Expecting an early Greek default

"Greece is going to restructure its debts — and it’s going to do so before mid-2013. That’s the clear message sent by the latest Reuters poll of 55 economists from across Europe: 46 of them saw a restructuring in the next two years, with four saying it would happen in the next three months.

This is a major development. The markets haven’t believed Greece for a while — but now they don’t believe the European Union, either. Remember that back in November, the EU put out a statement laying out a mechanism for restructuring a member’s debt “in the unexpected event that a country would appear to be insolvent”. It clearly says that “any private sector involvement based on these terms and conditions would not be effective before mid-2013″.

But almost nobody believes that Greece can last that long any more. Landon Thomas has the story..."

at http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/04/20/expecting-an-early-greek-default/

Debt, Like Matter & Energy, Was Not Destroyed

"UBS’ Art Cashin directs us to the Economist’s Buttonwood column for an interesting take post S&P downgrade. The debt in the system has not been eliminated — it has merely been moved from banker to taxpayer:

It is three years since Bear Stearns was pushed into the arms of J P Morgan and the fundamental debt problem has not been resolved. The debt has been moved around but not eliminated. This has undoubtedly bought time and I quite understand the point made frequently by my colleague on Free Exchange that governments and central banks have acted to protect workers from losing their jobs and to prevent consumption from collapsing. In this, they have had a fair degree of success.
But the debt is still there.
It must be eliminated by growth, inflation or default. In the case of Greece, the growth option looks out of the question and the country cannot really generate inflation on its own because it does not control its money supply; default at some stage seems inevitable. Like Greece, Portugal has a competitiveness as well as a debt problem; eliminating the former without depreciating the currency involves force-feeding the population with gruel for many years. At some stage, default may seem the better option.
The US has better growth prospects than most European nations and has the “exorbitant privilege” of issuing debt in the world’s reserve currency, which keeps the cost down. But it resembles one of those Greek myths when the hero’s power is accompanied by a curse; in this case, a political system that is not designed for serious deficit-cutting (the point made by S&P). The world’s dominant power tends to think its financial strength will never drain away. But Spain, having absorbed all that gold and silver from Latin America, still defaulted on its debts in the 16th century; Louis XIV, the sun king whom other monarchs dreamed of emulating, set France on the road to financial ruin; and Britain started the 20th century with a huge empire and piles of overseas assets but was rationing food in peacetime by the late 1940s.”..."

at  http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/04/debt-like-matter-energy-was-not-destroyed/

Modern Monetary Baloney, Fundamental Values, and the Unaddressed Requirement for Reform

"I agree with David Lindorff in his excellent piece, An Oh Please Moment , that the timing of the SP downgrade of US debt is highly questionable.

"Ya S & P amacıyla ulusal borç hakkında ulusal histeri eklemek, bu uyarı ve sosyal programlara daha radikal kesimler kazanmak güçlü Cumhuriyetçiler ve / veya Wall Street Bankacılar baskısı olmuştur, ya da S & P basitçe yeniden esiyor." "Either S&P has been pressured by powerful Republicans and/or Wall Street Bankers to issue this warning, in order to add to national hysteria about the national debt and win more drastic cuts in social programs, or S&P is simply blowing it again."

Oy yana Acentaları çok açıktır ki ödemek için komut hakkında değerlendirme üreten, bir süredir Wall Street monied çıkarlarının cebinde olmuştur, iki alternatiften hangi doğru aklımda çok az soru var. Since the Ratings Agencies quite obviously have been in the pocket of the Wall Street monied interests for some time now, generating ratings on command for pay, there is much less question in my mind about which of the two alternatives are correct.

