In-expensive government backed loans for **insert vital thing we all "need" here** causes bubbles that then cause costs to shoot up and we all suffer when those bubbles pop. When no one can afford quality higher education, enrollment will tank and there will then be a LOT of Universities shutting down. Massive disruption. :-(
No matter how well intended government backed "stimulating" "helping" money is, it causes REAL inflation.In-expensive government backed loans for **insert vital thing we all "need" here**... more
More stimulus is not what we need, argues YPNation contributor Ewan Watt. It's time to cut spending. It's the debate on everyone's mind...
"The longer we go down this road, the longer the pain will be. What I have proposed is a radical cut in spending and a return to some semblance of fiscal credibility in Washington, D.C. In turn, these cuts will pave the way for lower interest rates over a sustained period of time that will not just subsidize Wall Street, but also ease the burden on American households.
My initial post was meant to shock and alarm fellow young professionals about the perilous path we are following that will lead to a major increase in the cost of living and a less prosperous future for us and our families. I also cited the ugly consensus we now appear to have about the U.S. deficit. What’s telling is that the rest of the Western world (bar the United Kingdom) has learned a great lesson from the perils of combining a loose monetary system with a burdensome debt."More stimulus is not what we need, argues YPNation contributor Ewan Watt. It's time to... more
It is hard to overestimate the danger to which the fecklessness of our current leaders in Washington exposes the nation.
It is the interest on the national debt that makes our future unstable. The exploding size of that burden suggests that, short of devaluing the dollar and taking a large bite out of the middle class through inflation and taxation, there is no way to ever pay down that bill.
As of Sept. 30, 2009, the national debt was almost $12 trillion and interest on that debt was $383 billion for the year, according to the Treasury Department's Bureau of the Public Debt. The Congressional Budget Office on Oct. 7 estimated the 2009 budget deficit to be almost $1.4 trillion (about 10% of GDP). In August, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) estimated total government revenues at about $2 trillion. The revenue estimate included $904 billion from individual income taxes. This means the cost of interest on the debt represented more than 40 cents of every dollar that came in from individual income taxes. ...
During Jimmy Carter's years in the White House, Treasury yields reached 15%. The 2009 average interest rate on the debt was only 3.2%. With our mounting national debt and budget deficits, it is reasonable to assume that in the near future interest rates on new and refinanced debt could double or triple.
In stark but simple terms, unless Americans are made aware of this financial crisis and demand accountability, the very fabric of our society will be destroyed. Interest rates and interest costs will soar and government revenues will be devoured by interest on the national debt. Eventually, most of what we spend on Social Security, Medicare, education, national defense and much more may have to come from new borrowing, if such funding can be obtained. Left unchecked, this destructive deficit-debt cycle will leave the White House and Congress with either having to default on the national debt or instruct the Treasury to run the printing presses into a policy of hyperinflation.
It is against this background that Washington is now debating whether to create social programs it can't afford.
Today the American dollar is only worth 4 cents compared to when the Federal Reserve, the same Federal Reserve System that is on every dollar bill you carry, gained control over our currency in 1913. Now that unelected bureaucrats have the ability to manipulate the currency base, a look back at history le......
***This article has been chosen as a discussion topic on PFP Movement Radio, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pfpmovementradio Friday night at 6pm-8pm. Please Call In To The Show, 347-633-9636. COMMENTS will be included in the show so feel free to discuss or ask questions here on current.com as they will be addressed during the show. This article will also air on Freedom Hour Saturday at 9pm-10pm on Movement TV http://www.peacefreedomprosperity.com/?page_id=36***Today the American dollar is only worth 4 cents compared to when the Federal Reserve,... more
A large portion of the US national debt is caused by the many government programs and policies we must borrow in order to keep afloat.
Keep in mind that although people rely on the promise of these benefits, the government can - and does - change these programs in ways that increase or decrease the value of the expected benefits, which has the effect of expanding or shrinking the total amount of obligations.
Such changes can be made to the size of payroll tax contributions, cost-of-living adjustments, beneficiary premiums, eligibility ages and benefit levels, among other examples.
