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Peso on the Move ... Where's It Headed ?


snowyco

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On 10/17/2017 at 11:18 AM, Mainecoons said:

Currency traders follow the news.  That has not been reassuring for Mexico lately.  Rampant crime, an avowed socialist leading in the presidential polls, the depressed price of oil, rampant corruption with Mexico now ranked the most corrupt in Latin America and the NAFTA talks not going well with both Canada and the U.S. insisting on an end to the paying of starvation wages in Mexico's export industry.  And inflation in Mexico up to over 6 percent annually.

All of that probably plays a part.  


(Edited by moderator to remove clearly political content)

The troubling nature of the NAFTA talks would seem to be enough bad news to cause currency traders to move the MXN peso from it's prior $17.7  to the current weaker $18.8,   Still there are some other new-recent factors.

The US economy is still looking weak, with only nominal (tiny) wage gains for US workers, even with historic record low unemployment.   (Too many crummy low paying service sector jobs ... and too many workers in crummy part time jobs are parts of the problem.)

For anyone who doubts US economic weakness   Follow the Money:    The US Treasury only had to pay 1.77% interest to entice buyers to scoop up USA's 10 yr T-bills in 2016.   Sadly,   the US Govt must now pay 2.33% interest to get outsiders to buy our 10 yr Debt notes. That' means the USA must pay 32% more interest to finance debt.  That weakness costs the US taxpayers an extra $110 Billion a year in extra interest payments.

In contrast to the USA's weak +2.33% interest payments to entice people to buy US Treasury Debt,   the Germans are still selling their debt at NEGATIVE interest rates ... -0.25% ... where people actually pay the German Government 0.25% for the privilege of protecting their $$ in much safer German Treasury bills. 

This is all important, because currency traders believe that whatever hurts the USA,  ripples South   and down as even bigger problems for Mexico.   As the US dollar gets weaker, as the perceptions of US economic weakness grow  all of that combines to cause currency traders to think that the Mexican economy will be harmed by US problems.

There seems to be very little upcoming fresh good news in the pipe for the US economy,   as the Fed Bankers are starting to sell-off (unwind) the massive $4.5 Trillion in US Treasury debt that the Fed bought as historical record artificial stimulus (aka Quantitative Easing ... QE)   back when the Fed Banks rescued the US Treasury after the 2007 - 2009 Fiscal Crisis.  

Dumping ("unwinding") $4.5 Trillion of extra US Treasury Bills   has never been tried before ... which makes economists & traders nervous ... nervousness which flows down in the form of weaker US dollar and weaker MXN peso values. ...  Finally,  don't forget the USA's $20 Trillion Debt   that's significantly more than the USA's GDP,,  massive Debt that is projected to only get larger with $90 billion in new additional US Military spending.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/05/fed-set-to-unwind-balance-sheet-this-year.html
and
https://ycharts.com/indicators/10_year_treasury_rate


 

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A couple of comments now the obvious political content and bias has been dealt with.

The U.S. economy as measured by unemployment, filings for unemployment benefits, corporate profits, is stronger now, not getting weaker.  The problem of stagnant employee compensation began well before 2016.  Indeed there has finally been some uptick in wages.

Most reports I have seen on the dollar state that it was overvalued and I think that is correct.  Here's what the 10 year chart looks like:

Historical Data Chart

As for historic interest rates, what is historic is the low rates paid savers for quite some time, a situation that has been very bad for retired folks.  Historically, 2.33 percent is a terrible rate of return.  Again, a chart puts this in perspective.

image.png.c737c2255e003119ffafdeea45aef5bd.png

As for the debt situation, that doubled in the previous 8 years alone.  History shows that when government borrowing finally reaches its limit, the crash is very abrupt.  It may be preceded by hyperinflation.  The problem of governments piling up debt beyond the ability to repay is widespread and at some point the defaults are going to begin. 

