Charles Hugh Smith asks this. The answer is simple.
All hell breaks loose.
Tag Archives: Fed
Japanese stocks slide 7.3%, US stocks rattled prior to open
This is how tenuous the markets really are. The slightest breeze from the Federal Reserve, the mere hint that the flow of money will slow, sends one of the world’s major stock markets pinwheeling.
At this moment US market futures aren’t looking very good.
Juicing the Market: Central Banks Buying Stocks
It wasn’t long ago that such an idea was beyond the pale. No longer.
If I Were ‘Dictator,’ QE Would End Now, Fed’s Lacker Says
Every politburo has got at least one trouble maker. The Federal Open Markets Committee is no different, Jeff Lacker serves this roll to a limited extent.
In the attached interview Mr. Lacker says a number of interesting things, among them that economic expansion after 2007 is in his opinion a break with an historical trend line (which will continue).
Dennis Gartman On Gold: “Panic is everywhere…I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Are the central banks turning off the spigot? Gartman thinks they are and that is what he thinks is generally pushing down the price of gold. Why the precipitous drop over the last 24 hours? He thinks that Cyprus having to sell off reserves has something to do with it. But no one’s exactly sure.
Things are weird again. We’ll see how long this blip lasts.
China Won’t Save the World Economy This Time.
The great hope for business leaders and those of the political sort was that China would pull the world out of the greatest economic downturn in 3 generations. This has failed to happen and is failing more with each passing day. China isn’t going to save the day. China has been built on a good amount of economic magic and it needs a correction desperately. It likely has one on its hands though this still is not the official consensus.
Forever Fed: Jobs Blues Sets Up Eternal Easing
What else is the Fed going to do? It will likely keep easing until it can’t ease any more. (For whatever reason.) It has no way out.
The establishment Right and Left unload on David Stockman, Because he’s right and they are scared.
So Biden’s economic advisor Jared Bernstein and David Frum, speech writer for George Bush have both come out railing against David Stockman and his new book. This is a shock.
Though the book is not perfect, it is one of the best books on economic history that I’ve read.
Wall Street Insider: 10-15% of the US Economy is fraudulent
In this interview which first appeared at Alternet.com and was reposted at Salon.com Jim Chanos, famous for shorting Enron and highlighting the fraud at the firm, talks corporate fraud generally and crony capitalism. He makes a number of assertions worth considering regarding the dishonesty on Wall Street, and explains why short sellers are vital to the marketplace. He explains that all the big fraudsters taken down in the past 20 years have been taken down by short sellers or journalists or both, not the regulatory agencies.
Fannie Mae record profit: How long until it pays back bailout money?
The article goes on to say that the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was good because it helped buoy the housing markets. It does say that the bailouts were not free of cost however because of the moral hazard the US government has enabled.
