Posted on 09/24/2009 11:28:27 AM PDT by kellynla
The US is too dependent on foreigners buying up the country's debt and could face severe economic problems is that stops, Tiger Management founder and chairman Julian Robertson told CNBC.
"It's almost Armageddon if the Japanese and Chinese don't buy our debt, Robertson said in an interview. "I don't know where we could get the money. I think we've let ourselves get in a terrible situation and I think we ought to try and get out of it."
Robertson said inflation is a big risk if foreign countries were to stop buying bonds.
If the Chinese and Japanese stop buying our bonds, we could easily see [inflation] go to 15 to 20 percent, he said. It's not a question of the economy. It's a question of who will lend us the money if they don't. Imagine us getting ourselves in a situation where we're totally dependent on those two countries. It's crazy.
Robertson said while he doesnt think the Chinese will stop buying US bonds, the Japanese may eventually be forced to sell some of their long-term bonds.
That's much worse than not buying, he said. The other thing is, they're buying almost exclusively short-term debt. And that's what we are offering, because we can't sell the long-term debt. And you know, the history has been that people who borrow short term really get burned.
The only way to avoid the problem, he said, is to "grow and save our way out of it."
"The U.S. has to quit spending, cut back, start saving, and scale backward," Robertson said. "Until that happens, I don't think we're anywhere near out of the woods.
Robertson is not very optimistic about the short-term.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Yes but then we could experience hyper-inflation, economic disaster and panic, all leading to Hussein’s dream scenario—MARTIAL LAW!!!!
“now, they are concerned about the US facing Armageddon due to his rampant and purposeful spending?”
It’s Bush’s fault. Obama has brought us back from the brink. /obvious sarcasm
I wish - but too too many republicans incresed the size of government.
The wind we heard was the “sucking sound” of jobs leaving this country. Soon a torrent of dollars followed and they’ve become a testimony to the scum bags who chose to sacrifice our standard of living for a feel good thrill up their leg about how philanthropic they were. The whirlwind is the sound of socialism which results when you drag the wealth from those who once produced to those who labor for slave wages and see the profits thereof kept by the proletariat.
That WAS pretty funny!
Julian Robertson is orginially from the city I live in in NC. He is a Billionaire. He gave $30 million the city a few years back. I take what he says very seriously.
We could try buying it from Russia.... But that door is closing fast too.
someone else will buy it...but we’d have to offer a much higher interest rate
yeah just what we need: more taxes /sarc
Unimaginable debt already, with a neo-marxist in the White House, and a nutbar-left San Franciscan controlling Congress. It’s about game over, this is the perfect storm for our collapse.
ping
Not just our young people - there's going to be *plenty* of pain for us boomers as well! (Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch.)
It looks in my more uncharitable moments like a system of Cloward-Piven on steroids, purposefully crashing the system (maybe it’s taking longer than they thought?) in order to foment a completely new system... In 1913, after the 1907 crash (they called them panics in those days) the U.S. congress passed the Federal Reserve Act 2 days before Christmas; my guess is the idea is to FUBAR the system to the point where “global governance” is ushered in? Not sure how our creditors will think of this, maybe they are our only hope, since Washington is out of control.
The problem of our MASSIVE government debt overhang predates Obama. Baby Bush is responsible for more of the existing national debt than any other single individual. Baby Bush is a good place to pin the blame.
That said, OBAMA IS MAKING IT MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH WORSE. MUCH MUCH WORSE.
But no, Obama did not cause this. America living well beyond her means for decades is what caused this.
I agree on your first 2 points, but it is not possible to cut spending by enough to avoid one of the first 2 at this time. Just not possible.
IMO, the market is irrational. I am at a complete loss to explain the markets day-to-day activtiy.
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