Frankly this is the biggest problem going down the road.  It is silly to think that any country can grow its way out of borrowing 40 percent of its budget.  This piling on of debt has been going on for a long time particularly in the last 17 years.  The U.S. national debt was doubled just in the last 8 years and there seems to be nothing but a sea of red ink looking forward.

Can't disagree at all that Mexico is much too dependent on the U.S. for trade, remittances, tourism, even drug money.  I really don't see that changing much.  

 

 

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USA's economic forecast has been weaker since the 2016 November election,  as US 10 year T-Bills have fallen in value. ... Immedialtely after the US 2016 Presidential elections,   buyers confidence in future US government 10 yr bonds & 2 yr bonds fell,  causing the US Treasury to have to raise interest rates on 10 yr notes by 32%.

While most of the Industrialized World economies have been strengthening,  US Govt securities continue to weaken - especially post 2016 Presidential election.  Example:  The European Central bank's 10 year notes strengthened ... and have continued to strengthen, as confidence in the US Govt. falls.  e.g. 
In June 2014, the rate on the ECB deposit facility was first lowered into negative territory, to -0.1%, followed by three more cuts to ultimately go to  -0.4% .

Germany's 2 year and 5 year Treasury Bonds continue at  -0.75%  and   --0.28% => where investors PAY both European Central Bank & the German Government for holding your money ... instead the US Govt. since the 2016 Presidential election have had to pay investors an extra $3 billion in interest a year ... all due to perceived US Govt weakness ... to get investors to take on riskier US T-bills    versus the much safer EU & German notes.

Here's a plot of the USA's official 10 year T-bill interest rates ...  Note the big jump in the Nov. 18, 2016 rates  ... post US Presidential election. => Loss of confidence in US Govt Treasury.

https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=US10Y

Then look at the similar dramatic jump in 2 year US Treasury rates in Nov. 2018. => Loss of confidence.in US Govt. Treasury

https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/USGG2YR:IND

image.png

Treasury Bill Chart 10 Year Notes.png

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49 minutes ago, snowyco said:

 

USA's economic forecast has been weaker since the 2016 November election,  as US 10 year T-Bills have fallen in value. ... Immedialtely after the US 2016 Presidential elections,   buyers confidence in future US government 10 yr bonds & 2 yr bonds fell,  causing the US Treasury to have to raise interest rates on 10 yr notes by 32%.

 

Incorrect again.

United States GDP Growth Rate

Quote

The US economy expanded an annualized 3.1 percent on quarter in the second quarter of 2017, above a second estimate of 3 percent and beating market expectations of 3 percent. It is the strongest growth rate since the first three months of 2015, the final estimate from the BEA showed. Private inventory investment increased more than previously estimated, but the general picture of economic growth remains the same. GDP Growth Rate in the United States averaged 3.22 percent from 1947 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 16.90 percent in the first quarter of 1950 and a record low of -10 percent in the first quarter of 1958.

 Try stepping outside of your ideological agenda and just look at the actual numbers.  They do not support your thinly veiled allegation that any one administration is driving the numbers.  The main economic driver from the last two and now apparently this one is deficit spending!  The Federal government has been propping up the U.S. economy for at least 17 years now with borrowed money!

Among other things, it is a fact that economic policy changes take quite some time to show up in GDP.  A long longer than the current administration.  They haven't had the time to make many changes of substance.

You keep bringing up T bills, still apparently not understanding that first, the value of an already issued T bill drops when interest rates rise and secondly that, just as the dollar is beginning to come down from historically overvalued levels, the interest rates are beginning to rise from historically low levels.  Both are overdue corrections and should be expected.

You noted earlier interest payments on the national debt are rising with rising interest rates.  Prior to the Clinton administration, most Federal debt was held in 30 year T Bills.  Beginning with that administration and expanding with subsequent ones, financing of the national debt has become more and more short term.  Coupled with the artificially low interest rates caused by Fed manipulations, this has disguised the real cost of carrying the massive debt of the U.S. government.  As interest rates rise, this too is not going to end well.  When those short term debt instruments are rolled over into ones carrying higher interest rates, the interest cost of the national debt is going to start "eating" the national budget.

