from King World News:
John
Williams just warned that significant inflation will feed into the
global system because of rising oil prices and the Fed’s policy to
debase the dollar. Williams, who founded ShadowStats, also warned the
US dollar will take a major hit because of global “dollar dumping.”
Here is what Williams had to say about the situation: “With oil and
gasoline prices pressured by market concerns over Middle Eastern
political stability, monthly consumer inflation jumped in February and
stabilized in the three-plus percentage range on a year-to-year basis.”
John Williams continues: Read More @ KingWorldNews.com
The Bernank Doesn’t See Inflation…
Click Here to Listen to the Podcast
A casual reminder courtesy of Edwards Jones.
We have long shown that "investors" whatever that term means in the New Normal - those gullible enough to put their money in Bennie Madoff, pardon Bennie Bernanke Asset Management? - have been not only reluctant to put their money into stocks, but despite week after week of artificial, low volume highs, driven entirely by Primary Dealers (and now European banks post the $1.3 trillion in LTROs, not to mention even foreign Central Banks recently buying high beta stocks) spiking the market ever higher courtesy of record reserves, but in fact continue to pull their cash out of the stock market with every thrust higher. Why, just last week another $1.4 billion in cash was pulled from domestic equity funds, nominal Dow 13,000 be damned. The truth is that the banks are desperate to start offloading their risk exposure to retail investors, and instead of selling, are furiously trying to send the market ever higher just to get that ever elusive "investor" back: just look at how much the market rose by last week, CNBC will say: do you really want to be out of this huge rally? Alas, the damage has been done: between the Great Financial Crisis, the Flash Crash, a massively corrupt regulator, rehypothecating assets that tend to vaporize with no consequences, and a central bank which effectively has admitted to running a Russell 2000 targeting ponzi scheme, the investor is gone. But what if? What if the retail herd does, despite everything, come back into stocks? After all the money is in bonds, or so the conventional wisdom states. What harm could happen if the 10 Year yield goes back from 2% to 3%, if the offset is another 100 S&P points. After all it is good for the velocity of money and all that - so says classical economic theory. Well, this may be one of those "be careful what you wish for." Because while investors have indeed park hundreds of billions out of stocks and into bonds, the real story is elsewhere. And the real story is the real elephant nobody wants to talk about. Presenting: America's combined cash hoard, which between total demand deposits, checkable deposits, savings deposits, and time deposits (source H.6), is at an all time high of $8.1 trillion.
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John
Williams just warned that significant inflation will feed into the
global system because of rising oil prices and the Fed’s policy to
debase the dollar. Williams, who founded ShadowStats, also warned the
US dollar will take a major hit because of global “dollar dumping.”
Here is what Williams had to say about the situation: “With oil and
gasoline prices pressured by market concerns over Middle Eastern
political stability, monthly consumer inflation jumped in February and
stabilized in the three-plus percentage range on a year-to-year basis.”John Williams continues: Read More @ KingWorldNews.com
The Bernank Doesn’t See Inflation…
by Brittany Stepniak, WealthWire.com:
In brief, Federal Reserve Chairman
Ben Bernanke says the potential for price increases across the board in
the United States is best described as “subdued.”
Most other experts believe “sudden” is a more appropriate word to describe the inflation crisis at hand here…
Amity Shlaes (Bloomberg)
paints the real inflation picture for us with a sailing analogy. Shlaes
says monetary policy is very similar to sailing: You may be blissfully
gliding along on smooth waters with nothing but clear skies and blue
water in your path. A windy storm may be looming in the undetectable
distance, but this is all unbeknown to the sailor.
Right now, the U.S. is experience a similar situation. We’re unprepared for what’s about to hit us.
Mainly, we’re unprepared for the burden of “sudden” inflation and the threats associated with hyper-inflation.
