by
Chris Martenson
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Economy
by
Chris Martenson
The subtitle to this article is Bringing a Hose to a Flood
I’ll be honest, I was equal parts hopeful and doubtful that anything new would come out of Washington because, well, I’ve been watching the situation for a long time and nothing really “new” comes out of there very often.
For now, I must content myself to sit back and watch, and wait, knowing that sooner or later reality will force itself back onto the radar screens of our leaders. For now, they remain hopelessly out of touch. For example, check out this well-meaning statement:
Stimulus Bill Causes Hope to Fade
by Chris Martenson
The subtitle to this article is Bringing a Hose to a Flood
I’ll be honest, I was equal parts hopeful and doubtful that anything new would come out of Washington because, well, I’ve been watching the situation for a long time and nothing really “new” comes out of there very often.
For now, I must content myself to sit back and watch, and wait, knowing that sooner or later reality will force itself back onto the radar screens of our leaders. For now, they remain hopelessly out of touch. For example, check out this well-meaning statement:
by
Chris Martenson
Every so often an article will shed some light on what was going on while I was busy writing in the gloom of semi-darkness. I live out here in the cheap seats relegated to reading tea leaves, and squinting into the mist so it’s nice to get confirmation from time to time as to how close to, or far from, the mark I was.
Here’s an interesting article that just came out:
Revealed: Day the banks were just three hours from collapse
Britain was just three hours away from going bust last year after a secret run on the banks, one of Gordon Brown’s Ministers has revealed.City Minister Paul Myners disclosed that on Friday, October 10, the country was ‘very close’ to a complete banking collapse after ‘major depositors’ attempted to withdraw their money en masse.
The Mail on Sunday has been told that the Treasury was preparing for the banks to shut their doors to all customers, terminate electronic transfers and even block hole-in-the-wall cash withdrawals.
Only frantic behind-the-scenes efforts averted financial meltdown.
If the moves had failed, Mr Brown would have been forced to announce that the Government was nationalising the entire financial system and guaranteeing all deposits.
UK banks nearly collapsed
by Chris MartensonEvery so often an article will shed some light on what was going on while I was busy writing in the gloom of semi-darkness. I live out here in the cheap seats relegated to reading tea leaves, and squinting into the mist so it’s nice to get confirmation from time to time as to how close to, or far from, the mark I was.
Here’s an interesting article that just came out:
Revealed: Day the banks were just three hours from collapse
Britain was just three hours away from going bust last year after a secret run on the banks, one of Gordon Brown’s Ministers has revealed.City Minister Paul Myners disclosed that on Friday, October 10, the country was ‘very close’ to a complete banking collapse after ‘major depositors’ attempted to withdraw their money en masse.
The Mail on Sunday has been told that the Treasury was preparing for the banks to shut their doors to all customers, terminate electronic transfers and even block hole-in-the-wall cash withdrawals.
Only frantic behind-the-scenes efforts averted financial meltdown.
If the moves had failed, Mr Brown would have been forced to announce that the Government was nationalising the entire financial system and guaranteeing all deposits.
by
Chris Martenson
I was
recently asked how it was that I knew to sell my house prior to the bursting of
the housing bubble, why I sold out all my stock holdings in favor of gold and
silver long before that was an obviously sensible move, and why I am convinced
now that the recent actions by the Fed and the Treasury Department are likely
to fail.
But most
of all, how did I get it right, when so many others missed it entirely?
While I do
root around in masses of complicated data, the answer to these questions is
surprisingly simple: I trusted myself.
Link to latest report – It’s Simple: Trust Yourself
New Martenson Report Ready for Subscribers
by Chris Martenson
I was
recently asked how it was that I knew to sell my house prior to the bursting of
the housing bubble, why I sold out all my stock holdings in favor of gold and
silver long before that was an obviously sensible move, and why I am convinced
now that the recent actions by the Fed and the Treasury Department are likely
to fail.
But most
of all, how did I get it right, when so many others missed it entirely?
While I do
root around in masses of complicated data, the answer to these questions is
surprisingly simple: I trusted myself.
Link to latest report – It’s Simple: Trust Yourself
by
Chris Martenson
In Crash Course Chapter 14 – Assets and Demographics I make these statements:
The boomers are the wealthiest generation ever, they hold nearly all of the assets, and they will need to dispose of those assets to fund their retirements.
In order to fund their retirement dreams, boomers are going to have to sell off their assets.
Who exactly are the boomers planning on selling their assets to? Even if [the smaller following] generation somehow could afford to buy all these assets, there simply aren’t enough people in this generation to buy them.
