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Consumer Taps Out As Income Plunges By Most In 20 Years: Savings Rate Crashes To 2007 Levels
When the US income and spending figures for December came out, the punditry couldn't contain their exuberance following the massive surge in income which as we explained was merely a function of the pulled forward wages and bonuses in December due to fears of what the Fiscal Cliff and the expiration of the payroll tax cut would do to incomes in 2013 (nothing good), as well as a surge in stock dividends to avoid a dividend tax hike resulting in yet another boost in income. The spike in personal income without an offset in spending sent the savings rate to the highest in three years.
Today it's payback time as moments ago we learned that the US consumer gave back all the December gains and then much following news that while spending did nothing, and came in as expected at 0.2%, personal income imploded by 3.6% on estimates of a modest 2.4% drop. This was the biggest drop in personal income in 20 years just as the US consumer's confidence was soaring at least according to such manipulated aggregators as UMich. What this also led to was that not only is the stock market back to 2007 levels, but so is the personal saving rate, which crashed from 6.4% to 2.4%, the lowest since November 2007, and leaving Americans with the least purchasing power just as the full impact of a government that is flirting with austerity is starting to be felt. And just as bad was the material 4% pullback in real
disposable personal income or adjusted for inflation.
"Consumers can’t spend what they don’t have, and they don’t much much,” summarized Bloomberg economist Rich Yamarone.
Just don't tell the TV talking heads on financial comedy TV for whom the only thing that matters is how high two algos can chase the hot potato known as the Dow Jones Industrial Average. .
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The Laffer curve suggests that, as taxes increase from low levels, tax revenue collected by the government also increases. It also shows that tax rates increasing after a certain point (we are here) would cause people not to work as hard or not at all, thereby reducing tax revenue. Eventually, if tax rates reached 100% (Obama’s dream), then all people would choose not to work because everything they earned would go to the government.
In addition to this, smart business owners will simply reduce their income to $449,000/ couple then just buy capital equipment (to replace workers) with the portion of their income left in their companies.
Anyone........anyone?
There are many people quietly Going Galt.
It's the smart move.
Who is John Galt?
Seriously...and per this pesky little income thing....pfffffft....just apply a seasonal adjustment, annualize, have Cramer go full tilt Cramer on the subject, and introduce a multiplier greater than infinity for QE. Presto....all is well.
What...is everyone suddenly chucking back crazy pills this morning, or something?
Dow Jones to make new all time high today? (After a 10 minute drop in the opening minutes)? ;)
They'll at least be green by EOD. Bank on it.
The pizza job market has a correlation with income
Ten guys order a pizza pie, the pie is cut into eight slices and two guys don’t get a slice. =20% unemployment
The minimum wage is increased the pizza pie gets cut into six slices, four guys don’t get a slice = 40% unemployment
The four guys that get stiffed want a piece of the pie, the pizza pie gets cut into ten slices everyone gets a smaller piece = a part time job for everyone.
The moral of the story, we need to make more pizza pies, besides Chinese pizza sucks.
A Beautiful Deleveraging in reality = indebted, broke ass debt serfs buying what they need, not want, in increasingly smaller quantities, all over the world.
Welcome to The Bernank's "Virtuous Circle" monetary policy catching up to reality, where the lag is great & the closing of the gap will be tremendous.
The sheeple are too busy gossiping how American Idol hit a 10-year low.
Ben Bernanke walks into a pizza shop and orders a large pizza. The waiter asks "Do you want your pizza cut into six slices or eight?". Ben replies: "Better make that eight because I'm very hungry."
Ben Bernanke orders 8 pizzas for his billionaire friends then stiffs the waiter.
But The Bernank said that we're in a new, Virtuous Circle™!
Forget pizza. He's ordering hamburgers all around & telling the proprietor he'll gladly pay him next Tuesday.
He even testified that the Fed wasn't monetizing the debt. although it holds 15% of official U.S. debt, and has purchased 45% of new issuances of U.S. debt via its Quantitative Easing (quantitative easy peasy) virtuously circular policy.
I do hope his macro monetary (and fiscal, in actuality) policy starts being efficacious soon (rather than massively destructive) given the very high costs we're all paying & the core damage seemingly being done to the economic structure.
Oh, somewhere in a favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Amerika - mighty Bernank has struck out.
