guy is saying there is a big push to get online some of the most expensive oil on the planet....
...Adjusting tinfoil slightly..
The only thing that makes sense to me is that someone way way up there in the oil bidness thinks that there could be a "disruption"of the current supply system...maybe due to a strike by certain mid-east country on another mid-east country that might close a certain strait...and screw us all...
As to whose to blame...
40 years ago I remember seeing a newspaper story about a southern congressman who took 5000 bucks from a "Constituent".That he had performed "services"for the provider of this largess...It was explained away as not important ,though the paper felt it opened the door to charges of bribery...
Fast forward...
The wealthy spent a lifetime/generation insuring that we the people were effectively neutered politically.
The result will be the swift collapse of this system due to the inability of those in charge to deal with swiftly developing stresses caused by rigid"command structure".
We are about to see how a fascist, corporate state deals with shortages,war,generational wealth that will insist on retaining privilege in the face of widespread want....with the most heavily armed population on the planet...
Life will get strange soon I think...
snuffy
I'm glad to see the furor of Taibbi, Krugman, et. al directed at Goldscam. The gunsights of anger are aiming steadily upwards!
They've gone from Bernie Madoff -- the Lynndie England of the financial torture scandal -- to the bigger fish of AIG's bonuses, and now the focus is shifting to one of the large maggots feasting on the open sore of America's economy. It will make more average sheeple look up from the dessicated brown shoots they've been trying to graze on and say "Hey! We wuz robbed, and these are the bastards who have been doing it!"
Most people cannot grasp abstractions. But when they see a skeevy financier like Madoff, or a defineable firm with a Skeletor/Frankenstein figurehead like Paulson, it personifies the issue in their minds. If there's a focus for the anger, maybe it will get channeled appropriately.
As for it being "our" fault, not me, Ilargi! I buggered out after the 2004 election. It was mainly because my wife and I didn't want to stay in the USA and pay taxes for what we thought was going to wind up as a nuclear strike on Iran (we're no fans of the mullahs, but they don't deserve THAT!) although we could also see which way the economy was headed. It saddens me to confess how much my ego was involved, but a big part of my reason for leaving was so I could say "IT WASN'T MY FAULT! I LEFT THE COUNTRY!" Kinda like I'm doing now.
You lot are really depressing.
"This is/was unavoidable"
"There is nothing that can be done"
"We are irretrievably screwed"
etc.
Throught history, people like you keep predicting doom and very rarely are correct. This is not one of those situations where you are correct. A bunch of supposition and a ton of insults. That is all that really backs up most of these claims.
I don't know, my fairweather friend. I think maybe you don't get it.
There's a scene in "China Town" where Evelyn Mulwray is holding a gun on her father, Noah Cross. Jack tells her to put the gun down, and let the police handle it. "He owns the police," she says.
Notice how fast the FBI picked up the Goldman software thief?
Arnold, bravo. A brew concocted from half truths, popular misconceptions and righteous anger and liberally seasoned with a smattering of pseudo scientific theories and charts is indeed very appealing.
This particular koolaid is one I too have been drinking until recently, until I realised it was stopping my brain from working properly. Now I'm seeing things much more clearly.
Hey Arnold
Since you only seem to concur with Denninger's views and flawless mathematics I suggest this article.
It's a flawless article with flawless facts rather then the unemployment and GDP figures which can be airbrushed.
"What those high-frequency data sources are telling us, here and now, today, is that we are in the middle of a 25-30% economic contraction - exactly as I predicted would occur in 2007.
The fact of the matter is that port, rail and tax receipts are not subject to being "gamed" by government number-crunchers, they do not play "seasonal adjustments" (since they're year-over-year numbers), they do not represent wishes, dreams, or desires."
And telling us we are all depressing without presenting any evidence to counter the flawless mathematics of KD as you put it isn't exactly a convincing argument.
Oh and incase you missed it, Denninger thinks a Mad Max world is coming. It was in yesterdays ticker forum.
"Throught history, people like you keep predicting doom and very rarely are correct. This is not one of those situations where you are correct. A bunch of supposition and a ton of insults. That is all that really backs up most of these claims."
ROFL, an attack without countering evidence to show how special we are? Ad hominem!
You haven't studied history have you?
1) Western Chou empire ended in China in 770 BC. Chinese unity effectively collapsed and between 770 BC and 222BC endless conflicts were the norm.
2) Harappan Civilization in the Indus Valley, had gridded, fortified city, standardized streets and systems of drainage and refuse disposal etc. Collapses in 1750BC, complete breakdown of civil authority.
3) Mesopotamia - the center of origin of civilization and urban society. Rapid collapse occured in 2000 BC in the Third Dynasty of Ur.
Other empires ensued including the babylonians and assyrians and akadians. By 12th century AD population had dropped to it's lowest level in 5 millennia! and total area occupied had sunk to 6% of the level occupied 500 years ago.
4) Egyptian Old Kingdom, sixth dynasty broke down in 2181 BC, period of strife: lootings, killings, revolutions and social anarchy, famines recurred, foreign trade dropped, life expectancy declined. Went on for 50 years atleast.
5) Minoans were the first civilization in Europe, possessed splendid knowledge of architecture, engineering, drainage and hydraulics, vast amount of trade and knowledge of the arts. Very advanced civilization! Result: Collapsed around 1380 BC.
6) Mycenean Civilization, their art and architecture is widely known, roads, viaducts and aqueducts were built. After 1200 BC, 100 years of unstable conditions, writing disappeared, uniform style of pottery became localized and less well executed, metalwork became simpler, craftsmen and artisans seem to have vanished. Estimates of overall population decline 75 - 90%
And there are many many more examples including that of Rome and most recently of the Soviet Union's collapse. No empire/ civilization escapes collapse unfortunately.
