Category Archives: Government Spending

Deficit Reduction Super Committee Fighting the Battle of New Orleans

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I realize it’s not a perfect analogy,
but, due to poor communications,
the battle of New Orleans was fought
well after the War of 1812 had ended.

Likewise, the Congressional super committee is fighting the battle for deficit reduction
long after the vaporization of the primary reason driving that move towards deficit.

The main difference is the stakes are much higher this time,
with the real cost of the lost output from the excessive, ongoing,
global output gap far exceeding
all the real losses of all the wars in history combined.

The headline reason for deficit reduction was
the rhetoric about the immediate danger of the US
suddenly becoming the next Greece,
with the US govt being cut off from credit,
interest rates spiking,
and visions of the US Treasury Secretary
on his knees, hat in hand,
begging the IMF for funding and mercy.

And the looming flash point was the threat of a US downgrade if
a credible deficit reduction package wasn’t passed before the Aug 2 deadline,
when the Congressionally self-imposed US borrowing authority was to expire.

After a prolonged Congressional process that was
even uglier than the healthcare process,
with already dismal Congression approval ratings moving even lower,
the debt ceiling was extended with a measure that contained some deficit reduction,
and also set up the current super committee to ensure further deficit reduction.

Soon after, however, Standard and Poor’s decided it all wasn’t enough,
and the dreaded downgrade was announced.

And then the unexpected happened.
Rather than spike up as widely feared,
market forces drove US Treasury interest rates down, substantially.

What was happening? Where had the mainstream gone wrong?
Former Fed Chairman Greenspan and celebrity investor Warren Buffet
both immediately had the answer.
S&P was wrong.
The US is not Greece.
The US govt prints its own money, while Greece does not.
The US always has the ability to pay any amount of dollars,
that markets can’t take away.

And everyone agreed.

And the driving force behind deficit reduction was suddenly not there,
and the rhetoric of becoming the next Greece vanished from the national TV screens.

And, unfortunately, just like the news that the War of 1812 had ended
didn’t get to New Orleans in time to prevent thousands from
losing their lives in that bloody battle that would otherwise not have been fought,

the news that the US isn’t Greece apparently hasn’t gotten through
to the Congressional members of the super committee
now fighting the current battle over deficit reduction.

What was learned after the downgrade was that
there is no such thing as a solvency problem for the US govt.
Short term or long term.

True, excessive deficit spending may indeed someday cause unwelcome inflation,
but the US government is never in any danger of not being able
to make any payment (in dollars) that it wants to.

And yes, the discussion could be shifted to a discussion
as to whether current long term deficits forecasts
translate into unwelcome inflation in the future
that may demand action today.

However no specific research has been done along those lines.
And, in fact, inflation forecasts,
which all assume our current fiscal trajectory,
don’t show any signs of an inflation problem.
Nor are the long term US Treasury inflation indexed bonds flashing any inflation warnings.
In fact, the Fed and most other forecasters remain more concerned over the risk of deflation.
And Japan, with a debt to GDP ratio about triple that of the US,
has been fighting its battle against deflation for nearly two decades.

So, clearly, shooting from the hip on this issue,
by suddenly declaring long term deficits
must be immediately addressed
with cuts to Social Security,
and with tax hikes,
to prevent a looming inflation problem,
(now that the prior errant reason, that the US could be the next Greece, has been dismissed)
could only be considered
highly irresponsible behavior
on the part of the super committee.

An informed Congress might recognize
the reason for the urgent action to reduce the federal deficit
and the reason for the super committee
is no longer there.
And, therefore, in informed Congress might suspend the super committee,
and regroup and reconsider before taking action.

It is widely agreed the current problem is a massive lack of aggregate demand.
It is widely agreed that a combination of tax cuts and/or spending increases
will restore sales, output and employment.

But instead of a compromise where the Republicans get some of their tax cuts
and the Democrats some of their spending increases, and the economy booms,
both sides are instead going the other way and pushing proposals to reduce aggregate demand,
even though they no longer have good reason to do so.

