Courtesy of reader D.D.: Faint signs the economy has a pulse? Better-than-expected factory orders, but job market still a worry.
From G.G.: U.K. News: Interest Rates Set to Soar, Warns Bank’s Chief Economist
M.A.M. suggested a piece that was linked at the Naked Capitalism blog: On the Urgency of Restructuring Bank and Mortgage Debt, and of Abandoning Toxic Asset Purchases. (Hussman’s approach is a bit interventionist for my taste, but at least it underscores the broad implications of the current crisis.) In my view, malinvestment must be worked out the system naturally, through bankruptcies. The fractional reserve credit system and fiat currencies are at the root of the problem. Huge credit crises will be recurrent unless sound money and warehouse banking are re-established.
Items from The Economatrix:
The Soft Panic of 2009 Has Just Begun. Broadway has defaulted on Hancock Towers payments. “Falling CRE values are a problem, but it’s not the big problem. The big problem is the debt.”
Will the Dark Cloud of Commercial Real Estate Blot Out the U.S. Recovery?
Fannie, Freddie Plan to Pay $210 Million in Bonuses
Unemployment Soars to “8.5%”; 13 Million Now Jobless
Fed “Extremely Uncomfortable” About Financial Companies’ Bailout
Trace Meyer’s Diagram: The Great Credit Contraction
Analysis: What the G-20 Pledges Said and What They Meant
Obamarket Update #53: The Triple U
Hidden Deficit Horrors (The Mogambo Guru)
World Depression: Regional Wars and The Decline of the US Empire (Pt. I)–A lengthy article but well worth the read. Here are two choice quotes: ” …these analysts lose sight of the present realities which have no precedent: the world nature of the economic depression, the unprecedented speed of the fall, and the levels of debt incurred by governments to sustain insolvent banks and industries and the unprecedented public deficits, which will drain resources for many generations to come.” , and “Obama’s ‘job creation’ scheme channels billions toward the privately owned telecommunication, construction, environmental and energy corporations, where the bulk of the government funds go to senior management and staff and provide profits to stock holders, while a lesser part will go to wage workers. Moreover, the bulk of the unemployed workers in the manufacturing and service areas are not remotely employable in the ‘recipient’ sectors. Only a fraction of the ‘stimulus package’ will be allocated in 2009. Its purpose and impact will be to sustain the income of the financial and industrial ruling class and to postpone their long-overdue demise.”
Doug Casey: How Long Will We Have to Wait? (“I’ll gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today.”)