A taste of Autumn, Greece remains on the hot seat, the US budgets to end wars?

9/19/2011 Portland, Oregon - Pop in your mints…

We've had our first taste of autumn here in the Pacific Northwest.  We found ourselves strangely welcoming the overcast sky and constant humidity.  It is the type of weather that is pleasant for a month or two.  Unfortunately, we get about 8 months of it here which requires some sort of escape to the sun, either Hawaii or California, for it to remain tolerable.

But still, the first taste was sweet and provided a warm feeling that all was well with the world, despite constant reports to the contrary.  Fortunately for us, the sun looks as though it will return this week.

On the whitewashed shores of Greece, where the sun seems to perpetually shine, there is now intense pressure from which there seems to be no escape.  The Prime Minister was called back from a trip to the US after receiving an emergency call from the Finance Minister as he stopped over in London.  The poor chap had to be on a conference call with creditors and the troika and didn’t want to take the lashing alone.

As if to give the world a taste of things to come, the Greek Government passed an emergency property tax which is to be collected via the citizens’ electricity bill to help ensure compliance.  Apparently the folks at the electric company are not happy about adding tax collection to their duties and are pushing back on the order.

The Greeks never have been good at collecting taxes, either that or their citizens are especially adept at avoiding paying them.  Either way, the combination makes for low tax revenues which makes servicing public debt, well, difficult.

We offer a suggestion to the Greeks, privatize the electric company and then enact an enormous tax on consumption.  At least then the riots would be staged at the electric company and not at parliament.

Meanwhile, before departing for New York in perhaps the least understood yet most important peace-keeping mission the US will ever embark upon, President Obama gave yet another clinic on teleprompter reading during his speech on, what else, government finances.  His proposal was to save $1.5 Trillion over the next 10 years by in large part by ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Will Palestine become a UN Member?

We do not have any statistics, but we are willing to bet that this is not the first time that ending these wars has been proposed as a deficit reduction measure.  What is truly astonishing to almost every thinking person is that these two military adventures have continued for so long and have become such a drain on the public treasury  that ending them now would save $1 Trillion.

Less war, more money, what a novel idea!  It is as straightforward as it is unlikely to happen.

We sense that both this speech and bath time for Greek creditors will be interrupted by the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN this week.  The Middle East has not seen a moment like this since Israel vied for statehood in 1949.  Let us pray that this moment passes in a peaceful manner

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for September 19, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $3.79
Oil Price per Barrel:  $85.13

Corn Price per Bushel:  $6.92  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  1.94%
FED Target Rate:  0.09%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,779 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.4%!!!   UP UP UP!!!
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,401  TO THE MOON!!!

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,101,100,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,540,500,000,000 YIKES!!!!!!!

A pending Eurozone implosion and How Inflation appears in disguise: The Euro/Peseta price of Spanish Coffee

9/14/2011 Portland, Oregon - Pop in your mints…

What a week it has been, and we are only halfway through it!  Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, and many other European banks are bracing for the impact of a pending Greek default which would likely be followed in short order by an Irish, Spanish, Portuguese, and possibly Italian default as club med prepares to give the collective finger to their German, ECB, and IMF taskmasters.

There were rumors that BNP could not borrow dollars yesterday and today we saw why.  The large French banks, of which BNP at $2 Trillion in assets is the largest, collectively hold assets of $8 Billion, which is four times France’s annual GDP.  This, in theory, makes nationalization of these banks impossible and the meager, strings attached handouts offered by China are of little comfort.

Zerohedge.com posted an excerpt of a report by Jeffries which spelled out a probable endgame scenario in Europe which involves sloppy nationalizations of the financial sector and a repudiation of the Euro by the defaulting countries in order to print the drachmas, pesetas, liras, etc. necessary to make good on the newly nationalized banks’ liabilities.

The PIGS have nothing to lose at this point and it will be EUROUGLY for those who cling to the Euro. 
We are all preparing to learn a great lesson about faith in paper currencies and it looks like for the Europeans, class is in session.

