Debtor Nation

Downgrades Don’t Matter

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Downgrades Don’t Matter

… if you can print money and are in control of the credit markets. Look at Japan. That doesn’t mean the underlying problems don’t matter.

The Bailout Continues

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on The Bailout Continues

Fannie Mae—you already forgot all about it, didn’t you?—well, it just reared its ugly head again with its Q2 earnings report. Here is the most important number:
$5.1 billion in new bailout money from the U.S. Treasury—the eleventh quarter in a row it has received bailout money. That brings the total bailout money it received so far to $104.8 billion, with no end in sight.

US Gross National Debt jumps $238 billion in one day, now above 100% of GDP

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on US Gross National Debt jumps $238 billion in one day, now above 100% of GDP

As reported in the foreign media, but curiously not in the major US media, the US Gross National Debt jumped by $238 billion in one day, to $14.58 trillion, the day after the debt-ceiling deal was signed.

Your Dollar—up to no Good

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Your Dollar—up to no Good

In case you didn’t stay up all night watching the spectacle, and tearing out your hair: Your very own… … your favorite one, the one you worked so hard to earn and even harder to save, yes, the ever shrinking one, well, it dropped to a new all-time low against the Japanese yen in Tokyo. And…

The Landmine in the GDP Report

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on The Landmine in the GDP Report

There is a landmine buried in today’s 2Q GDP report, and Congress is about to step on it while engaging in its debt-ceiling pissing match.

We Should Give them a Calculator

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on We Should Give them a Calculator

The raw numbers are ugly. The federal budget deficit is nearly 40% of total spending; that is, for every $1,000 the government spends, it collects $600 in taxes and borrows $400. Doesn’t anyone do any math in Washington?

Your Dollar

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Your Dollar

…is falling off a cliff again, hitting ¥78 and €0.69. You can sit idly by and watch it get demolished, or you can do something about it.

A Modest Proposal

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on A Modest Proposal

What galls me the most in this entire imbroglio of our debt ceiling is the hypocritical approach of our politicians: A Congress that authorizes every dollar that gets spent, gleefully accumulating a pile of debt so vast it’s hard to wrap your brains around it; and administrations who have been eager to borrow and spend as directed by Congress.

Night of the Living Debt

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Night of the Living Debt

The worldwide night of the living debt continues with Greece, Italy, and the US. And so I mention them, nasty as I am, in the same breath with Japan.

Debt-Ceiling Pissing Match Seen from a Safe Distance

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Debt-Ceiling Pissing Match Seen from a Safe Distance

While Democrats and Republicans, jointly and severally, engage in an all-out pissing match over the national debt ceiling and the budget deficit that even has the Chinese worried, let’s take a moment and reflect from a safe distance on how we got here, and why nothing of significance is going to change.