Tag Archives: S&P

Labor’s Inbred, Debt-Fed Chickens Coming Home To Roost

3 Apr

As long predicted by your humble blogger, Labor’s economic chickens are coming home to roost.

It looks like the first chicken entering the coop as our long economic night begins to fall, is the sovereign AAA credit rating.

All the other inbred, debt-fed chickens mentioned here over the past two years, will be following close behind.

Houses and Holes at MacroBusiness has the story (my emphasis added, in quoted story):

From S&P and Fitch via the AFR this morning comes the hard, cold truth about the trap in which the Australian economy is caught:

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has been put on notice by ratings agencies to deliver a tough budget next month to protect Australia’s coveted AAA credit standing.

Australia is one of only 14 countries in the world with a top ranking from each of the three major agencies but analysts at Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings are concerned about the banking system’s reliance on overseas funding.

“The AAA rating is pinned on the strength of the government’s fiscal position and if it doesn’t have that, we have less cause to see it as a AAA-rated sovereign, given how weak the banking system is in terms of its external liquidity,” said S&P credit analyst Kyran Curry.

“To be consistent with maintaining a AAA rating . . the government would really need to stabilise its fiscal position as soon as possible.”

Mr Curry said the external liquidity of Australia’s banking system was“quite weak” and the industry was overleveraged.

Exactly what your humble blogger has been arguing, ever since launching this blog over 2 years ago. Our real economic weakness, is the fundamentally immoral, fraudulent, parasitical, house-of-cards banking system, whose continued existence and blood-sucking profits has been guaranteed by the government (meaning, by you, the taxpayer). Just like it has in the rest of the now-slowly-collapsing Western world.

“If there is stress in the banking system like in Europe, [its] liabilities could migrate on to the government’s balance sheet,” he said.

Fitch Hong Kong-based director Art Woo said banking sector liabilities were always a “potential concern”.

…“The reality is that, if they don’t bring the budget back into surplus, we have to judge why,” Mr Woo said. “Is it because they haven’t put the right measures in place or because you get a cyclical downturn and the revenues don’t come through?”

…“This budget is very important to us,” Mr Curry said. “We will be looking more broadly for the government to demonstrate that it can remain committed to stabilising its debt dynamics over the medium term. This government needs to have a strong balance sheet to offset some of the weaknesses that we see for the sovereign,” he said.

“The main issue is the importance of maintaining a strong balance sheet and running surpluses over the cycle to give the government the sort of flexibility it had pre-2009 to respond should the external environment weaken and present a problem for the banking system, which is highly leveraged.”

…“It’s important that the government stabilises its fiscal position as soon as conditions allow,” Mr Curry said. “We are not necessarily looking for a return of the balance to surplus this year but we would be looking for a continued path to stabilise its fiscal position.”

Through galactic incompetence, pathological self-interest, rampant self-deception, and mindless obeisance to the “bozos” (h/t Alan Kohler) in the Treasury department, the Labor government has now firmly wedged itself.

And the nation.

If Labor does actually (ie, not just on paper, in the budget ‘forecast’) cut government spending by the enormous amount necessary to achieve a budget outcome (not ‘forecast’) that would keep the ratings agencies happy, Australia is absolutely assured of a recession. Why? Because the private sector economy is too weak already to cope with a huge cut in government spending. Meaning … unemployment up => government revenues (income tax) down => government expenses (unemployment benefits) up => government budget deficit worse => credit rating cut more, PLUS mortgage arrears up => defaults up => bank “asset” values down => bank wholesale funding costs up => mortgage interest rates up => more arrears & defaults => bank/s collapse => government bailout/s => sovereign credit rating cut more => economic death spiral, a la Ireland.

If Labor does not actually cut government spending by the enormous amount necessary to achieve a budget outcome (not ‘forecast’) that would keep the ratings agencies happy, Australia is also absolutely assured of a recession. Why? Because as seen above, the ratings agencies will slash the sovereign credit rating. Meaning … bank wholesale funding costs up => mortgage interest rates up => mortgage arrears up => defaults up => bank “asset” values down => bank wholesale funding costs up => mortgage interest rates up => more arrears & defaults => bank/s collapse => government bailout/s => sovereign credit rating cut more => economic death spiral, a la Ireland.

It is all over bar the loud squawking and fighting for an elevated perch and shitting ourselves everywhere, folks.

We are stuffed.

Now, more than ever, it is just a matter of time.

Barnaby was right:

“If you do not manage debt, debt manages you” – Feb 2010

What a terrible shame for each and every one of us, that all the “experts” in politics, Treasury, the RBA, the Canberra Press Gallery, and the leftarded twittering armchair commentariat, poured torrents of rabid scorn and ridicule on the unpolished, plain speaking, “little old bush accountant” from St George way back in late 2009 and early 2010.

If only we had all listened to Barnaby then – when the total Gross Debt was $117 billion, versus $237.5 billion today – then perhaps, just perhaps, we would have had a slim chance of getting out of the enormous hole that Kevin and Julia and Wayne and Lindsay and the Treasury department #JAFA’s have collectively dug for us.