"Forget pizza. He's ordering hamburgers all around & telling the proprietor he'll gladly pay him next Tuesday."
Nope. Bernanke is running the hamburger joint, but instead of using beef, he is using rotten donkey and horse meat with pink slime mixed in. Then he adds in a much of cheap spices to cover up the foul taste and oder. What is amazing is most of the consumers come back and ask for more, much more in fact.
Yogi's version was funnier.
badabing...we need to make more pies i agree. but it is what happens to those pies after they are made . they would be taken to one gigantic beyond belief, polluting belching pig, that wouuld eat all the pies itself. than once a month, it would projectile vomit the left over pie remains (if any) from its holding tank, thru stacks pointed in varying directions.....making sure that 99% of us get covered in shit...
I don't know, wouldn't big red numbers fit the sequester narrative better.
/edit - time to start alphabetic naming of the latest federal budget crisis as they've done for winter storms, they seem to arrive with the same frequency
Who is John Galt?
I think he's related to Ferris Bueller......not sure.....I can never find either one of them around.
Somebody is junking any mention of John Galt.
Just some kid on his dad's computer.
Somebody is junking any mention of John Galt.
ZH has its own coterie of paid trolls, plus reinforcements who are called in from time to time, such as when there's an article on Bitcoin, or some "green" subject.
@CH1
I was thinking the same thing. Everytime there is a bitcoin article, some people who act as though BTC is the next evolution of money downvote and attack anyone who mentions the drawbacks of BTC. These BTC zealots remind me of Amway MLM schemers.
it has been suggested that without possession (stacking) that it isn't really yours. perhaps they think that applies to bitcoins as well?
+1 Been following the comments on the bitcoin posts, wish I could give you more. Still up in the air about the whole concept, but your comment is spot on.
"Everytime there is a bitcoin article, some people who act as though BTC is the next evolution of money downvote and attack anyone who mentions the drawbacks of BTC. These BTC zealots remind me of Amway MLM schemers."
This is also true of FRNs! Currencies are nearly on par with religion as most people worship currencies. In the case of fait currencies, their followers are worshiping false deities.
I'm a bitcoin miner. I sell most of them and hang on to the rest. I like anonymity and BTC is the only way I know to send money anonymously online to anywhere in the world. BTC may have its drawbacks, but that is one hell of an upside. I never downvote or get into arguments with the detractors because I DON'T GIVE A SHIT. If it doesn't work for you, continue to live in the framework TPTB have approved.
Cheers.
how does xeno frog get compensated?
"Can't spend what you don't have...." is False.
You can still get into a zero dowon house....a zero down car....and a zero down college...all with loans/mortgages or combo of them. This is just one moar reason I see a long slow painful road for the foreseeable future.
Who is John Galt?
YOU are, if you have the stones to ACT, rather than just talk.
I went from $345K in 2009 to $55k for 2012. I'm happy to pay less taxes. Fuck You Obama
I agree. I've closed both of my real estate offices, and scaled back my mortgage business. I now have zero employees. It's so nice to not have the worry and responsibility that I felt for providing employees an environment and opportunity to earn a living. It's just not worth it. I even deactivated my real estate license after 16 years in the business, although I did keep it active long enough to help one of my former agents set up her own real estate company. No more fees, licenses, or compliance busy work. Good riddance! Moving forward, I'll continue to help previous clients, friends and family with mortgage needs, but for the most part, I'm just going to manage my rental properties. Any driving ambition that I once had to grow my businesses and excel has been pretty much sucked out of me. What's the point? After all, I didn't build it. The government views me as a milk cow. Well, this milk cow has voluntarily moved out to pasture, and life is a whole lot more enjoyable now!
I resemble that remark!
Yeah, I've been doing the "small" thing for a few years now, too (different industry than you, same idea). I don't want the attachments, compliance BS and liability exposures. I'd rather be a single-engine Cessna in this environment than a 747.
And, of course, if your expenses are effectively zero it doesn't take a huge income to live comfortably. I don't even have to travel far any more- except for vacations, my whole life happens within a 12 mile radius of my house (having recently resolved never to travel to Philly or south Jersey again). I'd like to get that down to 6 miles.
