"The Worst Is Yet to Come" With Tim and Larry

Howard Davidowitz is one of the best retail industry analysts available. It is always worth listening to him. His outlook on the broader macro level, based on consumer activity, is depressingly gloomy.

The gloomy long-term Depression outlook becoming so popularly accepted that we find ourselves rebelling against it. Perhaps unjustifiably so.

It will come down to what the Obama Administration does about the Banks. If the big Wall Street banks are allowed to absorb the capital vitality of the economy and limp along as insolvent zombies it is highly possible that we will have our own 'lost decade' like the Japanese experience.

Larry Summers is in command as the economic advisor with young Tim as his minion. We can barely imagine the infighting that must be going on between the practical politicos around Obama, probably led by Rahm Emanuel, who must be simply frothing at the boneheaded policy blunders that Geithner and Summers are creating.

A chart of W's popularity shows a decided peak just after 911, and then a steady decline into political oblivion and one of the worst popularity ratings in modern presidential history. It is now being revealed that there was a feeling in the White House that Cheney and Rumsfeld misled the president and cost him, dearly. W became very cool and detached with Cheney and his circle in the last two years, He ignored personal pleas to pardon Cheney's man, Scooter.

There is a real possibility that Larry Summers and Tim Geithner could be the spoilers for Obama despite the enormous wave of popular support which he enjoys today. Betting on the over/under, we suspect that eventually Rahm will put him in a political body bag, with Larry providing plenty of personal assistance in his own demise. But that's just an opinion and it could be wrong. Their failure is definitely not in the best interests of the country. Here is a similar opinion.

Fool Me Once Geithner, Shame on You, Fool Me Twice...

And now for a stiff dose of reality which is even too gloomy for our tastes but may be correct from Howard Davidowitz:


Howard Davidowitz Video Interview

"Worst Is Yet to Come:" Americans' Standard of Living Permanently Changed
by Aaron Task
Feb 17, 2009 12:53pm EST

There's no question the American consumer is hurting in the face of a burst housing bubble, financial market meltdown and rising unemployment.

But "the worst is yet to come," according to Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, who believes American's standard of living is undergoing a "permanent change" - and not for the better as a result of:

- An $8 trillion negative wealth effect from declining home values.
- A $10 trillion negative wealth effect from weakened capital markets.
- A $14 trillion consumer debt load amid "exploding unemployment", leading to "exploding bankruptcies."

"The average American used to be able to borrow to buy a home, send their kids to a good school [and] buy a car," Davidowitz says. "A lot of that is gone."

Going forward, the veteran retail industry consultant foresees higher savings rate and people trading down in both the goods and services they buy - as well as their aspirations.

The end of rampant consumerism is ultimately a good thing, he says, but the unraveling of an economy built on debt-fueled spending will be painful for years to come.

The Stock Market is Teetering Around Key Support

We could get a serious leg down if we slip support tomorrow and the measures on this chart are confirmed to the downside. It is most likely we go down to key support and then form the start a technical rally. This is by no means assured however, and if it breaks down it could be quite a plunge down and a test of bully's nerves.

Gold Rises to Record Prices Against European and Asian Currencies

The current global crisis is a direct result of the long Greenspan chairmanship of the Fed, neo-liberal deregulation of the financial markets, and rampant fraud and corruption amongst the financiers controlling the world's reserve currency, from the bankers to the ratings agencies to the regulatory bodies.

"Those entrapped by the herd instinct are drowned in the deluges of history. But there are always the few who observe, reason, and take precautions, and thus escape the flood. For these few gold has been the asset of last resort." Antony C. Sutton

UK Telegraph
Gold hits record against euro on fear of Zimbabwean-style response to bank crisis
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
8:49PM GMT 17 Feb 2009

This gold rally is driven by safe-haven fears and has a very different feel from the bull market we've had for the last eight years," said John Reade, chief metals strategist at UBS. "Investors are seeing articles in the press saying governments should deliberately stoke inflation, and they are reacting to it."

Gold jumped to multiple records on Tuesday, triggered by fears that East Europe's banking crisis could set off debt defaults and lead to contagion within the eurozone. It touched €762 an ounce against the euro, £675 against sterling, and 47,783 against India's rupee.

Jewellery demand – usually the mainstay of the industry – has almost entirely dried up and the price is now being driven by investors. They range from the billionaires stashing boxes of krugerrands under the floors of their Swiss chalets (as an emergency fund for total disorder) to the small savers buying the exchange traded funds (ETFs). SPDR Gold Trust has added 200 metric tonnes in the last six weeks. ETF Securities added 62,000 ounces last week alone.