The bankers, having obtained huge sums of personal wealth by buying the government and looting the Treasury, are engaged in an aggressive campaign to make sure they can keep their ill gotten gains, without indictment, and pigs that they are, without any of the pain to be obtained from gaming the US financial system in a massive fraud and causing its collapse. Onlar daha fazla vergi avantajları ve halktan dolaylı sübvansiyonlar teşvik ederek onların servet artırırken, alt ve orta sınıflar üzerinde oldukça dürüstçe ve unashamedly ağrıyı doğrudan çalışırlar. They seek to direct that pain quite squarely and unashamedly on the lower and middle classes, while increasing their wealth by promoting even greater tax benefits and indirect subsidies from the public. biri değil kovuşturma suçu yok, her zamankinden daha fazla aşırılıkları failleri emboldens. When one does not prosecute crimes, it emboldens the perpetrators to ever greater excesses..."

at http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

Shadow Inventory Undermining All Major Metro Markets Now

"...Three of these counties contain the major bubble metros of Las Vegas, Miami, and Phoenix. This so-called “shadow inventory” will be thrown onto the market in the not-too-distant future and will clearly add to the glut of MLS listings.

It is very hard to determine how soon the banks will start to reduce this backlog of distressed properties. The servicing banks are clearly in no rush either to put seriously delinquent homeowners into default or to foreclose on those properties which are already in default. In December 2010, according to Lender Processing Services, 34% of seriously delinquent homeowners had not made a mortgage payment in at least 12 months. In early 2009, that number was only 10%.

The servicing banks can delay putting these homes into foreclosure to avoid having to write them down, but they will definitely be hitting the housing markets in these counties over the next few years.
How does this impact you? If you are an investor thinking of buying one or more properties in Miami-Dade County, for example, you need to know that 24.9% of all active first liens there were seriously distressed. This means that more than 91,000 properties are almost certainly going to be dumped onto the market. Will that exert downward pressure on prices? Absolutely.

If you are seriously considering investing in Miami-Dade, it is essential to factor in this huge and growing shadow inventory and be prepared for a further drop in prices of 10-20% or more. We’ll look at Miami-Dade in depth in the next issue..."

at http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/housing-market-shadow-inventories-real-estate/4/13/2011/id/33897?page=1#ixzz1JziLqNt8

The Primary Dealer - New York Fed Ponzi Circle Jerk Continues

"Exactly one week ago, we commented on what many said was a "strong" 3 Year auction primarily courtesy of a 57.4% primary dealer takedown. We also said: "Keep an eye on CUSIP QC7: it will be the most monetized 3 year paper by the Fed over the next 2 weeks." Today was the first POMO operation since last week's auction focusing on 3 year paper. We present the results of the $6.678 billion POMO below. They, and the 28% flip of the entire PD take down, speak for themselves. Bottom line - not so covert monetization continues in broad daylight, with Primary Dealers naturally getting their (just the) tip value for allowing the ponzi to continue, as everyone else praises the low interest rates on Treasurys, and says just how easy it will be for the Treasury to find Treasury buyers once Qe2 is over. One thing is certain: had PDs known they would have to hold on to these bonds instead of just collecting a hefty fee for flipping them back to the Fed, they would still have submitted bid...at far higher interest rates..."

at http://www.zerohedge.com/article/primary-dealer-new-york-fed-ponzi-circle-jerk-continues?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29

NYSE Margin Debt Surges To Highest Since February 2008, Net Speculator Leverage Second Highest Ever

"The NYSE has released its monthly margin debt update for March. Not surprisingly, with everyone, and yes EVERYONE, chasing nothing but levered beta, margin debt surged to a fresh 3 year high at $315.7 billion, the highest since February 2008. But far more troubling is that when netting out positive margin balances such as Free Credit Cash Accounts and Credit Balances in Margin Accounts, the investor net worth, or alternatively net leverage, as it is defined, plunged by $18.2 billion to ($75.2) billion. This is the second highest net leverage ever seen on on the NYSE, only lower compared to the $79 billion hit at the absolute peak of the credit bubble in June 2007. We all know what followed after. Ironically, when this kind of mass hysteria happens in commodities the CME can't wait to hike margins to cool those evil, evil speculators. It is only natural that the Globex will hike ES margins in 5....4....3....."

at http://www.zerohedge.com/article/nyse-margin-debt-surges-highest-february-2008-net-speculator-leverage-second-highest-ever?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29

Paul Farrell On The 10 "Doomsday Trends" Set To Destroy America

"Capitalism has become a religion for the Super Rich, with many such “saviors.” Heresies must be denied, such as this one: Doomsday Capitalism is destroying America from within. Here are highlights, with links to a few of the earlier hundred columns on topic. Ten macro trends building to a perfect storm, a critical mass, a flash point:

1. Doomsday Capitalism: Death of the American dream, spirit, soul

After our bankrupt Wall Street was resurrected in 2008 — thanks to their Trojan Horse, an ex-Goldman CEO inside the Treasury conning trillions from a clueless Congress — it became obvious that capitalism is killing America’s soul. Nobody trusts government. And no matter who’s elected, wealth, Wall Street and the Super Rich rule America; total collapse is coming.

