Global Economy Bursting?

[Terrel L. Shields]

I know a 60 year old woman who is still paying off student loans from her son's education at TU (Univ.of Tulsa). He offered to pay it off but she insists she promised him that and is going to "do it." She will be almost 70 when it is paid off. He was successful. He is licensed in 42 states, has a national reputation, and a highly regarded engineer. He has been out of school 12 years. So it might be considered "worth it." What if they had taken something like business? And found no job outside running a Dollar General? Would that have been a good "investment"?

 

[nm505]

http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-us-vs-uk-growth-2012-4?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Moneygame_COTD_042512&utm_source=Triggermail&nr_email_referer=1&utm_term=Money%20Game%20Chart%20Of%20The%20Day
"Now the first thing to note is that the US has recovered WAY better than either the Eurozone or the UK. So if you think Obama has been a disaster, you might first acknowledge that the US has performed better than all its major Western peers.
But beyond that, check out the UK line. The UK was recovering on a fine trajectory right up until early 2010, at which point UK growth hit a brick wall.
What happened in 2010? That's when conservative David Cameron came to power with an agenda of reigning in the debt. Sound familiar?
Basically we have a life test of a country that wants to do what conservatives in the US want to do: reduce national debt."






Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/char...erm=Money Game Chart Of The Day#ixzz1tIcMTZSf

"A quick reminder: What's holding GDP back is the drag on government spending. Austerity, basically.
As Simone Foxman pointed out, today's number wasn't that bad.
Personal consumption rose quite nicely. Other private numbers were fine.
What got crushed: Government spending. "

Austerity impacted the GDP numbers. Austerity in Europe made their numbers worse. Cheney famously said "Deficits don't matter". In some ways this is true. If we stimulate the economy (especially during a recession/depression), the GDP will increase and the deficit will decrease. Gotta see this graph...http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2008/10/02/172396/cheney-deficit-debt/

"None of this should come as news, since the failure of austerity policies to deliver as promised has long been obvious. Yet European leaders spent years in denial, insisting that their policies would start working any day now, and celebrating supposed triumphs on the flimsiest of evidence." Paul Krugman
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/o....html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120427

 

[Randolph Kinney]

The U.S. national debt is greater than the 1Q 2012 GDP and is growing faster than GDP. This is at near zero interest rates. GDP growth is being strangled by interest cost on the debt and adding new debt.

The politicians don't have to do anything. The economy will contract and markets will collapse.

Government spending, unless the money is printed, has to come from the private sector either from higher taxes or more borrowing; both subtract from growth.

Game over.

 

[nm505]

Game over.

Whoa...pretty pessimistic. Guess the sun will not come up tomorrow.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Whoa...pretty pessimistic. Guess the sun will not come up tomorrow.

Maybe you should review economic data from August 2008 to present and tell me where things got better.

GDP growth of 2.2% is more than anemic.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

The Bernanke Bust, the why how and when

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpollaro/2012/04/27/the-bernanke-bust-the-why-how-and-when/

By distorting interest rate and price signals and, as a consequence, creating malinvestments that must eventually be liquidated, monetary booms NECESSITATE economic busts.

And whether that largesse originates via the creation of central bank base money (through central bank asset purchase and/or loan programs) or via bank-issued on-demand deposit liabilities in excess of bank reserves or what Austrians call uncovered money substitutes (when said banks are making loans and/or purchasing assets), in the end the result is always economic busts.

... at $3.1 trillion the Bernanke monetary boom is already 1.6 times the size of the monetary surge that produced the Housing Boom-Bust and a whopping 4.5 times the size of the surge that gave us the Tech Boom-Bust. What's even more interesting is that the Bernanke monetary boom is still going strong. As noted above, the latest TMS2 reading shows it was sporting a 14.5% year-over year rate of increase versus the 9% and decelerating year-over-year rate seen in the 44th month of the Housing Boom-Bust cycle.

You might ask, what if the money supply continued to boom ad infinitum, even if that simply meant Chairman Bernanke last man standing at the printing press. Could the Bernanke Bust then be avoided? Delayed yes, avoided no. The end game in this case would be a bust too, only this one the result of an inflationary collapse of the US dollar. Indeed, the surest way to create massive economic misery is via a concerted effort by a central bank to forever expand the supply of money and credit.

 

[Restrain]

The Euro is showing significant signs of collapse. Behind the scenes reports are that the Euro is only being propped up by money from the US, specifically the Fed. Uncollateralized funds that have not been disclosed to Congress by the Fed. Two countries govts have now fallen over the austerity needed to port the Euro. Germany is isolated in moving forward with reforms. If the EU falls apart which is quite possible, so does the Euro, and will have severe results due to the Fed's exposure.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Operation Geezer — CA Franchise Tax Board Scamming Seniors

http://capoliticalnews.com/2012/04/...zer”—ca-franchise-tax-board-scamming-seniors/

Government takes advantage of all of us. Were it a private firm, the officers would go to jail. In government those responsible for stealing from citizens get promotions and massive pensions.

Who is going to protect seniors from the corruption of government draining their bank accounts for what is known as a scam? Enron, Madoff and now the California Franchise Tax Board–infamous people and organizations stealing from seniors.

California’s deficit is over $10 billion in spite of Governor Brown’s cuts in spending and employees plus taking community redevelopment funds. The latter move is in dispute and not alone in the matrix.

There are 2.1 million senior citizens in California. They appear to be targets as the FTB now claims part of Social Security is taxable.

Given their focus on five year-old returns it appears the strategy is predicated on poor record keeping by seniors. Where our taxing authorities rely on fear most seniors reach for the checkbook. Intimidation is the name of this game, Operation Geezer.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Is that somewhat akin to Colorado sending tax bills out where they claim they have "calculated" their tax....but it turned out that a billing company in Colorado was handling paperwork for mineral rights for people IN TEXAS who were getting paid for their mineral rights IN TEXAS...had nothing to do with the state of Colorado...

 

[nm505]

How everyone else pays for big biz tax breaks. Just ask my sister in NJ. Their property taxes are thru' the roof but corporate taxes are so sweet. Why do we not get this? ps They are moving away.
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/artic...usinesss-tax-breaks?google_editors_picks=true