Financial Repression

Who Is Getting Crushed in This Bull Market?

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Who Is Getting Crushed in This Bull Market?

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.

Richest 200 Moguls Made $13.9 Billion Today

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Richest 200 Moguls Made $13.9 Billion Today

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.

Paul “Contrafactual” Krugman: The Laureate of Keynesian Babble

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.”

Small Investors Exuberant, Margin Debt And Risk Of Crash Soar

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Small Investors Exuberant, Margin Debt And Risk Of Crash Soar

Small investors are having fun in the stock market again, after years of sitting out the most phenomenal rally. They’re leveraging up their portfolios. Margin debt is spiking beautifully. Alas, spiking margin debt has a nasty habit of ending in a crash. In one painful chart.

Junk-Debt Time Bomb: Ticking Till The Fed’s Money Dries Up

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Junk-Debt Time Bomb: Ticking Till The Fed’s Money Dries Up

Discount retailer Loehmann’s did what other retailers – and a large number of other junk-rated companies – will do once the Fed allows a sense of reality into the markets: it filed for bankruptcy. Investors had refused to fund further losses.

Fed: Hedge Funds, Banks Sell Crappiest Debt To Small Investors (Before Credit Bubble Blows Up)

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Fed: Hedge Funds, Banks Sell Crappiest Debt To Small Investors (Before Credit Bubble Blows Up)

In its report on shadow banking, the New York Fed buried some nuggets: Hedge funds and banks are bailing out of the highest-risk “opaque” but now relatively low-yielding loans – low yielding thanks to the Fed’s repressive monetary policies – by selling them to small investors via harmless-sounding and conservative-appearing mutual funds and ETFs.

Enabled By ZIRP and QE, Bankers Continue Looting Instead of Building Capital

by Lee Adler •  • Comments Off on Enabled By ZIRP and QE, Bankers Continue Looting Instead of Building Capital

By Lee Adler, The Wall Street Examiner: One of the purposes of the Fed’s Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) was ostensibly to allow banks to rebuild their capital through suppressed funding costs and increased profits. Theoretically that would add to their capital. But in this chart, we see that the growth rate of bank capital has fallen to zero.

David Stockman: How The Fed Helped Bushwhack TXU

by David Stockman •  • Comments Off on David Stockman: How The Fed Helped Bushwhack TXU

In this installment from Chapter 25, “DEALS GONE WILD: Rise of the Debt Zombies,” of his bestseller, David Stockman vivisects the LBO craze before the financial crisis, including the insane and largest ever buyout, Texas mega-utility TXU Corporation – now in bankruptcy. And then there is Goldman….

Why I’m Deeply Worried About Japan – And Why Betting On The Collapse Of JGBs Is A Horrible Idea

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Why I’m Deeply Worried About Japan – And Why Betting On The Collapse Of JGBs Is A Horrible Idea

You don’t seem to “think Abenomics is working,” a reader wrote, followed by tough questions and a comparison to Kyle Bass, who has been betting on a “full-blown Japan crisis.” It got me thinking. I’m attached to Japan. What started in 1996 has turned into a complex relationship. But now that Abenomics is the religion of salvation, I’m even more worried.