Money For Nothing

Neofeudalism’s Tax Donkeys and the Battle for Control of Resources

"Those with access to the low-interest unlimited credit spigot of the Federal Reserve are free to snap up tens of thousands of houses and tens of thousands of acres of productive land, along with other rentier assets such as parking lots and meters, fossil fuels in the ground, and of course the engines of credit creation, the banks. Should a legitimate (as opposed to black market/cash business) small business manage to open its doors, it faces a blizzard of junk fees, permits and taxes that make its survival a dubious prospect. No wonder self-employment and small business are in structural decline." Continue reading →

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More Jawboning from Australia’s Central Bank

"RBA Governor Glenn Stevens proceeded from characterizing the level of the exchange rate as 'uncomfortably high' to noting 'that foreign-exchange intervention can, judiciously used in the right circumstances, be effective and useful.' That latter observation was particularly noteworthy because, according to The Wall Street Journal, a currency intervention has essentially been verboten in the decades since Australia shifted to a floating exchange rate in 1983. He closed his remarks on this particular topic with an even more overt statement: 'Nonetheless, we think that investors are under-estimating the likelihood of a significant fall in the Australian dollar at some point.'" Continue reading →

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Ludwig von Mises: Come Back to Gold

"In every instance of inflation or credit expansion there are two groups, that of the gainers and that of the losers. The creditors are the losers; it is their loss that is the profit of the debtors. But this is not all. The more fateful results of inflation derive from the fact that the rise in prices and wages which it causes occurs at different times and in different measure for various kinds of commodities and labor. Some classes of prices and wages rise more quickly and to a higher level than others. While inflation is under way, some people enjoy the benefit of higher prices on the goods and services they sell, while the prices of goods and services they buy have not yet risen at all or not to the same extent." Continue reading →

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Falling Real Yields: A Buy Signal for Gold

"It’s not only Treasury yields that are falling; nominal interest rates are in free-fall around the world: German bunds yield just 1.4 percent and French government bond yields fell to 1.65 percent — the lowest level since 1746! Two of Europe’s most troubled PIIGS, Spain and Italy, also have witnessed record low bond yields of 2.6 percent and 2.76 percent, respectively. Yield spreads on emerging market Tdebt and junk bonds compared with Treasuries are likewise sinking toward new lows. his compression in nominal yields around the global has important implications for investors and could prove very bullish for certain asset classes. Case in point: Gold." Continue reading →

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An Ever Deeper EU to Join the Wall Street Party?

"The central bankers have reason to inflate. The European experiment is precarious and economies around the world are teetering. Part of Mr. Andors's speech, no doubt, has to do with creating the possibility, rhetorically at least, that the EU, too, can join in the mass inflation building around the world. This no doubt seems the only way out for those who have engineered the current economic cul de sac. They will print and print until the danger is past and stock markets have traveled through the roof. Wealth is to be destroyed and pensioners bankrupted, but the system itself is to be perpetuated and expanded. It continues to be a cynical exercise in creating haves and have-nots." Continue reading →

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Japan to keep printing money for years to come, so learn to enjoy it

"The authorities are about to funnel large sums into Japanese stocks openly and deliberately under the next phase of Abenomics, both by regulatory fiat and by purchasing the Nikkei index directly with printed money. Prime minister Shinzo Abe is unshackling the world's biggest stash of savings, the $1.3 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF). Officials say the ceiling on equity holdings will rise from 12pc to around 20pc as soon as August, opening the way for a $100bn buying blitz. Mr Abe's move comes sooner than expected and amounts to a market shock, though nobody should be shocked anymore as he keeps doubling down on the world's most radical economic experiment." Continue reading →

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Will SoFi Take Sallie Mae’s Best Customers?

"After the financial crisis proved the government would spend tens of trillions of dollars to keep banks from going belly up, you would think that nothing will kill them. But now the ineffable forces of Stanford-branded reinvention are going after their customers. Do investors in publicly traded lenders need to get out before it’s too late? A case in point is student lending giant, SLM – formed as the Student Loan Marketing Association — which is in the cross-hairs of a San Francisco-based peer-to-peer lending powerhouse, Social Finance, Inc. (SoFi). As CEO Mike Cagney, a graduate of Stanford Business School, explained, SoFi is growing fast." Continue reading →

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Fed Prepares to Maintain Record Balance Sheet for Years

"Federal Reserve officials, concerned that selling bonds from their $4.3 trillion portfolio could crush the U.S. recovery, are preparing to keep their balance sheet close to record levels for years. Central bankers are stepping back from a three-year-old strategy for an exit from the unprecedented easing they deployed to battle the worst recession since the Great Depression. The Fed is testing new tools that would allow it to keep a large balance sheet even after it raises short-term interest rates, a step policy makers anticipate taking next year. They would use these tools to drain excess reserves temporarily from the banking system." Continue reading →

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ECB: Bank With Us … and We’ll Charge You Interest

"This morning, the ECB took the radical stepof cutting its deposit rate to negative 0.1 percent. It also lowered its benchmark lending rate (similar to the federal funds rate the U.S. Federal Reserve has been raising and lowering for decades) to 0.15 percent from 0.25 percent. Furthermore, it tried to boost the mortgage and business loan businesses by offering to buy Asset Backed Securities (ABS) and by launching more Long-Term Refinancing Operations. While central banks in Sweden and Denmark took tentative steps in the direction of negative rates, the ECB’s move is unprecedented because no major world central bank has ever tried it before." Continue reading →

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Fed Money Pumping Brings Results: The Affluent Society Returns

"Once again, monetary inflation is being confused with high-end entrepreneurialism. Ludwig von Mises, the great Austrian economist, was not fooled about the wealth effect of modern finance and, indeed, with his colleague FA Hayek dealt a devastating blow to the ever-reoccurring idea that 'this time it's different.' It's not different. Never. It just depends on where you are in the business cycle. Like a bad penny, this dream often recurs when the Fed has dumped enough money into the economy. These funds slosh around in the recesses of commercial banks and financial firms and then gradually find their way into stock markets and thence into high-end real estate." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFed Money Pumping Brings Results: The Affluent Society Returns