Impacts from Recession - Part 2

[Wesley]

As a followup to the pizza effects of recession part one, I found this Daily Reckoning article by Bill Bonner to be of interest perhaps to the group:

Ben Bernanke, too, says the crisis is easing.
But he went on to say that the situation is still "far from normal."
What is far from normal, we wonder? The Dow went down 44 points yesterday, leaving stock prices about where they’ve been for the last 10 years...nothing abnormal about that.
Consumers are still spending money, too. And since they don’t really have any money to spend, they’re still borrowing. A report in yesterday’s news tells us that one in ten baby boomers has to borrow money just to pay everyday expenses.
But here’s something unusual: house prices went down in two-thirds of America’s cities, according to Bloomberg . In Cleveland, half of all subprime mortgages end in foreclosure.
Houses are America’s number one asset...and the cornerstone of most families’ financial plans. When they go down...so does the consumer economy. At least, that’s our working hypothesis. So far, houses are down about 13%. The economy is down too – but not dramatically. The latest GDP growth figure came in at 0.6%. With the population growing at 1%, that means the average person is getting poorer. So our hypothesis is working...marginally.
Nothing very exciting happened in the markets yesterday, so we will use today to spin out a broader version of contemporary economic history.
Let’s begin with another working hypothesis – give a man a license to counterfeit currency and he will stay up all night printing new bills. In effect, when the Nixon Administration cut the final link between gold and the dollar, in 1971, the feds could print all the counterfeit money they wanted. Normally, you’d expect the dollar to become worthless.
That is exactly what we expected in the ’70s. But then a few things happened that saved the dollar...and seemed to prove that our working hypothesis didn’t work anymore. Paul Volcker was brought in to protect the dollar. This he did – by driving up interest rates and bringing on the worst recession since the ’30s. But then, other things took over...the Reagan/Thatcher Revolutions...deregulation of industries...the rejection of central planning...the collapse of the Soviet Union...the Chinese renaissance...Wal-Mart...the Internet...just-in-time inventory systems...and globalization.
All of these things tended to increase productivity and lower prices. The biggest thing was probably in the labor market, where hundreds of millions of new workers came into the modern economy (who would slave away all day for less than a tenth the typical wage in America) and reduced the cost of labor and finished product.
We wondered how much ‘just-in-time’ inventory systems saved consumers. In the latest Grant’s Interest Rate Observer we find an estimate from Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express:
"In 1980, logistics costs – including the carrying costs of inventory, plus warehousing and transportation costs – were about 17% of GDP. Last year, they were about 10%."
"Fast cycle logistics," he says, reduced costs by nearly a trillion dollars a year.
But wait, there’s more...after Volcker cast out the devil of inflation, interest rates could come down. Thus, began a quarter century of falling interest rates and increasingly accessible credit. This eventually produced the absurd and pernicious consequences we describe here in The Daily Reckoning . Just as teenaged kissing leads to petting...which leads to...well, you know how it works, dear reader...success leads to complacency which leads to excess. But the long bull market in bonds (bonds go up when interest rates go down) also vastly increased the supply of capital available for new industries...and caused an explosion in output capacity.
Higher output at lower cost = deflation.
And let’s not forget oil. The basic ingredient in modern economies – petroleum – fell in real terms from the mid-’70s almost all the way to the war on Iraq.
