Keynesianism

Former US Budget Director David Stockman Explains The Keynesian State-Wreck Ahead – Sundown In America

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Flashback:

– David Stockman: The Entire Economy Is A Ponzi Scheme!

– Former OMB Director David Stockman: ‘We’re At The Fiscal Endgame’ (Video)

– Former Budget Director David Stockman: Warns on US ‘Bond Armageddon’; First Default Could Be to IMF

– David Stockman Explains The Keynesian State-Wreck Ahead – Sundown In America (ZeroHedge, Oct 5, 2013):

David Stockman, author of The Great Deformation, summarizes the last quarter century thus: What has been growing is the wealth of the rich, the remit of the state, the girth of Wall Street, the debt burden of the people, the prosperity of the beltway and the sway of the three great branches of government – that is, the warfare state, the welfare state and the central bank… What is flailing is the vast expanse of the Main Street economy where the great majority have experienced stagnant living standards, rising job insecurity, failure to accumulate material savings, rapidly approach old age and the certainty of a Hobbesian future where, inexorably, taxes will rise and social benefits will be cut… He calls this condition “Sundown in America”.

SUNDOWN IN AMERICA: THE KEYNESIAN STATE-WRECK AHEAD

Remarks of David A. Stockman at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University, September  26, 2013

The median U.S. household income in 2012 was $51,000, but that’s nothing to crow about. That same figure was first reached way back in 1989— meaning that the living standard of Main Street America has gone nowhere for the last quarter century. Since there was no prior span in U.S. history when real household incomes remained dead-in-the-water for 25 years, it cannot be gainsaid that the great American prosperity machine has stalled out.

Even worse, the bottom of the socio-economic ladder has actually slipped lower and, by some measures, significantly so. The current poverty rate of 15 percent was only 12.8 percent back in 1989; there are now 48 million people on food stamps compared to 18 million then; and more than 16 million children lived poverty households last year or one-third more than a quarter century back.

Likewise, last year the bottom quintile of households struggled to make ends meet on $11,500 annually —-a level 20 percent lower than the $14,000 of constant dollar income the bottom 20 million households had available on average twenty-five years ago.

Read moreFormer US Budget Director David Stockman Explains The Keynesian State-Wreck Ahead – Sundown In America

Paul Krugman the Marxist

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– Paul Krugman the Marxist (Ludwig von Mises Insitute, June 24, 2013):

Someone once wrote that criticizing economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is the internet’s favorite pastime. I, too, have engaged in the sport – with no success of changing what Robert Higgs calls the “vulgar Keynesianism” that dirties the Grey Lady’s editorial page. To the betterment of my pride, nobody else has had much luck in the arena of ideas either. Krugman continues to carry the torch of excuses for the Democratic Party while lampooning the bigoted, racist, old, white, and rich GOP.All along, the Princeton prof has stayed true to the cause of aggressive government action to forestall the downtrodden economy. Large fiscal expenditures, aggressive monetary stimulus, increased legal privileges for organized labor, and boosting the degree of state pillaging – Krugman is the caricature of a tyrannical apologizer who will defend the cause of rampant statism at any cost. He has been accused of being a communist, socialist, a Democratic shill, and every other leftist insult that might exist. Much of this is done in a tongue-and-cheek style. Still, the underlying charge of Krugman being a vehement statist willing to justify any and all government action remains accurate. Basically, there is little activity Uncle Sam could do that he wouldn’t approve of.

But now, it appears Krugman has gone overboard with his progressive moaning. In a recent column, he laments, once again, over the fact that some people make more money than others. The wealth inequality canard – which is favored by every leftist under the sun – has become a tiresome ploy at this point. I think Krugman knows this, so he proceeds to justify his indignation by bringing some new evidence into the mix. Now things start getting interesting.

Read morePaul Krugman the Marxist

Ron Paul: ‘It’s Going to Get Much, Much Worse’ (June 9, 2013)

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– Ron Paul: It’s Going to Get Much, Much Worse (Peak Prosperity, June 10,2013):

Dr. Ron Paul has long been a leading voice for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, sound money, civil liberty, and non-interventionist foreign policies.

His last term in the U.S. House of Representatives ended earlier this year, so we caught up with the former Congressman to get his latest perspective on how successfully our national leadership is dealing with America’s economic challenges.

