27 August 2009

The Dollar, denial and money printing ~ News Review

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar’s role as a good store of value is “questionable” and the currency has a high degree of risk, said Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

“There is a need for a global reserve system,” Stiglitz, a Columbia University economics professor, said at a conference in Bangkok today. Support from countries like China should ensure orderly discussions on a new reserve system, he added.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aH9O..zWjeHs


Denial is a psychotropic, mind-altering drug that by comparison makes crack cocaine look like health food, and addiction to it shuts down the brain. America’s denial about its out-of-control spending, non-repayable debt, financial sector fraud and deceit, decadent political institutions, epic dereliction of leadership duty, fiscal and monetary immorality, and disastrously dishonest system of cronyism is leading the nation into an economic nuclear winter of desolation and chaos.

http://www.24hgold.com/english/contributor.aspx?contributor=Stewart%20Dougherty&article=2289016786G10020


On average, people in the cities surveyed worked 1,902 hours per year, but in Lyon and Paris they worked 1,582 and 1,594 hours respectively. In Cairo, they worked 2,373 hours, while in Seoul they worked 2,312 hours.

The richest workers are in New York and Zurich, where they would have to work nine hours to buy an iPod nano, while workers in Mumbai needed to work 20 nine-hour days – nearly one month's salary – to buy the gadget.

Copenhagen, Zurich, Geneva and New York were the cities where employees had the highest gross wages.

In terms of the most expensive cities, London fell from the top of the list to the 21st place because of the pound's devaluation, the survey showed.

Oslo is the world's most expensive city now, followed by Zurich, Copenhagen, Geneva and Tokyo, while New York was on the list at number 6.


'76 percent of the Europeans estimate that the crisis will not be over by 2012' (GlobalEurometre June 2009)

A potted history of Fed chairpersons by Quinn.........

http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/quinn/2009/0825.html


US money printing goes full tilt....Summary

The Federal Reserve and the federal government are attempting to "plug the gap" caused by a slowdown of private credit/debt creation.
Non-US demand for the dollar must remain high, or the dollar will fall.
Demand for US assets is in negative territory for 2009
The TIC report and Federal Reserve Custody Account are reviewed and compared
The Federal Reserve has effectively been monetizing US government debt by cleverly enabling foreign central banks to swap their Agency debt for Treasury debt.
The shell game that the Fed is currently playing obscures the fact that money is being printed out of thin air and used to buy US government debt.

http://www.chrismartenson.com/blog/shell-game-how-federal-reserve-monetizing-debt/25806




http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fed-enabling-foreign-central-banks-swap-out-their-agency-debt-treasuries

2 comments:

Patrick said...

And yet, there´s a significant probability that CDS unwind triggered by some other black swan and technical manipulation will send the dollar index above 90, if only for a few months. When that happens, take all the cash you can and buy PMs.

kevin said...

Agreed. A bet on dollar volatility would seem possible. I don't want to confirm anyones bias, but, so I avoid offering a near view.