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Who’s Buying all that U.S. Debt?

On July 12, 2010, in Bonds, Debt, by Tim

James Hamilton looks at who’s been lending the U.S. Treasury Department so much money over the last couple of years in this item over at his Econbrowser blog.

Change in holdings of U.S. Treasury securities between December 31, 2007
and December 31, 2009. Data source: Flow of Funds, Table L.209.

Aside from a bigger increase in the Banks category, I’m not sure what I was expecting to see. Weren’t the big banks supposedly borrowing from the Fed at zero percent and using that money to buy Treasuries at a higher rate? Interestingly, over just the last year, the Money Market Mutual Fund category has dropped sharply – since the end of 2007, it’s doubled from $200 billion, but it was as high as $577 billion at the height of the financial crisis.

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Our Short Sale Offer – Two Months In

On July 12, 2010, in Banks, Housing, Personal, by Tim

It is my heartfelt desire NOT to make updating our short-sale offer a monthly event here, but, so far, that appears to be where things are headed. Now two months into the process, my wife and I have little to show for our effort other than some frazzled nerves and a little more insight into how this process works.

For those of you new to the story, recall that exactly two months ago we made an offer on a place here in Bozeman, Montana and with doe-eyes I asked Would You Buy a Short Sale?

Little did I know how accurate  “the ‘black hole of lender review” characterization would prove to be for our offer.

A month later in June, this update was filed where, re-reading it just a few moments ago, the angst was clearly growing. At the time, we thought we had an upper limit for getting a response to our offer as I noted, “the last we were told was the bank would take its normal 30-45 days to respond”.

Well, surprise! The 45-day mark came and went with nothing more than a few comforting words from the two realtors involved who, presumably, would like to get the sale done and earn their commission as much or, probably, more than we’d still like to get the house.

(more…)

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Yuck! American Consumers are Nasty!

On July 12, 2010, in Consumerism, Our Culture, by Tim

It’s not clear exactly how they went about picking the photos that went along with this USA Today story about how American consumerism is (thankfully) finally beginning to change. But, surely they took more than two pictures of the subject Hundley family and had a better choice than the one you see below of young Brian Hundley.

The report discusses how we Americans are changing our spending habits, for example, buying items like $6,500 outdoor pizza ovens to go alongside our ginormous outdoor grills instead of gaudy jewelry and Mediterranean cruises. But, it’s not hard to come to the conclusion that either the story’s author or editor don’t quite think that’s enough.

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Federal Workers are Mostly Happy These Days

On July 12, 2010, in Economy, by Tim

Well, it’s nice to see that Federal Government workers are pleased with their employment situation as reported in the Washington Post today, President Obama’s approval rating no doubt much higher amongst this group than with the public at large.

In these times of high unemployment and economic uncertainty, federal workers are continuing a trend of job satisfaction, giving the Obama administration good marks for its leadership of agencies though remaining skeptical on a key point: that career advancement in the government is based on merit.
…
Three-quarters of respondents said they feel a sense of personal accomplishment, 8 in 10 like the work they do, and more than 90 percent think it is important. In addition, two-thirds of respondents said they’re satisfied with their pay.

“Like everybody who has a job right now, they’re grateful for it,” said John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, which conducted the survey. OPM has conducted the review every other year since 2002 and plans to do so annually from now on.
…
Just over one-third of workers said they think promotions are based on merit. And though most are satisfied with their pay, they are less happy with some benefits, especially child-care and elder-care options. In addition, things might be heading south among workers. Seventy-five percent of respondents said they’re able to cooperate with colleagues to complete their job, but the question scored nine points lower than two years ago.

It may be hard for the 15 million jobless and, in particular, the 2 million unemployed that are set to lose their weekly $300 checks over the next month to sympathize with those complaints about child-care and elder-care benefit options.

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This Sick Man of the West (Jobs Edition)

On July 12, 2010, in Economy, by Tim

This weekend WSJ story about the dearth of job creation in the U.S. contained an excellent graphic that has been combined into a more concise form below, a clear demonstration of how poorly the U.S. economy is doing in bringing back those jobs lost during the recession.

Surely Congress is aware of this as they reconvene after a short break, faced with a bevy of related reports such as  End of Census, and for Many, End of Job in today’s NY Times and the AP’s Analysis: How 2 million lost jobless benefits.

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Monday Morning Links

On July 12, 2010, in Uncategorized, by Tim

MUST READS
End of Census, and for Many, End of Job – NY Times
Analysis: How 2 million lost jobless benefits – AP
Asia faces risks from rising capital flows: IMF – Reuters
China property prices drop for first time in 16 months – SMH
A shift in meaning for ‘luxury’ as shopping habits change – USA Today
California’s stimulus funding starts to run dry – Sacramento Bee
More Americans’ credit scores sink to new lows – AP
The Con of the Decade Part I – Of Two Minds
Who’s buying all that debt? – Econbrowser

MARKETS/INVESTING
Oil falls below $76 ahead of US company earnings – AP
Gold retreats as dollar firms, investment wanes – Reuters
How the Dow Can Escape the Great Depression Pattern – CNBC
Small Investors Flee Stocks, Changing Market Dynamics – WSJ
Secret gold swap has spooked the market – Telegraph
Should you buy energy stocks now? – Fortune
Misallocating Resources – Hussman Funds

ECONOMY/WORLD/HOUSING/FED
Trending Toward Deflation – Krugman, NY Times
Congress is back, so is the spending debate – CNN/Money
Revised data show deeper U.K. recession – MarketWatch
EU Under Pressure to Spell Out Stress Tests – Bloomberg
Crisis Awaits World’s Banks as Trillions Come Due – NY Times
Housing Gets Sick on Keynesian Roller Coaster – Bloomberg
Housing risk ‘as low as you’ll ever see’ – O.C. Register
Federal Reserve worry list gets longer – Reuters
The Feckless Fed – Krugman, NY Times

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