Agree. One of the things I always tried to encourage my clients about was debt elimination. Borrower is slave to the lender, as Proverbs teaches, and it's true. Pay off all debt, including your house. If you don't have the cash to pay for something that means you can't afford it. With no debt, most people would be shocked at how much easier it is to live and even save on their current income. The government is not there to take care of you, only to take FROM you. Prioritize people. Things aren't going to get any better any time soon.
Ageeed, but the 2-3k I was saving every month is shrinking. Some months I'm only saving 5 hundred. This inflation, especially these gas prices, will eat you alive if you're saving less than 50k a year.
Also depends on how much you already saved and how high your income is. For instance if inflation is running at 10% per year and you contribute less than 10% per year of your total savings your losing money by not spending it. For instance say you have $100K in savings. Inflation reduces your effective savings to 90%. If you only put in $8K for the year. You're losing money.
FWIW: On rental properties, I am not sure this is a good long term strategy. Incomes are not keeping up with inflation and it will difficult to raise raises. At the same time, local and state gov'ts will put on the squeeze with higher taxes and more regulation, and maintaince costs will rise (at least for material costs). I have doubts that rental properties will be profitable within ten years or less. I think the real unemployement rate (excluding the BLS BS data) will rise to 25% or higher as even the service sector gets squeezed.
I agree with you to an extent on the rental properties. Without getting too specific, I'm not into sfr rentals. I prefer mulit-family > 8 units and commercial light industrial. I'm always open to offers and when a good enough one comes along, I take it. Also, I'd recommend getting some money or assets outside the country if you can. Learn another language. Spanish is a good one, and diversify - assets, life, interests. The more you have been exposed to, the more things you will have to consider as well as options to choose from when needed.
Best of luck to everyone.
Did the same.
We altered our business model and strategy in 2009....got rid of employees starting then....outsourced to specialists on a variable basis. Got rid of our real estate and all that expense (which remains vacant today....zero buyers!). automated what we could... We are down to zero employees - all contractors, virtual offices, cloud apps, variable expenses mostly. as protected as we can be. Revenue is way down, but not nearly as much as expense :).
competitors who didnt act - or who are scrambing to act now - have either gone belly up or are struggling with their high fixed expenses and employee liabilities....Sad that it came to this....for everyone.
And the hits just keep on comin'. I've scaled my small business finance company down from 4 well-paid employees to one and she is now an independent contractor. I'm now converting from actually financing small businesses to brokering for other finance companies for commission and building a sub-broker network. Overhead is down from $13,000 a month to just under $7,000. Headed as fast as I can to $2,000 or less. Storm is coming! Better git' your ammo.
Fate the Magnificent
"Push the Button, Max"
Did the same with my manufacturing business, but did it 15 years ago. Went from 22 employees to 6 by outsourcing many functions to local independent businesses and consultants. Today, still manufacturing, but have accepted a much smaller market-share in exchange for less aggravation, more satisfaction and a lesser tax burden.
Same here. Started a business 15 years ago with the intention of never hiring anybody and never have. I work from home, own one rental property (believe me, one set of deadbeat tenants is more than enough) and have near-zero debt (will be zero within six months). When I started I had NADA, except my wits. Over 15 years, I've acquired two homes, have a substantial inventory and a stable business which operates itself for the most part. I am more a caretaker than anything else.
Working hard is for anyone but me. Don't see any reason to make a ton of money, since the govt. will just tax the crap out of it. Have a garden, good food, couple of guns and complete sanity. Plus, I get to work in my underwear or whatever I feel like. Not shaving every day is pure joy.
There's a lot to be said about living the simple life on your own terms which the sheeple - teachers, police and our blessed "first responders" (I'm so sick of making every fucking miscreant low-wage slave a hero) - will never understand.
Oh, yeah, Fuck you Boehner, Obama, Bernanke, McConnell, Scalia and any of the other elected or appointed people who think they run our lives I may have missed.
The Laffer curve also suggests that, as taxes decrease from high levels, tax revenue collected by the government also increases. It also shows that tax rates decreasing after a certain point (you were there) would cause people to work as hard as never before, thereby increasing tax revenue. Eventually, if tax rates reached 0% (I'll leave it to you to say who's dream it is), then all people would choose not to work because everything they need would come from the government.
Or something like that
?
ICWUTUDIDTHR
don't know what you mean, what I know is that the Laffer curve was a big thing because any lobbyist could explain it in five minutes to any senator even after a heavy lunch
Guess Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd must have been under the table for that part of the lunch discussion.