Why? Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont, said it best: “There is a war going on in this country … the war waged by the wealthiest people in America on the disappearing and shrinking middle class of our country. The nation’s billionaires are on the warpath. They want more, more, more. Their greed has no end and they are apparently unconcerned for the future of this country if it gets in the way of their accumulation of power and wealth.”

2. Doomsday Democracy: ‘Mutant Capitalism’ killing ‘We the People’

Stop kidding yourself, democracy is dead: “All men are created equal” is a quaint political fiction. The public has no real say in a nation where wealth buys votes, a naive public is easily manipulated and elected officials have a price.

In “The Battle for Soul of Capitalism,” Bogle warned us the “Invisible Hand” no longer serves “We the People” nor the public welfare. Today, Wall Street and the insatiable Super Rich 1% rule America. And they are obsessed with restoring the same unregulated free-market Reaganomics that loves gambling in the same speculative $580 trillion derivatives casino that triggered the 2008 meltdown.

3. Doomsday Conspiracy: Wall Street takeover, the new ‘Invisible Hand’

The Super Rich have always had some hand in America’s destiny, operating from the shadows. Today, this conspiracy of Wall Street, Corporate CEOs, politicians and Forbes 400 billionaires operates openly, with absolute power and an arrogance that is corrupting the nation’s soul, their souls, your soul. This conspiracy has no moral compass , yet ironically, is legal.

Why? Wealth can easily buy favorable laws, making even the most unethical, selfish, corrupt behavior legal by fiat. And their high-priced lobbyists all over Washington, Congress, government regulatory agencies and the Fed all have the power to grab the rewards of capitalism for the Super Rich, while transferring the liabilities to the other, clueless 99% of America’s taxpayers

4. Doomsday Politics: Monopoly of Super-Rich Anarchists rules America

Forget buzzwords like oligopoly, plutocracy, socialism. Today Washington is a pure anarchy, a game played by tens of thousands of high-priced lobbyists squeezing the best deals out of America’s budget, solely for their clients’ interests, never the general public. Our economy is a monopoly of Super-Rich Anarchists. They know the only votes that count are in Congress. And they’re for sale.

Lobbyists are “brokers.” Today there are 261,000 lobbyists brokering special interests, all fighting for the maximum possible slice of a $1.5 trillion federal budget pie — special regulations, exemptions, loans, tax loopholes, earmarks, access, agency appointments, defense contracts, you name it — endless gambits that further consolidate the power and wealth at the top for Super-Rich Donors...

at http://www.zerohedge.com/article/paul-farrell-10-doomsday-trends-set-destroy-america?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29

How Far Can the Fed Go in Manipulating Markets Before It Becomes a Self-Serving Private Banking Fraud?

"When does public policy become private fraud?

Ben, geçen haftadan bu yana Matières à Reflexion bağlantıları Fed tarafından borç piyasaları manipüle bu video vardı ama görünüşe göre çok kaçırdın çünkü istek üzerine buraya taşındı ve önemi, etkileri anlamadı. I have had this video on the manipulation of the debt markets by the Fed in the Matières à Réflexion links since last week, but moved it here on request because apparently many missed it, and did not understand its importance, the implications.

Bu Fed ve üye bankalar algı ve sadece uzun vadeli faiz oranlarının kontrol girişimi değil, aynı zamanda gazetelerde gösterilmiştir altın ve gümüş fiyatları, yönetmek için kağıt türevleri işlem için gerekçe bir oldukça iyi bir örnektir bu tür Gibson'un Paradox Summers tarafından Larry oranları dönem için uzun ilişki var bir. It is a fairly good example of the rationale for the Fed and its member banks dealing in paper derivatives to manage perception and attempt to control not only longer term interest rates, but also the price of gold and silver, which have been shown in papers such Gibson's Paradox by Larry Summers to have a correlation to long term rates.

