The Martenson Report

Link to Inflation vs. Deflation – What You Need to Know (Part II)

A snippet:

Executive Summary

• Inflation or deflation? – the most important question of our day
• Vast disagreements exist
• Timing
• Inflation = persistent increase in money and credit
• Inflation Myths
• What you can do

There is simply no more contentious or important issue sitting before everyone these days than resolving the question of whether deflation or inflation lies before us. Sides have been drawn, opinions hardened, and camps formed.

When I write these reports, I do my best to peer just a bit further down the road than most. I study and analyze and write because I have found great value in being ahead of the curve. Illuminating the path a bit further out can provide an enormous benefit, especially if actionable ideas are the result.

So let’s clear something up right away: Unless the economy collapses into a smoking deflationary ruin, there’s another business cycle in front of us. Nothing ever goes straight to zero, and the most probable outcome for the future involves a whole series of wiggles going up and down. While I am confident that the distant future most likely consists of a world of less, not more, I expect we will not get there in a straight line. My belief is that there’s a business cycle or two in front of us.

Link to:  Inflation vs. Deflation – What Comes Next?

Here’s a snippet:

One of the key questions of our day, especially for those who have wealth to protect, is, “What’s going to happen to the dollar?”  More specifically, do we foresee an increase in the value of money going forward (deflation), or a decrease in the value of money (inflation)? Should we reserve a small amount of concern for the possibility of hyperinflation, which means the rapid and often total destruction of a currency?

There happens to be a lot of discussion around this topic these days. Unfortunately, much of it is confusing and contradictory, because far too much misinformation is included in the mix. So let’s begin by getting ourselves on firm footing before we look at the data.

(…)

Inflation correlates poorly with growth in the monetary base, making that statistic relatively useless as a predictor of inflation. However, inflation correlates extremely well with growth in government spending, meaning that we’d do well to track that statistic closely.

The current economic crisis is being fought tooth and nail by a determined Federal Reserve (in the role of the "enabler") and an equally-determined US government (in the role of the heavy-lifter, assuming all the lion’s share of the long-term debt and risk). Together, these institutions have virtually consigned future generations to the enormous challenge of wrestling with bloated budgets in desperate need of trimming, further compounded by coinciding with periods of high inflation.

Link to The Five Horsemen

A snippet:

Executive Summary:

• What can we expect next, and how will we recognize it?
• A series of sharp, interrupted shocks is more likely than a major sudden collapse.
• Five game-changing events, what I call The Five Horsemen, will indicate that the rules have changed and a new reality is about to take over:
  • The First Horseman: New credit growth falls below interest payments
  • The Second Horseman: The Fed monetizes debt
  • The Third Horseman: Government spending exceeds 10% of GDP
  • The Fourth Horseman: The dollar goes down, while interest rates go up
  • The Fifth (and final) Horseman: US debt becomes denominated in foreign currencies

  Severe structural damage has already been inflicted on our economy. As I wrote two weeks ago in It Has Hit the Fan:

If you have been waiting for further confirmation about the direction of the economy, or waiting for a sign that it’s now time to get serious about preparing for a future filled with less, this report is written for you.

You are living in the midst of the collapse of western economies, which are moving from a more complicated state to a less complicated one. This is it.  Keep a journal, because it’s happening right now.

After the Great Depression, many people remarked that it was only obvious in retrospect. While it was unfolding, things steadily eroded. But 75% of the workforce remained employed, while hopeful signs of progress were constantly trotted out by various politicians, private economists, and official-sounding government agencies. It is often quite difficult to appreciate the true magnitude of sweeping change while it is occurring.

The most pressing question now is this:  What can we expect next, and when? 

In this report, I will give you the precise combination of macro-events that will cause me to issue an alert and kick my thinking and actions into new orbits.

Best,
Chris Martenson

The Bank Stress Tests Have Already Failed

Here’s part of the conclusion:

A “stress test,” at least as far as I understand it from a scientific or engineering standpoint, is supposed to encompass a set of conditions beyond normal, or expected, values. The bank stress-test assumptions are already exceeded in each case by real-world conditions, and therefore will be neither illuminating nor predictive when they are released. Let’s all be thankful that the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department do not design bridges. If they did, they might “stress test” them by simulating an average load of traffic under average conditions and declare them perfectly safe.

I advise you to tune out what is certain to be an upbeat assessment of the condition of our banks, when the stress test results are finally released.  My opinion is that the stress tests were specifically designed to be neither stressful nor revealing.  Instead, they were designed to produce expected results for the purpose of instilling confidence in banks and in the crisis management team.