Our Awful Situation

Archive for the ‘Economic Depression’ Category

‘The game is over. There won’t be a rebound’: An interview with Michael Hudson on the economy

Posted by Charlie Kilo on July 7th, 2008

Michael Hudson is a former Wall Street economist specializing in the balance of payments and real estate at the Chase Manhattan Bank (now JPMorgan Chase & Co.), Arthur Anderson, and later at the Hudson Institute (no relation). In 1990 he helped established the world’s first sovereign debt fund for Scudder Stevens & Clark.

Dr. Hudson was Dennis Kucinich’s chief economic advisor in the recent Democratic primary presidential campaign, and has advised the U.S., Canadian, Mexican and Latvian governments, as well as the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). A distinguished research professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC), he is the author of many books, including Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (new ed., Pluto Press, 2002) He can be reached at mh “at” michael-hudson.com.

Read the Interview here.

‘Prolonged Slowdown’ Coming: BoNY Mellon President

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 28th, 2008

Via Continual Never-ending Bad Crap (CNBC):

The global economy will struggle more than people now think, as the credit crunch spreads beyond housing and financials, Gerald Hassell, Bank of New York Mellon president, told “Squawk Box Europe” Friday.

“We’re seeing the early signs of the traditional downturn,” Hassell said. “I do think it’s going to be a very tough environment for all of us here.”

Initially, the credit crunch had hit only the real estate sector, but now it is spreading, affecting credit cards and the consumer in general. Meanwhile the high price of oil and food is squeezing other areas such as clothing and autos, he said.

“I’m fairly pessimistic … we’re in a prolonged period of slowdown here,” Hassell said, adding that it is impossible to forecast when the economy will start to pick up.

L.A. seeing more people living out of their cars

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 24th, 2008

The four wheel homeless:

Having lost her job and her three-bedroom house, Darlene Knoll has joined the legions of downwardly mobile who are four wheels away from homelessness.

She is living out of her shabby 1978 RV, and every night she has to look for a place to park where she won’t get hassled by the cops or insulted by residents.

“I’m not a piece of trash,” the former home health-care aide said as she stroked one of five dogs in her cramped quarters parked in the waterfront community of Marina del Rey.

Amid the foreclosure crisis and the shaky economy, some California cities are seeing an increase in the number of people living out of their cars, vans or RVs.

Communities suffer as foreclosure rate rises

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 24th, 2008

This reminds me of Atlas Shrugged:

As mortgage defaults and foreclosures continue to rise, the impact is spreading well beyond those who are losing their homes.

In communities across the country, msnbc.com readers report that local governments are coping with shrinking tax rolls, lenders are saddled with more foreclosed homes than they can sell and empty homes in many neighborhoods are being vandalized.

Like everything associated with the nation’s housing crisis, the fallout from foreclosures is very local, a fact confirmed by hundreds of e-mails from readers in msnbc.com’s Gut Check America. Some regions appear to have escaped relatively unscathed. But in hard-hit states like California, Arizona and Florida, readers report that some neighborhoods are becoming virtual ghost towns.

Central bank body warns of Great Depression

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 16th, 2008

A stunning warning from the central bank of central banks:

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the organisation that fosters cooperation between central banks, has warned that the credit crisis could lead world economies into a crash on a scale not seen since the 1930s.

In its latest quarterly report, the body points out that the Great Depression of the 1930s was not foreseen and that commentators on the financial turmoil, instigated by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, may not have grasped the level of exposure that lies at its heart.

According to the BIS, complex credit instruments, a strong appetite for risk, rising levels of household debt and long-term imbalances in the world currency system, all form part of the loose monetarist policy that could result in another Great Depression.

The report points out that between March and May of this year, interbank lending continued to show signs of extreme stress and that this could be set to continue well into the future.

It also raises concerns about the Chinese economy and questions whether China may be repeating mistakes made by Japan, with its so called bubble economy of the late 1980s.

Dow falls on poor jobs report, oil at $133 per barrel

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 6th, 2008

The Dow is taking a hit today due to bad news on several fronts:

Stocks plunged after the sharpest jump in the unemployment rate in more than 20 years and news that wholesale inventories ballooned. Oil jumped more than $6 a barrel.