In Dr. Paul’s assessment, Washington is too committed to deficit spending and the debt-based economy – both operationally and philosophically – to expect it to embrace a more fiscally-responsible model without a forcing crisis (which he believes is coming):

Read moreRon Paul: ‘It’s Going to Get Much, Much Worse’ (June 9, 2013)

Why Do We Bother Paying Personal Taxes?

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From the article:

“Since Mr. Krugman tells us all this spending and debt issuance/guarantees are not only good and necessary but in the long run, painless, why are we bothering with personal income taxes?

The US government will collect approximately $2.0bn this year in Personal Income and Payroll taxes.  But why?  Why are we even bothering with this when today’s leading economists and politicians are telling us that debts/deficits don’t matter and running up astronomical debts is a long-term painless process?  It’s practically patriotic.  So why shouldn’t we just add our tax burden to the list of items the Fed should be monetizing?  Seriously.  Why not relieve the burden on every tax paying citizen in the United States (about 53% of us according to Mitt Romney)?  You want an economic recovery?  Reduce my taxes to zero and see how fast I go out and start spending some of that extra income.”

– Thought Experiment: Why Do We Bother Paying Personal Taxes? (ZeroHedge, June 3, 2013):

Submitted by Lucas Jackson

Thought Experiment: Why Do We Bother Paying Personal Taxes?

“Stupidity combined with arrogance and a huge ego will get you a long way.”
– Chris Lowe

I will admit right up front, I am not a fan of the views of Paul Krugman.  If Paul Krugman was to be given his way – and by and large he is being given his way – my children and grandchildren will be burdened in the future with paying back untold amounts of public debt just so his life and the lives of countless other Boomers can remain comfortable and embarrassment free today.

This is the essence of his grand plan for a US recovery – MOAR and MOAR debt.

Wow.  Genius.  Why I didn’t I think of that?  Just keep borrowing and printing, borrowing and printing.  Got it.  Now that I understand it, do I get a PhD?

Who’s going to pay the money back?  How will it effect future generations?  How will it effect the markets?  What will this do to civil society?

Read moreWhy Do We Bother Paying Personal Taxes?

Paul Krugman: ‘We Should Kick The Can Down The Road. It’s The Responsible Thing To Do’

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You can’t make this stuff up!

– Paul Krugman: “We Should Kick The Can Down The Road. It’s The Responsible Thing To Do” (ZeroHedge, Feb 9, 2013):

The below article, recreated in its grotesque entirety, is a real, serious Op-Ed written by a supposedly real, non page-view trolling, Nobel-prize winning economist, in a serious paper, the New York Times. It can be classified with one word: jaw-dropping.We can only hope that some time in the next five years, when the global economy is in ashes following the implosion of the final central bank bubble, that the US department of injustice will prosecute authors of such drivel (and all those sell-side analysts who have had Buy recommendations in the 2009-2013 period) with the same ferocity it has demonstrated toward those US-downgrading rating agencies, which are now supposed to be solely accountable for the Second Great Depression and the $30 trillion or so in misallocated capital in the past five years.

Kick That Can

By Paul Krugman

John Boehner, the speaker of the House, claims to be exasperated. “At some point, Washington has to deal with its spending problem,” he said Wednesday. “I’ve watched them kick this can down the road for 22 years since I’ve been here. I’ve had enough of it. It’s time to act.”

Read morePaul Krugman: ‘We Should Kick The Can Down The Road. It’s The Responsible Thing To Do’

The US ‘Fiscal Cliff’ – One Small Part Of A Huge Debt Crisis

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FYI.

From the article:

“The US annual budget deficit has almost tripled under Obama, from $450bn in 2008 to $1,200bn this year.”

“America’s national debt is now around $16,000bn, two-thirds higher than when Obama was first elected. In 2008, US government debt was 70pc of GDP. Now it is 102pc.”

“Debt growth at that pace simply cannot go on.”

…

“If fiscal and monetary stimulus worked, Japan wouldn’t have spent the past 20 years in and out of recession and now be shouldering a debt to GDP ratio of 250pc.”

“If printing money worked, Zimbabwe would be in the G7.”

– The US ‘cliff’ – one small part of a huge debt crisis (Telegraph, Dec 29, 2012):

So here we are, at the turn of the year, with the global economy tottering on the edge of America’s fiscal cliff.

