Despite Financial Woes It?s Still Business as Usual Worldwide ? Here?s Why and How to Invest Accordingly

Politicians always appear to consider the cost of acting versus the cost of inaction. As long as more money is lined up: be that from the central government for the regions; be that from a European stability fund for the government; or be it from the IMF, incentives for reforms are taken away. [Spain is a prime example of what is wrong with Europe - and much of the world. Let me explain why that is the case and how to benefit from the overall situation.] Words: 1174

So says*Axel Merk (www.merkfunds.com) in edited excerpts from his original article* which Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.munKNEE.com (Your Key to Making Money!), has edited below for length and clarity – see Editor’s Note at the bottom of the page. This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement.

Merk*goes on to say, in part:

Let’s highlight Spain…[where], if you run out of your own people’s money, there may always be other peoples’ money.







Regional Government Debt Problems

One of the major concerns is Spain’s regional government debt. Spain consists of 17 autonomous regions, whose total debt almost doubled in the past three years, due to economic recession and a housing market collapse. In many ways, Spain reflects a microcosm of how the Eurozone as a whole is structured:

• Spanish regions have the power to issue public debt. The central government has little ability to interfere with regional government spending and is prohibited by Spanish law to bailout regional governments.
• While regions enjoy high autonomy on spending, the central government retains effective control over regional government revenue.
• Spain has its own peripheral problems: the most indebted region, Catalonia, recorded 20.7% debt-to-regional-GDP ratio and 3.6% deficit-to-GDP ratio in 2011. Its 10-year bond yield recently breached 10%, far beyond the yield on 10-year Spanish government bonds, which yield around 6%. In 2011, the total debt of 17 regional governments rose to €140 billion, accounting for 13.1% of Spain’s GDP. This number is up from 6.7% by 2008.
• Spanish law forbids the central government from rescuing regional governments (in much the same way that the Maastricht Treaty prohibits bailouts of EU countries). In practice, the central government appears to have implicitly helped Valencia, Spain’s 2nd most indebted region, with a €123 million loan repayment to Deutsche Bank.

Banking Woes

More broadly known are Spain’s banking woes. Unlike much of Europe, a housing boom propelled much of Spain’s recent growth, causing Spain’s regional banks, in particular, to become overly exposed to the mortgage sector.

Spain’s banks are very dependent on liquidity provided by the European Central Bank (ECB). The recent 3 year long-term refinancing operation (LTRO) by the ECB at first took pressure [off] the Spanish banking system, but has since been seen more critically, as Spain’s banks may be using the liquidity to buy Spanish government debt, thus increasing inter-dependency and potentially making nationalization**(read: the Spanish government taking on the obligations of its banks) of Spanish banks more, rather than less, likely.

It’s Still Business as Usual

The tensions between Spanish regions and its national government are nothing new and that’s really the main lesson here: it’s business as usual in Spain! As of late, Spain’s government appears to be reining in regional control over budgets in earnest. However,…the moment the pressure abates,…those promises are forgotten. Spain is proof that the only language policy makers may be listening to is that of the bond market.

As painful as it is, volatile markets are necessary to keep policy makers focused. Whenever Spanish bonds come under pressure, Spain moves further from talk and closer to action, with respect to implementation of more austerity measures, as well as the pursuit of structural reforms.

Spain – like so many developed countries – has rigid bureaucracies aimed at protecting the old (companies and employees) at the cost of preventing the new, stifling innovation and fostering massive youth unemployment. Structural reform is politically painful. What is striking about Spain is that it has an enviable position of a government with an absolute majority yet even such a seemingly strong government is dragging its feet in implementing reform. In the process, political support is eroding, thus making it increasingly difficult to pursue reforms as the economic environment worsens.

Automatic Delivery Available! If you enjoy this site and would like to have every article sent to you then go HERE and sign up to receive Your Daily Intelligence Report. We provide an easy “unsubscribe” feature should you decide to opt out at any time.

Pass it ON. Tell your friends and co-workers about us! We think munKNEE.com is one of the highest quality (content and presentation) financial sites on the internet and our current readers seem to be confirming that. Visits have been doubling yearly and pages-per-visit and time-on-site continue to reach record highs.

Spread the word. munKNEE should be in everybody’s inbox and MONEY in everybody’s wallet!

Spain’s Problem Is a*Global Problem

As Europeans have convinced themselves that they have done plenty of the heavy lifting, the next stop is the IMF, where member countries are expected to pledge billions more. The critics may be forgiven for pointing out that Europe could be doing more before tapping into purses of other, less affluent countries. Unfortunately, politicians treat this as politics rather than a serious debate about money.

