Archive for the ‘U.S. Debt’ Category

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Sequestration: The Crisis Du Jour

Friday, February 22nd, 2013

It’s crisis time again in Washington, D.C.  Having just barely avoided a swan dive off the fiscal cliff, the leaders of our country are now locked in battle over the pending sequestration.

“Locked” is the operative word here, as the deep freeze that’s hit New England this week is likely to thaw well before the freeze in progress over sequestration.

If nothing else, this standoff has added to our vocabulary.  “Sequestration,” as we’ve learned, is a procedure that triggers automatic spending cuts.  It also means “the seizure of property for creditors,” as in, “China will begin sequestering U.S. property if we can’t control our debt and pay our bills.”  That definition may be more appropriate in years to come, but for now, let’s concentrate on the immediate future.

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Posted in Deficit, Federal Budget, Sequestration, The Economy, U.S. Congress, U.S. Debt | No Comments »

The Incredible Shrinking Economy

Friday, February 1st, 2013

Only in today’s America would a shrinking economy cause the stock market to rise.

The federal government reported this week that the U.S. economy contracted by -0.1% in the last quarter of 2012. That helped the stock market finish its best January performance since 1994, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 7% since November (it was the best performance since 1989 for the S&P 500).

As the chart shows, S&P 500 performance since November has been eerily similar to last year’s performance at this time.

So why did a shrinking economy produce a rising stock market?  Because it all but guarantees more quantitative easing (QE), as well as resistance to federal spending cuts, which would reduce gross domestic product (GDP).

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The End of QE?

Friday, January 11th, 2013

The Fed’s quantitative easing program has been like that endless tub of popcorn or vat of soda that those with large appetites buy at the theater.  It goes on and on, but at some point, enough is enough.  Are you really ever going to refill that?

The Federal Reserve Board has gorged on bonds for years now and some board members are finally losing their appetite for continuing, according to minutes from the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.

The supersized QE3, the third round of quantitative easing, was supposed to continue until the unemployment rate dropped to a reasonable number.  The only problem is that buying bonds doesn’t produce jobs.

Even accounting for Storm Sandy’s impact, job growth remains stalled, with the unemployment rate stuck at 7.8%.  While the rate is significantly lower than it was in 2009 (9.9%), it is nowhere near the 5.0% rate of 2007.  More troubling, much of the rate drop is due to people either dropping out of the workforce or taking low-paying part-time jobs.

That doesn’t mean that quantitative easing is without consequences.  The sudden nervousness of some Fed members reflects the fear that buying $85 billion in Treasuries and agency paper will destroy the dollar.

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Posted in Ben Bernanke, Bonds, Inflation, Quantitative Easing, The Economy, U.S. Debt, Unemployment | No Comments »

Fiscal Cliff Turns Into Fiscal Bluff

Friday, January 4th, 2013

“What’s a five letter word for ‘cliff’?“ an editorial page cartoon asked.  The answer: “Bluff.”

To bluff is to mislead and that’s an appropriate summary of the fiscal cliff agreement, which will raise taxes and spending, while failing to consider the country’s growing debt crisis.

The market reacted positively, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially up more than 2% and markets in other parts of the world showing similar gains.

The market reaction was not, we suspect, because a well-crafted agreement that benefits America had been negotiated, but because the “fiscal cliff” had been avoided at the last possible second.  Consider what the agreement does – and what it doesn’t do.

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From Goldfinger to Groundhog Day

Friday, December 21st, 2012

Tick.  Tick.  Tick.

It’s like that scene in “Goldfinger,” where the seconds are ticking down and James Bond is trying to defuse the bomb.  He succeeds, of course, just in time.

Of course, John Boehner is not James Bond and real life is far more complicated than the movies.

Tick.  Tick.  Tick.

The real problem is not a cliff, but a chasm.  The degree of separation between Democrats and Republicans in Congress has never been wider.

On one side, President Obama and his Democratic supporters are hell-bent on raising taxes on the wealthy, which may not do much to tame the deficit, but may achieve the goal of moving toward class equality.  Democrats believe that more spending is needed to stimulate the economy, even though spending is at an all-time high and the economy is still in dismal shape.