Biri bu ilişki artık var olmayan veya ABD, bir altın standart olmadığı için ve FED uzun vadeli oranları bozmaya türevleri kullanabilir, sırf o Fed ve onların çokuluslu bankacılık ortakları anlamına gelmez önemli argüman yapabilir ve altın, gümüş, hisse senedi fiyatları, LIBOR, vb gibi diğer şeyler yapıyor One may make the argument that this correlation no longer exists or matters since the US is not on a gold standard, and that just because the FED may use derivatives to distort long term rates, that does not mean the Fed and their multinational banking associates are doing it with other things like gold, silver, stock prices, LIBOR, etc.

Ama aslında Fed kendi transkript ve çeşitli üyeleri ve bankacılar, teklif gelen kanıt bakımından en az altın ve gümüş pazarında algı hala aktif bir endişe olduğunu ve Fed ciddi ilgi gösteriyor. But in point of fact the evidence from the Fed's own transcripts, and quotes from various members and bankers, demonstrates that the perception of at least gold and silver in the market is still an active concern and of serious interest to the Fed.

ilgili belgelerin sürümünü var son defans anlamsız değildir. There recent stonewalling on the release of the relevant documents is not frivolous. Ne ve masum yeterince kendi ömrü elde bir başlar, birlikte gördüğüm biz ihlalleri ve vurgunculuk özel doğmak zorla TALF açıklamaları ve durum niyet olur orijinal çok daha büyük ve daha çok da kapsamlı daha. What starts out innocently enough obtains a life of its own, and the cover ups ensue, along with the abuses and private profiteering as we saw in the TALF disclosures , and the situation becomes much greater and more far-reaching than its original intent. İyi niyetli program gerçekten kamu güvenini yağma için bir para makinesi haline gelebilir. A well intentioned program can indeed become a money machine for looting the public trust.

Elbette sorun, Fed ve ilişkili özel bankaların kendi kağıt, ya da kağıt üzerinde türevleri yazma yeteneği tükendi asla iken, onlar çok iyi mali destek için fiziksel altın ve gümüş tükenebilir olmanızdır mühendislik, talep edilirse için 'durmak ve teslim ediyoruz.' The problem of course is that while the Fed and its associated private banks can never run out of their own paper, or the ability to write derivatives on that paper, they can and may very well run out of physical gold and silver to support their financial engineering, if the demand is made to 'stand and deliver.' Bu uzun tahvil alışverişi ve sıfır süresi, doların notlarına değerinin daha aşırı limit önce ulaşılarak onların zayıf noktalarından biri olarak burada tespit edilmiştir. This has long been identified here as one of their weak spots which may be reached before the more extreme limit of the value at exchange of the bonds and the notes of zero duration, the dollar.

Bunun çok daha asla onları çökertiyor orijinal düzeni, ancak sürekli örtbas genişleyen hemen her zaman. It is never so much the original scheme that brings them down, but it is almost always the ever-expanding cover up.

Başka bir deyişle, altın ve gümüş külçe ve Hazine güçsüzlük ve Fed ve üye bankalar maruz bırakabilir böylece fiyat ve oranlarının manipüle ederek algı yönetiminde serbestçe faaliyet yeteneklerini kısıtlamak. In other words, gold and silver bullion may expose the weakness of the Treasury, and the Fed and their member banks, and thereby restrict their ability to operate freely in managing perception by manipulating prices and rates. Bu onlar için böyle bir husumet tutun neden, ve bu yüzden de ilişkilerinde birçok saklamaya çalışıyorum, hatta medyanın dostu kaynaklardan histerik saldırıları teşvik etmektedir. This is why they hold such an animosity to it, and attempt to conceal so many of their dealings in it, even promoting hysterical attacks from friendly sources in the establishment media..."

at http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

Did The S&P Downgrade Warning Just Make A Debt Ceiling Compromise Even More Difficult?