Yesterday, we were attempting to explain the concept of inflation coming in disguise.  We speculated that the disguise would come in the form of a “10:1 reverse split” being declared for the current USD.  In other words, a new US Dollar would be introduced which would be worth 10 old US dollars.  We left off with a question, “What’s the big deal?  Why does this matter?”

At this point, our rational readers are thinking to themselves, ”Big deal, so we get rid of the penny and nickel production cost problem, learn to move the decimal place in our thinking, and happily move along with life, right?”

This, of course, is what most monetary and governmental representatives think as well.  It makes the move almost a no-brainer.

We must beware of the money changers!  They seem innocent, yet are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Yes, fellow taxpayer, under the reverse split scenario, dollar holders will be robbed.  Quietly, and, if not for the following humble explanation, completely unaware.   It is as Keynes famously said:

“The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency.  By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens”

(Editor’s note: today inflation is accepted as “sound” economic policy thanks to meddlers such as Mr. Keynes.)  

How, then, will dollar holders have their wealth confiscated?  A change like this initially robs those who can least afford to be robbed, the poor.  And the thievery is made all the more sinister because the thieves employ unwitting merchants and tax collectors with which to fleece them.

The following is a practical example of how the theft will take place: 

Inflation explained in the new Euro price of Cafe con Leche

One would be hard pressed to find a more suitable and pleasant example if instant price inflation than that of the Spanish cup of coffee, pleasantly sipped at mid-morning with friends and colleagues.

This cup of coffee, a constitutional right of Spaniards for generations, could be enjoyed for a mere 100 pesetas circa 1995, in the era before the peseta was to be pegged and converted into the then conceptual Euro currency.

This 100 peseta price held more or less firm until the Euro coins began to circulate in 2002.  The Euro/Peseta conversion rate had been pegged at 166.386:1 in 1995.  In 2002, the same cup of coffee was now 1 Euro, an overnight 66% increase.

The numbers may not be exact but you get the point.  Currency changes offer a grand opportunity for price adjustments at the lower end.  While on the surface, it appears that a cup of coffee that costs 1 monetary unit compared to one that costs 100 monetary units is an improvement.  In fact, considering that many wages remained stagnant, it represented a considerable deterioration of overall purchasing power.

To this day, many Spaniards think of prices for larger items such as cars and houses in terms of pesetas.  It is one thing to be duped on the value of a cup of coffee, quite another to be duped on the value of a car or house. 

For a time, asset prices there did indeed rise as an indirect result of people fleeing the inflation caused by the change to the Euro.  However, the devil of inflation is in the details.  An overnight 66% increase in a cup of coffee can eat into a laborer’s stagnant wages quickly. 

Once the transitory asset price increases have been burned through at the café, one is left with a nation that is collectively poorer and unable to make economic decisions because of these types of stealth price shifts.

Returning to the probable US Dollar reverse split, we can see that a 10:1 change from old to new dollars would likely result in a cup of coffee going for a nice round quarter (or 25 new cents).  Which sounds like a trip back to the 70’s until you consider that we are talking about $2.50 of the old dollars for a plain cup of coffee which could be had for $1.50 before the switch.

One can rest assured, employers will be mindful to move the decimal point and nothing more on wage calculations.  Voila!  Overnight poverty, all with the stroke of a pen. 

While one may hold out hope that any change in the monetary unit will be price neutral, the Spanish example shows us that lipstick on a pig does not make it any prettier, and coffee at 1 Euro is no tastier than it was at 100 pesetas, just more expensive.

We pray that you will prepare yourself by saving in gold and silver coins, which will retain and perhaps increase their relative value under such a scenario.  Under current conditions (and probably more so after the G-7 begin to their coordinated action) anything that cannot be created by government decree, to paraphrase Michael Pento, will be preferable as a savings vehicle to the US Dollar.