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Our “Lehman Moment” Near – S&P Downgrades Banks

4 Dec

Just four days ago, your humble blogger noted that our mainstream news media, financial commentariat, and blogosphere, have (again) overlooked the key issue, in their reporting of Treasurer Swan’s MYEFO budget update.

Once again, they have all overlooked the critical economic risk; the joined-at-the-hip relationship between our Big Four banks, and our government’s financial position, as perceived by the major credit ratings agencies.

To wit, back in May this year Moody’s Ratings agency essentially declared our Big Four banks are Too Big To Fail. And in downgrading the Big Four’s credit ratings, Moody’s tacitly warned the government that it must maintain the implicit and explicit government (taxpayer) guarantees propping up the Big Four, else Moody’s will cut their ratings by another 2 notches.

By inference, this means that Moody’s was also warning the government that it must achieve and maintain a pristine government sector balance sheet, in order to support the plausibility of its guarantees for our Ponzi banking system.

If the government cannot reverse the direction of its ever-rising debt trajectory, and demonstrate a plausible path back to achieving an annual budget surplus (in order to start paying off the gross debt), at some point in the not-too-distant future their failure to manage the debt will be taken as a sign that our government’s guarantees of our banking system are less than reliable.

Wayne’s (unreported) MYEFO prediction of a 57% blowout in net public debt this year alone, will only hasten the arrival of that day.

As will his blowing through our third increased debt ceiling in just 3 years, by around mid-2012.

Commonwealth Government Securities On Issue | Source: Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM)

Inevitably, our banks will have their credit ratings cut further.

They will find it increasingly difficult to attract funding from international money markets, upon whom the banks are dependent for around 40% of their wholesale funding. (Indeed, as we saw on Wednesday, the yield spread on Aussie banks’ bonds compared to non-financial Aussie corporate bonds, has just hit an all-time high).

Funding costs for the banks will rise.

Interest rates for Australian borrowers debt slaves will rise. (Or at the very least, RBA interest rate cuts will not be passed on).

Availability of loans to businesses will fall even further, choking the economy.

Unemployment will rise.

Bad loans (defaults) will increase.

Our housing bubble’s gentle 10-month price deflation, will accelerate.

Our economy will crash.

Our banks will collapse like the Ponzi house of cards that they are.

And the all-time record debt-soaked government taxpayer …

Click to enlarge

… will be obliged to bail out the banks, as per the Government Guarantees.

Now, we have a further red flag that my Missing The Key Economic Point For Dummies blog was right.

From The Australian (emphasis added):

Australia’s major banks are confident the first ratings downgrade by Standard & Poor’s in two decades will not have a major impact on their funding costs, despite the ongoing volatility created by the European sovereign debt crisis.

The share prices of the major banks — Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and National Australia Bank — rose by 1.5-2 per cent, despite the one-notch ratings downgrade from AA to AA- as the overall market rose 1.4 per cent for a sparkling weekly gain of 7.6 per cent…

… The banks’ ratings were last cut in the early 1990s as the Australian economy struggled with recession.

S&P defended the ratings downgrades, which it attributed to Australian banks’ heavy reliance on wholesale funding markets.

And from ABC News (emphasis added):

BBY banking analyst Brett Le Messurier says the downgrade is not too serious but could lead to higher borrowing costs in the long term.

Mr Le Messurier says the big four banks still have plenty of liquidity to help them “ride out the current turmoil in Europe for some time”.

“In and of itself it doesn’t matter that much, but if another one follows then they get into the “A” category,” Mr Le Messurier said.

“And that is going to lead to increased wholesale funding costs over and above what’s resulted from the current European crisis and therefore that will ultimately feed through to consumers.”

And from the Wall Street Journal (emphasis added):

When it comes to Australia’s banks, don’t listen to the spin.

Late last night, Standard & Poor’s cut its rating on all of the big 4 — Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac and National Australia Bank — warning about rising costs and a continued increase in wholesale funding costs. Given Australia’s banks predominantly fund themselves offshore, the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis has raised concerns about the contagion possibilities…

… The moves come about six months after Moody’s did almost exactly the same thing and predictably, just like then, each of the banks have come out today to defend their balance sheets and businesses.

But while ratings agencies certainly don’t carry the clout they used to, make no mistake, there are a stream of issues for Australia’s banks.

For one, a credit facility from the Reserve Bank of Australia, or RBA, established to help banks satisfy new global banking rules, known as Basel III, are certain to lower each of the banks’ risk-taking possibilities and profits.

But actions speak louder than words and when the RBA cut its key cash rate a month ago, NAB refused to pass on the favor in full. If Europe gets worse, and the RBA cuts a few more times, all those banks that today are talking about their strong balance sheets will change their refrain when they decide to hold back on passing those cuts on.

The NZ Herald’s Liam Dann debunks the spin, and explains why the banks’ attempt to downplay the ratings cuts masks an important truth (emphasis added):

You can say all you like about yesterday’s banking downgrade being “anticipated”, “reflecting methodology changes” and not “impacting on consumers” – but down is still down. It’s the wrong direction.