Arnold,
Why don't you go bake some cookies for your church yard sale, and give this site a rest from your blather? You have the insight of a pithed frog. The one thing I will thank you for is going with a pseudonym so I can skip your posts in the future.
Ilargi,
I disagree with your posting last night. Gollum Sucks and Morgan Chase are the government, so focusing on them brings the blame game closer to ground zero. The more people understand what happened, the better their chances to make correct economic choices. The only political choice that aware people have now is suicidal armed resistance, or Orlov's idea of just try to ignore them. Do you have a third way?
Which unemployment measure are you referring to? U3?
The measure which excludes
1) Those who have given up looking for work as they have lost hope.
2) People who are working part time jobs but really want and need full time jobs to support themselves and their families.
3) People who have not looked for work in the past 4 weeks.
U6 counts the people above but excludes
1) Freelancers, those who are self employed, in some areas 10% of the workforce.
2) 'Illegal' immigrants
3) College graduates who have never worked and can't find work as they were never employed in the first place.
Alternative measures of true unemployment shows up at 20.6% on Shadowstats.com and 18.2% at the the Center of Labor Studies at NorthEastern University.
The Birth Death Model has added 800,000 plus jobs in the areas such as construction, hospitality and tourism and restaurant sector. Funny that, jobs being added to the very industries where the biggest cuts are coming from as well! Courtesy of statistical fudging.
Fuser,
Not that I am one of the knowledgable ones here, but your hypothesis looks pretty close to the mark.
Arnold wrote -
Throught history, people like you keep predicting doom and very rarely are correct. This is not one of those situations where you are correct. A bunch of supposition and a ton of insults. That is all that really backs up most of these claims.
Hehe, welcome to TAE Arnold. I think you're finally getting the zeitgeist of I&S. Long on wind & air at elevated temps, short on sanity and balanced commentary.
Personally I read through about half of the "tutorials" before I had to give up. Chortles of laughter make deep concentration difficult.
S, at least, claims to be an energy guru of sorts and runs the farm off a mix of solar and fossil fuel generator. A deeper discussion about her specific solution would be a great start to making TAE practical and relevant.
Note that I don't dispute the trends I&S crow about. Just that crow has very little meat and is at best an hors d'oeuvres rather than a main course. (I.e. more practical, level-headed discussion and less "crow"ing would improve TAE's relevance).
Hey hey Arnold,
Some things are just depressing. The thing that really gets me down is that there is a fair amount we could do to improve our situation but we probably won't.
The way I see it the financial collapse, peak oil, climate change, and all of the associated troubles aren't the problem. They are the symptoms of the problem. The problem is that we, as a civilization, have a serious inability to cooperate on the scale that is necessary and we make short term plans for long term problems; we have a collective action problem and steep discount rates.
Most of our dominant systems are either broken, corrupted or flawed. A few examples:
The cherished free and independent press no longer sells news, it sells advertisements which shifts its focus from investigative journalism to ratings, from content and critical thought to infotainment and sentimental tripe. Ownership has been concentrated from thousands of independent news papers and radio stations to four giant conglomerates that own over 80% of all media in the US. The press used to sell subscriptions to cover expenses, but now the primary revenue stream comes from advertisements. The relation ship has been inverted. You are no longer the consumer, now you are the product.
Our democracy isn't in any better shape. Lobbyist, campaign contribution, sound bites, focus groups, and pollsters have relegated our democracy to a lowest common denominator popularity contest heavily weighted in favor of the wealthy and connected with media savvy. There is a strong correlation between campaign spending and victory and since the first job of any politician is to get elected it is not very surprising that 7 out of 10 people view the government as representing the interests of corporations above the interests of the citizenry. Most of us are suffering from a bizarre Orwellian double think where we know that large parts of the government are corrupt but yet we still expect the system to work.
The free market as envisioned by Adam Smith expressly forbid the existence of giant dominant businesses. He said that they would inevitably influence and compromise the government. The 'invisible hand' that creates goods and eliminates bads is predicated on competition between small and medium sized businesses, yet here we are claiming all the benefits of free markets while breaking the rules that govern them. Furthermore, the advent of the corporation created a system where ownership of industry could be completely divorced from any responsibility for the consequences of that industry.
There are a handful of others, communities are decaying, families are atomizing, inequality is rising, and there is a persistent and irrational belief that science and technology will save us from ourselves. Given all that the second great depression, peak oil, climate change, etc. are to be expected.
Now here's the rub. The same systems and dynamics that created this situation are the ones responsible for solving the these problems. In order for this to work out we need to replace the structures that created this mess with something better and we have to do it very quickly. Unfortunately most folks are still in the dark about the severity of the symptoms and almost completely oblivious to the underlying drivers that got us here in the first place.
Depressing, I know.
PS Just to sate my own personal curiosity. Our democracy is descendant from the Greeks. How many of you folks know how they were elected? Link
El Gall... "The only political choice that aware people have now is suicidal armed resistance, or Orlov's idea of just try to ignore them. Do you have a third way?
If I may offer one...
Mimic the chameleon
I had an epiphany while pulling broccoli plants yesterday--
I've read and read and read and read and read and read and read and read about this "financial crisis" and this "economic crisis" and I still don't understand it. I don't watch TV or go to sports events or concerts. I read blogs like TAE and I still am not confortable using terms like "quantitative easing" or "margin calls" or "bonds" or "carry trade" or any of it.
It's like trying to keep track of some esoteric board game that I'm not even interested in playing. It's like trying to read the rules of such a boring-ass game, and I'm not even a player.
Why should I give a shit?