The battle of New Orleans was fought after the reason for fighting it had ended,
And, likewise, long after the reason for deficit reduction vaporized,
this battle continues to be fought
with both parties continuing acting counter agenda.

(feel free to distribute)

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Mosler Bonds for the ECB, and reasons why Greece will not be allowed to default

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First, The ECB should turn the bonds it buys into Mosler bonds, by requiring the govt of issue to legally state that in the case of non payment, the bearer on demand can use those bonds for payment of taxes to the govt of issue.

The ECB holding Mosler bonds will shift the default option from the issuer to the ECB, as in the case of non payment,
the ECB would have the option to make it’s holdings available for sale to tax payers of that nation to offset their taxes.

Therefore, conversion to Mosler bonds will ensure that the ECB’s holdings of national govt debt are ‘money good’ without regard to external credit ratings, and give the ECB control over the default process.

Second, I see several substantial reasons Greece should not be allowed to default, which center around why it’s in the best interest of Germany for Greece not to default.

Sustaining Greece with ECB purchases of Greek debt costs German tax payers nothing.

The purchases are not inflationary because they are directly tied to reduced Greek spending and increased Greek taxes, which are both deflationary forces for the euro zone.

Funding Greece facilitates the purchase of German exports to Greece.

Funding Greece does not reward Greek bad behavior.
Instead, it exacts a price from Greece for its bad behavior.

With the ECB prospectively owning the majority of Greek debt, and, potentially, Greek Mosler bonds, Greece will be paying interest primarily to the ECB.

The funding of Greece by the ECB carries with it austerity measures that will bring the Greek budget into primary balance.

That means Greek taxes will be approximately equal to Greek govt expenditures, not including interest, which will then be largely payments to the ECB.

So if default is not allowed, the Greek govt spending will be limited to what it taxes, and additional tax revenues will be required as well to pay interest primarily to the ECB.

But if default is facilitated, Greece will still be required to spend only from tax revenues, but the debt forgiveness will mean substantially lower interest payments to the ECB than otherwise.

And while without default, it can be said that the holders of Greek bonds have been bailed out, the euro zone will be considering the following:

The ECB buys Greek bonds at a discount, indicating holders of those bonds have, on average, taken a loss.

The EU in general did not consider the purchase of Greek bonds as bad behavior that is rightly punished with a default.

In fact, it was EU regulation and guidelines that resulted in the initial purchases of Greek bonds by its banking system.

Therefore, I see the main reason Greece will not be allowed to default is that not allowing default serves the further purpose of Germany and the EU by every measure I can think of.

It sustains the transfer of control of fiscal policy to the ECB.
It’s deflationary which helps support the value of the currency.
It provides for an ongoing income stream from Greece to the ECB.

Note, however, that not long ago it was not widely recognized as it now is that the ECB can write the check without nominal limit.

Before the EU leaders recognized that fundamental of monetary operations, Greek default was serious consideration for financial reasons as it was believed the funding of Greece and subsequently the rest of the ‘weaker’ euro zone nations would threaten the entire euro zone’s ability to fund itself.

It is the realization that the ECB is the issuer of the currency, and is therefore not revenue constrained, that leads to the conclusion that not allowing Greece to default best serves public purpose.

(as always, feel free to distribute, repost, etc.)

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Deflation rearing its ugly head and the euro is up

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Interesting day so far.
Stocks down, interest rates down, commodities down, including gold (seems the found Hugo’s gold?) but the euro is up some, after falling some last week.

With federal deficits too low most everywhere, it’s like a general crop failure, with the question being which crops will go up the most vs each other.

Not easy to say, but the euro has to be a bit of a favorite given the sincerity and intensity of their commitment to austerity/deficit reduction? And their new good buddies, the Swiss, now helping out by buying euro as others buy their currency with their new cap in place.

However lower crude and product prices do help the US more than the rest, so that’s a factor that gives the dollar an edge. And the portfolio shifting/speculation/trend following in illiquid markets can overpower the underlying fundamentals as well medium term.

