Courtesy of Mish.

Luis de Guindos, Spain’s Economy Minister, sings the praises of low inflation.

Via translation from El Economista, please consider Economy Minister Says Deflation Has “Positive Impact”.

James Daniel, Spain’s mission advisor to the IMF, said that inflation close to zero in the country increases the burden of debt and real interest rates and difficult to reduce unemployment.

Daniel’s words contradict the perception Luis de Guindos, the Spanish Minister of Economy and Competitiveness, who also said today at a press conference that low inflation “is having a positive impact” and help the country’s competitiveness.

Guindos noted noted that, far from being a threat, “the low level of inflation is allowing Spain win competitiveness.”

However, he recognized that low inflation could become a “problem” if it lasts “long” and affects the process of deleveraging in the Spanish economy. The minister expects inflation to fluctuate in the coming months at around 0.5%.

Guindos had it correct until that last sentence. Low inflation, or deflation is never a problem. Rather the buildup of debt that cannot be serviced is the problem.

Since the buildup of debt is the problem, inflationary solutions that encourage people and businesses to expand debt cannot possibly be the solution.

Falling wages have had a positive effect on Spain’s competitiveness, so much so that France is bitching about the invasion of Spanish builders undercutting French firms in price.

For discussion, please see Deflation Will Return: Europe First, Then US; Global Supply Arbitrage.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com 

Outside of China-driven raw materials weakness, commodity prices are off the lows and rising, though remain at depressed levels relative to the past five years.

DJ UBS Commodity Index

Americans are starting to pay attention to rising prices, particularly as some of the more visible commodities such as coffee or gasoline become more expensive.
 

June 2014 gasoline futures (RBM14) (source: barchart)

This sentiment is reflected in the rising Google search frequency for the word "inflation" and will likely show up in the surveys such the UMichigan inflation expectations over the next few months.
 

Google Trends: search term "inflation"; United States search only

The markets are starting to take notice. The latest TIPS auction showed a sudden increase in investor demand.

Bloomberg: - The U.S. sale of $18 billion in five-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities drew the strongest demand ever from a class of investors that includes foreign central banks. 

Indirect bidders bought 58.4 percent of the securities at the TIPS sale. That compared with an average of 42.3 percent at the past 10 auctions. The bid-to-cover ratio, which gauges demand by comparing the amount bid with the amount offered, was 2.7, matching the highest level since December 2012. The notes sold at a yield of negative 0.213 percent, below the negative 0.162 percent average forecast of five of the Fed’s 22 primary dealers in a Bloomberg News poll. 

“The stats were off the charts,” said Stanley Sun, a New York-based strategist at Nomura Holdings Inc., a primary dealer, said in a telephone interview.

The five-year breakeven rate (a rough measure of implied inflation expectations) jumped as a result.
 

Source: Ycharts

Clearly we've had these "false starts" in the past, just to end up staring in the face of disinflationary pressures. But this time conditions seem to be in place for a sustainable stabilization in the rate of inflation.

Courtesy of Mish.

Illinois is broke. Its public pension plans are the most troubled in the nation.

Illinois passed massive “temporary” tax hikes to fix the pension problem, but that did not make a dent in  the problem.

Nonetheless, ideas to waste more taxpayer money are always on the table. Here’s a recent example.

$100 Million for Barack Obama Library

Today, the Illinois Policy Institute reports by email …

An Illinois House Committee wants taxpayers to pay $100 million for a Barack Obama library. Somehow, House Speaker Michael Madigan thinks this is an appropriate use of funds despite the state’s more than $100 billion pension crisis and $6.6 billion in unpaid bills.

In accepting hefty taxpayer dollars for this venture, President Barack Obama is setting himself apart from his recent predecessors, former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Clinton’s library, located in Little Rock, Ark., was funded solely through private donations, according to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton’s “$165 million facility was built entirely through private funds. It’s just a fact,” said Jordan Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Clinton Foundation.

Likewise, Bush’s library, located at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, was also funded through private donations.

The Barack Obama Foundation, tasked with planning the development of Obama’s presidential library, has yet to determine the site of the future library. In fact, the foundation’s board of directors is receiving proposals through June 16 and does not intend to announce its final decision until 2015. The Illinois House Committee’s $100 million proposal will now go to the full House.

On its website, the Barack Obama Foundation defines its mission as developing a presidential library that “reflects President Obama’s values and priorities throughout his career in public service.” Interestingly enough, the first value listed is “expanding economic opportunity.” But more than 600,000 Illinoisans woke up today and didn’t have a job to go to, and thousands more face underemployment. To them and many others, it’s clear the president has fallen short on accomplishing his goal of “expanding economic opportunity” to the Land of Lincoln, where he launched his political career as a state senator 18 years ago.

Obama’s staff expects the library to cost $500 million or more. And the costs won’t stop there. The day-to-day operations and maintenance of the United States’ 13 presidential libraries cost taxpayers $75 million in fiscal year 2013 alone….

Courtesy of Mish.

In “Insatiable” the Economist says “The cost of stopping the Russian bear now is high—but it will only get higher if the West does nothing”.

Economist: Mr Putin has used the Ukrainian crisis to establish some dangerous precedents. He has claimed a duty to intervene to protect Russian-speakers wherever they are. He has staged a referendum and annexation, in defiance of Ukrainian law. And he has abrogated a commitment to respect Ukraine’s borders, which Russia signed in 1994 when Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons. Throughout, Mr Putin has shown that truth and the law are whatever happens to suit him at the time.

