Global Bankruptcies Soar Despite Trillions In Liquidity

ZeroHedge, 8-24-20 – Excerpts:

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

Misguided lockdowns have destroyed the global economy and the impact is likely to last for years.

One of the most alarming facts about this crisis is the pace at which bankruptcies are rising. Despite an $11 trillion liquidity injection and government aid in 2020, stocks and bonds at all-time highs and sovereign as well as corporate yields at all-time lows, companies are going bust at the fastest pace since the Great Depression. Why? Because a solvency crisis cannot be disguised by liquidity.

Trillions of liquidity are giving investors and governments a false sense of security because yields are low and valuations are high, but it is a mirage driven by central bank purchases that cannot disguise how quickly companies are entering into long-term solvency issues. This is important because soaring bankruptcies and the rise in zombie companies means less employment, less investment and lower growth in the future.

Liquidity only disguises risk, it does not resolve solvency issues driven by collapsing cash flows while costs remain elevated.

According to the FT, large US corporate bankruptcy filings are now running at a record pace and are set to surpass levels reached during the financial crisis in 2009. As of August 17, a record 45 companies each with assets of more than $1bn have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

In Germany, about 500,000 companies are considered insolvent and have been zombified by a pointless “insolvency law” that simply extends the pain of businesses that are technically bankrupt. In Spain, the Bank Of Spain alerted that 25% of all companies are on the verge of closing due to insolvency. According to Moody’s estimates, more than 10% of businesses in the leading economies are in severe financial stress, many in technical bankruptcy.

How could this happen? Since the 2008 crisis all policy actions have been aimed at keeping sovereign bond yields low, bailing out bloated government spending and deficits and the massive liquidity injections have benefitted the large quoted companies that have used the money to shield their valuations through buy-backs and cheap debt. However, cheap money has also triggered malinvestment, poor capital allocation and higher-than-normal levels of debt. Small businesses did not see the alleged benefits of the massive liquidity and deficit programs, while large companies became too comfortable with elevated levels of dent, poor return on capital employed and solvency ratios that were simply too low in a growing economy.

Cheap money and massive bailouts have planted the seeds of a solvency crisis that was triggered by the irresponsible decision of some governments of shutting down entire economies. If you have an economy that is highly leveraged and with weak productivity and solvency ratios, shutting down the economy for two months is the last nail in the coffin. And the ramifications will last for years.

Bailing out zombie firms will only make things worse, and new lockdowns could be lethal. The solution is what no government wants to do because it does not grab large headlines or give the impression that politicians are saving the world: Supply-side measures that activate the mechanisms of refinancing, re-structuring and efficiency improvement.

More demand-side policies, pointless stimulus plans driven at building anything at any cost, and more liquidity injections will only make things worse and drive the economy to a stagflation crisis where the next problem will be to enter into a financial crisis as bankruptcies soar and banks’ asset valuations fall as non-performing loans balloon despite massive central bank action..

To end the zombie firm problem and the risk of even more bailouts we need more open market, less red tape, and more flexible re-structuring mechanisms. Anything else will simply deliver stagnation.

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America needs a powerful new plan to reach the goals of “Supply-side measures…more open market… less red tape… restructuring and efficiency improvement,” and that plan must include a dynamic mechanism to effect massive debt elimination for Main Street America.

There is one plan in the world with the raw power to deliver massive debt elimination, and generate substantial government budget surpluses, and reignite economic growth and drive small business success.

America needs an economic acceleration plan that promises to secure economic health for all citizens – and restore economic liberty.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2021 (3770 downloads)

The U.S. Congress and the U.S. Federal Reserve have been stringing Americans along with a succession of ‘little fixes’ for millions of financially distressed families to help ‘pay the bills’ for a for ‘the next few months.’ But their stimulus checks, and Payroll Protection Plans, and rent/mortgage forbearance mandates are doing nothing whatsoever to ‘fix’ any of the major complications underlying our current economic crisis.