And Larry Summers makes more for a single speaking engagement than I make at my three jobs for the entire year.
And when I made a mistake on my income tax form in 2005 they were right on it and let me know about it and charged me a $500 fine.
And there's nothing like being a nothing, a nobody.
Anon 7:06
You have added nothing to the discussion except some out in space argument about crows, wind and meat.
Present your alternative hypothesis to the dynamics we have at present and why the future is different from the ones espoused on this blog.
All you have done is attack without presenting any counter evidence.
VK said to Arnold:
"Oh and incase you missed it, Denninger thinks a Mad Max world is coming. It was in yesterdays ticker forum."
VK is right, got KD's quote here (he posts as 'Genesis' - funny that he does for a guy that hates pseudonyms - but I digress).
"Mad Max will suck.
Note - not "could suck". Will suck."
Link to the thread:
http://tinyurl.com/lp8gor
Cheers,
Vaughan
For those who need data and evidence from official sources including scientific modelling and historical data, here it is (Warning PDF file)
http://www.csiro.au/files/files/plje.pdf
A comparison of The Limits to Growth with 30 years of reality by Graham Turner
Conclusion on page 37
As shown, the observed historical data for 1970-2000 most closely matches the simulated results of the LtG "standard run" scenario for almost all the outputs reported; this scenario results in global collapse before the middle of this century. The comparison is well within uncertainty bounds of nearly all the data in terms of both magnitude and the trends over time. Given the complexity of numerous feedbacks between sectors incorporated in the LtG World3 model, it is instructive that the historical data compares to favourably with the model output.
.... on page 38 ....
In addition to the data based corroboration presented here, contemporary issues such as peak oil, climate change, and food and water security resonate strongly with the feedback dynamics of "overshoot and collapse" displayed in the LtG "standard run" scenario (and similar scenarios). Unless LtG is invalidated by other scientific research, the data comparison presented here lends support to the conclusion that the global system is on an unsustainable trajectory unless there is substantial and rapid reduction in consumptive behaviour, in combination with technological progress.
VK:
When those collapses occurred, it's not as though everyone just started killing each other. It's not as though you needed a self-sustaining fortress to survive in Russia in 1992.
Life is going to become more difficult, more unstable; our standard of living is going to decrease significantly. What else? The only true answer is that we do not know what else.
I think El G's question to Ilargi regarding political options is an important one. Ilargi seems to want to have it two contradictory ways: there is nothing that can be done, and it is all your fault. Not only is that depressing, but if it's true then it is utterly nonsensical to read or write TAE.
I hasten to add that I don't think either of these strands of Ilargi's thought is true, however.
I was going to suggest Arnold go play in the traffic - maybe AFTER he bakes some cookies. At least he will be doing two things that could best be described as constructive.
:) cd
Ilargi,
Can I be let off the hook if I voted for Kucinich? I don't want to blame myself any more.
(whine, whine, whine)
Brendan
I think this particular post by Ilargi is about reducing emphasis on the blame game, not about fixes.
Wall St. stinks, yes, GS, yes, but we need to look into the mirror as well, and think comprehensively about all aspects of the situation.
This is one of those times in my life at least, that Socrates' famous admonition "know thyself" has been rather helpful.
Too many folks, in politics, in economics, and even around us in our daily lives are too quick to point a stiff finger at the other guy when a problem crops up.
Scientist Figures Out How To Power A Car With Pee
“Urea is the same stuff we use to fertilize our flower beds. It’s a solid that dissolves in water and is therefore easy to move,” Botte told Wired.com. “An electrolyzer built into a car would eliminate the need for a hydrogen storage tank, and with the right partnership, I believe we could have pee-powered cars capable of 60 miles per gallon on the road within a year.”
http://tinyurl.com/mfefat
Piss on you peak oilers.
Don't blame me. I didn't vote for him! Nor did I give money to either political party.
However, replacing the odd politician won't work. Another one will just pop up in their place.
So keep targeting GS. When the sheeple finally go postal, maybe just maybe they'll remember the name.
On secong thought: Whataya bet GS changes their name before that happens. Just like Blackwater.
"Blame yourself. In the end, that's the only way you can keep a grip on power. And on your life."
There may be only a few times in life that you feel good to write, "I didn't vote for them. Aren't you glad I'm not the kind of SOB to say, "I TOLD YOU SO!""
And, "we the people" are NOT to blame for this mess. You send someone to Washington to represent you and they arrive ready to change the world. Then after a few months they realize they must be as a wolf or be eaten by them. So they become part of the DC crowd. They return home to tell you why your views are incorrect. Yes, that's right, they betray the interests of their constituency in a New York minute. But, hey!, they ARE politicians aren't they.
So. GO! Comrade B. Hussein and take you whacky bunch of loser supporters with you.
anonanon 7:34
About being a nothing, a nobody, that's not you--you have a point of view!
"Doesn't have a point of view, knows not where he's going to, isn't he a bit like you... and me" -- Beatles, 1966
Try going through this set from CM
http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse/chapter-1-three-beliefs
"Piss on you peak oilers."
Better yet, piss on your compost pile, sooner than you think you are going to need the nutrients on the garden!
Arnold -- there was a new commenter on Mish's blog (I reckon you must read that, too, since you're so all-knowing) a while back who went by the screen name "Middle." He popped up in the spring of 2008 with an attitude similar to yours: "You're a bunch of overly worried gloomsters." He was polite about it, though, and people didn't slag him too badly.
Middle slowly changed his cheery tune as he saw the irrefutable evidence of Mish's "peak everything" analysis. Then he lost his job and health insurance. Last comments I saw by him, Middle was almost as mordant as the prevailing Mish-mindset.