Easy to explain because it is true.
then explain Sweden. according to the Laffer Curve they should be more broke than Zimbabwe
"We're BROKE, bitchezz!"
So missing out on all that bank interest. People are not saving in accounts if they have any money, they are buying. Buying physical metals, weapons and supplies.
Better ready than deady.
I am an example of this. What is the point of saving only to have purchasing power/ability decimated by inflation and shortages or even bans. We have a long list of planned purchases we are pushing through that ends with some off-grid solar which will be purchased and deployed ALAP (The satellites are no doubt making a list of everyone with solar).
that could be the point that's not being discussed. Obama and his sabre rattling is its own "stimulus".....as people scramble to protect themselves from his policies...
i've spent thousands recently on physical. from supplies to protection and my savings rate has plummetted as i took a month or so to load up. i think i'm not alone.
And who are these 'smart' business people going to sell their products to? Greeks? Foxconn workers? The Spanish? Or the aveage US 'consumer' who is braasic?
'Brassic' = Brassic Lint....skint.....potless......broke.
I'd pay more in taxes if my purchasing power increased more than the rate hike. A gallon of gasoline under a dollar, imagine.
I'd be willing to pay more in taxes if they went to something necessary under the US Constitution and everyone else was also paying.
Why would you be willing to pay more taxes? If everyone else was paying? You mean you want everybody to pay more? The US Constitution requires very little in spending.
What is it that the government does that is so necessary? You can argue some level of basic defensive security, but beyond that, what? What is it that the private market cannot provide?
If you freely give your labor and wealth to someone, what is to keep them for asking for more?
I want everyone to contribute the same % of income taxes, or sales taxes, or whatever tax it is.
They can ask for more, but it will affect everyone across the board.
Too many folks are contributing nothing and demanding more.
What is so necessary? As I stated what they are limited to spending on as defined in the US Constitution.
If a spending bill cannot cite item by item that the Constitution authorizes such spending, then it does not move forward.
When everyone is impacted, everyone will be concerned. Everyone has real skin in the game.
So shrink the Federal Government to it's originally designed functions, let the states do whatever the hell they want, and we can move as needed.
Check out the book How Money Walks.
High tax states won't last long. They are dying as we type.
Right now we have no idea what our true levels of taxation are at any level because it's a local-state-federal circle jerk, and you have no idea who is really paying for what. That's intentional. Because if we knew the true cost of all this government, we would have already had riots in the streets.
So, you want to tax the poor at the same rate as the wealthy, even though they have completely different levels of discretionary income? How quaint.
The Constitution is very clear on Congress's ability to spend money, as is the Supreme Court, as of this day there are almost zero barriers for Congress. You might want to READ the Constitution. The spend and tax authority RESIDES there.
If you take the time to study, you would know what the levels of taxation are, however, you have failed to make a justification for any tax. Until you start at zero, how can you value each additional level of taxation.
You want taxation according to YOU. That is the problem. There are too many you's , all with different definitions of which tax is fair or necessary. You must first justify taxes. That is the basis for an understanding.
You are angry, but you have no idea why. Making decisions based on ignorance and hostility is a method void of rationality. Would it help to know you don't pay income tax because of the Constitution, but because of commercial contracts you have entered into with the Federal government? Would it help to know contracts imply reciprocity for benefits received? Benefits like a bank account, SS, limited liability, etc.
Start with understanding. Try www.states-citizen.org
Taxation is theft.
Simple enough for you?
Duh. Why are you replying to me?
"You're going to pay more in taxes whether you want to or not serf!" says your friendly, benevolent government. :-O
And robots don't need obamacare and aren't subjected to minimum wage laws. And yet these moronic politicians keep pushing this crap.
Well, isn't this what BEN wants? Flush the cash(quail) out of hiding and get it into the velocity of money(death spiral of deflation IMO.) So, now money is spent,lost or stolen by the system and cannot be replaced. People are spending their 401k's, IRAs because incomes are falling literally or at least against CPI. It's a shortterm benefit to destroy savings and provide liquidity and kick the can down the round to retirement age where people are forced to continue working forever or poverty.
BINGO.