American families and small businesses are struggling mightily to hang on…

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ZeroHedge headlines – August 2020

Delinquent FHA Mortgages Soar By Record 60% To All Time High, As Homeowner Budgets Implode

If only they had bought the dip…  Aug 17, 2020

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Dramatic Photos: Desperate For Provisions, Thousands Of Cars Line Up At Texas Food Bank

“If it wasn’t for this, we’d probably go hungry. If it wasn’t for church, and food giveaways, the kids would be going hungry.”  Aug 14, 2020

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Food Bank Strains Emerge As Economy Falls Off Fiscal Cliff 

“We’ve definitely already seen food-security needs increase, just in a week, since the extra unemployment has ended.”   Aug 11, 2020 

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“Disastrous Economic Situation” – Small Firm Bust Goes Unnoticed As Economy Flounders  

A combination of firms going bust and depressionary unemployment levels have tremendous spillover effects…   Aug 12, 2020

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‘Little fixes’ will now longer do. Time is running out…

America needs a plan featuring massive debt elimination, starting at ‘ground level’ for Main Street America.

The Federal Reserve, through various ‘credit facilities,’ have provided trillions of dollars to global banks in the form of direct liquidity infusions, credit guarantees, the transfer of illiquid (often low grade) assets from the balance sheets of banks onto the Fed’s balance sheet, and other creative ‘extraordinary’ measures.

The Federal Reserve, through the creation of a new ‘Citizens Credit Facility,’ can now grant U.S. citizens the same direct access to effectual liquidity infusions that will have the power to get America up and running again.

The Leviticus 25 Plan will restore financial security for American families. It will eliminate massive debt burdens and generate enormous amounts of fresh capital flowing into the U.S. economy.

It will generate powerful new tax revenue flows and payroll tax flows for both the federal government and state governments – producing a $237 billion surplus at the federal level over each of the first five years of activation (2021-2025).

It will save the federal government and state governments hundreds of billions of dollars in entitlement outlays.

It will vastly improve the capital reserve ratios across the banking sector.

It will lead to long-term strength for the U.S. Dollar.

II will restore economic liberty in America.

Finally, America needs a plan that will pay for itself entirely over a period of 10-15 years.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2021 (3763 downloads)

It is time for America to move on eliminating massive amounts of ‘ground level’ debt, and ‘power up’ America’s economic engine, and provide a clear path to financial security for American families.

If ‘bankrupt companies’ can ‘unfile’ to get more bailout money … and Chinese-owned companies can get PPP loans…

And if major banks, including foreign banks can get massive amounts of direct liquidity transfusions from the Fed’s ‘lending facilities’…

Then U.S. citizens deserve nothing less than to be granted the same direct access to liquidity extensions that have been provided to the likes of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS, RBS, Barclays, and others.

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The Circle Of Death: Bankrupt Companies “Unfile” To Receive Government Bailouts, Then Immediately File Again

Some companies “unfile” for bankruptcy, arrange a PPP bailout loan, and then almost immediately refile for bankruptcy.   Aug 4, 2020 

Millions Worth of PPP Loans Went to Chinese-Owned Companies, Report Finds

“Loans went to affiliates of three Chinese companies that featured on a Pentagon list of 20 firms that are owned or controlled by the Chinese military.”  Aug 5, 2020

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The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2021 (3757 downloads)

Mailed 7.27.20 to: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20500

July 27, 2020

Dear President Trump –              

I am writing to you today to update you on an ‘election-winning’ economic plan for America: The Leviticus 25 Plan (https://leviticus25plan.org/ )

Several months ago, the Wall Street Journal analyzed “Big-Government Contagion” (Mar 27, 2020), which highlighted many of the pitfalls and longer-term dangers involved with governmental entities appropriating large sums of money, either as a matter of ongoing operations or in response to crises, on behalf of citizens – rather than allowing citizens to allocate funds directly, in ways that best meet their individual needs and interests, and more fully support free market dynamics.

The Wall Street Journal also proposed a type of blue print for citizen-driven economics in health care three years ago:  “Give Medicaid Dollars Directly to Patients” (Apr 12, 2017).

To that end, The Leviticus 25 Plan provides for America a dynamic, comprehensive economic acceleration plan which will breathe new efficiencies into our U.S. health care system and revive free market dynamics and economic liberty for individual U.S. citizens and main street America.

The American people are the foundation of our Republic, and we must have a healthy and financially sound foundation to set America on course for a bright and promising future.

There is an economic acceleration plan that will deliver on that promise, one that yields massive ‘ground level’ debt elimination, citizen-centered health care, fundamentally sound economic growth trends, and extraordinary budget benefits for Federal, State, and Local governments – with $237 billion Federal budget surpluses in each of the first five years of activation (2021-2025):  The Leviticus 25 Plan.

