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"“They’re still puzzled why is it that people are mad at the banks. Well, let’s see,” he said. “You guys are drawing down $10 [million], $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it’s gone through in—in decades, and you guys caused the problem. And we’ve got 10 percent unemployment.”"

"Click on graph for larger image in new window. " Notice that hires (blue line) and separations (red and green together) are pretty close each month. When the blue line is above total separations, the economy is adding net jobs, when the blue line is below total separations, the economy is losing net jobs. According to the JOLTS report, there were 3.966 million hires in October, and 4.203 million separations, or 237 thousand net jobs lost."

Replacing private credit with public credit Tuesday, August 25, 2009, 9:44 am, by cmartenson Our entire monetary system, and by extension our economy, is a Ponzi economy in the sense that it really only operates well when in expansion mode "Executive Summary The Federal Reserve and the federal government are attempting to "plug the gap" caused by a slowdown of private credit/debt creation. Non-US demand for the dollar must remain high, or the dollar will fall. Demand for US assets is in negative territory for 2009 The TIC report and Federal Reserve Custody Account are reviewed and compared The Federal Reserve has effectively been monetizing US government debt by cleverly enabling foreign central banks to swap their Agency debt for Treasury debt. The shell game that the Fed is currently playing obscures the fact that money is being printed out of thin air and used to buy US government debt. The Federal Reserve is monetizing US Treasury debt and is doing so openly, both t...

11/05/2009 by By Mohamed El-Erian and Ramin Toloui (This article was originally published on www.ft.com on November 5, 2009.) It has become fashionable to speculate on the future of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Amid an average 10 per cent decline in the past six months, analysts have tended to favour one of two conclusions. Some argue that, since you cannot replace something with nothing, the dollar’s global role is secured. Others feel that America’s medium-term prospects are now inconsistent with such a role. As with many post-crisis issues, the reality is much more complex. This is not just because the dollar will be caught between these two extremes in the muddled middle for the foreseeable future, but also because the dollar is part of a bigger picture that concerns the evolving role of the US as the sole provider of a range of global public goods. At a time when the global system needs such anchors, this uncertainty raises a set of important policy issues. A cou...