Michael Jordan and the B-Ball Inequality

Michael Jordan and the B-Ball Inequality

MKI know that this may come as a surprise to many of my regular readers, but I have a confession to make.  Michael Jordan is a better basketball player than I.  This basketball skill spread needs to be addressed. He shouldn’t be that much better than I. It isn’t fair.  No matter how much I practice, no matter what coaching I get, no matter how hard I train in the gym and follow a strictly regimented diet, he will always be better than I.  Unfortunately for Mike, the only way to address this issue, (given that there is a clear cap to my potential at 5’8″ with a proportional wingspan and at best, only slightly better than average springs) is to handicap him.  Now wouldn’t the world be a better place if the difference in our abilities were materially reduced?

You probably get where I’m going with this.  Before anyone gets into a tizzy and starts making all kinds of accusations about how mean and uncaring I am.  There is a serious problem today with respect to income, but the problem, thus the cure, isn’t what is preached in the popular media.

The billionaires at Davos, in what can only be described as irony of epic proportions, all agreed that “Severe income inequality” is one of the top 10 global risks of greatest concern for 2014.  You can read the report here.

So let’s break this problem down.  When people talk about income inequality there is a knee-jerk assumption that by definition, income inequality is bad, which in reality is quite destructive to society as a whole.  It intuitively doesn’t make sense that as a society we should strive to have income equality where regardless of what value an individual generates, income ought to be equal.  The guy who chooses to work 3 days a week sweeping floors at the local Walmart clearly should not enjoy the same income as Steve Jobs! So some degree of income inequality is Ok, right?  But not too much?  Hmmm, ok, then how much?  Who gets to decide how much is too much and how do they make that determination?  Then how do they enforce it? How do we trust that the person we give such enormous power to won’t abuse that power?  For argument’s sake let’s say they don’t.  What about their successor?  How likely is it that we continue to have only angelic geniuses that are able to manipulate society into a Utopian income spread without ever falling prey to corruption and graft?  So far the record throughout history doesn’t lead one to believe that is it all likely.

I spend a great deal of my time in Italy, where I sadly witness first-hand the awful consequences of this sort of societal structure.  If I get paid roughly the same amount whether I work my tail off and take risks trying to improve my performance or if I put in essentially the bare minimum level of effort, why try?  I see this everywhere.  Incredibly bright people who could be innovating like crazy, coming up with all kinds of solutions that would benefit their companies and eventually their nation are beaten down by a system that provides no incentive for those who really try to do something great.  Those who are naturally innovators want desperately to try new things, take risks, but for them there is only downside risk.  They can’t improve their income level through hard work and risk taking.  They only risk annoying their colleagues and supervisors by trying to improve things.  Status quo is the rational choice.  Notice the level of innovation coming out of Italy and its rate of growth!?

I sit at dinner and hear the agony in my friend’s voices as they vent their frustrations and their anger at how a colleague who does very little gets paid roughly the same as they do.  This type of structure infects relationships because it forces people to live in a lie, a lie which is painfully obvious to everyone. The guy who barely shows up to the office and only does the bare minimum knows that the guy who’s working his tail off, (he can’t help but try as innovation is in his DNA) is angry that they both get paid roughly the same.  They both are aware of the resentments, but are powerless to do anything about it because society tells them that this is a far better way to live.  It is more fair. What the hell?  More fair that those who are willing to sacrifice and take risks are basically barred from enjoying any benefit from doing so?  My Italian friends all talk wistfully about how great it would be to work in the U.S. where at least there they can hope to get rewarded for accomplishing something great.

As for the U.S., I struggle to see where this horrific trend we keep hearing about is evidenced.  The table below is from an excellent study by Alan Reynolds of the Cato Institute.  You can read the entire report here. The data does not prove out the claims, at least in the U.S..  The bottom two quartiles and the top quartile enjoyed nearly the same increase in income on a percentage basis from 1989 – 2007.  From 2007 – 2010, the bottom quartile experienced a rise in income, while all others experienced a decline.

Now where is inequality a problem?  Barriers and disincentives to improve one’s lot in life ARE problems.  Subsidies such as those in the Affordable Care Act put the poor in a veritable poverty trap in that as they work to improve their situation, the subsidies are taken away at such a pace as to make them far better off overall working less.  That is both demeaning to the individual and immoral in that it forces others to eternally be enslaved to subsidize their fellow citizen, despite the reality that the guy being subsidized may desperately want to get out of his situation, but is faced with overwhelming incentives that keep him dependent, resentful and demoralized.

