Because Experience Only Counts When You’re Vice President

The One 53 Comments

Who could have seen this coming?

For the first time since another Democrat occupied the White House, investors from Beijing to Zurich are challenging a president’s attempts to revive the economy with record deficit spending. Fifteen years after forcing Bill Clinton to abandon his own stimulus plans, the so-called bond vigilantes are punishing Barack Obama for quadrupling the budget shortfall to $1.85 trillion. By driving up yields on U.S. debt, they are also threatening to derail Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to cut borrowing costs for businesses and consumers.
The 1.5-percentage-point rise in 10-year Treasury yields this year pushed interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages to above 5 percent for the first time since before Bernanke announced on March 18 that the central bank would start printing money to buy financial assets. Treasuries have lost 5.1 percent in their worst annual start since Merrill Lynch & Co. began its Treasury Master Index in 1977.
“The bond-market vigilantes are up in arms over the outlook for the federal deficit,” said Edward Yardeni, who coined the term in 1984 to describe investors who protest monetary or fiscal policies they consider inflationary by selling bonds. He now heads Yardeni Research Inc. in Great Neck, New York. “Ten trillion dollars over the next 10 years is just an indication that Washington is really out of control and that there is no fiscal discipline whatsoever.”

Captain Ed;

Right now, the United States has responded to a lack of demand for its Treasuries through a questionable and disturbing method: we’re buying our own debt. That allows the yields to remain low, but buying our own debt is somewhat akin to creating your own credit card. Eventually, you have to acknowledge that the money you create on the books never really existed, unless the United States plans to simply print money to pay off all the bonds. That would create a level of inflation not seen in the West since the Weimar Republic, and will effectively force the rest of the world to avoid U.S. currency and investments as unsound. It would, for the first time in decades, put the United States on the financial sideline.

Meanwhile, over at the Toronto On-Another-Planet, the headline item under “News|World” is titled “Was Bush on a mission from God?”

53 Replies to “Because Experience Only Counts When You’re Vice President”

  1. Sorta like a bad dream in which we wake up and find the the ‘Great O’ has spent the worlds money on the worlds money.
    I wonder if his palms are hairy?

  2. Looks like the USA is heading South,another troubling aspect to this is as the USA heads south so follows Canada.
    Watch out below!!
    Inflation = Buy Gold
    US dollar going south = Buy Gold

  5. Darn sockpuppet!
    BTW, if they are ‘bond vigilantes’, does that make the Weimar Republic chancellors crime-fighting super heroes?

  6. The Bloomberg news story appears to have been pulled, and now all I get is “Update 2: Story to Follow,” which seems sloppy at best and possibly manipulated at worst.
    Anybody wanna bet that they got a call from a “concerned” staffer at the White House who asked them to “re-work” the story?
    Garth

  7. In the TStar article about Bush/Clinton visit:
    What is so disturbing is that [Bush’s words are] similar to the way Al Qaeda uses sacred text to support their ambitions.
    Unlike Willy Clinton who projects his ambition with a cigar.

  8. It would, for the first time in decades, put the United States on the financial sideline.
    That’s not a bug, that’s a feature.
    For all you people that said you wanted Zero to succeed, and you know who you are, this is what Zero succeeding looks like.

  9. I disagree with some of the conclusions that Ed arrived at. One of them is piracy. For Chrissake, piracy only exists due to the UN imposed ban on firearms onboard of the civilian ships. It is virtually impossible to arm the crews due to the UN imposed regulations. Arm the people and half of the problems in this world will go away. This has never been tried. Why does the world insist on trying the same non working solution over and over and refuses to try something different is beyond me.

  11. The chinese (and others) are about to demonstrate a few basic principles of international commerce. The US can offer bonds for sale, but the world need not buy them. The US can then print dollars to buy their goods, but the world need not accept them in trade.
    The ONLY resolution is for the US to live within its means.