And the dollar and the euro are seeing bids from China and Japan now and then as those nations work to protect their softening export markets.

My least favorite currency longer term may be the yuan, with its inflation issue and ongoing deficit spending, both direct and via state bank lending, though they too seem to be cutting back some. But until FDI (foreign direct investment) lets up, those ‘flows’ continue to support the yuan.

And commodity currencies are in a class of their own, weakening with weakening commodity prices.

It’s also noteworthy that the deflation is coming at a time when central banks, for all practical purposes, can’t be much more inflationary by (errant) mainstream standards of measurement. Unfortunately, however, it’s not that they are out of bullets, it’s that the presumed lethal live ammo has turned out to be blanks, with mounting evidence that the gun was pointed backwards as well.

The obvious answer is a simple fiscal adjustment- just a few keystrokes on the govt’s computers can immediately restore aggregate demand/employment/output- but they’ve all talked themselves out of that one.

However it’s not total doom and gloom.
For example, the US deficit is large enough to muddle through with decent corporate earnings and a bit of minor ‘job creation’ as well.

And sequentially, GDP is slowly improving: .5 q1, 1.0 q2, and maybe 1-2% for q3.
Good for stocks, not so good for people, but the bar is now set so low and the understanding so skewed that ‘blood in the streets’ isn’t yet even a passing thought, so don’t expect much to change any time soon.

And standby for the ECB writing the next check, no matter how large, to keep that all muddling through as well.

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From Japan’s Noda

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Noda, who was finance minister in the previous Cabinet, said he is ready to intervene in foreign exchange markets if necessary and promised that tax increases to fund the rebuilding of the disaster-stricken areas will not take place before cutting more wasteful spending of taxpayers’ money.

But he said it would be inevitable to raise some kinds of core taxes if the government still finds that there is a shortage of funds for the reconstruction work after all its efforts.

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Fed’s Lockhart

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Lockhart on the tapes yesterday (non-voter):

*LOCKHART SAYS MONETARY POLICY CAN’T `BE SEEN AS A PANACEA’

Good start. How about ‘completely ineffective with regards to aggregate demand.’

*LOCKHART SAYS `DOWNSIDE RISKS TO GROWTH HAVE RISEN NOTABLY’

Even with ‘accomodative monetary policy’

*LOCKHART SAYS U.S. MAY FACE `LONG PERIOD OF SLOW GROWTH’
*LOCKHART SAYS `SLACK IN OUR ECONOMY IS RISING’

That is, it’s getting worse, even with 0 rates, QE, and all the other measures the Fed has taken to reduce interest income in the economy.

Not talk yet about being over taxed for the size govt we have.

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EU Daily | Eurozone PMI at two-year low as new orders fall in all countries

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Weakness and continued austerity. My guess is it will take serious blood in the streets before policy changes

IMF and eurozone clash over estimates

(FT) International Monetary Fund work, contained in a draft version of its Global Financial Stability Report, uses credit default swap prices to estimate the market value of government bonds of the three eurozone countries receiving IMF bail-outs – Ireland, Greece and Portugal – together with those of Italy, Spain and Belgium. Although the IMF analysis may be revised, two officials said one estimate showed that marking sovereign bonds to market would reduce European banks’ tangible common equity by about €200bn ($287bn), a drop of 10-12 per cent. The impact could be increased substantially, perhaps doubled, by the knock-on effects of European banks holding assets in other banks. The ECB and eurozone governments have rejected such estimates.

ECB Lends Euro-Area Banks 49.4 Billion Euros for Three Months

(Bloomberg) The European Central Bank said it will lend euro-area banks 49.4 billion euros ($71.3 billion) in three-month cash. The ECB said 128 banks bid for the funds, which will be lent at the average of the benchmark rate over the period of the loan. The key rate is currently at 1.5 percent. Banks must repay 48.1 billion euros in previous three-month loans tomorrow. The ECB re-introduced an unlimited six-month loan this month and extended full allotment in its shorter-term operations through the end of the year as tensions on European money markets grew. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet on Aug. 27 rejected the suggestion that there could be a liquidity crisis in Europe, citing the central bank’s non-standard measures.

