Inflation & Devaluation

Oh No, The Inventory Correction Is Confirmed

Awful economic data and corporate announcements confirm: orders are plummeting, the dreaded inventory correction is here, and a recession is now guaranteed. In our already miserable economy, this is going to be a rough ride. Fasten your seatbelt.

Fed’s Policies Slam Us Again

July inflation is red hot, real wages are down, and real yields are more negative than ever, exactly what the Fed wants. The destruction of the American middle class continues.How these policies will pull us out of our economic debacle is mathematically unclear.

Red-Hot Inflation Blows across the Pacific

Chinese inflation numbers just came out, and they’re sizzling. But those are the official numbers, and even officials admit that actual inflation is much higher still. Labor costs are spiraling out of control. And it’s all blowing our way. Exactly what we need.

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.

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.

Our Chinese Bay Bridge

The high-speed train fiasco in China makes us worry about our San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge whose gigantic one-tower landmark suspension segment was fabricated, you guessed it, in China. In return for some paltry savings, if any, California gave up enormous economic opportunities.

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

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

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.