$$$$$

[ifrtbttrflys]

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2016/11/06/CS%20wealth%204_0.jpg

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2016/11/06/CS%20wealth%206_0.jpg

 

[Conager]

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2016/11/06/CS%20wealth%204_0.jpg

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2016/11/06/CS%20wealth%206_0.jpg

I'm working hard to increase the number of millionaires. As of late, my efforts are not statistically significant, however.

 

[Hypoxia]

This is a bit misleading. What is the PER CAPITA wealth per country? I found this Wikipedia List of countries by wealth per adult. I sorted it on mean (average) wealth in US$bucks. Okay, it's not true per capita, but it's close.

567122 Switzerland
400811 New Zealand
364896 Australia
352996 United States
321352 Norway
320368 United Kingdom
311353 Sweden
269408 Singapore
262070 France
259406 Belgium
251634 Denmark
248276 Canada
203577 Italy
196092 Austria
194701 Taiwan
194650 Ireland
190230 Japan
182782 Netherlands
177984 Germany
155982 Israel
149917 Finland
111643 Spain
091108 South Korea
081342 Greece
073843 Portugal
041982 Chile
041710 Czech Republic
025949 Mexico
024370 Poland
022513 China
021402 South Africa
020477 Colombia
017597 Brazil
011726 Russia
009031 Indonesia
007330 Thailand
004352 India

I'm reminded of a double truism: USAnians are only rich because they charge each other so much. The Swiss are rich because they charge everybody else too much.

 

[ifrtbttrflys]

https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iuYYynWxz_Vs/v0/740x-1.png

All four major U.S. equity benchmarks — the S&P 500 Index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Russell 2000 Index — climbed together to record peaks this week. The surge, which was helped by rallies in commodities, has taken place simultaneously for the first time since 1999.

It's all feeling a lot like the last time the Clintons were having to step away from power — oil is again struggling to climb from multi-year lows as OPEC seeks to corral crude producers inside and outside the organization to curb supply, the yen is again (for now) the best-performing G-10 currency for the year.

https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/i8CE3xuVzcI8/v0/740x-1.png

Not only that, the greenback recorded 10 days of gains that were its longest winning streak against the euro since the eurozone currency was first introduced back in 1999. And the dollar's rally is being driven by the resuscitation of the bond vigilantes — the ones Bill Clinton adviser James Carville said could intimidate everybody — as surging Treasury yields threaten to cloud the outlook for ambitious presidential spending plans.

"Traditional correlations have broken down," said Devesh. "Markets are operating under the assumption that fiscal spending in the U.S. is set to increase and these reflationary and supportive drivers for U.S. growth are sending U.S. assets — its currency, rates and equities — higher."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...t-trump-is-bringing-the-1990s-back-to-markets

Note:

- the US debt is currently around $19 trillion, or roughly 30% of the world's $60+ trillion cumulative debt.

- bottom value of the the world derivative market is $630 trillion; top value is $1.2 quadrillion.

Yeah: "quadrillion" is now in common usage play, and its exponential increase - as far as the derivatives market is concerned - is already well underway.

Like to see a relative visualization of the world's money & markets as they stand today, to get at least some financial sense of how deep the hole we've spent our way into is? Seriously; take a look - it's cool:

http://money.visualcapitalist.com/all-of-the-worlds-money-and-markets-in-one-visualization/

Don't know what "derivatives" are?

A derivative is simply a speculative contract, a bet placed on stocks, mortgages, interest rates, the price of commodities like gold, silver, coffee and oil, or the possibility of a company or even a nation to default. Players on the derivatives market gamble maybe even at least a quadrillion today on the future prices of the assets to which a derivative is attached. In essence, the derivatives market is - by exponentially far - the world's largest casino.

The derivatives market is where banks and other financial institutions place their bets on every aspect of the world economy: currently, there is virtually nothing of economic worth that doesn't have some sort of derivative attached to it. Yet, this casino of the bigger the bet the bigger the profit is mostly played with so much of the American taxpayers' $$ for the rest of the entirety of their lives and of all their foreseeable descendants lives, too.

Tell me: how much would you be willing to gamble if none of it was yours to lose?