What’s kept springing to my mind over the holiday season is the final scene of The Italian Job – the iconic 1969 original, not the tacky 2003 remake.

“Hang on a minute, lads,” says heistmaster-in-chief, Charlie Croker, as he and his merry band of crooks balance precariously in a bus on the edge of an Alpine cliff. “I’ve got a great idea.”

The Italian Job’s cliff-hanger finale is all make-believe. A brilliant film ends, we marvel at Michael Caine’s acting genius, the credits roll and then we get up and make some tea.

Real-world predicaments aren’t so easy.

Read moreThe US ‘Fiscal Cliff’ – One Small Part Of A Huge Debt Crisis

HUMOR: Top Ten Reasons Why Fiat Currency Is Superior To Gold (Or Silver) Money

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– Top Ten Reasons Why Fiat Currency Is Superior To Gold (Or Silver) Money (The Daily Capitalist, Dec 27, 2012):

By John Butler, on December 27th, 2012

In the spirit of the holidays and hope for a more prosperous 2013, I thought my readers might appreciate a little humour to partially offset the relentless doom and gloom associated with the Amphora Report. So please, don’t take this edition too seriously. But if you happen to stumble across a ‘paperbug’ or two over the holidays, perhaps you could share some of the points made here. Humour sometimes helps people realise just how hopelessly misguided they are. Cheers!

Number 10: There Is Not Enough Gold (Or Silver) In The World To Serve As Money

Let’s begin with the obvious. We know that central banks the world over have printed money at exponentially growing rates for years. There is now so much paper and electronic money floating around the world that gold (or silver) can not possibly be expected to keep up. You can’t print gold, after all, you need to find it, dig it out of the ground, refine it, etc, a hugely expensive and time-consuming process which practically ensures a stable rather than exponentially growing supply of the stuff.

Read moreHUMOR: Top Ten Reasons Why Fiat Currency Is Superior To Gold (Or Silver) Money

Japan Unveils Another $11 Billion (Y880bn) Stimulus Package

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Japan is doomed on all levels:

– The Cost Of Kidding Yourself: Proof That The US Has Been In Recession 9 Of The Last 10 Years – Japan Is Even Worse:

The more they “fixed” it, the more it broke. 17 years later, the only thing Japan has proved is that smart Japanese economists are about as real as Godzilla.  Time and time again, the country has chosen collapse over admitting failure. On November 19, 2012, Bloomberg reported, “The Japanese government will spend 1 trillion yen ($12.3B) on a second round of fiscal stimulus as it tries to revive an economy at risk of sliding into recession.” It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.

Prepare for collapse.

– Japan unveils $11bn stimulus package (CNN/Financial Times , Nov 30, 2012):

Japan’s government has approved its second round of stimulus in a little more than a month, as prime minister Yoshihiko Noda tries to pep up a flagging economy in the run-up to December’s elections.

On Friday the cabinet announced that it would tap reserve funds to spend Y880bn ($10.7bn) on a variety of measures, including rebuilding areas hit by the March 2011 earthquake, employment support and aid to cash-strapped small businesses. The plan is roughly double the size of a package announced in late October, which was also drawn mostly from reserves and aimed at reconstruction efforts.

The stimulus comes as Japan hovers on the brink of a technical recession, its fifth of the past 15 years, as manufacturers cut production amid a steady worsening in their sales and profit outlook. Falling exports were the main contributor to a 0.9 per cent contraction in gross domestic product between July and September, and economists are braced for another in the three months to December. Last week the government slashed its quarterly assessment of business sentiment in all 11 regions of the country — the first clean sweep since February 2009 — blaming sluggish output and consumption.

Read moreJapan Unveils Another $11 Billion (Y880bn) Stimulus Package

Montana GOP Rep.: ‘Pay Me In Gold Before Dollars Have No Value’

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Related article:

– Montana Lawmaker Asks To Be Paid In Gold Coins (Politico, Nov 13, 2012)

Flashback:

– Movie ‘Rollover’ (1981): World Economic Collapse – ‘The Great Depression Will Look Like Kindergarten’ (Video)

 

– Montana GOP Rep.: “Pay Me In Gold Before Dollars Have No Value” (ZeroHedge, Nov 24, 2012):

Jerry O’Neil, six-term GOP state representative in Montana, has asked to receive his salary (which at $10.33 per hour is around $1800 per month) in gold or silver. The long-standing legislator was driven to this decision by his constituents’ concerns about the nation’s massive debt-load and fears of our country’s collapse as “only so many dollars can be printed before they have no value.” The long-time Ron Paul supporter, according to Time, cited Article 1, Section 10 of the US Constitution, which says, in part, that “No State shall… make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” State administrators have denied his request and added that “a bill could be introduced to accomplish this result.” O’Neil, like many other, believes “The Keynesian era of financing government with debt appears to be close to its demise.”