All of this but the latter is peripheral to the real issue which you identified:  Runaway borrowing.  The first budget of this administration has as much red ink as some of the highest of the previous.  This is not going to end well as economic history clearly shows that sooner or later the piper has to be paid.  The U.S. has risen into the ranks of the 10 most indebted nations in the world as a function of GDP.  And now it is facing rapidly escalating cost to service that debt.  There is no way to grow out of this level of debt!  One can argue I believe that the U.S. is already insolvent and is surviving on the "too big to fail" phenomenon.

There is a very important demographic factor here as well.  The U.S. population is aging, the birth rate is near historic lows, and older people do not drive a basically consumer led economy the way younger ones do.  There is no baby boom up there entering their most productive and consuming years, quite the contrary.  The baby boomers are retiring in droves and spending previously earned assets.  Old populations aren't going to post big growth numbers tax cuts or not.

Ironically Mexico has great demographic numbers but is being absolutely choked to death by the corruption of its political class.  I've seen it put very well IMO:  Mexico is a country with first world people living in a third world country because of a fourth world government.  This country should be roaring into the first world but until it deals with the corruption and wholesale theft of public money it isn't going anywhere IMHO.  It isn't even growing fast enough to keep up with population growth.

Mexico GDP Growth Rate

There's no question the stock market isn't an indicator of anything but a bubble and one with very narrow breadth as well.  There are a lot of wildly inflated values on companies with earnings that don't begin to justify stock prices.  Indeed a lot of these concerns are awash in red ink like the government.  It is being driven by people chasing yields and pumping up fewer and fewer stocks.  This isn't going to end well either, it never does.

 

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3 hours ago, Mainecoons said:


....

You keep bringing up T bills, still apparently not understanding that first, the value of an already issued T bill drops when interest rates rise and secondly that, just as the dollar is beginning to come down from historically overvalued levels, the interest rates are beginning to rise from historically low levels.  Both are overdue corrections and should be expected.


That presumption is not correct.

I choose assessments based on solid experts inside the USA,  like US Treas. Sec. Steve Mnuchin  and foreign objective sources like BBC London's financial experts, plus the assessments of groups like the IMF experts.

Both the BBC and US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, plus the IMF,   have tracked US economic strength & perceived strength, and they agree that

expectations about interest rates and the US economy also play a role "   

Overall, they see the US economic picture as weak.  Not awful ... just weak & sluggish.   

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40853840
and   

US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin on the Benefits of a Weak Dollar    "
Since the election": 
"
The U.S. dollar has been considerably weaker this year. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, is down about 10 percent year to date. Since the election, it's down 5.32 percent."

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/31/mnuchin-having-a-weaker-dollar-is-better-for-us-on-trade.html


Even the IMF (which is historically closely aligned with US White House policies) even  announces that they have cut their growth forecasts for the US economy

" due to uncertainty about White House policies."

"Proposals such as cuts to spending on programmes that benefit low and middle income households could lead to even slower growth, the IMF warned."

"The consultation revealed differences on a range of policies and left open questions as to whether the administration's proposed policy strategies are best suited to achieve their intended purpose," 

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40421270

 Currency traders follow these significant news updates from Treasury's Mnuchin,  from the IMF,   and from London financial experts    ... and those traders have  been punishing  the MXN peso for the July & August (and continuing) reports of perceived US economic weakness - wagging Mexico like the tail on a big American dog.

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We could go on all day.  The charts tell the picture.  Interest rates are below long term norms, the dollar is overvalued when compared to long term norms.  The growth figures are pretty much staying the same.

I could care less what some politician has to say about these, the data do not lie.

Some folks like to think the economic megatrends really depend much on individual politicians, I believe the real picture is much more complex and involves a whole range of factors including demographics, growth in capability and competition around the world, the gross amount of borrowing being done by quite a number of countries and the like.  What we are seeing in the economies and the sociology of various countries has been building for decades.