Remember CDOs? Collateralized Debt Obligations were derivative contracts attached to the booming housing market mortgages in the early 2000s, which bore what we infamously know today as the subprime mortgage. The "too big to fail" banks were the biggest creators, traders, and holders of CDOs, and when many folks began defaulting on mortgages they never should have been given in the first place, the whole housing bubbling burst, decimating the housing market and leaving the "tbtf" banks with virtually useless assets but holding the vastly overvalued notes on them anyway.

Lehman Brothers had to file for bankruptcy. All the so-called "tbtf" banks were bailed out by the American taxpayer even though the general market was hit so hard that Americans lost more than 25% of their collective net worth; total household wealth dropped by $14 trillion. The entire world dived into a deep recession. This all happened 2 weeks before the change of presidents in the 2008 election.

Which is maybe a coincidence since the biggest economic dive before that was the "tech bubble" bursting (aka the "NASDAQ bubble") right before the change of presidents in the 2000 election.

The too big to fail banks could not have survived in 2008 if not for government dictating that the American taxpayer suffer immensely for them to do so (to the tune of $34 trillion); that tyrannical hit is precisely why middle America is still economically reeling. Yet, those big banks have grown immensely rich off of middle America's economic pain.

Today's so-called big 4 banks, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, now hold over $7 trillion in actual assets - 160% more than the rest of the top 50 banks in America combined. Many of those big 4 have experienced asset growth approaching 40% since they sent the entire world reeling into recession in 2008.

So what have the big 4 been doing since 2008 to increase their wealth so much? First, take a look at how big the derivatives market is again:

http://money.visualcapitalist.com/all-of-the-worlds-money-and-markets-in-one-visualization/

Citigroup's assets are around $2 trillion, yet their total exposure to derivatives is around $55 trillion and growing.

JPMorgan Chase's assets are around $2.5 trillion, yet their total exposure to derivatives is around $51 trillion and growing.

Goldman Sachs assets are around $881 billion, yet their total exposure to derivatives is around $51 trillion and growing.

Bank of America's assets are around $2.1 trillion, yet their total exposure to derivatives is around $45 trillion and growing.

(each one of those figures is probably retarded by a factor of 1.5 years - there is no doubt all their exposures to derivatives are much greater currently).

The infamous "too big to fail banks" are 40% larger today than when they went bust in 2008. Since 2006, America's $$ supply has grown 400% - all just printed out of thin air. At one point, the Fed was purchasing 70% of bonds issued by the US Treasury with that thin air.

They say 49% of all Americans today receive $$ from at least 1 government agency every month; that 50% of all born in America today will be on foodstamps sometime in their lives, and that 52% of all employed Americans today earn < $30,000 annually.

The cost of the tech bubble of 2000 to Americans is put by some at $7 trillion. The cost of the housing bubble of 2008 to Americans is put by some at $14 trillion (that's not including the estimated $20 trillion the Troubled Asset Relief Program, TARP, cost).

When the derivative bubble bursts, it's going to cost the world economy anywhere from $630 trillion to $1.2 quadrillion from the outset. The entire American financial sector, including savings, deposits, retirement funds, pension funds will collapse when the derivative bubble pops - and so will the entire world economy. Think Greece, but this time with nothing existing to bail The. Entire. World. out.

A number of President-elect Donlad J. Trump's businesses have filed for bankruptcy, coincidently almost all of them casino properties (Trump has never filed for personal bankruptcy).

The last two changes of presidencies have knocked America to its economic knees. Maybe fate is being as kind as it can be by putting someone into the Oval Office who at least has an ounce of practical business/financial experience to help steer America amid the worldwide financial devastation which many see lying straight ahead.

The word bubble, remember the word bubble - you heard it here, first. I mean, I don't want to sound rude, but I hope if it explodes it's going to be now rather than two months into another administration.

Donald Trump, Cedar Rapids, December 2015

The derivatives genie is now well out of the bottle, and these instruments will almost certainly multiply in variety and number until some event makes their toxicity clear. Central banks and governments have so far found no effective way to control, or even monitor, the risks posed by these contracts. In my view, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that , while now latent, are potentially lethal.

Warren Buffet

Every bubble needs at least one pin to pop it. Besides the sharing of changes in the presidency, the tech and housing bubbles also experienced the rise in interest rates. In Dec 2008, the rate fell to 0%, where it stayed for the next 7 years until Fed chair Yellen raised it in Dec 2015; a year later, she's now flashing that she's ready to raise it more.

What happens when you raise rates paid by a currency whose value is nothing but a bubble itself, too?