"As S&P noted in its downgrade, and made all too explicit during the follow up call, the rating agency has now started a two year timer on the administration and the legislative branch to come up with not only a fiscal solution, but a credible solution by the end of 2012. Yet as Reuters points out, the "S&P's action -- downgrading its outlook on the U.S. rating to negative from stable -- does not guarantee a deal." Basically expect more posturing from both sides of the aisle, which ironically may merely lead to a cementing of intractable positions, and kick the can so far down the street that not even S&P can see where it lands: a non-compromise compromise that the Hill is so good at, yet one which won't fly any longer. " While the White House dismissed the action, saying all sides were making progress toward agreement, Republicans and Democrats remain far apart on where to make the cuts that will be needed for long-term deficit reduction." Any call for a bipartisan agreement on deficit reduction on fiscal reform is a welcome one, and in that context, I think that (the S&P move) adds to what we believe is some momentum towards that end," said Jay Carney, White House spokesman." Yes, ironically everyone: democrats and republicans are both claiming the S&P decision, which without doubt originated from Wall Street in the first place, validates their policies. Yet the biggest winner out of all this may be the Tea Party: "It is a vindication of the Tea Party and their stance that we are spending too much," Republican Representative Blake Farenthold, a member of the House Tea Party Caucus, said in a telephone interview." ...Or not: if the Tea Party continues "cutting" deficits like it did last week, when it was ultimately uncovered that instead of a $38 billion cut the ultimate impact on the budget was about $353 million, the Tea Party will most certainly burn all its credibility very soon if it continues to "tackle" fiscal sustainability with the same fervor..."

at http://www.zerohedge.com/article/did-sp-downgrade-warning-just-make-debt-ceiling-compromise-even-more-difficult?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29
at

Next Phase of Sovereign Debt Crisis; Greek 2-Year Yields Top 20%; Greece Denies Restructuring Plan; Why the Denial?

"A Greek newspaper reported that Greece is in talks with the IMF regarding debt restructuring. Ancak, Yunanistan Maliye Bakanı bu inkar "Yeniden Yapılanma konuşacağımız olduğunuz bir konu değil" yayınladı. However, Greek Finance Minister issued this denial "Restructuring is not an issue we're discussing".

Geçen hafta medya yeniden masada olduğunu Alman yetkililer, bir hayır-haber duyuru üzerine gaga gitti. Last week, the media went gaga over a no-news announcement from German officials that restructuring was on the table. Herkes pazar izlerken çünkü bir heyecan yarattı olmamalıdır bir yapılanma geliyor gayet iyi biliyor. It should not have caused a stir because anyone watching the market knows perfectly well a restructuring is coming. Yunanistan inkar bunu durduramazsın. Denials from Greece cannot stop it.

Inkar Yunanistan Neden? Why the Denials from Greece?

Soran kafasında muhtemelen "Neden Yunanistan yeniden olmayacak ısrar mi?" Soruyorsun Inquiring minds are likely asking "Why does Greece insist it will not restructure?"

Cevap basit: Yunan kamu emeklilik planları Yunan borç çöp yüklenir. The answer is simple: Greek public pension plans are loaded with Greek sovereign debt garbage. Bir yeniden yapılanma bu planları ve emekliler için beklenen ödeme değerlerini paramparça olurdu. A restructuring would shatter the values of those plans and the expected payouts to the pensioners..."

at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/

The Fed is Now Pumping $200 BILLION Per Month

"… and we just passed $200 billion per month.

I’ve shown the below chart before in other pieces. However, given its significance, it deserves regular review.

This is a chart of the adjusted US Monetary Base. It’s essentially a very simple means of charting how much money the US Federal Reserve is pumping into the system (on top of QE 2 which is providing another $100 billion in liquidity per month).

As you can see, starting in January 2011, the Fed left a paperweight on the “print”button. Since that time, it’s put $500 BILLION into the system. When you combine the $100 billion in liquidity provided by QE 2, we’re talking about $800-900 billion enter the financial system in 2011 alone.

