“Our purpose is to expose the failure of America's fiat money system.”
That original goal, expressed at the outset of this site 7 years ago, still holds true.
But how incredibly more complex the global economic landscape has become, and how much
more challenging the financial markets are as a consequence.
This site will continue to shed light on the demise of modern central banking and the tragic
fiat-money fiasco that threatens our wealth and welfare and is now unfolding before our eyes. |
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Low Interest Rates Are Squeezing Seniors
Charles Schwab, 03/30/2010
The Fed's help to big banks comes at a big cost to savers. Today's historically low
interest rates may be feeding banks' profitability, but they are financially starving
our seniors. In February 2006, when Ben Bernanke was first sworn in as
chairman of...Read More >>
Chermany vs. Gremerica
Bill Bonner, 03/26/2010
Bummer! You work hard. You save your money. You make a product and sell
it at a profit. Everybody’s happy. And then, your customers,
the silly spendthrifts, go broke. And what do you know? Everybody
points his finger and blames you! “World leaders...Read More >>
The Restoration of King Dollar?
Doug Noland, 03/26/2010
Coming into 2010, there was a prominent view that a dollar rally would spur renewed
global market risk aversion and reignite deflationary forces. Year-to-date, the Dollar
Index has gained 4.8%. Yet the dollar’s recovery has thus far done...Read More >>
Fed Fails the Interest Rate Test
Kris Sayce Friday, 03/26/2010
Do you know what? Some days we're not sure whether to laugh or really laugh. Yesterday…we glanced
over a speech given by Donald Kohn, vice chairman of the US Federal Reserve…To be honest, it's a joke from
start to finish, but it's worth reading...Read More >>
Another Wall Street Bonus
Wall Street Journal, 03/24/2010
We keep reading that we live in the era of deleveraging, when everyone borrows less.
But if that’s true, there is one great exception: government. U.S. cities, states and
the feds have issued more than $2.5 trillion of new debt since
2008...Read More >>
THE Most Important Chart of the CENTURY
Nathan’s Economic Edge, 03/20/2010
The latest U.S. Treasury Z1 Flow of Funds report was released on March
11, 2010, bringing the data current through the end of 2009. What
follows is the most important chart of your lifetime. It relegates almost all modern
economists and...Read More >>
Greenspan on The Crisis
Doug Noland, 03/19/2010
It’s just hard for me these days to stomach the same flawed dogma that the financial
crisis was caused by some nefarious “global saving glut.” It was caused by a Credit
Bubble whose epicenter was in Washington and New York. “The house
price...Read More >>
The "West" Killed Itself with Fraud.
"Bill H.," 03/19/2010
The link [inside] interviews former Lehman Bros. employees regarding their use of
rule "105". Was rule 105 legal? Maybe. Was it ethical in the way it
was used? No. Is it still being used now? I would lay 1,000/1 odds it is! Europe is
currently looking...Read More >>
U.S. Politicians Better Not Upset China
National Inflation Association, 03/18/2010
In a move that demonstrates just how clueless politicians in Washington are about the
U.S. economy, a group of U.S. senators introduced legislation this week in
an attempt to make the Obama administration take action against
China over...Read More >>
If You Liked Fannie and Freddie...
Wallison, 03/17/2010
... You'll love Chris Dodd's latest reform proposal. It would make
many more companies too big to fail and lead to far greater financial
consolidation. Think Obama Care for the financial system. That's
one way to understand Sen. Chris Dodd's
bill...Read More >>
Is Your Money What You Think It Is?
Louis James & Doug Casey conversation 03/17-18/2010
Louis: Doug, last time we spoke, you said quite a bit about debt, in the
context of your expectation that the euro is on its way out. At the end of that
conversation, you mentioned, of course, that the problem is not limited to Greece,
nor...Read More >>
Is China's Politburo Spoiling for a Showdown with America?