There is also something horribly wrong with a system in which savers are punished through financial repression.  The Federal Reserve, by keeping interest rates low, forces savers to go into inappropriately risky investments just to try and get a reasonable return.  Those who are already wealthy and are able to invest heavily in the stock market enjoy out-sized returns courtesy of the Fed’s QEInfinity as evidenced by the 90% correlation between the Fed’s balance sheet and the stock market starting in 2008.  Previously the correlation was essentially 0!

The free market system is far from perfect, full of all kinds of flaws, but it is infinitely better than anything else out there.  There are no angelic, omniscient bureaucrats that can manipulate our world into a more Utopian state.  Be wary of any who claim they can.

100 Years of the Federal Reserve

100 Years of the Federal Reserve

There was a time when no one, outside perhaps the most esoteric economic geek circles, could name the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Those days are now long gone as the Fed has taken a much more active role in the economy and the various Fed Presidents and Chairman have evolved into media cult figures, perhaps less riveting than the latest Kardashian marriage collapse, but financially far more provocative.

 

The Fed’s current focus is clearly helping Uncle Sam reflate out of the government’s enormous mountain of debt. The chart on the next page shows the mountain of debt that has been created by impressive levels of spending from both sides of the aisle for a truly bi-partisan mess. The deficit is now almost three times what it was seven years ago, while debt service costs are at about the same level, thanks to Fed sponsored suppression of interest rates. The Fed effectively has complete control of the market for longer-dated Treasuries, with its holdings of bonds with a maturity greater than 10 years increasing by $154 billion through June of this year, (latest data available from the Fed) to a total of over $500 billion. Meanwhile the total outstanding level of such debt, privately held interest-bearing, grew a measly $9.6 billion for a total of $809 billion.


For those of you who enjoy a monetary policy geek-fest, the following summary of comments from the various speakers at the Cato Institute’s Monetary Policy Conference on November 14th, including current Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser may be of great interest. I’ll do my best to keep it lively.

 

Charles Plosser opened the conference with a discussion of how many of the both implicit and explicit limits on central banks around the world have been challenged over the past few decades and most dramatically since the financial crisis. He believes the Fed entered into the realm of fiscal policy when it began purchasing non-Treasury securities such as mortgage-backed securities and referenced Milton Friedman’s warning in 1967 that, “We are in danger of assigning to Monetary Policy a greater task than it can accomplish.” Over the past 40 years, it is clear that we have failed to heed Friedman’s warning, with the Fed doing a poor job of aligning expectations with what it is actually capable of accomplishing. Plosser warned that increasing the scope of the Fed’s mandate opens the door for highly discretionary policies, acknowledging that a rules-based approach is unattractive for the majority of policy makers as it ties their hands.,Discretion is the antithesis of commitment, something most politicians loathe. If the Fed gave itself less discretion, it would be held more accountable. He pointed out that the current climate of guess-my-mood communication on the Fed’s part leads investors to make unwise gambles, as they try to read the mysterious tea leaves of Fed speak, such as the recent market tumult over taper talk.

 

Jerry Jordan, the former President of the Cleveland Federal Reserve expanded on Plosser’s comments, pointing out that the existence of a Central Bank with discretionary power essentially guarantees the emergence of moral hazard with the resulting power to grant permission and regulate with discretion, opening the door to crony capitalism. To large banks, their PACs, (Political Action Committees) are often more impactful on their bottom line than their own management. (Shocker, businesses as well as individuals respond to incentives!) He referenced the Fed’s recent report on the impact of quantitative easing on the economy stating that if there is any relationship between economic growth and quantitative easing, it is a remarkably well kept secret, instigating a round of chuckles from the audience. He pointed out that most economists understand that monetary policy cannot correct the mistakes of the rest of government, even though the Fed is currently doing its best to defy that assessment. He argued that central bank independence is a myth, at least during a financial crisis, because once a central bank takes its first steps to support the economy, there is no way out that does not involve collateral damage. That, by definition, prompts pressure from bureaucrats. He believes that exiting the current zero interest rate regime will be exceedingly complex and it will be impossible to escape without considerable financial market volatility. He seconded Plosser’s assessment of the Fed’s move into fiscal policy, asserting that traditional views of monetary policy and its impact are no longer useful as monetary policy has become fiscal policy. This move into fiscal policy has served to increase market volatility as no one can say with certainty, which entities will receive support during a crisis and for how long. Once again, discretion comes at a price.

