The Payson Roundup / Observation about the economy

Archive for Tuesday, December 2, 2008

December 2, 2008

Editor:

The $700 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is all told, a drop in the liability bucket which comes close to $2.7 trillion.

It cannot save the $51 trillion in interest bearing debts outstanding in the USA (72 times larger than the TARP program). It cannot save the $596 trillion in derivatives worldwide (all outside of any established exchange) which is 851 times larger than the TARP program.

It is naïve to believe that the U.S. government can save every failing country on the planet. The Treasury just announced it must borrow $550 billion in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs estimates the government has to borrow $2 trillion to finance an $850 billion federal deficit, fund $500 billion in Treasury purchases of bank assets and equity, and roll over $561 billion in maturing securities.

Ultimately, the government has to throw in the towel, and that is when you will see the latest of the greatest financial panic of all time.

Bob Jacobs