Our “Junkie Economy” Will Soon Hit Rock Bottom

Courtesy of Bill Bonner

Addicted to Debt

Yesterday, U.S. stocks continued their climb, with a 26-point step-up to yet another all-time high for the Dow. Treasurys, meanwhile, continued to sell off. The yield on the 10-year T-note – which moves in the opposite direction to prices – rose 8 basis points to 2.2%. This follows last week’s turbulent action in the bond market, which saw Treasury yields hit a six-month high.

We have our eye on the U.S. bond market. Prices have been going up – and yields have been going down – for 32 years. And as prices have risen to the highest levels ever recorded, so has the amount of debt.

It is as though the world couldn’t get enough of the stuff. It got to be like heroin: The more debt the world took on, the more it wanted… and the bigger the dose it needed to get a buzz on.

But after the 2008 credit crisis, it is as though the major developed economies are immune to the stuff.

The Fed, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, and now the European Central Bank, have been buying it on the street corners. In the largest quantities ever.

But nothing much happens. At least, not in the real economy.

Sooner or later (a phrase we can’t seem to avoid), the entire economy is bound to get the shakes.

But we don’t know when sooner, or later, will come.

If it comes now, it will be a source of great satisfaction here at the Diary. “Finally,” we will say to no one in particular. “We knew it couldn’t last!”

A Healthy End to the Bond Bull?

There is an alternative explanation for falling bond prices. Bond prices should fall, and yields should rise, when economic growth picks up. As economic growth rates speed up, wages tend to rise… and people open up their wallets. Demand starts to outstrip the supply of goods and services. This drives up consumer prices. And interest rates start to rise. As rates go up, that raises bond yields and drives down bond prices.

This would be a healthy end to the epic bull market in bonds. A robust economy would allow central banks to raise…