Gross Domestic Product

Bernanke tells the public and Congress that the reason we need low interest rates is to support housing prices. He doesn’t mention that $188 TRILLION of the $223 TRILLION in notional value of derivatives sitting on the Big Banks’ balance sheets is related to interest rates. Yes, $188 TRILLION. That’s thirteen times the US’s entire GDP and nearly four times WORLD GDP. If even 4% of this money is “at risk” and 10% of that 4% goes wrong, you’ve wiped out ALL of the equity at the top five bank

According to some analysts, the "recovering" U.S. economy is poised to enter a phase of explosive growth. Other analysts see evidence that the bogus "recovery" (all Fed stimulus "hat" and no organic growth "cattle") is teetering on the edge of implosion from any number of causes: high inflation, declining home values, high oil prices, etc. My view? Whatever. The real economy is so detached from the one presented by official data and the stock market that "growth", explosive or modest, is a matter of managed perception, not reality. As for the implosion, Central State intervention and massive spending/credit creation has already limited it to a decline heavily smoothed by extended unemployment, food stamps, zero interest rates, Federal Reserve purchases of Treasuries and mortgage instruments, and massive Federal spending on everything from fighter jets to Medicare. The relentlessly managed perception is that the "spot of bother" circa 2008-09 is history, and the situation has been restored to normalcy, i.e. a rising stock market, super-low interest rates and unlimited Central State borrowing...Put very simply: the U.S. economy is now totally dependent on unlimited expansion of debt and credit creation by the Central State and its proxies. Withdraw those and the gap between the managed-perception economy (the propaganda facade) and the real economy vanishes: reality trumps perception.

Over the past 3 days America has been battered by one after another apologist explaining just how good the employment data is if one strips out all the "bad", and how all the "bad" can and should be stripped out by all patriots, and attributed solely to bad weather. For those who are beyond sick and tired of listening to this tripe, here is David Rosenberg once again telling it how it is. In summary: "The data from the Household survey are truly insane. The labour force has plunged an epic 764k in the past two months. The level of unemployment has collapsed 1.2 million, which has never happened before. People not counted in the labour force soared 753k in the past two months. These numbers are simply off the charts and likely reflect the throngs of unemployed people starting to lose their extended benefits and no longer continuing their job search (for the two-thirds of them not finding a new job). These folks either go on welfare or they rely on their spouse or other family members or friends for support."

The week ahead is relatively light on the data front with the US only reporting on the trade balance (likely wider), claims and consumer confidence. However, there will be a slew of speeches and testimonies from Bernanke and regional Fed Presidents, in particular early in the week. Outside the US the key policy event this week will be the BOK meeting with consensus now expecting a hike, whereas GS still thinks on balance that rates will remain on hold. The other important development to watch is China's return from a week-long holiday on Wednesday. With inflation pressures rising and the Government increasingly vocal in promising price stability further tightening measures are possible. China money supply and credit numbers will be particularly interesting in that context. Outside the macro data, the rapid sell-off in US rates and the impact on interest rate differentials will likely remain the most watched development for FX investors in the upcoming week. Finally, developments in the Middle East continue to deserve some attention, given the fluidity of the political situation and the potential spill-over into commodity markets.

The man who once actually had some credibility, and has over the past two years become, very deservedly so, the biggest one-sided propaganda joke on Wall Street, Joe "Snow" LaVorgna, is out with yet another career reputation killer note. In his commentary on the BLS, the Deutsche Bank cheerleader dares to go where not even the Comcast-GE schizos fear to tread, namely in the most ridiculed never never land of Green Shoots. Because heaven forbid seasonal adjustments take account for snowfall in the deep of winter. Have no fear it is all good, and just like that other administration rag Mark Zandi, it is all back end loaded, and as a result we will see a 250k pick up in February payroll, February showers excluded... and in fact, should the weather dramatically vary by more than +/-0.01 degree from the median temperature, all bets are off. They don't call it the priced to perfection, Tungstenilock recovery for nothing. But here is the killer: while saying don't believe the bad news from the NFP report, the curly haired, CNBC sideshow Jow says: "However, the sizeable and unexpected drop in the unemployment rate was legitimate." In other words - let's pick and choose the data points he likes from any economic report going forward, blame the bad ones on ridiculous things, and pray that people are so dumb to not see the utter contempt for their intellgience that infuses the entire "analytic" process.

Who said this? "The United States is the best looking horse at the glue factory."

