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- The Fed Under Fire...(Video)
- Pete Peterson on Charlie Rose (Videos short and long, repost)
- Medvedev sees single currency dream in G8 coin gift
- More on Unemployment: The "Exhaustion Rate" Underestimates the Issue (Chart on page)
- Exhaustion Rate Enron Style (Chart)
- About the best collection of Housing Charts I have yet to see (Seen on ZeroHedge)
- Shadow Inventory
- Bloomberg's Jonathan Weil On GoldmanGate (Video)
- Obama Says Economic Stimulus Worked as Intended, Urges Patience
- Government Spent $104,000,000,000.00 More Than it Took In - Table of the Haves and the Have-Nots
- Chinese Handcuffs? No, Chinese trade deficit (H/T Fujisan)
Economy
Pay attention to the comments of William Greider, author of “The Secrets of the Temple.” He is describing exactly what I was railing about all through the crisis last fall, namely that Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPM, HAD to buy Bear Stearns to save themselves and received $30 billion in guarantees from the Fed while Dimon also sat on the board of the New York Fed of which little Timothy Geithner was the head!
Here’s the real truth. JPM is the center of the derivatives universe and has already imploded. It is only a matter of time before the $90 trillion of derivatives [enphasis min] they hold, and hide, and obscure come crashing down.
Audit the FED? ABSOLUTELY. I fully support that, but I can almost guarantee you it will not happen in any real manner, for if it does, that will lead to the end of the Fed, a very good reason to support the REAL audit of which they are obviously so afraid. (again ht Glass!)
Pete Peterson on Charlie Rose (Videos short and long, repost)
First video pegs dollar crisis possibility at 75%
Medvedev sees single currency dream in G8 coin gift
"This is the international currency."
Russia, along with China, has been a vocal proponent of diversifying the global currency system away from the dollar, which has dominated global finance and commerce since the end of World War II.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the summit joined the band in favour of dumping the dollar as the international currency of reference, insisting that "we cannot stick with just one single currency."
More on Unemployment: The "Exhaustion Rate" Underestimates the Issue (Chart on page)
There is some confusion out there as to what exactly the "exhaustion rate" is (I had been confused myself). The following definition has been commonly used by many blogs and media pundits alike:
The United States Department of Labor publishes statistics on the "exhaustion rate" - this is a measure of the number of people who have used up their benefits, and will no longer be receiving unemployment checks.
This definition had been correct. And if this were still true, the chart below would show just how large a crisis we were in with those that are no longer able to receive unemployment at almost 50% of their "unemployment" class.Unfortunately, this equation misses a large change in the U.S. unemployment legislature which results in the figure actually being even worse.
Again, the definition HAD been true. The reason why it is HAD, rather than HAS is that the calculation for the exhaustion rate has not changed, even though benefits have been extended not once, but twice over the past year (first from 6 months to 9 months in July and then to 12 months in November).
Why is this important? Because the Department of Labor never changed their calculation. The calculation is as follows:
The 12 Month Average of those Receiving their Final Payment divided by...
The 12 Month Average of those Receiving their 1st Payment, with a 6 Month Lag
Exhaustion Rate Enron Style (Chart)
About the best collection of Housing Charts I have yet to see (Seen on ZeroHedge)
This means in the last four months out of the 151,000 homes sold in California, some 75,000 to 80,000 homes that sold were distressed properties.
And here is where the major data discrepancies begin for the California housing market. Let us look at the distress inventory for this same timeframe:
In the same time that California was selling an average of 38,000 homes a month, an average 47,000 homes were being foreclosed on. So even looking at this basic data set for 4 months, we know that in March 20,787 homes that sold were foreclosure re-sales. But during March, we know that California had 48,927 actual foreclosures (we aren’t counting the 58,959 notice of defaults that will become foreclosures in 6 to 9 months). This pattern holds for April and May and I would assume June as well. So what is the bottom line? Some 23,000 to 28,000 homes per month that are foreclosed or now owned by the bank don’t make their way to the public MLS! That is why in this short time frame, we see the actual public data dwindle because organic sales from non-distressed properties are accounted for, but the building distress market is kept off the books and this is enormous. In fact, the MLS data is well accounted for:
Bloomberg's Jonathan Weil On GoldmanGate (Video)
Obama Says Economic Stimulus Worked as Intended, Urges Patience
President Barack Obama said his $787 billion stimulus bill “has worked as intended” as he pushed back against Republican criticism that his recovery program has failed to rescue the economy.
Government Spent $104,000,000,000.00 More Than it Took In - Table of the Haves and the Have-Nots
Richard Karn, good discussion on Cap and
TradeTax, Interesting views on dollar decoupling/derivative.
Chinese Handcuffs? No, Chinese trade deficit (H/T Fujisan)
This means that the need for China to buy our treasuries will have largely gone away.
