1) Is the current monetary policy agenda creating a ‘protectionist’ atmosphere that replays the events of the 1930’s?
2) And with the current policy activity that is devaluing the dollar to lower levels, what will happen to the level of appetite for our nation’s debt from abroad, especially Asia?
Friday, November 5, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Cost of Regulation Reaches $1.75 Trillion
'Government is not the answer, government is the problem' - a very appropriate quote considering the cost that our government, at all levels, has 'forcibly' levied upon the people...and without much success I might add!
Red Tape Rises Again: Cost of Regulation Reaches $1.75 Trillion
While the revenues and expenditures of the government are budgeted and accounted for each year, the costs of regulation are largely hidden from view, paid for indirectly via higher prices, fewer choices and less innovation. The best estimates of the total cost, however, have come from a series of reports commissioned by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The latest such report was released recently by the SBA's Office of Advocacy and the results are startling, says James Gattuso, a senior research fellow in regulatory policy at the Heritage Foundation.
Rules and restrictions imposed from Washington now cost Americans some $1.75 trillion each year. That is sharply higher than the $1.1 trillion in costs reported in 2005 in the SBA's last study. Some of this increase comes from identification of regulatory costs that were not included in earlier reports, yet much represents new regulatory burdens -- including a $445 billion increase in the cost of economic regulation. No matter how you slice it, $1.75 trillion is a lot of money, says Gattuso.
It is far more than Americans pay in income taxes each year. It is about the same as the gross domestic product of Italy. Per household, the regulatory tab works out to some $15,000 -- almost as much as the average family spends on housing.
Source: James Gattuso, "Red Tape Rises Again: Cost of Regulation Reaches $1.75 Trillion," Heritage Foundation, September 22, 2010.
For text:
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/22/red-tape-rises-again-cost-of-regulation-reaches-1-75-trillion/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email
Red Tape Rises Again: Cost of Regulation Reaches $1.75 Trillion
While the revenues and expenditures of the government are budgeted and accounted for each year, the costs of regulation are largely hidden from view, paid for indirectly via higher prices, fewer choices and less innovation. The best estimates of the total cost, however, have come from a series of reports commissioned by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The latest such report was released recently by the SBA's Office of Advocacy and the results are startling, says James Gattuso, a senior research fellow in regulatory policy at the Heritage Foundation.
Rules and restrictions imposed from Washington now cost Americans some $1.75 trillion each year. That is sharply higher than the $1.1 trillion in costs reported in 2005 in the SBA's last study. Some of this increase comes from identification of regulatory costs that were not included in earlier reports, yet much represents new regulatory burdens -- including a $445 billion increase in the cost of economic regulation. No matter how you slice it, $1.75 trillion is a lot of money, says Gattuso.
It is far more than Americans pay in income taxes each year. It is about the same as the gross domestic product of Italy. Per household, the regulatory tab works out to some $15,000 -- almost as much as the average family spends on housing.
Source: James Gattuso, "Red Tape Rises Again: Cost of Regulation Reaches $1.75 Trillion," Heritage Foundation, September 22, 2010.
For text:
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/22/red-tape-rises-again-cost-of-regulation-reaches-1-75-trillion/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email
U.S. May Lose a Third of Its Banks
Another industry 'leader' giving his prognostication of fewer banks in our country as we move forward.
And here is a 'meaty' quote to chew upon as you 'carve' up this article:
“It will require people with greater experience levels and with tougher attitude toward the industry to carve out a future in this business.”
BankUnited's CEO Kanas Says U.S. May Lose a Third of Its Banks
By Dawn Kopecki and Zachary R. Mider - Sep 30, 2010
The U.S. may lose about a third of its banks as the weakening economy weeds out the least healthy institutions, said John Kanas, chief executive officer of BankUnited.
“Most of us in the business think we probably need 5,000 and think we are on our way to 5,000 as this cycle, if this is a cycle, unfolds,” Kanas, 63, said today at the Bloomberg Dealmakers Summit in New York. “We simply chartered too many banks.”
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it insured deposits at 7,830 financial institutions as of June 30. Kanas became CEO of Miami Lakes, Florida-based BankUnited last year by joining a group of private equity investors who agreed to inject about $900 million into the collapsed Florida lender. The other investors include Carlyle Group, Centerbridge Capital Partners, WL Ross & Co., and Blackstone Group LP.
“It’s not as easy as it once was when the market was going straight up and real estate values were on a straight incline,” Kanas said. “It will require people with greater experience levels and with tougher attitude toward the industry to carve out a future in this business.”
