CBO Budget Projections and the Horrors of Inflation

The pills that I thought were tranquilizers turned out to be vitamins, and although I am on the verge of some kind of mental breakdown because of the mix-up, I feel great!

Turning to the old tried and true, I soon learned that I had started too late, and I was not nearly drunk enough to have properly anesthetized my nerves when I chanced to read Agora Financial’s 5- Minute Forecast report that “The CBO’s latest numbers reveal that President Obama’s proposed fiscal 2011 budget would add $9.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.”

My hands shook and my guts churned at the horrific prospect of adding $9.7 trillion to the money supply, which means (I gulp in horror at the prospect) inflation in pieces like you never saw! Yikes!

I mean, (my voice rising in pitch and volume) the entire GDP of the USA is about $14 trillion, and the government wants to increase, over ten years, government spending by 70% of everything that this country currently makes!

Apparently eager to change the subject since I seem to be getting worked up about this and could, possibly, probably, almost certainly, damned near guaranteed, erupt into some loud Mogambo Hysterical Tirade (MHT) and make a shambles of everything, The 5 says, “Further, the CBO projects the national debt will be 90% of GDP by the end of this decade”, which I guess they thought would calm me down or something, but it didn’t, which was bad enough to cause me to have chest pains accompanied by loud howls of pain and outrage in another tiresome Screaming Mogambo Fit (SMF), but then went on to make it all worse by saying that debt will equal 90% of GDP, which is “higher than the 83.4% recorded at the end of fiscal 2009 last fall.”

Suddenly, there was an uproar as I jumped to my feet and shouted “What kind of bizarre crap is that? The national debt is already $12.5 trillion in a $14 trillion economy, and somehow you add $9.7 trillion to $12.5 trillion to get 90% of the economy which means that …that…that…”

Well, I knew what I meant to say, but did not have a calculator handy, and the security guards had me by the arms and were hustling me out of the room pretty quick.

I later found out that what I meant to say, but did not have the figures handy, is that this means that the CBO thinks that, unbelievably, in ten short years, a staggering $22 trillion of national debt will be 90% of the economy, which means that the CBO thinks that the economy in ten years will be, I gulp to report, $24 trillion, which is a whopping 71% higher than today! I am stunned!

What can one say but, “We are freaking doomed!”

Perhaps hearing my plaintive voice with its unmistakable undertone of angry paranoia and wanting me to calm down, The 5 says, “We’re 100% certain this comment will elicit the customary response: ‘Look at Japan, its debt is 170% of GDP…and it’s been running massive deficits for years!’”

I think to myself, “Okay, they just take time to raise the blade of the guillotine higher and higher, but the end result will be the same, and if anyone thinks that Japan proves otherwise, then I laugh the Mogambo Laugh Of Scorn (MLOS) at them and turn around to wave my buttocks in their faces in a final fillip of disrespect!”

The 5, in what I imagine is said with a deliciously snotty tone, says, “To which we can only sigh and respond: ‘Exactly.’”

Well, I can do more than that, because I am, after all, The Loudmouth Mogambo (TLM)! And I say that if all prices doubled, today, GDP (which measures spending) would instantly double, too! Hahahaha! Everything costs twice as much, but the economy looks like it boomed! Hahahaha! Welcome to Inflationary Hell!

I often marvel that it’s a good thing that the poor are usually ignorant or stupid, because if they could, or would, comprehend how this huge explosion of money is going to make prices rise and make them enormously poorer and more miserable, worse and worse, and probably for the rest of their lives, they would go freaking berserk.

As for the middle class, they are supposed to be smart and educated enough to know this stuff, but they don’t, and so they don’t understand the sheer enormity of how much poorer and miserable they will be for decades to come, either, and they will suffer, too.

Then there are those of us who are buying gold, silver and oil to protect ourselves against the ruinous, crushing, cataclysmic inflation in prices that this inflation in the money supply, and debt, will cause, because then, for us, it all becomes idle dilettantism and pleasure, which is, once you boil it down, the whole point of investing, isn’t it?

And could anything be easier? Whee! This investing stuff is easy!

CBO Budget Projections and the Horrors of Inflation originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning.

12 of 13 Industry Sectors to Add Staff In Q2


The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is conducted quarterly to measure employers’ intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce during the next quarter. It is the most extensive forward-looking survey of its kind, unparalleled in its size, scope, longevity and area of focus. The Survey has been running for more than 45 years and is one of the most trusted surveys of employment activity in the world. The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is based on interviews with over 61,000 public and private employers worldwide and is considered a highly respected economic indicator.

According to the Survey released on Tuesday, employers in most major labor markets expect to hire in the second quarter at a pace equal to, or stronger than, the same period last year.

Many employers have yet to reach their pre-downturn hiring pace, but prospects in the Asia Pacific, the Americas, Europe, and the US, are all registering modest improvements compared to three months ago and the same period last year. Employer hiring intentions are strongest in India, Brazil and Taiwan.

In the US, nearly three-quarters of employers surveyed say they plan to keep staff levels stable, Manpower said, while 12 of 13 industry sectors surveyed said they plan to add staff during the second-quarter. “We continue to see encouraging signs in hiring activity in the U.S.,” said Manpower CEO Jeff Joerres in a statement. “Key industries such as manufacturing and construction are seeing notable improvements on a year-over-year basis.”

The Manpower survey shows employers in 27 of 36 countries and territories expect some positive hiring activity in the second quarter. Employers in Panama were surveyed for the first time this quarter and report upbeat hiring plans for the next three months.

Of the 10 countries surveyed in the Americas region, hiring plans are stronger in comparison to one year ago in all countries where year-over-year data is available and stronger in six countries quarter-over-quarter. Regional hiring plans are again strongest in Brazil, Costa Rica and Peru. At the same time, hiring expectations from U.S. employers are stronger than those reported in the second quarter of 2009.

The survey adds to a mounting list of evidence that labor markets have turned the corner with healthy net US job additions in the months to come.