  12. I can only think of two reason for the destruction of the American dollar by the Obama regime.
    1. When the dollar goes through the floor in the next few months there will be panic … and a run on the banks, dumping of the dollar for precious metals and other currencies and I think some rioting in the streets.
    This will give Obama the excuse to declare some kind of marshal law and take executive control of the country leading to the confiscation of all sorts of things like gold, property, off-shore investments and guns.
    In effect it will allow him to speed up his totalitarian take-over of the United States of America.
    Or …………………….
    2. He and his gang of thieves are so stupid that they have no idea where their actions are leading.
    What do you think?

  13. The US economy is not responding to stimulus. If international bond holders will not buy American Treasury instruments – perhaps the Obama administration should look to what is really happening, not some rosy picture. The age of American hegemony is over. A government cannot buy its way out of a recession/depression. When inflation hits, the citizens will find all the goodie consumer items vanishing into thin air. The bread and circuses atmosphere will be the only relief for those restless masses who feel entitled. I think we will have civil unrest on a scale that will shake the world. This is a soft generation and sacrifice is not a word in the dictionary of “me”.

  14. Momar-“What do you think?:
    This is what I think:
    “The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency.”
    ~Vladimir Lenin

  15. “He and his gang of thieves are so stupid that they have no idea where their actions are leading. What do you think?”
    Yes.
    Also noteworthy today. Canadian dollar now 91 cents.

  16. I think chalking up Zero’s actions to “stupidity” willfully ignores that his parents were card carrying Communists who met while studying Russian at the University of Hawaii at the height of the Cold War.

  17. If the Chosen One keeps this up, the US will have to sell the moon just to break even.
    Obama wants to destroy America. That, or he is incredibly stupid.
    The debate rages on.

  18. He and his gang are not stupid, they are in it for accumulation of wealth. Obama = Putin and I am not just talking approach, they both carry little red books close to the hearts.

  19. Momar-“What do you think?”
    This is what I think:
    The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.
    ~Vladimir Lenin

  21. Of course they’re going to devalue the currency.
    They owe a lot of money. Make a trillion into a cup of coffee and the 63 trillion they owe will be easier to pay back for the government.
    Sorry about the citizen’s luck when unemployment is at 25% and no one accepts their own country’s currency though…
    Obamaland: The United States of Zimbabwe.

  23. “He and his gang of thieves are so stupid that they have no idea where their actions are leading.”
    Running a totalitarian state requires a certain amount of plannng and hard work over an extended period of time. Although I suppose obozo would be happy being a figure head and leaving the worrisome stuff to others.

  25. It’ll be a dark day when the U.S. federal government no longer has the funds to cut a cheque. None of us will escape the slaughter.
    In trying to avoid the frying pan, Obama has lept into the fire.

  26. See ‘Money Mischief’ by Milton Friedman
    Inflation bails out everyone – except those holding cash. (interest bearing deposits)

  29. It is far more important to persecute Mulroney than to question The Messiah’s motives in ensuring that the US dollar is destroyed (Soros and short comes to mind). Ask anyone at CBC or CTV if I am correct, they will affirm. They are professionals.

  30. and these increases will ripple through the economy. Prime, mortgage and other costs will go up. don’t these evil markets know that the messiah has ordained things. how dare they dissent by allowing market forces to respond to sheer stupidity.
    Thank goodness we don’t have a recession or anything, because then, these increases would really be bad

  31. This is the best bit from The Red Star….
    “I am offended that Bush is in town. We should have nothing to do with his corporatist policies,” said Malone Mullins, 17, who held a sign reading “So Mr. Bush, what’s the price of oil? Massive murder. Welcome to Canada”.
    Wish I was going to the ballgame tonight.
    Would have been fun to annoy some commies.

  32. Birdy, those arms are beautiful! I think I felt a tingle go up my leg. Or is it a tinkle down my leg? Either way, LURVE those Obamas.