 

[Hypoxia]

Stock booms mean elites get richer, right?

From who does money fueling booms come?

How much trickles-down to non-elites?

What are the per-capita income trends?

Who suffers when booming bubbles burst?

 

[ifrtbttrflys]

http://www.alhambrapartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ABOOK-Dec-2016-OCC-Derivatives-Notional.png

http://www.alhambrapartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ABOOK-Dec-2016-OCC-Derivatives-GPFV.png

http://www.alhambrapartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ABOOK-Dec-2016-OCC-Derivatives-NCCE.png

http://www.alhambrapartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ABOOK-Dec-2016-OCC-Derivatives-Forex2.png

http://www.alhambrapartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ABOOK-Dec-2016-OCC-Derivatives-NCCE-Not-Stable.png


http://www.alhambrapartners.com/2016/12/29/deeper-derivative-dive-to-less-dollar/

 

[KingOrfeo]

A country's population of millionaires is a pretty useless guide to its economic health.

 

[Sean]

This is a bit misleading. What is the PER CAPITA wealth per country? I found this Wikipedia List of countries by wealth per adult. I sorted it on mean (average) wealth in US$bucks. Okay, it's not true per capita, but it's close.

567122 Switzerland
400811 New Zealand
364896 Australia
352996 United States
321352 Norway
320368 United Kingdom
311353 Sweden
269408 Singapore
262070 France
259406 Belgium
251634 Denmark
248276 Canada
203577 Italy
196092 Austria
194701 Taiwan
194650 Ireland
190230 Japan
182782 Netherlands
177984 Germany
155982 Israel
149917 Finland
111643 Spain
091108 South Korea
081342 Greece
073843 Portugal
041982 Chile
041710 Czech Republic
025949 Mexico
024370 Poland
022513 China
021402 South Africa
020477 Colombia
017597 Brazil
011726 Russia
009031 Indonesia
007330 Thailand
004352 India

I'm reminded of a double truism: USAnians are only rich because they charge each other so much. The Swiss are rich because they charge everybody else too much.

I'm gonna guess Monaco would make the Swiss look like Bangladesh in your list.

 

[Hard_Rom]

If all US wealth was redistributed to it's citizens incomes would go from 35K to 60K and each person would be worth 250K.

 

[Conager]

https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iuYYynWxz_Vs/v0/740x-1.png



https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/i8CE3xuVzcI8/v0/740x-1.png



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...t-trump-is-bringing-the-1990s-back-to-markets

Note:

- the US debt is currently around $19 trillion, or roughly 30% of the world's $60+ trillion cumulative debt.

- bottom value of the the world derivative market is $630 trillion; top value is $1.2 quadrillion.

Yeah: "quadrillion" is now in common usage play, and its exponential increase - as far as the derivatives market is concerned - is already well underway.

Like to see a relative visualization of the world's money & markets as they stand today, to get at least some financial sense of how deep the hole we've spent our way into is? Seriously; take a look - it's cool:

http://money.visualcapitalist.com/all-of-the-worlds-money-and-markets-in-one-visualization/

Don't know what "derivatives" are?

A derivative is simply a speculative contract, a bet placed on stocks, mortgages, interest rates, the price of commodities like gold, silver, coffee and oil, or the possibility of a company or even a nation to default. Players on the derivatives market gamble maybe even at least a quadrillion today on the future prices of the assets to which a derivative is attached. In essence, the derivatives market is - by exponentially far - the world's largest casino.

The derivatives market is where banks and other financial institutions place their bets on every aspect of the world economy: currently, there is virtually nothing of economic worth that doesn't have some sort of derivative attached to it. Yet, this casino of the bigger the bet the bigger the profit is mostly played with so much of the American taxpayers' $$ for the rest of the entirety of their lives and of all their foreseeable descendants lives, too.

Tell me: how much would you be willing to gamble if none of it was yours to lose?

Remember CDOs? Collateralized Debt Obligations were derivative contracts attached to the booming housing market mortgages in the early 2000s, which bore what we infamously know today as the subprime mortgage. The "too big to fail" banks were the biggest creators, traders, and holders of CDOs, and when many folks began defaulting on mortgages they never should have been given in the first place, the whole housing bubbling burst, decimating the housing market and leaving the "tbtf" banks with virtually useless assets but holding the vastly overvalued notes on them anyway.

