Tag Archives: economics

Peter Schiff on the New Depression

31 Thursday Jan 2019

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And the end of the Fed’s games (and maybe of the GOP):

He’s right about everything. Conservatives please note, if Trump doesn’t build the wall and drain the swamp, NOW, he’s done and the idiotic Amerikan sheep will fall hard for impossible socialism. One thing leads to another.

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Cashing Out With the Devil (Worship) Rays

27 Sunday Jan 2019

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One step closer to that utopian cashless society, down in St. Petersburg.

Fans at Tropicana Field in Florida can expect shorter lines at the concessions stands this year as the Tampa Bay Rays announced that their stadium is going cash free.

Rays vice president of strategy and development William Walsh said on Friday that the move is an attempt cut the average transaction time in half during games, ESPN reported

“We have made significant investments each year to improve the ballpark experience for fans,” he said in a statement. “This change will increase speed of service and reduce lines throughout the ballpark.”

The stadium will accept major credit cards, apple pay, season-ticket holders’ Rays Cards and, for those wanting to use cash, they can do so by purchasing Rays gift cards to use at concessions, Fox 13 reported.

Surrendering more freedom to Big Bankster and getting that over-priced beer-flavored water at a slightly faster pace – what a deal! I suspect the local fans will be all over it.

This particular demise isn’t a concern if, like me, you still haven’t let MLB off the hook for the Strike of ’94.

Resolutions and the Economic Landscape, Circa 2019 – From TPC

02 Wednesday Jan 2019

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Happy new year, one and all. Anno Domini Two Thousand, Nineteen is upon us!


John Maynard Keynes, as part of his general theory, held that when the economy was down, the government should close the gap via excessive spending, through debt if necessary. He also posited that when the bad times were over, the government should cut back and pay off the incurred debts. This was a theory, not Holy Writ.

 

For their sleazy part, the politicians heard the first step loud and clear. The second part, to Keynes’s dismay, they deemed irrelevant and unnecessary. Their game of reality became constant spending, ever-increasing debts, and deficits as cause celebre. A ministerial Icarus taunted the sun with predictable results.

 

We, the Living, pay the price for this stupidity. Most people drift along, concerned only with immediately proximate affairs, relying on someone of importance to tell them of things like recession. By the time the elites notice a downturn, or speak openly of one, it has usually been in progress for some time.
…

READ IN FULL AT TPC

By the Time They Notice…

26 Wednesday Dec 2018

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It’s already started. Summers speaks concern:

The markets aren’t looking good, but former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers says not to panic … yet.

Amid a month of falling stocks, Summers cautioned that “weak markets” don’t necessarily mean “economic disaster is around the corner.” Still, he’s increasing his prediction of a recession from “a bit less than 50 percent” to 60 percent, he tweeted Wednesday.

Not yet… When it’s been noticeably in progress for six to nine months, then they’ll admit it.

Allegedly, we’ve been in a recovery, a boom market for many years now. According to Keynes, this was the time to pay off debts used to jump out of the last downturn. That didn’t happen. As-is, Fed-Gov has been spending the funny money like there’s no tomorrow.

The federal government has added another $1,370,760,684,441.54 to the debt since last December 25, according to numbers published by the U.S. Treasury.

On Dec. 25, 2017, the federal debt was 20,492,874,492,282.58, according to the Treasury.

According to the latest numbers published by the Treasury, which show where the debt stood on Dec. 20, 2018, the federal debt was $21,863,635,176,724.12.

Almost back on track for $40 T by 2024. Not that that really matters anymore.

 

Calling the Plunge Protection Team

24 Monday Dec 2018

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About this time, during the early days of the last recession, the fraudsters-in-charge told us the economy and the banks had never been stronger. Then the bottom fell out. You might recall.

They would likely repeat the lies but for the machinations of an orange-haired bragger from their own town.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary called top U.S. bankers on Sunday amid an ongoing rout on Wall Street and made plans to convene a group of officials known as the “Plunge Protection Team.”

…

The Treasury said in a statement that Mnuchin talked with the chief executives of Bank of America (BAC.N), Citi (C.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N), JP Morgan Chase (JPM.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Wells Fargo (WFC.N).