Let us look, briefly at the oil market. When the United States invaded Iraq, we were told that $10 oil was right around the corner. Then, as the war went from triumph to tribulation...the oil price rose. Still, the war’s backers believed they had done good. Higher oil prices couldn’t last, they said. The National Review said oil was a "bubble" in ’04, when it was at $50 a barrel. Then, Steve Forbes said it was a "bubble" at $70 a barrel in ’05. Now...a Goldman expert says it will go to $200 a barrel.
Success leads to excess. Sooner or later oil really will be in a bubble...and sooner or later the bubble will pop. But when? At what price? China is doubling its use of the slick liquid every seven years. In the United States, there are 480 cars per 1,000 people. In China, there are only 10. And China could be the world’s largest automaker in just a matter of months. Our advice to Americans: fill up your tanks.
In the meantime, we return to our short version of U.S. contemporary economic history:
With prices stable or actually falling, over the last 20 years, central bankers felt they could ‘stimulate’ the economy whenever it needed a little more pep. The most memorable example, of course, followed the micro-slump of 2001-2002, when the Greenspan Fed dropped rates down to 1% and held them there for over a year. But the printing presses ran hot for many, many years. Over practically the entire period, from the late ’80s to ’08, the U.S. money supply increased at an average annual rate of about 8% – or about twice as fast as GDP growth.
And now, we are in a period which many take for normal. Our financial Vesuvius has rumbled several times in the last quarter century – the crash of ’87, recession of ’93, the Asian crisis and collapse of LongTerm Capital Management in ’97 & ’98, dotcom crash, and bear market of ’00-’02, recession of ’01-’02, and finally the credit crunch of ’07-’08.
Once again, the ground is shaking beneath our feet. And once again, people are wondering if they should head for shelter. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ say the pundits. ‘It will pass...just as it always does. This is just normal..."
If our hypothesis still works...inflation will blow its top soon.
*** Gold retreated $15 yesterday. Oil bounced back to $125. And in April, food prices rose 0.9% – the most since 1990.
Yesterday, we mentioned that clothing prices were on the rise. Today, the Wall Street Journal says shoes are taking a hike upwards.
Here in London, inflation is at its highest level in six years. In China, 8% consumer price inflation is spooking the financial authorities. And import prices in the United States jumped 1.8% in April.
Why would imports be going up so fast?
Ah...glad you asked. Because that is what is really not "normal" about the latest tremors. For 20 years, inflation has been held in check by the group of happy events we described above. But what will hold it back for the next 20 years?
China used to export deflation, as the economists put it. Now, with prices rising in the Middle Kingdom, it has no choice – it must export inflation. With inventories at 30-year lows – there are no price cuts coming from there either. Wages are rising. Raw material prices are soaring. Food is out of control.
But wait, there’s more...
Remember the great credit expansion of the last quarter century? For 25 years, the cost of money got cheaper and cheaper and cheaper...to the point where the Fed was lending money at negative real rates (and still is!) In 1982, the yield on a 10-year Treasury note was nearly 16%. Today, it is under 4%.
But now, money is becoming more expensive. If the credit cycle has turned, as we think it has, lending rates will go up with inflation. And the cost of money...along with the cost of other essential components...will drive up prices for nearly everything.
What will the U.S. consumer do? He has little prospect of higher wages – not with so many billions of people willing to work for less. His main asset is falling in price. Credit is getting tighter. And his cost of living is going up – maybe sharply up.
This time he won’t be able to borrow his way out. This time, more credit...lower rates...and more inflation won’t help him. This time, inflation will hurt him.

Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning

[keepngoal]

there ISN'T a recession........... ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhh..

-keep

[CTAClone]

Originally Posted by keepngoal

there ISN'T a recession........... ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhh..

-keep

Does it hurt your pirating on the open seas or something?

[Wesley]

Well, how about saying that the economy is now sinking to a lower growth rate that approaches zero? Whatever you want to call it, the amount of free money to spend (which is now worth less) has diminished in the last year. The next shoe to drop will be a drop in commercial construction. With fewer people eating out to reallocate their money, the need for restaurants is therby smaller.

[cys_av8r]

There is this great invention called a link. You can place it in a post and people can click on it, and then *gasp* read what you want them to read on another site.

Just sayin...

[keepngoal]

Originally Posted by Wesley

Well, how about saying that the economy is now sinking to a lower growth rate that approaches zero? Whatever you want to call it, the amount of free money to spend (which is now worth less) has diminished in the last year. The next shoe to drop will be a drop in commercial construction. With fewer people eating out to reallocate their money, the need for restaurants is therby smaller.

until that ^^^ stops happening for two straight quarters... you are stirring the pot. To infer, suggest or feel your way to the word recession and actual living... you sir, are not honest.

-keep.

[Wesley]

Originally Posted by cys_av8r

There is this great invention called a link. You can place it in a post and people can click on it, and then *gasp* read what you want them to read on another site.

Just sayin...

Click on this:
The Daily Reckoning

[keepngoal]

Originally Posted by Wesley

Click on this:
The Daily Reckoning

that is your source?

[cys_av8r]

Originally Posted by Wesley

Click on this:
The Daily Reckoning

There you go. That wasn't so hard.

[Wesley]

Originally Posted by keepngoal

until that ^^^ stops happening for two straight quarters... you are stirring the pot. To infer, suggest or feel your way to the word recession and actual living... you sir, are not honest.

-keep.

Whether recession or not, the economy is in trouble. Homeowners do not have extra equity to pull out to buy big ticket items, the restaurants and stores are less full with shoppers. I am not being dishonest as this was only an article from Daily reckoning. This is a discussion topic, nothing more nothing less.
Frankly the government is not smart enough to determine if we are above or below the growth line this last quarter.

Here is the bio of Bill Bonner in wickipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bonner_(author)

[Wesley]

Originally Posted by keepngoal

that is your source?

The source of the article is well respected. Bill Bonner is no slouch. Is there a problem if it is taken from a blog? I hope not. Not all news comes from the New York Times or Rag.

[Cy Heavy]

Originally Posted by Wesley

Whether recession or not, the economy is in trouble. Homeowners do not have extra equity to pull out to buy big ticket items, the restaurants and stores are less full with shoppers. I am not being dishonest as this was only an article from Daily reckoning. This is a discussion topic, nothing more nothing less.
Frankly the government is not smart enough to determine if we are above or below the growth line this last quarter.

Here is the bio of Bill Bonner in wickipedia: Bill Bonner (author) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Haven't you learned yet? Until those in the highest tax bracket are hurting, our economy IS FINE. Please, stop the fear mongering, nobody wants to hear about those that live paycheck to paycheck. If the administration says the economy is fine, it's fine.

[jmb]

Originally Posted by Cy Heavy

Haven't you learned yet? Until those in the highest tax bracket are hurting, our economy IS FINE. Please, stop the fear mongering, nobody wants to hear about those that live paycheck to paycheck. If the administration says the economy is fine, it's fine.

YEAH!

You wouldn't want to let facts get in the way of the fact that the accepted definition of recession hasn't been met-you can just proclaim it as fact.

I really hate 2+2=4 I think that 2+2=applesauce...see I can do it to!!!

j

[Phaedrus]

Originally Posted by Cy Heavy

Haven't you learned yet? Until those in the highest tax bracket are hurting, our economy IS FINE. Please, stop the fear mongering, nobody wants to hear about those that live paycheck to paycheck. If the administration says the economy is fine, it's fine.

People are not living "paycheck to paycheck" because the economy is bad, people are living paycheck to paycheck because they are idiots, who are borrowing money to buy a big-screen TVs, Monster trucks, and houses 3-4 times what they can really afford.

The economy is fine. It's "possible" that it can go bad, but it isn't there, yet, despite the scaremongering of journalists, politicians and "Chicken Littles".

Frankly, the incredibly wealthy Americans (And that means nearly EVERY American) who whine about "the economy being worse than the Great Depression" are starting to tick me off... spoiled brats...

[Phaedrus]

Originally Posted by Wesley

The source of the article is well respected. Bill Bonner is no slouch. Is there a problem if it is taken from a blog? I hope not. Not all news comes from the New York Times or Rag.

I don't care about Bill Bonner's "Reputation". That article is the biggest bunch of "weasel-worded" nonsense I've ever read in my life.

In that article, Bill Bonner is pushing a purely political agenda, regardless of his "reputation".

We are not in a recession. This continual beating of the "election year only economic disaster" drum is getting tiresome....