 

Cato President and CEO John Allison, (former CEO of BB&T Corp, a U.S bank with over $180 billion in assets) discussed the impact he saw of government actions on his former bank. He pointed out that the Patriot Act and the federal privacy policy are in conflict with each other, leading to discretionary enforcement and application by regulators, which opens the door for corruption. He observed one of the great fallacies of current conventional wisdom is that there was financial deregulation under President George W. Bush which led to the crisis. Instead, Allison stated that there was actually a net increase in regulation if you look at the quantity and complexity of the regulations before and after his term. He believes that regulators greatly exacerbated the panic that hit the markets during the financial crisis by effectively suspending the rule of law and greatly increasing their level of discretion. No one had confidence in just what were the rules of the game, nor was there any clarity on who would be bailed out, who wouldn’t, and at what cost and for how long.

 

Kevin Dowd, Professor of Finance and Economics, Durham University, reinforced John Allison’s assertions, pointing out that the original Federal Reserve Act is about 32 pages long. The Glass-Steagall Act is under 40 pages long. The Volker Rule is just under 550 pages. Dodd-Frank, so far, is nearly 850 pages with most expecting it to total around 20,000 pages or more when all the discretionary bits are worked out. Notice a trend in the timeline here? The more complex the regulations, the more costly it is to enforce them, and to comply with them, creating a bias towards ever larger financial institutions, and increasing the opportunity for corruption.

 

For those of you who’d like a bit more, aside from suggesting you look into therapy as my family reiterates every holiday, I recommend going to this site to watch clips of some of the presentations. Despite the gloomy potential, there were frequent rounds of boisterous laughter, albeit the geeky economist style which I enjoy more than I ought to admit.

Interest Rates and National Debt

Interest Rates and National Debt

Interest-Rates-and-National-DebtThe Federal Reserve has been under considerable pressure to provide details for just how it will control all the excess liquidity that it has created through quantitative easing. The Fed’s balance sheet, which can roughly be thought of as a proxy for the potential money supply, is almost 2.4 times the size it was in 2007. Last month I discussed how excess bank reserves have skyrocketed to nearly $1.7 trillion after having historically averaged near zero since the inception of the Federal Reserve. The Fed has argued that it will be able to slowly raise interest rates and carefully reign in those excess funds to prevent rampant inflation. This is something that has never in history been accomplished, so there is no clear roadmap for how to do this successfully, but for argument’s sake, let’s assume that the Fed is indeed capable. The question then becomes, “How will rising interest rates affect the economy and investing?” One of the largest impacts of rising interest rates will be on the financials of the federal government. The chart above shows the U.S. National Debt from 1950 to 2012 (left hand axis) and the annual deficit/surplus (right hand axis). The current national debt is over $16 trillion. Over the past 5 years, the annual deficit has averaged $1.4 trillion. The national debt as a percent of GDP is almost double what it was in 2007. The annual deficit is 9 times the size it was in 2007. The recent sequester cuts sent D.C. into apoplectic fits with dire warnings of impending doom, however those “cuts”, according to the Congressional Budget Office, represented a decrease in the amount of spending increase that is less than the total increase, which means there will still be an increase in net spending after the sequester, (see Congressional Budget Office “Final Sequestration Report for Fiscal Year 2013” published March 2013). Given the emotional hoopla and doomsday rhetoric, it is reasonable to assume that the current level of deficit spending is unlikely to decrease significantly anytime soon.

The current 10 year Treasury interest rate is about 1.8%. It reached its lowest level in July 2012 at 1.53% and the highest rate was 15.32% in September 1981 when Paul Volker put the kibosh on inflation. The historical average rate has been about 4.6%. The current annual interest payment on the debt is just over $220 billion. If interest rates were to rise to only the historical average of 4.6%, that would be an increase of 2.8%, which would be an increase of nearly $110 billion, if we assume for simplicity that all the new issuance is a 10 year terms. (The reality is that some would be shorter term, some would be longer, and this is just meant to give an approximation to illustrate the magnitude of the impact.) That means interest expense on the debt would increase a whopping 50% in the next year. If the deficit spending continued at about the same rate for the next 6 years, annual debt interest payments would become the government’s costliest expense by 2020. For every year that we continue to deficit spend, increasing the national debt, the magnitude of the impact of rising interest rates increases.

That puts the Federal Reserve into quite a pickle if the economy does in fact gets some legs and inflation ignites. Don’t raise rates and face punishing inflation. Raise rates and D.C. is going to be put under even more pressure to reduce spending. No wonder Chairman Ben Bernanke has been giving subtle indications that he isn’t keen on yet another term as Chairman!

GDP and Corporate Growth

GDP and Corporate Growth

GDP and Corporate Growth

None of the four major components of the business cycle, (real income, sales, production and employment) have managed to get back to their 2007 highs, even now as we enter the fifth year of the recovery. This is truly a record, if an unfortunate one.