From O’Neil’s Letter (via HuffPo):

It is very likely the bottom will fall out from under the U.S. dollar. Only so many dollars can be printed before they have no value. The Keynesian era of financing government with debt appears to be close to its demise.

If and when that happens, how can we in the Montana Legislature protect our constituents? — The only answer I can come up with is to honor my oath to the U.S. Constitution and request that your debt to me be paid in gold and silver coins that will still have value when the U.S. dollar is reduced to junk status. I therefore request my legislative pay to be in gold and silver coins that are unadulterated with base metals.

Via Time:

A GOP state representative in Montana who asked to receive his salary in gold and silver coins has been rebuffed by the state’s Office of Legislative Services. Rep. Jerry O’Neil, who hails from the small town of Columbia Falls in the northwest corner of the state, sent a letter earlier this month requesting that his salary from here on in be paid in coins.

Read moreMontana GOP Rep.: ‘Pay Me In Gold Before Dollars Have No Value’

Kyle Bass: Fallacies Such As MMT Are ‘Leading The Sheep To Slaughter’ And ‘We Believe War Is Inevitable’

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– Kyle Bass: Fallacies Such As MMT Are “Leading The Sheep To Slaughter” And “We Believe War Is Inevitable” (ZeroHedge, Nov 17, 2012):

Below are some of the key highlights from Kyle Bass’ latest, and as usual, must read letter:

On central banks and the final round of global monetary debasement:

Central bankers are feverishly attempting to create their own new world: a utopia in which debts are never restructured, and there are no consequences for fiscal profligacy, i.e. no atonement for prior sins. They have created Potemkin villages on a Jurassic scale. The sum total of the volatility they are attempting to suppress will be less than the eventual volatility encountered when their schemes stop working. Most refer to comments like this as heresy against the orthodoxy of economic thought. We have a hard time understanding how the current situation ends any way other than a massive loss of wealth and purchasing power through default, inflation or both.

Read moreKyle Bass: Fallacies Such As MMT Are ‘Leading The Sheep To Slaughter’ And ‘We Believe War Is Inevitable’

The Tremendous Economic Benefits Of Superstorm Sandy

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– The Tremendous Economic Benefits Of Superstorm Sandy (ZeroHedge, Oct 31, 2012):

The public relations propaganda campaign to convince the ignorant masses that Sandy’s impact on our economy will be minor and ultimately positive, as rebuilding boosts GDP, has begun. I’ve been hearing it on the corporate radio, seeing it on corporate TV and reading it in the corporate newspapers. There are stories in the press that this storm won’t hurt the earnings of insurers. The only way this can be true is if the insurance companies figure out a way to not pay claims. They wouldn’t do that. Would they?

It seems all the stories use unnamed economists as the background experts for their contention that this storm will not cause any big problems for the country. These are the same economists who never see a recession coming, never see a housing collapse, and are indoctrinated in Keynesian claptrap theory.

Bastiat understood the ridiculousness of Kenesianism and the foolishness of believing that a disaster leads to economic growth.

Bastiat’s original parable of the broken window from Ce qu’on voit et ce qu’on ne voit pas (1850):

Read moreThe Tremendous Economic Benefits Of Superstorm Sandy

David Einhorn Explains How The Federal Reserve Is Destroying America (Video)

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‘The Bernank’ is just a meaningless puppet.

– David Einhorn Explains How Ben Bernanke Is Destroying America (ZeroHedge, Oct 26, 2012):

David Einhorn knocks it out of the park with his very first statement during today’s Buttonwood Gathering, in a segment dedicated to one thing only: explaining how the Fed’s policies are not only not helping the economy, they are now actively destroying this country.