On the other side, Republicans are dead set against raising taxes, and want spending cuts, tax reform and entitlement reform.  Medicare, Social Security and government employee pensions have created unfunded liabilities of more than $86 trillion, but the chances of working out a rational reform before the end of the year are about the same as the chances of winning Powerball.  Maybe less.

Tick.  Tick.  Tick.

Congressman Boehner’s “Plan B,” which would have raised taxes on millionaires, did not even make it to a vote.  He could go through the entire alphabet and the results would likely be the same.

Republicans in Congress would rather go over the fiscal cliff than approve taxes on the wealthy, who are viewed as job creators.

Democrats would rather go over the fiscal cliff than approve major spending cuts, as spending is viewed as an economic stimulant.

Tick.  Tick.  Tick.

Maybe Gary Cooper in “High Noon” provides a more appropriate comparison.  The clock on the wall ticks down and you know that confrontation is unavoidable and blood will be spilled.

Take a look at the futures market and you’ll see that it’s already spilling.  Last night, S&P 500 futures dropped from 1437.25 to 1391.25 as soon as Congressman Boehner’s plan was scrapped.  The value of the dollar also tumbled, as witnessed on the EUR/USD, which pairs the dollar with the euro.

Tick.  Tick.  Tick.

Another movie that comes to mind is “Groundhog Day,” where Bill Murray’s day is endlessly repeated until he gets life right.

The déjà vu is appropriate to today’s negotiations.  Consider the U.S. Macro Surprise Index, which quantifies the extent to which U.S. economic indicators exceed or fall short of consensus estimates.  This year’s path is almost identical to last year’s, when Congress put off making tough decisions by extended tax breaks for another year.

Then again, “Groundhog Day” had a happy ending.  Maybe “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is a better comparison.

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Posted in Fiscal Cliff, The Economy, U.S. Congress, U.S. Debt | No Comments »

So This Is Compromise?

Friday, November 30th, 2012

“We are both heading for the cliff.  Who jumps first is the Chicken.”

                                                                                                      – Rebel Without A Cause

Post-election, both Democrats and Republicans have promised to compromise and avoid the fiscal cliff.

So what would you consider a compromise?  A little tax increase, perhaps, along with some spending cuts, then call it a day?  That’s not happening.

Apparently, by “compromise,” they mean not giving an inch.  With the end of the year just a month away, both parties seem to be digging in and playing a game of chicken.

President Obama doubled down by calling for a $1.6 trillion tax increase – twice the increase that will take place if no action is taken and we go over the fiscal cliff.  Media has focused on a couple of Republicans who have said that they will break their pledge of no tax increase … but mostly there has been talk and no concrete plan for avoiding the fiscal cliff.

Remember the scene in “Rebel Without a Cause,” where two cars race toward a cliff and the first driver to jump out of the car is “the Chicken?”  The winner went over the cliff and died in a fireball as his car slammed into the ground.

Real life is resembling that 1955 film, but this time when the car goes over the cliff we will all be along for the ride.

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Looking Over the Fiscal Cliff

Tuesday, November 27th, 2012

You’ve heard plenty about the fiscal cliff.  But little attention has been paid to what’s beyond it.

What’s beyond it is another higher, steeper cliff.

The federal debt now exceeds $16 trillion and Congress will need to vote shortly to raise the debt ceiling in order to keep the government operating.  We’re running an annual budget deficit exceeding $1 trillion, so the debt will only get higher.

The longer we try to maintain the status quo, the more difficult it will be to bring the debt back in line.  We’re reaching the point where every dollar in the federal budget will be needed just to service our debt.  That means your taxes will no longer go toward building new highways, helping the poor or protecting the United States.  They will be needed to pay off the enormous debt that the President and Congress have incurred.

The only way to keep the government functioning under those circumstances, even if we cut spending and raise taxes, will be to incur more debt.

