A simple graph:

Financial markets in Europe and the US have continued to fall despite fresh action by the Federal Reserve to support the American economy.

The US central bank said it would buy as much government debt as needed to soothe markets, while providing new financing for households and firms. 

Shares in Europe and the US briefly rose on the news, but then fell back.

Markets have been hit by concerns about a slowing economy as authorities try to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

In making its announcement, the Federal Reserve said the pandemic was "causing tremendous hardship across the United States and around the world".

"Aggressive efforts must be taken across the public and private sectors to limit the losses to jobs and incomes to promote a swift recovery once the disruptions abate," it said.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 were trading down about 2% at mid-day in New York, while the Nasdaq was roughly flat.

In London, the FTSE 100 closed nearly 3.8% lower, while Germany's Dax dropped 2% and France's CAC 40 fell 3.3%. Earlier, Asian stock markets closed sharply lower.

 

Read more:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52000309

 

One could predict that should the Trump administration managed to pass its US$1.8 trillion coronavirus deficit through the senate, the stock market will jump like an olympian trying to pass the high bar but missing it by that much — and falling in the sand on his arse... we shall see.

 

 

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By Mitchell Feierstein, investor, banker, and author of Planet Ponzi: How we got into this mess, what happens next, and how to protect yourself. He spends his time between London and Manhattan.

Debt matters. In Washington’s swamp, no one CARES about debt. Big government has become more addicted to debt than drug addicts to a pipe full of crack.
In October 2019, the International Monetary Fund downgraded its global growth forecast with a stark warning for 2020 that “Global growth will fall to the lowest levels since 2008's great financial crisis.” Markets rejoiced and rocketed to new record highs because bad news is good news. Bad news signals more Federal Reserve interest rate cuts are on the way. On Wall Street, corks were popping, and Cristal champagne was flowing like water as the band played Milton Ager's 1929 classic ‘Happy Days Are Here Again’. Today, I realized the tune was foreshadowing a brutal beginning to 2020.

US Congress recently approved the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, legislation, which will provide $2 trillion for bailouts (called direct assistance) and loan guarantees as well as for the purchase of securities and/or stocks either directly from the companies or in the secondary markets. Besides CARES, the Federal Reserve Bank has committed to providing unlimited bailouts.

That's right, unlimited! And the Feds balance sheet reflects that — it’s surging well over $5 trillion and headed to infinity. Over the past twelve years, policies such as “unlimited bailouts” from our omnipotent global central bankers have destroyed markets' natural ability to properly value and price every investment product. All these products, across the board, are mispriced. Interest rates are a function of credit risk or how likely a company is to default on its loan obligations. Today, many corporate bond yields are near zero, implying a zero percent chance of default when the chances are much higher.

Interest rates and debt matter. Why? Because, the mandarins’ easy money policies, Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) and Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP), have led to either the misallocation or a dangerous malinvestment of capital, causing productivity growth to plummet. Malinvestment gave birth to a litter of billion-dollar market-capitalization “zombies.” These companies never have and never will make profits. Born in Silicon Valley, they will be buried in Death Valley.

The “official” US Treasury debt is over $23.5 trillion dollars. This debt calculation was before Congress served up the six-trillion-dollar US Treasury/US Federal Reserve Bank pork-barrel spending spree.

It is impossible to pay your way out of debt with borrowed money forever; there are real limits. Debt has real consequences. The more total public and private debt grow, the faster overall liabilities increase, making it likely an unexpected event will accelerate the tipping point, after which economies collapse. Need an example? Just look at what’s happening now. First, we have forty years of fiscal profligacy followed by a currency war and then a trade war. Finally, Covid-19 provided a spark that ignited a petrol-soaked tinder box, which triggered a collapse in asset prices that will kick-start a waterfall of credit defaults across various markets ending with bank failures.

I hate to be a party-pooper, but we are in denial about our “debt problem.” Fiscal gap calculations are the only way to accurately calculate the total debt. For that, one needs to include Congressional Budget Office data points to determine the current present value of the USA's unfunded liabilities. The use of that data is the only way to model the exact level of the country’s indebtedness. This number is likely to be higher than two hundred and fifty trillion dollars. Shocked? You better be. Let's face it — the US is bankrupt!
Read more:https://www.rt.com/op-ed/484286-covid-cares-act-bailout/

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Yes, Mr fearless Feierstein, money is the most important thing in the world. Remember your grandmother was not too happy being sold on the stock market, but you had so much fun screwing the highest bidder for outrageous auction fees! The US Bankrupt? Nothing new. The only thing that matters now is Fort Knox. The rest can be use as toilet paper — now more valuable amongst the unwashed, than dollars. 

Debt is only relative to the debtees and the debtors, but considering there is little difference presently and everyone — but a few billionaires — are sunk, It does not matter at what depth. As long as the price of toilet paper does not go through the roof...





Oh, yes we know the beeeelliionnnaires are annoyed that their billions are being diluted in a sea of debt. But they already have their toys, their private islands and their trophy women (or vice versa — as not to be sexist). The rest of us are only after a sandwich. 
So pack it in Mr Feierstein. When we get out of this, there will be so many mad people, some many damaged men and women, with PTSDs and psychological traumas that the profession of mind-fixer will or might turn to god for advice. It’s going to be ugly. 
Debt? Yes, Mr Feierstein, you might die of hunger, like King Midas, for your ability to turn everything into dollars… Cain was a bit more sensitive than you here — when he killed his brother because he wanted to copulate with Abel’s wife.

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DEBT COLLECTORS, facing growing demands to freeze the collection of debt across the country amid the economic hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic, are mobilizing their lobbyists to push back.

In New York, residents are receiving a 30-day reprieve from the collection of state-owned medical and student debt. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot this week similarly announced an end to the collection of city debt, including late parking fines, through at least April 30.

The momentum has reached the federal government. The Education Department is suspending collections on federal student loans and urging private collection agencies to stop pursuing borrowers. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, has sponsored legislation that prevents debt collectors from engaging in a variety of practices, such as disconnecting utility services or garnishing wages, until 120 days after a major disaster or emergency such as the current coronavirus crisis.

 

Read more:

https://theintercept.com/2020/03/27/debt-collection-industry-deems-itsel...

 

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an ATM... Picture by Gus Leonisky. Read from top.