Debt Chart

Ending date, 2010.

You get three guesses. The first two will be either US government debt or US government debt. Both are equally wrong.

The winner is: Private debt and liabilities.

I got ya with that.

Private industry doubled its debt from 1999 through 2010.

What did the federal debt do in the same period? It didn't double. Well, I lied. It went from $5.6 trillion to $12.3 trillion.

But, in 1999, private industry debt was already $13.4 trillion. More than the government owed in 2010.

Just before Obama took office, private industry owed $28.7 trillion to its lenders and debt holders.

You ought to be telling me about how the rich grow the economy by creating jobs. I bet you already loaded up with the Obamablame Game power move #3, "But, but ... look at what Obama has done to damage our economy!"

Here's what the economy has done under Obama.



Load up the next turn in your ObamaBlame game. "But, but .... "

Fed to taper stimulus

Interest rates are going to rise starting today. I'm hoping that will be a slow and steady rise.

Why?

Here are several links to learn or unlearn more:

Yahoo Link

US News

A European perspective The Telegraph

Forbes

For the stock market geek in all of us!

I can't make this stuff up.

Overnight, the market sold-off led by 5s and 7s after the German Zew Survey came in strong.

In the U.S., the market is down slightly and the belly continues to underperform with 2s10s 1 bps steeper while 2s5s is 2 bps steeper. MBS put in a strong showing yesterday as a lack of supply coupled with continued Fed buying left the Street short bonds and took the belly 4 tics tighter. Today, current coupons are another 2 tics tighter and there isn't any economic data to digest until tomorrow.

What did I get out of that?

Some family went to the Berlin Zoo and counted the animals 2 x 2. Because it cost so much, there is belt tightening. Unless they have some coupons for fast food, they will be hungry tomorrow.

That could be Major Bull Shit.

What's wrong with market theories as the basis for economic policy?

For 'market theory' to work, all transactions must be between two perfect people with perfect knowledge and with the freedom not to inter into a transaction involving an item with infinite shelf life for which there are unlimited substitutes available from an infinite number of other possible sources.

Well, apart from a need for every one and everything to be perfect, markets work perfectly. Just like Obamacare.

Just a little more detail on what it takes to have a 'market.'

Infinite buyers and sellers – An infinite number of consumers with the willingness and ability to buy the product at a certain price, and infinite producers with the willingness and ability to supply the product at a certain price.

Zero entry and exit barriers – A lack of entry and exit barriers makes it extremely easy to enter or exit a perfectly competitive market.

Perfect factor mobility – In the long run factors of production are perfectly mobile, allowing free long term adjustments to changing market conditions.

Perfect information - All consumers and producers are assumed to have perfect knowledge of price, utility, quality and production methods of products.

Vacations!

It was a Saturday morning. My wife and I were headed to Myrtle Beach, SC. I had on shorts and flip flops. Something under the dash brushed my left leg. I looked down. “Damn car is falling apart! Look at that bundle of wires that just fell out of the dash.” That's what I thought. Really. Damn Detroit and Tokyo, too. I start to reach for the thing and it MOVES!

Rather smoothly with no trace of anxiety I turned to my bride of 35 years and said, "Would you mind taking the wheel? CAUSE THERE'S A SNAKE IN THE CAR AND I GOTTA GOOOOOooooooo!"

You know 'that' woman didn't believe me. She thought it was another one of my tricks to make her drive so I could take a nap!

I had to grab the damn thing and hand it to her before she got serious. The wheel. NOT the snake. When I say, Take the wheel ... I mean take the wheel! Like I was going to grab up under the dash to get a snake while doing a hundred and five. Hell. I didn't know my car could still do a hundred.

Need to scare the carburetor more often.

So there I am, sitting in the backseat watching Susan drive from the passenger seat. Dang. That was fun to watch. Glad the cruise control was set. I had a short conversation with my Maker while Susan did the Apache fertility and rain dance in her bucket seat.

If the damn snake had had any sense of fear, it would have tapped the brakes.

Pulled over at a gas station and did the Fill'er up and Check under the hood pantomime to the attendant. And, “Oh, would you mind ever so much to get the snake out of the dash?” Alas, there just no full service gas stations left.

Spent a good ten minutes sticking my feet out of the window while poking my left hand into all the hidden nooks behind the dash. Seriously, would you have used your right hand or your left hand to cover your mouth so you wouldn't scream like a girl every 3 seconds?

I learned that my wife can still scream "Get it out!" as loud now as she did that night 30 years ago when our first child was born weighing 11 pounds. The only difference was that this time I shared her sense of urgency.

Does the owners manual have a chapter on removing reptiles? Oh Hell NO!. I am going to write Nissan about that. It needs to go right after the section for removing dead cats from the alternator belt.

