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They cling with frantic energy to their delusions, and are ready to uncork anger to express their fear of a future stripped of quasi-religious promises. By that I mean Americans' faith in their Savior State is near-religious: most cannot grasp...
In a 335 to 91 vote, the House on Tuesday approved a package of legislation that would reduce spending by $8 billion and still provide funding for Congress through March 18.
US tax code and offshore regulations are great examples. Current law requires US taxpayers to report ownership interest and signature authority over foreign financial accounts (“FFAs”) if the total value of those FFAs exceeds $10,000.
The cover of the magazine reads, "Would You Invest In a Company that lost $2 trillion last year, and has a net worth of a negative $44 trillion?"
Earlier this month, J.P. Morgan made an important announcement that received scant coverage in the media: the bank would now accept gold as collateral for loans.
During the past few weeks, Congress has been locked in a battle to pass a continuing resolution to fund government operations through September. Both supporters and opponents of the bill, HR 1, claim it is a serious attempt to reduce federal spending
The next ten days will be key: Will the dollar spike up? Become the safe haven of everyone fleeing from the world’s troubles? Or will the dollar nosedive, the first big step down in its death spiral?
The most recent projections from OMB and CBO indicate that, if current policies remain in place, the total unified surplus will reach about $800 billion in fiscal year 2010, including an on-budget surplus of almost $500 billion.
"We are broke, broker than all get out... We prefer to put on the Santa Claus suit and celebrate Christmas."
Bill Gross now goes for the jugular with the $64,000 question: with "nearly 70% of the annualized issuance since the beginning of QE II has been purchased by the Fed, with the balance absorbed by those old standbys – the Chinese, Japanese...
Investors should view June 30th, 2011 not as political historians view November 11th, 1918 (Armistice Day) but more like June 6th, 1944 (D-Day – a day fraught with hope for victory, but fueled with immediate uncertainty and fear...
The U.S. government has more than 100 programs dealing with surface transportation issues, 82 monitoring teacher quality, 80 for economic development, 47 for job training, 20 offices or programs devoted to homelessness and 17 different grant programs
“The Treasury Department now estimates that the United States will reach the debt limit between April 15, 2011 and May 31, 2011."
After making a few jokes the President went on to defend his budget at his talk today. He said that if his budget were enacted it would result in the US achieving the lowest debt to GDP ratio since Eisenhower. That’s quite a claim.
China may soon call time on Western quantitative easing. More worryingly, the language she is using is far from friendly.
Bush succeeded in establishing that as a wartime commander-in-chief he had the “inherent power” to disobey the laws against torture, spying on Americans without obtaining warrants, and indefinite detention. In addition, Bush used signing statements..
For the first 13 weeks heading into April 15 (the point by which most refunds have been issued), and find that both average weekly remittance and 2011 cumulative refund issuance is running at a nearly 20% lower run rate than 2010.
"Panelists continue to characterize excessive federal indebtedness as their single greatest concern," with state and local government debt the second-biggest worry, the survey said.
In the next budget, the amount devoted to debt repayment is expected to exceed the money invested in California's prized public universities.
The Little Hoover Commission studied the public pension issue for 10 months before issuing its findings Thursday. To use the commission's blunt words, "pension costs will crush government."
The "Black Swan" problem comes from a high dose of unpredictability that people do not take into account. It makes the world less and less forecastable. Now, if the world is not easy to forecast, what do you do? You build reserves.
Meeker says USA Inc. is on a parallel course to GM before its bankruptcy.
I try to forecast these numbers. My estimate last summer was -35b. So I was off by $14b. I thought I had a negative view. I still missed the revenue number by 3%. A year ago a fellow who knows SS quite well suggested that I was “Chicken Little”...
President Obama and the Congress have taken 66% of discretionary spending in the federal budget off the table -- the Security Budget -- while proposing a freeze to the rest of the budget and deep cuts to some programs that provide necessities for the
Go Green!
Well, if you haven’t yet heard, major budgetary restraint is coming our way in the second half of the year, and so we would recommend that you enjoy whatever fiscal and monetary juice there is left in the blender. There isn’t much that is for sure.
We have put through three successive doublings of debt in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. This was against average 10-year rates of GDP acceleration that averaged 30-40%. That is, debt service requirements at constant interest rates and constant dolla
The daunting tower of national, state and local debt in the United States will reach a level this year unmatched just after World War II and already exceeds the size of the entire economy, according to government estimates.
Bottom line: Moody's sees the same dangers Meredith Whitney does. They are just not as clear and straightforward about their warning. Which means Charlie Gasparino won't be demanding their work product.
John Carney has clearly been doing some heavy thinking about the muni market and has reached some important conclusions. Here's a series of tweets by Carney:
