White House Sees 3.5% Growth by Year-End, Exceeding Forecasts

By Brendan Murray

May 11 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration projected that the U.S. economy will expand at a 3.5 percent annual rate by year-end, a rebound that would be almost twice as strong as private forecasters expect.

Doctor Jekyll has nothing to hide?

et tu Bernanke...

"Doctor Jekyll has nothing to hide?"

Perhaps that should be:

Doctor Jekyll is nothing to Hyde.

@Comrade Jeremy

Sounds like balance sheet envy.

I have seen more speeches from DC 'leadership" in the last 9 months than in my whole life......that amounted to NOTHING. Is this just an ego thing with these clowns? Do they really think anyone believes what they spew? Obama is just a media hound with Heli Ben and Turbo Timmaayyyy along as additional loud speakers to pummel the crowd into believing the chant...Green Shoots....Green Shoots...Green Shoots.......Gimme a f'in break.

An important part of the job of being a politician is to look busy, and when things look grim, doing double-time blathering on about much ado about nothing, is 2x+ good, Winston

Did they legalize grass already?

They've been growing and smoking the 'green shoots'!

"Our off balance sheet transactions pose no credit risk. What's more, we'll probably make money on them."

~~~~

Bernanke wants to give you a job ...

Arbitrage_Macht_Frei,
Robert J. Samuelson - The Great Tax Dodge Demystified - washingtonpost.com
The op-ed author is certainly not in Obama's corner, but he does stick to simple facts. Regardless of any argument based on principles or ethics, it puts the tax loophole matter in perspective. Ditto for cancelling some military projects, while increasing spending on others

"There is not a snowball's chance that annualized GDP will hit 3.5% by Dec 2009. People can't get their savings out of investments because the managers don't want to sell at a "fire sale" price, credit card limits are being cut, thousands of auto dealerships will disappear between now and then, and thousands will run out of unemployment benefits."

~~~~

What do the facts have to do with it ?

EvilHenryPaulson

AIG was a money maker ....

just not for tax payers ...

Ben "Spoor" Bernanke will repeat, "Economies don't fix THEMSELVES!"

Didn't Hank Paulson retire to his own private island on the GA coast?

I'm sure you have ALL seen this. The question though, does this happen much and how often during the year?

"The White House on Monday raised its forecast for this year's U.S. budget deficit by $89 billion"

White House forecasts higher budget deficit
| Reuters

Gives him a Gentile Ben, Bob's your uncle appeal...

Larry, Steve: Shut the fuck up and let people hear with ben has to say

text of the speech FRB: Federal Reserve Board: Error Page

Dirk van Dijk:

Ha ha! Good one Dirk.

Ha!

They cut off "Benzo Ben"!

How much BS can you heap on itself before the whole mountain of crap slides down and buries you?

Listen to how much double-triple-quadruple subjunctive cases these talking-heads inject into their sentences.

Once burned, twice shy ....

Asshats

f-CNBC - the image of Benny speaking (but its muted) on2/3 of the screen and the nutball anchors on the remaining 1/3 of the screen waxing eloquent == WTF -- I'm glad I stopped watching CNBC and switched to Bloomberg

Maybe there's a ventriloquist thing going on but I don't see evidence of anyone with a hand up his backside

Q for BB - can you tell us where the $9 Trillion In Off-Balance Sheet Transactions is ?
Zero Hedge: The Federal Reserve Can Not Account For $9 Trillion In Off-Balance Sheet Transactions

Apparently nobody at the Federal Reserve has any clue where the trillions of dollars that have come from the Fed's expanded balance sheet have gone. Additionally, nobody there seems to have any idea what the losses on the Fed's $2 trillion portfolio really are.

As for the pittance of $9 trillion in Fed off-balance sheet transactions over the past 8 months, well, yeah, that's also somewhere out there... Just don't ask the Federal Reserve where.

Rep. Alan Grayson summarizes it best "I am shocked to find out that nobody at the Federal Reserve is keeping track of anything."

Jekyl (sp) Island? Is there a Hyde about?

Another ? for BB

Sir is it true that great big chunks of Big Shitpile that were "impaired," "illiquid," or "distressed," are worthless unless the peak real estate values of the bubble can miraculously be restored ?

Obviously, governments may buy a portion of these bonds themselves, but they cannot afford more than a fraction of the total unless they want to challenge Mugabe as the ultimate master of illusion. Neither should investors hold out for sovereign wealth funds to do the dirty work. As is clear from chart 9, the total amount of wealth accumulated in these funds is pocket money when compared to the projected bond issuance over the next few years.

Hence it comes down to the price at which governments can attract sufficient demand from people like you and me. One of two things may happen. Either this crisis will ignite such a bout of deflation that investors will happily own government bonds yielding 2-3% or the deflation scare goes away ultimately, the global economy recovers and bond investors demand much higher yields for taking sovereign risk. I am not yet sure which scenario will prevail, but I do know that both are quite bad for equities longer term. Take your profits!

Niels C. Jensen

--
Genuine Green-Shoots and Weeds

Two months ago I planted two large maple trees that had be uprooted from the nursery ground and into my yard. My neighbor told me that they might go into shock and may not bloom until next year. Well, today I got conformation that they have indeed survived and they will flourish as long as I take good care. I could see the green-shoots today. Green-shoots for “Sell Americans short” bear like me is not a good news for America bulls.

What born-and-bred American dope Bernanke, an economics moron, or a crook and a liar, was talking about few weeks ago, and all the financial media the world over has taken the lead, were nothing more than weeds. The green-shoots all around the maple tree were weeds and they have grown like crazy over the past few weeks. Dopes live to get fooled!

As long as Crooks’ agents like Bernanke and Obama are in-charge there is zero chance of a sustainable economic recovery in America and for the world economy, where the governments have taken the lead form perennial money crooks of the United Kingdom and the United States of America, united in the cause of spreading the evil of the debt pushers, “capitalists!,” everywhere they can and as long as they can.

Only dopes and crooks are optimistic about the future of American economy and the political system that supports it.

Jas

Sorry guys, should have realized that someone would have mentioned Hyde way before i did.

He's baaaa-aaaack.

Jas blah blah blah blah BBAD, blah blah blah blah Dopes blah blah blah blah Crooks blah blah blah blah

@ Comrade Coinz Not Bloomberg but here

The Federal Reserve Can Not Account For $9 Trillion In Off-Balance Sheet Transactions
Zero Hedge: The Federal Reserve Can Not Account For $9 Trillion In Off-Balance Sheet Transactions
Monday, May 11, 2009

A little late with quote from M Whitney, but still

From the Bloomberg article
May 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. bank stocks are “grossly overvalued” after government stress tests overestimated future earnings, said Meredith Whitney, the former Oppenheimer & Co. analyst who predicted a slide in the companies’ shares.
First-quarter earnings were inflated by government assistance, and profits in 2010 and 2011 will fall below consensus estimates, Whitney said today in a CNBC television interview.
“The underlying core earnings power of these banks is negligible,” Whitney said. The recent rally in bank stocks is “based on no fundamental improvement,” she said.
...
“You’re still going to see a massive contraction in consumer liquidity,” she said. “Credit contraction is happening at an accelerated pace, so how does the consumer go out and feel good and spend? More people are going to lose their jobs and have less room on their credit lines to spend. That’s a ruse that no great government momentum train can bypass.”
Whitney said today banks will probably have to raise capital again, and that many will sell businesses into joint ventures, which will be opportunities for investors.

At 2:00 in YouTube video Alan Grayson pops the question to this empty suit Inspector General being aware of The Federal Reserve Can Not Account For $9 Trillion In Off-Balance Sheet Transactions

She rambles like a dizz....

Hmmmm, just read the comments on the enormous drop in Cali sales tax collections.

Confused with reports of free spending continuing. . .

Could it be that the money is still being collected, but isn't being remitted to the authorities. There are, believe it or not, people in Florida who would do that.

I think Cali could be the big event.

[all of these banking organizations currently have capital well in excess of the minimum stated capital requirements of the supervisors]

Our nation's financial institutions are well capitalized.

Jas is boring.

Most everything that comes from his myna bird mind is what I call Jasm, kinda like jism.

Bill Gross is starting to move away from the Treasuries

May 11 (Bloomberg) -- Bill Gross, manager of Pacific Investment Management Co.’s $150 billion Total Return Fund, reduced his holdings of U.S. government-related debt last month for the first time since January.
Pimco’s founder and co-chief investment officer cut the holdings to 26 percent in April from 28 percent in March, according to the Newport Beach, California-based company’s Web site. In addition to Treasuries, the government debt category can include inflation-linked Treasuries, so-called agency debt, interest-rate derivatives and bank debt backed by the FDIC.
...
Gross may buy senior bank debt now that the government’s stress tests are complete. Regulators said May 7 that 10 of the nation’s 19 largest banks will need additional capital. Morgan Stanley, the sixth-biggest U.S. bank by assets, said the next day that it sold $4 billion in debt in its first transaction not guaranteed by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
“The banking system is enduring,” Gross said in a CNBC interview May 8. “These types of spreads on the senior debt level are historic and quite attractive.”

One good thing about nonsense, once you figure out it is nonsense, you don't have to pay attention to it any more.

Jas is still boring.

Truth is not boring.

Jas is boring.

Luckily depite my advanced age I possess, ummmm, shapely melons. You brought it up,
not me.

Comrade Coinz,
$2tn is the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve,
I can only guess that the $9tn of off balance sheet transactions are actually the cumulative total of repo transactions involving overvalued junk like Real Estate assets

" were nothing more than weeds."

One man's weed is another man's herb!

Jas, are you still holding U.S. paper?
Silly old bear.

You guys don't get it. GDP WILL grow by 3.5pct annualized in the 4th qtr. They aren't making a forecast, they are TELLING you.

Remember when ben said "there won't be another major bank failure"? (Maybe it was Hank). He was TELLING you, not predicting. Look at what has come to pass.

This is a command and control economy now. Some animals are more equal than others. The pigs are always right. No matter what gymnastics the math must undergo, we will grow!

/rant off

"Oh crap, I just got some Jasm on my monitor."

That's just plain wrong.
Even I am offended by this one, AMF.

Arbit--your name may be offensive, but you are toooo funny.

Jas, on the other hand, is boring. You'd think by now it would have been realized that there are some synonyms for the d word.

The $9 trilllion are the guarantees that the Fed has given to underwrite

various markets ... There is no accounting for this as most was done through the

New York Fed which is a PRIVATE CORPORATION... and is NOT subject to

Congressional inquiry or Agency oversight ...

"Q for BB - can you tell us where the $9 Trillion In Off-Balance Sheet Transactions is ?"

PPT, it is all held in index futures.

How even cares what BB has to say anymore? He has been wrong for so long he isn't even worth listening to.

We all know what his actions are going to be: the only action he knows: PRINT, PRINT, PRINT.

They aren't making a forecast, they are TELLING you.

I'm double-plus looking foward to the 5 year plan.

• splat

I am the one with no faith, remember.

And anyhow, mmckinl, what's your point?

Still no dope synonym.

Yaaawwwnnn.

I didn't watch. Did Ben mention anything this time about the profits the government is going to make on all these programs, subsidies, purchases, bailouts...

You'd think by now it would have been realized that there are some synonyms for the d word.

We're on the case, Liz!

Natively Engendered New World Milksop? Nah, justdoesn't have the rhythm.

"And anyhow, mmckinl, what's your point?"

~~~~

Tax payers are on the hook for all losses ...

faith or no faith ...

CAPSIZED UST's

.......I wonder if the FedGov and individual States realize that in addition to their anticipated decreases in tax remittances, much more is being outright held back by the populace due to the public's perception of Wall Street/FedGov "coziness". More people are finally getting to the "anger" stage in reaction to the perceived gang-rape.

Jas isn't too happy about his statement he just caught a glimpse of. He's less happy that he now admits to himself that HE'S THE DOPE for sticking with treasuries despite the heckling he got here.

If Jas never opens his monthly statement, did the losses really happen?

"GM Executives Sell Shares as Bankruptcy Becomes ‘More Probable’"

I'm surprised they didn't just do a secondary while they were at it, they could have raised enough equity to bail themselves out.

"GM files to issue 4T in new shares, market reacts positively"

.....as long as they are taxpayers.

~~~~

or use government programs ... which will be cut ...

Your fine as long you are independently wealthy, live in a fortress

and have no relatives ...

"I have seen more speeches from DC 'leadership" in the last 9 months than in my whole life......that amounted to NOTHING. Is this just an ego thing with these clowns? Do they really think anyone believes what they spew?"

50% of the market is sentiment over fundamentals and the O' admin is pimping the the sentiment side of things to new levels. So yes, a substantial number of people believe what they spew, largely to their detriment.

Now see, Jas, you could emulate kml.

