Analysis Topic: Economic Trends Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Tuesday, September 22, 2009
The Economy is a Lie, too / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010
Americans cannot get any truth out of their government about anything, the economy included. Americans are being driven into the ground economically, with one million school children now homeless, while Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke announces that the recession is over.
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Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Bankrupt Bailed Out Banks Bankrupting Britain as Debt Soars / Economics / UK Debt
Britain's debt as a consequence of bailing out the banking sector continues to mushroom towards unprecedented levels as the amount the UK government borrowed for August 09 came in at an eye watering £16.1 billion, already at 65.3 billion for the first 5 months of the financial and heading for £185 billion for 2009 as the original analysis of November 2008 warned of (Bankrupt Britain Trending Towards Hyper-Inflation?).
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Monday, September 21, 2009
If Credit is Not Created Out of Excess Reserves, What Does That Mean? / Economics / Credit Crisis 2009
We've all been taught that banks first build up deposits, and then extend credit and loan out their excess reserves.
But critics of the current banking system claim that this is not true, and that the order is actually reversed.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Is the Recession Really Over? / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010
First things first. I’m sure you’ve heard about Bernanke’s statement last week in his speech at the Brookings Institute that the “recession is likely over.” After all, his comment is all over the news, all over the world.
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Monday, September 21, 2009
From Deflation to Inflation / Economics / Inflation
Step by step, with little fanfare and great complacency, we are witnessing a fundamental, global shift that’s rapidly transforming the investment scene:
The forces of deflation are temporarily receding; and in the meantime, the forces of inflation threaten to roar back with a vengeance.
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Monday, September 21, 2009
The Flawed Theoretical Framework of Modern Economics / Economics / Economic Theory
Economics is often referred to as the “dismal science.” This expression is traced back to Thomas Carlyle who claimed that economics “is not a gay science, I should say, like some we have heard of; no a dreary, desolate, and indeed quite an abject and distressing one; what we might call by way of eminence, the dismal science.”
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Monday, September 21, 2009
America Digs Deeper Into Debt / Economics / US Debt
It’s amazing but true. Even after all we’ve been through and all we have supposedly learned about the danger of being over leveraged and borrowing more than you can pay back, we are still piling on debt.
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Monday, September 21, 2009
Russia's Crumbling Infrastructure Needs $2 Trillion for Major Modernization / Economics / Russia
The 2009 Sayano–Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Station disaster once again made everyone think of modernization of the entire Russian infrastructure.
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Monday, September 21, 2009
Is Fed Money Printing About to Trigger Inflation? / Economics / Inflation
Inquiring minds are wondering about the possibility of "pent-up" inflation from the massive expansion money supply by the Fed. Our search for the truth starts with the question "Which Comes First: The Printing or The Lending?"
This is a critical question given the massive expansion of base money by the Fed as shown in the following chart.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
American's Need More Debt? / Economics / US Debt
Numerous people sent me a link to a preposterous statement by fund manager Ken Fisher regarding debt. Please consider Too Much Debt? Please. We Need MORE Debt, Says Ken Fisher.
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Sunday, September 20, 2009
America's Berlin Wall, A Disaster That's Hard to Escap / Economics / US Economy
Editor's note: My friend Steve Sjuggerud is one of the most optimistic analysts I know� and he always manages to find big opportunities even in the worst market situations. That's why when Steve warns me something is going wrong, I always take notice. I know it's serious. Please read on for just such a warning...
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Sunday, September 20, 2009
Economic and Financial System Train Wreck Dead Ahead! / Economics / Great Depression II
Many ECONOMISTS AND MARKET ANALYSTS ARE PREDICTING AN END OF THE RECESSION AND GROWTH GOING FORWARD. MY RESPONSE IS THE NUMBERS HAVEN’T ADDED UP FOR YEARS, AND REGARDLESS OF WHAT THEY CLAIM, WE ARE ABOUT TO COMMENCE THE NEXT LEG DOWN INTO WHAT WILL become known as the GREATEST DEPRESSION in history. The numbers they point to are POLITICALLY-CORRECT measurements, but practically incorrect; any insights you may glean from them are HEADLINE illusions for the sheep that are being FLEECED and who have misplaced their faith in the government to PROVIDE for them.