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, 03/14/2010
The long-simmering clash between the world's two great powers is coming to a head, with
dangerous implications for the international system. China has succumbed to hubris. It
has mistaken the soft diplomacy of Barack Obama for weakness...Read More >>
Another Dove Flies Into the Coop
Bill Fleckenstein, [Excerpt] 03/12/2010
Another story which caught my eye was that Janet Yellen is Obama's
pick for Vice Fed Chairman. It would be quite difficult to find
somebody more dovish and inclined to continue down the money printing
path than she, but Obama has a...Read More >>
Bernanke’s Dilemma: Hyperinflation and the U.S. Dollar
Ron Hera, 03/10/2010
“Fiat money paper in extremis is accepted by nobody.” -- Alan Greenspan. When money is
not redeemable, it is, in effect, a contract and, as such, it can instantly become more
worthless than the paper it is printed on if the agreement that gives it value is null and void.
Chairman of the US Federal...Read More >>
75 years of Funny Money
Martin Masse, 03/10/2010
A good start to understanding the real nature of central banking is the
libertarian bumper sticker saying "Don't steal! The government hates competition." The
whole purpose of the bureaucratic machine called central bank is indeed to steal from
us...Read More >>
Q4 2009 "Flow of Funds"
Doug Noland, 03/12/2010
Unprecedented policy responses sent a clear message: the securities
markets are too big to fail...the Trillion
monetized by the Bernanke Federal Reserve unleashed a wall of liquidity upon the
markets. The market today perceives that...Read More >>
A Constitutional Dollar
Michael Rozeff, 03/10/2010
Are you aware that a Federal Reserve dollar bill is not a constitutional dollar?
Perhaps you are, but if so, do you know what a constitutional dollar
literally is? Is it gold? Is it silver? Is it both? What is actually meant by a
metal standard?...Read More >>
Economic Warfare: Europe Versus Wall Street
Michael Collins, 03/10/2010
Wall Street is headed toward international pariah status thanks to two recent actions by
the European Union (EU). On Tuesday, the EU announced that it was banning Wall Street
banks from the lucrative government bond business
in Europe...Read More >>
Shadow of a Doubt
Dan Denning, [Excerpt] 03/10/2010
…[T]he combination of a shattered shadow banking system, a paralysed banking system, and a
terrified government certainly do add up to massive inflation. Students of the Great
Depression will know that widespread bank failures led...Read More >>
Public Pension Funds Are Adding Risk to Raise Returns
Mary Williams Walsh, 03/08/2010
States and companies have started investing very differently when it comes to the billions of dollars they are
safeguarding for workers’ retirement. Companies are quietly and gradually moving their pension funds out
of stocks. They want to reduce...Read More >>
The Swaps That Swallowed Your Town
Gretchen Morgenson, 03/05/2010
As more details surface about how derivatives helped Greece and perhaps other countries mask their debt loads,
let’s not forget that the wonders of these complex products aren’t on display only overseas. Across our
very own country...Read More >>
Zombieland
Bill Bonner, 03/05/2010
[For those who think China will “save” us from economic doldrums, Mr. Bonner has a
different view.] "The world's largest shopping mall is almost entirely empty," says a headline
now making its way around the Internet. The mall is not one of America's...Read More >>
A Year in Reflation
Doug Noland, 03/05/2010
Today, the Fed’s overriding objective...remains ensuring abundantly cheap liquidity...[M]arkets function with reticent
aplomb, knowing they’ve got policymakers right where they want them. This week marked the one-year anniversary of
a historic...Read More >>
Why I Took a Stand
Jim Bunning, 03/03/2010
I have been serving the citizens of Kentucky for nearly 24 years in Washington. During that
time I have been a member of both the House of Representatives and the United States
Senate. I have taken thousands of votes in relation to...Read More >>
US Dollar Money Supply is Underreported
James Turk, 03/01/2010
As the financial crisis has unfolded over the last two years, the Federal Reserve has been
responding in a variety of unprecedented ways. Therefore, it is logical to assume that these
never-before-used actions have altered long-established...Read More >>
Anti-Gold Conservatives
Gary North, 02/25/2010
Within the American conservative movement, opponents of the gold standard – any form of gold standard – have
always dominated the leadership. Newcomers may be unaware of this. The average political conservative today is
suspicious of the...Read More >>
The U.S. and Inflationism
Doug Noland, 02/26/2010
Similarities have been drawn between US states and some eurozone members...Are markets
underestimating risk? Nowhere does the temptation for higher inflation seem as indomitable as it does here at home.