“Sometimes you have to look at what is the base assumption. because sometimes you have a groupthink around the base assumption and everybody agrees to the same thing and acts reflexively and doesn’t really challenge what is going on. I think we have reached that point with the monetary policy. The assumption is that if you want the economy to improve, if you want more jobs, if you want more consumption, what we need is ever-easing monetary policy. My point is that if one jelly donut is a fine thing to have, 35 jelly donuts is not a fine thing to have, and it gets to a point where it’s not a question of diminishing returns but it actually turns out to be a drag. I think we have passed the point where incremental easing of Federal policy actually acts as a headwind to the economy and is actually slowing down our recovery, and I am alarmed by the reflexive groupthink of the leaders which is if we want a stronger economy, we need lower rates, we need more QE and other such measures.”

And that, in a nutshell is it: everything else follows.

Read moreDavid Einhorn Explains How The Federal Reserve Is Destroying America (Video)

Captain Bernanke & USS Keynes En Route To Destroy America

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“By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.”
– John Maynard Keynes

The USS Keynes is on route

With missiles and planes prepped to shoot

We’ll make you feel great

With the debt we create

While the wealth of your nation we loot

The Limerick King

Source

 

Marc Faber On Keynesian Folly, The ‘Missing’ Inflation, And Bubble-Blowing (Video)

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– Marc Faber On Keynesian Folly, The ‘Missing’ Inflation, And Bubble-Blowing (ZeroHedge, Aug 22, 2012):

In as-comprehensive-an-explanation-as-we-have-seen of the monetary malfeasance and misunderstanding of the standard Keynesian central-banker, Gloom-Boom-Doom’s Marc Faber addressed an instutional audience in the Middle East earlier this year. Faber begins by explaining his (correct) view that ‘Keynesian’ intervention into the free-market or capitalistic society (with fiscal and monetary measures), in order to ‘smooth’ the business cycle, has in fact created a more violent business cycle – as they attempt to address long-term structural problems with short-term fixes (or bubbles). His lecture expands from his insight that in 1970 not a single investment bank was public – they were all private partnerships (implicitly playing with their own money as opposed to other-people’s – dramatically impacting the risk profile in the world) to the notion that central bank money printing (pushing dollars out the door) does have inflationary symptoms – but they do not necessarily have to show up in wages or CPI in the US (think Chinese wage inflation, or commodity price rises, or Aussie housing bubbles). Central bankers can determine the quantity of money but they cannot determine what we do with those USD bills. Must watch.Faber covers it all – from macro-economics to energy supply-and-demand and from the consequences of incessant money printing and how to hedge for the long-term.

With volumes still muted, and a general malaise of hand-sitters, it seems now is a great time to spend 45 minutes clarifying your perspective on just what the experimental efforts of our global elite is doing to the world – and whether that is a good thing economically or not… we suspect the conclusion will not surprise you…


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In Q2 America Added $2.33 In Debt For Every $1.00 In GDP

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– In Q2 America Added $2.33 In Debt For Every $1.00 In GDP (ZeroHedge, July 27, 2012):

As noted before, courtesy of the GDP revision, all the kneejerk reactions in the past 3 years to various GDP headlines (preliminary, first and final revisions at that), were all for nothing. In fact, today’s GDP number will be revised and re-revised in the next two months, then re-re-re-revised at the annual revisions in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In other words, the number after (and likely before) the decimal comma is irrelevant. One thing however stands, and that is the trendline change in actual GDP compared to the change in debt used to “buy” said GDP. Which is why we present our favorite chart showing how much more total federal debt was added per quarter over the GDP. Bottom line: in Q2, the US added $274.3 billion in debt while adding $117.6 billion in GDP (from the revised data: Q1 GDP of $15,478 billion rising to just $15,595 billion in Q2). Probably what is more indicative, is that in Q2 the delta change between debt and GDP rose from 2.28x in Q1. But that too is largely noise and will be revised. What won’t be revised is that over the past two years, the US has added 2.42x more debt than it has added GDP.

Another way of visualizing the above courtesy of two trendlines- that of US debt and of GDP:

And that is all that matters (and all who say corporations benefit from the relevering of the sovereign host due to some wrong equation they learned in Econ 101 may want to take a long hard look at Q2 corporate revenues and then explain why it has just printed the first year over year decline since the Lehman collapse).