Not boring.

I'm surprised they didn't just do a secondary while they were at it, they could have raised enough equity to bail themselves out.

Don't forget the part where some Merrill Lynch or Goldman Sachs analyst issues an upgrade ... "GM added to conviction buy list"

I think less than a week ago Jas admitted he was down (for this year perhaps?), but overall, still comfortably up over some longer period.

He's more tolerant of risk than I am.

"Americans being sold down the river again with slicker 'shuck and jive' Obamanomics after dumb as dirt and completely transparent Bushonomics."

~~~~

Well of course ...

Obama attended the Bilderberg Conference last year in Chantilly Virginia ...

Official guests:

Hank Paulson, Timothy Geithner, Ben Bernanke, Larry Summers and

the King of Disaster Capitalism ... Henry Kissinger who employed Timmay

at Kissinger Associates ... Then there is PBS's Charlie Rose ... who just happens to put

Geithner on last week ...

Official 2008 Bilderberg Participant List - The Tree Of Liberty

Quite an interesting list !

Hyperinflation - it's what's for breakfast!

We have to have inflation, now. By inflation, I'm referring to the wage-type. My feeble math has led me to this forlon conclusion.

Best not bet against the masters of the universe.

How are they gonna create wage-inflation.

--
"No one we had on here believs him Bernanke], " a comment by an economist on CNBC-World broadcast from Singapore.

Needless to point out that Bernanke is a BBAD and an agent of the crooks. Only BBAD believe him or even care what this economics moron has to say. All that we need to know is what he does, what he can do, and what he can't do.

He is NOT "Printing Money," as dopes believe; he is swapping good debt for bad debt to help the crooks. That never causes inflation. There is a reason why we DO HAVE CPI deflation in the US. Dopes are in denial.

Jas

"...turd polisher of the first rank."

LOL

Thanks Barton.

--
BBAD Jim Rogers is on Bloomberg right now.

Jas

Jas, I understand "printing money" to be a metaphor.

Bernanke mixed in a bunch of bad money with Jas Bond, Secret Agent .006.9's good money.

The way forward may be to short treasuries, assuming the yield is going up. If you do that, you may be able to buy and cover nicely. Beware: You are up against a huge buyer, but the market is stronger than the Fed. Patience wins the race.

"The way forward may be to short treasuries, assuming the yield is going up. "

If you don't feel comfortable shorting, just stay short - the short end of the yield curve. Pretty soon 3 month T-Bills will be yielding 15%. Just wait for it.

Nobody at Chrysler is working now in the factories.

Don't understand.

Nitey nite.

"

Nobody at Chrysler is working now in the factories.

Don't understand.
"

The lunatics are soon going to take over the asylum. Once the deal is done, the UAW is going to own 55% of the company.

You don't think they are going to raise their own wages? They know the govt will always pump them more money.

lawyerliz,

What does Chrysler make nowadays?

//Nobody at Chrysler is working now in the factories.//

Yancey Ward,

Look at the bright side, "subprime" was not "contained"

//"well-capitalized"//

@lawyerliz - I have no idea, but we need it. It's our lack of ability to do it that really scares me.

Fun times.

In Jasm-speak, you make light of your losses by equating yourself to Jim Rogers, and then once again hoist your UST's on a petard just high enough to give us ammunition to mock him later on...

"...he is swapping good debt for bad debt"

Technically Jas, you are correct. Inflationary QE won't hit the shores until the "good debt" (USD) starts going bad, probably sometime around next Fall or Spring. I'm hoping for an orderly slide, but, anything can happen, I guess. I doubt we'll have a currency crisis before then.

It can take awhile for push inflation to work it's way through a system. I think that's still true, anyway.

Expectations get transmitted awfully fast these days.

GM's List..

Car Dealers Covet Competitors as Cuts Loom
Car Dealers Covet Competitors as Cuts Loom - WSJ.com

By KATE LINEBAUGH

JACKSON, Mich. -- As Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. compile lists of dealers that will be eliminated, thousands of owners of these businesses tensely await announcements expected later this week.

At Extreme Dodge in Jackson, Mich., owner Wes Lutz is strategizing to survive Chrysler's upcoming dealer purge. But some car dealers see opportunity amid the industry's wreckage, aiming to grab market share and boost profits by buying up struggling competitors.

...GM is making plans to drop 2,600 of its more than 6,000 dealers and said Monday it plans to inform affected locations Thursday. Chrysler has told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan it is likely to cut more than 800 dealers and could begin notifying those that will be dropped later this week, people familiar with the matter said...

