Monday, October 07, 2013

Financial Sarcasm Roundup for 10/07/13

My busy schedule in the real world has put my online lulz on the back burner.  Let's see what the LOLmemes have to say about some recent financial headlines.

The Treasury Secretary is mouthing off about the risk of a debt default.  He's only going through the motions.  Washington drama requires the principal actors to demonstrate sufficient drama so the narrative can distract the folks at home.  The two parties have probably already reached some sort of deal to fund the Affordable Care Act in exchange for unspecified cuts somewhere else, most likely to welfare programs.  The high-profile shuttering of popular national attractions that don't even need operating hours, like some of the war monuments in D.C., is a shameful sideshow.  The federal government is nowhere near a debt default because it has plenty of cash to pay its bondholders.  We are nowhere near dodging a bullet.

The World Bank is reducing its Asia growth forecasts.  They could have read my blog for advance warning that China's growth is fraudulent but no, they just couldn't disrupt the bull case at the height of consensus excitement.  Export-driven economies work great when your trading partners in the US and Europe go into debt to buy your stuff.  The four Asian tigers were the talk of the 1980s and '90s.  Now they're turning into big pussycats.

Japan is making progress towards its stated inflation target of two percent in two years.  They could easily overshoot and hit 20% in two months but no one seems to care.  The average German or Austrian had no love lost for the Weimar Republic once its hyperinflationary policies destroyed their savings.  Abenomics will travel a similar path in Japan and the average saver won't notice until their savings are counted in millionths of a yen.

I hope you all enjoyed reading my sarcasm as much as I did making it.  Nah, just kidding.  I don't care what you idiots think.  If lulz gets you excited about reading my stuff then have at it.