Peter Schiff: The Real Fiscal Cliff

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– The Real Fiscal Cliff (Euro Pacific Capital, July 10, 2012):

The media is now fixated on an apparently new feature dominating the economic landscape: a “fiscal cliff” from which the United States will fall in January 2013. They see the danger arising from the simultaneous implementation of the $2 trillion in automatic spending cuts (spread over 10 years) agreed to in last year’s debt ceiling vote and the expiration of the Bush era tax cuts. The economists to whom most reporters listen warn that the combined impact of reduced government spending and higher taxes will slow the “recovery” and perhaps send the economy back into recession. While there is indeed much to worry about in our economy, this particular cliff is not high on the list.

Read morePeter Schiff: The Real Fiscal Cliff

The Ultimate Krugman Take-Down: Prof. Pedro Schwartz Destroys Prof. Paul Krugman, Wipes The Floor With Keynesian Philosophy (Video)

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– The Ultimate Krugman Take-Down (ZeroHedge, July 9, 2012):

Forget Ali – Frazier; ignore Santelli – Liesman; dismiss Yankees – Red Sox; never mind Silva – Sonnen; the new undisputed standard by which all showdowns will be judged happened in Spain over the weekend. During a debate on Europe’s crisis, Pedro Schwartz (a mild-mannered Spanish ‘Austrian’ economics professor) took on the heavyweight Paul ‘I coulda been a Fed Chair contender’ Krugman, and – in our humble opinion – wiped the floor with his Keynesian philosophy. From the medicinal use of more debt to fix too much debt, to the Japanization of world economies and the demand-side bias of every- and any-thing – interested only in the short-term economic growth; the gentlemanly Spaniard notes, with regard to the European crisis, the fact that “Keynesians got us into this mess and now we have to sacrifice our principals so that they can get us out of this mess”. Humble and generous in his praise – though definitively serious with his criticism – Schwartz opines: “Often Nobel prize winners are tempted to pontificate on matters that are outside the specialty in which they have excelled,” noting “the mantle of authority whereby what ever they say – whether sensible or not – is accepted with resignation from some and enthusiasm by others.” Krugman’s red-faced anger is evident at the conclusion as he even refused to shake Schwartz’s hand after the debate.

For 15 minutes of both education and entertainment – this is as good as it gets…

  • Starting from around 35:00 the Spanish professor praises and criticizes in a thoughtful and gentle tone
  • At around 39:00, he addresses the demand-side description of the world
  • Krugman’s less-than-happy response (which sparks quite a rowdy argument) begins around 48:20


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Why Do Economists Say that Ron Paul Would Be the Best President for the Economy?

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– Why Do Economists Say that Ron Paul Would Be the Best President for the Economy? (ZeroHedge, June 3, 2012):

A number of well-known economists – such as Marc Faber, Thomas Woods and Paul Craig Roberts – support Ron Paul, believing that he would help the American economy more than any other presidential candidate.

Why?

I interviewed one well-known Ron Paul supporter – Dr. Walter E. Block – to find out.

Block is an Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics at Loyola University in New Orleans, received his PhD in economics from Columbia University, and is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He has written 8 books and more than 300 scholarly articles and reviews, and co-edited dozens of books on economics.

Read moreWhy Do Economists Say that Ron Paul Would Be the Best President for the Economy?

Who Is Lying: The Federal Reserve Or … The Federal Reserve? And Why Stalin ‘Lost’

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– Who Is Lying: The Federal Reserve Or… The Federal Reserve? And Why Stalin “Lost” (ZeroHedge, April 21, 2012):

When one thinks of the early 1950’s, things that often come to mind are fries and milkshake, muscle cars, Little Richard, and greased hair. Things that rarely come to mind are that the US and China were openly at war over a little piece of land called Korea, that the Treasury market did not exist, that short and long end rates were “fixed” by the Fed at 0.125% and 2.5% respectively, even as inflation was at the highest it has ever been in the post war period at over 20%. What absolutely never comes to mind, is that on March 3, 1951, the world as we know it changed forever, after a little noted event known as the Fed-Treasury Accord of March 3, 1951 took place, and mutated the role of the Federal Reserve, which set off on a path that would ultimately lead to the disastrous economic state the world finds itself in today.