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

P.S.  For more ideas and commentary please check out The Mint at http://www.davidmint.com/

Key Indicators for September 14, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $3.90
Oil Price per Barrel:  $88.94

Corn Price per Bushel:  $7.24  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.01%
FED Target Rate:  0.09%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,815 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.5%!!!   UP 0.7% IN ONE MONTH, 8.4% ANNUALLY AT THIS PACE!!!
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  10,992  TO THE MOON!!!

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,181,100,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,456,000,000,000 YIKES!!!!!!!

The Disguise, Greece plays roulette with the Eurocrats, How inflation will express itself in USD Prices

9/12/2011 Portland, Oregon - Pop in your mints…

The moment of truth is approaching for Greece.  Today the headlines flashed that the markets were pricing in a 98% chance of the Greeks defaulting on their sovereign debt.  A great lesson is about to be learned.  Is anyone paying attention?

The great lesson is the following:  Reliance on governmental and/or central bank action to stave off a default is not a sound strategy.  You may get lucky once, twice, even three times.  If one is particularly unfortunate, the strategy may even work many times in succession.

Gambling on Government intervention

The government reliance strategy is like idly watching spins a roulette wheel with all your chips on red.  With enough spins, the ball will eventually drop on a black.  Think of it as the governmental version of a black swan.

In the case of Greece, who abandoned its 2,000 year old currency to join the Euro club, there seems to be a lack of political will to ink the rubber stamp which approves the Greek’s next ration of Euros.  The taskmasters of the Eurozone are starting to realize that each time the stamp is inked, the sewage of Greek finances leaks a little further into their well. 

The populace is starting to get sick to their stomach, as are large banks on both sides of the Atlantic.  The French banking giants are queasy because much of the Greek debt is on their books.  In the New World, where about half of Greek debt is insured, the banking giants are getting nauseas.  It is the nausea of a drunk man realizing he will be stuck with the bar tab after his buddies sneak out of the tavern.

Meanwhile, as the politicians and central banks continue to bungle their way through this information, the market has already priced it in.

“Priced in?”  Astute, shocked, and astounded readers are surely thinking, “Then where is the crash in stocks and bonds?” 

Astute readers, of course, are right.  There is a crash occurring right now in stocks and bonds.  However, bond yields are down and the stock market is up because the crash is occurring against the backdrop of rapidly depreciating currencies and as such, the debauched currencies are disguising the crash.

The Disguise

Astute readers now have a collective light bulb in their head illuminating as they clearly see that inflation in consumer prices is set to accelerate in the near future.  Naturally, this obvious inflation would not be tolerable and as such must be masked in order for the general public to peacefully accept it.

For this acceptance to peacefully take place, the inflation must come in disguise.  Here is what is likely to occur once the loosened up monetary policies of the FED, ECB, BoJ, and BoE are in sync (with apologies to the 1990’s boy band):

The Debauched Dollar in disguise

A new dollar will be introduced with a convertibility ratio from old dollars of 10:1.  In other words, each current dollar will be the equivalent of a new dime.

Voila!  No inflation here.  The new and improved dollar now buys more than ever! 

Why choose a 10:1 ratio?  There are two compelling reasons for the US Currency to go through a reverse 10:1 split.  First and foremost, it is simple.  Since a majority of the world’s commerce is conducted in dollars, the disguise must be mathematically simple.  What could be simpler than moving a decimal place?

The second reason is less obvious but perhaps more compelling from the point of view of the monetary authorities.  The disguise would immediately eliminate the need for pennies and nickels and increase the demand for dollar coins.

At this stage in the game, it costs the US Mint more to create pennies and nickels than they are worth.  While we are not certain of the exact numbers as of today, some estimates have the value of the metals needed to create a nickel valued at $0.07 while the metals needed to create a penny are valued at $0.012.  This is before considering the energy and equipment necessary to strike the coins and distribute them.

At current metal prices, which are unlikely to drop in the near future, the US Mint is producing nickels and pennies at a loss.

