US households are piling into municipal bonds. The household sector accounts for 80% of all flows into munis over the last three quarters, according to the Federal Reserve’s flow of funds report. Of the $2.8 trillion in municipal debt currently outstanding, households hold $1 trillion. And that doesn’t count what they hold indirectly through banks, [...]
Time alone, yes time will tell You think you’re in Heaven but you’re really in hell – Bob Marley Yes, dear reader, time alone will tell. Are we really in the heaven of a recovery…or the hell of a Great Correction? Well, actually, we think we know the answer already. It’s a Great Correction. That’s [...]
Where do bad debts go after they die? On Monday, investors seem to have convinced themselves that they just disappeared…like Amelia Earhart or TARP funds. But by Tuesday, they began to worry about ghosts. As in the US, the specter haunting Europe is debt. In America, bad debt in the private sector – led by [...]
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke was a safe bet to win the Senate’s vote for a second term. ”Safe” is what the senators want and Bernanke passed the test. He is not a man inclined to make bold decisions. A former university administrator, his institutional mind will be just as slow to foresee the next [...]
The Dow rose 200 points yesterday, bringing it only about 75 points below the 10,300 level. Why is the 10,300 mark important? It’s not really…it’s just the point where this bounce will equal the bounce following the crash of ’29. No reason in particular that this bounce should be the same as the one 80 [...]
US foreclosures jumped to an all-time high of 937,840 in the third quarter. That’s a 23% rise from the same time last year, says a report from RealtyTrac today. One in every 136 households received a filing — also a record. Once again, Nevada takes the cake… and incredible one in every 23 households was [...]
