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Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Discussions about the economic and financial ramifications of PEAK OIL

Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby shortonoil » Sat 16 Jan 2016, 17:31:01

"The chart below shows the Fed's balance sheet expressed as a % of GDP: it has grown from its long-term "normal" 5% to just over 25%."

We put this graph up almost two years:

http://www.thehillsgroup.org/depletion2_022.htm

We knew that the price of oil was going to decline, but what caught us by surprise was the rate at which it fell, and fell, and fell. It was Chris Martenson that put forth the notion that what was driving the price down as rapidly as it was, was Central Bank monetary policy. A quick calculation by us showed that ZIRP policy alone was reducing Bakken production cost by $25/ barrel. It was the FED that financed the over production that smashed the oil market. If they restart QE it is going to be a blood bath for petroleum. Let's hope Chris is wrong this time, and they don't. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be wrong very often.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby Outcast_Searcher » Mon 18 Jan 2016, 20:40:57

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('shortonoil', '[')i]"The chart below shows the Fed's balance sheet expressed as a % of GDP: it has grown from its long-term "normal" 5% to just over 25%."

We put this graph up almost two years:

http://www.thehillsgroup.org/depletion2_022.htm

We knew that the price of oil was going to decline...

Well, here's the thing I don't get about all you financial "advisors". Why don't you just follow your own advice (or claimed prescience), and make $billions, instead of plastering your web address everywhere you think will garner hits, so you can hawk a $28 "report" on your site?

There are thousands such "seers", mostly converted from writing print newsletters to blogging now. But there they remain, decade after decade selling "valuable" advice, instead of just getting wildly rich from the "value" of their information/expertise.

I'm just not buying it, literally or figuratively, any more than I pay attention to astrologers.
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby MonteQuest » Mon 18 Jan 2016, 20:49:18

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', ' ')I'm just not buying it, literally or figuratively, any more than I pay attention to astrologers.


How about history? The last time the FED's balance sheet got to 25% was in 1937 where a rise in interest rates dropped the market 54%.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby Outcast_Searcher » Mon 18 Jan 2016, 21:12:45

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', ' ')I'm just not buying it, literally or figuratively, any more than I pay attention to astrologers.


How about history? The last time the FED's balance sheet got to 25% was in 1937 where a rise in interest rates dropped the market 54%.

I should have been more specific. My bad. I was referring to the statement that they "knew" oil prices would decline. If that were true, shorting crude futures or buying long term crude put options would have been a no brainer.

Oh, and it's easy to notice something on a chart from history, and then claim the same thing is about to happen. It's been done on this site by the short term crashers many, many times in the past 5+ years. The results though have been dreadfully inaccurate a huge percentage of the time.
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby MonteQuest » Mon 18 Jan 2016, 21:31:33

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', ' ')Oh, and it's easy to notice something on a chart from history, and then claim the same thing is about to happen. It's been done on this site by the short term crashers many, many times in the past 5+ years. The results though have been dreadfully inaccurate a huge percentage of the time.


So, raising interest rates in the middle of a recession this time won't tank the market? Oops! It already has. Down 10% already for 2016. Can we make 54%?
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby ennui2 » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 02:09:30

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', '
')So, raising interest rates in the middle of a recession this time won't tank the market? Oops! It already has. Down 10% already for 2016. Can we make 54%?


The Fed's action is in no way fully responsible for the stock market downturn. Again, here I am going to bang the drum again. People attempt to draw causal relationships wherever they arbitrarily see fit, where this is a complex system with multiple factors. In this case, the slowdown in China being the primary reason for the market cooling.

The Fed is in a a no-win situation because it's been damned for years for interest rates being low, and it will be damned for raising them if they connect that raise to anything negative going on with the economy.

Personally, I do not like putting money in the bank and having next to no interest, nor do I feel comfortable investing in the stock market. I would very much like to see interest rates creep back up to historic norms.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby ennui2 » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 02:32:41

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ennui2', 'T')he Fed is in a a no-win situation because it's been damned for years for interest rates being low, and it will be damned for raising them if they connect that raise to anything negative going on with the economy.