This embarrassing detail makes the purchase of nickels and pennies a better risk free investment than US Treasury Bonds, the world’s current safe haven of choice.  The metal premium for Platinum, Gold, and Silver coins is widely known.  At some point, nickels and pennies will disappear from circulation and their metal premium will take precedence over their face value. 

Still, one may ask, “What difference does it make?  This 10:1 switch sounds like a great idea.  I’m sick of pennies!”

Oh, if only the switch were price neutral, it would make no difference at all.  How, then, do the stock, bond, and almost every other market continue to rally in the face of questionable macroeconomic fundamentals?

Tune in tomorrow.

 Trust Jesus and Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

P.S.  For more ideas and commentary please check out The Mint at http://www.davidmint.com/

Key Indicators for September 12, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $3.97
Oil Price per Barrel:  $88.19

Corn Price per Bushel:  $7.34  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  1.93%
FED Target Rate:  0.09%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,814 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.5%!!!   UP 0.7% IN ONE MONTH, 8.4% ANNUALLY AT THIS PACE!!!
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,061  TO THE MOON!!!

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,181,100,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,456,000,000,000 YIKES!!!!!!!

Forgiveness, the FED, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, and ECB to coordinate actions, will they formally peg exchange rates?

9/9/2011 Portland, Oregon - Pop in your mints…

Much ink is being spilled today in anticipation of what may or may not happen as the 10^th anniversary of the events that occurred on September 11, 2001.  Here at The Mint, we take the somewhat radical view of the Amish in response to tragic loss.  We must forgive.  An important part of forgiveness is to avoid making or observing a memorial to the offense.  Memorializing an event is to keep it present before us.

As the US Empire is now conducting at least three extremely expensive military adventures which have their origins in the events that occurred that fateful day, forgiveness is probably not on many people’s minds this weekend.  Meanwhile, millions of dollars are being spent to memorialize it.

We must forgive.  It is our opportunity to choose the tree of life over the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  To repair the fateful error made in Eden.

Under the cover of this memorial, we sense that an extraordinary event will occur which will impact the fortunes of many in the US, England, Japan, and Europe and others outside their borders with exposure to their respective currencies.

Debauchery

The Event which we refer to is the coordinated debauchery of their currencies. 

For the past four years, the FED, BoE, BoJ, and ECB have been engaged in a desperate attempt to debauch (devalue) their currencies.  They have had the predictably mediocre to poor results that one would expect from efforts made by this rare hybrid of an agency which combines the laziness of the banking class with the incompetence of the governing class.

The goal seems simple enough.  Print money to pay existing debts and encourage people to spend and to take on new debt.  So simple, that each of these Central Banks is currently running at their own pace down this calamitous path with little regard to how the outside world is reacting.
Guess what?  The outside world is not reacting as expected.

What they did not take into account, at least until now, was that there is quite a bit of money to be made from the fact that they are all running at different paces down the same path.  The nature of international finance is such that one Central Bank’s unbridled effort to debauch its currency leads to an opportunity to profit by borrowing in that nation’s currency and purchasing one of the other three currencies, which undermines the debauchery of the currency that is being purchased. 

This is commonly known as the carry trade, and these large Central Banks have taken all of the guess work out of it for the past four years.

Stark, as most thinking persons, cannot stomach the debauchery in his midst

We suspect that these four Central Banks see the immediate need to eliminate interest rate spreads amongst their currencies which will force those who ply the carry trade to purchase currencies outside of this group.

In effect, this ultimate coordination of interest rate policies will cause these four currencies to “peg” to each other, which should assure that the debauchery of their respective currencies will continue unchecked and likely accelerate.

According to Bloomberg, there is speculation that this type of coordination, a de facto currency peg to the dollar, could begin this weekend at the G-7 Meeting.

Will another stealth disaster befall the US this weekend?  If these Central Banks somehow coordinate their collective debauchery of the currency, the economic devastation of millions will march on.

