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Leap 2020
In this 28th edition of the GEAB, LEAP/E2020 has decided to launch a new global systemic crisis alert. Indeed our researchers anticipate that, before next summer 2009, the US government will default and be prevented to pay back its creditors (holders of US Treasury Bonds, of Fanny May and Freddy Mac shares, etc.). Of course such a bankruptcy will provoke some very negative outcome for all USD-denominated asset holders. According to our team, the period that will then begin should be conducive to the setting up of a « new Dollar » to remedy the problem of default and of induced massive capital drain from the US. The process will result from the following five factors studied in detail further in this GEAB:

• The recent upward trend of the US Dollar is a direct and temporary consequence of the collapse of stock markets

• Thanks to its recent « political baptism », the Euro becomes a credible « safe haven » value and therefore provides a « crisis » alternative to the US dollar

• The US public debt is now swelling uncontrollably

• The ongoing collapse of US real economy prevents from finding an alternative solution to the country’s defaulting

• « Strong inflation or hyper-inflation in the US in 2009? », that is the only question.

Studying the case of Iceland can give an idea of the upcoming stages of the crisis. That is what our team has been doing ever since the beginning of 2006. This country indeed provides a good illustration of what the US and the UK should be expecting. It can be considered – and that is what most Icelandic people do today – that the collapse of Iceland’s financial system came from the fact that it was disproportionate to the size of the country’s economy.

Financially speaking, Iceland thought of itself as UK (1), in the same way as, financially speaking, UK thought of itself as the US and the US thought of themselves as the entire world. It is therefore quite useful to study the case of Iceland (2) in order to understand the course of events that London and Washington will follow in the next 12 months (3).

What we see today is a double historical phenomenon:

. on the one hand, since September 2008 (as anticipated in the February 2008 edition of the GEAB - N°22), the whole planet has become aware that a global systemic crisis is unfolding, characterised by the collapse of the US financial system and its contagion to the rest of the world.

. on the other hand, a growing number of global players are beginning to act on their own, in reaction to the ineffectiveness of the measures advocated or implemented by the US though they are the centre of this global financial system. What happened with this first Euroland (or Eurozone summit which took place on Sunday, October 12, 2008, and whose decisions, by their scope (close to 1,700-billion EUR) and their nature (4), resulted in a regain of confidence on financial markets from all over the world, is typical of the « post-September 2008 world ».

Indeed there is such a thing as a « post-September 2008 world ». According to our team, it is now clear that this past month will remain in the history books of the whole planet as the month when the global systemic crisis started; even if what is really at play is its decanting phase, the last of a series of four phases of the crisis described by LEAP/E2020 as early as June 2006 (5). As always when it comes to large human groups, the perception of change among the general public only occurs when change is already far on its way.

As a matter of fact, September 2008 is the month when the « financial detonator » of the global systemic crisis exploded. According to LEAP/E2020 indeed, this second semester 2008 is the time when « the world dives into the heart of the impact phase of the global systemic crisis » (6); which means for our researchers that, at the end of this semester, the world enters the « decanting phase » of the crisis, i.e. a phase when the outcome of the shock settles down. This phase is the longest (from 3 to 10 years, according to the country) and the one affecting the largest number of people and countries. It is also the phase when the components of new global equilibriums will start to appear, two of them being already described by LEAP/E2020 in this 28th edition of the GEAB in the graphic illustrations below (7).

Therefore, as we repeated it on and on since 2006, this crisis is far more important, in terms of impact and outcome, than the 1929 crisis. Historically, we are the very first players, witnesses and/or victims of a crisis affecting the whole planet, in a situation of unprecedented interdependence of countries (resulting from twenty years of globalisation) and people (the level of urbanization - and related dependence for all the basic needs – water, food, energy… - is also unprecedented). However, the 1929 experience and all its dreadful outcome, is still vivid enough in our collective memories to hope, if citizens are vigilant and leaders clear-sighted, that we will be spared from a « remake » leading to major conflagration(s).

Europe, Russia, China, Japan,… are certainly the collective players who can make sure that the unfolding implosion of today’s world power, i.e. the United States, does not drive the planet into a disaster. Indeed, except for Gorbachev’s USSR, empires have a tendency to strive in vain to reverse the course of History when they realize their might is escaping them. It then belongs to partner-powers to channel the process peacefully, as well as it belongs to the citizens and rulers of the concerned country to be clear-sighted and face the difficult times they are about to cross.