And the markets are fine with it...Read More >>
Hyperinflation Watch
James Turk, 02/24/2010
The US Treasury has taken another step on the road leading to hyperinflation. It
announced that it will borrow $200 billion and leave this money on deposit with the Federal
Reserve. The announcement was made with bald disinformation aimed at...Read More >>
The Sovereign Debt Disaster
Egon von Greyerz, 02/23/2010
Wherever we look at the world economy today, we see a wall of risk...and
potential financial catastrophe. We see a large number of virtually bankrupt major
sovereign states (US, UK, Spain, Italy, Greece, Japan and many
more) teetering atop...Read More >>
The Negative Returns of Indebtedness
Dan Denning, 02/23/2010
Recently we claimed that borrowing your way to national prosperity is a sure-fire way to
servitude and political instability. Today, we aim to prove it. To do so, we cite [a recent
article from Reuters, “China PLA officers urge economic punch against
U.S.”]...Read More >>
Central Banks Are On the Defensive
Gary North, [Excerpt] 02/20/2010
All over the Western world, central banks are under pressure from their governments to
inflate. Governments are not satisfied with short-term interest rates at historic lows,
such as a federal funds rate of 0% to 0.25% in the United States...Read More >>
Interest on U.S. Government Debt, a Brewing Time Bomb
Michael Pollaro, 02/20/2010
…[I]f interest rates simply return to the long-term average rate in this study…we are
looking at an interest cost of $738 billion on 2009 government debt levels, 92% higher than
in 2009…Said differently, 35% of the government’s receipts would be...Read More >>
Government Sachs
Bill Bonner, 02/19/2010
It's Goldman this. And Goldman that. And
Goldman rhymes with greed. But it's "Thank you, Mr. Blankfein,"
when it's money that you need. Last week, Greek Finance Minister George
Papaconstantinou slipped. He said not what he should have said...Read More >>
When reserve Currencies Fail Their Mission
Dan Denning, 02/19/2010
It appears that the scramble for financial lifeboats has begun, at
least at the currency level. In today's Daily Reckoning, we'll show
you how the U.S. dollar strength is another way of reading the euro its
last rites as a reserve currency...Read More >>
Is This How Democracy Ends?
Pat Buchanan, 02/19/2010
"I used to think it would take a great financial crisis to get both parties to the
table, but we just had one," said G. William Hoagland, a former adviser to the Senate
Republican leadership on fiscal policy.
"These days, I wonder if this country is even...Read More >>
The Current Greek Crisis Is Merely Act One
of a Much Wider Tragedy
Roger Bootle, 02/14/2010
According to the old adage, we are supposed to beware Greeks bearing gifts. We now learn that
we also have to beware Greeks seeking them. This crisis is the first clear expression of a
problem present at the foundation of the euro...Read More >>
The U.S.: Land of the Free and Home of a Nearly
Failed Treasury Auction of Its Own
Graham Summers, 02/12/2010
While most of the investment world focuses on the various ”senior officials” (none of whom seem to have actual
names or positions) commenting on whether Greece will or will not be bailed out / receive
an emergency loan / be offered moral support...Read More >>
Global Reflation Update
Doug Noland, 02/12/2010
There is no global monetary anchor, and it’s inflationism as far as the eye can see.
China’s bank loans expanded $202bn – in January. This must be the greatest month of
loan growth for a national banking system in the history of mankind...Read More >>
Trouble at the Fed
Antony P. Mueller, 02/12/2010
In line with the basic rule that few things are more helpful to a political career than catastrophic failure,
Ben Bernanke was confirmed by Senate vote for four more years as chairman of the US Federal Reserve System
(the Fed) on Jan...Read More >>
READ MORE OF THE
UNDOLLAR DIGEST..SEE
ARCHIVES >> |
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(A Central Bank)
is "a curse to a republic; inasmuch as it
is calculated to raise around the administration a
moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country."
