The Big Inflationist Scare

The inflation-deflation debate goes on.  In this post, Mish responds to Gary North’s Pushing on a String (reprinted in our Favorites earlier today).  Will it be inflation, hyperinflation, deflation, or noflation?  If you have an opinion, please post it in the comments. – Ilene
The Big Inflationist Scare
Courtesy of Mish

Inquiring minds are reading Pushing on a String by [...]

Speculation In China Does Not Mean Inflation In The US

Speculation In China Does Not Mean Inflation In The US
Courtesy of Mish

Inflationists and even hyperinflationist are coming out of the woodwork. Even some people I highly respect have jumped on the hyperinflation bandwagon. Given that the Flow of Funds Report Offers Hard Evidence of Deflation, I am not changing my tune.
Some of the inflation fears [...]

Some Common Fallacies About Inflation and Deflation: the Weimar Nightmare in Review

Here’s an article by Jesse’s Café Américain on inflation and deflation. 
Some Common Fallacies About Inflation and Deflation: the Weimar Nightmare in Review
There are several fallacies making the rounds of the economic community, often put forward by pundits on the infomercials for corporate America, and also on the internet among well-meaning but badly informed bloggers.
The first of these [...]

Liquidity Disappearing

Courtesy of Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker
Liquidity Disappearing

Bill auctions: 13 week bid-to-cover 2.79, 26 week 2.72.
Both the lowest btc in over three months.
Gee, on a day when the market is down 24 handles on the SPX there’s no huge demand for Treasuries?
Hmmmm…. gee, let’s see, we seem to be a bit short of money [...]

CHART OF THE DAY: OIL SPECULATION

CHART OF THE DAY: OIL SPECULATION
Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist

This note from The Economist explains much of the recent rise in oil prices:

THE oil market is behaving like a bucking bronco again, and politicians are once more blaming speculators for careening prices. It is difficult to assemble a definitive explanation for the rally: a weak [...]

Pushing on a String

Pushing on a String
Courtesy of Gary Northwriting at Lew Rockwell.com

Back in 1973, gold standard advocate John Exter made a phrase famous in hard-money circles: "Pushing on a string." Exter argued that prices of all assets except gold (he ignored silver) would someday collapse because of the pyramiding of debt. Banks would eventually cease to lend, out of [...]

Dollar Collapse

Dollar Collapse
John Rubino’s website, DollarCollapse is a great resource for finding some of the best recent blog articles on the economy, the dollar, precious metals, real estate as well as a number of recommended books on these subjects. 
 John is co-author, with GoldMoney’s James Turk, of The Collapse of the Dollar and How to Profit From [...]

Filings Disclose Goldman Sachs’ AIG Collateral Demands Were Reason For AIG Implosion

This article’s from Tyler at Zero Hedge.  A must read. 
Filings Disclose Goldman Sachs’ AIG Collateral Demands Were Reason For AIG Implosion
Courtesy Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge
 
Bloomberg out with an article disclosing what every "tinfoil" hat wearer has known for a long time, namely that it was precisely Goldman’s collateral extractions out of AIG that were the [...]

WILL FURTHER COST CUTS LEADER TO Q2 OUTPERFORMANCE?

WILL FURTHER COST CUTS LEADER TO Q2 OUTPERFORMANCE?
Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist

At the end of the day it’s still earnings that matter most.  As the expectation ratio has shown, the stock market has remained resilient primarily due to the fact that expectations for earnings have become very low and more corporations are outperforming the low [...]

ROBERT PRECHTER EXPECTS CORRECTION

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ROBERT PRECHTER EXPECTS CORRECTION
Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist

Like Steven Leuthold, Prechter is expecting a short-term correction followed by a resumption of the rally:

 
 

Flow of Funds Report Offers Hard Evidence of Deflation

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Flow of Funds Report Offers Hard Evidence of Deflation
Courtesy of Mish
I am not sure if this was his intent, but recent analysis of the Flow of Funds Report by Martin Weiss eloquently makes the case for deflation.
In New, Hard Evidence [...]

Trucks Sit Idle; Rail Traffic Horrific

Courtesy of Mish
Trucks Sit Idle; Rail Traffic Horrific
The weekly Railfax Rail Carloading Report still looks grim. Here are a couple of charts.
Total US Rail Traffic

click on chart for sharper image
Total Industry Charts (US, Canada and Mexico)
Year over Year Percent Change – 13 Week Rolling Averages

click on chart for sharper image
13-week moving averages are still moving [...]

Toyota Set To Become Top Dog In The U.S.

Courtesy of Tom Lindmark, But Then What?
Toyota Set To Become Top Dog In The U.S.

Depending upon your philosophical bent, this is either good news or another sign that the Apocalypse is near.
The WSJ is reporting that Toyota is slated to take over the title as the number 1 seller of light vehicles in the U.S.

The [...]

The obtuseness of macroeconomics

Courtesy of Benign Brodwicz’s The Animal Spirits Page 

The obtuseness of macroeconomics
By Benign Brodwicz

Consider The Economist’s Romer roundtable:  Debt will keep growing.
Not one macroeconomist acknowledges what I believe to be the true cause of the current collapse of effective demand, the extreme skewness of the income distribution and the attendant indebtedness and inability to spend at [...]

Behind the Sense of Urgency

Michael Panzner introduces a post from Prudent Investor on price inflation in food prices, featuring a chart from the Economist comparing different countries. 
Behind the Sense of Urgency
By Michael Panzner at When Giant’s Fall

In yesterday’s post, "A Hunger for Food Security," I highlighted an article detailing the global scramble to acquire farmland and bolster food security.
Another [...]