Eurozone PMI at two-year low as new orders fall in all countries

(Markit) Manufacturing PMI fell from 50.4 in July to 49.0 in August, its lowest level since August 2009 and below the earlier flash estimate of 49.7. National PMIs held just above the 50.0 no-change mark in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, but signalled contractions in Ireland, France, Italy, Spain and Greece. Only the Irish PMI rose compared to July, but still remained in contraction territory. The weakness highlighted by the headline PMI reflected falling volumes of both output and new business in August. The Eurozone new orders-to-finished goods inventory ratio, which tends to lead the trend in production, fell to its lowest for almost two-and-a-half years.

European Central Bank Said To Purchase Italian Government Bonds

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) — The European Central Bank is buying Italian securities, according to two people with knowledge of the transactions. They declined to be identified because the transactions are confidential.

A spokesman for the ECB declined to comment.

Germans, Dutch, Finns to Meet on Crisis Amid Collateral Spat

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) — The German, Dutch and Finnish finance ministers will meet on Sept. 6 in Berlin to discuss the euro-area debt crisis as a Finnish demand for collateral threatens to delay a second Greek bailout.

“We will discuss how to go forward with this crisis and the future,” Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager told reporters in The Hague today. “It’s about fighting this fire, but more importantly, how do we prevent such a fire.”

Finland’s demand for collateral from Greece as a condition for contributing to a second rescue package has triggered calls for similar treatment from countries including Austria and the Netherlands. De Jager said an agreement on collateral shouldn’t take long to reach.

“I see room for a solution; there are proposals on the table to discuss,” De Jager said. “I think it will be possible to provide equal treatment for creditors without the disadvantage of the proposed deal between Finland and Greece, which is unthinkable because it uses extra money from the EFSF to provide collateral to Finland.”

The 440 billion-euro ($628 billion) European Financial Stability Facility is the euro region’s rescue fund.

Weidmann Says ECB Must Scale Back Crisis Measures to Reduce Risk

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) — European Central Bank council member Jens Weidmann said the bank must scale back the additional risks it has shouldered to help counter the region’s debt crisis.

Measures taken by the ECB have “strained the existing framework of the currency union and blurred the boundaries between the responsibilities of monetary policy on one side and fiscal policy on the other,” Weidmann, who heads Germany’s Bundesbank, said at an event in Hanover today. Over time this can damage confidence in the central bank, he said. “It is therefore valid to scale back the extra risks monetary policy has taken on.”

The ECB is lending euro-area banks as much money as they need at its benchmark rate and has also re-started its bond purchase program — a step Weidmann opposed — in an attempt to stem the spreading debt crisis. While European leaders on July 21 re-tooled their 440-billion-euro ($629 billion) rescue fund, allowing it to buy government debt on the secondary market, national parliaments still need to ratify the changes.

“Decisions on taking further risks should be made by governments and parliaments, as only they are democratically legitimized,” Weidmann said.

He said one option for a long-term solution to Europe’s debt crisis could be “a real fiscal union.”

“Should one be unwilling or unable to take this path, then the existing no-bailout clause in the treaties, and the accompanying disciplining of fiscal policy, should be strengthened instead of being completely gutted,” he said.

Weidmann said his comments don’t relate to current economic developments or ECB policy, citing the one-week blackout prior to a rate decision. ECB officials will convene on Sept. 8 in Frankfurt.

German manufacturing PMI lowest since September 2009

(Markit) At 50.9, down from 52.0 in July, the final seasonally adjusted Markit/BME Germany PMI was around one index point lower than the ‘flash’ figure of 52.0. Growth of German manufacturing output eased fractionally since the previous month and was the slowest since July 2009. Latest data pointed to a fall in intakes of new work for the second month running and the rate of contraction was the fastest since June 2009. The downturn in sales to export markets was highlighted by a further reduction in new business from abroad in August, with the rate of contraction also the sharpest for over two years. Meanwhile, stocks of finished goods at manufacturing firms accumulated at the steepest pace since the survey began in April 1996.