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Saturday, September 19, 2009
Outrageous Artificial Deflation and the FDIC Black Hole / Economics / Deflation
Elements of Deflation, Part 3
Outrageous! - Artificial Deflation!
If You Are in a Hole, Stop Digging!
The Hole in the FDIC
How Can Just Four Stocks Be 40% of the NYSE Volume?
This week we continue to look at what powers the forces of deflation. As I continue to stress, getting the fundamental question answered correctly is the most important issue we face going forward. And the problem is that we cannot use the usual historical comparisons. This week we look at one more factor: bank lending. I give you a sneak preview of what will be an explosive report from Institutional Risk Analytics about the problems in the banking sector. Are you ready for the FDIC to be down as much as $400 billion? This should be an interesting, if sobering, letter.
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Saturday, September 19, 2009
Protectionism Enemy of Economic Recovery / Economics / Global Economy
In the most global-reaching recession since the Great Depression, protectionism is a poison pill for recovery. And we got a taste of it this week …
The Chinese supply about 19 percent of the U.S. tire market. And the Obama administration just slapped a 35 percent tariff on those imports!
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Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Recession has Technically Ended, Is Bernanke Joking? / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010
To borrow from an old joke about politicians, we ask our subscribers if they know how to tell when Helicopter Ben Bernanke, the current Fed Head, is lying. Answer: Whenever his lips are moving. Now we hear from the Dollar-Destroyer that our recession has technically ended (heaven forbid that we should call our current Fed-caused calamity a depression, which is what it has been since Obama took office). So we guess that we should take his word for it, seeing that every call he has made during his short tenure as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board has been 100% wrong.
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Saturday, September 19, 2009
Academic Economists Lead Governments to the Edge of the Abyss / Economics / Economic Theory
99.9% of academic economists living in ivory towers lost in world of their own formulae's and theories of what should happen and what could not happen not only did not see the crisis coming but far more dangerously led the government and central bank policy makers down a long winding garden path towards the edge of the financial and economic abyss. It was only after all of the economic theory was binned i.e. that which the academics had worked on and spouted for decades was financial armageddon avoided.
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Friday, September 18, 2009
Mervyn King’s Comments Hit Sterling While Stocks Continue to Rise / Economics / UK Economy
Sterling faced considerable selling pressure this week following Bank of England Governor Mervyn King’s Treasury testimony on Tuesday. The Governor commented that the BoE were “looking at” possibly lowering the deposit rates paid to commercial banks on reserves although not mentioning negative interest rates. The resulting decline in yields at the short-end of the curve weighed on sterling and in particular EUR/GBP which closed the week at 0.9045 having broken through 0.90 for the first time since 14th May. All the G-10 currencies posted gains versus sterling.
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Friday, September 18, 2009
Rich and Poor Parallel Economies, Recession and Record Profits / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010
The Real Estate Bubble is Not Over
In December 14, 2008, in his interview on the CBS sixty minutes show, Whitney Tilson an investment fund manager predicted that the subprime collapse was only half way of the total real estate bubble, and that the second half will begin take place around 2010 and will continue until about the year 2013. Tilson also discussed the two fancy Wall Street terms for bad mortgages namely Alt-A (Alternative-A paper) and option arms mortgages. These loans lured borrowers with teaser rates that will begin to reset this year.
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Friday, September 18, 2009
US DEBT Out Of Control! / Economics / US Debt
It is not my imagination. The total US debt is sky rocketing. People are entitled to their opinions…but not entitled to the facts.
The US Govt debt this year is spiraling out of control. Estimates place the increase of debt by at least $2 trillion dollars. The question is, can this debt reach 100% of GDP at around $13 trillion. Putting things into context…before the Great Depression in 1929 the US Govt debt was only 15% of GDP! To make matters even worse, the US in 1929 was a creditor nation. Today the US is a debtor nation. Comparing the current situation to the situation prior to the Great Depression total US debt (individual, business,local, state and federal) was approx 170% of GDP.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Deflation and Bankers Mix Like Oil and Water / Economics / Deflation
Why is deflation bad? If one can manage to keep one's job and one has some savings, deflation is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Stuffing cash under the mattress is actually profitable during a true deflation, as the prices of most goods fall during deflation. Why exactly then is deflation bad?
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