This powerhouse economic plan for America is a “winning plan” for U.S. citizens.

Respectfully,

Bernie Hendricks, Brookings, SD

The socialist plan for America seeks to provide equality and security for the underclass through enhanced (intensified) government control over the daily affairs of citizens.  The end result is greater centralization of power (central-planning) and an ever-growing allocation of resources by government.

This control extends to health care, representing 16% of the U.S. economy.  The socialist plan advocates ‘medicare for all,’ with the accompanying layers upon layers of bureaucracy, red-tape, cost distortions, regulations, legal penalties and restricted access.

The socialist plan for financial equality in America involves wealth confiscation and redistribution to the masses.   It invents endless new tax burdens and penalties for the middle class. It penalizes risk-taking, hard work, entrepreneurship, industriousness and skillful planning, while conversely rewarding low motivation for self-reliance and non-work,

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The Leviticus 25 Plan reduces the scope of government control over the daily affairs of citizens. It promotes decentralization and economic liberty.  It grants power over the allocation of resources to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan puts U.S. citizens in control, individually, of their health care needs and choices.  It grants citizens direct access to health care – without layers of red tape and bureaucratic directives.

The Leviticus 25 Plan rewards hard work, entrepreneurship, industriousness … and it does not penalize success.

It does not confiscate wealth and invent redistribution schemes.

It simply grants U.S. citizens the same access to direct liquidity extensions that the Fed provided for major banks (domestic and foreign) and insurers during the great financial crisis.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is America’s plan for the future, restoring economic liberty and re-establishing free market dynamics.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2021 (3727 downloads)

If ever the United States needed a powerhouse economic ‘reset,’ that time is now…

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A Major Upgrade – June 2020:

The Leviticus 25 Plan activation period is slated for the 5-year period beginning in 2021 and ending in 2025. 

1.  The Leviticus 25 Plan – Each participating U.S. citizen will receive a $60,000 deposit into a Family Account (FA) and a $30,000 deposit into a Medical Savings Account (MSA).

All U.S. citizens are eligible to participate, contingent upon agreement to specified recapture provisions.

These general provisions include:

   – Waiving all federal income tax refunds for a period of 5 years.

   – Waiving all benefits from means-tested welfare programs, income security programs,

      SSI, and SSDI claims for a period of 5 years.

   – Enrollees in the Medicare, VA Healthcare system, Federal Employees Health Benefits  

     (FEHB), and TRICARE will be subject to a $6,000 deductible for primary care and outpatient      services annually for a period of 5 years.  (See full plan for more details)

Primary scoring assumptions:

The Plan assumes an 80% participation rate by U.S. citizens. Wealthier Americans would choose not participate, due to the comparative benefit of income tax refund amounts.  Many individuals of lower socio-economic sector would also choose not to participate, due to the comparatively high benefits profiles that they would not wish to give up.

The Plan assumes that participating families would use significant funds to pay down / eliminate debt, and that these longer-term, lower debt service obligations would enhance the financial security of participating families for several decades beyond the opening activation period.  Federal, state, and local government entities would benefit from longer-term tax revenue growth and reduced citizen dependence on government-based entitlement program benefits.

The Plan assumes that dynamic new efficiencies would emerge in the healthcare system – with more families managing/directing healthcare expenditures through their MSAs.

The Plan assumes that apart from the recapture provisions, there would also be significant tax revenue growth for federal, state and local government entities from free-market economic revitalization, more people working and paying taxes, and from the elimination of various income tax deductions (e.g. mortgage / HELOC interest expense).

The Plan assumes that there would not be a massive full-scale move back into the means-tested welfare programs, income security programs, SSI, and SSDI at the end of the initial 5-year activation period. 

The benefits of a free-market economy and newfound economic liberty for American families would provide positive economic inertia throughout years 5-10, and for several decades beyond.

Recapture provisions would provide an estimated substantial federal budget surpluses for each year of the initial 5-year period. Economic growth over the following 10-15 years would generate sufficient recapture funding and tax revenue growth to offset the entire initial Federal Reserve balance sheet expansion.

Significant inertia from The Plan would also provide on-going, market-based growth benefits over succeeding years that far exceed any prospect for healthy economic growth that may be expected under America’s current big-government, central-planning approach.

