question for the list

pms laflame at aaahawk.com
Thu May 23 16:40:26 PDT 2002


Ok, been looking at the U.S. international accounts. The balance on investment income slipped into the red in 1998. It had been positive to the tune of 0.6-1.0% of GDP through the 1960s and 1970s, and started falling in the early 1980s, when the twin deficits (federal and trade) became news. But the major driving force is in interest payments on U.S. Treasury paper. Direct investment income is still positive on balance. Private securities only went negative last year, but the numbers are pretty small.

Gosh I was hoping you'd do that. Where can I look at the international money flows anyway? (who needs sleep) This sounds like the world is trapped and the US is really pushing it now. I mean, both pizza drivers I know have brand new cars. One just bought a house, after a few years of ridiculous house inflation. Now starting to deflate. The system is flooded with money. People must be cashing some of those $5000.00 checks @19.99% or Wells Fargo wouldn't be sending them out At the same time I called Citibank this week to make sure I wouldn't get trapped into paying cash advance interest on some 6.9% "balance transfer" checks after the year offer and when I got to the second level of rep, she lowered my regular rate to 9.65 and sent me a "balance tranfer check" for 4.9. FIXED. BTW, she also informed me that of the five checks I had gotten in the mail were, as she called it, "just a promotion", and that all but one made out for half of my new limit increase would indeed have gone to a ridulously high cash advance % rate at the end of the promotion period. Kinda reminds me of trying to figure out which pre-paid cell plan to buy. A game. If I hadn't asked about getting my regular rate lowered, I'd have never talked to this woman. The first level rep assured me none of the checks would ever go to that high, high cash advance rate.(I was already caught in a very subtle trap like this with SouthTrust, which is the debt I was looking to restructure, though it's almost gone anyway since it made me so mad I made paying a favorite hobby. A lot of people I know couldn't do that) Maybe interest rates won't sky-rocket. Just very fewer and fewer people will qualify for credit that isn't sub-prime. But I digress. Those right-wing gold bugs got a point about all that debasing the currency drum they pound 24/7. So how long can the Japanese continue to buy dollars? But how can they stop? Is a strong Euro good for Europe? Will oil producers begin asking for Euro payment then? And why did the Bank of England not raise interest rates yesterday even though inflation is beyond target and the low rates are creating a housing bubble that won't quit(yet)? What are Bush and Blair up to with this money thing?



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