Tag Archives: IMF

China is Suffering from the Same Curse as the U.S.: Too Much Debt, Too Little Growth

Saturday, 23 September 2017 05:23

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, September 22, 2017:

Live video feed of Zig Ziglar speaking at the ...

Zig Ziglar speaking at the Get Motivated Seminar at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California.

When Zig Ziglar was trying to motivate salesmen, he would often tell them that “there aren’t very many problems that can’t be solved by sufficient production.” This, unfortunately, has been picked up by statist economists who have assumed that any production, at any cost, will solve any problem. Put another way, “We can grow our way out from under the massive debt we have. And we can grow the economy by stimulating it with borrowed funds.”

Zig would be appalled:

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S&P Downgrades China’s Credit Rating

Friday, 22 September 2017 05:21

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, September 21, 2017:

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Thanks to “diminished financial stability,” S&P Global Ratings downgraded China’s credit rating for the first time since 1999, adding, “China’s prolonged period of strong credit [debt] growth has increased its economic and financial risks. Although this credit [debt] growth had contributed to strong real gross domestic product growth and higher asset prices, we believe it has also diminished financial stability.”

The downgrade by S&P is the second one this year for China — Moody’s Investors Service dropped China’s rating in May — and was preceded by a warning from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in August that China’s growing debt binge was putting its economy into jeopardy.

The response by Chinese officials was as predictable as it was silly.

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If Dudley is Right, Then Let’s Pray for the Flooding of the Entire Country!

Tuesday, 12 September 2017 05:37

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Monday, September 11, 2017:

Cover of "The Emperor's New Clothes"

Cover of The Emperor’s New Clothes

Taken to its logical conclusion, William Dudley, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, thinks a flood covering all of the United States would stimulate the economy. Several sources confirmed that this is what Dudley said on Friday in an interview at CNBC concerning the economic effects of hurricanes Harvey and Irma:

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The Sausage-Making in Washington Begins

Thursday, 25 May 2017 05:30

his article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, May 24, 2017:

Engraving of Otto von Bismarck

Engraving of Otto von Bismarck (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Now that the White House has released the budget for fiscal year 2018, the quote from Otto von Bismarck becomes operative: “Laws are like sausages; it is better not to see them being made.” But that only becomes operative after the election, about which H. L. Mencken said, “Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.” And when those stolen goods exceed $4 trillion, everyone has a distinct interest in getting, keeping and expanding his share.

When Trump’s “blueprint” was rolled out in March, it provided the bare bones of what he hoped it might accomplish:

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Trump Administration Tips Its Hand, Oks Third Greek Bailout

Tuesday, 18 April 2017 06:18

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, April 17, 2017:

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It took EURACTIV, the online source that focuses on European policymaking, to report that the Trump administration has signaled that, previous protestations to the contrary, it won’t object to a third Greek bailout. The anonymous Trump administration tipster told its reporters: “We’re looking for the Europeans to help Greece to resolve its economic problems by the Fund [the International Monetary Fund], despite the criticism of many Republicans regarding the two previous bailout programs in 2010 and 2012.”

This anonymous tip kicks to the curb protestations voiced by Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin in February that

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Greece Needs Another Bailout; Disagreement Threatens EU Itself

Friday, 10 February 2017 06:42

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, February 9, 2017:

IMF Headquarters, Washington, DC.

IMF Headquarters

The report on Greece’s financial condition issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday was dismal, but, said the central bank, its future remains bright. First, the bad news: The EU member will fall far short of the budget-surplus targets put in place in order to get the last bailout. The Greek economy must grow at 3.1 percent but it expanded by only 0.4 percent last year.

However, the IMF said Greece’s economy is expected to grow by 2.7 percent in 2017. An unnamed European Union official who spoke to Bloomberg on the condition of anonymity said that

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Venezuela’s Dictator Fires Head of Central Bank; Inflation at 1,600 Percent

Monday, 23 January 2017 16:17

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, January 23, 2017:

Venezuela’s Marxist dictator, Nicolas Maduro (shown), fired the head of his country’s central bank on Friday. Without fanfare or any public statement from either Maduro or his banker, Nelson Merentes, the firing is the latest move by the president to place the blame for the collapse of his country anywhere but where it belongs: on his socialist policies.

For months The New American has tracked the retrogression of a country which was once one of the leading economies in South America to a banana republic where people are starving, sick people are dying for lack of care, and a black market has replaced a once-thriving free economy. Last June, the New York Times was finally forced to admit the cause:

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Simmering Greek Financial Crisis Explodes Once Again

Friday, 16 December 2016 06:41

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, December 15, 2016:

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Under the terms of its last bailout, Athens (above) was required not only to continue to impose harsh austerity terms (higher taxes, less government spending, better accountability, and increased tax collection enforcement onto Greek citizens) but to inform the unelected “higher” European authorities of any change in those terms by Athens.

Last week Athens unilaterally

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Hanjin Bankruptcy: a Harbinger for the Global Economy?

Friday, 09 September 2016 04:26

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, September 8, 2016:

South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping was the world’s seventh-largest container shipping company, moving (until last week) 100 million tons of cargo on its 200 cargo ships from manufacturers to retailers across the globe. Last week, following years of losses as the global economy has slowed, Hanjin declared bankruptcy. That move stranded 90 of those ships as off-loading companies refused to unload them over concerns that they wouldn’t be paid.