Dynamic benefits would be generated from:

     – Massive liquidity gains and debt reduction at the family level.

     – Immediate, sweeping reversal of government “central planning” approach.

     – Major reversal in work disincentives embedded in social welfare program structures.

     – Economic growth, improved productivity and job creation.

     – Stabilization of housing market.

     – Strengthening bank capitalization.

     – Minimizing the role of government in managing, directing, and controlling the affairs of citizens.

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The time is now.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2021 (3677 downloads)

SIGTARP, the oversight agency of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), in its July 2009 report, vetted by Treasury, noted that the U.S. Government’s “Total Potential Support Related to Crisis” (page 138) amounted to $23.7 trillion.  While this figure represents a backstop commitment, not a measure of total potential loss, it is nonetheless an astounding degree of support, in the form of liquidity infusions, credit extensions and guarantees, various other forms of assistance for financial institutions and other business entities affected by the financial crisis.

One example of the mechanics of these backstop commitments involved two of the major investment-banks which were at the forefront of the U.S. financial crisis, Goldman Sachs and  JP Morgan, who, through their high-risk exposure to subprime debt and derivatives, received enormous amounts of direct financial assistance from government and the Federal Reserve.

Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan received these direct liquidity infusions during the financial crisis via Fed disbursements through the Primary Dealer Credit Facility and numerous other credit facilities. The two (according to ZeroHedge 4-1-11) “had the temerity to pledge bonds that had defaulted (i.e. had a rating of D)… as in bankrupt, and pretty much worthless. . . that have no value whatsoever. . .”  Goldman Sachs received $24.7 million and JP Morgan $1.4 million on the worthless collateral (September 15, 2008).  Goldman Sachs pledged D-rated securities again September 29, 2008 and received $82.7 million (Citigroup received $102.8 million;  Merrill Lynch – $217.8 million;  Morgan Stanley – $261.0 million;  UBS – $202.2 million).

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U.S. citizens deserve nothing less than the same direct access to liquidity extensions that major banks and global financial institutions received during the 2008-2010 financial crisis.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

Leviticus 25 Plan 2021 (3677 downloads)

The U.S. social-restriction response to the Wuhan coronavirus ‘pandemic’ has effectively vaporized 39 million jobs. Small business across America have been crushed, their owners left with gut-wrenching losses. Over 7.5 million small businesses are at risk of remaining permanently ‘shuttered.’

Colleges and Universities are dazed by the financial shock they may be facing over the next several years.

State and local government budgets have been decimated, the U.S. budget thoroughly blown out. The Net Present Value of Unfunded Liabilities (NPV) is fatally ‘beyond containment.’

And now, we have a ‘tidal wave’ of delinquent mortgages rolling across the land…

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‘Tidal Wave’ Of Delinquent Mortgages Set To Surpass Great Recession

ZeroHedge, May 18, 2020 – Excerpt:

With nearly 4 million homeowners in some type of mortgage forbearance plan – representing 7.54% of all mortgages, delinquencies are set to eclipse the great recession which peaked at 10%.

According to a new report from UK-based forecasting firm Oxford Economics, 15% of homeowners will fall behind on their monthly mortgage payments in a ‘tidal wave’ of delinquencies.

Keep in mind that Oxford Economics’ forecast is half of the potential mortgage bloodbath predicted by Moody’s chief economics, Mark Zandi, who said that as many as 30% of Americans with home loans – or around 15 million households, may stop paying if the US economy remains closed through the summer or beyond.

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America needs the one economic acceleration plan with the wherewithal to not only solve the mortgage ‘delinquency’ crisis – but also the raw power to ‘pay off’ the mortgages entirely.

It is time to move forward with a ‘serious’ economic recovery plan.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

Leviticus 25 Plan 2021 (3662 downloads)

The CARES Act, passed in March, will add $2.2 trillion to the national debt. It threw some nice looking $1200-sized, income-limited, crumbs out to the citizenry and offered a nice, bureaucracy-heavy, slow-moving, provision to help small business protect their payroll workers – that is, for those that managed to not slide into bankruptcy.

The FED, meanwhile, has been busy buying hundreds of billions of dollars in Treasuries, ‘across the duration.’ They now ‘own the curve. They have been buying Agency Debt, Mortgage-backed Securities (MBS), Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs), ETFs.