Keep your eyes open, mate. Let's hope your epiphany doesn't come as catastrophically as Middle's. And if you have specific sources with "Happy of the 7 Dwarves" hard numbers to counter "Grumpy" here, by all means cite them, instead of using "Whistle While You Work" generalities. There must be all sorts of them, eh? You could probably start your own "good news" blog with 'em all! That would be hella popular...
Snuffy:
You might find this interesting. The New York TImes recently reported on the high demand for welders at oil refineries, confirming what your source told you:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/business/24jobs.html
a 'far left democrat'. aren't those things extinct? ok, maybe there's one left [in ohio!]
anytime anyone puts the words 'left' and 'democrat' together, you know they have no clue what 'left' really means.
How many people in the US even know are care who are what Goldman Sachs is?
How many people in the US even know what a cds contract is? How many people in the US manage their own retirement accounts? How many people in this country know what the FED is and that it is not owned by the government? How many people are seeing the stock market rise and are happy to see their account balance increasing. The sad fact is most don't even follow this stuff, if unemployment goes to 30% those people simply will not have much of a voice as money controls power.
Obama's election and the democrats sweep was baked in and easily predictable 9 months before the election as no party has EVER won re-election when the economy was in the toileto. People who even better to vote, vote with their wallets even if that means stealing from their children so they can continue living as they do today.
I'm not quite ready to blame myself. Can't anyway. I'm Canadian :) I would, however, like to know more about what this Goldman Sachs code does, and what it's been doing to the US economic/market systems. In English, preferably.
This NYT article didn't quite sum it up for me.
Steal This Code (July 16, 2009)
"GOLDMAN SACHS’S announcement this week of record quarterly profits has thankfully overshadowed another news event there earlier this month. Sergey Aleynikov, a former programmer for Goldman, was arrested and accused of stealing computer programs that make rapid, real-time decisions about which stocks to buy and sell. According to the complaint, Mr. Aleynikov uploaded code to a Web site hosted by a server in Germany. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of stealing trade secrets and transporting them abroad."
http://tinyurl.com/lp67yt
Re: blame!!! Take your pick
NOT ME!
1. There was no way to know what was going to happen.
2. I was too busy trying to put food on the table to learn about finances of the rich.
3. I did not have time to waste listening to another long hair, babbling, smoked up, activists forecasting the end of the world.
4. I was paying rent for an old dingy apt. and this guy showed me that I could have a nice house in the suburbs for less than my rent and that when the mortgage was due to increase,(5 yrs), that I could sell it and get some real money and then I could move into a real nice neighbor, just as nice as all my friends and old school chumps. At last, I had someone, who knew more than me about finance, who was guiding me to achieve the same success as everyone else.
5. All my stupid dumb ass neighbors were leaving these run down bungalows and moving into those new executive houses without increasing their mortgage. I was just as smart as them and so I moved out of my old neighbor. It was being bought out by “undesirables”.
6. I could afford it. I wasn’t going to be labeled “poor white trash”.
7. My wife said that the kids needed to grow up in a better neighborhood.
8. An opportunity presented itself, so I took it.
9. My accountant did the calculations and said that I could afford it.
10. AND of course, I was encouraged to do it NOW or I would miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
jal
Bukko,
I'm delighted to report that Middle, after a stint between jobs is now employed again for as good money as before IIRC, and he is very excited about his new job. Luckily he had been sensible enough to have something put by for his period of unemployment so didn't wind up losing everything.
I like Middle, he has a very open mind. He was convinced by Mish of the reality back then, and more recently convinced by me that the only way that the economy can possibly continue to function is if a tax on the store of value is put in place.
That's quite a leap for someone of a conservative mindset like Middle, for which I respect him greatly - the guy has never stopped learning, because he has never closed his mind to possibilities or assumed a fixed ideological position which, of course represents the point at which someone cease to learn.
@VK - wrt your comments yesterday, you may be interested in the FEASTA liquidity network program, a local 'veolocity enhanced' alternative currency system which is being prepared for trial in Ireland, where it is desperately needed. So I agree that this type of initiative may well become a part of our future.
I also agree it doesn't really address the big picture, but then neither does your bank stabilisation recipe. Because when you reach your final step, the problems vis-a-vis the rate of growth, demographics and the ongoing imbalance in saving and borrowing demand will remain unchanged.
Wow, ilargi, haven't read writing like that since high school health and development class where we would write about how to be good citizens and succeed in the business world. All fat and no meat.
If you are going to write spleen pap, at the bare minimum, get up to the Tickers speed and have everyone write a letter to their congressman or whatever.
par avion
Anonanon said: I've read and read and read and read and read and read and read and read about this "financial crisis" and this "economic crisis" and I still don't understand it. I don't watch TV or go to sports events or concerts. I read blogs like TAE and I still am not confortable using terms like "quantitative easing" or "margin calls" or "bonds" or "carry trade" or any of it.
It's like trying to keep track of some esoteric board game that I'm not even interested in playing. It's like trying to read the rules of such a boring-ass game, and I'm not even a player.
Why should I give a shit?
Anonx2, look at it this way -- some people follow sports, others follow economics. They're both about games, and both are often crooked. But which game affects your real life more?
I pay attention to weather reports. I don't feel comfortable using terms like "isobars" and "cold southwesterlies." But I still like to get a heads-up so that when the wind is blowing straight down my street from the north in January, I know the temperature is going to be above 40 degrees, and I'd better have the air conditioner ready to go so I don't boil to death.
It's the same with financial news. I can't do anything about it, no more than I can change the weather. But knowledge helps me prepare. Plus, I like to know what's REALLY going on, to see the truth behind the lies. After reading anti powers-that-be blogs for the past five years, I can decipher the code words when I see Paulson or Bernanke or Geithner's lips moving. It's like taking the red pill in "The Matrix." Only when you know that you're encased in slime can you start cleaning yourself up.