So despite the spin suggesting this is no big deal, the big Australasian banks should hopefully be paying close attention to the Standard & Poors review which saw their ratings cut from AA to AA-…

… taking a step back from the technical stuff, it’s important to recognise that this methodology change is not some just arbitrary fiddling with numbers.

It’s grounded in the very real increase in risk to lenders that has occurred since the global financial crisis struck.

The changes stem from the failure of the ratings agencies to identify that crisis in 2007 and 2008.

So, in some respects, this downgrade represents the credit agencies doing their job properly – finally.

The big shift in the way S&P now looks at banking risk is that it has weighted its focus away from the cyclical ups and downs which are reflected in an institution’s quarterly financial performance and towards the underlying structural risks of a region’s banking sector.

So now, S&P is analysing first the structural risks in the Australasian banking system as a starting point, and then assessing the relative position of each bank’s performance within that context.

And finally, from Ireland’s The Journal (emphasis added):

S&P said the decision was based on the cost posed by sourcing cash from overseas markets and the country’s foreign debt.

Following the crash of Lehman Brothers in 2008, which S&P failed to foresee, the agency revised its rating criteria – and it is in the context of these new considerations that the banks were downgraded, reports The Australian.

Meanwhile, rival rating agency Moody’s said it would keep the banks on their AA rating and retain their outlook as positive.

Experts have warned that a continuing European debt crisis could expose the banks to a further downgrade.

As noted in Wednesday’s blog, our Net Foreign Debt is yet another key factor that our politicians (on both “sides”) and lapdog media studiously avoid focussing any attention on. Why? According to the latest RBA data, our Net Foreign Debt at June 2011 was a whopping $675 billion. More than 50% of GDP. So naturally, noone in positions of power want to mention it, even though it is a very serious structural problem, and one that is now fundamental to triggering negative consequences such as this S&P rating downgrade.

Break out the popcorn folks.

It has begun.

As usual … Barnaby is right:

“If you do not manage debt, debt manages you” – Feb 2010

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I Told You So

6 Aug

From Reuters:

The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor’s on Friday in an unprecedented reversal of fortune for the world’s largest economy.

Five days ago, prior to the US raising their debt ceiling, I wrote this:

Why The US Is Doomed, And The Debt Ceiling “Crisis” Is Irrelevant

If you missed it, click on the link above to see the chart from the New York Times which explains why – whether it be now, or later – the US economy is doomed.

UPDATE:

Dow Jones Newswires comments:

Standard & Poor’s has taken the unprecedented step of downgrading the US government’s “AAA” sovereign credit rating, in a move that could send shock waves through global financial markets and potentially undermine world economic growth.

In a press release, S&P, today cut its top-notch long-term credit rating for the US Treasury’s debt to AA plus with a negative outlook. It is the first time in modern history one of the three main ratings firms has stripped the US of its coveted AAA rating.

S&P warned last month if the US government didn’t approve a credible medium-term plan to shrink its fiscal shortfall, it would downgrade the rating even if Congress approved a debt deal that raised the Treasury’s borrowing limit.

UPDATE 2:

The Wall Street Journal:

A cornerstone of the global financial system was shaken today when officials at ratings firm Standard & Poor’s said US Treasury debt no longer deserved to be considered among the safest investments in the world.

S&P removed for the first time the triple-A rating the US has held for 70 years, saying the budget deal recently brokered in Washington didn’t do enough to address the gloomy long-term picture for America’s finances.

It downgraded US debt to AA+, a score that ranks below Liechtenstein and more than a dozen other countries, and on par with Belgium and New Zealand.

What did then Opposition Finance spokesman Barnaby Joyce say, back in February 2010?

“If you do not manage debt, debt manages you”.

Barnaby is right.

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S&P Agrees – Barnaby Was Right On US Debt

20 Apr

It’s taken a while.  But the wheels of the locomotive named Inevitability grind relentlessly onwards.

For the first time in history, Standard and Poors has placed the USA’s credit outlook on “negative”, warning that the government must take meaningful steps to reduce debt.

Back in October through December 2009, Barnaby Joyce forewarned of the possibility of the US defaulting on its debts.  He was roundly mocked and ridiculed by all the usual suspects – mainstream media, “expert” economists, (now former) Treasury Secretary Ken Henry, and the ALP’s band of genii led by “Goose” and Tanner.

Now, here we are barely 18 months later.  The US credit outlook is being downgraded.  It has almost completed a $600 Billion QE 2 (“Quantitative Easing”) – which means creating literally hundreds of billions of dollars out of thin air, Zimbabwe-style. There is every indication that QE 3 will inevitably follow.

(Printing money inflates the money supply, devalues your currency, and so effectively reduces your debt burden “by default”. Devaluing your currency is the most common form of national debt default.)

And the World Bank President warned a few days ago that the world economy is now just “one shock away from a full blown crisis”.

Barnaby was right.

Thanks to a hostile and clueless media pack, egged on by the “expert” ridicule of the likes of Henry and “Goose”, Barnaby was blasted out of his brief role as Opposition Finance Minister in early 2010.  Despite his being better qualified than the entire ALP cabinet combined.

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