You’ll recall that the Aussie economy did contract by half of one percentage point in the fourth quarter. That was pretty mild compared to the 6.2% contraction in the U.S. But if the trade-supported Q1 GDP figures can eke out a gain (“positive growth”), well then Australia will join the odd couple of Poland and South Korea…
June 3rd, 2009 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "geithner"
American Family’s Share of Government Debt Now Over Half a Million Dollars
Last year’s spike is the biggest since the Medicare prescription drug benefit was added in 2003. According to the rag, the government garnered $6.8 trillion in “new obligations” in 2008, bringing the total US tab to $63.8 trillion.
June 2nd, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
Chinese Surge in Construction Explains Pickup in Base Metals Stocks
The dragon is breathing fire and building roads. “By the end of April, China had built 20,000 kilometres (12,430 miles) of rural roads, 214,000 low-rent homes, 445 kilometres of highway, and 100,000 square meters (1.08 million square feet) of airport buildings under the stimulus plan,” reported China’s National Development and Reform Commission on May 21.
June 2nd, 2009 | Dan Denning | 3 comments | Continued
Fed Will “Monetize the Debt”
Meanwhile, the US Treasury is borrowing hundreds of billions’ of dollars in order to close the gap between what the US spends and what it receives in taxes. Even if the Chinese are willing to fund that borrowing in the very short term, it just pushes forward the inevitable day…
May 29th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
A Merciless War Between Inflation and Deflation
The rally itself is a part of a larger battle between two contradictory body parts – the heart and the mind. The heart wants to believe that the worst is over. It reacts sentimentally, remembering the glory days of the great bubble era and wishing they were back.
May 29th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 1 comment | Continued
Possible Second Round of Panic Hitting Financial Markets
But what about Main Street, what’s going on there? According to the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer index released yesterday, Australians were exactly 8.3% more confident in early April than they were in April March. See what a dose of low petrol prices, declining interest rates, and government cash can do for you?
April 9th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 14 comments | Continued
Property Market at “Inflection Point”
Investors refrain from taking long-term positions because there are so many known unknowns and even more unknown unknowns (although we conceded it is hard to put a number on the number of unknown unknowns, given their unknown nature, if you know what we’re saying).
April 8th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued
Feds Begin Buying U.S. Treasuries Bonds
Do you remember how it works, dear reader? When you buy a U.S. Treasury bond, you pay for it with real money – or, at least as real as dollars get. Money changes hands. No net increase in the money supply. But when the Fed buys a Treasury bond it creates the money to buy it…and thus the money supply increases.
March 26th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
Investors’ Objective: To Make Money
Stocks did indeed rally. The Dow rose 497 points…putting some bounce back in the bounce. We’ve been expecting a healthy rebound. Normally, after such a long and steep sell-off, you can expect a rebound that recovers 30%-50% of the losses. We have not had such a rebound…yet. Maybe this is it.
March 25th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 1 comment | Continued
Substantial Doubt
But GM has friends in high places…ready to lean on the scales of Mr. Market’s justice. The automaker has already borrowed $13.4 billion. It is asking for another $30 billion. But what kind of a dope would lend $30 billion to a company whose own auditors say they’re worried that it might go out of business?
March 10th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Bunch of Turkeys
A bunch of turkeys have hijacked our monetary system and all they know is how to print money. Rather than let the market clear itself out, central banks continue to use taxpayers’ money to bail out insolvent institutions. This brilliant strategy has NEVER worked in the past and it will not work this time around. Instead of robbing innocent people of their savings, the establishment must allow the weak banks to go bust…
February 26th, 2009 | Puru Saxena | 3 comments | Continued
Plenty of Offers, Few Bids
The markets of 2009: plenty of offers; few bids. From Dubai comes word that the property market has not just fallen…it has ceased to exist. This from Justice Litle: “You can’t put a percentage figure on the market drop. In fact, there isn’t a market at all. The scary thing is, they’re nowhere close to facing reality… the official listings have only reduced prices by 10-20%, even with no buyers in sight, and builders are hoping to build more…”
February 18th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
The Plan that Prevents Plans
In that spirit, we present our plan to save the world. The plan is in no particular order. And all of its premised on one big important action to take at all costs: abolish the Federal Reserve and let there be a free market for money and a natural rate of interest.
February 18th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 16 comments | Continued
The Economic Panic of 2009
His whole presidency rests on getting this bailout thing right. If he does, he’ll be a hero. If he doesn’t, the economy will go into a Japan-like slump and he’ll spend his entire time in office dealing with people looking for handouts – zombie banks, comatose corporations, and desperate households.
February 13th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 4 comments | Continued
Depression II… the Sequel
“Let’s not mince words…this looks an awful lot like the beginning of the second Great Depression,” says Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman.
Paul Krugman is wrong about a great many things; but he’s right about this. This is not a recession. It’s a depression…
February 12th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 6 comments | Continued
