Thursday, November 12, 2009

Geithner Is Kidding, Right?

"U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the government's borrowing needs would be substantially less than expected"

If he made that statement in front of an audience of Chinese university students, he would have been laughed out of the auditorium.  I'm thinking he forgot to take the speech that Robert Rubin had prepared for him and he was ad-libbing.  Clearly, his tax-dodging was a result of a complete lack of math skills.  The arithmetic is pretty simple:  when the Government increases its spending at an increasing rate, and at the same time revenues fall off even more quickly (I guess that's really simple calculus - sorry Tim), you have a situation which requires the Government to borrow at an increasing rate to make up for the gap between spending and revenues.

I guess if the Government were to pull out of Afghanistan, rescind the unemployment insurance extension, fire most of Obama's useless Czars plus staff, cut off FNM, FRE, GM, C, AIG and its other corporate welfare projects, shelve Obama's Stimulus 2...the list really goes on and on and on and on....I guess Tiny-Brain Tim could make a case that the U.S. might actually slow down its appetite for more Treasury debt and not look like a retard.

Until then Tim, stick with the speech your masters prepare for you.  Both you and your boss are terrible at speaking off-teleprompter.

******************
Speaking of the Devil - Welcome to Tim's "Animal Farm."  The Government released the details of the monthly budget for its first fiscal month of 2010.  Here's the details from Bloomberg News:
The Treasury's deficit totaled a no-surprise but still massive $176.4 billion in October, the first month of the government's fiscal year. The year-ago October deficit was $155.5 billion. Latest receipts are down a year-on-year 18 percent with outlays up 6%
Please note that "outlays" do not include the billions being spent on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  One of Obama's first acts as Presidents was to move the Fannie/Freddie expenditures "off budget."  If you want to really see how much the Government net outlays are, you need to watch the increase in Treasury debt outstanding.  I don't have that number handy but, as we all know, the Government is hitting the latest Treasury debt ceiling this month and will need to have the ceiling raised once again in December, or we won't be getting our unemployment checks or food stamps and Goldman won't be getting paid for doing God's work.

11 comments:

  1. Liar, liar hair on fire!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL...dude, watching the game tonight? I'm considering hooking up the NFL network. Need to see the rest of the schedule. It would be hilarious if I took my plate of dinner into the basement to watch the game tonight - Carrol has no idea about the NFL network Thursday games LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Strong dollar policy" [translation: weak dollar policy]

    "Substantially less" [translation: substantially more]

    ...just take the opposite of what he says and you'll get an accurate picture of what's going on!

    ReplyDelete
  4. LOL Bill - Orwellian-speak for sure. Welcome to "Animal Farm"

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dave,
    How about using TARP money to make the budget gap smaller? Using fake borrowed money to pay down a real debt, what a wonderful world! When can I do this?

    I have NFL network, and the redzone Sunday show is way cool.

    ReplyDelete
  6. LOL gyc. The most irritating thing about this Administrations bullshit is that they issue these comments like, "TARP payback will reduce our borrowing needs, or the healthcare bill will lower the deficit or the stimuls money saved almost 700k jobs." And yet, it's so easy to prove that they are either lying or retarded. They must assume that 90% of the country is ignorant and uninformed, and the 10% who get it don't determine elections.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dave,
    I have come to a different conclusion based on conversations with regular people, so all disclaimers apply;
    Most I talk to know what the deal is (bad) but feel they cannot do anything about it and just want to be left alone. Sad thing is they can do something about it, but I have failed to stir even an attempt from those I know.

    Reminds me of the classic Howard Beale rant from "Network" I just do not know what else to do.

    PS
    Denver should get real healthy against the Skins this weekend, yes? Its not like you are playing the Colts, heaven help us.

    ReplyDelete
  8. gyc, you're right. more like 70-80% don't get it and those who do get it are in denial. but i run into many many people who think real estate is good value right now, the stock market is cheap, etc etc. I speak to a lot of potential upper middle class and wealthy prospective investors for my fund, and very few of them understand just how bad things really are. even more pathetic, it's incredible how many of them can listen to our investment thesis and still be of the view that the dollar is fine. these are mainly well-educated, self-made people.

    The Redskins are not a layup win. They can't put points on the board, they have a tough defense. If Denver, on the road, can't put points on the board once again, and they let the Redskins hang around, anything can happen. "Any Given Sunday" LOL.

    McDaniels made a change on the offensive line and hopefully he'll make some changes to his play calling - as in, let Orton air it out downfield a bit.

    How about Cutler tossing 5 picks? WOW. Even if Hester doesn't slip and knocks that ball down, it was still 4 picks, 2 in the red zone. He's thrown 9 red zone picks this year - the next closest is 3 QB's with 4 red zone picks.

    McDaniel's judgement there about Cutler is looking better and better.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kranny,

    People want to feel good, it is our nature. They can't be bothered with the responsibility of either heirarchal governement or the obligation of unity.

    Tis what it tis and I doubt it will change until the bullet exits the barrel. Too late then amigo... for all the doublespeak, there ought to be dsiclaimers on anything media: "Caution, this is designed to pick your pocket, retard any thoguht process and appeal to your aspirational self interest.

    I'll line up a pirate for exit on Isla Morada see you in early March~!

    Adios Mi Amigo,

    Mac

    ReplyDelete
  10. My local paper is hilarious. Yesterday, they ran a story more or less ridiculing people for buying gold at these levels (complete with a quote from a stockbroker telling people that if you must buy gold, buy an ETF, not the real stuff). Now, in today's paper, there's a front page article, proclaiming how strong the local housing market is, complete with quotes from a realtor, a homebuilder, and some young airhead couple who just bought a house because they're tired of "making money for a landlord."

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Mac - March is too early - the snow peaks in March and I plan on skiing as much as can - line the pirate up for April.

    @anonymous: both stories are hilarious. how can there possibly be a top in gold and a bottom in real estate when you hear that kind of noise from the hoi polloi? Ask that couple for whom they'll be working when they're county jacks up the real estate by several multiples in order to keep policemen, firefighters, and teachers employed...

    ReplyDelete