Even an offer of $90 million from what’s left of Hanjin (including $36 million from the personal assets of its chairman) fell far short of the necessary $543 million estimated to unload all of its ships that are now circling ports around the world.

Concerns are mounting that

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Goldman Sachs’ Warning Dents Crude Oil Price

Wednesday, 13 April 2016 16:12

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, April 13, 2016:

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The price of crude oil, which reached $65 a barrel a year ago, fell below $30 in January with expectations that its decline wouldn’t end until it hit $20, or even lower. But hopeful optimists see light at the end of the tunnel — this coming from next Sunday’s OPEC meeting in Doha, Qatar (photo above) — where an agreement to freeze production at current levels will be on the table, bid crude higher in an almost straight line. On Tuesday NYMEX crude hit $42 a barrel, a 40-percent jump from January’s lows.

A note from Goldman Sachs on Tuesday provided a sobering view:

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Lower Oil Prices Pinching OPEC

Friday, 23 October 2015 04:19

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, October 22, 2015:

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According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the slowing in the demand for crude oil worldwide, coupled with more-than-abundant supply, bodes ill for higher prices for oil for at least the next year, if not longer. This is bad news for OPEC countries that need much higher oil prices to stay solvent.

The IEA predicted in its report last week that

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Greece-EU Standoff Increases Chances of “Grexit”

Tuesday, 07 July 2015 16:06

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, July 7, 2015:

Writing in London’s Telegraph on Monday, Nigel Farage, the leader of the anti-EU, pro-sovereignty UK Independence Party (UKIP), called Sunday’s referendum in Greece “a crushing defeat for those Eurocrats who believe that you can simply bulldoze public opinion.” Threats by those Eurocrats to shut off emergency financing unless the country agreed to its terms fell on deaf ears, especially among those under age 35: Eighty percent of them voted no on Sunday.

That cohort is the one least likely to remember the songs that were sung by those promoting the European Union decades ago:

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Will Sunday’s Greek vote Signal the end of Monnet’s Dream?

Saturday, 04 July 2015 05:39

This article was published at The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, July 3, 2015:

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Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that Sunday’s vote is only about accepting or rejecting the troika’s terms to restart the flow of bailout funds that has been keeping the Greek economy from tanking. He said that a “no” vote “does not mean rupture with Europe but a return to Europe with values.”

Most assuredly Sunday’s vote is likely to, in hindsight, turn out to be much more than that. Historians might write that Sunday, July 5, 2015, ended Monnet’s dream.

Monnet was the architect, the primary driving force, behind the failing experiment in Europe called the European Union. He was head of the first genuine European executive body,

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Greek Referendum to Determine European Union’s Viability

Friday, 03 July 2015 05:06

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, July 2, 2015:

The latest polls show that on Sunday Greek citizens are likely to reject the terms of the bailout from the troika — the European Union, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) — but by a steadily decreasing plurality. Before Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced the referendum, polls showed voters were opposed to the bailout terms, 57 to 30 percent. When the banks closed and citizens were restricted to withdrawing just $67 a day from their ATMs and pensioners couldn’t cash their checks, polls showed a narrowing, 46 to 37 percent.

Tsipras repeatedly said that the referendum is only about accepting or rejecting the terms imposed by the troika, not about leaving the euro or the European Union: “No does not mean rupture with Europe but a return to Europe with values.”

Citizens weren’t impressed and

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Controversial Harvard Professors predict high inflation and defaults for the US

Friday, 17 January 2014 11:51

The two Harvard professors who made themselves famous, and then infamous, are at it again, now predicting that America will soon be forced to

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WTO celebrates its first global agreement in 12 years

Tuesday, 10 December 2013 05:07

With tears in his eyes, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Roberto Azevêdo announced on Saturday the successful culmination of days of difficult negotiations to arrive at the

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Former Treasury Secretary Geithner to head up private equity firm Warburg Pincus

Tuesday, 19 November 2013 06:40

Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced his plans to join the Wall Street private equity firm Warburg Pincus in March 2014 where he will serve as president and managing director.

Geithner is the proto-typical insider with establishment ties that follow almost exactly

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Treasury Refuses to Sell Its Gold Even in the Event of Default

Friday, 04 October 2013 12:02

It took more than six months for the Department of the Treasury to answer Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch’s questions about how the Treasury would respond to a government shutdown or the failure of the Congress to raise the debt limit. But its response is revealing:

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Staff Report from the IMF Blames the European Union for Mishandling the Greek Crisis

Thursday, 06 June 2013 13:41

The report from the International Monetary Fund is remarkable in its candor: efforts to bail out Greece were fumbled as the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank all tried to promote their own agendas with little regard for the lowly Greek citizen.

Happily the disclaimer appeared on the front page:

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If you were sick, what would you do if your doctors told you this?

Saturday, 20 April 2013 10:27

You’re sick. You’ve been sick for several weeks now. You’re long past the “take two aspirin and call me in the morning” protocol. You’re jaundiced, you’re not sleeping well, you’re losing weight, people are asking if you’re ok, the whole deal. You decide to find a doctor. You find four, all in the same office.

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