The good news here, though,*may be that we don’t think this is a European problem. The bad news is that this is a global problem. Spain is not unique. In the U.S., we have many of the same challenges, but we have a bond market that has allowed policy makers to get away with spending ever more money. Different from the Eurozone, the U.S. has a significant current account deficit and, as such, should the bond market impose austerity on U.S. policy makers, it may have far more negative implications on the U.S. dollar than it has had on the Euro to date.

Monetary Easing to Continue

In the meantime, as policy makers around the world continue to hope for the best, but plan for the worst, expect monetary policy to [continue to] be most accommodating. The U.S., the*Eurozone, the U.K. and Japan all have eased in some form or another in recent months.

Beneficiaries of Inaction

Beneficiaries in the medium term may be:

• precious metals and
• commodity currencies.

For now, those currencies [think Canada, Australia, etc.]*have been held back by a generally somber mood about global growth.

What has done well – and we expect will continue to do well – are the currencies of countries that realize such policies will foster inflationary pressures. Singapore should be praised in this context, as the Singapore Monetary Authority tightened monetary policy last week, allowing the Singapore Dollar to appreciate. Those countries that can afford to are taking note that all this easy money may have significant side effects and are taking action to combat it. However, such countries are few and far between.

We have long argued that there may not be such a thing anymore as a safe asset and investors may want to take a diversified approach to something as mundane as cash.

*http://www.merkfunds.com/merk-perspe...4-19.html**(To access the article please copy the URL and paste it into your browser.)

Editor’s Note: The above article has been has edited ([ ]), abridged (…), and reformatted (including the title, some sub-titles and bold/italics emphases) for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast and easy read. The article’s views and conclusions are unaltered and no personal comments have been included to maintain the integrity of the original article.

Related Articles:

1. Spain is an Absolute Disaster! Here’s Why



Spain is an absolute disaster on a level that [it seems] few, if any, analysts can even grasp. [Let me try to.] Words: 428

2. Campbell Asks: Can Italy Be Far Behind Spain?



About three months ago, shortly before Greece’s sovereign debt was restructured, I began to warn about Spain as the next Eurozone country to focus on. That has, indeed, turned out to be ‘all the news’ with reports every day on Spain’s deteriorating financial condition. Given the ongoing world economic uncertainty and volatility, however, I suggest you now begin to pay very careful attention to Italy going forward, but doing so without losing sight of what is transpiring in Spain. [Let me explain why I see 'Italy' eventually surpassing Spain as 'all the news'.] Words: 485

3. Graham Summers: Collapse of Europe is Guaranteed! Here’s Why



I continue to see articles in the media claiming that Europe’s problems are solved. Either the folks writing these articles can’t do simple math, or they don’t bother actually reading any of the political news coming out of Europe [so let me present 3 data points that guarantee Europe will collapse at some point in the near future]. Words: 722

4. The Coming Crisis in Europe Will Result in a MAJOR CRISIS in the U.S.! Here’s Why



In this article I lay out precisely why the coming Crisis in Europe will be THE Crisis I’ve been forecasting for the last 24 months, why it will have dire consequences on the U.S. and why the Fed can do absolutely nothing to stop it this time round. Words: 1334

5. Ongoing European Crisis to Result in Higher Inflation and Higher Gold Prices – Here’s Why



On the surface things may appear to be calm, but I don’t think the European crisis is anywhere near its conclusion. Losses still have to be taken from Ireland, Spain, Portugal and possibly even Italy…There are a number of ways out of Europe’s problems. One of them is higher inflation…[which] is going to be very positive for gold… because the central banks will be under pressure to print.

6. Alf Field’s 7 “D’s” of the Developing Disaster Revisited



When the supply of something is increased sharply relative to demand, the value of that commodity will decline. If the supply continues to increase rapidly and indefinitely, then that item will become worth less and less, with the potential to finally become nearly worthless. This is the Developing Disaster facing the US Dollar and the world. This is the factor that could become the single most important criterion in investment allocation decisions and possibly even for individual financial survival…[Let me explain this further by reviewing the 7 major problems facing the U.S. (and thus the world) and how they all will lead to problem #7 - devolution.] Words: 1520

7. Where Is This Unprecedented Global Financial Crisis Headed? A Retrospective from Alf Field

*

*
Everyone must be wondering where this “unprecedented global financial crisis”, (the World Bank’s words), is heading. What follows, for what they are worth, are my cogitations on this crisis. Words: 1641