Europeans live well. And thanks to so many transfer payments and so many government-provided services, they live well without really having much money to spend. Their incomes go to pay taxes and social charges. Trouble is, they enjoy a standard of living that they can’t really afford.
May 12th, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "public sector"
In India With a Strategic Partner
In our family office, where we keep the family money, we take big bets over long periods of time…working with strategic partners who are knowledgeable about key sectors.
March 12th, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
Government Pretending Debt-fueled Spending is the Same as Growth
Instead of letting the dead die in peace…the feds are pumping financial adrenaline into their veins…turning them into zombies.
March 2nd, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 1 comment | Continued
Most Likely No Housing Recovery to Bubble-Era Levels in Our Lifetimes
Of course, that is not what the President of the United States of America thinks. He believes a recovery is underway…and that he can now take action to reduce the feds’ stimulus.
January 29th, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Optimists Expect Mild Inflation in a Decent Recovery
Pessimists fear the feds may have waited too long; they think they see higher rates of inflation coming. Here on the back page we see no recovery…nor any inflation.
December 7th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
Feds Think They Have Won This Fight Against the Depression
The Wall Street Journal says they’ve turned their guns around. The Fed is a “Bubble Fighter” now, it reports.
December 4th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 4 comments | Continued
Boomers Made a Mess of the United States of America
First, Americans made a colossal mistake in the ’90s and the ’00s. They partied…they spent…they borrowed…running up huge debts in the private sector.
November 23rd, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 10 comments | Continued
Total Implosion of the Chinese Economy
You could take all of these as signs that China is leading the world to recovery and managing itself quite well. It should achieve 8% GDP growth. That’s the growth rate that China’s economic planners reckon the country must achieve to maintain high unemployment. And high employment rates promote political stability – valued above all else by a regime that makes free market gestures but still is run by old school communists.
November 12th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 24 comments | Continued
U.S. Government Must Roll Over $3.4 Trillion in Debt Over Next Four Years
And if America can’t find anyone willing to finance its deficits, what then? Well, the luxury of issuing debts in the currency you also print is that you can print money to pay for them. Technically, you can never become insolvent when you enjoy this privilege. The Fed, for example, can create new money to buy debt issued by the Treasury, funding deficits ad infinitum.
November 3rd, 2009 | Dan Denning | 5 comments | Continued
What’s the Best Way to Get Through a Debt Crisis?
For at least a thousand years, the business cycle went round and round without help from central bankers or economists. It is only since these geniuses have been on the case that really serious problems have arisen.
November 2nd, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 4 comments | Continued
Bankers Betting That the Money Given by Feds Will Be Worth Less Next Year
So far the bet has gone their way. Copper has doubled. Gold is up 20%. Stocks markets all over the world are up 60%. Foreign currencies, too, have beaten the dollar.
October 27th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
Is It Really the End of the Dollar Carry Trade?
But as you’ll learn today, the bankers, the Fed, the media…the whole lot of them…have learned nothing from last year. The hangover was just beginning to set in, so everyone began drinking again heavily. And now the party is wild and out of control. Even the cops are drunk.
October 27th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 4 comments | Continued
Can Governments and Central Banks Prevent More Credit Writedowns?
Are we changing our tune, then, about what to expect from markets? Not one bit. But the question now is timing. The collapse of 2008 was so severe because of the sudden reduction in leverage in the financial sector. As assets fell in value, the most highly leveraged firms (or lenders who raised money by selling debt) went out of business.
October 12th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 34 comments | Continued
Aussie Dollar is Crushing Long-time Rivals Like the Pound and the U.S. Dollar
One way to view a currency, we read somewhere recently, is as a national obligation secured by national assets. Those “assets” are loosely defined as economic growth (GDP) or the tax revenues a government can generate. A growing economy generates royalties and income taxes and demonstrates to international bond investors Australia’s ability to service interest and principal on debt.
October 9th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 18 comments | Continued