Oh and another thing that never comes to mind, is that while the current iteration of the Fed, various recent voodoo economic theories, and assorted blogs, all claim that excess bank reserves are never an inflationary threat, it is precisely two Federal Reserve chairmen’s heretic claims that reserves will light an inflationary conflagration, that forced then president Truman to eliminate not one but two Fed Chairmen, and nearly result in the “independent” Federal Reserve being subsumed by the Treasury to do its monetization and market manipulation/intervention bidding. Which then begs the question: who is telling the truth about the linkage of reserve accumulation to inflation – the Fed of 1951, or every other Fed since, now firmly under the control of the Treasury-banker syndicate. Because they can not both be right.

Read moreWho Is Lying: The Federal Reserve Or … The Federal Reserve? And Why Stalin ‘Lost’

Gold: 1980 vs Today (Video)

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– Gold: 1980 vs Today (ZeroHedge, Feb. 17, 2012):

When gold was undergoing its latest (and certainly not greatest) near-parabolic move last year, there were those pundits consistently calling for comparisons to 1980, and the subsequent gold crash. Yet even a simplistic analysis indicates that while in the 1980s gold was a hedge to runaway inflation, in the current deflationary regime, it is a hedge to central planner stupidity that will result as a response to runaway deflation. In other words, it is a hedge to what happens when the trillions in central bank reserves (at last check approaching 30% of world GDP). There is much more, and we have explained the nuances extensively previously, but for those who are only now contemplating the topic of gold for the first time, the following brief summary from futuremoneytrends.com captures the salient points. Far more importantly, it also focuses on a topic that so far has not seen much media focus: the quiet and pervasive expansion in bilateral currency agreements which are nothing short of a precursor to dropping the dollar entirely once enough backup linkages are in place: a situation which will likely crescendo soon courtesy of upcoming developments in Iran, discussed here previously.


YouTube Added: 17.02.2012

TrimTabs CEO Charles Biderman Baffled By Obama’s Budget ‘Fantasy’ Plan (Video)

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– Biderman Beyond Baffled by B.O.’s Budget (ZeroHedge, Feb. 15, 2012):

In his best Lewis Black impression, TrimTabs CEO Charles Biderman succinctly destroys the ‘growth’ myth behind Obama’s budget plan as nothing but a handout and money-printing exercise in futility and drain-circling. Based on the $3.8tn budget plan, the TrimTabs truth-seeker notes that current government tax revenues are about $2.4tn, and growing at no more than $100bn each year, making the math surprisingly simple – we spend around $300bn per month and receive only $200bn with the missing $100bn to pay for the US government’s largesse (income shortfall) coming from – ‘printing money’. The spin is, of course, that revenues will somehow magically start to grow faster than spending and shrink the budget deficit. With take home pay at $6.3tn for everyone who pays taxes, up $300-400bn from the 2009 low, but still well below the $7.1tn rate from early 2008; Biderman’s consternation at the self-hypnosis that a $200bn tax increase in an economy where take-home pay has been growing by only $100bn per year will somehow create anything other than slow-growth at best (or more likely contraction) is palpable. This slow- or no-growth will mean less tax revenue and more spending on safety-nets and thus the Sausalito-savant factually points out that most people do not realize that government spending is simply giving people money whether they do anything useful with it or not and still the governments of the US, Japan, and Europe want us to believe that our economies will grow faster if we keep taking more money from the workers and give that money to the government.


YouTube Added: 15.02.2012

The Real Dark Horse: S&P’s Mass Downgrade FAQ May Have Just Hobbled The European Sovereign Debt Market

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From the article:

S&P may have just killed the European sovereign market by saying out loud what only “fringe bloggers” dared suggest in the past.

– The Real Dark Horse – S&P’s Mass Downgrade FAQ May Have Just Hobbled The European Sovereign Debt Market (ZeroHedge, Jan. 13, 2012):

All your questions about the historic European downgrade should be answered after reading the following FAQ. Or so S&P believes. Ironically, it does an admirable job, because the following presentation successfully manages to negate years of endless lies and propaganda by Europe’s incompetent and corrupt klepocrarts, and lays out the true terrifying perspective currently splayed out before the eurozone better than most analyses we have seen to date. Namely that the failed experiment is coming to an end. And since the Eurozone’s idiotic foundation was laid out by the same breed of central planning academic wizards who thought that Keynesianism was a great idea (and continue to determine the fate of the world out of their small corner office in the Marriner Eccles building), the imminent downfall of Europe will only precipitate the final unraveling of the shaman “economic” religion that has taken the world to the brink of utter financial collapse and, gradually, world war.

Here are the key take home messages from the FAQ (source):

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