Skepticus
Liquidity! Paugh that noise! We should be making it harder to destroy the world not easier.
par avion
VK said:
"I think El G's question to Ilargi regarding political options is an important one. Ilargi seems to want to have it two contradictory ways: there is nothing that can be done, and it is all your fault. Not only is that depressing, but if it's true then it is utterly nonsensical to read or write TAE."
I think it is good to bring up our political options as El G mentioned. However, I think Ilargi is quite cognizant that GS and our government are one.
IMO, what Ilargi is suggesting is that we look within and reflect on HOW and TO WHAT DEGREE have we been or currently are complicitous with the corrupt system. Yes, most of us are highly complicitous. Otherwise, the system would be incapable of functioning.
Even if it's too late to alter our collective predicament, we should still make certain lifestyle changes because it is the ethical thing to do. Here are some suggestions to reflect on.
- Do we drive an SUV, a bike or just use public transportation?
- Do we eat industrial foods -- factory-farmed and laden with pesticides, herbicides, hormones, antibiotics, etc.
- What is the size of our home? More than 1000 sq. ft. for a family?
- Where are our investments (if any)?
- In general, what is our footprint on the planet?
Scepticus thanks for the update on Middle. I don't read the comments on Mish all that much anymore -- I learned more from them, especially Swanny, than I did from The Man himself -- but there are too many to keep up with. Price of popularity, I suppose. Like this blog is getting to be. You guys are also a bit too hard-core "damn the people, it's all about the principle" libertarian for a left-winger like me. I reckoned that a physically fit, self-reliant guy like Middle would somehow dust himself off and soldier on successfully.
Friday, Stats Canada reported Canada’s inflation rate is less than zero. That’s deflation – when falling prices, falling wages, salary cuts, cheaper manufactured goods, lower interest rates and economic stagnation bring the cost of living crashing down. At the same time, frenzied homebuyers have been bidding the price of houses higher, while realtors egg them on, warning valuations will only rise. Fools with offers. Lambs to the slaughter.
http://www.greaterfool.ca/
"By the Law of Periodical Repetition, everything which has happened once must happen again, and again, and again -- and not capriciously, but at regular periods, and each thing in its own period, not another's, and each obeying its own law ... The same Nature which delights in periodical repetition in the sky is the Nature which orders the affairs of the earth. Let us not underrate the value of that hint." -- Mark Twain
Bukko_in_Australia
Why should he give a shit?
Well he shouldn't and he shouldn't play by their rules. To talk their language is really in the end a mugs game, you just end up like them playing the their game.
Hey did you ever meet a rebel who gave a shit what the other side was saying.
You want to kill a devil you avoid him just like a troll on site.
par avion
"CIT has about $40 billion of long-term debt, according to independent research firm CreditSights. About $1.1 billion of debt will come due in August, followed by about $2.5 billion by year end."
The latest on CIT 2 hrs ago. The unraveling continues...
(Even tainted water runs downhill.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090718/bs_nm/us_cit
"What you do stands above you and shouts so loudly, I can't hear what you are saying."
~RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Bukko, I'm no libertarian. Mish's blog has actually got quite a few left wing commenters on it now. What they all share without exception is a hatred for what's going on in washington and NY.
Then add in a crowd of dyed-in-the-wool republicans, and the departure of most of the traders and the comments there add up to a rather tedious daily regime of right vs left wing ranting.
Likewise Mish is posting piece after piece supporting his deflation thesis - there's very little variety and very little new thinking in any of them. Mish seems to be focussing his efforts towards debunking people like Gary North and Peter Schiff. What he will not do is visit the future 5, 10 years down the line, which at some point he needs to do otherwise he'll have nothing new to say.
Anon 8:59,
Any word on the EROPI of this astonishing discovery?
And Coy Ote, I already do from time to time. If the neighbors ever see me they'll know I'm crazy.
Fuser,
You give basically an ethical/psychological analysis of W and O, and then you are kind of upset that no one joins in.
OK, I think W is pretty much a psychopath. The whole psychopathy question goes through the sausage maker on this week's, This American Life. - Pro Se. God, I love that show. Well worth the hour.
I think O is an honest man in the same sense that a top notch prostitute, if she takes the $500 bucks, intends to deliver full value. He took the money and now he is giving the best he's got.
Hope you find this response satisfying.
The following link, give the data for 1970 to 2000.
http://www.csiro.au/files/files/plje.pdf
the global system is on an unsustainable trajectory unless there is substantial and rapid reduction in consumptive behaviour, in combination with technological progress.
---------
We urgently need the data to be updated to include the failure of credit economy.
---------
Yes, … there are many bloggers from many interest getting informed on what has happened and what could happen. Check out:
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/2009/05/the-wealthy-shall-inherit-the-earth.html
Their home is
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/
jal
Thanks for the confirmation of my information.It could be simple refinery maintenance....but why on systems that are the most expensive oil to produce in the western hemisphere?Somethings going on here.
I can forgive a occasional departure from my world view by our gentle hosts....they have a wholly different life/experience than I.
I ,in my gut know there is no way I[personally] could have changed the outcome of the direction the USA has taken in the last 25 years....All the forces that shape the world I exist in demanded alliance to the meme...as do the forces in each of the societies we all exist in.No person is a island.If we stray to far from the norm....I had a very very good friend in college...a mathematician named Gerry Alexander.Born of New york Russian stock,we spent many nights arguing basic tenets of society...one of his I remember well is that when you define a set [of anything]there will be those [that]are outside the set, as that is the way of things[mathematician!!]this will always exist in society,as society exists as a collection of sets and subsets
My responses were a bit more humanistic...
