Thursday, February 17, 2011

What comes after 'Happy Talk?'

Greetings good citizen,

Like everyone who asks ‘what comes after a trillion, I find myself pondering what the next logical progression of ‘happy talk’ is?

It would appear the answer is ‘Silly Talk’ or wishful thinking out loud

The wise do not suffer fools gladly, you would do well to emulate the wise.

One of today’s other, er, news items was how the economy has begun shedding jobs again. (How sad is it that I am on the cusp of joining in that statistic once again?)

Next week I will file a new unemployment claim due to the company I work for ceasing operations…

So my already mostly ‘phantom’ resume will add another ‘phantom’ entry to its already ponderous length.

With that as a given, just how ridiculous do the Bernank’s claims appear?

Top Fed officials now expect the output of goods and services to grow by 3.4 to 3.9 percent this year, up from the previous forecast, released in November, of 3 to 3.6 percent. But their grim outlook for the job market was largely unchanged: 8.8 to 9 percent unemployment this year, only one-tenth of a percentage point lower than its November forecast.

If the Fed’s most optimistic forecast were realized, it would be the fastest annual growth since 2004, when the economy expanded by 3.6 percent. But experts say even that rate of growth would only bring unemployment, now at 9 percent, down slowly — to slightly less than 8 percent by the end of 2012, when President Obama will seek re-election.

The forecasts did not change the view that the Fed should continue the $600 billion program to stimulate the recovery by buying government securities, a step begun in November and scheduled to run through June. The Fed said it based its expectations on an improvement in consumer spending in the fourth quarter, though Fed officials were uncertain how long that would last, according to minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting in late January, released on Wednesday. [Expected ‘improvement’ during Christmas! WTF, good citizen! Let us not forget that the actually data is VERY HEAVILY ‘massaged‘ these days, just like the ‘balance sheets’ of the bankrupt banks!]

“On the one hand, the additional spending could reflect pent-up demand following the downturn, or greater confidence on the part of households about the future, in which case it might be expected to continue,” the minutes noted. “On the other hand, the additional spending could prove short-lived, given that a good portion of it appeared to have occurred in relatively volatile categories such as autos.” [There has been a recent ’rush’ to replace SUV’s with more ’fuel efficient’ vehicles that has nothing to do with an ’improving economy’.]

At the January meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed’s main policy arm, voted unanimously to continue the $600 billion Treasury purchase plan, the second round of a strategy that is intended to push down long-term interest rates to ease credit and spur growth. The strategy, known as quantitative easing, has been controversial — critics say it could set the stage for future inflation and asset bubbles — but the Fed has been fairly unified behind it. [‘monetizing’ the debt is driving up asset prices while your purchasing power takes a pounding, it is ‘why’ the stock market keeps rising!]

The minutes indicated that Fed officials saw a diminishing risk of deflation, a protracted fall in prices of the sort that has afflicted Japan for more than two decades. That fear of deflation was a principal factor behind the decision in August to set the stage for the bond purchases.

Wait a minute good citizen, you know like I know the ‘economy’ is toast. If it weren’t for ‘creative accounting’ the banking system would have crashed and burned already!

We’re talking major panic here good citizen, padlocked doors, the whole nine yards!

IF the banking system had to ‘reconcile’ their books the exact same way you and I do, they’d ALL be bankrupt…AND THE BERNANK KNOWS THIS!

So what’s he trying to pull claiming the economy is ‘on the mend?’

(He’s pulling your finger…did you fart?)

This is the Kabuki dance the serious people are all pointing to…but for some unknown reason, nobody is willing to stand up and say ‘hey, what the fuck?’

Our economy, along with the economies of the rest of the developed world, are all smoking wrecks. We all know this but nobody is willing to ‘embrace’ this frightful truth.

That Wile E. Coyote moment economists keep hinting about, we’re there babe!

Is it going to take the total collapse of our supply lines to bring this fact home to the rest of the financially illiterate world?

Apparently so.

So what do we make of ‘Silly Talk’ like tonight’s offering?
This is beyond ‘denial’, it is something more perverted that defies definition.

I leave what to name this travesty up to you, good citizen.

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

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