Debt & Deficits

Over the past few years, policy leaders worldwide have grown accustomed to kicking the can down the road with each step in this ongoing financial crisis making incremental moves rather than cultivating viable long term solutions. More recent attempts seem to have evolved into simply just trying to kick the can out of the driveway. Now we fear there may not be enough firepower left to simply kick the can over. [Having done so, we are left between the proverbial rock and a hard place.] If lawmakers do nothing, by all accounts we are likely to see a recession. Should lawmakers extend the Bush-era tax cuts, you make no progress towards long term deficit reduction, potentially raising the risk and magnitude of a future financial crisis. [Let me discuss this predicament further and how best to invest in such precarious times.] Words: 1602

Industrialised countries today face serious risks – for their financial sectors, for their public finances, and for their growth prospects. This column explains how, through our financial systems, we have created enormous, complex financial structures that can inflict tragic consequences with failure and yet are inherently difficult to regulate and control. It explains how this has happened and why there are more and worse crises to come. Words: 2434

The Canadian ratio of debt to income hit 163.4% in the second quarter, up from 161.7% at the end of last year, according to figures released Monday by Statistics Canada. That’s the highest ratio of debt to income ever recorded in Canada, and more inflated than the levels witnessed in the U.S. and Britain before their housing market collapses in the mid-2000s. Words: 625

With the pop from the USFed’s latest attempt at financial shock and awe already seeping from lackluster markets, and the teleprompter news networks losing steam over their promotion of the same, it is time to take a look back at the decisions made on 9/13/2012 and set the record straight on some things.

The Fed professes that QE 3 or as I call it, QE Infinity (QEI), will create jobs but I am not sure how they can expect anybody to buy their rationale. As we know, QE 1 and QE 2 did very little in the way of creating jobs. Might the Fed realize that QE Infinity could actually be counter-productive to economic growth?

A recent short Wall Street Journal article included a chart that simplistically shows what is said to be the essence of the economic thrust of quantitative easing. The chart, reproduced here, is worth studying and thinking about.

The latest round of quantitative easing (an additional $40 billion a month until conditions improve) has been dubbed as "QEternity" or "QE-Infinity" by its critics but it will end much before that. We are witnessing a massive bubble in US government debt, and we've reached the point where no one in charge believes it will ever end - an excellent contra-indicator. [Let me explain.] Words: 720

The U.S. is one of the worst debt 'offenders' in the world [and, as such, unless] dramatic spending cuts and tax increases [are undertaken within the next 5 years,] America's debt/GDP ratio will continue to rise, the Fed will print money to pay for the deficiency, inflation will follow, the dollar will inevitably decline, bonds will be burned to a crisp, and only gold and real assets will thrive. [Here's why.] Words: 674

There is a clear link between our system of fiat (paper) money, the supply of money and credit in an economy, and the 30-year boom that came to a dramatic end in 2008. It's only by understanding this link that investors (and anyone with wealth) can appreciate just how fragile our financial system is, and what to do to protect themselves from its inevitable collapse. [Let me explain.] Words: 961

There is a clear link between our system of fiat (paper) money, the supply of money and credit in an economy, and the 30-year boom that came to a dramatic end in 2008. It's only by understanding this link that investors (and anyone with wealth) can appreciate just how fragile our financial system is, and what to do to protect themselves from its inevitable collapse. [Let me explain.] Words: 961