The FED also jumped in with both feet to purchase Corporate (‘Junk-rated’) debt to help stabilize the credit markets (i.e. high-yield debt that corporations are forced to issue when they have fine-tuned their mismanagement strategies to the point that no one will lend them funds at reasonable rates. And so, the FED is now the proud balance-sheet displayer of large sums of ‘junk debt.’

You name it, they bought it. And none of this has anything associated with that could be deemed a long-term benefit. It is all a ultra-massive ‘bandaid’ event.

The FED has also fired up some of their previously-used credit facilities, like the Primary Dealer’s Credit Facility (PDCF) to flush some fresh liquidity transfusions out into Wall Street’s financial sector.

And now… here comes another round of $1,200-sized, income-limited, crumbs to the citizenry:

“Round 2 of stimulus checks? House plan would send $1,200 per person – including children”. – Fortune, May 13, 2020 – Excerpt:

Like the CARES Act, the $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid package signed into law in March, the new bill—known as the HEROES Act—calls for direct payments of up to $1,200 for Americans earning up to $75,000 per year and $2,400 for couples earning up to $150,000 annually.

But the HEROES Act would also provide significantly more money to families with children—potentially up to $6,000 in total for a household with three dependents. Whereas the CARES Act allowed parents to claim an additional $500 per child, the HEROES Act would bump that up to $1,200 per dependent (including adult-age dependents) for up to three dependents.

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So where are we headed with these nice-sounding ‘big government solutions?’

1. We will be adding $5-$6 trillion onto the 2020 deficit (the CBO had projected it to come in at around $1 trillion) – punching the national debt up over the $29 trillion mark.

2. U.S. citizens will remain buried in over $14 trillion in household debt – with massive new numbers of people ‘dependent’ on government for life’s basic necessities (food, shelter).

3. The U.S. economy, which had been crawling along … is now barely ‘creeping’ along. And what are the near- and long-term prospects for economic growth – with the massive debt service obligations that are sucking the juice of of our current liquidity streams..? Meager, at best.

The Leviticus 25 Plan offers a fresh, powerful new start for America

1. The Plan treats all U.S citizens the same. Young-old, rich-poor, black-brown-white, free or incarcerated – all U.S. citizens qualify to participate, if they so choose.

2. The Plan does not offer ‘crumbs’ to participants. It offers the type of substantial liquidity transfer that will eliminate massive amounts of debt and restore ‘financial health’ at the family level, and provide the type of upfront funding that will put citizens back in charge of their primary health care needs.

3. The Plan will get the U.S. economic growth engine moving back up at peak-speed – within months of activation.

4. The Plan will not add a dime to the national debt – in the same way that the FED’s liquidity transfusions out to the banking sector through their various credit facilities does not add to the national debt. The Plan will be funded through a new credit facility, called The Citizens Credit Facility (CCF), and the will be paid back, in full, over the next 15 years.

The most powerful plan in America is loaded up and ready to go…

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

Leviticus 25 Plan 2021 (3656 downloads)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing to pump an additional $1 trillion into State and Local governments – along with additional direct ‘means-tested’ payments to individuals (designed, by the way, to keep as many people as possible ‘tethered’ permanently to the the Federal government’s umbilical cord.

And when the Federal government has you ‘tethered,’ they have you ‘controlled.’

Pelosi Demands $1 Trillion In Pandemic Relief For States And Local Governments

ZeroHedge, Apr 30, 2020 – Excerpt:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced on Thursday that Democrats are trying to negotiate for nearly $1 trillion for states and local governments in the next installment of the taxpayer funded coronavirus relief package – which will be the single largest request by Democrats in the upcoming ‘CARES 2’ legislation.

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The Leviticus 25 Plan advances the cause of freedom from government control, freedom from debt serfdom to banks, the cause of economic liberty, and unlimited opportunity for all who wish to pursue it.

It treats all people the same – equal opportunity for all to participate.

The Leviticus 25 Plan sets America back on track for eliminating budget deficits, reducing long-term debt obligations, bolstering state and local tax revenues and reducing outlays.

The Leviticus 25 Plan will help protect the long-term purchasing power of the U.S. Dollar and prevent its ultimate permanent degradation.

The most powerful, dynamic economic plan on the face of the earth.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$75,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2021 (3649 downloads)