[lbo-talk] A trader's view of the coming depression

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Tue Sep 27 06:08:06 PDT 2011


On Sep 27, 2011, at 8:58 AM, Wojtek S wrote:


> SA: "Households probably hold about 5x as much cash as corporations
> currently do, the "record amounts" notwithstanding."
>
> [WS:] Not anymore http://www.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?ReqID=9&step=1

That link just goes to a portal page, so not sure what you're getting at. In any case, the national income accounts have nothing to do with assets or liabilities. They're pure flows, not stocks, and refer only to current period production (or incomes earned in production). For the asset/liability stuff, you need the Fed's flow of funds accounts <http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/fof/>.

Nonfinancial corps have around $15 trillion in financial assets. About a quarter of that is accounted for by direct investment abroad, which is considered much like an equity investment and not a tangible asset. Tangible assets are about $14 trillion. Corporate financial assets surpassed tangible in 2009.

Doug



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