Thread: Recent Economic News: All Bad

Seriously, some of this news is stunningly bad.

Just how stupid are people that some think there might be a "recovery" taking place?

March Foreclosures Surge To Absolute Record, At 369,491, 19% Jump from February

RealtyTrac reports the next catalyst that will surely take the Dow to 12,000 by 9:31 am tomorrow. "Foreclosure filings were reported on 367,056 properties in March, an increase of nearly 19 percent from the previous month, an increase of nearly 8 percent from March 2009 and the highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in January 2005."

March Foreclosures Surge To Absolute Record, At 369,491, 19% Jump from February | zero hedge

Bernanke: America Facing Financial 'Armageddon'



And that is their best case scenario, which anyone that has read anything in here knows their best case scenario, cuts in entitlement programs and increase in tax revenue, is not going to happen. First of all the kind of spending cuts that would be required (in social security/medicare/medicaid) would result in whatever administration that implements them to be voted out. Secondly, that would crush consumer spending, which is the vast majority of our economy.

So what else could we do? Cut military spending? With the enemies we have accumulated? With petrodollar recycling we are completely dependent on? No. The end of oil being traded in the dollar would be the end of the dollar at this point. Our military has to have the ability to crush all those that attempt to trade their oil for anything but dollars.

Latest sign that the recovery our government has been claiming is happening is a lie:

Foreclosure Rates Surge, Biggest Jump in 5 Years

U.S. Faces Second Lost Depression, Why This Recession Is Different and What To Do About It





And lastly peak oil is not a myth, it is reality. So I say to you, not only is economic growth impossible, but so is military spending cuts. Because we will have to fight for oil, because without oil, our entire economy stops altogether. And we are simply not going to let that happen.

US military warns oil output may dip causing massive shortages by 2015


This is our military that has had to publicly warn us folks. Do the math.

California unemployment is at a record high 12.6 percent and Florida also announced a record high unemployment. I believe New Mexico and Michigan have even worse "official" unemployment percentages than California. The real unemployment of course is 20 percent or more.

Gee, I see a lot of evidence for a Depression, but evidence for a recovery appears as elusive as Obama's long form birth certificate.


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Eight Banks Failed this Week

We're averaging over three failed banks per week. The last two weeks, the FDIC only reported one or zero banks failed per week. I think they do this now and then to try to create an illusion of a "recovery" but then the next week will have a big cluster.

http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/.../banklist.html

The red emphasis is mine.
Does a bankruptcy of the Fed mean that the dollar goes to zero?

Silver Stallion
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Especially since the size of sovereign debt needed corresponds with the start of the expiry, beginning this year, of a mountain of US private debt (commercial real estate and LBO due for refinancing, amounting to 4.2 trillion USD of private debt expiring in the United States between now and 2014 (averaging one trillion USD a year (12)). Purely by chance, it is the same amount as new global sovereign debt issuance for 2010 alone, of which almost half is by the US Federal Government. Adding to that the financing needs of the other economic players (households, businesses, local authorities), the United States must find nearly 5 trillion USD in 2010 to avoid « running dry ».

Our team anticipates two replies just as stark:

. as regards the United Kingdom, the IMF and the EU, perhaps (13); and we’ll be watching, from this summer, the « Bank of England battle (14) » to try and avoid a simultaneous collapse in Sterling and UK public finances. In all cases Sterling will not come out undamaged and the crisis in public finances will engender an austerity plan of unprecedented size.

. as regards the United States, no one; because the size of its financing requirements exceeds the capacity of other players (including the IMF (15)) and, in winter 2010/2011, this event will lead to the explosion in the US Treasury Bond bubble founded on a huge increase in interest rates to finance sovereign debt and private debt refinancing needs, causing a new wave of financial institution bankruptcies. But it isn’t only countries that can default on payment. A Central Bank can also go bankrupt when its balance sheet consists of « ghost assets (16) » and the Fed will have to face up to a real risk of bankruptcy, as analysed in this GEAB issue.

GEAB N°44 is available! Global systemic crisis / USA-UK - The explosive duo of the second half of 2010: Summer 2010 - The Bank of England battle / Winter 2010 - The Fed at risk of bankruptcy