Category: US Debt
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Our Depraved Future of Debt Slavery (Part II) / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Ashvin_Pandurangi
"Debt" has been used as a means of slavery throughout human history, in ancient societies dating as far back as thousands of years ago, such as those in Mesopotamia, Egypt, North/South America, etc. Debtors in these societies would be forced to relinquish their crops, land, freedom and even their wives and children to satisfy unpaid debts. Such extravagant periods of debt creation often culminated in the necessity for systemic debt forgiveness (or "Jubilee") by the decree of chiefs, emperors and kings to simply maintain some sense of social order [see Debt: The First 5000 years].
Friday, February 24, 2012
Fatally Flawed Approaches to the U.S. Budget Deficit and Taxes... / Politics / US Debt
By: Mike_Shedlock
... Debt Will Swell Under 3 of 4 Republican Hopefuls' Tax Plans
A number of proposals on taxes and the budget have come out recently, one by President Obama, one by Mitt Romney, and one by a friend, John Mauldin.
Every one of the proposals are fatally flawed, most of the for multiple reasons. Before one can fix a problem one must understand it.
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Thursday, February 23, 2012
Our Depraved Future of Debt Slavery (Part I) / Politics / US Debt
By: Ashvin_Pandurangi
It is almost surprising that the concept of slavery is very foreign to those living in the developed world, especially the U.S., since it was extensively practiced as recently as 70 years ago. What’s more disturbing about this ignorance is the fact that the system of post-Civil War slavery in the U.S. was not so different than the systems of slavery many Americans and Europeans will be experiencing in upcoming years. Indeed, I’m sure many people will probably take offense to such a comparison even being made, as they feel it demeans the atrocious acts committed in the past.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
The Cancer of Debt and Deficits / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: John_Mauldin
We are coming to the point in the United States when even the US government will no longer be able to borrow at very low long-term rates. That point is a few years off, and we have time to change paths; but as I have shown in previous letters, the longer we wait to get the deficit under control, the fewer choices we have and the more painful they are. NO country can run deficits the size we are currently running, along with unfunded deficits over four times the size of the economy and a growing overall debt burden, without consequences. At some point, investors in bonds will start wondering exactly what the process is by which they will be repaid. And what will the value of those future payments be?
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
US Debt Will Explode Without Changes / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Bloomberg
John Taylor, economics professor at Stanford University, spoke to Bloomberg Television's Trish Regan today and said that the U.S. "could get into a situation like Greece, quite frankly."
Taylor went on to say, "People have to realize it is a precarious situation. The debt is going to explode if we don't make some changes."
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Thursday, February 02, 2012
How Far Will Debt Deleveraging Go? How Much LSD Can an Elephant Take? / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Andrew_Butter
There is a growing suspicion that the amount debt piled on by both government and the private sector in developed nations over the past few years, is causing distressing symptoms of overdose.
On the subject of overdose, any druggie will tell you, dosage is important. Get that wrong and you can suffer unintended consequences. The other thing, once you popped the pills and the substance is absorbed into your blood, well, you just got to hang on and bear the consequences, until the stuff works its way through your system, if you don’t die first.
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Monday, January 16, 2012
Why You Should Ignore the Coming Debt Ceiling Debate / Politics / US Debt
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes: Under the guise of yet another debt ceiling debate, Republicans and Democrats will spend much of the week demonizing each other on the Washington stage.
But don't be fooled. This so-called debate will be nothing more than a planned-in-advance sideshow to supply each side with 2012 election campaign fodder.
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Saturday, January 14, 2012
The U.S. Government Is Bankrupt / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Casey_Research
Doug Casey, Casey Research writes: Everyone knows that the US government is bankrupt and has been for many years. But I thought it might be instructive to see what its current cash-flow situation actually is. At least insofar as it's possible to get a clear picture.
As you know, the so-called Super Committee recently tried to come up with a plan to cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion and failed completely. To anyone who understands the nature of the political process, the failure was, of course, as predictable as it was shameful. What's even more shameful, though, is that the sought-after $1.5 trillion cut wasn't meant to apply to the annual budget but to the total budget of the next 10 years – a fact that is rarely mentioned.
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Thursday, January 12, 2012
United States, the Worlds Biggest Zombie, All Empires End Badly / Politics / US Debt
By: Bill_Bonner
Not much action at the end of last week… Gold closed the week over $1,600. Oil remained over $100.
The show goes on!
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Thursday, January 12, 2012
United States Coming Greek Moment, Collapse, No. Huge Losses, Guaranteed / Economics / US Debt
By: Gary_North
I did a search on Google for "economic collapse" and "2011." I got over 7 million hits.
