Something like this may be coming soon to a state near you (or perhaps your own): Gov. Chris Christie strikes a deal with New Jersey's senate cutting pensions and benefits for state employees. New Jersey's pension system was $53.9B underfunded as of the latest fiscal year. [View news story]
Cinn...it seems the only people who get pensions these days are government workers? Do you think Mike Mohr is a government worker?
The reality is that all government pension and health care benefits, including states are under funded and need to be cut. You cannot raise taxes enough to solve the problem.
Something like this may be coming soon to a state near you (or perhaps your own): Gov. Chris Christie strikes a deal with New Jersey's senate cutting pensions and benefits for state employees. New Jersey's pension system was $53.9B underfunded as of the latest fiscal year. [View news story]
So Joe, then do you really think Bernanke is the greatest, or were you just kidding?
Bernanke Surprises Markets With the Truth [View article]
Right on 4head. Two thumb's up.
Confidence is not a precursor to economic growth. It is a product of an economy that has delivered performance and results that are observable and capable of being felt. Confidence comes when you see income's escalating, hiring escalating and you talk to you neighbor and he says things are good. A willingness to spend follows a sentiment of confidence. Spending with a future obligation is predicated on a confidence that there will be an economy to support you for x years until you pay off that obligation.
So...Mr. Bernanke...what we need is an easy to understand (not Greenspan) policy that will be consistently applied for the next 10 years that shows the people in a year or two that the policy will deliver and can be trusted. Right now the Fed and Washington are dead last in the standings of the big leagues. Today they are simply not believable.
End of Quantitative Easing? Don't Bet on It [View article]
Really....I don't know where you "find" an assumption like that. I have been a gold / silver bug for more than 20 years. The vast, vast majority of everyting I read by those who are also gold disposed is just contrary to what you say. Almost universally, a gold/silver bug laments the absence of a link between fiat currency and gold. They are opposed to the deficit spending and see it as currency debasement. So you must be visiting places I have never been. If you want, I could give you a list of 20 authors writing weekly or daily on the subject for you to check for yourself.
A new paper from Oxford economists suggests that Wall Street firms have colluded to keep IPO fees artificially high. The “7% solution” has become dominant in the U.S., the report says, and is the norm for IPOs raising up to $250M. The same banks are prevalent in the U.S. and Europe, but European IPO fees are roughly three percentage points lower. "There’s an IPO cartel in the U.S.," Felix Salmon concludes. [View news story]
Hey....another support for the idea that 'Conspiracies' really do exist. Just because you don't see them or understand them doesn't mean they are not there. Ha Ha.
EU commissioner Olli Rehn, more or less the overseer of Europe's bailed out countries, turns his gaze across the Atlantic? "The situation concerning the U.S. fiscal deficit and debt is a very serious one," he says. If Tim Geithner hits the wires saying "America is not Greece," we know we're in trouble. [View news story]
Now there's a pot calling the kettle black. All we've heard for months is that "Greece is not going to default." In the meantime they mover closer day by day.
Bernanke on Why QE2 Didn't Hurt the Economy - and Why He's Wrong [View article]
Joe, I guess we'll all find out sooner or later. I'm putting my last silver dollar on.....apberusdisvet. Right now it doesn't appear that the bankster Bernanke has a good handle on what to do to fix things. Perhaps he's not interested in fixing things.
The Implications of OPEC's Failed Meeting [View article]
Right on "Lefty". Too bad I can't give you 2 thumbs up.
Unfortunately, the "American kleptocracy" has no sense whatsoever of a rise in temperature. They are like all other criminals thinking that they will never get caught and never have to pay the price. We have all seen too many "disaster" movies not to know that they all have an exit strategy planned where they will all end up somewhere (Monte Carlo) with their untold millions while the masses are left behind to suffer through the disaster. In DC it's called the "continuity of government".
The ECB Raises the Interest Rate: Trichet's Dilemma [View article]
Wow....I glad I'm not looking for a job in Spain right now with 20% + unemployment. If that's prospering then I'll stay here.
Spain needs to provide financing of $245 billion this year alone which is 20% of GDP. As of May 2010 they owed $1.1 Trillion in debt (half to France and Germany) CDS spreads on their debt surely suggest that they are not as bad off as Portugal and Greece, but they are barking right up there with Hungary.
Bernanke on Why QE2 Didn't Hurt the Economy - and Why He's Wrong [View article]
BBRO....I agree with you. All the government servants are truly altruistic and only have the best interests of "We the People" at heart. (stifling a smirkish chortle).
I have known and worked for a lot of brilliant people who couldn't tie their shoe laces every morning. It's one thing the be able to solve an equation, it's another to be able to see a root cause to a problem and fix it. I vehemently oppose any suggestion that the Fed is actually concerned about either of their two supposed mandates - employment and price stability.
The reality is the Fed is a collection of bankers who are all about making money at the expense of their customers. The largest customer of all is the US government.
Bernanke on Why QE2 Didn't Hurt the Economy - and Why He's Wrong [View article]
Yes I agree the Wizard is a fraud, but I have little confidence that Congress will come to the rescue? If Mr. Wiener is an example of the IQ of our leaders, sounds like we need to "reboot".
My take is that the economic growth comes first and that changes the psychology. It's the, "I'll wait and see how things go before I make a commitment to buy that new car." vs. "All the forecasts suggest things will be turning around, so I'll buy that new car now." The latter approach is today severely held hostage by levels of consumer debt that are still too high.
