Infinite Unknown

-The Entire Economy Is a Ponzi Scheme (ZeroHedge, April 13, 2013):

Bill Gross, Nouriel Roubini, Laurence Kotlikoff, Steve Keen, Michel Chossudovsky, the Wall Street Journal and many others say that our entire economy is a Ponzi scheme.

Former Reagan budget director David Stockman just agreed:

YouTube Added: 10.04.2013

So did a top Russian con artist and mathematician.

Even the New York Times’ business page asked, “Was [the] whole economy a Ponzi scheme?”

In fact – as we’ve noted for 4 years (and here and here) – the banking system is entirely insolvent. And so are most countries. The whole notion of one country bailing out another country is a farce at this point. The whole system is insolvent.

As we noted last year: Continue reading »

Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Gross, Bonds, Debt, EFSF, ESM, EU, Europe, France, Germany, Global News, Government, Greece, Italy, Joseph Stiglitz, Laurence Kotlikoff, Michel Chossudovsky, Nouriel Roubini, Obama administration, Politics, Portugal, Spain, U.S.

- Currency Wars Often Lead to Trade Wars … Which In Turn Can Devolve Into Hot Wars (ZeroHedge, Feb 8, 2013):

Currency War → Trade War → Hot War?

According to numerous high-level insiders, the global currency war is accelerating: Continue reading »

Tags: Australia, Bank of England, Ben Bernanke, China, Currency War, ECB, Environment, EU, Europe, Fed, Federal Reserve, Germany, Global News, Government, IMF, Japan, Jim Rickards, Jim Rogers, Mexico, Nouriel Roubini, Paul Krugman, Politics, Reggie Middleton, Robert Reich, U.S., Unemployment, War

- ‘Gold Bullion or Cash’ Shows Buffett, Roubini, Krugman Mistaken; Faber, Rogers, Bass, Einhorn, Gross Correct (ZeroHedge, Feb. 25, 2012)

Tags: Bill Gross, Economy, Global News, Gold, Jim Rogers, Kyle Bass, Marc Faber, Nouriel Roubini, Paul Krugman, Warren Buffett

Update:

- The Gold Sell Off Is Likely Coming To An End As Negative Gold Lease Rates Collapse

Related info:

- JP Morgan Crashed MF Global to Avert COMEX Failure, They Stole All The Accounts That Were Going To Take Delivery – (Jim Rogers: QE Has Never Stopped – QE 3 Is Operation Twist)

- Jim Rogers: QE NEVER STOPPED – The Fed Is Lying About QE 3 – Rising Money Supply Proves There Is QE 3 – On MF Global (Video)

- Roubini Asks of ‘Goldbugs’ on Twitter “Where is 2,000?” – Ignores Academic Research (ZeroHedge/Gold Core, Dec. 14, 2011):

Gold is trading at USD 1,626.10, EUR 1,261.20, GBP 1,067.30, CHF 1,557.40, JPY 129,550 and AUD 1,643.0 per ounce.

Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD 1,635.00, GBP 1,055.32, and EUR 1,255.18 per ounce.

Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,665.00, GBP 1,068.75, and EUR 1,262.22 per ounce.

Gold in USD – 1 Yr (100, 144, 200 DMA – yellow line at $1,618/oz)

Gold is marginally higher in most currencies today and bargain hunters are beginning to buy after the recent price falls. The falls were due to recent dollar strength, liquidity issues in the financial system and weak technicals.

Continue reading »

Tags: Economy, Gold, Nouriel Roubini

See also:

- Greece: Default Is Inevitable

- Germany’s Rating Agency Feri Downgrades US Government Bonds: AAA to AA!

- China’s Rating Agency: ‘In Our Opinion The United States Has Already Been Defaulting’

- St. Louis Federal Reserve President Sees US Default As Big Global Risk (Reuters)

- Roubini Says a ‘Perfect Storm’ May Converge on the Global Economy in 2013 (Bloomberg, Jun 13, 2011):

A “perfect storm” of fiscal woe in the U.S., a slowdown in China, European debt restructuring and stagnation in Japan may converge on the global economy, New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said.

There’s a one-in-three chance the factors will combine to stunt growth from 2013, Roubini said in a June 11 interview in Singapore. Other possible outcomes are “anemic but OK” global growth or an “optimistic” scenario in which the expansion improves.

“There are already elements of fragility,” he said. “Everybody’s kicking the can down the road of too much public and private debt. The can is becoming heavier and heavier, and bigger on debt, and all these problems may come to a head by 2013 at the latest.”

Continue reading »

Tags: Barack Obama, Debt, Economy, EU, Europe, Global News, Government, Nouriel Roubini, Politics

See also:

- Gasoline Cost to Jump $700 For Average US Household

- Speculators Anticipate Even More Powerful Move In Oil Prices Than In Summer Of 2008 When Crude Hit $150

Nouriel Roubini, the economist who correctly predicted the global financial crisis, warned on Thursday that some advanced economies could experience a double dip recession if the price of oil climbs to $140 a barrel.

“It the turmoil in the Middle East becomes much worse and the price of oil reaches $140-150 a barrel then the risk of a double dip recession increases,” Roubini said in a keynote speech here at MIPIM, the world’s annual gathering of real estate professionals.

