US drowning in paper and sinking toward recession
President Bush has signed the $US 781 Billion increase in the US Treasury's debt ceiling. With US fiscal 2006 (which ends on September 30, 2006) not yet half over, the increase for the Treasury's "debt to the penny" for the year is already $US 430.8 Billion. One dollar in five the US spends is borrowed.
No wonder that Gold did a moon shot Friday, up $US 9.70.
The Dow remains frozen. The yield curve on Treasury debt is again inverted.
The US budget deficit for February $US 119.2 Billion. January trade deficit $US 68.5 Billion.
The world is stuck with $US 11.154 TRILLION in US financial paper assets, a figure close to US GDP.
New home sales in the US in February fell 10.5%, the biggest monthly drop in almost nine years giving the US the biggest inventory of unsold homes in more than ten years - since January 1996.
In Australia new home starts for the last three months of 2005 were down 20% from their peak during the first quarter of 2004. New housing starts in Australia have fallen in six of seven quarters up to the end of 2005.