You don't need the Laffer curve. You have rising energy costs. Loss of economic productivity, and thus tax revenue, is assured. If they thought they could solve what they see as a revenue problem with greater taxes, they would have begun raising taxes years ago before it was politically suicidal and when some significant number of people had the ability to pay. They may well still do it, but it is far, far, far too late and, as the Laffer curve implies, will further damage economic productivity. People will neither want to be more productive, nor will they have the ability to be. Rest assured the government will not understand this (or, if you prefer the cynical angle, they will understand it perfectly but not give a flying fuck) and boldly press ahead with yet another economically suicidal plan, 30-40 years too late, FORWARD!.
Went to 2 mega retail consumer stores last night at 8pm on a Thursday - they were empty. I was stunned, there are usually a few dozen people browsing around, but I bet there were not 10 people in those store.
That's not a good example. Don't forget the Kardashians were on.
The fat in her ass could solve world hunger...........and just think, her ass will only get bigger
Food problem solved!!
I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot spork...
I noticed the same thing at Meijer and Walmart. I was virtually alone at both stores. Tonight should be different though...the SNAP cards will be reloaded.
WTF were you doing in a Wal-Mart?
They are the enemy of all that is good and right in the world... Openly monopolist, parasitical, slave enabling, scum fuckers is about the politest thing I can say about Wal-Mart and their ilk.
Shopping for guns and ammo...if you hit them at the right time you can still scoop up an AR at $799.00.
That's a steal. But make sure you can get the ammo. Nothing worse then a self defense gun with no ammo.
Good luck to you. I'm going tomorrow to by a second handgun.
No problams in the guns ammo department here...anything I get now is just a bonus.
Nice. They're going for $1200 and higher on Armslist in my neck of the woods.
Maiden USlessA, or Russian as the case may be, ammo is accasionally avialable at nominally still previous retail prices. When their warehouse(s) run out, then the cases will probably never refill.
Hint; Looking to get a shotgun, Joe? Buy a 20ga, buy a 20ga. Ammo galore just about now. And it shouldn't knock ewe on eweour ass if ewer stance is poor.
Same thing here. "It's quiet......... too quiet." Has been for months. And I'm not exactly living on the poor end of town.
My local WMT already looks like a rolling junk yard.
Midnight passeth.
Last day of the month with empty EBT/SNAP cards.
But Cramer was just on CNBS telling us how great Best Buy's numbers were, despite losing big dollars.
If BBY and BKS cannot make money during the holiday season, when will they?
So which two chains did you hit?
And let's be honest. If you needed it or wanted it, you would have it already. Most of these stores have filled their floors with crap we do not want, need or would not even think of buying from their stores.
Shrink the stores down to their necessary sizes and we have a whole lot of empty commercial real estate, to go along with all the empty store fronts we already have.
It was obviously before their EBT cards were reloaded... bet you sales picked up at 12:01am
If you can't survive in the "official" market, you go elsewhere. Ben Bernanke will be known for being the best thing for black markets since Stalin.
Imagine what Stalin could have done with a modern surveilance state...
"all these HD cameras on street corners with facial recognition are making me moist!"
I think we are going to get to find out... lucky us.
We might find out very soon.
Honestly, not very much. It's the progressive lefties like O, and the academic neo-cons (Trotskyists?) that really enjoy that stuff.
Consumers CAN spend what they don't have as long a they haven't maxed out their credit cards.
Testing, testing. . .where's the floor?
S&P 800... one can only dream...
People can't save because they have HIGHER food and gas prices!!!!
A lot of people are saving up ammo in spite of the higher prices. You can cut the tension out there with a knife.
HIgher booze expense and well worth it.
And don't forget the progressives favorite tax increase - the regressive payroll tax! Buffett doesn't pay those taxes. Sheeple!!!!!
" under my administration the price of electricity would necessarily skyrocket ". - Barack Hussein Obama. 2008
Red shots
This is all wrong Tylers. Doomborg News says that consumers are spending. They L O V E lower income and love, love, love higher taxes.
"Consumer spending in the U.S. rose in January even as incomes dropped by the most in 20 years."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-01/consumer-spending-in-u-s-climbs...
Most consumers know nothing about growing/raising food and they all have to eat, hence they have to pay more as food/fuel costs rise. Fuck you Bernanke!
Will there be 50 and 100 year "food loans" shortly? Totally fucking stupid folks.