Read More @ WealthWire.com
Looking
at the tranquil sea that is the S&P one may be forgiven to ignore
the rapid intraday surge in Brent which was up over $3 in a few hours,
approaching $126 once again. But why? After all the FOMC minutes were oh
so very slightly hawkish, and not to mention that the Fed’s scribe
Hilsenrath told everyone at best the Fed would proceed with sterilized
QE which would leave risk prices untouched. Maybe it has something to do
with this. According to Israel’s NRG, in a just completed cabinet vote,
for the first time Netanyahu has gotten a majority (8 over 6)
supporting an Iran attack. NRG also notes that at this point Israel has
decided to not wait until the US elections in November before proceeding
with sending crude to the stratosphere. From NRG (google translated): “Israeli
political sources believe that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a
majority Cabinet support Israeli military action against Iran without
American approval.…
Read More @ ZeroHedge.com
Spanish House Prices Plunge Again
by Pater Tenebrarum, Acting-Man.com:
It
is well known that Spain’s economy is in a depression, and we do not
use this term lightly. With the official unemployment rate at about 23%
and youth unemployment close to 50% it is not an exaggeration to speak
of a depression. The probability of social upheaval erupting with
greater frequency is extremely high. We already noted that the general
strike recently called for by Spain’s unions is only the fifth since the
end of the Franco regime in 1975. It is a rare event in Spain and
underscores the decline in the social mood and the growing desperation.
Those who still have work want to protect their privileges and use the
unemployed as their political weapon.
Read More @ Acting-Man.com
by Pater Tenebrarum, Acting-Man.com:
It
is well known that Spain’s economy is in a depression, and we do not
use this term lightly. With the official unemployment rate at about 23%
and youth unemployment close to 50% it is not an exaggeration to speak
of a depression. The probability of social upheaval erupting with
greater frequency is extremely high. We already noted that the general
strike recently called for by Spain’s unions is only the fifth since the
end of the Franco regime in 1975. It is a rare event in Spain and
underscores the decline in the social mood and the growing desperation.
Those who still have work want to protect their privileges and use the
unemployed as their political weapon.Read More @ Acting-Man.com
by Alasdair Macleod, GoldMoney.com:
Greece
has now defaulted, and other eurozone governments as well as agencies
such as the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and
European Investment Bank have retrospectively inserted themselves as
senior creditors, a precedent that should be of great concern and which
has profound implications for private sector banks.
Furthermore, when a state defaults it is only a small part of the whole story, because governments today are major participants in their economies. The consequences of a central government default extend to state guarantees for other entities and related businesses: in the case of Greece its default has altered the assumptions behind all non-central government public-sector loans, such as railway bonds. And the private sector not directly dependent on government subsidies or contracts is also affected by the prospect of excessive taxes.
For this reason, the consequence of Greece’s default goes considerably beyond the loans directly involved, and all other eurozone nations are in a similar position. The headline numbers are a fraction of the total involved.
Read More @ GoldMoney.com
Greece
has now defaulted, and other eurozone governments as well as agencies
such as the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and
European Investment Bank have retrospectively inserted themselves as
senior creditors, a precedent that should be of great concern and which
has profound implications for private sector banks.Furthermore, when a state defaults it is only a small part of the whole story, because governments today are major participants in their economies. The consequences of a central government default extend to state guarantees for other entities and related businesses: in the case of Greece its default has altered the assumptions behind all non-central government public-sector loans, such as railway bonds. And the private sector not directly dependent on government subsidies or contracts is also affected by the prospect of excessive taxes.
For this reason, the consequence of Greece’s default goes considerably beyond the loans directly involved, and all other eurozone nations are in a similar position. The headline numbers are a fraction of the total involved.
Read More @ GoldMoney.com
by Mike Shedlock, Global Economic Analysis:
Much has been written these past few days about allegations of impropriety at Goldman Sachs. For example, I commented on the Parasitic Behavior of Goldman to Its Clients.
Some defended Goldman, however, there really is no defense. Worse yet, the problem goes far beyond Goldman to Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and for that matter everywhere else one looks.
I will get into specifics in a bit, but first consider an email from Timothy who writes:
Read More @ GlobalEconomicAnalysis.Blogspot.com
Much has been written these past few days about allegations of impropriety at Goldman Sachs. For example, I commented on the Parasitic Behavior of Goldman to Its Clients.Some defended Goldman, however, there really is no defense. Worse yet, the problem goes far beyond Goldman to Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and for that matter everywhere else one looks.
