Wolf Richter

LEAKED: Draghi’s Sudden Switcheroo On QE

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It happened at a private meeting with top lawmakers in Germany during a two-day shindig.

Who Is Getting Crushed in This Bull Market?

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By now, this wondrous bull market constantly gets benchmarked against the dotcom bubble. It’s different this time, we’re told, even on NPR. But the wholesale destruction of financial assets has already started, one pocket at a time.

This Chart Is A True Picture of The Bank Credit Bubble In America, Now Bigger Than The Last One (Which Blew Up)

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For a while, rumor had it that banks weren’t lending, and that this was the reason the recovery has been so crummy. There was no demand for loans, and banks were too tight with their lending standards. Or so the story went.

Biggest Credit Bubble in History Runs Out Of Time

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Yield investors, driven to insanity by the Fed’s interest-rate repression, hold their noses and close their eyes to scrape up even the crappiest paper just to get a little extra yield. “On the way in, there’s insatiable demand.” Alas, “it’s going to be a disaster on the way out.”

Richest 200 Moguls Made $13.9 Billion Today

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Bernanke doesn’t regret any of the Fed’s actions, he said, except not explaining them to the people. They “really don’t understand why we did what we did,” he said. But there are a few people who do understand.

America And Oil: This Chart Shows Why OPEC’s Knees Are Trembling

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What would have been a demented propagandist’s flight of fancy a decade ago has become reality: For the first time in history, the US imports more oil from our dear and reliable neighbor Canada than from OPEC. With major consequences.

Exodus of Japan Inc. Slams China

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China’s moves “discourage” Japanese corporations from doing business there, said the Japanese government on Monday. That’s exactly what has been happening for months. In a most dramatic way, and where it hurts China the most.

Draghi’s Bold Push For Creeping Defaults And Real Wage Cuts

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There is nothing like a wealthy central bank chief admitting that he wants to, one, help governments default gradually on their debts; and two, cut the real wages of workers. An honesty the Fed never dared to exhibit when it inflicted waves of QE on American workers.