Alternative Visions – US Jobs Growth Plummets & Global Economy Slows – 06.03.16

Jack reviews today’s just released jobs numbers confirming his prior prediction jobs growth would slow in wake of US GDP slowdown last quarter. Plus an overview of US economy and a prediction of recession in early 2017. In the second half of the show, a review of latest developments in global economy–with commentary on how the IMF outmaneuvered the Syriza government in Greece again, the likelihood of UK ‘Brexit’ from the EU, $10 trillion in negative interest rates and more than $10 trillion in global non-performing bank loans, the recent G7 meeting in Japan and prime minister Abe’s warning of another ‘Lehman event’ on the horizon, the European Central Bank’s recent decision to now buy corporation bonds, like Japan, China’s rotating financial asset bubbles, eventual currency devaluation, capital flight, corporate bankruptcies, and out of control private sector debt acceleration. (see jackrasmus.com blog for recent articles, ‘Is US Economy Heading for Another Recession?’ and ‘How the IMF outmaneuvered Syriza—Again’)

Benjamin Dangl – After Empowering the 1% and Impoverishing Millions, IMF Admits Neoliberalism a Failure

Last week a research wing of the International Monetary Fund came out with a report admitting that neoliberalism has been a failure. The report, entitled, “Neoliberalism: Oversold?” is hopefully a sign of the ideology’s death. They were only about 40 years late. As Naomi Klein tweeted about the report, “So all the billionaires it created are going to give back their money, …

China Blowing Even Bigger Credit Bubble Puts World at Greater Risk, Says Global Strategist

China is blowing an even bigger industrial-growth bubble, central banks are attempting to prevent a global shock, and, meanwhile, all eyes are on the US dollar for clues as to which way things will go. So says Worth Wray, Global Macro Strategist at STA Wealth Management, in a recent interview with Financial Sense, who also notes that we may just …

The Real Story Behind The True Magnitude Of The New Home Sales Collapse

Comparing the growth in the number of full time jobs versus the growth in new home sales starkly illustrates both the horrible quality of the new jobs, and how badly ZIRP has served the US economy. Growth in new home sales has always been dependent on growth in full time jobs. For 38 years until the housing bubble peaked in 2006, home sales …

Roman Europe?

BERLIN/VENICE – As the European Union begins to disintegrate, who can provide the leadership to save it? German Chancellor Angela Merkel is widely credited with finally answering Henry Kissinger’s famous question about the Western alliance: “What is the phone number for Europe?” But if Europe’s phone number has a German dialing code, it goes through to an automated answer: “Nein …

Nathan Halverson – The world already would be out of water if everyone ate like Americans

If the rest of the world ate like Americans, the planet would have run out of freshwater 15 years ago, according to the world’s largest food company. In private, Nestle executives told U.S. officials that the world is on a collision course with doom because Americans eat too much meat, and now, other countries are following suit, according to a secret …

With Impeccable Timing, ‘Economic Miracle’ in Spain Unravels

Since the granddaddy of all housing bubbles popped in Spain between 2008 and 2009, unleashing one of the deepest recessions in living memory, the nation’s public debt has more than doubled, from just over 40% of GDP to almost exactly 100% today. Last year, despite the fact that Spain grew faster than almost any other European economy, the government managed …

Bernanke’s Former Advisor: “People Would Be Stunned To Know The Extent To Which The Fed Is Privately Owned”

With every passing day, the Fed is slowly but surely losing the game. Only it is not just former (and in some cases current) Fed presidents admitting central banks are increasingly powerless to boost the global economy, even if they still have sway over capital markets. What is far more insidious to the Fed’s waning credibility is when former economists affiliated …

Ryan Cooper – Why the eurozone is still headed for total disaster

For a few months in 2015, U.S. writers paid rapt attention to eurozone politics. It seemed like tiny Greece was going to force European elites to finally fix some of the crippling defects with the currency area. Left-wing Syriza, led by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, leveled a challenge to the German-dominated eurozone grandees. With the …

Julian Assange – Destroy Greece: IMF and Europe Disagree on the Method!

oday, 2nd April 2016, WikiLeaks publishes the records of a 19 March 2016 teleconference between the top two IMF officials in charge of managing the Greek debt crisis – Poul Thomsen, the head of the IMF’s European Department, and Delia Velkouleskou, the IMF Mission Chief for Greece.  The IMF anticipates a possible Greek default co-inciding with the United Kingdom’s referendum on whether …