Then, of course, there is the inevitable government corruption paid to keep the fat-cats in power. That is how you get to $56.4 trillion.
And remember: every year in which no down payments or reforms are made to any of the obligations above, this total grows by $2 trillion to $3 trillion. This is an exponential increase.A large portion of the US national debt is caused by the many government programs and... more
Obama’s U.S. debt wipes out the value of our dollar with his FREE MONEY programs. The world is threatening to use another currency because of it. Obama, stop wasting our money. Stop printing money! Stop inflation. Lower taxes! Stop being a socialist.
-Obama’s U.S. debt wipes out the value of our dollar with his FREE MONEY programs.... more
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Whose recovery is the Fed stimulating, anyway?
A year after the near collapse of the financial markets, the global economy has stabilized. Job losses have slowed and stocks have posted a sharp rally.
Yet skeptics warn that a major driver of the recovery in stock and bond markets -- a round of unprecedented emergency money printing by the Federal Reserve -- could actually slow the healing of the real economy.
*It should be noted that Ron Paul definitely asked Bernanke about this exact thing in a hearing back in the spring.NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Whose recovery is the Fed stimulating, anyway?
A year after... more
NFL average ticket prices rise; thank the Dallas Cowboys
Going to an NFL game this year? Prepare to pay more.
The average price of an NFL ticket rose 4% this season to $75. The increase was fueled largely by the steep prices at the Cowboys' new stadium, Team Marketing Report's survey of NFL ticket prices said. (See the full survey in a pdf here.)
Dallas surpassed New England and now has the most expensive tickets in the league.NFL average ticket prices rise; thank the Dallas Cowboys
Going to an NFL game this... more
The Ludwig Von Mises Institute’s 1996 Documentary On The Federal Reserve (The Fed) with Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, and many more.
***This article has been chosen as a discussion topic on PFP Movement Radio, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pfpmovementradio Friday night at 6pm-8pm. Please Call In To The Show, 347-633-9636. COMMENTS will be included in the show so feel free to discuss or ask questions here on current.com as they will be addressed during the show. This article will also air on Freedom Hour Saturday at 9pm-10pm on Movement TV http://www.peacefreedomprosperity.com/?page_id=36***The Ludwig Von Mises Institute’s 1996 Documentary On The Federal Reserve (The Fed)... more
Roubini warns that if policymakers try to fight rising budget deficits by raising taxes and cutting spending, they could undermine any recovery.Roubini warns that if policymakers try to fight rising budget deficits by raising... more
Ron Paul and two other guests discuss the Federal Reserve and take questions at the Cato Institute. Dr. Paul speaks the plain truth that is easy to follow even for the financial novice. He was right about the economy before the crash and he will be right about the future of the economy unless he gets support from YOU.Ron Paul and two other guests discuss the Federal Reserve and take questions at the... more
***This article has been chosen as a discussion topic on PFP Movement Radio, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pfpmovementradio Friday night at 6pm-8pm. Please Call In To The Show, 347-633-9636. COMMENTS will be included in the show so feel free to discuss or ask questions here on current.com as they will be addressed during the show. This article will also air on Freedom Hour Saturday at 9pm-10pm on Movement TV http://www.peacefreedomprosperity.com/?page_id=36***CNN 8/6/2009
***This article has been chosen as a discussion topic on PFP... more
Reflation. It is a very provocative concept. We all know what is meant by the term Inflation. It is almost intuitive because we have lived with it all of our lives. Those of us over 40 have a special affection with that word as we experienced the 1970s and some of the worst that inflation can bring.
But few of us have a good idea what is meant by the term reflation. Whether we should embrace or fear it. My way of looking at reflation is to "fill the hole" left by the deflation caused by housing, stock market and other financial asset price contraction. All that asset value had to go somewhere. The assets underlying value didn't just disappear, though much of the derivative paper might have. Assets were revalued by a mass panic of the entire American and global population. But this was a psychological phenomonon, and so it can be reversed. It is quite possible for assets to regain their previous value with some encouragement. That encouragement comes in the form of reflation and what it encourages: the "animal spirits" of the market place. Until we find asset price recovery through the process of reflation, diminished values will wreak havoc on the economy through slashed consumption, falling corporate and tax revenues, declining profits and higher unemployment.
