Is Masive Inflation on it's way, why, and how to prevent it.

Gibbs defends Obama 2006 vote against raising debt ceiling
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today defended a 2006 vote by then-senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) against raising the nation’s Debt ceiling. The vote to raise the Debt ceiling will be a major battle next year because Tea Party-backed Conservatives have vowed to let the government default on its debts rather than authorize a raising of the $14.3 Trillion limit. Republican leadership is expected to use the situation to force deep Spending Cuts to the 2012 Budget. White House economic ...

Marco Rubio Sworn In as U.S. Senator
Shortly after 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, and according to tradition, Marco Rubio walked down the aisle of the Senate floor with Senator Bill Nelson, D-FL on his left and retired Sen. Mel Martinez on  his right. After reaching Vice President Joe Biden at the right of the Senate President's desk, Rubio stepped up, took the oath, and became Florida's newest senator. "I'm here to be the United States senator from Florida and the best senator I can. I mean that," Rubio told reporters earlier that mor...

Dont raise the debt ceiling
Daniel Foster at NRO Corner thinks Republicans will get a great bargain in exchange for raising the ceiling on the National Debt — which just hit $14 Trillion. That’s the on-the-books figure, by the way. From Daniel Foster: “Unlikely as it may seem at the moment, I’m becoming more and more convinced that congressional Republicans can get a lot — in terms of Spending Cuts, entitlement reforms, and the like — in exchange for agreeing to raise the federal Debt ceiling at s

Time to grab the third rail, Madame Governor
Soon, Governor Martinez sends the 2011 Legislature her Budget for fiscal 2012. At last count, she is looking to plug a $400 million gap. She campaigned on the promise that she would not make Spending Cuts to education or Medicaid. Read my lips: ‘Where are you going to find $400 million to plug the gap, Madame Governor?’ The “Third Rail” of politics refers to extremely Controversial issues in which it is observed that, when acting unilaterally, “touch it, and you die...

Republicans Push Obama, Dems on Spending Cuts
Republicans became the majority party in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, and they said they're ready to do what voters screamed for on Election Day -- and that's to stop the spending. This effort may lead to some brutal battles between President Barack Obama, Democrats on Capitol Hill and the newly-empowered Republicans. Politicians always make promises to cut spending, but the new Republican majority, backed by Tea Party power, may have the fervor and numbers to really do it....

Bond crisis on the way?
With strong Christmas sales and the Stock Market surging to a two-year high, talk is spreading that the long-awaited recovery is at hand. But gleaning the news from Europe and Asia as U.S. cities, states and the Federal Government sink into Debt, it is difficult to believe a worldwide Financial Crisis that hammers governments, banks and bondholders alike can be long averted. Consider. Fitch and Moody's have just downgraded the debt of Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Hungary. In Budapest, the poli...

Fed Minutes: U.S. Economy Not Strong Enough to Wind Down QE2
When the Fed met last month, it -- like many Economists and business executives -- saw signs of improvement in the U.S. economy. But according to the minutes from the Fed's meeting, released Tuesday, the improvement wasn't enough to justify tapering its quantitative-easing bond-buying program, also known as QE2. The plan, announced in November, calls for the government to purchase $75 billion worth of bonds per month -- and up to $600 billion in assets through June -- to help stimulate the ec...

Taming inflation in China, Brazil, and India
The Fed's Quantitative Easing will likely lead to rising Inflation in these three important countries. With food prices already skyrocketing, how well will their central Bankers tame the beast? A brief review of global economic data points highlights struggles with Inflation in three very key countries: China, India and Brazil. While the divergence between each country's response reminds us that both Inflation and Monetary Policy are local, analyzing them collectively allows us to derive the eq...

The Verdict on US Bond Yields?
How investors perceive and interpret [rising yields] will determine great many things; is it a reflection of higher growth in the future and thus a sooner than expected normalisation by the Fed. Or is it a result of supply concerns and the continuing double digit Budget Deficit by the Fed and thus the bond vigilantes attempt to go for the biggest prey in the park. Obviously, interpretation, animal spirits and sunspots can never be entirely disconnected from real economic activity on the ground, ...

Bad News: Defaulted Student Loans Don't Cost the Government
New data from the Federal Government confirms what StudentLoanJustice.org founder Alan Collinge has been saying for years: Defaulted federal Student Loans don't cost the government. The Wall Street Journal reports that (subscription required) "After paying the companies that actually collect the loans and other costs, the U.S. Department of Education expects to recover 85% of defaulted federal loan dollars based on current value. The recovery figures are quite generous when compared with other...

Finally The Day Has Arrived When Nancy Pelosi Loses Her Speakers Gavel And The Constitution Is Taken Seriously In The Peoples Ho
Today is finally the day that Nancy Pelosi loses her Speaker’s gavel. But she hasn’t gone quietly. She has been engaging in a massive Public Relations campaign to re-write her dismal record with outright lies. Yesterday, Pelosi demonstrated how far she is willing to stretch the truth. At her final Press Conference as House Speaker (thank goodness) Pelosi portrayed herself and fellow Democrats as Deficit hawks: Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us. It is our mantra, pay...

Worried About the National Debt? Put It On Your Credit Card
The National Debt is growing at a rate of some $4 billion dollars a day as the 112th Congress heads to Capitol Hill wringing their hands over how to slash spending. But the United States Treasury has a simple solution for how you can help: spend more. Just put the federal Debt on your personal Credit Card. You can pay for it later. With as little effort as a few mouse clicks, Private Citizens can give Uncle Sam their spare change - or their Bank Account numbers. Since 1961, the Treasury's Bureau...