The machine that we exist in was programmed by others probably 50-70 years ago,as that is how long it takes to move a society in any given direction short of war or collapse.
We are about to see the war and collapse part...
snuffy
@ Ahimsa
I never wrote that!!! It was Brendan who wrote that while addressing a comment to me :)
Scroll up!
@ Scepticus
I think you might enjoy this article on local currencies. Very interesting.
http://anz.theoildrum.com/node/4633
"Because nobody wanted to pay what was effectively a hoarding fee [technically known as 'demurrage' and often referred to as "negative interest"], everyone receiving the notes would spend them as fast as possible. The 40,000 schilling deposit allowed anyone to exchange scrip for 98 per cent of its value in schillings. This offer was rarely taken up though.
Of all the business in town, only the railway station and the post office refused to accept the local money. When people ran out of spending ideas, they would pay their taxes early using scrip, resulting in a huge increase in town revenues. Over the 13-month period the project ran, the council not only carried out all the intended works projects, but also built new houses, a reservoir, a ski jump, and a bridge. The people also used scrip to replant forests, in anticipation of the future cashflow they would receive from the trees."
But alas,
"Wörgl's venture into local currencies ended when its scrip was declared illegal by Austria's central bank in 1933, after a further 200 other communities commenced launching copycat currencies, threatening the monopoly of currency issuance by the state. The town went back to 30% unemployment. In 1934, social unrest exploded across Austria."
Also you might want to read Charles Eisenstein's work, a remarkable author who has so many wonderful facts and is very optimistic (unlike me as you can tell by now!). I do enjoy reading his essays and articles, full of knowledge.
http://www.ascentofhumanity.com/text.php
He also espouses negative interest rates BUT they should always remain negative according to him as this entirely discourages hoarding. This would mean a complete change in the monetary system and lead to people giving their 'gifts' instead of lusting for money through greed.
Positive interest rates encourage greed and competition, while negative rates encourage giving and cooperation. We don't need the giant corporations, we need communities and real people and real interactions as opposed to cultures of mass consumption.
Paulson reveals US concerns of breakdown in law and order
The Bush administration and Congress discussed the possibility of a breakdown in law and order and the logistics of feeding US citizens if commerce and banking collapsed as a result of last autumn's financial panic, it was disclosed yesterday. Making his first appearance on Capitol Hill since leaving office, the former Treasury secretary Hank Paulson said it was important at the time not to reveal the extent of officials' concerns, for fear it would "terrify the American people and lead to an even bigger problem".
__________________________
So how many will die? They are already talking about how we are going to die with no food!
How stupid can we all be?
How can we blame Goldman Sachs, we need to blame ourselves!
snuffy,
I had been considering shorting crude for the collapse until I realized that Da Boyz were buying every gram they could find and store or get on paper. They are scum but they aren't that stupid. They know crude will collapse like a sand castle at high tide.......... except if the Gulf and Straits are shut down through an attack on Iran. It's gotta be a done deal.
Da Boyz will leverage long crude with our tax money as a guarantee through the Fed and naked short the S&P500. Many people will die for their greed.
Thanks for confirming my logic via "boots on the ground."
@VK
Thank you for providing the link to www.ascentofhumanity.com. I just started reading it and it's offering a bit of relief from the despair.
@Coy Ote,
I share your viewpoint and also see this great unwinding as a meltdown of humanity... as we drag all of earth and nature with us.
IMHO ;)
VK, thanks for the above. The Worgl experiment was a great example (the only example really) of how negative nominal rates can work well, at least on a nominal scale.
The fact that its success led it to be shut down by the bankers is telling.
If rates are forced negative on a world wide scale it might be different story, however I think the pressure from the market may become sufficiently great to break the 0% bound.
Negative nominal rates would:
1. quickly heal public finances (as you noted in your quote)
2. drive people to look for good stores of value, which would drive demand for durable goods like computers which last more than 3 years and renewable energy
3. provide the only conceivable source of funding for the very painful and expensive transition to renewable energy.
4. would likely drive money out of the bond market and into equities. Currently the bond market is about 3X the size of the equity market. I expect to see this relationship reversed over the next 3 decades regardless of whether we actrualyl see -ve nominal rates.
I think leaving the free market to set rates +ve or -ve according to suplpy and demand is the right thing to do. +ve rates is a centarlising force, and -ve rates are a decentralising force. Historically humanity has benefited form both.
Mish's stock IMO as a mensh just went up a few hundred points with his article yesterday about Orwellian comments vis-a-vis Vietnam.
Oh yes, thanks for the Ascent of Humanity link, I have skim read it in the past.
A good work indeed, I should take the time to read it properly.
Scepticus
I find your ideas very interesting. Thanks for the addition to the blog.
It's not about war, it's about money.
There is no political ideology, there is only money.
GS is going to Wag the Dog shortly.
It will cover up a multitude of sins and accomplish a multitude of financial goals.
It will be textbook Shock Doctrine.
They don't even have to attempt to hide this fact, it being public knowledge and with no consequences happening to them, it merely increases their power and bravado.
They are eating it up.
@ jal 11:47
That was one great link, the extreme early retirement :-)
"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
Usaco society is corrupt at every level.
For example, take this story about a stock issuance same run by the former owner of a micro-chain of cafes here in western NY:
Spot Coffee co-founder admits role in $3 million stock fraud
This chain is ostensibly a local business, and people tried to support it only to get bilked out of a cool $3 million.
@ el gall:
W & O are both sock puppets, but O is his own sock puppet, whereas W wasn't even his own sock puppet.
Vice President Heydrich was the driving monster behind the prior administration.