Andrew Jackson
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Doug
Noland's Credit
Bubble Bulletin
[Selected Notes]
03/26/2010
One-month
Treasury bill
rates ended the
week at 10 bps,
and three-month
bills closed at
13bps. Two-year
government
yields were
unchanged...Read More >>
Obama Pays More Than Buffett as U.S. Risks AAA
Kruger- Keogh, 03/22
The bond market is saying that it’s safer to lend to Warren
Buffett than Barack Obama. Two-year notes sold by the billionaire’s
Berkshire...Read More >>
Doug Noland's Credit Bubble Bulletin
[Selected Notes] 03/19/2010
One-month Treasury bill rates ended the week at 13 bps...Five-year
T-note yields increased 5 bps to 2.46%. Ten-year yields
declined one...Read More >>
China, Japan Reduced Holdings of
U.S. Treasury Debt in January
Vincent Del Giudice, 03/16/10 China and Japan, the two biggest foreign holders
of Treasuries, reduced their positions of U.S. government
debt in...Read More >>
China Talks Tough to U.S.
Batson, Johnson & Browne, 03/15/2010
Premier Blames American 'Trade Protectionism' for Tensions Over Currency…[China]
makes no secret of its disdain for U.S. econ...Read More >>
S&P Issues Warning over America's Top-tier Rating
Oakley-Mackenzie, 3/12
The triple A rating of the US is at risk, S&P has warned, unless the country adopts a
credible medium-term plan to rein in fiscal spending...Read More >>
Doug Noland's Credit Bubble Bulletin
Selected Notes] 03/12/2010
Fiscal Watch: March 11 – Bloomberg (Vincent Del Giudice): “The U.S. budget
deficit widened to a record in February… The excess of
spending...Read More >>
Banana. Republic.
5 Min. Forecast, 03/11/2010
Right in line with analysts’ forecasts, Uncle Sam’s budget
deficit for the month of February was $220.9 billion-- the largest
monthly total in...Read More >>
‘On the Edge’ Banks Face Writedowns on FDIC Auctions
Sterngold, 3/08/10
A Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. plan to auction more than $1 billion in
assets seized from failed banks next month, including a loan to...Read More >>
China Ready to End Dollar Peg
Garry White, 03/06/2010
The head of China’s central bank has given the strongest signal yet that the country will
move away from pegging its currency to the dollar...Read More >>
Doug
Noland's Credit Bubble Bulletin
[Selected Notes] 03/05/2010
Global Credit Market Watch: March 3 – New York Times (Landon Thomas Jr.): “As
Greece’s debt troubles batter the euro, Britain has done...Read More >>
Fannie, Freddie Holders Shouldn’t
Assume Guarantee
Kopecki, 3/5/10
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bondholders shouldn’t assume the government will make them
whole on their investments as Congress disbands...Read More >>
US
Treasury’s “Hinky Numbers”
5 Min. Forecast, [Excerpt] 03/04/2010
A little-noticed Treasury report that’s supposed to provide an honest
accounting of the...Read More >>
California Is a Greater Risk
Than Greece
James Quinn,02/26/2010
Jamie Dimon, chairman of JP Morgan Chase, has warned American investors should
be more worried about the risk of default of the state of...Read More >>
Head of IMF Proposes New Reserve Currency
Harry Dunphy, 02/26/2010
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, suggested Friday
the organization might one day be called on to provide...Read More >>
Sen. Gregg: U.S. Headed for 'Financial Meltdown'
Dan Weil, 02/26/2010
The United States has set itself on a course for economic disaster, thanks to the exploding
budget deficit and debt burden, says Sen. Judd...Read More >>
Doug
Noland's Credit Bubble Bulletin
[Selected Notes] 02/26/2010
Muni Watch: February 25 – Financial Times (Nicole Bullock): “As protesters and
strikers took to the streets of Athens this week...Read More >>
Big Government Gets Bigger
5 Min. Forecast, 02/26/2010
“The economists in Washington have absolutely no reason to doubt that the
