“The first quarter will be ugly,” said an analyst at Deutschebank after looking at the latest report on the fourth quarter. In the last three months of 2007, the U.S. economy neither grew nor shrank. Instead, it just came to a halt. The official report shows GDP rising at an annual rate of 0.6%. The […]
Category Archives: Inflation
War—after all, what is it that the people get? Why—widows, taxes, wooden legs and debt. Samuel B. Pettengill “Armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. James Madison, 4th U.S. President (April 20, 1795) “Let me issue and control a nation’s currency and I […]
As banks, money markets and stock exchanges convulse over a sinking American economy, we see the folks sprawled at the bottom of the smoking rubble — debt-crushed American consumers. It is they whose reckless or trusting natures enriched so many, at least for a while, and whose troubled loans have sent markets into panic. But […]
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM Published: December 15, 2007 Economists and central bankers have worried for months that soaring food and energy costs could lead to higher inflation, but investors had shrugged off those concerns, preferring to focus on the slowdown in growth.”In the Fed’s mind, inflation never really left the picture,” the chief economist at […]
Bloomberg reports that, “China urged local governments to set up an early warning system to ensure sufficient oil supplies at filling stations, which face shortages across the nation.” China faces chronic energy shortages and the social and political instability those shortages foster with the population. Do you get the feeling the communists in Beijing are […]
By Simon Kennedy and Joe Richter Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — Rising fuel prices that businesses and consumers took in stride earlier this year may now be near the point of pushing the weakened U.S. economy into recession. “We are in a danger zone,” says Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight Inc. and a former […]
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Oil prices set another record high Tuesday, jumping over $2 on fears of dwindling supplies in the United States, projections for strong worldwide demand and a falling U.S. dollar.A suicide bombing in Afghanistan that killed at least 35 people and a pipeline attack in Yemen also helped push prices higher. Oil […]
By Grant Ferrett BBC News Food prices have risen as more land is used to produce biofuels A United Nations expert has condemned the growing use of crops to produce biofuels as a replacement for petrol as a crime against humanity. The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, said he feared […]
The housing market appears to be screeching to a halt and inflation is under 2 per cent, but the Reserve Bank will talk tough this week and raise rates twice next year, Westpac Bank economists say. However, they predict that the Reserve Bank will hold official interest rates at 8.25 per cent on Thursday. All […]
Phew! That was close. For a moment there, it looked like the collapse of the subprime mortgage market was going to wipe billions off financial earnings for years to come. The bad debts were stacked up like poisoned berries gathered by a poison-crazed squirrel during the housing bubble of 2003-2006. Going bad – fast – […]
Let’s see…the Dow rose 77 points on Friday. Oil hit a new record – at above US$85 a barrel. But we always try to look beyond to news to figure out what is going on. Despite the problems in housing, most Americans are feeling pretty fat and sassy. Living standards – at least, by the […]
It’s the end of the world as we know it…and we feel fine! India is booming. China is booming. The latest news from the Middle Kingdom tells us that its trade surplus is rising at a 56% annual rate. Heck, even Argentina is booming. Its economy has been growing about three times faster than the […]
The Bush recovery has been good for Wall Street, but not Main Street. The economic recovery that began in 2001 has brought slow job growth, limited wage gains, and continued rising inequality. While families at the top of the income ladder have seen their incomes rise faster than inflation, those in the middle and bottom […]
Meanwhile, speaking of housing, there are a lot of long faces among house sellers this morning. According to the weekend news, the story just becomes more and more depressing. “American Dream turns to a Nightmare,” begins the report in the Arizona press. (A modest suggestion to financial journalists: find a better headline. We’ve read that […]
When the sub-prime crisis rocked world markets on July 27, New Zealand’s sharemarket followed the same dismal path as Wall Street. It sank almost 10 per cent in less than a month. But the NZX-50 index stopped just short of a fresh closing high on Tuesday and overseas markets have also recovered. The sorry episode […]