It's only because of the Fed that the US government has the ability to fund out of control spending. The Fed is an enabler. Banks make money pushing debt. The Fed has been the facilitator of bubbles with easy money policies that supported a housing bubble and then reversals that burst the bubble. The Fed has short-circuited the economies natrual tendency to flush waste down the toilet by buying agency debt and mortgage backed securities from banks. They are purveyors of inflation. Well I guess you figured out I am not a fan of the Fed.
Pressed on her earlier prediction for hundreds of billions of dollars in muni bond defaults, Meredith Whitney stands by it: "It's going to be big... What was troublesome is people took [the call] that it would have to be this year. I never said that. But that's the size we're looking at." And she tosses in a new warning: more double-digit declines in housing prices. [View news story]
And the commercial real estate market is due for similar pain.
Something like this may be coming soon to a state near you (or perhaps your own): Gov. Chris Christie strikes a deal with New Jersey's senate cutting pensions and benefits for state employees. New Jersey's pension system was $53.9B underfunded as of the latest fiscal year. [View news story]
The reality is that all government pension and health care benefits, including states are under funded and need to be cut. You cannot raise taxes enough to solve the problem.
Something like this may be coming soon to a state near you (or perhaps your own): Gov. Chris Christie strikes a deal with New Jersey's senate cutting pensions and benefits for state employees. New Jersey's pension system was $53.9B underfunded as of the latest fiscal year. [View news story]
Bernanke Surprises Markets With the Truth [View article]
Confidence is not a precursor to economic growth. It is a product of an economy that has delivered performance and results that are observable and capable of being felt. Confidence comes when you see income's escalating, hiring escalating and you talk to you neighbor and he says things are good. A willingness to spend follows a sentiment of confidence. Spending with a future obligation is predicated on a confidence that there will be an economy to support you for x years until you pay off that obligation.
So...Mr. Bernanke...what we need is an easy to understand (not Greenspan) policy that will be consistently applied for the next 10 years that shows the people in a year or two that the policy will deliver and can be trusted. Right now the Fed and Washington are dead last in the standings of the big leagues. Today they are simply not believable.
End of Quantitative Easing? Don't Bet on It [View article]
A new paper from Oxford economists suggests that Wall Street firms have colluded to keep IPO fees artificially high. The “7% solution” has become dominant in the U.S., the report says, and is the norm for IPOs raising up to $250M. The same banks are prevalent in the U.S. and Europe, but European IPO fees are roughly three percentage points lower. "There’s an IPO cartel in the U.S.," Felix Salmon concludes. [View news story]
EU commissioner Olli Rehn, more or less the overseer of Europe's bailed out countries, turns his gaze across the Atlantic? "The situation concerning the U.S. fiscal deficit and debt is a very serious one," he says. If Tim Geithner hits the wires saying "America is not Greece," we know we're in trouble. [View news story]
Bernanke on Why QE2 Didn't Hurt the Economy - and Why He's Wrong [View article]
The Implications of OPEC's Failed Meeting [View article]
Unfortunately, the "American kleptocracy" has no sense whatsoever of a rise in temperature. They are like all other criminals thinking that they will never get caught and never have to pay the price. We have all seen too many "disaster" movies not to know that they all have an exit strategy planned where they will all end up somewhere (Monte Carlo) with their untold millions while the masses are left behind to suffer through the disaster. In DC it's called the "continuity of government".
The Implications of OPEC's Failed Meeting [View article]
Well that's a heck of a note to end on. How about a follow up on implications?
The ECB Raises the Interest Rate: Trichet's Dilemma [View article]
Spain needs to provide financing of $245 billion this year alone which is 20% of GDP. As of May 2010 they owed $1.1 Trillion in debt (half to France and Germany) CDS spreads on their debt surely suggest that they are not as bad off as Portugal and Greece, but they are barking right up there with Hungary.
I'll continue to count them as part of the PIIGS.
Bernanke on Why QE2 Didn't Hurt the Economy - and Why He's Wrong [View article]
I have known and worked for a lot of brilliant people who couldn't tie their shoe laces every morning. It's one thing the be able to solve an equation, it's another to be able to see a root cause to a problem and fix it. I vehemently oppose any suggestion that the Fed is actually concerned about either of their two supposed mandates - employment and price stability.
The reality is the Fed is a collection of bankers who are all about making money at the expense of their customers. The largest customer of all is the US government.
Bernanke on Why QE2 Didn't Hurt the Economy - and Why He's Wrong [View article]
Bernanke on Why QE2 Didn't Hurt the Economy - and Why He's Wrong [View article]
"Beating Deflation Requires Economic Growth"
My take is that the economic growth comes first and that changes the psychology. It's the, "I'll wait and see how things go before I make a commitment to buy that new car." vs. "All the forecasts suggest things will be turning around, so I'll buy that new car now." The latter approach is today severely held hostage by levels of consumer debt that are still too high.
What Are the Fed's Policy Options? [View article]
Pressed on her earlier prediction for hundreds of billions of dollars in muni bond defaults, Meredith Whitney stands by it: "It's going to be big... What was troublesome is people took [the call] that it would have to be this year. I never said that. But that's the size we're looking at." And she tosses in a new warning: more double-digit declines in housing prices. [View news story]