Perhaps this is why Juergen Stark has suddenly stepped down from the ECB.  It will be more than any caring Bundesbank official can stomach.

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

P.S.  For more ideas and commentary please check out The Mint at http://www.davidmint.com/

Key Indicators for September 9, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $4.00
Oil Price per Barrel:  $87.20

Corn Price per Bushel:  $7.26  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  1.92%
FED Target Rate:  0.09%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,856 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.5%!!!   UP 0.7% IN ONE MONTH, 8.4% ANNUALLY AT THIS PACE!!!
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  10,992  TO THE MOON!!!

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,181,100,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,456,000,000,000 YIKES!!!!!!!

 

The Swiss throw in the towel, Decide to Enter the Fiat Currency Battle Royal

9/6/2011 Portland, Oregon - Pop in your mints…

We spent the weekend attacking sections of our yard that had, until now, remained a wilderness reserve due to our inner laziness.  Trees, shrubs, ivy that had been allowed to grow unchecked all fell victim to our saw and lopper (which must be the best tool ever invented).  The yard now appears more barren, if not civilized, than before.

Like everything, it came at a price.  Our back may never be the same and working in such close company with the pines seems to have triggered a latent allergy which nearly floored us for the balance of the weekend.

Fighting nature is not a long term strategy, but it has provided a strange sort of satisfaction in the near term.

This is the same sort of satisfaction that the Swiss National Bank must be feeling after they arbitrarily decided to cap the Franc:Euro exchange rate at 1.2:1, effectively throwing their lot in with the doomed Euro.  From the Wall Street Journal:

The SNB said Tuesday that it would "no longer tolerate" the euro falling below the minimum rate. In a statement, it said it will enforce the limit with "the utmost determination and is prepared to buy foreign currency in unlimited quantities."

Their abstention from joining the Euro in the first place was a testament to this.  Their capitulation today simply gives more credence to the extraordinary pressures that the competitive devaluation of all fiat currencies is placing on those Central Banks which for one reason or another have chosen not to compete.

The Swiss currency has been under siege ever since its neighbors embarked on the Euro currency experiment.  Being the ingenious people that they are, the Swiss, with their mountain bunker airbases and underground buildings, were able to hold out for a long time.

What finally sent them over the edge?  We are not certain but we can only imagine that, as the Franc soared unwittingly towards parity with the Euro, the intelligent Swiss flocked across the border to purchase whatever they could from their unwitting neighbors who are all unequally yoked to the Euro’s fate.

In other words, why shop in Geneva when your Francs go further in France?

Having seen enough, the SNB is has now crossed the ropes and is entering the Battle Royal of fiat currency devaluation.  Who will be standing at the end?



Fiat Currency Battle for Devaluation

This is a trick question, as our equally intelligent fellow tax-payers will quickly point out. There are no winners when something with no value is widely recognized as such.  Only mayhem, yelling, pile drivers, body slams, blood, and drama.

Most investors are now waking up and realizing that it is time to hold currency reserves (household savings) in Gold, Silver, Pork loins, anything but fiat currencies.

Get out of the arena and avoid the ensuing traffic jam.  This sort of mayhem is better enjoyed from the comfort of one’s home and the quicker one gets there the better!

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

P.S.  For more ideas and commentary please check out The Mint at http://www.davidmint.com/

Key Indicators for September 6, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $4.06
Oil Price per Barrel:  $86.49

Corn Price per Bushel:  $7.47  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  1.98%
FED Target Rate:  0.08%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,880 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.5%!!!   UP 0.7% IN ONE MONTH, 8.4% ANNUALLY AT THIS PACE!!!
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,139  TO THE MOON!!!

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,108,800,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,473,600,000,000 YIKES!!!!!!!

While this type of action should come as no surprise to our readers, it is significant because the Swiss have traditionally been a sort of neutral safe haven on a number of fronts, not the least of which being money and banking.