In dollar terms, gold is at a seven-month high of $964. This is below last spring's peak of $1,030 but the circumstances today are radically different. The dollar itself has become a safe haven as the crisis goes from bad to worse – if only because it is the currency of a unified and powerful nation with institutions that have been tested over time. It is not yet clear how well the eurozone's 16-strong bloc of disparate states will respond to extreme stress. The euro dived two cents to $1.26 against the dollar, threatening to break below a 24-year upward trend line.

Crucially, gold has decoupled from oil and base metals, finding once again its ancient role as a store of wealth in dangerous times.

"People can see that the only solution to the credit crisis is to devalue all fiat currencies," said Peter Hambro, chairman of the Anglo-Russian mining group Peter Hambro Gold. "The job of central bankers is to allow this to happen in an orderly fashion through inflation. I'm afraid it is the only way to avoid disaster, but naturally investors are turning to gold as a form of wealth insurance."

One analyst said the spectacle of central banks slashing rates to zero across the world and buying government debt as if there was no tomorrow feels like the "beginning of the 'Zimbabwe-isation' of the global economy".

Gold bugs have been emboldened by news that Russia has accumulated 90 tonnes over the last 15 months.

"We are buying gold," said Alexei Ulyukayev, deputy head of Russia's central bank. The bank is under orders from the Kremlin to raise the gold share of foreign reserves to 10pc.

The trend by central banks and global wealth funds to shift reserves into euro bonds may have peaked as it becomes clear that the European region is tipping into a slump that is as deep – if not deeper – than the US downturn. Germany contracted at an 8.4pc annual rate in the fourth quarter. The severity of the crash in Britain, Ireland, Spain, the Baltics, Hungary, Ukraine and Russia has shifted the epicentre of this crisis across the Atlantic. The latest shock news is the 20pc fall in Russia's industrial production in January. The country is losing half a million jobs a month.

Markets have been rattled this week by warnings from rating agency Moody's that Austrian, Swedish and Italian banks may face downgrades over their heavy exposure to the ex-Soviet bloc. The region has borrowed $1.7 trillion (£1.2 trillion) – mostly from European banks – and must roll over $400bn this year....

St. Louis Fed Chief Says Fed Must Inflate Money Supply More Aggressively

Considering the AMB and the narrow money figures went parabolic, with the greatest increase in Fed history, these are somewhat unusual words from a Fed official.

Best to take him at his word. He is only saying the truth about what the Fed is already doing. This sounds like a classic misdirection.

Let's guess. In order to save us he Fed should give more money to the big money center banks through Fed programs? The Fed should buy bad assets at par from unconventional parties like every large corporation with bad debts? The Fed should more aggressively debase the currency and to transfers the wealth of savers of to those who caused this crisis?

This ought to be fun to watch.


Bloomberg
Fed Should Expand Supply of Money, Bullard Says
By Scott Lanman and Anthony Massucci

Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the U.S. faces a risk of “sustained deflation” and called on the central bank to avert a decline in prices by expanding the money supply.

The prospect of deflation is a “significant downside risk” and may increase home foreclosures, Bullard said in a speech today in New York. Adopting a target “rapid” growth rate for the monetary base, which includes money in circulation and banks’ reserve deposits with the Fed, should “head off any incipient deflationary threat,” he said.

Bullard is one of a few Fed officials to advocate a new policy tool after the Federal Open Market Committee in December cut its main interest rate almost to zero. The central bank is using money-creation authority to put assets such as home loans on its balance sheet, aiming to unfreeze credit and end the longest recession since 1982.

“By expanding the monetary base at an appropriate rate, the FOMC can signal that it intends to avoid the risk of further deflation and the possibility of a deflation trap,” Bullard said in prepared remarks to the New York Association for Business Economics.

He didn’t propose a specific figure for the target.

The FOMC said in its Jan. 28 statement that there’s “some risk that inflation could persist for a time below rates that best foster economic growth and price stability in the longer term.”

Growth Target

The FOMC at its December meeting discussed setting a target for growth in measures of money, such as the monetary base. While a “few” policy makers favored a numerical goal for money growth, most preferred a more open-ended “close cooperation and consultation” with the Fed board on how to expand assets and liabilities, according to minutes of the session.

Bullard’s warning about deflation is stronger than comments by other central bank officials. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said Feb. 11 that he’s “not tremendously concerned about deflation.”

Bullard told reporters after the speech he supports the adoption of an inflation target to prevent expectations for prices from falling too far. A target for inflation “would be helpful at this time,” he said.

“You have to consult with all players, including Congress,” he said. “If they don’t want to do it, then we don’t do it.”