German Trade, Consumption Damped Second-Quarter GDP Growth

(Bloomberg) Private consumption contracted 0.7 percent in the second quarter. GDP increased 0.1 percent from the first quarter, when it gained 1.3 percent, the office said, confirming its initial Aug. 16 estimate. Exports rose 2.3 percent from the first quarter, when they gained 2.1 percent. Imports surged 3.2 percent in the second quarter after rising 1.7 percent in the first. That resulted in net trade reducing GDP growth by 0.3 percentage point. Companies stocked up inventories, which contributed 0.7 percentage point to GDP growth. Gross investment also added 0.7 percentage point to growth. Private consumption subtracted 0.4 percentage point and a 0.9 percent decline in construction spending cut 0.1 percentage point off GDP.

Carrefour posts net loss in 1st half

(AP) Europe’s largest retailer Carrefour SA posted an unexpected net loss in the first half and abandoned its growth target for the year amid the economic slowdown. The French retailer reported a net loss of euro249 million ($359 million) in the first six months of the year, compared with a profit of euro97 million a year earlier. Carrefour said it expects its operating profit to decline this year, reversing a target the retailer set in March when it said an ongoing and expensive “transformation plan” would raise profits this year. As it did last year, Carrefour booked what it calls “significant one-off charges” again in the first half. They amounted to euro884 million in the first half, over half of which went to writing down the value of Carrefour’s Italian assets.

Greece set to miss deficit target

(AP) Greece is likely to miss its budget targets in 2011 even if it fully implements painful reforms a parliamentary panel of financial experts said. “The increase in the primary deficit in combination with a further drop in economic activity strengthens significantly the dynamics of debt, offsetting the benefits from the decisions of the summit of July 21, and distancing the possibility of stabilization of the debt to GDP in 2012,” the panel, known as the State Budget Office, wrote in a report. Citing government figures, it said the 2011 January-July deficit stands at euro15.59 billion ($22.53 billion) with a primary deficit of 2.4 percent of gross domestic product, as opposed to a euro12.45 billion ($17.99 billion) shortfall and 1.5 percent primary deficit in that period last year.

Italy Drops Pension Changes, Will Announce Budget Amendments

(Bloomberg) The Italian government has dropped proposed changes to pension rules agreed to this week from a 45.5 billion-euro ($65.5 billion) austerity plan being discussed in parliament that aims to balance the budget by 2013. Giorgia Meloni, minister for youth and sport policy, told reporters that the government decided to withdraw the proposal agreed to by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti two days ago. On Aug. 29, Berlusconi’s office announced that the government had dropped a planned bonus tax on Italians earning more than 90,000 euros a year and reduced cuts in transfers to regional and local authorities. It did not provide details of how the lost deficit reduction of 4.5 billion euros from those changes would be compensated.

Crisis exposes weakness of Italian coalition

(FT) Giulio Tremonti, finance minister, was said to be in “damage limitation” mode on Wednesday, seeking to assure Italy’s partners that a budget could still get through parliament’s twin chambers by the end of next week, despite prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s decision to jettison some key proposals, including a wealth tax. Three weeks after the centre-right cabinet agreed an austerity package – with €45.5bn ($65.4bn) of savings intended to balance the budget by 2013 – the government on Wednesday missed its self-imposed deadline to present legislation to the senate, the first step towards parliamentary approval. Insiders admit, however, that the budget could amount to a stopgap measure, the second since July, and might need to be reinforced at a later date.

Spanish PM: deficit cap amendment essential

(AP) “It is true that it is a reform done in a very short time span, because we need it,” Prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said. The amendment of the 1978 constitution enshrines the principle of budgetary discipline into Spain’s constitution, but does not specify numbers. These will come in a separate law that is to be passed by June 2012. The Socialists and conservatives have agreed the law will stipulate that Spain’s deficit cannot exceed 0.4 percent of GDP, but that threshold will not take effect until 2020. Their support is enough for the bill to pass when it is voted on Friday in the lower house of Parliament and presumably next week in the Senate. Time is pressing because the legislature dissolves Sept. 27 in order to get ready for general elections Nov. 20.