“The CEOs confirmed that they have ample liquidity available for lending,” the Treasury said.

Mnuchin “also confirmed that they have not experienced any clearance or margin issues and that the markets continue to function properly,” the Treasury said.

By the time they notice these things or admit them, it’s already too late. At least they’re on record this time.

UPDATE: If you want to really overanalyze this on a Christmas Eve, then look at Option 3.

The Total Debt Solution – clearing the drafts

14 Friday Dec 2018

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***Note*** I’ve got a lot of drafts sitting around, some in existence and unpublished since 2013. It became obvious to me that I’m in no hurry to get around to them. But, they’ve survived various draft purges over the years. If they’re that important I can just come back and elaborate later. For now, I offer them, kind of as-is, in this, a lightning publishing round. The fun will continue while supplies last. Make of these what you will. Or not. I don’t care.

There will be more on this later. As-is, a short from Feb. of 2013:

Repudiate the entire federal debt and all other debts in the U.S. Take other steps to keep from repeating.  National bankruptcy is easier than one might suppose.  It’s critical now; the debt, all of it, is fake, evil, and deadly. Let 2019 be the Year of Jubilee.

Still On Schedule

12 Wednesday Dec 2018

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The next MAJOR recession/depression should ramp the already disastrous federal debt up, heading towards my prediction of $40 Trillion by 2024. Well on the way, now:

According to the U.S. Treasury, the debt of the federal government is currently sitting at $21,854,296,172,540.94, and at our current pace we will likely hit the $22 trillion mark next month. This is a horrifying national crisis, and yet nothing is being done about it. When Barack Obama entered the White House in January 2008, the U.S. was $10.6 trillion in debt, and so that means that we have added 11.2 trillion dollars of new debt to that total in less than 11 years. Needless to say, it doesn’t take a math genius to figure out that we have been adding an average of more than a trillion dollars a year to the national debt for more than a decade. But instead of getting our insatiable appetite for debt under control, Congress is actually accelerating our spending. At this point, there is no possible scenario in which this story ends well.

Meanwhile, the global financial elite are really starting to talk up the possibility of a new financial crisis.

By the time the “elite” start lying talking about a crisis, it’s already started.

From TPC: TION 101: Regulation, Taxation, and Inflation

19 Friday Oct 2018

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This week’s column follows, in full. I wrote it fast and dry and, one quick edit aside, I didn’t even read it. An apology for the ho-hum-ness passed to TPC. But … MB ran it with praise today. I read it and … he might be right. A blending of one of my pet issues with a little nuanced fiction, comedy even. It captures a glimpse into my recent foray into cultural anthropology, a little hidden German truth, and even some nature photography. Enjoy:

[Perrin Lovett] – TION 101: Regulation, Taxation, and Inflation

Somewhere, a professor concludes a lecture on political economy and economic politics.
———-
‘So, class, to wrap things up, the government and its allies – the other enemies of the free people – always engage in three insidious activities. All three loot actual productive value from the highest and best uses of capital, shifting it into various schemes, all of them nefarious. All three eat away at the economy. All three amount to forcible theft. Slavery, we could even rightly call it.
‘The stolen money, the stolen value is used to buy votes via illegal programs. It beats down innovation and competition from start-ups. It enriches and empowers the few at the expense of the many. Evil. To. The. Core.
‘And, again, I call these the three “tions.” That’s spelled “t-i-o-n-s,” pronounced “shuns, s-h-u-n-s.” And, shun these mechanisms of cultural destruction we should.
‘Again, they are: regulation, taxation, and inflation.
‘Taxation is the most obvious of the evil trio. Pay them what you’re told or else men with guns will literally come and take it by force – up to and including deadly force – if necessary. And for all they tax, they still spend more.
‘Think about this: King George demanded the aggregate equivalent of a one to two percent income tax, and that only affecting certain industries and persons. What do we pay Washington these days? Ten, twenty, thirty percent? Was as high as ninety at one time.
‘Regulation affects everything. This category is a bill of goods, sold to the enstupidated masses under the guise of “protection.” We know the only people protected are the government agents whose jobs depend on enforcement – more men with guns – and the wealthy businesses who write the laws and regulations.
‘Remember that the next time you’re tempted to vote. You’ve been sold out. They simply do not care about you. After the election dust settles and the pleasant lies subside, it’s back to business as usual. Government of, by, and for the corporations.
‘For an age and a half, politicians – especially “conservatives” – have railed and ranted about cutting the size and scope of the theft. They haven’t. Anymore, they don’t even try to retard the rate of growth. Sellouts, all.
‘All except one, maybe. The oddest thing has happened. For once we have, in power, a man willing to at least try what he boasts. And, most incredible of all, he’s seemingly getting results. Donald John Trump said he would cut taxes and regulations. And then … he cut taxes and regulations.
‘The tax cuts – decried as radical – were, to me, most modest. Still, modest beats nothing. But the regs. Those he’s been feeding into the wood chipper.
‘And the economy has answered. BOOM! (For now…)
‘The Congress, well not so much. Those fools keep spending and there’s never enough. With all the cuts, the economy is predictably growing. That means higher tax revenues – with and from lower tax rates. But the idiots spend even more. More debt. More debt. And then, some more debt. And the debt is a problem. Someone once wrote something about that… That was a truth and a joke…. Ah, well. (*Sigh*)
‘The debt goes hand in hand, hand on hammer, with the third “tion,” inflation. But, maybe, just maybe, Trump is about to address that too.
‘Up until now, he’s tolerated both the machinations of the Fed and the spendthrift stupidity of the legislative branch. Here’s to hoping that that’s about to change.
‘The other day, in typical Trump-Twitter fashion, the President accurately described the Fed criminals as “loco.” That’s el-Spanish for “crazy.”
‘And it is crazy. Central banking, as we’ve already noted, is always, always, always an insane suicide pact. Cheap, easy money today, misery tomorrow and for years to come. Theft and slavery, writ large. Cut taxes to Constitutional levels – to zero – and pare down the regulators to levels acceptable in 1787 and, if you keep up the funny money and debt, you still come to utter ruin. Eventually.
‘So. Really wrapping it up here. Let’s hope Trump smashes the locos! Amirite?
As the good and learned professor looked upon the gathered young faces, an uncertain hand rose from the throng.
‘Yes, young Sir,’ cued the professor.
A small voice answered, ‘My. My. My shoe is untied.’
‘Teddy called Tommy a bad word!’ called out another tiny voice unsolicited.
‘Um,’ stammered the old academic, ‘Well. Let’s just. Okay! Class is dismissed! Your teacher will now help you out to the buses … and … so forth. Down with the “tions!”’
Slightly dismayed by the blank stares in Ms. Hiccup’s third-grade classroom, Professor Wahrheit collected his things and departed the Immanuel Kant Comprehensive Elementary School for the Arts and STEM Inclusion Learning.
A foursome of deer, ambling about on business of their own, encountered Wahrheit midway along his long walk home. ‘The man seems troubled,’ thought the lead doe. But the “tions” simply were not her concern. With a sniff and a bound she was gone. Three smaller females followed. Warheit, still walking, didn’t even notice.
Who, really, notices what?
Picture by Perrin.

THE TPC ORIGINAL, HERE

Anyone Really Shocked?

14 Sunday Oct 2018

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Is there another (non-seedy) side to the Goldman?

Fresh dirt has spilled at Goldman Sachs — and this time it has been caught on tape.

David Solomon, who took the helm of the Wall Street giant from Lloyd Blankfein last week, once blew off criticism of Goldman’s double-dealing in a big energy merger as a matter of “perception” — a cheeky dismissal that came despite a class-action lawsuit against the deal that eventually cost Goldman $20 million in fees.

That’s among the cringeworthy quotes that Carmen Segarra claims she secretly recorded behind closed doors for her new book “Noncompliant: A Lone Whistleblower Exposes the Giants of Wall Street.” The 340-page exposé expands on her previous claims that Goldman Sachs has long exploited an improperly cozy relationship with Wall Street regulators.

I’m sure “your” humble public servants are already looking into this.