The employment report showed that U.S. employers cut jobs for a fifth straight month. Nonfarm payrolls shed 49,000 jobs in May, better than the 58,000-decline expected. April was revise to show 8,000 more job losses than previously expected. The unemployment rate shot up to 5.5 percent from 5 percent in April, the biggest monthly jump since 1986.

“I’ve been trading these markets for 25 years; to see a jump like this is a little scary,” Jack Bouroudjian of Brewer Investment Group told CNBC. “But, these markets have already factored in that weakness.”

The market’s initial knee-jerk was a sharp sell-off but economists pointed out that the historically high jump in the unemployment rate was likely a statistical fluke.

Economic ‘misery’ more widespread

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 14th, 2008

Some experts argue that true inflation and unemployment - the components of the economy’s ‘Misery Index’ - are higher than the government’s official figures.

Really…

Americans are feeling a lot more economic pain than the government’s official statistics would lead you to believe, according to a growing number of experts.

They argue that figures for unemployment and inflation are being understated by the government.

Unemployment and inflation are typically added together to come up with a so-called “Misery Index.”

The “Misery Index” was often cited during periods of high unemployment and inflation, such as the mid 1970s and late 1970s to early 1980s.

And some fear the economy may be approaching those levels again.

The official numbers produce a current Misery Index of only 8.9 - inflation of 3.9% plus unemployment of 5%. That’s not far from the Misery Index’s low of 6.1 seen in 1998.

But using the estimates on CPI and unemployment from economists skeptical of the government numbers, the Misery Index is actually in the teens. Some worry it could even approach the post-World War II record of 20.6 in 1980.

“We’re looking at government numbers that are really out of whack,” said Kevin Phillips, author of the book “Bad Money.”

Higher Gas Prices Eat Up Much of Stimulus Check

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 29th, 2008

Its like trying to use a garden hose on forest fire:

In the 11 weeks since President Bush approved tax rebates aimed at averting a recession, energy prices have risen so much that the country is now spending about $250 million more per day on gasoline.

As the U.S. Treasury races to get the rebates to households, beginning this week, it faces an uphill battle against inflation that is blunting the benefits of the $152 billion 2008 stimulus package.

There is a lot riding on what consumers do with these rebate checks.

Depending on how much is promptly spent — and on what — it could mean the difference between the U.S. economy eking out marginal growth in the coming months or slipping into a deep recession.

Howard J. Ruff: Hyper-inflationary depression coming

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 23rd, 2008

Famed author Howard J Ruff is predicting a hyper-inflationary depression:

Until now, I have given equal credence to two possible scenarios:

1) We could have several years of inflation as we do now, and the powers-that-be would have a sudden rush of brains to the head, like Paul Volcker and Ronald Reagan did in 1980, and stop the “printing press,” ending inflation and the gold and silver bull market, for at least a few years; or

2) It is too late to stop it. The political forces and the Unfunded Liabilities would prevent the powers-that-be from ending the money-printing process, and in fact, would grossly accelerate it. This would result in a hyper inflation (400 percent inflation or more), and the eventual total destruction of the dollar. Suddenly America would find its money totally useless. Store shelves would be empty, gas would go through the stratosphere, and Americans would suffer through the greatest threat since the Great Depression of the ’30s.

So what caused me to settle on number two?

Read his reasoning here.

Credit crisis hits student borrowers

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 20th, 2008

Anthony Norton, a junior at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, just learned a tough lesson in economics:

The credit market crisis is spreading to student loans.

Norton thought he was set when he deposited a $16,000 student-loan check to pay for summer classes and the fall semester. But when he started to pay bills for classes, rent, and other expenses last week, his checks bounced.

He was one of 500 students left in the lurch with the April 7 bankruptcy filing of The Education Resources Institute Inc., a Boston nonprofit that guarantees student loans. And his ordeal is only the latest example of chaos in the college loan market. More than 50 firms have abandoned or cut back their federal or private student loan programs this year, unable to raise money in the financial markets. Yesterday, Citigroup, one of the largest private lenders, said it would stop lending at some schools and end its federal loan consolidations.

While families used to secure student loans almost regardless of their credit history, “Those days are over,” said Tony Erwin, director of financial aid services at Northeastern University in Boston and president of the Massachusetts Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

As students and parents begin the process of applying for financial aid and loans for the upcoming school year, Erwin warned, loans are going to be harder to come by and more expensive: “It’s going to be a problem. There’s no question about it.”

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