Tense and terrible times inevitably summon an odd coupling of two very different and difficult human conditions; honesty, and brutality. Certain painful truths are revealed, and often, a palpable fury erupts. Being that times today are particularly tense, and on the verge of being spectacularly terrible, perhaps we should embrace both conditions in a constructive manner, and become brutally honest with ourselves. This begins by admitting to that which most ails us. It begins by admitting how far we have fallen…

What are the chances of another banking crisis, this time emanating from Europe? Let me count the ways, but not using Goldman's math of course.

Goldman's Andrew Tilton dissects today's NFP number, explaining why if it is weaker than expected (+146k) it is due to snow, and why if it stronger than expected, it is entirely due to the "economic recovery" (and not Bernanke's hyperinflationary mandate). Bottom line: win-win, while North African (and soon Middle East) regimes: lose-lose.

As the Greater Depression continues along a parallel pathway with the Great Depression of the 1930s, Congress is about to commit the same blunder it made in 1930. The rocket scientists in the House of Representatives in September passed the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, which aims to crack down on Chinese currency manipulation by targeting imports from China and other countries with currencies that are perceived to be undervalued. The vote was 348 to 79, with more than 100 Republicans voting in favor of the bill. It died in the Senate before the mid-term elections, but Representative Sander Levin, Representative Tim Ryan and Representative Tim Murphy are expected to reintroduce the bill when the House returns in February from a congressional district work break. Senators Shumer and Casey are also planning legislation to punish the Chinese for unfair trade practices.

The lies come hot and heavy:

• Initial claims for unemployment insurance have generally been trending
  down, and indicators of job openings and firms' hiring plans have
  improved
• QE 'Effective at easing financial conditions'
• Recovery likely to be 'more rapid' in 2011 than 2010
• 'Overall inflation remains quite low'
• Recovery in consumer, business spending may be solid
• Economy seems to have strengthened in recent months

But here's the only one that matters:

• Unemployment, inflation likely to defy Fed mandate

Which mandate is that Genocide Ben: would that be the mandate to kill off half the world with your revolutionary policies before the Russell hits 36,000?

The latest letter by Absolute Return Partners' Niels Jensen is a must read for anyone still on the fence about the Chinese "thesis." With many prominent pundits pitching either side of the China bull/bear case, often times covering up weaknesses in their arguments with extended and superfluous rhetoric, sometimes it gets easy to get lost in the noise: here is where Jensen's ability to create signal shines through. Jensen starts off with the official revelation that Chinese GDP is a made up number, discussed previously on Zero Hedge. "In a leaked 2007 cable Li Keqiang, who is the favourite to become the next premier, confided that official Chinese GDP figures are “man made” and “for reference only” (surprise, surprise), and that one should rather look at alternative measures such as electricity consumption, rail freight volumes and bank lending, if one wants a true picture of economic growth in China." It is all downhill from there.

The market was relatively quiet today as protesters in Egypt clashed with pro-government supporters (apparently one group wore plaid and another wore stripes, how gauche)...

Those poor idiotic rating agencies can never catch a break. Despite doing their fair share of hiring as many prosimians with a single digit IQ (not to mention a penchant for spreading inside information to preferred clients, see Deep Shah) as they can, thereby keeping the labor pool sufficiently susceptible to BLS manipulation, it was they that, according to Koo, destroyed the global economy the first time around, after keeping every toxic CDO at a AAA rating. Now, the Nomura economist, whose obstinacy in his views at times makes even such distinguished voodoonomic shamans as Paul Krugman seem like docile little lambs, is convinced that "these same agencies are once again attempting to interfere with governments that are trying to do the right thing in response to the economic crisis (ie, the balance sheet recession) triggered in part by these agencies’ actions. In spite of the fact that fiscal stimulus is the only effective measure during such a recession, the rating agencies are making it more difficult for governments to spend money by implicitly threatening downgrades." Yeah ok, the right thing is to fight debt with more debt. And more debt with morer debt. And so on. We wonder if that is the case, why doesn't Dictator Bernank just tell his Jeethner lackey to print $100 trillion tomorrow? After all that is the NEF's target for debt in 2020. That way we should grow world GDP by about 100% overnight, and save ourselves ten years of deleveraging misery. But stop there? Why not print $1 quadrillion, $1 quintillion, $1 decillion... After all debt is wealth remember? Because try as hard as we can, we just can't spot any faults with this argument which derives straight from Mister Koo's supposedly irrefutable logic.

Not all debt is the same, so it would seem. Expect runs on Ireland, Greece and Portugal way before Japan despite the fact Japan has twice the debt as a proportion of GDP!