Will He Say He Has No Choice or Will He Use Seigniorage?
The media and much of the blogosphere are framing the coming Debt ceiling decision as one in which the Republican-majority House may refuse to extend the Federal Debt ceiling, thus forcing both a Government shut-down, and also a possible default of the US in paying its Debt obligations to its creditors. Republicans saying they will not vote to extend the ceiling see this as an opportunity to force Spending Cuts out of the Democrats and the Obama Administration. This second round of hostage-takin...

Mortgage Applications Ease Off as 2010 Comes to an End
Mortgage applications slowed down in the week before Christmas and increased the week after, while Interest Rates rose to a seven-month high, then retreated again, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. The group said that, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the index measuring mortgage loan applications decreased 3.9% for the week that ended Dec. 24 compared to the prior week, while for the week ending Dec. 31, the index increased 2.3%. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 23.7%...

Rep. Ross criticizes Republican rules package related to pay-go rules
Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), co-chairman of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, criticized the Republicans' rules package for letting Trillions of dollars be added to the Debt.  "This rules package, while there are a lot of good things in it, threatens to undermine all of the hard work we have done by allowing nearly $5 trillion in Government Spending to go unpaid for," Ross said Wednesday in a statement. "That’s $5 trillion the Republicans want to add to the National Debt....

Republicans take over House, dilute cuts
By Thomas Ferraro and Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON | Wed Jan 5, 2011 12:45pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans scaled back plans for deep cuts in Government Spending as they took power in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, diluting a key promise that helped them to victory in November's election. A senior Republican also signaled the party could work with the administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat, to avert a Debt crisis in the coming months. "Our spending has caught up...

Political Quote of the Day
From former Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us. It is our mantra, pay-as-you-go.”A little context from Fox Nation: The numbers tell a different story. When the Pelosi Democrats took control of Congress on January 4, 2007, the National Debt stood at $8,670,596,242,973.04. The last day of the 111th Congress and Pelosi’s Speakership on December 22, 2010 the National Debt was $13,858,529,371,601.09 - a roughly $5.2 Trillion increase in j...

Democrat Blames Reagan, Bushes For Deficits
(CNSNews.com) - In his last day as House Majority Leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) put much of the blame for America’s growing Debt on past Republican administrations, including former President Ronald Reagan. “Ronald Reagan came in and adopted an economic program that created $1.4 Trillion in Deficits over the next eight years,” Hoyer said in a Capitol Hill Press Conference on Tuesday, where he appeared with other members of the Democratic House Leadership. “George...

9 Ways to Save More Money for Retirement
Most Retirement advice centers around our investments. We talk about how to best diversify our capital, which funds we should invest in, and how to maximize and grow what we've already contributed. Yet, most people who have created a comfortable Retirement are not investment geniuses. They simply lived below their means and amassed their fortunes over time. The most significant factor that determines whether someone can retire comfortably is how much they save. Here are nine suggestions that w...

New Congress and the Spending Thicket
The 112th Congress, convening today, promises to be one of the most politically charged sessions in recent memory--and one in which Government Spending will dominate the agenda. Barring a sudden crisis, Foreign Policy will be an afterthought amid an intensifying debate over the Debt and the Deficit. Both parties have taken one potentially explosive National Security issue--cuts in defense spending--off the table. Obama is unlikely to demand a vote on any Controversial treaties after his bruisi...

The Dollar and Demand
Kevin Williamson writes, “What is underappreciated is that the laws of supply and demand apply to currencies, too: You create new money (and, boy howdy, have we been creating money!), you increase the supply, demand does not change, and the price goes down.  . . . Inflation happens when the Money Supply is increased, regardless of whether it shows up in the Consumer Price Index.” The second sentence I’ve just quoted can’t be true on any reasonable definition of ̶...

House GOP's Plan: Vote Early and Often Against The Obama Agenda
A twenty day period of votes against the Obama Agenda, which of course are not effectual on their own (as Democrats still control the Senate). But they hope to both demonstrate that they're carrying through on promises to voters and force Obama and the Democrats in the Senate closer to a Tea Party view of the world. Almost as soon as they take control of the House at noon Wednesday, Republicans will embark on a 20-day plan aimed at undoing major aspects of President Obama's agenda as they seek ...

China vows to help Europe beat debt crisis
Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang backed Europe in its Sovereign Debt battle on Wednesday, starting a three-nation tour by promising to buy Spanish bonds and by signing multi-billion-euro contracts. Li, widely tipped to be the next premier, delivered a significant vote of confidence given China's World Record foreign reserves of 2.648 Trillion US dollars (2.0 Trillion Euros), much of it in euros. On his visit to Spain, Germany and Britain he is supporting Europe's recovery efforts and seeking to s...

China vows to help Europe beat debt crisis
Stumble This! Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang backed Europe in its Sovereign Debt battle on Wednesday, starting a three-nation tour by promising to buy more Spanish Government Bonds. Li, widely tipped to be the next premier, delivered a significant vote of confidence given China's World Record foreign reserves of 2.648 Trillion dollars (2.0 Trillion Euros), much of it in euros. On his visit to Spain, Germany and Britain he is supporting Europe's recovery efforts and seeking to soothe global mar...

Save the economy? No, VAT's pandering to the powerful | Simon Jenkins
Today's rise in VAT, according to the chancellor, George Osborne, is the shortest route to economic salvation. According to Labour, it is a dangerous, indeed reckless, curb on demand, "the wrong tax at the wrong time." Which is right? Since I agree with the government in attacking the monster Deficit, I hesitate to agree with the reprobates who created it. But I do. The chancellor is right to reduce the deficit. Rising this winter to its highest peacetime level, its cost in interest is enormous ...