World oil prices fell back Thursday after spiking sharply higher a day earlier, with New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, dropped 32 cents to $104.06 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for April shed 51 cents to $115.43.

Several analysts have forecast oil could again reach the record $147 it set July 2008 before the onset of the global financial crisis if unrest spreads through the Middle East.

Continue reading »

Tags: Economy, Global News, Nouriel Roubini, Oil, Oil Prices, Recession

Washington’s Blog strives to provide real-time, well-researched and actionable information.  George – the head writer at Washington’s Blog – is a busy professional and a former adjunct professor.

I heard a recent talk by Richard Wolff – Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst (PhD in Economics from Yale) – where Wolff said that 97% of all U.S. mortgages are either written or guaranteed by the government.

As Bloomberg explained last August:

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled companies that issued and guaranteed more than 71 percent of mortgage-backed bonds last year. Between those companies and Ginnie Mae, which guarantees loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, the government backed nearly 97 percent of U.S. mortgages in 2009.

There are supposedly plans in Washington to wind down Fannie and Freddie. Critics say that would destroy the “recovery” in housing.

If continuing to throw money at Fannie and Freddie would stabilize the economy, I might be for it – even though it is not free market capitalism. I am not wed to either liberal or conservative ideologies, and am instead simply motivated to do whatever will work to stabilize the economy and help the most people.

But as I noted in January:

Most independent experts say that the government’s housing programs have been a failure. That’s too bad, given that the housing slump is now – according to Zillow’s – worse than during the Great Depression.

Indeed, PhD economists John Hussman and Dean Baker, fund manager and financial writer Barry Ritholtz and New York Times’ writer Gretchen Morgenson say that the only reason the government keeps giving billions to Fannie and Freddie is that it is really a huge, ongoing, back-door bailout of the big banks.

Many also accuse Obama’s foreclosure relief programs as being backdoor bailouts for the banks. (See this, this, this and this). Continue reading »

Tags: Bailout, Banking, Barack Obama, Economy, Fannie Mae, Fraud, Freddie Mac, Global News, Government, Mortgage crisis, Mortgages, Nouriel Roubini, Obama administration, Politics, Treason, U.S., Wall Street

Related info:

- $2 Trillion Debt Crisis Threatens to Bring Down 100 US Cities Next Year

- Meredith Whitney: US Government Will Have to Bailout States in Next 12 Months

Buyers of bonds issued by US states and local authorities are being ‘Pollyannaish’ in ignoring the state of their finances

Nouriel Roubini’s consulting firm predicts substantial, but not system-threatening, defaults in the US municipal bonds market. Photograph: Sony Pics/Everett/Rex Features

US states and local governments could default on $100bn (£60bn) of their debts over the next five years, according to a report from the consulting firm founded by economist Nouriel Roubini.

The report follows dire predictions of a wide-scale collapse in the US’s $2.7tn municipal bonds market by Meredith Whitney, the analyst who was among the first to warn of the 2008 banking crisis.

Roubini Global Economics’ forecast is less gloomy than Whitney’s, but it warns that investors are being “Pollyannaish” in dismissing the serious problems in the market.

“The municipal bond market has generated tremendous debate in the past months, with Cassandras predicting another ‘sub-prime’ disaster, while apologists (often with vested interests) claim there is little justification for these warnings,” write the authors of the Roubini report, David Nowakowski and Prajakta Bhide. They conclude that while investors do face $100bn in defaults, the problems will not prove “systemic in nature” and will not “infect the financial system, though they will dampen economic recovery.”

Continue reading »

Tags: Bonds, Debt, Global News, Government, Muni Bonds, Nouriel Roubini, Politics, U.S.

Prof. Nouriel Roubini

- Roubini’s Next Crisis Is Scary Food for Thought (Bloomberg):

Yet the economic consequences of food prices pale in comparison with the social ones. Nowhere could the fallout be greater than Asia, where a critical mass of those living on less than $2 a day reside. It might have major implications for Asia’s debt outlook. It may have even bigger ones for leaders hoping to keep the peace and avoid mass protests.

It’s not hyperbole when Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economist who predicted the U.S. financial crisis, says surging food and energy costs are stoking emerging-market inflation that’s serious enough to topple governments. Hosni Mubarak over in Egypt can attest to that.

Side Effects

It’s important to begin considering the side effects. The United Nations reckons countries spent at least $1 trillion on food imports in 2010, with the poorest paying as much as 20 percent more than in 2009. These increases are just getting started. In January, world food prices rose to another record on higher dairy, sugar and grain costs.

Tags: Economy, Energy, Food, Food Prices, Global News, Government, Nouriel Roubini, Politics, Society

Stewardship of the global economy is in disarray due to a vacuum of leadership, senior economists have warned.

Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at New York University, and Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the media group WPP, lamented a lack of joined-up global leadership, describing co-ordinated efforts to address trade imbalances, capital flows, water resources, immigration and climate change as “G Zero”.

“There is complete disagreement and disarray. That’s the sense of the G Zero,” Mr Roubini said, explaining the new buzzword at the World Economic Forum’s annual conference in the Swiss resort of Davos.

“There is no agreement on anything. We are in a world where there is no leadership,” he added.

Continue reading »

Tags: Economy, G20, Government, Nouriel Roubini, Politics