Personally I think we have reached the "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" stage in the current cycle of history.  If you want to take the simplistic view that one or several individuals is responsible for this, be my guest.  

I'm done.

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On 10/21/2017 at 6:26 PM, Mainecoons said:

Personally I think we have reached the "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" stage in the current cycle of history.  If you want to take the simplistic view that one or several individuals is responsible for this, be my guest.  

I'm done.

Please continue. Your contribution is valuable.

I think this is a period of global readjustment to a major change. Gutenberg was named by A&E as the most influential person of the previous millenium, in 1999, because movable type transformed society. Literacy rates were 5% before, and within a generation were 90%, because books became available to everyone. The Internet has done the same thing. Surely this is a cause for much of the chaos society is going through. We simply haven't had time yet to understand and absorb the massive amount of information available to us now.

We shouldn't forget that something that has never happened before could be happening now, and when we are in the midst of it, we can't see the whole of it. This could be what's happening now in the US and around the world. The Internet has had a massive impact. To what extent? This has to impact economics, too, right?

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The internet, TV, smartphones, etc., have all made a significant change in human interactions, and it has made them very rapidly. We now live in an era of depersonalization, with little real contact with each other. We no longer even know our immediate neighbors and there are few we care for, or who care for us. We are just names or worse, avatars, whose elimination by whatever means, messy, slow, instant or natural, has no real impact on us any more. No tears are shed, no hugs exhanged and “life goes on“, if you can call it that any more.  We are packaged people, eating packaged food, moving in our four-wheeled packages and directed by a disconnected GPS voice.  We are so apathetic that we care not if another country fails, as we witness our own failure and care not even for that.  It is probably too late to expect any good result. We are our own worst enemy.  Even though the sixth mass extinction event is already underway, we will probably not even notice our own passing already written on the wall.  “Have a nice day“.

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I don't know if currencies work the same as stocks when looking at chart patterns but if you look at last 3 months USD/MXN you seee a range from 17.5 to 18 until September 14 when the dollar starts to make a move up (or the peso starts its way down). At the end you see a very nicely defined double bottom in the shape of a W where today's close is .03 higher than the other high point. There appears to be a downward resistance point forming the 2 low points of the W. Charting people would say that since the upward resistance has been broached, the upward movement should continue.

External conditions may affect currencies more than stocks but it is unusual to see a classic double bottom like this. Another article I read expected upward resistanbce at 19.23. 

2017-10-23_152922.thumb.jpg.f92e4c687bb6ac839057ab3b4e17bc0a.jpg

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I try my best not to comment on this stuff, but " Governments can't intervene to prop up the value of stocks." was too much even for me. The Fed has been known to increase/decrease the interest rate and/or the money supply with just the end result of just this effect.

All of this makes me wonder where all of you earned your Ph.D. in Economics.

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As US stocks hit new record highs,    confidence in the US Government falls to record lows.

Blooomberg reported this morning that the numbers of short sell orders,  betting that confidence in the US Govt will continue to fall,  are at the highest ever historic records.   Bloomberg's experts said that big institutional investors are voting with their $$,   with historically large bets that confidence in the US Govt & US Dollar are  going to continue to get weaker =>  driving higher interest payments by the US Treasury for the next 10 years.

Notice how the Mexican peso has reacted during the time that investor confidence in the US govt has fallen.   NY-MEX Mexican crude prices have risen to near $53 ... up 1% in today alone ...  rising from $47.3 per bbl  in Sept  ... gaining 11% ..  which should have helped MXN peso values ...  but instead the MXN peso went the opposite way ... falling by 9%.

Note that as confidence in the US Govt's Treasury vales have hit all time historic lows over the last 2 months,   the MXN peso has been similarly battered, even though NYMEX Mexican oil prices gained 11%. 

As confidence in the US drops ... the MXN peso likely continues to weaken.
..