And here is a 'meaty' quote to chew upon as you 'carve' up this article:
“It will require people with greater experience levels and with tougher attitude toward the industry to carve out a future in this business.”
BankUnited's CEO Kanas Says U.S. May Lose a Third of Its Banks
By Dawn Kopecki and Zachary R. Mider - Sep 30, 2010
The U.S. may lose about a third of its banks as the weakening economy weeds out the least healthy institutions, said John Kanas, chief executive officer of BankUnited.
“Most of us in the business think we probably need 5,000 and think we are on our way to 5,000 as this cycle, if this is a cycle, unfolds,” Kanas, 63, said today at the Bloomberg Dealmakers Summit in New York. “We simply chartered too many banks.”
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it insured deposits at 7,830 financial institutions as of June 30. Kanas became CEO of Miami Lakes, Florida-based BankUnited last year by joining a group of private equity investors who agreed to inject about $900 million into the collapsed Florida lender. The other investors include Carlyle Group, Centerbridge Capital Partners, WL Ross & Co., and Blackstone Group LP.
“It’s not as easy as it once was when the market was going straight up and real estate values were on a straight incline,” Kanas said. “It will require people with greater experience levels and with tougher attitude toward the industry to carve out a future in this business.”
Friday, September 17, 2010
A coincident indicator?
When I came to the metro Phoenix area in April of 2005 one of the things that I noticed about the area was the number of helicopters flying about. There seemed to be a never ending assortment passing over our fair metropolis.
Then the economic slowdown hit. Beginning in 2007, it spiraled downward into 2009. During this time frame I noticed that there were less and less helicopters above our heads scouting the territory. I recall making a mental note in the early part of 2010 about how the helicopter sightings might be a non-scientific coincident indicator of economic vitality.
Now I am not saying that our economy is out of the woods but over the last several weeks I have noticed the number of helicopter sightings has increased. Could this be a sign that the slow trek back to positive economic performance is on the horizon?
I will be watching the sky over metro Phoenix to see if this coincident anecdotal sign has any validity to it – hopefully, for all of us Phoenicians; it is the beginning of the end of the depressed economy that we have experienced over the last three years.
Then the economic slowdown hit. Beginning in 2007, it spiraled downward into 2009. During this time frame I noticed that there were less and less helicopters above our heads scouting the territory. I recall making a mental note in the early part of 2010 about how the helicopter sightings might be a non-scientific coincident indicator of economic vitality.
Now I am not saying that our economy is out of the woods but over the last several weeks I have noticed the number of helicopter sightings has increased. Could this be a sign that the slow trek back to positive economic performance is on the horizon?
I will be watching the sky over metro Phoenix to see if this coincident anecdotal sign has any validity to it – hopefully, for all of us Phoenicians; it is the beginning of the end of the depressed economy that we have experienced over the last three years.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
THREE MILLION IMAGINARY JOBS - the newest beltway spellbinder!
Beltway 'blockbusters' are coming at us at an amazing pace this summer....and from all of the genres!
Drama, comedy, adventure, sci-fi, 1930's era remix - our esteemed leaders in Washington seem to have it ALL covered and are presenting it for our entertainment...
As for me, this all appears to be a 'scary movie' and the sequels just won't stop coming......
prb
Federal Spending & Budget Issues
July 15, 2010
THREE MILLION IMAGINARY JOBS
It may be that the last people in America who believe that the $862 billion economic stimulus of February 2009 created millions of net new jobs are Vice President Joe Biden and the staff economists in the White House. Yesterday, President Obama's chief economist announced that the plan had "created or saved" between 2.5 million and 3.6 million jobs and raised gross domestic product (GDP) by 2.7 percent to 3.2 percent through June 30.
Christina Romer went so far as to claim that the 3.5 million new jobs that she promised while the stimulus was being debated in Congress will arrive "two quarters earlier than anticipated." The official White House line is that the plan is working better than even they had hoped.
However:
Since February 2009 the U.S. economy has lost a net 2.35 million jobs. Using the White House "created or saved" measure means that even if there were only three million Americans left with jobs today, the White House could claim that everyone was saved by the stimulus, says the Wall Street Journal. The White House also naturally insists that things would be much worse without the stimulus billions spent on the likes of Medicaid payments, high speed rail projects, unemployment benefits and windmills. President Obama said recently in Racine, Wisconsin, that the economy "would have been a lot worse" and the unemployment rate would have gone to "12 or 13, or 15 [percent]" if government hadn't spent all of that money.
