Readers with even a faint recollection of recent financial history will remember that this is what Alan Greenspan did when he was still the smartest man in the world. He kept extending the period of emergency low rates after the mini-recession of ’01. The Fed kept lending money at less than the rate of inflation – for 4 years, as we recall.
June 28th, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 4 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "greenspan"
Even Taxes are Pretty in Pink
Forcing the more productive, intelligent and resourceful people in the economy to bear the weight of those who should be going out of business is just stupid. That hasn’t stopped countries from trying it. But the IMF points out that most countries abandon it. And what would happen to government revenue when the economy slows?
June 26th, 2010 | Nickolai Hubble | 11 comments | Continued
A Free Market In Chains
US policymakers at the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department have been trying to re-inflate the credit bubble by pumping trillions of dollars of fresh credit and currency into the financial system. The Fed is still maintaining these Keynesian tactics, despite the increasing possibility that inflation and other adverse outcomes will result.
April 23rd, 2010 | Dan Amoss | 0 comments | Continued
Cold Day in Hell When Americans are Not Willing to Spend
The Baby Boomers were flying high during the wonder years. They looked forward to higher house prices and rising stock prices. But now, after having suffered an $11 trillion loss in stocks and real estate…
April 12th, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
Big Four Aussie Banks Used Financial Crisis to Expand Control Over Mortgage Market
Does this leave the Big Four exposed to just one incredibly important asset class? Well at least two of the Big Four might lose some sleep over it at night. Commonwealth Bank has 65% of its loan book tied up in household mortgages, according to Eric Johnston in the Age.
April 12th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 85 comments | Continued
Debt Problem Has Not Gone Away
Banks have recapitalised, making up for some of their losses from 2008 and 2009. But you still have a financial system addicted to debt and leverage. Investors have bought into the recovery story, though, and taken a punt on shares at just the time they ought to be reducing their allocation to shares (in our estimate). Why?
January 29th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 12 comments | Continued
Sustainability of U.S. Deficits Reason Why Investors Own Some Gold
“If the world goes to hell like you say, you can’t eat gold. You can’t sleep on it, although you could sleep with it I suppose. How useful is it really going to be as a medium of exchange or a store of value if economic activity grinds to a halt?”
“I don’t know. I’m not Nostradamus…
December 17th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 38 comments | Continued
The On-Again, Off-Again Depression
If you step back a bit further, you could see it in a different light. Ten years ago, The Daily Reckoning warned of a long, Japan-like slump. Then, the stock market fell and the economy went into a recession.
December 11th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
The Dark Underbelly of Australia’s Resource Boom: Chinese Resource Demand
But when it came to resources, most analysts made an exception for the resource sector. The argument was that while everything else was floating on a sea of credit, there was a bedrock of Chinese and Indian demand for commodities which underpinned the Aussie resource market and resource share prices.
October 23rd, 2009 | Dan Denning | 7 comments | Continued
US Federal Government Ran the Biggest Deficit in History
In theory, the US government could do the same. But, in fact, it never runs significant surpluses. There are too many people who want too much bread and too many circuses. And you don’t win votes by denying the voters…
September 30th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
I Love Your Optimism
I did not mention that there are only about 100 million non-government, non-taxpayer paid workers in the U.S.A., which means that there are only 100 million workers who can make a profit with which to pay taxes, which means that $5 trillion in government spending is a staggering $50,000 for Every Freaking One (EFO) of those non-government, non-taxpayer paid positions! And you think THAT is going to work out for the best?
February 27th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 1 comment | Continued
Patching Up The World With Golden Glue
It was in the Wall Street Journal, in their “Best of WSJ.Com’s Money Blogs” where I got the news that “As any private banker will tell you, the wealthy have become gold bugs. They are buying futures, gold bars, just about anything made from the shiny stuff.” Personally, this was surprising, since I didn’t know how or why bankers would know what the wealthy are doing, especially as concerns gold, but maybe this is because my relationships with my bankers are always frosty for one reason or another…
January 27th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 0 comments | Continued
Alan Greenspan Reveals the Great Swindle of Central Banking
We live in an age of economic shocks, or an Age of Turbulence if you ask Alan Greenspan. Households have been encouraged to take on record amounts of debt during an historic low in interest rates. Now, as interest rates are set to rise, the value of assets purchased with debt will fall. There are [...]
September 26th, 2007 | Dan Denning | 4 comments | Continued