El G, thanks. This is a large and tricky subject, and difficult to explain in blog coments.
Rather than hijack the threads here, if you're interested in a fuller exploration of the topic by yours truly see here:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/07/sweden-cuts-deposit-rate-to-negative-25.html
The above is a blog post from mish, in which scepticus, a bear of very little brain, goes on a long rant about -ve rates, and gets a humungous slap down from the libertarian posters there. Scroll down to the comments link and click on it.
Already here at TAE I've had better discussion of the issues than I managed at mish. In particular I'm interested in critisism of why it would not happen or work, rather than ideological objections. I'm not really looking to convert anybody, rather just have my own conncluions challenged in a sensible manner.
Great intro, Ilargi.
I totally agree that if the economy sucks then the people should change the system (and not just blame one of the banks for milking it, as banks are apt to do), i.e. they should get rid of the present crop of crooks, Obama included and set up something that really is a "change":-)
The collective dissociative psychosis that affects the industrialised world is partially self-induced.
Yet it could be said that
prolonged exposure to the dominant carrier-wave of cultural induction results in permanent changes to the cellular morphology of visual cortex neurons, altering the way in which information is processed.
It is true that the workings of Goldman are simply symptoms of an underlying pathology, the focus on symptoms will not address the underlying corruption directly, but to the public they may be the only identifiable aspects.
Scepticus
Most of Mish's commenters or libertarian day traders whose umbrella of caring does not extend past their nuclear family. Mish has considerably greater ethical stature than his audience (which is not much of a compliment). I think VK is your man as the honest opponent to hone your skills.
John Hemingway
"they should get rid of the present crop of crooks, Obama included and set up something that really is a "change":-)"
Are you volunteering to take on USNORTHCOM? i would but I am too old and I can't see the front sight without my bifocals :-)
Gravity
"It is true that the workings of Goldman are simply symptoms of an underlying pathology, the focus on symptoms will not address the underlying corruption directly, but to the public they may be the only identifiable aspects."
What you are saying is true, but the corruption has becomes so deep that it has become a positive feedback loop very similar to the deflation. Like deflation or a committed alcoholic, it now must hit rock bottom, which I guess on a societal level means Mad Max.
VK,
Ooops! ... mil apologies. Of course, that did not sound like your great understanding... :)
Ilargi,
Can I be let off the hook if I gave money to Kucinich and Wellstone and for s**t even McGovern? I don't want to blame myself any more.
(whine, whine, whine)
All societies have a natural means of cultural induction, but ours has become utterly pathological, modulated into a dominant and intensely dissonant carrier-wave, encompassing not only mainstream media, but all the varied ways, both subtle and blunt, by which citizens are continuously dehumanized and degraded into consumers of false consciousness.
Not many people are able or willing to voluntarily detach themselves from this abusive cultural identity, as it mostly results in a period of profound alienation.
Forced interruption or collapse of this artificial mentalism in a sufficiently large part of the populace will change the prevalent dissociative psychosis into something else.
Initially the expected collapse-psychosis in conjunction with economic devastation would cause massive societal unrest, but eventually some collective state of mind should be reconstituted, perhaps of a much decreased complexity.
If central authority remains functional, many forms of tyranny would naturally emerge in an effort to hold onto power or privilege, and to prevent permanent anarchy.
There is also a possibility that we will soon pass peak institutional pathology, defined by the maximum attainable flow-rate of vicious lies to come out of the mechanism of corporatist government. But we can always keep lying to ourselves some more to compensate.
I find the "superorganism" concept useful in attempting to understand it all.
Human cultures can be considered organisms- in fact they have all the characteristics of life; they live, grow, become senile, die; eat, breathe, create waste, and reproduce.
Anything an ameoba can do, "western culture" can do too.
In that case- blaming ourselves for our trouble would be the same as a liver cell blaming a skin cell for the entire body catching tuberculosis.
Problematic- questionable, and moot.
Re: "Piss on you peak oilers."
i "Better yet, piss on your compost pile, sooner than you think you are going to need the nutrients on the garden!"
Works for me.
VK,
You are one amazingly well informed twenty-something. I wish I had had as good a handle on world events when I was your age. Thanks for participating here.
VK - Thanks for the "Ascent of Humanity" reminder.
From the site, a quote on BASIC economics.
"While pre-agricultural peoples often have a tribal territory, they would be appalled at the idea that land could be owned. Is not the earth a being greater than any human, or even any group of humans? ...To presume to own a piece of the earth, to say it is mine, is from the indigenous perspective a sacrilege so audacious as to be unthinkable. To reduce the earth to property and eventually to money is indeed to make a greater into a lesser.
scepticus - glad you are here swapping ideas with El Gallinazo, etc.. Although much of the workings of finance is out of my league I will surely appreciate the banter and learn some things.
greenpa "In that case- blaming ourselves for our trouble would be the same as a liver cell blaming a skin cell for the entire body catching tuberculosis."
Good point.
I don't like the "blame myself" notion much either as it is a negative use of mental energy, but I do feel like a regular self examination of our motives and actions is appropriate. And it's often where much of our learning experience takes place. IMO
Coy: " I do feel like a regular self examination of our motives and actions is appropriate. And it's often where much of our learning experience takes place."
Absolutely!
Wouldn't it be nice if the amoeba could evolve a brain? Have to some brain cells somewhere... :-)
have to have
Coy ote, you don't need to know any finance.
Simply research and understand the nature of the nebulous thing we call the surplus.
Best place to begin is Steve Keens set of lectures:
http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/lectures/
Go through the entire set of the 'History of economic thought' presentations and you'll be able to pontificate on economics blogs as well as the next man or woman.