This is called a counterfactual: a what would have happened scenario that can't be refuted. What we do know is what White House economists at the time said would happen if the stimulus didn't pass, says the Journal:
They said the unemployment rate would peak at 9 percent without the stimulus (there's your counterfactual) and that with the stimulus the rate would stay at 8 percent or below. In other words, today there are 700,000 fewer jobs than Romer predicted we would have if we had done nothing at all. If this is a job creation success, what does failure look like, asks the Journal?
Source: Editorial, "Three Million Imaginary Jobs," Wall Street Journal, July 15, 2010.
For text:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703394204575367421573463984.html
For more on Federal Spending & Budget Issues:
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=25
Drama, comedy, adventure, sci-fi, 1930's era remix - our esteemed leaders in Washington seem to have it ALL covered and are presenting it for our entertainment...
As for me, this all appears to be a 'scary movie' and the sequels just won't stop coming......
prb
Federal Spending & Budget Issues
July 15, 2010
THREE MILLION IMAGINARY JOBS
It may be that the last people in America who believe that the $862 billion economic stimulus of February 2009 created millions of net new jobs are Vice President Joe Biden and the staff economists in the White House. Yesterday, President Obama's chief economist announced that the plan had "created or saved" between 2.5 million and 3.6 million jobs and raised gross domestic product (GDP) by 2.7 percent to 3.2 percent through June 30.
Christina Romer went so far as to claim that the 3.5 million new jobs that she promised while the stimulus was being debated in Congress will arrive "two quarters earlier than anticipated." The official White House line is that the plan is working better than even they had hoped.
However:
Since February 2009 the U.S. economy has lost a net 2.35 million jobs. Using the White House "created or saved" measure means that even if there were only three million Americans left with jobs today, the White House could claim that everyone was saved by the stimulus, says the Wall Street Journal. The White House also naturally insists that things would be much worse without the stimulus billions spent on the likes of Medicaid payments, high speed rail projects, unemployment benefits and windmills. President Obama said recently in Racine, Wisconsin, that the economy "would have been a lot worse" and the unemployment rate would have gone to "12 or 13, or 15 [percent]" if government hadn't spent all of that money.
This is called a counterfactual: a what would have happened scenario that can't be refuted. What we do know is what White House economists at the time said would happen if the stimulus didn't pass, says the Journal:
They said the unemployment rate would peak at 9 percent without the stimulus (there's your counterfactual) and that with the stimulus the rate would stay at 8 percent or below. In other words, today there are 700,000 fewer jobs than Romer predicted we would have if we had done nothing at all. If this is a job creation success, what does failure look like, asks the Journal?
Source: Editorial, "Three Million Imaginary Jobs," Wall Street Journal, July 15, 2010.
For text:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703394204575367421573463984.html
For more on Federal Spending & Budget Issues:
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=25
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Quarterly Volatility July 2010
Quarterly Look at Community Banks' Volatility Indicators
Highlights -
Liquidity levels - HIGH
Credit quality - WEAK
Credit growth - SLOW
Funding quality – STEADY
Funding growth – SLOW
Margin – IMPROVED
Summary – VOLATILITY CONTINUES
Highlights -
Liquidity levels - HIGH
Credit quality - WEAK
Credit growth - SLOW
Funding quality – STEADY
Funding growth – SLOW
Margin – IMPROVED
Summary – VOLATILITY CONTINUES
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Financial Regulatory Reform
The Frank-n-Dodd legislative creation that is being brought to life is another 2,000+ page piece of legislation (adding to the ever growing monument to man’s canonical and unfathomable legislative fervor) that merely provides an assortment of miss-sized band aids to patch up the financial industry’s ailing framework in our country. It leaves out large pieces of the framework’s foundation stones while hitting hardest at the banking community at large. And generating an even greater threat to future stability with its wide discretion given to a “broad range of regulators” to write rules, proposed 13 new bank agencies as well as its 150 government studies!
July 7, 2010
Deutsche Bank Rips Into Financial Reform
http://emac.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/07/07/deutsche-bank-rips-financial-reform
Final conference report: (if you are so inclined to read through the 2,319 pages)
http://financialservices.house.gov/Key_Issues/Financial_Regulatory_Reform/Conference_report_final_2.pdf
prb
July 7, 2010
Deutsche Bank Rips Into Financial Reform
http://emac.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/07/07/deutsche-bank-rips-financial-reform
Final conference report: (if you are so inclined to read through the 2,319 pages)
http://financialservices.house.gov/Key_Issues/Financial_Regulatory_Reform/Conference_report_final_2.pdf
prb
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