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Doug Noland: “Significant Unavoidable Cost”

by John Rubino on July 30, 2010

In this week’s Credit Bubble Bulletin Prudent Bear’s Doug Noland makes a crucial point: It’s not inflation that the U.S. risks by issuing trillions of dollars of new debt, but “a crisis of confidence at the very heart of our monetary system.” Exactly. If we keep this up the financial markets might abandon dollar-denominated assets, [...]

"We Could Really Use Some Good News"

by John Rubino on July 16, 2010

Normally, the consumer sentiment number that comes out each month seems like a piece of media fluff, far less substantial than, say, housing starts or the gold price. But today’s report is unusual enough to deserve a longer look. From MarketWatch: Nothing happened, but the news was bad anyway Commentary: Historic decline in sentiment comes [...]

Why We’re Ungovernable

by John Rubino on July 14, 2010

For the first time in 250 years, politics has become irrelevant. Not uninteresting or unimportant; obviously the way a society organizes itself matters to its citizens and its place in the world. But today there are no policies left on the “possible” menu that will save us from what’s coming. So a rational person’s time [...]

Preying on the Pumpers

by John Rubino on July 12, 2010

When you run a website that contains Google ads you constantly have to watch out for penny stock hustlers promising ludicrous returns. They’re generally “pump and dump” operators who push up the price of thinly-traded stocks and then bail, leaving their hapless clients holding worthless paper. Dirtbags, in other words. So it was with some interest [...]

Another Take on Munis as the Next Big Short

by John Rubino on July 12, 2010

Here’s a piece on municipal bonds by Rich Bookstaber, an SEC adviser and author of Demon of Our Own Design, a well-received book on derivatives. The article is a few months old, but — since the muni market has yet to blow up — it’s still timely. See the last paragraph for a succinct explanation [...]

Classic Videos: Niall Ferguson on America's Death Spiral

by John Rubino on July 8, 2010

In this recent CNN interview, Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson predicts that, barring a radical change in policy, “nasty fiscal arithmetic” will send the U.S. into a “death spiral.” Some representative quotes: “Fiscal tightening is baked in the cake. Tax increases are coming and coming soon… The US has a kind of stay of execution while [...]

Are We Sure States Can't Declare Bankruptcy?

by John Rubino on July 4, 2010

Saturday’s New York Times has an article on Illinois’ finances that is must reading for anyone who thinks the U.S. has turned the corner. The crucial takeaways are 1) even though states can’t technically declare bankruptcy, they apparently can just stop paying their bills, 2) while salaries and pensions for current public sector workers are [...]

State Budgets: Serious, Ridiculous, Ugly

by John Rubino on June 23, 2010

This week the focus shifted from Europe, where (apart from the French World Cup team) things are quiet, to the US, where state budget deadlines are forcing some tough, and occasionally bizarre, choices. Time Magazine’s cover, for instance blares “The Broken States of America”. An excerpt: … Almost no one — and no place — [...]

Classic Videos: Retirement Armageddon

by John Rubino on June 19, 2010

Here’s a wake-up call from Gary North of the Ludwig von Mises Institute on why our idea of retirement will turn out to be a cruel joke. A few quotes: Social Security will go bankrupt…The average American is going to have a miserable retirement. There’s not much a recent retiree can do. They’ve walked into [...]

Deeply Disturbing, For Different Reasons

by John Rubino on June 16, 2010

A couple of articles appeared today that couldn’t be more different in tone, content, or point of view, but dovetail in a really disturbing way. The first is from University of Texas economist James Galbraith on how we’re rich enough to afford pretty much whatever we want: The national security shell game Deficit hawks are [...]

 
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