The actions need to try to stabilize the European debt crisis are well recognized. But Even if measures could be implemented as soon as possible, success is not assured. However without them, the chance of a disorderly collapse is increasingly significant.
February 8th, 2012 | The Daily Reckoning | 0 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "government debt"
Australia’s Place in the World of Debt – An Each-Way Bet On The 21st Century
Australian government debt (Federal) crossed the $200 billion barrier last year. In a few short years, then, the government has gone from a modest $20 billion surplus to a $200 billion debt. That debt is still small as percentage of GDP compared to the US, Japan, and the UK. But it’s a lot larger than it was a few years ago…and once these things get rolling, they have a way of building momentum.
January 25th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 7 comments | Continued
The US Debt Cutting Derby
The public sector is leveraging up. The US is going deeper and deeper into debt. As it adds to the quantity of its debt outstanding, the quality should go down. And the price too. But it’s not. So, either the times are out of joint…or we are.
January 24th, 2012 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
How a Deficit in Capitalism Helped Engender the Financial Crisis
Instead of allowing capitalism to fix the problem, the feds made it worse. They gave more money to the very institutions and managers who had proved they couldn’t be trusted with it.
We don’t want to rehearse the whole sequence of events that got us to where we are. But it’s important to understand what happened.
My Crystal Ball for the Markets in 2012
There are great opportunities, but also the potential for painful setbacks. The sentiment, of course, applies to all markets – and life in general. Welcome to 2012. What opportunities and surprises can we look for in the year ahead? Some thoughts…
January 17th, 2012 | Chris Mayer | 1 comment | Continued
European Downgrades: Will There Really Be a Fallout?
On Friday, after the close of business in the stock market, S&P downgraded 9 European countries. Spain and Italy were both taken down another notch, leaving Italy with a BBB+ rating and Spain with an A. But the headline damage was done to France, whose triple-A rating got downgraded to AA+.
January 17th, 2012 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Don’t Invest in Europe’s Debt
On December 5th 2011, S&P warned the Europeans to get their divided house in order. Almost nothing constructive or helpful to solve Europe’s debt problem has happened since then. On Friday the 13th January 2012, Standard and Poor’s cut the credit ratings of nine European countries. S&P’s biggest scalp was France.
January 16th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 0 comments | Continued
The Next Bubble in China’s Economy
We’ve battled this argument before, so we apologise if we repeat ourselves. But it needs to be said because the mainstream media continues to talk gibberish about China’s economy. This is the argument: a falling inflation rate in China allows the authorities to ease monetary policy to avert a hard landing.
January 13th, 2012 | Greg Canavan | 4 comments | Continued
The Real Crisis in Capitalism
The Financial Times led off its series on ‘Capitalism in Crisis’ with a wandering piece that attempted to outline the problem. Unfortunately, the FT writers don’t seem to understand what capitalism is, let alone what is wrong with it. They say they are “rethinking capitalism.” But it doesn’t appear that they ever thought about it the first time.
January 12th, 2012 | Bill Bonner | 1 comment | Continued
Europe’s Flawed Financial Transactions Tax (FTT)
Europe’s Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) may disincentivise financial transactions by adding to their marginal cost. But as long as the supply of credit and cheap money to the banking system remains abundant, the banks have an open invitation to speculate.
January 10th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 3 comments | Continued
How Central Bankers Attempt to “Cure” Insolvency
Whenever a central bank cannot provide direct, overt assistance to a specific insolvent investment bank or government, not to worry, a central bank can still provide indirect, covert assistance.
January 9th, 2012 | Eric J. Fry | 4 comments | Continued
China is the New Number One
From The Economist:
The country that invented the compass, gunpowder and printing is also challenging America in the innovation stakes. We estimate that in 2011 more patents were granted to residents in China than in America.
January 5th, 2012 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
When Banks Borrow Themselves Into Oblivion
In years gone by it was a real embarrassment for a bank to go cap in hand to its central bank to borrow funds. It was a sign of weakness. Clearly that’s not the case anymore, not in Europe anyway.
December 22nd, 2011 | Greg Canavan | 11 comments | Continued
Should Banks and Government Merge to Become One?
There was a problem we promised to solve on Monday. To refresh your memory, the problem is that both banks and governments need money. Governments borrow from banks. But because government finances are so terminally bad in Europe, government bonds are destabilising the capital structure of the banking system.
December 21st, 2011 | Dan Denning | 3 comments | Continued
Which Stock Investment Decisions Will You Make in a Credit Depression?
What stock investment decisions should you make when you recognise: government debt is no longer risk free, bank failures resulting from bond defaults by governments will feed asset deflation and lower stock prices and real money is better than unsound money.
December 12th, 2011 | Dan Denning | 0 comments | Continued
