In These New Times

George Washington blog

Even after the trillions spent by the feds, the technical economic indicators are getting worse again.

Above and beyond the terrible news from Main Street (such as unemployment, weak retail, and declining shipping and manufacturing), several key technical indicators are worsening again, even after the government spent trillions on various bailouts:

• Credit default swaps against sovereign nations, European companies, and bonds are approaching their all-time wides (indicating severe risk)

• Interbank lending rates (LIBOR) have started edging higher again

• The Financial Times argues that TIPS rates point towards protracted deflation. More and more of the leading economists and analysts (such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs) are beginning to agree to varying degrees.

Paulson has admitted that the bailout is not about “economic recovery”:

“The rescue package was not intended to be an … economic recovery package,” Paulson said in testimony to the House Financial Services Committee in Washington.

Well, maybe that explains why things are getting worse.