  33. The Red Star murdered, dead tree edition had the Bush stories indicated with a front-page graphic including one for a “Was Bush On A Mission From God” article. It kills me that the main source for the “crazy Bush end of days” meme is Chirac. Yeah, because those two guys were such good friends.

  34. Hmmm
    Where are the trolls? Surely they can put some perspective on things; paint a rosey picture how this is all going to work well.

  35. “Where are the trolls?”
    The silence is deafening. Not so long ago there were plenty of “the smart are people in charge now” comments. Those stopped.
    Then came the “he’s no worse than Bush” stuff. Now I think they’re just staring and muttering.

  36. This really is a plu-perfect storm for the people of the US of A.
    At a time when living on credit and borrowed money comes to an end, a solialist government is elected and decides to blow the doors off Fort Knox, ease credit for those who can’t afford it, and basically give money away to their political friends.

  37. Who’s the power behind Obama, and why is Obama trying to destroy the US? His only concern is to be loved like most despotic leaders but the failure of the MSM to vette him could be considered a legal liability should the real truth comeout. MSM were negligent in their duties and now they could careless what he does they give his blunders positive spins eventually all hell is going to break lose.

  39. Aaron at May 29, 2009 2:44 PM
    Aaron, the UN does not have the power or jurisdiction to ban firearms on the high sees.

  41. What is interesting here is timing. The outcome of this incredibly irresponsible spending is inflation; but there are congressional elections in two years.
    The Dems do not want to lose control of congress, so they must, somehow, keep inflation down (and postpone all energy rationing and price increasing policies) until then.
    But anything they do to delay the inflation will only make it worst later. I think the dems will be screwed for good in three years time, when the US of A is the indebted bum on the street. Unfortunately.

  42. Rose at May 29, 2009 8:02 PM
    Obama is George Sorros’s (white) house boy. It is he who is behind the curtain.

  43. The US has just caught up to Europe. Two of the worlds reserve currencies are being scuttled as we argue whether it is deliberate or sheer stupidity. We should be squirling away food, water and gold before it’s too late.

  45. Arm the people and half of the problems in this world will go away. This has never been tried. Why does the world insist on trying the same non working solution over and over and refuses to try something different is beyond me.
    Posted by: Aaron at May 29, 2009 2:44 PM
    Not entirely true, Aaron. Several jurisdictions in the U.S. have concealed-carry laws with respect to personal use of firearms. Studies demonstrate, with extreme clarity and without exception, that crime rates dropped in these jurisdictions after concealed-carry legislation went into effect.
    I do, however, agree with the general thrust of your post. Where what you suggest has been tried, it has been a remarkable success.

  46. sonofAttila:
    “We should be squirling away food, water and gold before it’s too late.”
    This is just anecdotal evidence, but I hear from people in parts of the US that ammunition is becoming harder to find. Hmm..
    And for those who don’t believe that Bambam isn’t manipulating markets, look at the Dow Jones average today. Flat for the entire day, and then at 3:45, fifteen minutes into the close, it gets ramped up nearly 100 pts (stockcharts.com symbol $INDU). Yeah, that just happens.

  47. countries can and do go broke. oz, someone will scorch the big o. he will not go unscathed. sooner or later there is a price to pay for evil.

  48. kevin, i save some food and extra water for emercencies such as pwer failures but i think it is impossible for the average person to save enough to survive for a year or longer. if you live in the bush some where you could hunt, get a long bow and hunting arrows, and maybe grow some food if you had the seeds.

  49. Now had Owe attended a real church he might have a passing familiarity with “be indebted to no man except the continuing debt to love one another”. Concepts such as this one laid the foundation of the most financially successful state on the face of the earth. Abandonment of such concepts shall be the downfall of the most financially successful state on earth.

  50. Inflation bails out everyone – except those holding cash. (interest bearing deposits)
    -ron in kelowna
    You got it, I think the writings on the wall, debt up the wazoo for citizens,business,govt.
    Inflation solves everbodies problem.
    Plus the savings of those that have them(boomers?) can then be plundered.
    I think something big is in the works.

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