The chart above shows the continual stop and go pattern that has been GDP growth since the financial crisis. Never before in modern history has the U.S. experienced this many post-recession quarters without having at least one back-to-back 3% plus growth in GDP.  The first quarter of 2013 was reported on Friday April 26th to have grown by 2.5%, while the second quarter of 2013 is currently forecasted to be below 2%.

Corporate Earnings

As we head into the first quarter’s earnings season, 78% of companies have issued negative earnings preannouncements, the highest percentage of companies issuing negative earnings guidance since FactSet began tracking the data in Q1 2006.

The chart above shows in red, the percent of negative preannouncements by quarter and in green the percent of positive preannouncements with the S&P in blue. This is a troublesome trend to say the least and has us watching the market movement carefully. Eventually, stock market growth must be supported by corporate earnings growth and the trend for the past 11 quarters has been fewer and fewer positive corporate earnings surprises, as this chart clearly illustrates. The quantitative easing objective of driving up stock prices in order to create a wealth effect that leads to consumers and businesses spending more is not translating into better than expected corporate earnings.

 

The New, New Normal

I’m fairly certain that when the G20 convened, many of the attendees believed that as a result of their high-minded meetings, some brilliant announcement would be given to the markets and once again the world would be deemed safe, at least for a little while.  Instead, the Cannes meeting ended with no solutions and not even a pledge to find solutions. Is this the new normal?  Papandreou is on his way out, which means the odds for passage of the latest rescue plan are improving, but at this point, that means very little for long-term Greek prospects.

Last week the ECB reversed its rate increase from earlier this year, cutting short-term lending rates by 25 basis points to 1.25%.  This should hardly come as a surprise with the Eurozone economy deteriorating at a faster pace than was expected.  Markit, a global financial information services company, reported that Eurozone GDP fell at a quarterly rate of 0.5% in October with little chance for a pick up in the near term.  Output fell and new order inflows contracted at the fastest pace since June 2009.  Eurozone PMI fell to a 28 month low of 46.5 in October, dropping from 49.1 in September.  This is the sharpest drop since November 2008.

In Germany, whose strength has been keeping Europe afloat, industrial production dropped 2.7% in September, on the heels of a 0.4% drop in August.  German factory orders dropped 4.3% in September.

One of the most concerning trends last week was the rise in Italian bond yields, with the 10 year soaring at one point to 6.64% while at the same time German bund yields dropped 2 basis points to 1.79%.  Italy is rapidly approaching the levels that pushed Greece, Ireland and Portugal into bailout mode, but this time the stakes are markedly higher.  Italy’s economy is the 8th largest in the world and its bond market is the third largest!  That’s a bigger problem that all the aforementioned nations combined and it is highly unlikely that Berlusconi’s majority government will survive.  Contagion anyone?  Over the weekend Italy rejected an offer for IMF assistance, but conceded to intensive monitoring with published quarterly fiscal results.  Talk about too little too late!

It is amazing to think that just 11 days ago, on October 27th, the market soared on promises that the EFSF would magically be expanded and levered up by some as yet still unidentified sources and all would be well in the world!  Once again, China was touted as being keen on getting involved.  Is anyone really surprised at this point that they aren’t?  Then in what can only be described as irony on a global scale, the ECB left China after being rejected and headed over to Japan, who debt to GDP is nearing a mind-boggling 228%, with hat in hand looking for support.  That’s like going to the neighborhood crack dealer in search of rehab options!

Italy is now clearly being targeted as the next bailout candidate, but there just isn’t enough firepower to handle the land of linguine.  It needs to refinance $413 billion in the coming year with market rates currently at levels that it simply cannot afford.  How much more can the ECB take on?  They’ve already bought over $100 billion of Italian bonds since August, with very little impact on yields.

Greece’s default appears more likely and more imminent that ever before and there are entirely too many under-capitalized European banks, which means, systemic risk.  This coming at a time when Italy, (remember that this is the 8th largest economy in the world) will need to refinance $413 billion!  Ah fusilli!

For anyone who thinks that Europe’s woes won’t creep across the pond, keep in mind that between 15% and 20% of S&P500 sales and exports are derived from Europe.  Europe is also China’s largest export market, so this has significant global implications outside of the danger to credit markets.

Bottom line – there is no end in sight to the Eurozone debt crisis and the U.S. will not go unscathed.  To make it even more exciting, countries responsible for half of global GDP will be holding elections in the next year, and we all know how candidates love to take advantage of a crisis and stir the pot!  Volatility and fear will be the norm.  Invest accordingly.

