Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
- End of Collective Bargaining in California? A Vote Could Be Coming Soon; You Can Help
- Leveraged EFSF Violates Maastricht Treaty; "Merkozy" Master Plan Comes Unglued
- Prepare for Another Plunge as Fear Recedes; Why the Wall Street "Occupy Movement" should Protest the Fed instead of Bank of America
- Nouriel Roubini's Global Research Brand vs. Nouriel Roubini's Prescription for the Economy
- A "Must See" Heart Wrenching Video of Moral Deterioration in China
End of Collective Bargaining in California? A Vote Could Be Coming Soon; You Can Help Posted: 19 Oct 2011 09:57 PM PDT It is not often I side with economic professors. However, a proposal by Lanny Ebenstein to kill public union collective bargaining in California makes me stand up and salute. Please consider Benefit buster Lanny Ebenstein Lanny Ebenstein wants you to vote to kneecap the state's public workers unions by banning their right to collective bargaining. Other measures scrambling to qualify for the November 2012 ballot would drop the hammer specifically on public employees' pensions or increase their retirement age, but Ebenstein's may be the most uncompromising.Bid Filed The Sacramento Bee reports Lanny Ebenstein filed Initiatives to End Collective Bargaining for Public Employees The first measure would ban recognition of all public-sector labor unions and prevent government authorities from collectively bargaining with them.Collective Bargaining Neither a Privilege Nor a Right I wish Ebenstein well. We all should. This is why: Collective Bargaining neither a Privilege nor a Right. Instead, collective bargaining drives up costs at taxpayer expense. Here is a recent case in point from the LA Times: New contract for California prison guards lifts cap on saved vacation Gov. Jerry Brown negotiates a new contract for California's prison guards, who will be allowed to save unlimited amounts of vacation, potentially leading to massive payouts when officers retire.The track record proves public unions and union officials get in bed with corrupt politicians willing to buy votes, and that is why prison guards with only a high school education can make more in retirement than they do is a short career working. The same thing applies to bus drivers, transit workers, trash collectors, and every facet of public service. You Can Help Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the California Center for Public Policy headed by Lanny Ebenstein. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List |
Leveraged EFSF Violates Maastricht Treaty; "Merkozy" Master Plan Comes Unglued Posted: 19 Oct 2011 02:55 PM PDT Steen Jakobsen, chief economist of Saxo Bank in Denmark just pinged me with the following email comments "Leveraged EFSF deemed violation of Maastricht. The Master Plan is coming apart!" Steen offers additional background: AIDLER and CHARLES FORELLE"Merkozy" Master Plan Comes Unglued The Merkel-Sarkozy "master plan" was nothing more than hot air all along. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy hoped to put together a big bazooka by October 23 that would shock-and-awe the world. However, that bazooka quickly turned into a pea shooter as noted in Bailout Campaign Bogs Down in Bickering; Dead Before Arrival? Assuming the "Leveraged EFSF" idea is now dead, not only is there no bazooka, there is no pea shooter either. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List |
Posted: 19 Oct 2011 12:33 PM PDT Fear as measured by the cost of options and also by the $VIX remain elevated but well off the upper end of the range seen multiple times since August. Bloomberg reports Bank Puts Fall Most in S&P 500 as Profits Reduce Crisis Pessimism The cost of options protecting against losses in financial companies is falling faster than any other industry as earnings reassure investors that banks and brokerages will avoid a repeat of 2008.The Earnings Lie It's difficult to know whether to start with a rebuttal of nonsensical comments by Giri Cherukuri, head trader for Oakbrook Investments or a rebuttal of the equally nonsensical "worst case scenario" statements of Alec Levine, an equity derivatives strategist at Newedge Group SA. A mental flip of the coins says let's start with a look at earnings. Most of the recent bank "earnings" are totally fictional. No one still knows what bad assets banks are hiding because assets are not marked to market. During the financial crisis in 2008, the FASB issued a ruling that allowed banks to record a profit when the value of their debt collapsed. In other words banks report a profit when their credit-worthiness sinks. In theory banks can buy back their debt at a profit. In practice, banks are so capital impaired they can't. Common