Archive - Sep 18, 2015

Tim Knight from Slope of Hope's picture

Palo Alto Outdoes Itself





She's a block away from the ghost of Steve Jobs. It's a lovely neighbhorhood, to be sure. But...........thirty million dollars???

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Deep State America





Ordinary Americans frequently ask why politicians and government officials appear to be so obtuse, rarely recognizing what is actually occurring in the country. That is partly due to the fact that the political class lives in a bubble of its own creation, but it might also be because many of America’s leaders actually accept that there is an unelected, unappointed, and unaccountable presence within the system that actually manages what is taking place behind the scenes. That would be the American deep state. America’s deep state is completely corrupt: it exists to sell out the public interest, and includes both major political parties as well as government officials.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Never Say "Never"





Never... is a long time.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

It Begins: Australia's Largest Investment Bank Just Said "Helicopter Money" Is 12-18 Months Away





"Instead of acting via bond markets and banking sector, why shouldn’t public sector bypass markets altogether and inject stimulus directly into the ‘blood stream’?... CBs directly monetizing Government spending and funding projects would do the same. Whilst ultimately it would lead to stagflation (UK, 70s) or deflation (China, today), it could provide strong initial boost to generate impression of recovery and sustainable business cycle... What is probability of the above policy shift? Low over next six months; very high over the longer term."

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Yellen's "New" Mandate - Why We Are All Fed-Watchers Now





Perception is everything in contemporary economics and the Fed is the center of perception; the medium has become the message. The truth is more this: the Fed no longer reacts to the waxing and waning of animal spirit-led demand. In the current monetary regime it exists to create and maintain animal spirits with a secular policy centered on ever-expanding credit, but it is very aware that admitting it’s centrality would defeat its purpose.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Interbank Credit Risk Soars To 3 Year Highs - Is This Why Janet Folded?





Last week we warned of the ominously rising risks evident under the surface in US financials. Following Yellen's decision to chicken-out yesterday, it appears interbank counterparty risk is even ominous-er. With bank stocks prices tumbling, catching down to credit market's concerns, the TED Spread - implicitly measuring interbank credit risk - jumped over 21% yesterday - to its highest in 3 years.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Austrian Economics, Monetary Freedom, & America's Economic Roller-Coaster





It is time for a radical denationalization of money, a privatization of the monetary and banking system through a separation of government from money and all forms of financial intermediation. That is the pathway to ending the cycles of booms and busts, and creating the market-based institutional framework for sustainable economic growth and betterment. It is time for monetary freedom to replace the out-of-date belief in government monetary central planning.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

"Activists" Misleading Ownership Stakes & Suspect "Positioning" Strategies





"Activist Investors", the relatively new classification for corporate agitators, want you to believe that their intellectual tactics/ strategies improve both corporate governance and shareholder returns. That may be true but they also seem to be involved in another, less savory, tactic, that is, inflating their company “ownership” claims with extremely large derivatives positions as outlined in SEC disclosure filings.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Fed Opens Negative Interest Rate Pandora's Box: What Happens Next





"As interest rates go more negative, market participants will have increasing incentives to make payments quickly and to receive payments in forms that can be collected slowly. This is exactly the opposite of what happened when short-term interest rates skyrocketed in the late 1970s: people then wanted to delay making payments as long as possible and to collect payments as quickly as possible.... if interest rates go negative, we may see an epochal outburst of socially unproductive—even if individually beneficial—financial innovation."

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Three Reasons Why The U.S. Government Should Default On Its Debt Today





The consequences of all this are grim, but the timing is hard to predict. Perhaps the government can somehow borrow amounts that no one previously thought possible. But its creditors will look for repayment. Either the creditors are going to walk away unhappy (in the case of default), or the holders of all dollars are going to be stuck with worthless paper (in the case of hyperinflation), or the taxpayers’ pockets will be looted (the longer things muddle along), or most likely a combination of all three will happen. This will not be a happy story for all but a few of us.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

The Fed Is Trapped: The Naked Emperor's New "Reaction Function"





On Thursday, the Fed made it clear that its reaction function has changed. "Data dependency" is gone (or at least relegated to the backburner in times of global turmoil), and international and financial market developments are now officially guiding the FOMC's (tentative) hand. This epochal shift has left market participants asking one very simple question: "Ok, now what?" 

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Moody's Downgrades France, Blames "Political Constraints", Sees No Material Reduction In Debt Burden





Citing "continuing weakness in the medium-term growth outlook," Moody's has downgraded France:

*FRANCE CUT TO Aa2 FROM Aa1 BY MOODY'S, OUTLOOK TO STABLE

Apearing to blame The EU's "institutional and political constraints," Moody's expects French growth to be at most 1.5% and does not expect the debt burden to be materially reduced this decade.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Weekend Reading: Fed Rate Failure





The current surge in deflationary pressures is not just due to the recent fall in oil prices, but rather a global epidemic of slowing economic growth. While Janet Yellen addressed this "disinflationary" wave during her post-meeting press conference, the Fed still maintains the illusion of confidence that economic growth will return shortly. Unfortunately, this has been the Fed's "Unicorn" since 2011 as annual hopes of economic recovery have failed to materialize.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Wanna See The 'Trick' In Trickle-Down?





The reality is that while most folks who are reading this may find it difficult to empathize, the vast majority of Americans are scratching for any extra $0.75 an hour they can find.  At the same time CEO’s and highly paid bureaucrats continue to tout policies that have enriched themselves beyond the wildest dreams and comprehension of the average American.  Yet they promote these policies as being in the best interest of the working class.

 
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