Poor fed :(


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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby Tanada » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 11:29:10

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ennui2', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', '
')So, raising interest rates in the middle of a recession this time won't tank the market? Oops! It already has. Down 10% already for 2016. Can we make 54%?


The Fed's action is in no way fully responsible for the stock market downturn. Again, here I am going to bang the drum again. People attempt to draw causal relationships wherever they arbitrarily see fit, where this is a complex system with multiple factors. In this case, the slowdown in China being the primary reason for the market cooling.

The Fed is in a a no-win situation because it's been damned for years for interest rates being low, and it will be damned for raising them if they connect that raise to anything negative going on with the economy.

Personally, I do not like putting money in the bank and having next to no interest, nor do I feel comfortable investing in the stock market. I would very much like to see interest rates creep back up to historic norms.


IMO the problem goes so deep it might be easier to scrap the current Federal Reserve system and start over from scratch. That will not be a pain free solution, but letting more problems pile up in the current system will certainly not be pain free either. At some point the pain will be great enough to cause change one way or another, but it seems irrational to wait until we can no longer sustain the current system before we respond.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby Pops » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 11:36:19

Stock values are down because they were too high. LOL

The price of stocks compared to what the companies actually earn was 75% higher than the long term average.

PE = 26x and even that measure is artificially LOW because of all the cheap money the corps took on that will be there for decades—literally, the average bond last year doesn't mature for something like 25 years!

PEs were too high because interest rates were too low.
Rates were too low because the fed was recapitalizing the banks.
Banks needed recapitalizing because they were allowed to "self-regulate".
De-regulation goes back decades but has accelerated and banks are now running the show both inside and outside government.


I don't think it was the increase in rates that skeered investors, if they were not in a coma the last couple of years they likely heard rates were going to rise.
Ditto China, it's been slowing from its peak growth rate for 5 years now and publically said they were planning for slower growth.
Same with oil, it's been clear a big reset would happen for a year now. (and of course outside TX & OK everyone is happy with low oil price)


I think the markets are adjusting away from bank deregulation that has been bought by the owners via the political system.

We need to vote for our own economic interest, while we still can.

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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby MonteQuest » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 13:45:02

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ennui2', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', '
')So, raising interest rates in the middle of a recession this time won't tank the market? Oops! It already has. Down 10% already for 2016. Can we make 54%?


The Fed's action is in no way fully responsible for the stock market downturn.


That may be the case as there are many forces at play. But has the FED accurately read the the US economy as growing? I think that perception is an illusion. The last time the Fed hiked at a time when it misread the US economy in 1937, which was also at or below stall speed, the Fed incorrectly assumed it was growing. The result? 54% drop in the markets.

I may be admittedly way off the mark. But we sure are teed up for it to happen.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby MonteQuest » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 13:51:43

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'S')tock values are down because they were too high.


And they were too high due to the false illusion that all was well via QE that pumped the markets up.

"Bubbles expand in search of a pin." Lots of "pins" around these days.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby Pops » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 14:33:43

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'S')tock values are down because they were too high.


And they were too high due to the false illusion that all was well via QE that pumped the markets up.

"Bubbles expand in search of a pin." Lots of "pins" around these days.

Are you saying only we few omnipotent gurus on this board can see reality? lol

My opinion is the stock market only reacts to the market.

Fear and Greed baby!

The CNN F&G index doesn't even have a metric for the real economy, LOL
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby sparky » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 14:48:42

.
The market react to the market , a trader can make as much money buying as selling ,
Ultimately there is no past or future only the present and positions

still , MonteQuest has a point about a lot of "money" sloshing about
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby MonteQuest » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 14:51:20

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', ' ')Are you saying only we few omnipotent gurus on this board can see reality?