Spain Expects ‘Chain’ of Market Turbulence, Valenciano Says

(Bloomberg) “We’re probably going to get back into a chain of financial turbulence in September and October,” Elena Valenciano, Socialist party campaign chief, said in an interview. Valenciano said the constitutional amendment is necessary as Spain must avoid following Greece, Ireland and Portugal into seeking a European bailout. “We have to say this because sometimes talking of a rescue seems almost something positive: any kind of intervention in Spain would be a great misfortune for the country,” she said. Valenciano said authorities “didn’t expect August to be as bad as it was” and that the gap may widen again in the next two months, “not so much because of our own debt, but because of Italy’s debt.”

Portugal Raises Taxes to Meet Deficit Targets in Rescue Plan

(Bloomberg) Portugal will raise capital gains tax and increase levies on corporate profit and high earners to reach the deficit-reduction goals in its 78 billion-euro ($112 billion) bailout. The government will impose a tax surcharge of 3 percent on companies with income above 1.5 million euros, add a bonus tax of 2.5 percent on the highest earners and raise the levy on capital gains by 1 percentage point to 21 percent, Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar said. The moves will help trim the budget deficit from 5.9 percent of gross domestic product this year to the European Union ceiling of 3 percent in 2013, he said. The shortfall will narrow to 0.5 percent in 2015. The government will reduce its deficit even as the economy contracts 2.2 percent this year and 1.8 percent next year, before expanding 1.2 percent in 2013, he said.

Ireland’s unemployment rate rises to 14.4 percent

(AP) Ireland’s unemployment rate has risen to 14.4 percent. Ireland has been trying to escape its 3-year recession through export growth led by its multinational companies. But the domestic economy remains dormant because of weak consumer demand, high household debts and a collapsed real-estate market. The Central Statistics Agency said Wednesday that unemployment rose from July’s rate of 14.3 percent, the fourth straight monthly increase. A record-high 470,000 people in Ireland, a country of 4.5 million, are claiming welfare payments for joblessness. About 17 percent are foreigners, chiefly Eastern Europeans who immigrated during the final years of Ireland’s 1994-2007 Celtic Tiger boom.

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SZ News

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Budget surplus, strong currency to the point where it weakens exports if they don’t buy sufficient fx to keep the currency down. Fits the pattern.

Swiss July Consumer Indicator Declines to Lowest in 1 1/2 Years
Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) — A gauge of Swiss consumer demand dropped to the lowest in 1 1/2 years in July, adding to signs the economy is cooling.

The consumption indicator declined to 1.29 from a revised 1.52 in the previous month, Zurich-based UBS AG said in an e-mailed statement today. That’s the lowest since February 2010. It had previously reported a June reading of 1.48.

Switzerland’s Government Expects Budget Surpluses Through 2013
Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) — Switzerland’s government said it expects to post budget surpluses in every year through 2013.

The consolidated surplus for the state, cantons, communities and the country’s social-security system will widen to an estimated 0.8 percent of gross domestic product this year from 0.4 percent in 2010, the government in Bern said in an e-mailed statement today. In 2012 and 2013, the surplus may narrow
to 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent of GDP, respectively.

Public debt under the European Union’s so-called Maastricht criteria will decline to an estimated 36.4 percent of GDP this year from 38.4 percent in 2010, according to the statement. In 2012 and 2013, it is seen decreasing to 35.7 percent and 34.1 percent, respectively.

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Central Banks Cannot Go Bust – But Can Cause Trouble

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CNBC: Central Banks Cannot Go Bust – But Can Cause Trouble

As previously discussed, since the S&P downgrade, the talk of the US becoming the next Greece has gone conspicuously quiet.

And, as suggested may happen, the anti deficit talk is shifting to inflation.

And that’s a much tougher sell in Congress. Especially with no forecast showing any inflation risk, including tips, and a Fed still fighting deflation.

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