Mish: What a bunch of one-sided hypocritical nonsense. The US and EU have shown the that truth and the law are whatever happens to suit them at the time. The US has a drone policy that has killed or injured thousands of innocent victims, including children. The US had no pretext for invading Iraq but did so anyway. Warmongers now sabre-rattle Iran. The EU removed elected leaders in Greece and Italy and replaced them with technocrats. The US fomented events in Ukraine by helping overthrow Viktor Yanukovych. President Ronald Reagan promised Russia NATO would stay away from Eastern Europe. Apparently it’s OK for citizens to overthrow the elected government in Ukraine in violation of the constitution, but it’s not OK for citizens in Crimea to do the same. Russia did not take a bite out of Ukraine as depicted by the Economist. Rather, a section of Ukraine voted overwhelmingly to return to Russia. Once again, I am not proposing two wrongs make a right, rather I am proposing this is none of our business.

Economist: The West needs to show Mr Putin that further action will be costly. So far, its rhetoric has marched far ahead of its willingness to act—only adding to the aura of weakness. Not enough is at stake in Ukraine to risk war with a nuclear-armed Russia. And European voters will not put up with gas shortages, so an embargo is not plausible. But the West has other cards to play. One is military. NATO should announce that it will hold exercises in central and eastern Europe, strengthen air and cyber defences there and immediately send some troops, missiles and aircraft to the Baltics and Poland. NATO members should pledge

Courtesy of Mish.

Immediately after the 4-player Ukraine accord announcement yesterday (See Ukraine Talks End in Accord; What About the Key Missing Player?) I commented …

Lots of Questions

This accord raises more questions than answers.

• Did anyone consult the separatists?
• Who is going to enforce the agreement?
• Is there a single voice, or even a small group of voices who can speak for the separatists?

If the separatists are acting on their own, then unless Russia or someone else can convince the separatists to lay down their arms, the accord may break down.

Separatists are the key players in this crisis, but it does not appear they were even invited to the table.

Ukraine Accord Broken Already

Here we are, one day later and the Financial Times reports Ukraine: The ‘War Without War’ that Rumbles On

In Geneva on Thursday the US, the EU, Russia and Ukraine agreed steps aimed at reducing the tensions. But that agreement is already in danger of unravelling as separatists in the big eastern city of Donetsk refuse to evacuate their headquarters. Any violence risks creating the pretext for a Russian invasion.

While the government in Kiev and much of the west stresses its desire to integrate with Europe, the east remains firmly anchored to Russia by language, culture and history. Many companies are also oriented eastward, above all those working in its Soviet-era agricultural, metallurgy, pipe-making and defence industries – all of strategic importance to Moscow.

“The Russian market is very important, especially for the older, heritage economy,” says Gennadiy Chyzhykov, president of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, who is from Donetsk, now capital of the self-styled “republic” where activists claim to lead the anti-Kiev protests. “We export mainly raw materials and semi-finished goods to Europe, but finished goods, including sweets, to Russia. They share our tastes.”

Sentiment

Read that last paragraph above closely. Most of the people in Eastern Ukraine lean towards Russia.

Banning Russian broadcasts, or even forceful military action cannot change that sentiment. Indeed, it can only strengthen it.

Geneva Agreement Does Little to Counter Russian Military Threat…

Courtesy of Mish.

Immediately after the 4-player Ukraine accord announcement yesterday (See Ukraine Talks End in Accord; What About the Key Missing Player?) I commented …

Lots of Questions

This accord raises more questions than answers.

• Did anyone consult the separatists?
• Who is going to enforce the agreement?
• Is there a single voice, or even a small group of voices who can speak for the separatists?

If the separatists are acting on their own, then unless Russia or someone else can convince the separatists to lay down their arms, the accord may break down.

Separatists are the key players in this crisis, but it does not appear they were even invited to the table.

Ukraine Accord Broken Already

Here we are, one day later and the Financial Times reports Ukraine: The ‘War Without War’ that Rumbles On

In Geneva on Thursday the US, the EU, Russia and Ukraine agreed steps aimed at reducing the tensions. But that agreement is already in danger of unravelling as separatists in the big eastern city of Donetsk refuse to evacuate their headquarters. Any violence risks creating the pretext for a Russian invasion.

While the government in Kiev and much of the west stresses its desire to integrate with Europe, the east remains firmly anchored to Russia by language, culture and history. Many companies are also oriented eastward, above all those working in its Soviet-era agricultural, metallurgy, pipe-making and defence industries – all of strategic importance to Moscow.

“The Russian market is very important, especially for the older, heritage economy,” says Gennadiy Chyzhykov, president of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, who is from Donetsk, now capital of the self-styled “republic” where activists claim to lead the anti-Kiev protests. “We export mainly raw materials and semi-finished goods to Europe, but finished goods, including sweets, to Russia. They share our tastes.”

Sentiment

Read that last paragraph above closely. Most of the people in Eastern Ukraine lean towards Russia.

Banning Russian broadcasts, or even forceful military action cannot change that sentiment. Indeed, it can only strengthen it.

Geneva Agreement Does Little to Counter Russian Military Threat…