There is only one period in which the Fed engaged in a similar amount of money pumps. And that was… during the depth of the 2008 Crisis from October- December 2008 (the two periods are comparable as the Fed didn’t have QE2 in 2008)..."

at http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fed-now-pumping-200-billion-month?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29

Marc Faber : US could expropriate Gold

"Marc Faber , editor & publisher of "The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report" talks about his preferred ways to invest in gold " well basically I do not think that people should punt on Gold but they should be their own central bank and gradually accumulate gold reserves as a currency and they should basically hold it physically but not in the US outside the US " " I think there is the risk that the US will once again as they did in 1933 collect the gold expropriate the gold they will not take away and not pay anything they'll pay probably the market price and after they will revalue it it by say five times "

at http://marcfaberchannel.blogspot.com/

Tim Geithner: It Would Be Catastrophic If People Start To Doubt Whether The U.S. Can Pay Its Obligations

"...Geithner: "If you allow people to start to doubt whether the U.S. can pay its obligations - that would be catastrophic. And the leadership understands that."
Jamie Dimon also said recently that the results would be "catastrophic."
Dimon told the Chamber of Commerce, "If anyone wants to [cap the debt ceiling], which I think would be catastrophic and unpredictable, I think they're crazy."..."

at http://www.businessinsider.com/tim-geithner-debt-limit-2011-4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29#ixzz1JoGkjAUW

IMF: Greek Debt Unsustainable

"Getting closer to default ...

From the WSJ: IMF Believes Greece Should Consider Debt Restructuring By 2012

The International Monetary Fund believes Greece's debt is unsustainable and has told European government and central bank officials that Athens should consider restructuring by next year, three people familiar with the situation said Saturday.

... The scenario to be examined first will involve extending debt repayments by as much as 30 years, the first official said, where private bondholders could be offered new bonds in exchange for old bonds with the same coupon, but with a longer maturity. Another scenario could involve reducing Greece's coupon payments and extending maturity dates...

at http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2011/04/imf-greek-debt-unsustainable.html

Joseph Stiglitz on a global reserve currency

"Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize winning economist, Columbia University professor, and former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. New Hampshire INET's Bretton Woods konferansında bu röportajda o rezerv para birimi tüm dünya ekonomisini baltalayan olarak o ABD doları düşünüyor açıklıyor In this interview at INET's Bretton Woods conference in New Hampshire he explains why he thinks the US dollar as the reserve currency is hurting the entire world economy
Joseph Stiglitz: Ne için iddia ettik bir küresel rezerv para birimi eseridir. Joseph Stiglitz : What I've argued for is a creation of a global reserve currency. Rezerv para, size Amerikan ekonomisinin zorluklara verilen anlaşılabilir, çok istikrarsız olan bir mağaza değeri ve doların düşünebilirsiniz, bizim performans bir yıldız değildi. Reserve currencies are, you might think of a store value and the dollar has been very unstable , understandable given the difficulties of the American economy, our performance was not a stellar. Ama modern bir küresel ekonomide, 21. Yüzyıl, tek bir para birimi dolar oynadığı kilit rol oynayacağını bir anakronizm olduğunu gerçeği. But the fact that in a modern globalized economy, 21st Century, it is an anachronism that a single currency would play the pivotal role that the dollar has played. Ne "Küreselleşme İş Yapma" kitabımda iddia dolar rezerv para sistemi eşitsizlik katkıda ki ... What I argue in my book "Making Globalization Work" is that the dollar reserve currency system contributes to inequality ... ülke tam anlamıyla milyarlarca dolar yüzlerce kenara çünkü ve aslında, küresel ekonominin zayıflamasına katkıda bulunur, siz ihtiyati tasarruf, diyebilirsiniz. and it actually contributes to the weakening of the global economy, because countries are setting aside literally hundreds of billions of dollars, you might say, of precautionary savings. O parasını harcadı değil. That's money not spent..."

at http://marcfaberchannel.blogspot.com/

Top 1 Percent's Income Share More Than Doubled Over the past Thirty Years

at http://www.cbpp.org/images/4-13-11TopTenTaxCharts9.jpg

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Why Does The Bond Market Not Care At All About The Debt?

"We have our own thoughts on this, but we thought we'd throw this out to everyone since so many people are budget obsessed...

Why does the bond market not care at all? Why are interest rates at record lows, with everyone screaming until their blue about how broke we are? And why is the relationship between government debt (the red line) inverse to interest rates?

And don't say "QE2" because as we've been discussing, rates rise during QE2. They don't fall.

Have at it..."