Lehman Brothers had to file for bankruptcy. All the so-called "tbtf" banks were bailed out by the American taxpayer even though the general market was hit so hard that Americans lost more than 25% of their collective net worth; total household wealth dropped by $14 trillion. The entire world dived into a deep recession. This all happened 2 weeks before the change of presidents in the 2008 election.

Which is maybe a coincidence since the biggest economic dive before that was the "tech bubble" bursting (aka the "NASDAQ bubble") right before the change of presidents in the 2000 election.

The too big to fail banks could not have survived in 2008 if not for government dictating that the American taxpayer suffer immensely for them to do so (to the tune of $34 trillion); that tyrannical hit is precisely why middle America is still economically reeling. Yet, those big banks have grown immensely rich off of middle America's economic pain.

Today's so-called big 4 banks, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, now hold over $7 trillion in actual assets - 160% more than the rest of the top 50 banks in America combined. Many of those big 4 have experienced asset growth approaching 40% since they sent the entire world reeling into recession in 2008.

So what have the big 4 been doing since 2008 to increase their wealth so much? First, take a look at how big the derivatives market is again:

http://money.visualcapitalist.com/all-of-the-worlds-money-and-markets-in-one-visualization/

Citigroup's assets are around $2 trillion, yet their total exposure to derivatives is around $55 trillion and growing.

JPMorgan Chase's assets are around $2.5 trillion, yet their total exposure to derivatives is around $51 trillion and growing.

Goldman Sachs assets are around $881 billion, yet their total exposure to derivatives is around $51 trillion and growing.

Bank of America's assets are around $2.1 trillion, yet their total exposure to derivatives is around $45 trillion and growing.

(each one of those figures is probably retarded by a factor of 1.5 years - there is no doubt all their exposures to derivatives are much greater currently).

The infamous "too big to fail banks" are 40% larger today than when they went bust in 2008. Since 2006, America's $$ supply has grown 400% - all just printed out of thin air. At one point, the Fed was purchasing 70% of bonds issued by the US Treasury with that thin air.

They say 49% of all Americans today receive $$ from at least 1 government agency every month; that 50% of all born in America today will be on foodstamps sometime in their lives, and that 52% of all employed Americans today earn < $30,000 annually.

The cost of the tech bubble of 2000 to Americans is put by some at $7 trillion. The cost of the housing bubble of 2008 to Americans is put by some at $14 trillion (that's not including the estimated $20 trillion the Troubled Asset Relief Program, TARP, cost).

When the derivative bubble bursts, it's going to cost the world economy anywhere from $630 trillion to $1.2 quadrillion from the outset. The entire American financial sector, including savings, deposits, retirement funds, pension funds will collapse when the derivative bubble pops - and so will the entire world economy. Think Greece, but this time with nothing existing to bail The. Entire. World. out.

A number of President-elect Donlad J. Trump's businesses have filed for bankruptcy, coincidently almost all of them casino properties (Trump has never filed for personal bankruptcy).

The last two changes of presidencies have knocked America to its economic knees. Maybe fate is being as kind as it can be by putting someone into the Oval Office who at least has an ounce of practical business/financial experience to help steer America amid the worldwide financial devastation which many see lying straight ahead.







Every bubble needs at least one pin to pop it. Besides the sharing of changes in the presidency, the tech and housing bubbles also experienced the rise in interest rates. In Dec 2008, the rate fell to 0%, where it stayed for the next 7 years until Fed chair Yellen raised it in Dec 2015; a year later, she's now flashing that she's ready to raise it more.

What happens when you raise rates paid by a currency whose value is nothing but a bubble itself, too?

The revision of history has Clinton enjoying all of the benefits of the dot.com bubble and none of the responsibility. The same thing is going to happen when Obama's history is written by the academics who write such nonsense.

 

[BotanyBoy]

If all US wealth was redistributed to it's citizens incomes would go from 35K to 60K and each person would be worth 250K.

And if you didn't maintain that redistribution the 99% would turn around and hand all their money to the 1% by the end of the year.

 

[LeatherChaps]

If all US wealth was redistributed to it's citizens incomes would go from 35K to 60K and each person would be worth 250K.

The dream of every lazy socialist.

 

[Queertag45]

I'm working hard to increase the number of millionaires. As of late, my efforts are not statistically significant, however.

Being a DVD salesman isn't paying off?