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Comments
When we listen to an interview with someone like Pete Peterson, let us not forget that he is the recently retired head of CFR, AND his interviewer, Charlie Rose, and the one to whom he referred, Fareed Zakarias, are both members of the Tri Lateral Commission. (We just have to listen VERY carefully to their words. For example, Rose made a very positive comment about the stimulus, that would blow right past someone if they weren't listening carefully. But it still goes to the subconscious)
These guys, along with the elected politicians, are getting better and better at talking about the same things that bother us, but in highly covert ways, and we can easily be mislead if we are not listening carefully for what they are REALLY saying.
Here is an interview with Jim Sinclair on gold and the dollar: http://www.summit.co.za/video/face2face/20090710
Interestingly, this is something we have not heard much about. Yet, the time is coming soon when millions of those who have lost their jobs, and many of whom have lost their homes, will be without any further financial assistance. Don't you just wonder what the attitude, and actions, of these folks will be, as this begins to unfold. Can't be a pretty scene!
Here's some real data from: Broomfield Colorado Scientific & Cultural Facilities District
begin quote:
The May 2009 SCFD sales and use tax revenue was $3,121,401.32.
This compares to May 2008 tax revenue of $3,616,875.79. The variance is ($495,474.47), which is a 13.7% DECREASE over May 2008.
The 2009 year-to-date (YTD) total is $14,498,981.32 compared to YTD 2008 $16,984,534.14. The variance is ($2,485,552.82), which is a 14.6% DECREASE in 2009 over (YTD) 2008.
end quote.
Don's comment: the happy talk is working. we were down 18% at the end of the first quarter. now we're down only 14% YTD. therefore, people in Broomfield, CO are spending a little more now than they were during the first quarter of the year. this is a clear indication of how out of touch with reality the general public is.
Ben your first post I really agree with & the one above made me really think how right you will be that "can't be a pretty scene" will really be true. I have spend a lot of time outside the USA which has been a real eye opener in my life. For one I realized how brain washed I was & how every country brainwashes it's people also. I sure hope the Internet will help break these barriers down in our future while chasing all the "little wizards of Oz's" out from behind their BIG curtains they hide behind to do their "dirty work".
Sad for me to say but so many Americans I have found in general to be far less happy than many of these so called impoverished third world places (IMHO these so called "third worlders"had better sense of family values). Now if people here are cynical now & not friendly enough to just say good morning etc. how will they be when it gets to the point you point out? Really bad
I am afraid.
The one thing that always impressed me about a lot of the natives of some of the out of way spots in this world were these people could care less about the economy of the world or stock markets (don't worry be happy). They have their well functioning little communities & knew how to get all that was needed to sustain their happiness & health.
idoctor,
I'm so glad you pointed out your observations about other people in the world who, supposedly, are so much worse off than are we, and yet they show up on poll after poll as being far happier. Wehave observed the same thing. Surely it couldn't be because they don't try to get their happiness from buying and consuming? Do you mean to tell me that having genuine relationships with family and friends, living simply, taking good care of the earth, having some basic productive skills and the like can actually make a person more content? Surely not.
I'm thinking that if we have to go to "their" way, this could be the best thing that comes from any type of collapse we might face. Maybe we can get our priorities straight for a change.
Except for the fact that the government creates no money.
The one and only solution to ending debt slavery. www.wealthmoney.org
Ben Thank you for refreshing my memory on what is truly more important than just racking up more dollars in my life. This is what I believe Chris Martenson has been trying to make people realize also. No place is pure utopia is one thing I have learned & we all tend to want to believe the grass is greener somewhere else. I am happy in the USA & love my country but I am not blind either. If it ain't broke don't fix it but the way the US is changing & Constitution is being distorted it maybe becoming broke in more ways than one.
We only live once so health & happiness has to be #1. I have to remind myself constantly of this. We have so many subliminal controls brought to bear on us from TV to our culture pushing all of our emotional buttons making us feel inadequate if we are not with the bleedist crowd. It is truly amazing how one needs to get out of your backyard to really take a different look at things & clear your thinking.
It may sound uncool to many who need a stadium of 100,000 maniacs under the influence all being crazy at a Super Dome to have fun. But to have native people take you in as one of them, just having a soccer ball & basic food at a picnic, all laughing & enjoying being alive & in touch with reality but better yet their children.
Ben I am happy you have experienced this also.
PS My daughter just arrived telling me that she went with her boyfriend to apply to a local College. The administration explained all the details etc. about the College but this just blew me away! They were told that they offered free counseling & free antidepressants......WTF??? Sorry...but....do they know something bad is coming??? Whats up with this? You see we all have these problems & we just don't realize it but they do & they can fix it for you
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(Fortune Magazine) -- Just how red-hot is the current worldwide expansion? "This is far and away the strongest global economy I've seen in my business lifetime," U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson declared on a recent visit to Fortune's offices.
Robert Reich's Blog: When Will The Recovery Begin? Never.
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” ~ Edward Abbey
Near Brussels, Belgium