Reflation is made possible by the expansion of the monetary supply, offsetting money supply reduction that occurs from asset price contraction. But it is an indirect offset. If my house was worth $600,000 in 2007 and is now worth $400,000 in July 2009, to reflate the economy the government doesn't just send me a check for $200,000 (though a case can be made for doing just this ala "Helicopter Ben"). Rather, monetary expansion trickles through the economy: first to bolster the banking system where it originates from programs like TARP and TALF, then through Federal "stimulus programs" that eventually (belatedly?) result in a "Cash for Clunkers" program, and finally to home owners through firming home prices and higher wages with economic expansion and increasing demand; all from the proverbial "thawing" of a frozen credit system enabled by backstopping the banking system.
Read the rest of this article and more at http://Wealth-Ed.comReflation. It is a very provocative concept. We all know what is meant by the term... more
From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression - and they're about to do it again.
The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindleddry American empire, reads like a Who's Who of Goldman Sachs graduates.
[more of the excellent peice of reporting by Matt Taibbi at the link]From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market... more
The U.S. economy will enter “hyperinflation” approaching the levels in Zimbabwe because the Federal Reserve will be reluctant to raise interest rates, investor Marc Faber said.
Prices may increase at rates “close to” Zimbabwe’s gains, Faber said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate reached 231 million percent in July, the last annual rate published by the statistics office.
“I am 100 percent sure that the U.S. will go into hyperinflation,” Faber said. “The problem with government debt growing so much is that when the time will come and the Fed should increase interest rates, they will be very reluctant to do so and so inflation will start to accelerate.”
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said on May 21 inflation may rise to 2.5 percent in 2011. That exceeds the central bank officials’ long-run preferred range of 1.7 percent to 2 percent and contrasts with the concerns of some officials and economists that the economic slump may provoke a broad decline in prices.
“There are some concerns of a risk from inflation from all the liquidity injected into the banking system but it’s not an immediate threat right now given all the excess capacity in the U.S. economy,” said David Cohen, head of Asian economic forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore. “I have a little more confidence that the Fed has an exit strategy for draining all the liquidity at the appropriate time.”
Action Economics is predicting inflation of minus 0.4 percent in the U.S. this year, with prices increasing by 1.8 percent and 2 percent in 2010 and 2011, respectively, Cohen said.
Near ZeroThe U.S. economy will enter “hyperinflation” approaching the levels in Zimbabwe... more
Shortly after taking office, President Obama urged the Congress to approve a “stimulus”
package amounting to $787 billion in order to (he said) restore the economy to health.
In his first news conference as president,Obama warned that a failure to pass this bill
“could turn a crisis into a catastrophe.” “I can tell you with complete confidence,” he continued,
“that a failure to act will only deepen this crisis as well as the pain felt by millions of
Americans.”
What the economy really needs, contra Obama, is not government “stimulus”
spending to try to revive it as it is.We should not want to “stimulate” what should now be
obvious to everyone was an unsustainable economy.That only encourages it to continue
along a false path whose inevitable abandonment in the future will be all the more painful
thanks to our insistence on propping it up now. As we’ll see, what the economy instead
needs is a market-driven restructuring, in which bubble activities shrink and resources are
reallocated into lines of production that conform to what consumers want and can afford.Shortly after taking office, President Obama urged the Congress to approve a... more
KQED Public TV, Bill Moyers interview William K. Black on America's Economic Fraud Issue.
The financial industry brought the economy to its knees, but how did they get away with it? With the nation wondering how to hold the bankers accountable, Bill Moyers sits down with William K. Black, the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Black offers his analysis of what went wrong and his critique of the bailout
The governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, met with the Queen today for the first time in her reign.The governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, met with the Queen today for the... more
The British Bankers' Association has confirmed that there has been a rise in the number of mortgage approvals given by major banks.The British Bankers' Association has confirmed that there has been a rise in the... more
