Monday, November 5, 2007

Credit Bubble Bulletin: Road to Ruin

The gentlemen at Pimco are, once again, the leading cheerleaders for another round of easier "money." Calling for the Fed to cut rates to 3.5%, Bill Gross commented Wednesday on Bloomberg television: "The nominal [third quarter] GDP number was 4.7%. Any time you get a nominal GDP growth less than 5% the economy is basically struggling. The U.S. needs at least
nominal growth in order to pay its bills on a longer term basis."

I will, once again, take the other side of their analysis. First of all, 4.7% traditional nominal GDP growth would have easily in the past "paid its bills." It doesn't get it done today – even with 4.7% unemployment – specifically because of a long period of gross monetary excess. For some time now, the U.S. economy has been hopelessly finance-driven, and the greater and more protracted the Credit excesses the greater the "transformation" of the economic structure. And it is the underlying real economy that today cannot "pay its bills" and is therefore hooked on ever increasing Credit inflation. This should by now be recognized as the Road to Ruin. Contemporary finance and its operators should be held accountable.

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1 comment:

underground said...

I think if the bankers and investors are so convinced that lower rates will save the economy, they should lead by example and start re-financing mortgages and slashing credit card interest rates.