Figure 1
Figure 1: the Yellow and Red bars represent the US population broken out into age bands of five year increments for women and men, respectively. The green circle draws attention to a “hole” that exists in the population demographics with the Boomers represented as the “bulge” just a little higher up the chart from the hole. In red and yellow text to the right we see the six main sources of wealth for boomers (not ranked). Of the six, the five in red have to be sold in order to extract the wealth contained within them.
Baby boomers’ financial illusion
by Chris MartensonIn Crash Course Chapter 14 – Assets and Demographics I make these statements:
The boomers are the wealthiest generation ever, they hold nearly all of the assets, and they will need to dispose of those assets to fund their retirements.
In order to fund their retirement dreams, boomers are going to have to sell off their assets.
Who exactly are the boomers planning on selling their assets to? Even if [the smaller following] generation somehow could afford to buy all these assets, there simply aren’t enough people in this generation to buy them.
Figure 1
Figure 1: the Yellow and Red bars represent the US population broken out into age bands of five year increments for women and men, respectively. The green circle draws attention to a “hole” that exists in the population demographics with the Boomers represented as the “bulge” just a little higher up the chart from the hole. In red and yellow text to the right we see the six main sources of wealth for boomers (not ranked). Of the six, the five in red have to be sold in order to extract the wealth contained within them.
by
Chris Martenson
In response to yesterday’s post, titled The crisis explained in one chart: Debt-to-GDP, Lisa G did her homework and then asked a great question:
This debt/GDP % of 403% from 2+ years ago compares to the % in today’s post of "340 percent of total GDP. "
Are these calculated differently or has the percentage actually dropped from 2006?
Any help here? I am getting lost.
Kudos for doing the research and resisting the call to become ‘a believer’! Well done. There’s a perfectly good explanation for all this….
What’s the total debt-to-GDP ratio for the US?
by Chris MartensonIn response to yesterday’s post, titled The crisis explained in one chart: Debt-to-GDP, Lisa G did her homework and then asked a great question:
This debt/GDP % of 403% from 2+ years ago compares to the % in today’s post of "340 percent of total GDP. "
Are these calculated differently or has the percentage actually dropped from 2006?
Any help here? I am getting lost.
Kudos for doing the research and resisting the call to become ‘a believer’! Well done. There’s a perfectly good explanation for all this….
by
Chris Martenson
In the magazine The Economist, they recently reported this interesting bit of news:
Federal Debt could go to 400% of GDP
On January 7th the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan outfit, released projections that show the financial crash and the resulting recession are already wreaking havoc with America’s finances. It reckons that the budget deficit will soar from $455 billion in fiscal 2008 (which ended last September 30th) to an astonishing $1.2 trillion in the current year. At 8.3% that would be the most as a share of gross domestic product since the second world war.
But the underlying picture is worse for several reasons. First, it does not include any estimate of the cost of Mr Obama’s planned fiscal stimulus, which he will seek from Congress soon after being inaugurated. Second, the CBO assumes all of George Bush’s tax cuts will expire as scheduled at the end of next year and that the Alternative Minimum Tax, a parallel levy aimed at the wealthy, is allowed to ensnare a growing share of the middle class each year.
One thing to understand about even the horrendous sounding “8.3% of GDP deficit” is that it is vastly understated. First, as they note in the article, not everything is being counted, such as the cost of the stimulus plan.
But second, even if such excluded costs were counted, it’s important to note that the way the government reports its fiscal condition would be illegal for any public company.
Federal Debt beginning to “go vertical”
by Chris MartensonIn the magazine The Economist, they recently reported this interesting bit of news:
Federal Debt could go to 400% of GDP
On January 7th the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan outfit, released projections that show the financial crash and the resulting recession are already wreaking havoc with America’s finances. It reckons that the budget deficit will soar from $455 billion in fiscal 2008 (which ended last September 30th) to an astonishing $1.2 trillion in the current year. At 8.3% that would be the most as a share of gross domestic product since the second world war.
But the underlying picture is worse for several reasons. First, it does not include any estimate of the cost of Mr Obama’s planned fiscal stimulus, which he will seek from Congress soon after being inaugurated. Second, the CBO assumes all of George Bush’s tax cuts will expire as scheduled at the end of next year and that the Alternative Minimum Tax, a parallel levy aimed at the wealthy, is allowed to ensnare a growing share of the middle class each year.
One thing to understand about even the horrendous sounding “8.3% of GDP deficit” is that it is vastly understated. First, as they note in the article, not everything is being counted, such as the cost of the stimulus plan.
But second, even if such excluded costs were counted, it’s important to note that the way the government reports its fiscal condition would be illegal for any public company.
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