IT'S 9 O'CLOCK! DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR DOG IS?
I hear there are already 100 year house mortgages in Japan.
Unfortunately I'm a city parasite. High blood pressure makes me dependent on industrial medication and I don't think I would live too long with hard field work.
The most I can do is to stock food for some time, and have a small quantity of coins as savings. Better than nothing, I guess.
If you ate home grown food and exercised you'd likely not have high blood pressure, nor need the pills. The sugar in most of the processed foods is your greatest enemy.
Too bad that I almost never saw any green in my plate when I was a kid, and now proper food keeps getting more and more out of reach.
At least I can get some comfort from the wise words from Mr. Rasczak. "Come on you apes! You wanna live forever?"
Just look at this:
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/959/Bizar/article/detail/1588340/2013/03/01/Doos-als-appartement-erg-populair-in-Tokio.dhtml
It's a dutch article.
Those Japanese are renting those boxes FOR 470 EURO A MONTH!! OVER 600$ A MONTH!
And here in Europe, we already have the "GENERATION LOANS" where people buy a house for 100 or 150 years and the kids can downpay them later on.... thanks mom and dad....
There's really nothing wrong with that. You'd be ungrateful if the house your parents left you still had payments left on its mortgage? Sheesh... I'd be grateful my parents left the family a house. History is pretty clear, inheritance is the best source of wealth and a damn good predictor of future economic success; similarly 2, 3, or 4 generations living under one roof is the historic norm for the past 5000 years, the house stays in the family forever - kids always have 1) a family and 2) a house.
"Consumers can’t spend what they don’t have” summarized Bloomberg economist Rich Yamarone.
Get a fucking education Rich.
"Consumers can’t spend what they don’t have” Get a fucking education Rich.
LOL... Yeah. Where has this guy been for the past 30 years?
"Consumers can’t spend what they don’t have”...but governments can.
Consumer debt was a big part of the buildup to the current unpleasantness, and note all the people getting FHA nothing down housing loans. It continues.
"and leaving Americans with the least purchasing power just as the full impact of a government that is flirting with austerity is starting to be felt".
Can somebody please tell me where the austerity is?......Anybody? I mean beside the "austerity" Joe six pack is feeling thanks to these insane policies....I'd like to know where the government austerity is.
The government has a different definition of unsustainable debt than real people do, so no need for that silly austerity business.
Biden is taking a train on the weekends instead of chartered flights.
We're saved!
There will be no .gov austerity until these lying weasels are ripped from their walnut panelled offices by the taxpayers they've lied to all these years.
It will be too late for many who will starve in the coming collapse. Like Laws of Physics said above, most people don't know how to raise their own food.
When the words we speak turn into our everyday reality, there will be change.
Mike, you and Laws couldn't be more wrong. Most people are extremely adept at raising their food from the plate to their mouth and they do it with incredible efficiency and fervor.
Mike that's been true for a long time now. Even going back to the dawn of civilization the farmers were just growing a few things and depended on lots of people who did not raise food for their tools security and inputs. Homesteaders have to go into town quite a lot, and even buy important human food inputs from far away growers they don't know.
Finally SOMEONE who has an inkling of real economic history.
I never cease to be amused and amazed by the people who blame inheritors for the content of their inheritance.
Government austerity is when the rate of the spending increases is reduced. Imagine a coke head saying "I did 10 more lines last week than the week before, so this week I am cutting back and only doing 7 additional lines."
Bank runs-anyone?
Well we know that somebody has increased savings by 100 million by purchasing silver eagles.
"Savings Rate Crashes To 2007 Levels"
That was when everyone and their pets were using their ATM-like mortgages as income and saving wasn't needed.
With fractional multipliers acting on a sum getting closer to zero with each passing day, this surely will not end well.
It makes me think it will be good to have some cash at hand. All PM bugs (me included) would run to the coin shops to sell some coins. Prices being a bit depressed because of the sudden influx wouldn't even be the problem. The shop would very soon run out of cash.
Great idea, Broomer. I think it's time to get to know my local coin shops.
@BloombergTV "The longer central banks print money, the worse it is," Stanley Druckenmiller speaks exclusively with @SRuhle: http://bloom.bg/VSqnqn
so the Cricket says to the Ant... : WHERE'S MY FOODSTAMPS BITCH!!!
