To be sure, to be sure, you get the feeling S&P could be saying that about a lot of governments in the next few years. Financial sectors in the Western world are still burdened with high levels of debts backed by commercial and residential real estate. To prevent those firms from failing, governments have assumed or backed their debts. But that transfers the ultimate liability for failed private sector investment to the public sector.
August 25th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 31 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "financial"
The Dawes Premonition
When a blind mathematician exits the market because an ominous technical omen indicates a crash ahead, what do you make of it? Last week the whole internet was abuzz with the phrase “The Hindenburg Omen.” The “Omen” is actually a convergence of technical and momentum indicators which, when sighted, usually leads to a big market correction. Its creator Jim Miekka has used it to forecast major market tipping points.
August 24th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 18 comments | Continued
Deutschland Uber Alles Grasshoppers
Not only did the grasshoppers make the things that the ants used, the ants took the grasshoppers’ money and lent it back to them, so they could buy more. The grasshoppers were ruining themselves. But the ants were making a mistake too. They were building up capital, but what could they do with it?
August 23rd, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 36 comments | Continued
Economic outlook – look out (take 2)
Double dippers are on the rise. Nouriel Roubini: “Risk of a double dip recession in advanced economies (US, Japan, Eurozone) has now risen to 40%.” Robert Schiller: “… also said last week that there’s a greater than a 50 percent chance of falling into another downturn.”
August 21st, 2010 | Nickolai Hubble | 83 comments | Continued
Protecting Your Cash, Part II
An Interview with Doug Casey from Cafayate, Argentina – Interviewer: Concerning the risk of foreign exchange controls here in the US, do you think people will have any warning at all? Doug: I think it’s going to come out of left field. It always does, with at most an official denial just before it happens.
August 19th, 2010 | Doug Casey | 0 comments | Continued
Demanding Demand
What about here in Australia, though? The amount of money being lent for housing fell by 3.9% in June according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It was the lowest amount for housing finance since February of 2001, which was over nine years ago. What does that tell you? It tells you that the largest factor on “underlying demand” for Australian housing is the price of money. When the price of money is cheap, the demand for housing goes up.
August 11th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 42 comments | Continued
The “Road to Serfdom”
The US government is pursuing the same misguided strategy that has failed for twenty years to revive Japan’s economy. This strategy consists of squandering taxpayer dollars on failed financial institutions, and prop up unaffordable federal and state spending programs. One key difference: Japan’s competitive export-oriented manufacturing base was…
August 11th, 2010 | Dan Amoss | 3 comments | Continued
Where Do You Stress?
The European stress tests continue to be discussed in the media. The irony is that the stress tests were intended to de-stress the markets. Instead, the response has been all over the place.There were the suspicious:”European Union stress tests found banks need to raise 3.5 billion euros of capital…
July 31st, 2010 | Nickolai Hubble | 0 comments | Continued
The Crisis Is Over
“The current outstanding balance of overall federal support for the nation’s financial system… has actually increased more than 23% over the past year,” wrote TARP inspector general Neil Barofsky this week, “from approximately $3.0 trillion to $3.7 trillion — the equivalent of a fully deployed TARP program…
July 24th, 2010 | Nickolai Hubble | 0 comments | Continued
Will the Great “Pink Sheets Makeover” Work?
I doubt the average person has any idea what the Pinks Sheets are, much less anything about its reputation. But the average investor probably has very few positive things to say about this over-the-counter stalwart. It’s the “Wild West” of investing…You can’t find anything on the Pinks that isn’t a sub-penny or shell company…
July 22nd, 2010 | Greg Guenthner | 0 comments | Continued
Rich Blamed for Financial Debacle of Last Few Years
Their governments all have in it for them…taxes on ‘the rich’ are rising. The Democrats are talking about financing the entire nation’s health care system on the backs of the super-rich.
August 26th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 4 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
Austerity is Missing from the Financial Bailout Debate
Within the billions of sentences about the financial bailout there is one word notably absent, austerity. All talk is of payments, supports, subsidies, incurring more debt, stimulus packages.
July 3rd, 2009 | Juan Enriquez | 1 comment | Continued
Velocity of Money and the U.S. GDP
This week, the Mogambo is bombarded by a variety of fiscal numbers, from the velocity of money to US GDP. And as bad as they all are, it’s no wonder they’re giving him nightmares. The Mogambo explains…
June 23rd, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 1 comment | Continued
Weapons of Financial Destruction
Sophisticated financial instruments that have been in the news lately – derivatives. Another view of derivatives was expressed by someone who actually knew something – Warren E. Buffett, the sage of Omaha. He called them “weapons of mass destruction.”
March 25th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