I read a short piece on the probability of social collapse. The author argues that complex systems require more energy. At some point, there is not enough energy to sustain the system. Then it collapses.
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Monday, January 09, 2012
Paul Krugman is Dead Wrong: Debt Matters / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes:
Paul Krugman, the Princeton University economics professor, Nobel Prize winner, and regular New York Times op-ed contributor says, "Debt matters, but not that much."
Not only is he off the reservation on this one, but he's completely fallen off his high horse.
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Friday, January 06, 2012
Debt, It's a Rollover... or is it? / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: William_Bancroft
Will Bancroft looks at the debt loads weighing down economies and sees a year of tightrope walking for the authorities and the banking system. The financial markets wait with baited breathe for a resolution to the debt problems, but are there any fixes available?
As we enter 2012 there is one issue that probably sits at the forefront of our minds: can the overly indebted parts of the financial system keep financing themselves?
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Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Math Vindicates S&P U.S. Debt Downgrade / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Michael_Pento
Standard and Poor’s has been greatly vilified for their call to lower the U.S. credit rating to AA+ from AAA. The evidence, naysayers point to, for their justification of excoriating S&P is the performance of Treasuries since the downgrade occurred. Indeed, U.S. debt yields have fallen and the dollar has increased in the five months after being stripped of AAA.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Bring on US Debt Default, Otherwise, it's Permanent Deficits and Unemployment / Economics / US Debt
By: Gary_North
Throughout the West, unemployment remains stubbornly high. Unemployment in these European nations ranges from 8.5% in Italy to over 20% in Spain.
For Europe as a whole, the figure is 10.3%. What is revealing is this: ever since 1995, it has been above 9% most of the time. Only in February 2008 did it fall to 7.3%. For workers under age 25, the figures are much worse. A generation of educated college graduates has become a lost generation.
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
US Public Debt Grows to World War II Level / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Pravda
In early December the ratio of public debt of the United States to GDP has reached 99.5%, which is the highest number since World War II. After placing another portion of the bonds at $160 billion, the U.S. will exceed this significant number. Rating agencies are willing to revise the U.S. credit scores.
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Thursday, December 15, 2011
The Corporate Cash Myth, What About Debt? / Companies / US Debt
By: Neeraj_Chaudhary
A central theme that has absolutely permeated the coverage of the Great Recession is that over the past few years US corporations have cautiously hoarded cash and have stubbornly refused to invest in corporate expansion. Some have described this as a nearly irrational timidity on the part of the private sector and has for many justified the currently robust intervention from the public sector in the form of deficit spending, fiscal stimulus and monetary accommodation. The saying goes that if companies won't spend, government must pick up the slack to restart the economy. The story has been repeated so frequently and so often, that its veracity is rarely questioned.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
U.S. Household Debt - Deleveraging Posts New Record / Economics / US Debt
By: Asha_Bangalore
Household debt soared prior to the onset of the financial crisis to establish a peak at $13.9 trillion in second quarter of 2008 (see Chart 2). During the thirteen quarters since the peak, household debt has declined $688 billion (see Chart 3) to set a new record for the post-war period.
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Sunday, December 11, 2011
The U.S Debt Crisis, A Look Beyond the Paradigms / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Andy_Sutton
Co-Authored by Gregory Olson, CEO – GRO Enterprises : One of the traps all analysts fall into from time to time is their inability to see the forest through the trees. We are all guilty of this from time to time, and those who would deny this simple reality only set themselves up to miss important changes in the paradigms in which they operate. Perhaps the most famous example of this happened in the life and times of Christopher Columbus. We’re sure you recall the mental model of that time; that the Earth was flat. Many very wise people in Columbus’ day felt he was going to sail the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria right off the edge of the Earth. And there are many other classic examples as well.
Friday, December 09, 2011
Stop Hyperventilating about Federal Debt: USA Is Heading for Party-Time Again / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Andrew_Butter
An interesting component of the current atmosphere of angst in America is collective amnesia. Everyone seems to forget:
1: There was a very expensive war. Whether the war was in fact “necessary” so as to Keep America Safe, is debatable. But putting that to one side, it most certainly did not generate a return on investment in the form of looting and pillaging…which always used to be the main justification for going to war in the old days, and that in the cold light of debt servitude, arguably remains the only fiscally-responsible reason for going to war…ever…so long as you win!
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Thursday, December 08, 2011
U.S. Twin Deficits, Phony Money for Worthless Promises / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Gary_North
There are two deficits that we hear about most: the federal government's deficit and the balance of payments of the United States. They are linked, but they are very different in their effects.
The federal deficit is seen by Keynesians as mostly a benefit and by Austrians as mostly a liability, and for the same reason: higher government spending.
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