Five Challenges facing President Obama

On his inauguration in 2009, Barack Obama inherited a massive headache from the GFC. With unemployment stubbornly above 9 percent, efforts to create new jobs have so far proved futile.

  • Low interest rates from the Fed failed to stimulate new investment. Richard Koo coined the phrase balance-sheet recession to describe private sector reaction to a financial crisis. Low interest rates have as much effect as pushing on a string. Corporations and households alike have no wish to borrow in the face of falling asset prices and erosion of their own balance sheets — and banks have little desire to lend.
  • Quantitative easing failed to lower long-term interest rates and stimulate employment. Instead it revived inflation expectations, creating a surge in commodity prices.
  • The trade deficit widened despite the falling dollar, reflecting an inability of US exports to compete in offshore markets — and a loss of manufacturing jobs as foreign exporters made inroads into US domestic markets.
  • Fiscal stimulus, whether through tax cuts or spending on education or infrastructure not only failed to create sustainable jobs but has left the taxpayer with a mountain of public debt.
  • The home construction industry, a major employer, remains stagnant. Inventories of new and existing homes amount to more than 12 months sales at current rates — when one includes “shadow inventory” of homes repossessed, in foreclosure, or with mortgages delinquent for 90 days or more.

Deflation threat
When the housing bubble collapsed, households and corporates were threatened by falling values and shrinking credit. Savings increased and were used to repay debt rather than channeled through the financial system into new capital investment. A deflationary gap opened up between income and spending: repaying debt does not generate income as new capital investment does. The gap may appear small but, like air escaping from a punctured tire, can cause significant damage to overall income levels as it replays over and over through the economy. The only way to plug the gap is for government to spend more than it collects by way of taxes, but the result is a sharp increase in public debt.

Five point plan
Companies are unwilling to commence hiring until consumption increases — and consumption is unlikely to increase until employment levels rise. The only solution is to create sustainable jobs while minimizing borrowing against future tax revenues.

  1. Stop importing capital and exporting jobs.
    Japan and China have effectively maintained a trade advantage against the US by investing more than $2.3 trillion in US Treasuries. The inflow of funds on capital account acts to suppress their exchange rate, effectively pegging it against the greenback. Imposition of trade penalties would result in tit-for-tat retaliation that could easily escalate into a trade war. Capital flows, however, are already tightly controlled by China and others, so retaliation to capital account controls would be meaningless. Phased introduction of a withholding tax on foreign investments would discourage further capital inflows and encourage gradual repatriation of existing balances over time. Reciprocal access to capital markets could then be negotiated through individual tax treaties.
  2. Clear excess housing inventories.
    Supporting prices at current levels through low interest rates will prevent the market from clearing excess inventory. Stimulating demand through home-buyer subsidies would achieve this but increases public debt and, as Australia discovered, leaves a “shadow” of weak demand if the subsidy is later phased out. Allowing home prices to fall, on the other hand, would clear excess inventory but threaten the banking sector. Shoring up failing banks also requires funding, although this could be recovered over time through increased deposit insurance.
  3. Increase infrastructure spending.
    Infrastructure projects should not be evaluated on the number of jobs created but on their potential to generate future revenue streams. Whether toll roads or national broadband networks, revenue streams can be used to repay public debt. Projects that generate market-related returns on investment also open up opportunities for private sector funding. Spending on education and community assets should not be funded with debt as they provide no viable revenue streams for repayment. The same goes for repairs and maintenance to existing infrastructure — they should be funded out of current tax revenues. Similarly, research and development of unproven technologies with open-ended budgets and uncertain future revenues.
  4. Raise taxes to fund infrastructure investment.
    Raising taxes to repay debt, as FDR discovered in 1937, has the same effect as a deflationary gap in the private sector and shrinks national output. But raising taxes to fund infrastructure investment leaves no deflationary gap and increases the overall level of capital investment — and job creation — within the economy.
  5. Increase austerity.
    Cutting back on government spending merely re-opens the deflationary gap between income and spending. Reducing regular spending in order to free up funds for infrastructure projects, however, would leave no deflationary gap while accelerating job creation within the economy.

Bi-partisan approach
The magnitude and extent of the problems facing the US require a truly bi-partisan approach, unsuited to the rough-and-tumble of a vibrant democracy. Generational changes are required whose impact will be felt long after the next election term. It will take true leadership to forge a broad consensus and set the US on a sound path for the future.

Published in the November issue of Charter magazine.

Economist Editor: 2012 is going to be pretty sluggish

Economist Editor: 2012 is going to be pretty sluggish — with risk of “self-induced” stagnation

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Nothing’s changed – Steve Keen’s Debtwatch (2009)

In fact “normal” for the last half century has been an unsustainable growth in debt, which has finally reached an apogee from which it will fall. As it falls–by an unwillingness to lend by bankers and to borrow by businesses and households, by deliberate debt reductions, by default and bankruptcy–aggregate demand will be reduced well below aggregate supply. The economy will therefore falter–and only regular government stimuli will revive it.

This however will be a Zombie Capitalism: the private sector’s reductions in debt will counter the public sector’s attempts to stimulate the economy via debt-financed spending. Growth, if it occurs, will not be sufficiently high to prevent growing unemployment, and growth is likely to evaporate as soon as stimulus packages are removed.

The only sensible course is to reduce the debt levels. As Michael Hudson argues, a simple dynamic is now being played out: debts that cannot be repaid, won’t be repaid. The only thing we have to do is work out how that should occur.

via Debtwatch No 41, December 2009: 4 Years of Calling the GFC | Steve Keen’s Debtwatch.

Nothing seems to have changed since Steve Keen wrote this in December 2009. Almost two years later and any private sector deleveraging has been compensated by increases in public debt to finance stimulus spending. Greece’s “default” may be the first step in a long journey — and the jury is still out as to whether recapitalization of European banks (after their “haircut”) will be funded out of debt or new equity.

Canada TSX 60

Canada’s TSX 60 index is headed for a test of resistance at 720/730 on the weekly chart. Expect a retracement. Respect of the trendline would warn of another test of primary support. Breakout above the descending trendline would signal that the primary down-trend has weakened and a bottom is forming. A 13-week Twiggs Money Flow trough that respects the zero line would indicate strong buying pressure.

TSX 60 Index

* Target calculation: 720 + ( 720 – 640 ) = 800

* Target calculation: 720 + ( 720 – 640 ) = 800

Now for the correction

Several weeks ago, when asked what it would take to reverse the bear market, I replied that it would take 3 strong blue candles on the weekly chart followed by a correction — of at least two red candles — that respects the earlier low. We have had three strong blue candles. Now for the correction.

On the S&P 500 expect retracement to test support at 1200 or 1250. Respect of 1250 would signal a strong up-trend, while failure of support at 1200 would warn of another test of primary support at 1100. A trough on 13-week Twiggs Money Flow that respects the zero line would also indicate strong buying pressure.

S&P 500 Index

* Target calculation: 1225 + ( 1225 – 1100 ) = 1350

Dow Jones Industrial Average weekly chart displays a similar picture. Expect retracement to test support at 11500. A peak on 63-day Twiggs Momentum that respects the zero line would be bearish — warning of continuation of the primary down-trend.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

* Target calculation: 11500 + ( 11500 – 10500 ) = 12500

The Nasdaq 100 is testing resistance at 2400 — close to the 2011 high. Breakout would signal a primary advance to 2800*, while respect would warn of another test of primary support at 2000. Bullish divergence on 13-week Twiggs Money Flow has warned of a reversal for several weeks.

Nasdaq 100 Index

* Target calculation: 2400 + ( 2400 – 2000 ) = 2800