The « emergency repair » of international financial channels, achieved by the countries of the Eurozone at the beginning of this month of October 2008 (8), should not hide three fundamental facts:

• The “repair” was necessary to curb the panic that threatened to squander the entire global financial system in just a few weeks, but what it heals temporarily is merely a symptom. It has just bought a bit of time, two to three months maximum, as the global recession and the collapse of the US economy (the table above shows the staggering increase of US banks’ borrowings from the Fed) will speed up and create new tensions in the economic, social and political fields, that must be anticipated and coped with as soon as next month (as soon as the “financial packages” have been implemented)

• The huge financial means allocated worldwide for « emergency rescues » of the global financial system, though they were necessary to put back in order the system of credit, are lost for the real economy when it is on the verge of facing a global recession

• The « emergency repair » results in further marginalization, and therefore weakening, for the United States, because it sets up processes that are contrary to those advocated by Washington for the allocation of the Hank Paulson’s and Ben Bernanke’s 700-billion USD TARP: bank recapitalisation by governments (a decision Hank Paulson has now come to follow) and interbank loan guarantees (in fact Euroland governments substitute to credit insurers, a mostly American industry at the centre of global finance since decades). These trends turn more and more decision-making relays and financial flows away from the United-States when because of the explosion of their public (9) and private debt they need them more than ever; not to mention pensions going up in smoke (10).

The last aspect shows how, in the coming months, solutions to the crisis and to its various sequences (financial, economic, social and political) will increasingly diverge: what is good for the rest of the world will not be good for the United States (11), and now, Euroland in the first place, the rest of the world seems determined to make its own choices.

The sudden shock that will result from the US defaulting in summer 2009 is partly due to this decoupling of decision-making processes of the world’s largest economies with regard to the US. It is predictable and can be dampened if global players start to anticipate it. As a matter of fact, it is one of the topics developed in this 28th edition of the GEAB: LEAP/E2020 hopes that the September shock has “educated” the world’s political, economic and financial policy-makers and made them understand that it is easier to act by anticipation than in a panic. It would be a pity if Euroland, Asia and oil-producing countries, as well as US citizens of course, discover one morning of summer 2009 that, after a long-week-end or bank-holiday in the US, their US T-Bonds and Dollars are only worth 10 percent of their value because a « new Dollar » has just been imposed (12). More

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Karl Denninger
The Market Ticker

America’s GDP, or the total of all goods and services produced in this nation in a given year, is about $14 trillion dollars.

America the nation currently has an outstanding debt of about $10 trillion dollars, and has more than doubled in the last ten years. But this number is not the real total, because it does not count all the “promises” (read: entitlements) that people have been told they will have. Those “promises” are Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, in the main. They total, approximately $90 trillion dollars in current liability.

What’s worse, about 1/3rd of that was added with the “Medicare Part D” drug benefit, even though Congress was at the time fully aware that there was already $60 trillion or so sitting out there in unfunded liabilities. They did not care because the AARP, and you, screamed and demanded that Congress “do something.”

Oh they did something all right. They did the very same thing that you think you have a right to do - that is, spend more than you make.

That’s right. You have a right as an American to have a 4,000 square foot house on an acre, even if you only cut hair for a living. If you can’t get that loan honestly, you simply will make up an income and use some sort of “exotic” mortgage product to get it.

Your car broke down? Its beneath you to buy a used one, right? Just hit the home equity line and buy a new Suburban. $40,000. Cool. Oh, and charge the gas too.

Your kid comes home from school complaining that one of his friends has an iPOD. To shut him up, you go buy him one - even though you don’t have the $200 it costs. You just pull out the plastic and charge it. It will all be ok.

Your grandmother is taken deathly ill and whisked to the hospital. She’s 85, and has cancer. She has had a good life, but now it is drawing to a close. When you get there, the doctors ask what you, as her closest kin want, as she’s unconscious at the time. You tell them that they should preserve her life at all costs. Of course you don’t have any money to pay for the $500,000 in medical bills. Its ok; she was in a nursing home and didn’t have anything anyway, so there’s no estate for the bill to eat into; Medicare will pick it up. After all, she’s entitled to the best medical care money can buy as an American.

You love the $3/quart strawberries at the local WalMart. You won’t pay $3.50. As a consequence, the grower has fired all of his United States citizens as pickers and is employing illegal Mexicans. You don’t care, as you’ve got a good job - you answer the phones for Joe’s PCs and help people with their computer problems. Unfortunately Joe’s customers want to pay $50 less for that PC, so he fires you and outsources your job to India for $2/day. Oops.

Folks, what is going on in this country is exactly like what happened yesterday on the forum. Each and every day.

You drive around your neighborhood and see the “For Sale” and “Foreclosure” signs and the boarded-up businesses. You whine about $4 gasoline, $5 cheese and Ice Cream that is both more expensive and now is in a 1.5 quart instead of a 1/2 gallon container.

Your employer cuts medical benefits or expects you to pay more. You grumble or, if you’re unionized, you might actually strike. You end up capitulating anyway, then your job gets shipped to China.

We all feel the squeeze, but will we accept that we are part of the problem? That we have a spending deficit (that is, we spend more than we make), we have a savings deficit (we don’t save anything, on balance), we have a balance-of-trade deficit (we demand $30 DVD players from China, therefore, all the people who made them here are fired and they are manufactured there where workers are paid 25 cents/hour) and we have a common sense deficit (that is, we think we can continue to do this until the cows come home and there will be no consequence.)