    

at http://www.businessinsider.com/question-of-the-day-how-2011-4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29#ixzz1JcLzF8eK

Here's The Setup For The Con Of The Decade

"The Con is being set up right now, and the outlines are clearly visible. The Con works like this:
1. The Financial Elites/Oligarchy raked in billions in private profit from the orgy of leverage, credit expansion, fraud, embezzlement and misrepresentation of risk that resulted in the Housing Bubble.

2. The losses were transferred to the public (Federal government, i.e. The central State) or its proxy, the Federal Reserve (i.e. the central bank), via bailouts, backstops, guarantees, the Fed's purchase of taxic assets, and an open window for the financiers to borrow billions at zero interest (ZIRP) for further speculations.

3. The Treasury now borrows $1.6 trillion every year, fully 11% of the nation's GDP, as the Central State has replaced private demand and credit expansion with its own borrowing and spending.

4. Non-U.S. central banks have largely ceased to support this unprecedented scale of borrowing, so the Federal Reserve now buys most of the Treasury's issuance of debt via QE2 (quantitative easing, the direct purchase of $600 billion in Treasury bonds).

5. Unlike Japan, the U.S. cannot self-fund its own government borrowing: while U.S. investors, banks and insurance companies do own a significant chunk of Treasuries, the U.S. savings rate (capital accumulation) is still abysmally low, around 4%, which is half the historical average savings rate.

This is the result of the Keynesian Cult's One Big Idea, which is to pull demand forward and encourage borrowing and spending now by any means necessary, and thus sacrifice capital formation/saving.

So the basic outline of the Con is that private losses from the financialization of the U.S. economy were shifted to the public. Now to keep the Status Quo and Financial Plutocracy from imploding, the public is on the hook for $1.6 trillion in additional borrowing every year until Doomsday (around 2021 or so)..."

at http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-heres-setup-con-decade?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29

20 Signs That A Horrific Global Food Crisis Is Coming

"The following are 20 signs that a horrific global food crisis is coming....

#1 According to the World Bank, 44 million people around the globe have been pushed into extreme poverty since last June because of rising food prices.

#2 The world is losing topsoil at an astounding rate. In fact, according to Lester Brown, "one third of the world's cropland is losing topsoil faster than new soil is forming through natural processes".

#3 Due to U.S. ethanol subsidies, almost a third of all corn grown in the United States is now used for fuel. This is putting a lot of stress on the price of corn.

#4 Due to a lack of water, some countries in the Middle East find themselves forced to almost totally rely on other nations for basic food staples. For example, it is being projected that there will be no more wheat production in Saudi Arabia by the year 2012..."

at http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/20-signs-that-a-horrific-global-food-crisis-is-coming

Interest rate risk and the Fed

"Is borrowing short and lending long a risky strategy for the Fed?

The Federal Reserve today is holding $1.4 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities, which is $600 billion more than it held four years ago. The maturity of those securities has also increased significantly. In April 2007, more than half of those securities were one year or shorter. Today, the fraction is down to 8%.

Percentage of Federal Reserve holdings of U.S. Treasury securities by maturity, April 2007 and April 2011. Data source:H41.

Since 2007, the Fed has also acquired $132 billion in debt from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank, and $937 billion in mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie, Freddie, or Ginnie Mae. Where did the Fed get the money to buy all this stuff?

The answer is, whenever somebody sold these items to the Fed, the Fed credited an account that the seller's bank maintains with the Fed in the form of new Federal Reserve deposits. At the moment, most of those new reserves are just sitting there at the end of each day on some bank's balance sheet. Reserve balances with Federal Reserve banks have gone from $9 billion in April 2007 to almost $1.5 trillion today.

The Fed is currently paying banks 0.25% interest on those reserves, and is collecting an average interest rate of 4% on its long-term securities. That netted the Fed a healthy profit of $80 billion in 2010, which it returned to the U.S. Treasury. In effect, the Fed is borrowing short and lending long, making a huge profit on the difference, and handing it back to the Treasury.

But of course, that only works in your favor when the short rate is below the long rate. At the moment, the short rate is well below the long rate, and historically that has been the average relation. But if short rates rise, is the Fed exposed to a loss on its portfolio?..."

at http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2011/04/interest_rate_r.html