We don’t know when the recession will end…but we’re dead sure that those 53 economists interviewed by Bloomberg…and those at the Fed too…don’t know either. Few of them seem to have any idea what is really going on.
August 17th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "dow"
Take Away Stimulus Spending and You’ve Got an Economy Entering Depression
Yes, now the economy is firing on all cylinders…or just about. Yep. No doubt about it. Still, there are some nagging doubts. The latest figures show foreclosures still increasing – up 7% in July from a year before. And house prices are still going down.
August 14th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 1 comment | Continued
China, the Miracle Economy
There are some other ways of keeping score that tend to tilt the game in China’s favor – at least, on paper. When you add up all the scores – it shows China a big winner. But by the end of the day, it isn’t at all clear that China’s economy is growing at such a breakneck speed.
August 13th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 5 comments | Continued
Household Debt Represents Spending Taken From the Future
But you can’t take an infinite amount from future earnings. You reach a point when the future can’t handle it. As more and more future earnings are absorbed by past consumption, pretty soon there’s not enough left to live on. At some point, so much of earnings are devoted to paying the interest…
August 11th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
A Financial World Not Yet Recovered From the Bubble Madness of 2002-2007
Here at The Daily Reckoning, we look…we squint…we wipe the fog off our glasses and try to tear the scales off our eyes. What do we see? We see a financial world gone mad.
August 7th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Investors Are Betting On Recovery
Make no mistake though. No one knows how long this rally will last – certainly no one here at The Daily Reckoning vacation headquarters. It will continue until it runs out of gas. That could be tomorrow. It could be months from now.
August 6th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
A Depression Long and Deep
First, as you know, this is a depression. It will probably be long. And deep. You wouldn’t know it from looking at the stock market or reading the news. The Dow went up another 114 points yesterday. Oil rose to $71. And the dollar – anticipating inflation – fell to $1.44 per euro.
August 5th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Is Inflation Necessary for Recovery and Growth in the United States?
It was French economist Jacques Rueff who revealed the scam more than half a century ago. The whole idea of Keynesian stimulus, he explained, was to cause inflation…which would reduce the real price of labor. In a modern democracy, politics prevents wages from falling.
August 3rd, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
How the Stimulus Works
“The cash that salvaged a county,” says the headline. Perry County, southwest of Nashville, must be one of those places you don’t want to stop when you’re driving across the country. With 25% unemployment and no significant industry, it sounds dreadful…
July 30th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
Investors Are Thinking: Inflation is Coming, But it Isn’t Here Yet
At least…that’s been our worry. That too many people understand the inflation threat and are positioning themselves to avoid it. Everybody can’t be right. As they say on Wall Street, when everyone is thinking the same thing no one is thinking.
July 29th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 20 comments | Continued
England Sinks Deeper into Depression in Decade of Pain
“Decade of pain predicted for public services,” was the headline on Friday’s Guardian from London. The reason for the decade of pain is the obvious one. Tax receipts are down – because of the depression. Governments are caught in a bind.
July 28th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
What’s Good for Goldman is Generally Bad for the Country
Goldman makes money by separating investors from their money. Nothing wrong with that; someone has to do it. But the big banks are most profitable when speculation is rampant and debt is growing. That is, when people are going further and further into debt…
July 27th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 1 comment | Continued
How to Become a Better Investor: The Wall Street Journal Effect
As a young trader I was taught about the “Wall Street Journal Effect” where seasoned traders took profits when an article appeared in the paper. Things have changed with the Internet, which gives access to information like never before, but the premise is the same.
July 22nd, 2009 | Alan Knuckman | 2 comments | Continued
Economy Not Going Back to Normal Any Time Soon
Economists are still talking about an “exit strategy.” But in view of what is actually going on in the economy, they’ll probably want to stay on this highway a lot longer. This is the long road to ruin, of course.
July 9th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
RIP Robert S. McNamara and California’s Holes in its Budget
Robert McNamara must have been in a hurry too. He never had time to wonder why he was sending 500,000 American boys to fight a war when Lyndon Johnson was “publicly promising in campaign speeches not to ‘go North,’ not to send American boys to fight wars Asian boys ought to fight for themselves,”…
July 8th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 1 comment | Continued