But Barfoot’s director Peter Thompson said last month was the quietest September since 2000. High interest rates, school holidays – which started late last month – and people travelling to the Rugby World Cup were all to blame. “At the upper end of the market, many potential vendors are overseas following the World Cup action […]
by Richard C. Cook Global Research, October 2, 2007 No term in the “dismal science” of economics is more misunderstood than “inflation.” The word means “rising prices,” but is used at different times by different people to describe totally different phenomena. The most predominant type of inflation is natural and occurs as raw materials are […]
Ashley Seager, Andrew Clark and Marianne Barriaux in Paris Wednesday September 26, 2007 The Guardian Financial markets on both sides of the Atlantic took fright yesterday at economic data showing weakness in the US and Germany as investors fretted about banks’ balance sheets in the wake of the Northern Rock fiasco.The FTSE 100 share index […]
By Neal Wallace Consumers already reeling from sharp milk and butter price rises are in for another shock as the cost of bread, bacon and eggs follow suit. Bread manufacturers are expected to increase the price of bread by up to 20 per cent before Christmas and will not rule out another price rise […]
Posted by Marc Faber on Sep 20th, 2007 Unlike all the Wall Street strategists who compare the current credit crisis to the credit crisis of 1998 (Long Term Capital Management), I believe that the ongoing credit problems will be far worse and of a longer-term nature. This will make it difficult for the market to […]
The Reserve Bank has “definitely overdone” interest rate rises this year and should slash the rates in line with Australia, economic forecasting group Berl says. Instead of being on “perpetual inflation alert”, rates should be lowered to encourage investment, productivity improvements or business expansion, Berl says. “The psychotic fear of inflation is clouding the need […]
From The Times September 18, 2007 Suzy Jagger and Gabriel Rozenberg Investors should brace themselves for a prolonged period of market turmoil, Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, said yesterday as he held emergency meetings with the Chancellor and the French Finance Minister. Mr Paulson flew to London to discuss the financial crisis with Alistair […]
Posted by Dan Denning on Sep 14th, 2007 The moves in oil, gold, and even wheat are all telling us something. First, they’re telling us that the U.S. dollar is headed for the black pit of currency hell, where poorly managed fiat currencies go to suffer and die. And here’s a question for you: how […]
The United States is not the only nation confronting a household debt crisis. We, too, have a subprime lending market and it is managed by our collective bag of finance companies. The collective sum of savings at risk in this sector is reported to be $16 billion. Put another way, that’s nearly a third of […]
The Triumph of Structured Finance By Mike Whitney The entire global financial structure is becoming uncontrollable in crucial ways that its nominal leaders never expected, and instability is its hallmark. The scope and operation of international financial markets, their “architecture”, as establishment experts describe it, has evolved haphazardly and its regulation is inefficient — indeed, […]
By Mike Whitney 09/17/07 “ICH” — – Alan Greenspan’s appearance on 60 Minutes was preceded with all the pomp and ceremony of a royal wedding. The public relations blitz dragged out for a whole week. What profound truisms would the elusive former-fed master divulge to the News Magazine’s withered-coquette, Leslie Stahl? Would he produce his […]
Graeme Wearden and Ashley Seager Monday September 17, 2007 Guardian Unlimited Photograph: AP Britain faces the prospect of falling house prices and rising inflation within a few years, according to Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve.In a series of interviews to promote his memoirs, the respected US economist warned that the […]
The Government planned to deliver $1 billion in personal tax cuts at the last budget, but shelved the plan due to fears it would fuel inflation, official papers show. The papers, issued under the Official Information Act, show the Government last year considered a package of personal tax cuts that would have equalled the $1 […]
The Federal Reserve is preparing to meet to decide whether US interest rates should be reduced from 5.25%. Most analysts believe the Fed will cut rates to try and prevent a housing market downturn and the credit crunch from severely denting the economy. By making money cheaper to borrow, people would spend and invest more, […]
By PAUL EASTON – The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 18 September 2007AdvertisementHouseholds are being squeezed by price increases on basic foods and petrol, even before higher power prices and a sliding Kiwi dollar begin to take effect. Budgeting agencies fear the increase in staple food prices, including butter’s 23 per cent increase yesterday and milk’s […]