Well, now we’ve got the beginning of the consequences, and what America is doing, for the most part, is sticking its fingers in its ears and going “LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA” - because actually removing the fingers from your ears requires that you admit that you are likely part of the problem as you’re in debt up to your eyeballs and are unwilling to live within your earnings capacity!

Would you like to know the rest of the consequences that are coming for you, your children and grandchildren if you don’t remove the fingers and stop chanting? Do you even know what they are? Let me lay a few out for you:

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The documentary divided into twelve parts tells the story of how debt combined with political corruption impoverished a nation that was once so rich that the expression “Wealthy as an Argentine” was once in common use throughout the world. When the USA took on trillions in debt starting in the early 1980s, did we enter a Dante’s hell as Argentina did when it took on its debt under a military dictatorship in the 1970s. Is it only a matter of time before US debts lead inexorably to currency crisis, inflation, and political chaos. The story will strike North Americans as uncomfortably familiar. More

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…the lucrative lending practices of America’s merchants of debt have led millions of Americans — young and old, native and immigrant, affluent and poor — to the brink. More and more, Americans can identify with miners of old: in debt to the company store with little chance of paying up. It is not just individuals but the entire economy that is now suffering. Practices that produced record profits for many banks have shaken the nation’s financial system to its foundation. As a growing number of Americans default, banks are recording hundreds of billions in losses, devastating their shareholders. More

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Congressman Ron Paul confronts Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on monetary policy and its consequences. 7/16/08

Ron Paul
There are reasons to believe this coming crisis is different and bigger than the world has ever experienced. Instead of using globalism in a positive fashion, it’s been used to globalize all of the mistakes of the politicians, bureaucrats and central bankers. Printing dollars over long periods of time may not immediately push prices up–yet in time it always does. Now we’re seeing catch-up for past inflating of the monetary supply. As bad as it is today with $4 a gallon gasoline, this is just the beginning. It’s a gross distraction to hound away at “drill, drill, drill” as a solution to the dollar crisis and high gasoline prices. Its okay to let the market increase supplies and drill, but that issue is a gross distraction from the sins of deficits and Federal Reserve monetary shenanigans.

This bubble is different and bigger for another reason. The central banks of the world secretly collude to centrally plan the world economy. I’m convinced that agreements among central banks to “monetize” U.S. debt these past 15 years have existed, although secretly and out of the reach of any oversight of anyone–especially the U.S. Congress that doesn’t care, or just flat doesn’t understand. As this “gift” to us comes to an end, our problems worsen. The central banks and the various governments are very powerful, but eventually the markets overwhelm when the people who get stuck holding the bag (of bad dollars) catch on and spend the dollars into the economy with emotional zeal, thus igniting inflationary fever. This time–since there are so many dollars and so many countries involved–the Fed has been able to “paper” over every approaching crisis for the past 15 years, especially with Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, which has allowed the bubble to become history’s greatest.

The mistakes made with excessive credit at artificially low rates are huge, and the market is demanding a correction. This involves excessive debt, misdirected investments, over-investments, and all the other problems caused by the government when spending the money they should never have had. Foreign militarism, welfare handouts and $80 trillion entitlement promises are all coming to an end. We don’t have the money or the wealth-creating capacity to catch up and care for all the needs that now exist because we rejected the market economy, sound money, self reliance and the principles of liberty. Since the correction of all this misallocation of resources is necessary and must come, one can look for some good that may come as this “Big Event” unfolds. More

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Dr. Lee Warren on USA Economic Disaster

Dr. Lee Warren Part 2

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Source: (MarketWatch) The incipient collapse of Freddie Mac will in all likelihood dump an additional $5 trillion in debt onto the national books by making explicit the companies’ dependence on the American taxpayer as their ultimate backstop. No glib politician, let alone Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, will be able to talk their way out of this one. And the world’s leading sources of capital, China and the Gulf oil states aren’t about to sign on to support the political priorities of Washington, D.C. politicians looking to subsidize home ownership and get themselves re-elected. Instead, America is just going to have to work its way through this mess on its own.

It will not be a pleasant process. Wall Street will cherry-pick the productive mortgages, and the rest will be dumped on everyone else’s doorstep. People who didn’t borrow cheap money they couldn’t afford and who paid their mortgages on time, will nonetheless have to pony up more taxes to cover the losses incurred by their profligate fellow citizens at the prodding of an elected class that sought to extend homeownership to every American capable of casting a vote. Maybe, just maybe, the political class will finally have to own up to making some difficult choices: eliminating a couple of aircraft carriers for a start, and that $100 billion a year they spend on the department of education.

It might be a good idea to scrap that new air tanker contract too, given that they can’t seem to get it awarded anyway. If they had any real guts, they’d use this occasion to get rid of the mortgage interest deduction. After all, given that Congress’ popularity rating is in single digits already, why not take advantage of the opportunity? And if the Iraqis can’t use their oil wealth to outsource their internal security needs with oil pushing $150 a barrel, they’re never going to be able to. A high school teacher of mine used to say it didn’t matter how much money the government borrowed because it was a measure of how much faith Americans had in their future. We’re about to find out.

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