sense alone says recording a profit when credit-worthiness drops is ludicrous. Citigroup and Bank of America both used this gimmick to inflate profits. Citigroup also took a gain by lowering provisions for wrtedowns. Zerohedge breaks out the Citigroup farce in his report $3.8 Billion ($1.23/Share) In Reported "Earnings" Really $0.5 Billion Or $0.16/Share. Yesterday I noted that Bank of America just shifted $83 trillion in derivatives exposure to an insured deposits bucket. For details, please see Bank of America Moves a Merrill Lynch Derivatives Unit to an Insured Deposits Unit (Putting FDIC at Risk); Fed approves Move, FDIC Doesn't I added an addendum to that post today. Aaron Krowne at Ml-Implode replies ... Interesting to note this was done under the auspices of a 23A exempt that had already expired, then which the Fed renewed to give fait accompli for such a move.Worst Case Scenario The worst case scenario for Bank of America is a share price of $0 with bondholders wiped out. Indeed that is what should happen. At the very least a retest of the 2009 low below $3 seems likely enough. Value Traps and Mush Thinking Those buying Bank of America and Citigroup based on PE valuations are not thinking clearly because bank earnings are fictional. The same can be said for the entire stock market. Many alleged "value plays" are going to get cheaper, much cheaper. Here are some pertinent posts about value traps and earnings expectations: February 07, 2011: Negative Annualized Stock Market Returns for the Next 10 Years or Longer? It's Far More Likely Than You Think March 15, 2011: Anatomy of Bubbles; Negative Returns for a Decade Revisited; Is Gold in a Bubble? June 20, 2011: Value Traps Galore (Including Financials and Berkshire); Dead Money for a Decade August 17, 2011: Earnings Collapse Coming Up; Don't Worry Companies Will Still "Beat the Street"; Value Traps and Road to Ruin August 23, 2011: Another "Lost Decade" Coming Up; Boomer Retirement Headwinds; P/E Expansion and Contraction Demographic Model; Negative Returns for a Decade Revisited Why the Wall Street "Occupy Movement" should Protest the Fed instead of Bank of America The "Occupy Wall Street" Movement would be better advised to protest the Fed and Congress rather than protest Wall Street and Bank of America because the Fed and Congress are responsible for the bailouts. Moreover, and more importantly, the Fed and Congress are responsible for the housing boom-bust in the first place! Wall Street profited, but the Fed and Congress are to blame. Meanwhile, with fear receding even though structural problems remain in the US, in Europe, and in Asia-Pacific especially China, the markets may be ready for the next leg lower. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List |
Nouriel Roubini's Global Research Brand vs. Nouriel Roubini's Prescription for the Economy Posted: 19 Oct 2011 08:49 AM PDT Nouriel Roubini has called the economic crisis rather well. He gas gone on to turn success at RGE into an "economic brand". The Institutional Investor has an 8-page article on How Nouriel Roubini Became a Research Brand. The article also notes that Roubini has been in the inner economic circles at the World Economic Forum at Davos, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the U.S. Congress. Roubinbi served as a senior economist for international affairs at the Council of Economic Advisers, under the Clinton administration, and he spent a year working as lead adviser to Timothy Geithner, who was then undersecretary for international affairs. World Grateful for Roubini's Exit from Public Policy Roubini describes the experience under Geithner as "one of the most fascinating periods of his career, but he wasn't prepared to give up academia for a life in public policy." The world can be grateful for Roubini's exit from public policy. If only he would give up his academic wonderland theories as well. As right as Roubini has been on the economy, he has been equally if not more wrong on what to do about it. Central bank manipulations, bailouts, and Keynesian claptrap are not cures for the global economy as Pater Tenebrarum describes in One of the Biggest Stock Market Collapses in History Back when central banks were put in charge of manipulating interest rates and the money supply, one of the arguments forwarded by the supporters of central banking and fiat money was that a 'flexible currency' would allow the planners to avoid precisely what has now happened in Athens. We note that they weren't able to avoid a similar outcome in the early 1930's either, but that hasn't kept the supporters of the central bank-led fiat money system from continuing to claim that it is superior to a market chosen money the supply of which can not be manipulated