Ireland Going the Greek Way; Will We Follow?

“It was the banks doing crazy loans, it was borrowers taking crazy loans and a failure by government and regulators to do their jobs properly,” said Sean Kay . . .. “There was no adult supervision.”

Sounds like the U. S.

Instead it's Ireland, in a Bloomberg article about Ireland on the Brink.

Right now the U. S. is in a "Japanese" phase of my concept of a duality I have dubbed going or being Japanecian (or, Grecianese). The Irish are going Grecian. They are accepting austerity (a depression with debt deflation and high real interest rates) to stay in the good graces of lenders. So long as the U. S. can keep adding to its debt with central bank money created out of thin air, a la Japan, said debt replacing income to the government coming the traditional way from private sector taxes, then interest rates can continue to trend down. If that happens, then the long end of the yield curve will break to very low levels, no matter how high traders price the yields now. With 3-month T-bills at the same level as Japan's, at a trivial 0.12% annualized yield, that's my working hypothesis now.

At some point, however, the Grecian phase of a debt crisis can come to America.

Got gold?

Copyright (C) Long Lake LLC 2010

Chaos in Copenhagen as Attendees Freeze Outdoors and Transit System Goes Blooey

The NYT reports that China and U.S. Hit Strident Impasse at Climate Talks:

COPENHAGEN — China and the United States were at an impasse on Monday at the United Nations climate change conference here over how compliance with any treaty could be monitored and verified.

China, which last month for the first time publicly announced a target for reducing the rate of growth of its greenhouse gas emissions, is refusing to accept any kind of international monitoring of its emissions levels, according to negotiators and observers here. The United States is insisting that without stringent verification of China’s actions, it cannot support any deal.

The stalemate came on a day of public and private brinkmanship as the talks moved into their second and final week. Earlier Monday, a group of poor nations staged a brief walkout from the bargaining table, and a chaotic registration system left thousands of attendees freezing outside the conference hall and forced the temporary closing of the subway stop near the Bella Center, where the meetings are being held.

The slow progress of the climate negotiations could pose problems later in the week, when the heads of government begin arriving. It is not customary for so many technical, financial and emotional issues to be unsettled when national leaders sit down to negotiate an agreement.

This appears to be a poorly-produced show. I wouldn't know, but is it possible that that President both has too much on his plate and would be helped by being more decisive?

Copyright (C) Long Lake LLC 2009