I will get into specifics in a bit, but first consider an email from Timothy who writes:
Read More @ GlobalEconomicAnalysis.Blogspot.com
“MF Global Is Worth More To Its Creditors Dead Than It Was Alive” Says Fund Manager Mark Melin
Marc Faber: The Perils of Money Printing’s Unintended Consequences
Mickey Fulp, the Mercenary Geologist, is always trying to see the world in different ways. When you can break from the pack to gain unique insight into the way markets behave and participants react, there’s a great potential for profits. When we talked to Mickey back in October, Platinum was trading below Gold, an occurrence that has happened only very rarely in the past. Every time it’s happened before, Platinum has posted large gains, and this time has been no exception. Today, 3/16/12 it’s at $1670; Mickey was a buyer at $1500. Now, it’s back over Gold and the fundamentals look extremely favorable. The undervalued commodity play of the decade has to be natural gas. It’s trading just over $2 per mcf, and the ratio of btu’s against a barrel of oil just shot up 50! Of course there are very good reasons why this is happening. The shale gas boom in the US has given us an extreme NG surplus. It’s a regional market, and the gas is very hard to move and export to other places in the world. But, be sure that as long as the world is hungry for energy, someone will find a way to get that gas where it needs to be. Especially when gas trades around $10 per mcf in Europe and $15 per mcf in Asia. But patience in this market is clearly a requisite and a virtue.
Click Here to Listen to the Podcast"You Are Here"
A casual reminder courtesy of Edwards Jones.The Numbers That Matter: $15,564,809,891,768 And $8.354 Billion
Without wasting our readers' time, here are the only two numbers that matter today:- $15,564,809,891,767.99 - This is how high record US federal debt is as of today. Although "record" and "US debt" in the same sentence is now redundant. So just debt. (source)
- $8.354 billion. This is how much net US tax revenues (net of refunds of course) are lower in fiscal 2012 to date compared to the same period in 2011. In this Bizarro world, economic recovery is apparently based on weaker numbers (source).
This Is Where "The Money" Really Is - Be Careful What You Wish For
We have long shown that "investors" whatever that term means in the New Normal - those gullible enough to put their money in Bennie Madoff, pardon Bennie Bernanke Asset Management? - have been not only reluctant to put their money into stocks, but despite week after week of artificial, low volume highs, driven entirely by Primary Dealers (and now European banks post the $1.3 trillion in LTROs, not to mention even foreign Central Banks recently buying high beta stocks) spiking the market ever higher courtesy of record reserves, but in fact continue to pull their cash out of the stock market with every thrust higher. Why, just last week another $1.4 billion in cash was pulled from domestic equity funds, nominal Dow 13,000 be damned. The truth is that the banks are desperate to start offloading their risk exposure to retail investors, and instead of selling, are furiously trying to send the market ever higher just to get that ever elusive "investor" back: just look at how much the market rose by last week, CNBC will say: do you really want to be out of this huge rally? Alas, the damage has been done: between the Great Financial Crisis, the Flash Crash, a massively corrupt regulator, rehypothecating assets that tend to vaporize with no consequences, and a central bank which effectively has admitted to running a Russell 2000 targeting ponzi scheme, the investor is gone. But what if? What if the retail herd does, despite everything, come back into stocks? After all the money is in bonds, or so the conventional wisdom states. What harm could happen if the 10 Year yield goes back from 2% to 3%, if the offset is another 100 S&P points. After all it is good for the velocity of money and all that - so says classical economic theory. Well, this may be one of those "be careful what you wish for." Because while investors have indeed park hundreds of billions out of stocks and into bonds, the real story is elsewhere. And the real story is the real elephant nobody wants to talk about. Presenting: America's combined cash hoard, which between total demand deposits, checkable deposits, savings deposits, and time deposits (source H.6), is at an all time high of $8.1 trillion.
Please consider making a small donation, to help cover some of the labor and costs to run this blog.
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