"See: Chrysler. Repeat. "

I'm not sure that alone does it. Inflation has to exist on both side of the equation: wage and price for this to work. Chrysler has a demand problem (because their products suck if for no other reason). It's hard to create price inflation with little demand.

Currency devaluation, maybe?

A couple ticks up the mortgage rate ladder without a corresponding rise in wages and watch out - things get ugly(er).

Remind me again.. why did oil reach 150$/b in 2008?

Banks gear up for iron ore trading
FT.com / Commodities - Banks gear up for iron ore trading

By Javier Blas, Commodities Correspondent
Published: May 11 2009 22:34 | Last updated: May 11 2009 22:34

Three of the biggest banks in commodities plan to launch trading in iron ore, a further signal of the rapid growth of the mineral’s derivatives market amid disarray in the annual price negotiations. The move by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital into cash-settled iron ore swaps comes as mining executives acknowledge openly that the traditional system of annual talks – known as the benchmark – to settle prices for the input to steel is breaking down.

The secretive negotiations are between Vale of Brazil, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton and the steelmakers, led by Baosteel and the China Iron and Steel Association.

"Pretty soon 3 month T-Bills will be yielding 15%. Just wait for it."
Ghostface,
Who initiates this? Who benefits from this? I can't see it. It hurts too many parties and benefits...who again?

If Jas is doing 5 to 10 in the big house in Tehachapi (that would explain why he's so hostile?) like I suspect he is, is he top-bunk or low-bunk?

reptillian,

Or we could just liquidate banksters?

Yeah, we might get by with just liquidating the banksters. They are the root of all evil.

Jas cannot be serious about being long treasuries. Doesn't he know that the market is bigger than the Fed? Now, if he went long when the 10 yr. was at 5 - 5.25%, he could unload into today's market and make a profit. But he shouldn't wait too long.

The "surge" into Afghanistan is to keep these guys, unemployed, with shooting and demolition skills, off the streets.

• even if true, still has to be one of the more heartless and cynical statements of recent date.

Arbitrage_Macht_Frei,

I hate to say this but if that moron (Osama) targets wall street or the financial district of certain cities, he will be seen as a hero.

No, all roads lead to the house on the hill where Grandmother lives all alone except for what is kept in the cellar.

Foreclosures in the 'Burbs

So a bunch of dogface g.i.'s see what a primitive i.e.d. can do in an urban setting, a basic model costing around the price of a large pizza...

i might have to change my name to "what the hell is going on?"

i've been trading stocks for about 12 years now and have been using etf's almost exclusively for the past year. just the other day i bailed out of qid and uco because i started to get this uneasy feeling that i had my money tied up in nothing and my money would just vanish one day soon if i didn't take it all out. my trading account is 100% cash now and i'm thinking of pulling 50% of that cash out. a month or so ago i statred to freak about my 401k so i reduced my contributions to 3%. i get 100% dollar for dollar match up to 8% so i'm missing out on company contributions but i feel like my 401k is a black hole too. about a year ago i started to worry about the cash in my checking account so i started pulling that out as well.

these tarps and Supervisory Capital Assessment Programs and the myriad of other programs are, to my simple mind, a deafening klaxon. these are all signals that the system has failed.

all the statements that the government/media/corporations make are perfect mixtures of dire seriousness and confidence. they feel fake. strings of buzz words -- "comprehensive and rigorous fashion."

i'm not articulate or intelligent enough to state my feelings with any more detail than this:
Something has gone seriously wrong. I'm not sure how, or what to do about it, but something has gone very, very wrong.

crap! new thread. meh... oh well

To get to to 3.5% growth for the year....

Expanding "at a 3.5 percent annual rate by year-end" does not mean 3.5% for the year. A 4Q print of 3.5 annualized will meet the projection regardless of what happens in the interim.

Just trust us...We are from the Gov't and are here to help! You are a negative thinker and that causes wilting of the green shoots. If you do not cease and desist all negative speech against us....we will pour round up on the rest of your 401K and start shipping MORE illegals into your school district...Thankx...The Management. remember: Pain is weakness leaving the body...or a severe reaction to having the Gov't ram it's tax burden up the rectum of your unborn children!!!!!