by Wolf Richter, Wolf Street:
We’re overestimating growth, thinking of it as heading towards low growth. In reality, we’re heading towards negative growth, once adjusted for inflation.
Canadian mortgage credit growth is falling, but how bad is it in real terms? People are comparing today’s low growth numbers to the mid-1990s. While there are some parallels, it more accurately resembles the early 1980s. Mortgage credit growth, when adjusted for inflation, is heading towards negative numbers. We haven’t actually experienced negative real growth in over 30 years.
GOLD DOWN $4.65 AND SILVER IS DOWN 10 CENTS AS THE USA INDEX CLIMBS TO 97.59/VOLATILITY INDEX CLIMBS A HUGE 3.08 POINTS TO 20.44/ITALIAN BOND SPREAD/GERMAN BUND SPREAD RISES ABOVE 3.00 TO 3.04/CHINA REPLACES THE USA WITH RUSSIA IN THE PURCHASE OF SOYBEANS/FIFTY MILLION APARTMENTS ARE EMPTY IN CHINA IN A NIGHTMARISH SCENARIO/CARIGE BANK IN ITALY BAILED OUT TEMPORARILY BY OTHER ITALIAN BANKS BUT THE SITUATION IS DIRE/MALAYSIA SEEKS FULL REFUND FROM GOLDMAN SACHS IN SCANDALOUS 1MDB AFFAIR/SURE LOOKS LIKE VOTER FRAUD IN FLORIDA AND MAYBE ARIZONA/MORE SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT
While the sanction war America started against Russia in 2013 appears to have opened the door to de-dollarization, Washington’s latest gambit towards Iran seems to have fully opened the floodgates. And that is because the latest country to willingly accept trade outside the dollar just happens to be a long-standing ally of the U.S..
Italy is arguing that it will retain its budget and refers to how both France and Germany exceeded their budgets and the Commission disregard the Maastricht treaty rules in the case of both countries. In the budget dispute, the Italian government was not deterred by the threat of penalties from the European Commission. Finance Minister Giovanni Tria said last week that Italy would commit “economic suicide” to stick to the plans of the previous government to reduce the deficit.
