We are 7 days away from the alarming event. The US markets will trade Thursday 10/10 and Friday 10/11, but will be closed Monday 10/14 for Columbus Day. If it comes to pass, Thursday 10/17 will likely be the start of a history changing event. Most people think it won't happen.
Richard G. Mitchell, an emeritus sociology professor at Oregon State University and author of "Dancing at Armageddon: Survivalism and Chaos in Modern Times,".The Worlds markets are nervous, and if the meltdown comes to pass, there will be carnage, the IMF says.
"Absolutely zero, if we're talking in whole numbers," Mitchell said of the probability of a default.
The Wall Street Journal predicts the dominoes toppling in the first hours, when the money carriage turns into a pumpkin."A threat not to pay interest on US government bonds is a threat to blow up the world; it would be a bloody catastrophe," says John Cochrane, professor of finance at the University of Chicago."While the damage to the U.S. economy from a short shutdown is likely to be limited, a longer shutdown could be quite harmful," the report said. "And even more importantly, a failure to promptly raise the debt ceiling, leading to a U.S. selective default, could seriously damage the global economy and financial system."
"A default of even a few hours on any US bond would undermine a key, long-standing assumption underpinning the world's financial system: that US government debt is risk-free," says Justin Wolfers, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington. He suggests banks worldwide would immediately mark down the value of US bonds outstanding and would be scared to lend to each other.
- See more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/another-global-meltdown-at-stake-as-us-plays-fiscal-russian-roulette/story-fnc2jivw-1226733203752#sthash.Bq1iG7XK.dpuf
The first ripples in a rapidly expanding financial crisis will be felt in an obscure but giant sector of the short-term credit markets.CNBC reports the survivalist business is booming.
There, in the $5 trillion-a-day repo market – more formally known as the securities repurchase market – Treasury securities are treated as the equivalent of currency. In tapping it, large Wall Street dealer banks work on the assumption that they can turn their inventory of U.S. government bonds into cash at any given moment, simply by offering the bonds up as collateral to money-market funds and other lenders that participate in this giant short-term funding market. If for just one of those securities this liquidity is turned off, those assumptions go out the window. The ramifications are enormous.
“All of a sudden, people will have to reevaluate their liquidity positions and this can quickly turn into panic,” says Lou Crandall, an analyst at market research firm Wrightson ICAP LLC.
Companies like MRE Star, an Arden, N.C.-based maker of pre-packaged "meals ready to eat," or MREs, are also getting a boost.
"Orders were fairly steady from January to three weeks ago," said company operations manager Ken Lester. "But the orders in September were double any month from January to August."
Lester said MRE Star, which ships thousands of cases of MREs each month to customers that include U.S. embassies abroad, is now seeing larger-sized retail orders from individuals, stemming from concerns surrounding the government shutdown and potential debt default.
"Individual retail orders have been significant in the sense that people are ordering more than a couple of cases. Instead of ordering single cases, which have 12 meals, they're ordering more than a couple days' worth of meals," said Lester. "What's trending is four to 10 cases of MREs."
"A threat not to pay interest on US government bonds is a threat to blow up the world; it would be a bloody catastrophe," says John Cochrane, professor of finance at the University of Chicago. - See more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/another-global-meltdown-at-stake-as-us-plays-fiscal-russian-roulette/story-fnc2jivw-1226733203752#sthash.Bq1iG7XK.dpuf
"A threat not to pay interest on US government bonds is a threat to blow up the world; it would be a bloody catastrophe," says John Cochrane, professor of finance at the University of Chicago.
"A default of even a few hours on any US bond would undermine a key, long-standing assumption underpinning the world's financial system: that US government debt is risk-free," says Justin Wolfers, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington. He suggests banks worldwide would immediately mark down the value of US bonds outstanding and would be scared to lend to each other.
- See more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/another-global-meltdown-at-stake-as-us-plays-fiscal-russian-roulette/story-fnc2jivw-1226733203752#sthash.Bq1iG7XK.dpuf
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