by central planning agencies.The Gold Standard Never Dies Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. also takes on Roubini in The Gold Standard Never Dies Welcome to the age of paper money, where governments and central banks can manufacture as much money as they want without limit. Gold was the last limit. Its banishment as a standard unleashed the inflation monster and leviathan itself, which has swelled beyond comprehension.Roubini Embraces Bubbles of Ever-Increasing Amplitude If you are seeking investment advice, perhaps you can get it from Nouriel Roubini's "Research Brand". However, unless you specifically want bubbles of ever-expanding amplitude, bank bailouts, illegal actions by the Fed, increasing transfers of money to wall street and banks, more government intervention with a perfect track record of failure, and even more wealth disparity, then one of the last places you should seek economic cure advice from is the academic Nouriel Roubini. Just because someone sees a crisis before others, does not mean the same person has a clue as to what to do about it or for that matter what caused it. In this case, Roubini is clueless on both counts, offering nothing more than the same Keynesian cures coupled with support for government and Fed intervention that are the very cause of the global economic mess we are in. Mish vs. Roubini I am sticking with what I said about gold and the cures I offered for the economy in Hugo Salinas Price and Michael Pettis on the Trade Imbalance Dilemma; Gold's Honest Discipline Revisited. In contrast, Roubini's Keynesian cures have a perfect track record of failure coupled with increasingly larger bubbles over time. Isn't it time we try something else? Addendum: Several people sent me emails regarding Roubini "Tweets". One pointed to an excellent post on the Economic Policy Journal: Roubini's Off the Wall History of Financial Crashes Nouriel Roubini is continuing his mad streak of tweets attacking those who see dangers in central banking, in general, and the Federal Reserve in particular. His tweets distort the history of banking and crashes from the 1700's to modern day.The post on Economic Policy Journal is well worth a read for an excellent rebuttal to more Roubini nonsense. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List |
A "Must See" Heart Wrenching Video of Moral Deterioration in China Posted: 19 Oct 2011 12:39 AM PDT Here is a "must-see" video that came my way a few days ago. Words cannot possibly describe the video, so please give it a play. Warning: Although I labeled it "must see", this is a very graphic video that some may find disturbing. The text below describes. Link if video does not play: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzEzMzMyMDQw.html I held off posting this until I could get some comments from a Chinese friend regarding the incident. "Kevin" writes ... Mish, my heart is filled with immense sorrow after watching this video - not only for the suffering of the little girl and her parents, but also because I know, sadly, that this is not an atypical event."Kevin" is the person who previously sent articles in Chinese that I posted in China Loan Shark Market Crashes; Scores of Chinese Business Owners Unable to Pay Black Market Loans Commit Suicide or Disappear Pay Up or Die I failed to get an email response from Bill Hopen, my sculptor friend in China, but I point you to something he said via email exchange in 2010, as posted in Ponzi "Shark Loans" Fuel China's Housing Bubble If you get sick, you must have cash or you die if you cannot pay immediately for care, for hospital, for medicine. You are literally wheeled out into the corridor to die if you don't have money for oxygen. I am not exaggerating. There are no credit cards in peasant culture, but there is credit.For more on China from Bill Hopen, please see Inside China: A Sculptor's View. Addendum: Several people were upset at this video thinking it does not belong in an economic blog. They are mistaken. The perpetual story regarding China is that the country will grow without end, it will overtake the US, and rule the world. Instead I propose the China story is really about rampant credit expansion, malinvestments, unproductive assets, no free capital markets, centralized planning that people mistake for capitalism, no real legal system, no freedom of speech, and no respect for either property rights or human rights. All the people who think China is some sort of miracle savior for the world economy are going to find out otherwise. I thought the point was obvious, but judging from the number of emails I received, obviously it was not. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List |
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