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Uh, that's exactly the problem, it's an exponential function. You don't realize there's a problem until you're in the vertical part of the curve. Best way I had it explained to me was this: Assume you have some container that's entirely empty save for a single one-celled organism that...

Define "centralized clearing" for 20-odd countries. Sounds no different, and no more workable, then a currency union. It won't work in the absence of uniform political, legal and regulatory systems underneath it to support it. Best you'll get otherwise is a spin on the current central...

I agree, but only back when the coin of the realm was gold or silver. Consolidating anything requires a plan, and the plan is pointless unless you build it to last. We're in the age of fiat money and it looks to have lasted about 100 years. Not too long. If those who built this...

Celente? Never heard of him. Odd that's case, with his supposedly great track record. Funny how Nostradamus isn't being mentioned lately... As for Armageddon, the Apocalypse, whatever. People have been yapping about it coming for centuries. Eventually, they'll be right. But, we really...

Why does it always have to be the design of conspiracy? Occam's Razor; Simple greed got us here. The greed of people with money and power and a complete lack of appreciation for the exponential function.

No idea how to quantify "danger," and similar subjective qualities. But, you certainly can create an indicator that tells you how many standard deviations a 24 point bar represents compared to some population of historical bars. Combined with volume, it's a helpful alert, but it's a damned...

It's a write-off due to accelerated depreciation. In this case it should have created negative value for the owner. Then again it's in Russia, who's to know for sure?

How is interest, by itself the enemy? What other methods are there to motivate the people who have money to lend it to those who don't?

Actually, the equivalence you offered was: Margin = Leverage = Debt = "created out of thin air" It's really: Margin = Leverage = Debt = Journal Entry

The Treasury has, over time, sold the Federal Reserve roughly 52% of the total national debt. That fact is undeniable, it's part of the government record. What you're not getting is that the Fed's balance sheet is current assets and liabilities. What it doesn't show you is the 95-odd...

Oil, which is a finite resource with declining reserves, is down over 65% from it's all-time high. That was a speculative bubble and it went on long enough to create demand destruction. It's going to be quite a while before we see $140/bbl again. You're right, our debt-based monetary...

You're right, it's much higher than that by now. Gotta wait for the end of the year for an updated figure.

You're forgetting one thing, everyone's printing money like mad right now, so inflation is a net wash. The dollar would be tanking like no tomorrow against every currency if the US was the only one counterfeiting money. The key is who's going to be able to idle their presses first.

Depends on what you own. Sucks if it's fiat currency. Not so bad if it's tangible assets.

What the Fed holds in reserves is completely separate from what they're owed by the Treasury.

Back it up then. Provide a link that breaks down that 52% figure.

Never mind the chance of the ECB chucking the Euro, do you really expect the UK and the Swiss, who didn't join the Euro, would saddle up with the US? The odds are better that we'd revoke the Fed's charter, end fractional reserve banking, abolish the income tax and return to the gold standard...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt#Estimated_ownership "Because there is a large variety of people who own the notes, bills, and bonds in the "public" portion of the debt, the U.S. Treasury also publishes data which groups the types of holders by a few, general categories...

Nice spin there, sparky. That foreign owned debt, the $2.4T you're referring to, is 25% of the total debt. The fact remains that the Fed owns $4.8T, 52% of it and the remaining 23% is owned domestically.

Irrelevant. You stated that the majority of our debt was foreign owned. It's not, own up already.