Hoping for a rich uncle, part two

From the WSJ:

A sudden drop-off in investor demand for U.S. Treasury notes is raising questions about whether interest rates will finally begin a march higher—a climb that would jack up the government's borrowing costs and spell trouble for the fragile housing market.

For months, investors have focused their attention on the debt crisis in Europe, but there are signs the spotlight is turning to the ability of the U.S. to finance its own budget deficit.

This week, some investors turned up their noses at three big U.S. Treasury offerings. Demand was weak for a $44 billion 2-year note auction on Tuesday, a $42 billion sale of 5-year debt on Wednesday and a $32 billion 7-year note sale Thursday.

The poor demand, especially from foreign investors, sent the bonds' prices sharply lower and yields higher. It lifted the yield on the 10-year note to 3.9%—its highest since last June, and approaching the psychologically important 4% mark. That mark has been pierced only briefly since the financial crisis in 2008.

Investors' response marked a big shift from auctions in recent months in which major foreign buyers, such as central banks, had snapped up Treasurys. It could spell trouble for the U.S. housing market; the rates on many mortgages are linked to the yield on the 10-year note.

The move up in its yield coincides with the impending end of the Federal Reserve's program to support the mortgage market. The Fed has bought $1.25 trillion of mortgage-backed securities, bolstering their prices and thus holding down their yields.

Concerns about the U.S. budget deficit are beginning to hurt the Treasury market, says Steve Rodosky, head of Treasury and derivatives trading at bond giant Pacific Investment Management Co. He says he is increasingly worried about the U.S. fiscal outlook. "The government needs to take real action rather than pay lip service" to addressing the fiscal problems.

In all, the U.S. government is expected to sell $1.6 trillion in debt this year, including the $118 billion sold this week.

VH: Those little green pieces of paper that the government pumps out is looking a lot less attractive nowadays. Helicopter Ben must be thanking his lucky stars that Greece came in to save his arse. BTW, the latest news on Greece is that the responsible E.U. countries and the American taxpayer (surprise!) via the IMF are going to float the spendthrift Greeks some moolah if it fails to pay its debt. This is going to get interesting.

Bankruptcy, thy name is Greece

The next time someone tells you that they trust the way government handles finances or they are A-OK with tax hikes because they benefit the common good, tell them about a little country called Greece:

Concerns that Greece and other struggling European nations may not be able to repay their debts are focusing investor attention on another big worry: Economies across the Continent have used complex financial transactions—sometimes in secret—to hide the true size of their debts and deficits.

Investors long turned a blind eye to European governments' aggressive bookkeeping, aimed at meeting the euro zone's fiscal ceilings. Countries using the euro currency have a rich history of exotic maneuvers aimed at meeting rules requiring members to cap debt levels at 60% of their gross domestic product and their annual budget deficits to no more than 3%. Despite criticism, European leaders deemed many of these moves acceptable as they sought the long-planned currency union...

...Portugal classified subsidies to the Lisbon subway and other state enterprises as equity purchases. After learning that, Eurostat made Portugal redo its accounting in 2002. The country revised its 2001 deficit from €2.76 billion, or 2.2% of GDP, to €5.09 billion, or 4.1%—well over the limit.

France arranged a deal with the soon-to-be privatized France Telecom in 1997 under which the company paid the government a lump sum of more than €5 billion. In return, France agreed to assume pension liabilities for France Telecom workers. The billions from France Telecom helped narrow France's budget gap to around €40 billion in 1997; it reported a deficit for that year of 3% of GDP—right on the target, and helping it to join the euro.

Even Germany, Europe's largest economy, tried to reappraise gold reserves for a fast fix in 1997, though it backed off after resistance from the country's central bank.

Wanna bet something like this will happen here?

Coming to California some time soon?

From Associated Press:

Greek drivers lined up for gas at the few stations still open Friday as a customs strike against government austerity measures left many pumps running dry.

The fuel shortage was the first serious consequence of growing labor protests against the Socialist government's emergency spending cuts program, aimed at easing the debt crisis in Greece and shoring up market confidence.

Customs workers have extended their strike against salary freezes and bonus cuts through next Wednesday, when unions across Greece will hold a general strike that is set to bring the country to a standstill.

European finance ministers have told Athens it must demonstrate signs of fiscal improvement by March 16 or it will be ordered to impose even tougher budget cuts. Greece has promised to slash its deficit from an estimated 12.7 percent of gross domestic product to 8.7 percent this year.

Finance Ministry officials say they are under EU pressure to ax the public servants' so-called "14th salary." Greek workers get their annual salary divided into 14 payments, with two of them given as holiday bonuses, in a measure originally designed to alleviate those with low incomes.

"We would consider cutting the 14th (salary) to be an act of war," said Yiannis Papagopoulos, leader of Greece's trade union umbrella group, the GSEE.

VH: Aren't unions great? They would rather destroy their own country than to agree to austerity programs. This isn't the first time (or the last) that unions have held the public hostage and I'm not just talking about Greece either. The recent $60 billion giveaway to Big Labor for ObamaCare is still a fresh wound. In California, Big Labor rules. And they will crush anyone that gets in their way. Heck, they made mince meat and a lame duck of Arnold Schwchenneger when he tried to curb their power back in 2005. With a $20 billion fiscal hole that California needs to deal with, just wait until there has to be some real cutting of public services and jobs around here. All hell is going to break loose with public unions being at the head of the screaming mob.