 

[Queertag45]

The revision of history has Clinton enjoying all of the benefits of the dot.com bubble and none of the responsibility. The same thing is going to happen when Obama's history is written by the academics who write such nonsense.

Whaaa clinton....whaaaa obama. The whining is getting old you little cross dressing queer.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Italy is on the list?



Are they including the Vatican?

 

[ifrtbttrflys]

https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iVEQ8ntnH9qg/v2/800x-1.png

 

[Conager]

If all US wealth was redistributed to it's citizens incomes would go from 35K to 60K and each person would be worth 250K.

No it wouldn't.

You clearly have no understanding of what wealth is and how it works. If your scheme were enacted what would happen is for 1 year there will be an uptick in sales in Cadillac Escalades and big screen TVs state lotteries would get a lot of money and drug dealers would make a lot of money. By the next year the average American would be worth only the increase acco7nted for by the auto purchased, less depreciation on the Escalade.

Income would drop precipitously as those who had had their assets seized fled the country never to return Taking their businesses and intellectual property with them. Just ask New Jersey how taxing their wealthiest citizens had worked out.

 

[irksomesauce]

8 Snapshots of America’s Fiscal Outlook

[all charts: Congressional Budget Office/Federal Budget in Pictures.]

1. Out-of-control spending.
Massive government spending drives budget deficits and the national debt. In 2016, federal spending reached 20.9 percent of the economy and is projected to grow even larger in 2017. By 2027, federal spending will be nearly 23.5 percent of gross domestic product. At the same time, revenues remain above historic averages. Clearly, Congress has a spending, not a revenue, problem.

http://dailysignal.com/wp-content/uploads/FiscalChart1.jpg


2. A mountain of debt.
The U.S. debt is steadily approaching $20 trillion. In the next few weeks, our debt will exceed the combined 2016 economic output of India, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Taiwan, and Thailand. Of this debt, a staggering $14.1 trillion was held by the public in 2016.


http://dailysignal.com/wp-content/uploads/FiscalChart2.jpg


3. The interest on the debt.
With every additional dollar of debt the government takes on, taxpayers pay more money in debt-servicing costs. In 2016, net interest payments on the national debt cost $241 billion. By 2027, this cost will triple and American taxpayers will be on the hook for $768 billion in net interest payments.

http://dailysignal.com/wp-content/uploads/FiscalChart3.jpg


4. Social Security‘s unsustainable path.
Social Security’s programs are running persistent deficits. Revenues from the payroll tax and taxing workers’ benefits simply aren’t enough to cover the cost of Social Security Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance payouts. By 2025, Social Security’s deficits will account for 19 percent of all federal budget deficits.

http://dailysignal.com/wp-content/uploads/FiscalChart4.jpg


5. Higher government expenses on health care.
Health care spending is the largest portion of the federal budget. Programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare subsidies, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program consumed 29 percent of the federal budget in 2016.

By 2027, these programs will consume $2.2 trillion. Over the next 10 years, Obamacare will be responsible for nearly $1 trillion in additional health care spending.

http://dailysignal.com/wp-content/uploads/FiscalChart5.jpg


6. Structural problems in the federal budget.
Between 2016 and 2027, the Congressional Budget Office projects that federal spending as a whole will increase by $2.8 trillion. Just three major budget categories—health care, Social Security, and interest on the national debt—will be responsible for 83 percent of this spending growth.

http://dailysignal.com/wp-content/uploads/FiscalChart6-1.jpg


7. Who’s paying.
Ever wonder where the government gets all of its money? In 2016, American taxpayers funded nearly 50 percent of federal revenues through the individual income tax. Payroll taxes covered another 34 percent of government revenues, while corporate income taxes and other revenues brought in 19 percent of all revenues.

http://dailysignal.com/wp-content/uploads/FiscalChart7.jpg


8. Health care in the federal budget.
In 2016, federal health care (Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, and Social Security) consumed 53 percent of the entire federal budget. By 2027, these programs will consume 59 percent of the entire federal budget, without reform.

http://dailysignal.com/wp-content/uploads/FiscalChart8.jpg

http://dailysignal.com/2017/02/09/8-snapshots-of-americas-fiscal-outlook/

 

[irksomesauce]

http://www.oftwominds.com/photos2017/productivity2-6-16.jpg

http://www.oftwominds.com/photos2017/US-debt1-17.png