Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Would Cleansing Banks’ Balance Sheets Kick-start the US Economy?

– Posted in: Links Rick's Picks

In the article linked below, Mises Institute’s Frank Shostak has exposed the toxic asset cleanup for the brazen fraud that it is. Either out of Krugman-like ignorance, or cynicism, or a combination of both, the plan’s authors have failed to distinguish between savings and credit as the source of new lending. Once again, Shostak has pointed out to his benighted colleagues that the Emperor is wearing no clothes. Link: Would Cleansing Banks' Balance Sheets Kick-start the US Economy?

Falling Home Prices Mock Inflationists

– Posted in: Free

Inflationists and their crackpot theories took another pounding yesterday on news that home prices had plummeted at a record pace --19 percent since last January. Residential real estate values have now fallen by 30 percent nationwide since peaking in 2006. In trying to reverse this trend, the Fed would appear not to have gotten much bang for its buck, since the central bank has committed an estimated $11 trillion already, targeted mainly at large mortgage lenders. Success is certain to become even more elusive after New York City's real estate market implodes, as it soon will. The last time the Big Apple was seriously on the ropes, President Gerald Ford told the city to drop dead. What will Mr. Obama tell them? And, will the Daily News still be around to report it so memorably? Concerning the rampant inflation that nearly all mainstream economists expect, we would ask these dismal scientists to predict exactly where it is most likely to surface. Will real estate values finally catch fire again, pushing tract homes into the billion-dollar range?  Will a dozen eggs cost $90.  Will assembly line workers at Ford negotiate a package worth $300 an hour?  Will college tuitions quadruple in the next few years?  Of course not. Where would the money come from?  Surely not from wages, since the businesses that would pay them are doing well merely to survive these days. And not from a massive credit binge either, since the only collateral we could use to borrow up another storm is...our homes. Why can't economists see this?  And why can't they understand that the deeper taxpayers go into hock to "stimulate" the economy, the more drag there will be on future growth? Only  Hyper-Inflation Is Logical To be clear, let us note that hyper-inflation seems entirely possible, even