No, I am saying if the FED had not created this illusion, the banks would have failed.

Once the market saw they weren't going to fail, fear and greed resumed with gusto.

We all know this isn't going to end well, don't we? Isn't that rather intuitive? Intuition doesn't require omnipotent guru thinking.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby Pops » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 15:46:41

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', 'M')onteQuest has a point about a lot of "money" sloshing about

Pretty sure I didn't say anything different.
Money at 0% is free money.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', 'N')o, I am saying if the FED had not created this illusion, the banks would have failed.

All I'm saying it's not an "illusion"— the bailed banks didn't fail.
Because the US taxpayer bought their bad bets.
Then paid them interest on the money so they wouldn't do the favor for Main Street.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby ennui2 » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 15:52:46

And what the US taxpayer got back in return so far has been a slow but steady recovery in employment, plus cheap gas. Sure beats the performance vs. FDR era great depression. And it's not like the Fed raised rates that much. They barely nudged rates in order to test the waters. So I wouldn't say the Fed hasn't learned from the GD. I remember some interviews on 60 minutes at the time where they said they had studied the GD in great detail and tried to do things differently. Now, if you think market manipulation like that can never work, that the system should just be allowed to fall flat on its face, fine, but I'd say so far it's been quite a successful magic act dancing on the head of this pin.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby MonteQuest » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 16:01:26

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'A')ll I'm saying it's not an "illusion"— the bailed banks didn't fail.


That isn't the illusion. The illusion is the wealth created.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'B')ecause the US taxpayer bought their bad bets.
Then paid them interest on the money so they wouldn't do the favor for Main Street.


None of that is true. Taxpayers weren't on the hook for QE. And the banks can't loan out the excess reserves.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby Pops » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 19:44:40

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', 'N')one of that is true. Taxpayers weren't on the hook for QE.

Of course the taxpayer is on the hook.
The interest paid on the excess reserves comes from the profit that isn't returned to the treasury.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')nd the banks can't loan out the excess reserves.

No, banks don't loan reserves...

They loan 10 times reserves. LOL

The Fed conjuring excess reserves from worthless bank paper (and of course the government's own paper) enabled new loans — without all that bother of scaring up new deposits. Simply change Excess Reserves to Required Reserves and Voilá! Instant loan. (as long as the capital requirement is not exceeded)

Or that was the stated purpose anyway. Not bailing the banks by buying their crappy bets then paying them risk-free interest on the money they aren't loaning into the economy.
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Re: Has the Great Contraction Begun?

Unread postby MonteQuest » Tue 19 Jan 2016, 20:44:32

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', 'N')one of that is true. Taxpayers weren't on the hook for QE.

Of course the taxpayer is on the hook.
The interest paid on the excess reserves comes from the profit that isn't returned to the treasury.


But the profit from doing the excess reserves swap was $97.7 billion. The interest was $6.9 billion so taxpayers got a refund of almost $100 billion dollars to the US Treasury. The deficit was reduced.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')nd the banks can't loan out the excess reserves.

No, banks don't loan reserves...

They loan 10 times reserves. LOL


Those excess reserves were not an increase to the monetary base that could be lent, they were a liquidity swap.

The central bank paid interest on reserves to prevent the increase in reserves from driving market interest rates below the level it deemed appropriate given macroeconomic conditions. In such a situation, the absence of a money-multiplier effect should be neither surprising nor troubling.--NY FED

Here's the low-down the excess reserves. Banks Don't Lend Out Reserves

The volume of excess reserves in the system is what it is, and banks cannot reduce it by lending. They could reduce excess reserves by converting them to physical cash, but that would simply exchange one safe asset (reserves) for another (cash). It would make no difference whatsoever to their ability to lend. Only the Fed can reduce the amount of base money (cash + reserves) in circulation.

I've already explained this several times.
Last edited by MonteQuest on Tue 19 Jan 2016, 20:54:18, edited 2 times in total.
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