Wall Street Revenue: Update

The above graphs contain activity through April. It certainly appears that investment bankers will be busier this year than last. However, it is a pale shadow of years past.

Please note the asset backed and non-agency mbs portion of debt underwriting. These figures are virtually non-existent. I believe it is impossible to have the vaunted V shaped rebound consumer spending without these debt markets. This also implies continued weakness in student loan origination.

These borrowers depended on the easy credit afforded to them by the securitization markets. Unless the federal government plans to start lending directly to the people, we will not see this activity again.

.....and The USD is What Everyone Wants to Get Rid Of?

Country	Debt - external	Date of Information	GDP (purchasing power parity)	Date of Information	Ratio
United States	$12,250,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$14,290,000,000,000	2008 est.	85.7%
United Kingdom	$10,450,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$2,231,000,000,000	2008 est.	468.4%
France	$5,370,000,000,000	30-Sep-08	$2,097,000,000,000	2008 est.	256.1%
Germany	$4,489,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$2,863,000,000,000	2008 est.	156.8%
Spain	$2,478,000,000,000	30-Sep-08 est.	$1,378,000,000,000	2008 est.	179.8%
Netherlands	$2,277,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$670,200,000,000	2008 est.	339.7%
Ireland	$1,841,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$191,900,000,000	2008 est.	959.4%
Japan	$1,492,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$4,348,000,000,000	2008 est.	34.3%
Switzerland	$1,340,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$309,900,000,000	2008 est.	432.4%
Belgium	$1,313,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$390,500,000,000	2008 est.	336.2%

Total Borrowing

http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2009/05/31/more-government-borrowing-doesnt-necessarily-mean-more-total-borrowing/

Small write-up, perhaps getting the point across more clearly than I did with my posts on May 24th and May 25th. The composition of borrowing has changed, the total amount has basically flatlined. In my opinion, this is not hyper-inflationary. I'll discuss this more when I continue the inflation & money supply posts.

...and I Thought We Were Bad

Country	Debt - external	Date of Information	GDP (purchasing power parity)	Date of Information	Ratio
United States	$12,250,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$13,780,000,000,000	2007 est.	88.9%
United Kingdom	$10,450,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$2,130,000,000,000	2007 est.	490.6%
Germany	$4,489,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$2,807,000,000,000	2007 est.	159.9%
France	$4,396,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$2,075,000,000,000	2007 est.	211.9%
Netherlands	$2,277,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$645,500,000,000	2007 est.	352.7%
Ireland	$1,841,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$191,600,000,000	2007 est.	960.9%
Japan	$1,492,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$4,272,000,000,000	2007 est.	34.9%
Switzerland	$1,340,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$303,200,000,000	2007 est.	442.0%
Belgium	$1,313,000,000,000	30-Jun-07	$376,500,000,000	2007 est.	348.7%
Spain	$1,084,000,000,000	30 June 2007 est.	$1,361,000,000,000	2007 est.	79.6%

This is straight from the CIA World Factbook. External debt is "the total public and private debt owed to nonresidents repayable in foreign currency, goods, or services. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms."

So much for the U.S. being the source of all problems, it seems as though several countries levered up all on their own. I am not defending our profligate ways. We do not have a monopoly on greed.