The bigger issue, though, is the unfunded liabilities from government entitlement programs.  According to The Wall Street Journal, we have already incurred $86.8 trillion in liabilities for Medicare, Social Security and future retirement benefits for federal employees.  If we could freeze time and incur no further liabilities, we would still need to pay out $86.8 trillion.

Both Medicare and Social Security are “pay as you go” systems.  As baby boomers retire, payment for these two entitlements will come from those who are still in the workforce.  As they are a much smaller population than the baby boomer generation, they will need to pay more or both Medicare and Social Security will collapse.

But how much more will be needed?  A commentary in The Wall Street Journal, “Why $16 Trillion Only Hints at the True U.S. Debt,” includes the following glum assessment:

“When the accrued expenses of the government’s entitlement programs are counted, it becomes clear that to collect enough tax revenue just to avoid going deeper into debt would require over $8 trillion in tax collections annually.  That is the total of the average annual accrued liabilities of just the two largest entitlement programs, plus the annual cash deficit.

“Nothing like that $8 trillion amount is available for the IRS to target. According to the most recent tax data, all individuals filing tax returns in America and earning more than $66,193 per year have a total adjusted gross income of $5.1 trillion. In 2006, when corporate taxable income peaked before the recession, all corporations in the U.S. had total income for tax purposes of $1.6 trillion. That comes to $6.7 trillion available to tax from these individuals and corporations under existing tax laws.

“In short, if the government confiscated the entire adjusted gross income of these American taxpayers, plus all of the corporate taxable income in the year before the recession, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to fund the over $8 trillion per year in the growth of U.S. liabilities.”

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News You May Have Missed

Friday, October 26th, 2012

With the election season in full swing, dominating the airwaves, Internet and print media, you may have missed some of the other news from the past week.  Here are a few lowlights:

What Recession?  We recently reported that the unemployment rate miraculously improved to under 8% just before the election.  Now, according to a preliminary report, annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP) is miraculously above 2%.

An unemployment rate under 8% is none too impressive and neither is a growth rate of just above 2%, but we live in times of low expectations – and these benchmarks, if achieved honestly, would indicate that the economy is moving in the right direction.

But have they been achieved honestly?  And are they accurate?

According to zerohedge.com, over one third, or 0.71% of the growth was contributed by an increase in “Government Consumption:’

“This was the biggest rise in government spending in 3 years, and only the first contribution by Uncle Sam to its own GDP print since Q2 2010. So in much the same way as the September jobs print soared courtesy of government employee hiring, this same government is now juicing its own numbers to make itself look better.”

Recall that Q2 GDP was revised down from 1.7% to 1.25%.  Revisions to Q3 GDP will be released after the election.

As for the unemployment rate, none other than former GE CEO Jack Welch questioned the employment numbers in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.  Even if you accept the numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, gains were in “involuntary part-time” help – meaning people who were looking for full-time work are now flipping burgers to make ends meet.

Because the unemployment rate excludes those who have stopped looking for work and includes those who are underemployed in part-time jobs, others put the real unemployment rate at 14.7%.  An analysis by The Wall Street Journal, which factors in historical shifts in the labor market, puts the rate at 9.3%.

Whatever analysis you accept, many Americans are still out of work and economic growth is well below what it should be.

Muni Massacre.  Moody’s Investors Service cut its credit ratings on more than $200 billion worth of municipal bonds through the first nine months of 2012, exceeding the total for 2011 – and “there’s no end in sight.”

Moody’s cites increased risk because of the “difficult economic and industry environments.”  And we thought the economy was improving!


Stimulus spending.  If government spending does, indeed, stimulate the economy, we should now be growing at a record pace.  U.S. debt has reached $16.6 trillion, while total GDP is $15.76 trillion.  In other words, debt exceeds GDP by 2.4%.

Lower Profits, Home Building.  The stock market’s performance continues to be erratic at best, reflecting economic data that one day sounds hopeful and the next day sounds hopeless.

Profits have been generally disappointing, as previously reported, but at least the housing market has been rebounding, as we announced last week.  However, anyone who jumped into homebuilders’ stocks to take advantage of the improving market would have to be disappointed by this week’s performance, as the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF dropped 1.2% this week.

