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With the IMF cutting its global growth forecasts and signs of slowing evident in the dramatic contraction in World Trade Volume in the last few months, it is perhaps no surprise that the central banks of the world have embarked upon what Goldman Sachs calls an 'Unprecedented Alignment of Monetary Policy Across Countries'. Our earlier discussion of the European event risk vs global growth expectations dilemma along with last night's comments on the impact of tightening lending standards around the world also confirms that this policy globalization is still going strong and is likely to continue as gaming out the...

Price inceases on April 4th at the LDS canneries show inflation up between 11 and 49% for many basic food staples. These rise in prices are a strong barometer for the overall economy since the LDS facilities are usually the last to raise prices for their communities, which provides food in bulk that they can collect through their vast networking operations. According to the new price list from April 4th, many food staples have increased by more than 20% since the last price list came out just 3 months ago on January 3rd. Beans. Black 13.69% Beans, Pinto 12.13% Beans,...

A new report by the International Monetary Fund paints a brutally grim picture of the global economic outlook, warning that continued European belt-tightening combined with possible deficit-cutting in the United States could lead to a global double-dip recession. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, international business editor of the Daily Telegraph newspaper, wrote that the report suggests Western economies are stuck in a "near depression." In the near term, the report suggested, nations seeking to stabilize their economies by cutting their budgets will only make the global economy worse. Evans-Pritchard reported the IMF analysis "more or less condemns southern Europe to death by slow...

July's dismal jobs report poses a dangerous dilemma for the country's officials. The government has exhausted traditional measures to get the economy growing more briskly, having already cut interest rates to near zero and committed to more than $800 billion in fiscal stimulus. With conventional tools off the table, it might take a "Hail Mary" pass from policy makers to recharge the economy if an anemic recovery slows even further. Most ideas have drawbacks. Infrastructure spending, for instance, has appeal in the Obama administration, because many of the nation's roads, bridges and tunnels need updating and because so many construction...

The economy has about six months to live. Especially the part that consists of swapping paper certificates. That’s the buzz I’ve gotten the first two weeks of 2010, and forgive me for not presenting a sheaf of charts and graphs to make the case. Just about everybody else yakking about these thing on the Web provides plenty of statistical analysis: Mish, The Automatic Earth, Chris Martenson, Zero Hedge, The Baseline Scenario… They’re all well worth visiting. Bank bonus numbers are due out any day now. The revolt that I expected around the release of these numbers may come from a...

Angelo Mozilo The son of a butcher, Mozilo co-founded Countrywide in 1969 and built it into the largest mortgage lender in the U.S. Countrywide wasn't the first to offer exotic mortgages to borrowers with a questionable ability to repay them. In its all-out embrace of such sales, however, it did legitimize the notion that practically any adult could handle a big fat mortgage. In the wake of the housing bust, which toppled Countrywide and IndyMac Bank (another company Mozilo started), the executive's lavish pay package was criticized by many, including Congress. Mozilo left Countrywide last summer after its rescue-sale to...

ROOT CAUSES OF THE ECONOMIC MELTDOWN 1) THE CREATION OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE [FED]. This is centralized banking as practiced in the U.S. The birth of the FED was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson (D) on Dec. 24, 1913. Reflecting on this he later said, “I am a most unhappy man; unwittingly I have ruined my country….” The FED is a private consortium of bankers the heads of which are appointed by the executive branch of government. Many people believe that their first loyalty lies with bankers—including Wall Street bankers and foreign bankers—more than with the American people....

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Among the nightmares lurking around the corner for the already battered housing and credit markets would be a meltdown at mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Although few are predicting an imminent need for a bailout just yet, credit rating agency Standard & Poor's recently placed an estimated price tag on this worst case scenario -- $420 billion to $1.1 trillion of taxpayer's money. This dwarfs how much it cost to help banks during the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980's and early 1990's. That cost taxpayers about $250 billion in today's dollars. S&P added that...

The development of emerging market economies continues to be held back by corruption and poor governance in spite of their increasing influence on the global stage and growing foreign direct investment in other countries. That was the most striking message from a two-day meeting of current and former central bankers, development experts, finance ministers, investors, and presidents of countries such as Brazil, India, and Tanzania. ADVERTISEMENT Chaired by Michel Camdessus, the former International Monetary Fund managing director, and Fidel Ramos, ex-president of the Philippines, the roving Emerging Markets Forum is seeking to place itself as a Davos for emerging markets....