Bernanke is watching you

On September 27th, Freedom Fighters Chris Cotter, Nancy Skinner, and Lenore Hawkins discussed the Fed’s plans to monitor the Internet, and why Coca-Cola is choosing China.

How and Why of Greek Debt

How and Why of Greek Debt

When a nation has more debt than it can manage, it has two options (1) inflate its way out by printing more money or (2) restructure the debt.

Typically the most politically feasible solution is to inflate.  Generally wages tend to keep up to some degree with inflation, so the employed feel as if they are getting a raise and don’t gripe too much.  Those in the population who have debts prefer inflation as the relative “cost” of their debt decreases over time, e.g. with 5% inflation, debt declines in real terms by 5% every year.  It is the savers who suffer most as they watch inflation eating away at what they’ve built – in a converse to inflation reducing debt, savings declines in value by 5% every year.  This is why inflation is often referred to as a hidden tax.

The Europeans cannot inflate their way out of too much debt for the PIIGS as the U.S. is way ahead of them in the race to the bottom and they have conflicting needs across countries.  A monetary union without a political, fiscal and cultural union is complicated at best.  So why the continued kick the can?  The largest banks (German Deutsche Bank, the French BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Crédit Agricole SA among many others) have not increased their reserve capital, which would dilute shareholders, and do not want to take losses on their significant holdings of PIIGS bonds.  The euphemistic “restructuring” of these bonds would by definition require some sort of write down in value for the banks.http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Who-holds-Greek-debt.jpg

Bank’s hold these bonds as assets on their balance sheets.  They are required to maintain a certain level of assets relative to the amount of loans they give.  If the value of their assets were to suddenly drop, they could find themselves in violation of the regulations concerning this ratio.  As you can imagine – that is not good for the banking sector and lending!  We saw the last time this occurred the credit markets effectively shut down, any type of borrowing was nearly impossible, and the engine of the global economy geared way down.

So how did the U.S. get out of the bog in which the Eurozone is currently mired?  In the Spring of 2009, the U.S. banks were eventually forced to raise hard common equity that was then used to absorb losses on loans.  The fixed income market did bottom out in the Fall of 2008, but when banks sought this equity, their stocks did not wither on the vine, albeit life wasn’t exactly rosy.  Rather than taking this approach, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the German and French banks are giving Greece just enough liquidity to roll their debt, not the permanent equity investments that were made here in the U.S.  The Euro approach is just a temporary patch on a cracking dam.  Only when the European banks raise equity, as we did here, and the PIIGS debt is restructured will there be a true resolution.

Dollar continues its decline

Dollar continues its decline

Today saw the dollar continue to drop, slipping to below 74 before closing at 74.27, getting closer and closer to the March 2008 low. In turn, commodities are making new highs with gold closing above $1,500 and silver above $46. The cyclically sensitive currencies like the Aussie dollar and the Canadian loonie are strengthening as well against the dollar. Even the Euro, with all its debt challenges is stomping on the greenback, apparently unaffected by all the talk of debt restructuring. Emerging market currencies continue to firm against the dollar and as one would expect, stocks rise against our falling currency.

We expect that the Fed will work out a way to extend its program of quantitative easing, possibly using funds from the maturing mortgages on its books. If this indeed does occur, the push into risk assets will most likely intensify and the trade deficit will decline.

What does Fiscal or Monetary Policy mean?

What does Fiscal or Monetary Policy mean?

We hear a lot of talk about which government policies can help get the economy back on its feet. I thought I’d provide a quick cheat sheet on just what these various terms actually mean.

This chart shows the complete list of tools that the federal government has to affect the economy.  There are two main types of policy, monetary and fiscal.  When you hear monetary policy think Federal Reserve.  When you hear fiscal policy, think IRS and federal spending.

The Federal Reserve can alter two things to affect the economy, the Fed Funds rate and the Money Supply.

Interest Rates:  The Federal Funds target rate is the interest rate at which private depository institutions, (mostly banks) lend the funds they hold at the Federal Reserve to each other, generally overnight.  It can be thought of as the rate banks charge each other.  This target rate is identified in a meeting of the members of the Federal Open Market Committee which usually meets eight times a year.  The New York Fed affects this rate by trading government securities.

Money Supply:  The Federal Reserve typically alters the money supply by increasing or decreasing bank reserves.  (See prior post on Fractional Reserve Banking for details on bank reserves.)

Tax and Spend:  What else need be said?  Fiscal policy involves the government increasing or decreasing taxes and the amount of federal spending, which let’s face it, pretty much just goes up.