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7 minutes ago, snowyco said:

Blooomberg reported this morning that the numbers of short sell orders,  betting that confidence in the US Govt will continue to fall,  are at the highest ever historic records.   Bloomberg's experts said that big institutional investors are voting with their $$,   with historically large bets that confidence in the US Govt & US Dollar are  going to continue to get weaker =>  driving higher interest payments by the US Treasury for the next 10 years.

Considering the dismal track record of many of the "large" investors (remember 2008?) betting in the opposite direction might be a smart play, eh?

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1 hour ago, snowyco said:

As US stocks hit new record highs,    confidence in the US Government falls to record lows.

Blooomberg reported this morning that the numbers of short sell orders,  betting that confidence in the US Govt will continue to fall,  are at the highest ever historic records.   Bloomberg's experts said that big institutional investors are voting with their $$,   with historically large bets that confidence in the US Govt & US Dollar are  going to continue to get weaker =>  driving higher interest payments by the US Treasury for the next 10 years.

Notice how the Mexican peso has reacted during the time that investor confidence in the US govt has fallen.   NY-MEX Mexican crude prices have risen to near $53 ... up 1% in today alone ...  rising from $47.3 per bbl  in Sept  ... gaining 11% ..  which should have helped MXN peso values ...  but instead the MXN peso went the opposite way ... falling by 9%.

Note that as confidence in the US Govt's Treasury vales have hit all time historic lows over the last 2 months,   the MXN peso has been similarly battered, even though NYMEX Mexican oil prices gained 11%. 

As confidence in the US drops ... the MXN peso likely continues to weaken.
..

This is news to me.  When could you short the U.S. government or any other government for that matter?  Shorting is about stocks and bonds.  Let's see your link. 

I think you're putting a spin on it that isn't there because of your personal political agenda.  Let's see the actual report and where they link short selling to confidence in government.  

Obviously one can short government bonds.  If one is betting interest rates are going to rise back to more typical historic levels, that would be a smart move.  Despite your denial, the historic data are clear that interest rates on government paper are well below historic normal levels.  Betting against a continuation of that and a more normal valuation for the U.S. dollar is to be expected.  The charts also show that whenever values get out of whack with longer term averages, things correct.

And stocks tend to trade lower when interest rates are higher because people have another way to make money besides betting on stock gains.  Particularly now when market values are far outside of long term P/E valuations.  Even crazier, a lot of the market value is wrapped up in a relatively few stocks whose companies don't make money at all.

I'm hard put not to see the stock market as a 1929 style budget.  Particularly when I see news items that 125,000 people applied for 1000 flight attendant jobs at Delta.  I think all the claims these politicians make about the economy is just a bunch of hooey.

The Federal Reserve drove interest rates to zero trying to pump up the economy.  That can only last so long and a correction is underway.  That correction began before the current administration and is forecast to continue.

Here's a discussion of the Federal Reserve's actions as they are affecting the markets along with a historical discussion of how the cycle repeats:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomaspray/2017/09/23/are-rising-rates-good-for-stocks/#48f87b98265f

As for confidence in government, Pew puts that in perspective very definitively here and it doesn't support your allegations either:

http://www.people-press.org/2017/05/03/public-trust-in-government-1958-2017/

 

 

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1 hour ago, Mainecoons said:

This is news to me.  When could you short the U.S. government or any other government for that matter?  Shorting is about stocks and bonds.  Let's see your link. 

I think you're putting a spin on it that isn't there because of your personal political agenda.  Let's see the actual report and where they link short selling to confidence in government.  

...

 

 


I only report what the Bloomberg experts announced this morning ... that the big money crowd has significant doubt in that the current government  (Administration + Congress)   can accomplish what it promises  ... and they are willing to back their understandings with   record amounts  of their $$money  ... Further,  this is not a new view.   This morning's report matches what bond experts have been saying since last April, 2017
April 2017 Example


" (Investor) Confidence in the government's ability to actually implement reform and effect change is fading ever since the administration failed to revamp health-care regulation.     That has contributed to a weakened dollar. "

Do typical readers have high confidence that the current White House + Congress (aka the US government) will successfully deliver on the big promises?