The ETF dropped because the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that the speed of growth in housing sales decreased last month.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said, “Home contract activity remains at an elevated level in contrast with recent years, but currently appears to be bouncing around in a narrow range. This means only minor movement is likely in near-term existing-home sales, but with positive underlying market fundamentals they should continue on an uptrend in 2013.”

Sorry for being such an optimist last week!

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Posted in Bonds, Deficit, Gross Domestic Product, Job Creation, Municipals Bonds, The Economy, U.S. Debt | No Comments »

U.S. vs. China

Friday, October 19th, 2012

As China has emerged as a world power, it has increasingly been a case of Us (as in U.S.) vs. Them.  Not in military combat, fortunately, but in day-to-day trade battle and all-out currency competition.

So which country currently holds the edge?

Master of Finance.org compared the two on many different levels – with some interesting results.  Overall, the U.S. retains its top position as THE world superpower.  But China is closing in.

Some of the figures used are outdated, but consider just a few of the comparisons given:

GDP.  The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) is nearly twice as large as China’s — $15.29 trillion vs. $7.298 trillion, but U.S. GDP is growing at 1.7% annually vs. 9.28%.

Government spending.  U.S.  government expenditures are a whopping $3.599 trillion for a population of 313 million, while China’s government expenditures are $1.729 trillion for a population of 1.343 billion.  The deficit in the U.S. is 8.6% of GDP compared with 1.1% in China.

Poverty and employment.  The U.S., with a labor force of 153 million, has an unemployment rate of 9% and a poverty level of 15.1%.  China, with a labor force of 795 million, has an unemployment rate of 6.5% and a poverty level of 13.4% (of course, it’s all relative).

Freedom.  For economic freedom, the U.S. ranks 4th, while China ranges 118th.  However, the U.S. ranks first for incarceration, with 730 of every 100,000 people in jail, while Chine ranks 124th with 121 of every 100,000 people in jail.

The results, which we found on zerohedge.com, are interesting, but we are very happy to be living in the United States instead of China.

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This Is Progress?

Friday, September 28th, 2012

Economic growth for the second quarter of 2012 officially has been revised down to 1.25%, which is below the lowest previous estimate.

In an effort to stimulate the economy, the Obama Administration and the U.S. Congress have added $6 trillion to the federal debt, with annual deficits exceeding $1 trillion.  The Federal Reserve Board meanwhile has announced its third round of quantitative easing, on top of Operation Twist.

Yet the unemployment rate remains over 8% and, as we stated earlier this month, could be as high as 19% if you take a true and accurate count of everyone who is not working.

Since the current “recovery” began, real income for the average American has dropped 5.7%, and while inflation as a whole remains in check, the price of essentials such as oil and food has soared.  At least we can credit quantitative easing with taming deflation!

This all sounds pretty gloomy, but cheer up.  Alan Krueger, who chairs the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, says “we’re making progress.”

It’s All Relative

Progress, of course, is relative.  It’s true that the free fall that began in 2008 created the worst economic conditions we’ve encountered since The Great Depression, but in the past the rule has been the greater the recession, the greater the recovery.

Not so this time.  Cumulative growth for the past three years has been just 6.7%, according to the Congressional Joint Economic Committee.  In comparison, the average for all 10 post-World War II recoveries is 15.2%.

In other words, the economic growth we’re experiencing is well under half of what it has been historically after past recessions, even though it should have been among the best periods of growth ever, given the severity of the recession.

Worse still, we can look forward to the long-term impact of today’s failed economic programs.  Someday, the debt we’ve accumulated will have to be paid back.  And quantitative easing may keep the country’s debt payments manageable today, but it weakens the dollar and boosts inflation.

And sooner or later interest rates could rise to the point where our current tax revenues will not be enough to pay the interest on our debt, let alone support government programs.

So what do we do when the current economic programs produce the same results as they have in the past?  Prepare for a multi-trillion dollar stimulus package?  QE3, the third quantitative easing program is open ended and can last as long as The Fed wants it to last, so at least we don’t have to worry about QE4.

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