What Does $145 Million Per Hour Buy?

 March 11, 2013

If you though the President and Congress were spending a lot of money ($3.6 trillion per year), you may not realize that the Federal Reserve (Chairman Bernanke et. al.) is also printing and distributing $147 million dollars per hour 24/7 to the major banks (including foreign banks with domestic branches).


The banks are using this money to increase assets, reduce reserve requirements and buy assets (including equities, bonds and commodities). This is one way to help the banks and lift the stock market which then reinforces the assumption that we are out of recession and the economy is growing.

This program (increase debt to get out of debt) by the Federal Reserve is being touted by government economists and most of the media as courageous and beneficial. Here is what it brought us in the 4th quarter. Federal Reserve spending over $300 billion, GDP up $5 billion and a growth rate of 0.01%.

Stay on your toes,

The Great Disconnect

December 24, 2012

Several recent events indicate that financial companies may be, once again, coming into favor. But remember, caution and hedging are required in our noise driven, centrally planned world.     

1. A week ago, the Federal Reserve increased the amount of money they are creating from $40 billion a month to $85 billion a month. That's $1trillion more dollars going into the banking system over the next year. This will enable the banks to get rid of a lot of toxic assets and allow them to reclassify assets which will increase their excessive reserves (they have over $1.4 trillion now) and reduce reserve requirements (think bank profits).
2. At the same time, the Central Banks have a coordinated, multi-national Central Bank lending/currency program to help shore up sovereign debt.
3. Last week, Greek sovereign debt was upgraded and their credit rating moved up to stable (they did get part of the $16 billion they need to pay bankers). Result: Greek bond spreads narrowed and Europe equities rallied.
4. A few days ago, Meredith Whitney (a key bank analyst) put a buy on BAC and Citi. She stated that after the next stress tests, BAC should be able to buy back stock, raise its dividend and add billions in capital. One of her reasons is that they have worked off a lot of bad assets.
5. Also, the market thinks a deal will be made on the Fiscal Cliff in that taxes will be raised and spending cuts will be done with smoke and mirrors so there will not be any real cuts (i.e. $350 billion saved in reduced interest costs over the next 10 years, $180 billion saved from Chained CPI numbers for Social Security increases, etc.). Therefore, no immediate cuts and more spending (Sandy relief, a $3.5 trillion budget, $1 trillion in new money by the Fed, etc.) implying that we will not have a recession (negative GDP) in 2013.  

 Net: Thanks to Ben's money, the economy and the markets are on different trajectories. Or to put it another way, the status quo will be maintained at any cost until we meet the black swan.