After 10 minutes the snake wasn't through with 'Hide n Seek.' So we came up with plan B. BURN THE CAR!

Plan C was to get back in the car and start driving again. Lull the snake into a false sense of security then grab it, beat it to death with a shoe, THEN burn the car just in case snakes are like cats and hide from humans to give birth.

Started back on the road with Susan doing the Lotus position. Me? I was the bait waiting for Death to grab my ankles again. After about 10 miles, Susan says, "Turn the heat on." What the Hell? I was only kidding about burning the car. After that heated discussion, my wife got the honor of turning off my A/C and turning on the heat to drive The Serpent from it's hiding place. Those who are old enough to remember the pleasures of 260 air conditioning, it hasn't changed any. It just as hot driving 60 with 2 windows down as it is driving 60 with no windows down.

Slowly, the snake crawled out of the steering column trying to reach the A/C controls. Silly me. I snatched his wittle neck before he hit the ON button. My wife celebrated the capture with another chorus of “GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT!” Now things were really getting getting serious. I had my right hand on the steering wheel. A snake in my left hand. And, my wife was having flash backs to the birth of our second child who weighted a nice 11 pounds FIVE ounces. She never lets me forget about those five extra ounces of masculinity she produced just for me, her loving husband.

Despite the nearly over whelming desire to let go off the steering wheel to turn on the A/C, I guided the car safely to the next exit with a Love's Travel Center. Not only does the Love's chain of Travel Center have the best gasoline prices and the cleanest restrooms, they also have showers. Sometimes without a waiting list.

I pulled the car under the shade of the fueling island and discovered that the back half of the snake didn't really want to be evicted without proper legal notice. Do you know how to convince a snake's ass let go of the airbag? Trust me. You don't want to just give it a sharp jerk. In the new owners manual, the manufacturer will provide graphic evidence that it is better to slowly remove reptiles in one piece than it is to clean up several sections of snake guts.

My arson trial starts in 3 weeks. I'm pleading self-defense.

I am doing well in therapy. I needed it after Susan said, “I told you we should have gone to Savannah!”
Got a 'snail mail' today allegedly written by rattle snake holding a Papermate in its coils. It seemed to be an apology for his cousin. Seems the 'little feller' had a dog like fetish for hanging his head out the window and letting his tongue flap in the wind.

The Lie of better economic times

I'm never going to finish exposing all the lies by the GOP's talking heads.

But, I'm starting to move on.

Under Clinton, crime as measured in statistics fell while the population grew. A good source for this is the FBI national crime statistics.

Clinton did not impose restrictions on libery such as have been imposed by the Patriot Act.

Television entertainment shows were not doing internet stings operations on child predators like Dateline and a few others have done.

Crime rates overall fell. The economy grew. Population grew.

Since the year 2000, Clinton's last year in office, the economy has staggered a couple of times.

The standard Republican tool for any economic condition, good or bad, is cutting taxes for corporations and the rich by a huge amount. While giving average people a few scraps that look like tax cuts.

Yummy!

Here is a story from the AP on how crime is increasing. Increasing despite combining many criminal databasess under a department of Homeland Security. Despite record levels of the stock market. Despite political stumps speeches how GOP candidates are the party of Law and Order.

Tongue in cheek, notice that the Liberal Heartland, the northeast did not have the problems of the Deeply Conservative South.

"Violent crime rose in every region of the country except for the Northeast."

That would include Boston and New York. Kennedy Country and Clinton Country.

Dollar nearly worthless, thanks to Bush, GOP, Nathan Deal

As I said, the GOP lies. And, they are very good at it.

The British Pound Sterling is now worth two U.S. dollars and rising. Not since Europe created the European dollar or Euro has the Pound Sterling been worth twice as much as a dollar.

What can we expect from the Bush appointee, Ben Shalom Bernanke? Increases in your mortgage rates, increases in all interest rates, and an increase in the Federal Debt.

Now how did I get an increase in the Federal Debt?

As Ben Shalom increases interest rates on the entire U.S. economy, growth will fall. As growth falls, tax revenues decrease. Less revenue for the federal government with no cuts in spending will mean a faster increase in Debt.

Don't expect Bush to cut the budget in the middle of his term as the War President. It takes a lot of 'hard work' and MONEY to lose a war. Maybe even more money and hard work than winning a war.

Watch Ben Shalom Bernanke. He just said the record number of people being evicted for not being able to pay their floating rate mortgage has been contained.

"Contained." As in the nuclear blast that destroyed Hiroshima has been contained. (Once the uranium completely burned a hole a quarter mile deep and a half a mile wide, killing 80,000 instantly).

Where is Nathan Deal on the issue of inflation, bank repossessions of homes, and the worthless dollar?

AWOL

More details on the worthless dollar.