by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Public Pension Plans: Boom and Bubble Forever Or Bust
State and city pension plans have been in a heap of trouble for years. What they need in order to be there in the future is a booming economy year after year and endlessly inflating asset bubbles. Otherwise, forget it. And even then, there’s a $1.1 trillion hole.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Russia Dumping US Treasuries? But Why the Heck in Belgium?
Belgium is known for its surprises. For example, it got by amazingly well for a couple of years without a national government, to the chagrin of a lot of people. Now that tiny country with a tiny economy is suddenly piling up a mountain of US Treasuries.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on This Chart Is A True Picture of The Bank Credit Bubble In America, Now Bigger Than The Last One (Which Blew Up)
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.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on What the Heck is Going on With US Treasuries In Belgium?
The tiny country of Belgium with a GDP of $484 billion, a country that became famous to the chagrin of some people because it did just fine for a couple of years without a national government – well, it’s growing an enormous mountain of US Treasuries.
by David Stockman • • Comments Off on Paul “Contrafactual” Krugman: The Laureate of Keynesian Babble
The Fed prints $4 trillion and the national debt jumps $9 trillion in six years. We’re now in month 57 of the expansion, beyond the average 53 months – already on borrowed time. Now comes Professor Krugman proposing to “do something.”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Relentless, Systematic Tear-Down Of The Dollar Hegemony
How long before the dollar surrenders its status as world reserve currency and number-one payment currency to the Chinese yuan and to that other currency everyone loathes?
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Young Subprime Debt-Slave Generation
Rising household debt would be a hopeful sign that consumers are again living beyond their means, finally spending money they don’t have in a heroic effort to stimulate Wall Street, corporate earnings, and the Fed’s self-esteem. So we jubilate. We’ve waited for it too long.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Fed Lying About QE, Media Not Paying Attention
Since the introduction of QE 3, honest-looking Fed chairman Bernanke told the Wall-Street media circus after each FOMC meeting that the money-printing binge in the coming month would expand the Fed’s balance sheet by $85 billion. A fact cited worldwide. And a big lie.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on So This Isn’t Exactly A Rosy Outlook For 2014, Or Something
Central banks rule! We’ve seen it in 2013. They’ve accomplished the impossible: separating stock markets from the economies they’re based on. But in 2014, the US and China are trying to unwind these crazy policies – without taking down the entire global economy.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on What Happens Next, Now That The 10-year Treasury Yield Hit The Psycho-Sound Barrier Of 3%
Treasuries have been skidding, and the 10-year yield hit the psycho-sound barrier of 3%. What happened last time this phenomenon occurred? Well, yields bounced off and fell – because the mayhem they’d triggered gave the Fed conniptions and caused it to back off.