Steve Keen is a savant. Make sure you understand the entirety of what he has to say (apart from the differential equations, which are optional).
"What you are saying is true, but the corruption has becomes so deep that it has become a positive feedback loop very similar to the deflation."
True, but this kind of force is always trumped sooner or later by the greater forces of demographics and social balance.
Likewise for deflation.
GS, the USA and the current situation are just the froth on destiny. Seeing things in this light meake the violations mch more bearable.
As a thought exercise, try seeing the future from the point of view of a citizen of norway or angola.
The USA is no longer the centre of the world, so when the domestic future seems dark, look elsewhere for a view of the future.
scepticus - http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/lectures/
Thanks. I marked it to my "favorites" and will peruse it, but "to pontificate on economics blogs" is not on my list of current priorities.
(I'm converting now from several previous "hats" to mini-farmer)
VK,
Thank you for leading us to:
http://ascentofhumanity.com/
@ El Gallinazo
USNORTHCOM? All by myself? Sure, why not?;-)
Still, from what I've been hearing Obamarama is not all that popular among the military. I criticize the prince of Hope from the left, while many US soldiers tend to be on the other end of the political spectrum.
cheers,
John
I think Taibbi explains it well here — and the response isn’t “You’re wrong,” or “We didn’t do that shit, not us,” but “Well, Morgan did the same stuff,” and “Why aren’t you writing about Morgan?”
Why didn’t we write about Morgan? Because we didn’t. Because it’s your turn, you assholes. Maybe later someone will tell the story of the other banks, but for now, while most ordinary people are only just learning about the workings of the financial innovation era that blew up in their faces last year, the top dog in that universe is going to be first in line to get the special treatment.
You have to start somewhere and it might as well be Goldman. I thought it was a well established fact that Congress does nothing unless bribed, or in this case, forced to change (at least that's the theory). By putting the heat on their biggest co-conspirator, we hope Congress will do the right thing. I forget who it was that said Congress eventually does the right thing but only after exhausting all other options.
www.GoldmanSachs666.com
Nice Polka Dot Gallows material:
Roast Vampire Squid
And as with all gallows humor; the last paragraph is painful.
"I forget who it was that said Congress eventually does the right thing but only after exhausting all other options."
Churchill, for one; but he said America, not Congress.
An aside for the older among us:
The Future!
I just ran into this rah-rah feature on CNN; and was painfully struck by the absolute absence of a single new idea. Every single "just around the corner!" fabulous invention- was just around the corner in 1950, too; and featured constantly in not only Popular Science, but Scientific American.
It's just around the corner, folks; hang in there.
Greenpa - "I just ran into this rah-rah feature on CNN"
That was a hoot! Remember when we would all have a levitated vehicle?
By the way, they sent the dinosaur up again... (NASA)
Dino STS-127
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-127
Hey Dude, where is my jetpack?
@ Stoneleigh
You are one amazingly well informed twenty-something
Thanks! I've learnt much from you and Ilargi, i'm a geek at heart :)
ps - I turned 23 this month and quite tipsy from a good night out!!
A friend told me a story about a lady with a cat. She really loved this cat but it had developed an odd and disconcerting behavioral loop.
It seems every night when the woman would come home, the cat would stand just behind the front door and would not move but would wait to get hit in the head by the door. It would then run into the kitchen and stand right next to the refrigerator to be fed and do the same thing, wait to get hit in the head when the door opened.
The woman had heard of a pet psychologist who was highly recommended and call them up. The pet psychologist observed the cat's odd little routine and announced that this type of behavior was very common, it took on many styles, but was the same pattern.
The cat, he said, had through happenstance and serendipity, come to the conclusion that it needed to get hit in the head in order to get it's food each nite (It didn't do this in the morning)
He told her to come in the back door for a week or two with the cat's food dish already and just set it on the floor. She did this and sure enough, the cat stop the head banging thing and never resumed it again.
The cat is the US cognitive dissonance.
So what the remedy?
The carefully contrived Paulson information dump that the Bush Administration back at TARP uno, was worried about a level of civil disorder that would have made the government doubt their ability to feed the public struck me as a Shock Doctrine plant. A trial balloon to soften up the Sheeple for the real deal, probably this fall.
No sweat, just have the former Treasury Secretary casually mention the government was worried about it's chances of maintaining the nation's food supply with any degree of certainty.
Hmm, I suppose the next tidbit will be something like, 'the government is worried that if the top 5 'too big to fail banks' actually failed, it doesn't think the nation's medical system and hospitals would be able to continue operating..."
OR
'the government is worried that if the top 5 'too big to fail banks' actually failed, it doesn't think the nation's electric grid would be able to continue operating..."
This is just a test, only a test, not to worry about, go back to your seats...
Anoni-mouse@10:59
Don't think that more than a few folks noticed that little tid -bit...
We are walkin the razor right now...slip either way and lose something essential...
snuffy
"This is just a test, only a test, not to worry about, go back to your seats..."
-----
I partly dissagree ... the test will become real.
jal
Fuser said:
Someone, be it our honorable hosts, or another one of our well informed and formidable posters, needs to provide an opinion on my above post, or I will be subjected to watching, with my wife, the unbearable HGTV programs for the foreseeable future. Apologizes for all the commas. ,,,,
Well, I disagree with you about Obama: he is not the innocent that you believ[ed] him to be. But, I'm feeling quite lazy, and I am commenting quite late in the game for this post(I haven't even arrived to the tend of these comments--as I write this, 112 comments appear--so, perhaps someone has answered your request), so I shall direct you to The Black Agenda Report which has had Obama's number from the very beginning--check out their archives for articles written about him whilst he was campaigning for the Dem Party's nomination and for the presidency.
New post up.
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