Note that since the Nov. 2016  election,   the US dollar has lost 10% to 12% of it's value ,  losing to the Loonie,   losing to the Pound,  losing to the Euro ...   When 300 million American's total assets fall by 10%,   does that show confidence in the US Government ?

Here are some selected expert's quotes that confirm the loss of future confidence in the US Govt.   Consider how $$ Billions have been fleeing Govt. Treasuries, due to the loss in confidence since the Nov 2016 election:


"A fund like the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) bled more than $850 million to net redemptions in less than two months following November's presidential election. As money was coming out of the fund, TLT was dropping — to the tune of some 8.3 percent in losses in that same period."

"Coming into 2017, speculators mounted a short position in U.S. Treasury futures that hit a "historic high" in the first quarter of this year, according to 
DoubleLine's latest quarterly report. By mid-March, 10-year Treasury yields closed at a high of 2.61 percent"

Why?
" Confidence in the government's ability to actually implement reform and effect change is fading ever since the administration failed to revamp health-care regulation.     That has contributed to a weakened dollar. "

http://www.marketwatch.com/topics/columns/bond-report

=============

I don't write the news ... I just report it.
;)

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20 hours ago, El Saltos said:

A big difference between stocks and currencies:  Governments can't intervene to prop up the value of stocks.

Tell that to the USA, Canada, France, Boeing, AirBus, and Bombardier.

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Not at all surprised the short position on treasuries is at highs given how far out of whack interest rates are compared to long term norms.  That is the part you keep trying to ignore Snowy.  The further distorted a market is, the more pronounced the correction will be.  That is the difference between crashes brought on by excesses versus the more usual and minor corrections.

Also not surprised the markets are not happy with the political situation.  They haven't been for quite some time.  That they are very unhappy with the failure to clean up the "Affordable" Health Care Act mess should surprise no one.  But the current government didn't make this mess to begin with, keep that in mind.  I doubt they'll be able to clean up the Tax mess, a mess that is decades in the making either.

The Administration can't fix the health care mess or the tax mess THEY DIDN'T MAKE IN THE FIRST PLACE on their own.  Let's keep that in mind, shall we?  

You keep trying to pin the Treasury bond market correction on lack of confidence in the government.   Your sources aren't saying that, they are reporting the correction and noting the Fed is raising interest rates and signaling they intend to raise them further.  THAT is the primary reason bond values are falling just as they do every time interest rates rise!  

Your quoting of Doubleline is selective to the point of being misleading.  Note they include BOTH interest rate rises AND inflation rate rises along with failed health care reform as reasons for the bond market fall in their very first paragraph.

Quote

However, the month of March introduced the widely anticipated Federal Reserve ("Fed") rate hike, inflation above 2% and a failed health care reform bill, leading many to wonder what would follow.

Doubleline's very next paragraph discusses how the anticipated Fed rate hikes are going to cause T bond prices to fall further.  However the same report anticipates that both the inflationary factor and the short position factor, would moderate later in this year.  BTW, this is a first quarter report, we are now in the fourth quarter.  Since these are quarterly reports I would think later quarter reports would be more germane to this topic since you are making allegations about current conditions while quoting from a report that is two quarters back.

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19 minutes ago, pappysmarket said:

Quantum Easing by the gov has certainly propped up the stock market. Cheap money.

Exactly right.  That was done by previous administrations.  If one wants to be honest about it, this bubble blowing by the government leading to crashes began in earnest in the late nineties, aided and abetted by the government driving interest rates to zero resulting in the housing bubble and crash and now we have a financial bubble brought on by gross government borrowing and keeping interest rates so low that savers can't even recoup the cost of modest inflation.

I seriously doubt God himself could clean the health, tax and financial mess governments in the U.S have created in the last 3 decades and I sincerely believe there is going to be a major crash as a result.

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