recession has ended,” Eric Fry reports in yesterday’s Daily...Read More >>
Banks Bet Greece Defaults on Debt
They Helped Hide
Schwartz, 2/25/10
Bets by some of the same banks that helped Greece shroud its mounting debts may
actually now be pushing the nation closer to the brink...Read More >>
Concerns Grow Over China's Sale
of US Bonds
Pritchard, 02/23/2010
Evidence is mounting that Chinese sales of US Treasury bonds over recent months
are intended as a warning shot to Washington over...Read More >>
At F.D.I.C., Bracing for a Wave
of Failures
Eric Dash, 02/24/2010
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is bracing for a new wave of bank
failures that could cost the agency many billions of dollars...Read More >>
FDIC Hits Record "Default" Level As Deposit
Insurance Fund Plunges By $12.7 Billion To NEGATIVE 20.9 Billion
Durden, 2/23/2010. From Dow Jones Newswire: The U.S. banking
industry continued to struggle...Read More >>
U.S. State Pension Funds Have $1T Shortfall: Pew
Reuters, 02/18/2010
U.S. states face a total shortfall of at least $1 trillion in their funds for
employees' pensions and retirement benefits, and their...Read More >>
Merkel hits out at banks over Greek deals
Wiesmann/ Hope, 02/17/2010
The German chancellor has sharply
criticized global investment banks that may have helped a number
of Greek governments to...Read More >>
New wave of foreclosures by end of
2010 is feared
Puzzangher, Lee, 2/16
About 4 million U.S. homeowners are 90 days or more delinquent on their loans
or in foreclosure proceedings, Moody's Economy.com says...Read More >>
US Debt Will Keep Growing Even
with Recovery Tom Raum, 2/14/2010
It's bad enough that Greece's debt problems have rattled global financial
markets. In the world's largest economic and military power...Read More >>
Doug Noland's Credit Bubble Bulletin
[Selected Notes] 02/12/2010
Two-year government yields rose 5 bps to 0.74%. Five-year T-note yields
jumped 10 bps to 2.25%. Ten-year yields rose 13 bps to 3.70%...Read More >>
“All governments will eventually
default, including the U.S.,”
So says Marc Faber, (from 5 Min Forecast, except for a handful like Singapore that
have their debts more or less under control...Read More >>
Plot
Thickens in the Battle of
'The Plunge'
John Crudele, 02/11/2010
The Treasury Department has records of the secret meetings that its President's
Working Group on Financial Markets held to discuss the troubled...Read More >>
Bankruptcy Bloodbath May Hit Muni Bond Owners Next
Mysak, 02/10/10
Public officials shouldn’t think about filing for Chapter 9 municipal
bankruptcy to solve mounting labor costs and pension liabilities. Even talking...Read More >>
China Dumps US Asset Backeds and Corporates
Goldman, 02/09/2010
Dollar-denominated risk assets, including asset-backed securities and corporates, are no longer wanted
at the State Administration of...Read More >>
Jumbo Mortgage ‘Serious
Delinquencies’ Rise to 9.6%
Shenn, 02/08/2010 - U.S. prime jumbo
mortgages at least 60 days late backing securities reached 9.6
percent in January from 9.2 percent in...Read More >>
Next in Line for a Bailout: Social Security
Allan Sloan, 02/04/2010
Don't look now. But even as the bank bailout is winding down,
another huge bailout is starting, this time for the Social Security
system...Read More >>
Radical Shifts Take Hold in U.S. Manufacturing
Whitehouse, 02/03/10
…Overall, U.S. industrial capacity declined by an estimated 1% in
2009, the largest year-to-year decrease on record, while...Read More >>
Clyburn: 'We've got to spend our way out of this recession
O'Brien, 2/1/10
The U.S. government must spend its way out of the recession, the Democrats' third-ranking
House leader stressed Monday. Rep. James...Read More >>
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