Debt & Deficits

People are missing the significance of March 15, 2017. That’s the day the debt ceiling holiday that Obama and Boehner put together expires. By summer, the government will be out of cash, and there will be the mother of all debt-ceiling crises. Everything will grind to a halt; there may be a government shutdown.

The continuing support for these bubble markets is shocking to a thinking person, but it reveals that MOST leaders/administrators/traders/investors do not think. What is happening today could be reported as dire/ominous to a person of discernment and understanding…but to financial administrators and political leaders who need pumped-up markets to prevent chaos this mindset is unlikely to change.

Mainstream economic indicators aren’t telling the whole story. We looked beyond the headlines to understand how the economy’s really doing and we found something disturbing in our research that almost no one is talking about.

Global debt-to-GDP is now at a record high and the Bank for International Settlements hasbubbles noted that over the last 16 years, debts of governments, households and corporations has gone up everywhere.

...According to Bloomberg ("White House: Cohn-Led Tax Plan is Real and it's Phenomenal," February 10, 2017), Trump's tax plan, to be released in two or three weeks, will be "the most comprehensive business and individual tax overhaul since 1986." That's saying something, since the landmark 1986 tax bill cut many deductions and reduced the top rate to 28% for the rich, 15% for the middle class, and 0% for the poor.

Many novice observers may wonder why we have a debt ceiling at all when our government has never shown the slightest inclination to respect its prior self-imposed limits [and, as such, why all the] seeming urgency to Congressional negotiations to raise the debt ceiling. [Let me explain in no uncertain terms.] Words: 1073

How much consumer debt is too much? Today’s infographic uses extensive data from Equifax to try and answer this question.

In our view massive infrastructure spending may boost the economy temporarily but more spending means more debt and potentially more inflation and interest rate exposure.

India has, in effect, a dual currency system where people choose to save mostly in gold rather than rupees. This is unlike any other major economy and begs the question: how do you wean a population off a precious metal?

The world of taxation at the personal and corporate level is about to go through a radical overhaul. For the most part, in my view, the forthcoming changes will be positive. With a Republican House and Senate, Mr. Trump has a good shot at having a good number of his tax reforms enacted.