And then comes the silence, when you can hear only the sound of the crickets...
...starving to death.
But Benanke said, "(Fill in Obvious Lie Here)".
Well, shyt - guess we'll party this Summer, no need to wait for September 15th, 2014. :)
Similar events will take hold, but in a compressed timeperiod due to the extremes of leverage & voidless liquidity, courtesy of the Fed.
WE PARTY HARD!
Don't worry, the CBO is expecting record GDP growth in 2013!
The obama tax raise on the working class. Success!
I'm saving in silver and bitcoins. What are you saving in?
Silver For The People
The Bitcoin Channel
Again re-posting this:
For any period of 6 MONTHS of longer:
- Crude oil at $40 = Growth
- Crude oil at $70 = Stall
- Crude oil at $90 = Recession
If crude oil stays above $90 for longer than 1 year, it's a guranteed depression, since supply lines get broken.
That's where we are now, hence 47 million in food stamps and 50% of population receiving some kinds of gov subsidy. Supply lines are broken due to lack of energy.
Very interesting, but since I think oil already costs more than 40USD in average to be produced, I'm afraid that economic growth is dead.
Nobody really knows exactly how much it costs to produce oil. Oil companies cook their books in order to show high costs.
For example, canadian oil sands. It gets trumpeted in the media that the cost of a barrel is $60. In reality it's $35, I learned.
So, I'd say, any dollar figure you see there about crude oil production cost, give it a 40% discount.
Interesting, but since the market is broken what counts is not how much it cost them to produce oil but how much it cost us to buy it and that we know exactly.
CORRECT
ekm,
From whom did you learn? Pastor Lindsey Williams? The "reality" is that estimates vary widely. Attach some links, man.
If links existed I'd have provided them.
You have the choice to believe or not of what I'm saying.
The fact is, everybody is lying, LITERALLY
Ummm......no recession. Didn't you get the note we had a massive 0.1% growth in GDP last quarter.
/sarc off
I always put a -2% discount to US bulLshit data.
hence my estimation of of GDP is -2% CONTRACTION.
Long live the Recovery!
http://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=CL&p=w1
http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/images/charts/Oil/Inflation_Adj_Oil_P...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-28/what-obama-isn-t-telling-you-ab...
The Barack Obama administration are drama queens. Washington has a spending problem, and sequestration plays a (very small) role in helping to address it.
President Chicken Little strikes again.
Not only is this drama playing to a US audience, but to a world audience. The US wants the world to think it is seriously trying to address it's budget problems. Hardy-har-har...the jokes on us.
These bonds no longer sell themselves.
You would have to be gulping down the propaganda to be surprised.
We KNOW that:
The central banks are hemorraging QE all over the globe.
The banks are the beneficiaries of this largess.
The banks are dumping this liquidity into global markets based on which one needs to be propped up. Whether stocks, bonds or FX.
Creating currency instead of producing goods and services yields inflation.
People spend their money if they fear price increases and savings without interest rewards are diminished.
Increased unemployment TEACHES people to not work and look to the State for survival.
Increased entitlement spending creates slave populations that will support the State.
State power increases until it can dictate policy without complaint.
Slaves have their entitlements reduced incrementally to stave off a violent response.
The strongest, most capable slaves survive to work at baseline wages to ensure the wealth of the Elites regardless of production levels.
The two class structure is reinforced with overwhelming police violence.
Welcome to the New World Order.
Times are tough. I noticed most people at the gas stations were only getting a few gallons of gas. Nobody was totally filling up their gas tanks. Guns, ammo, booze and lotto scratch offs are about the only things selling well right now.
Retards
Or maybe some of those are keeping their tanks topped up, so as not to be dry the moment event x occurs. Or to buy it cheaper sooner because they assume it will cost more by the weekend, and more next week. Inflation expectations cause,people to spend, but gas tanks are of limited size.
much much?
If the dow rises to a new high today, the serfs should arise from their couches. Afterall, they no longer have any skin in the dow ponzi. They will just rub a few nickels together for a pitchfork since they can't get guns.
It feels so much like early 2008 all over again.
When the next wave hits we can only wish it is like it's 2008 again....Buckle up because it won't be.
Stocks are up, buffett is happy. That's all the bernaked cares about.
I've picked out appropriate musical accompaniment for this post:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc_mv46NwT4
All hail the Boss.