Categories: General Market Commentary / Precious Metals
Topics: General Market Commentary / General Precious Metals

David Rosenberg Calls For A Multi-Trillion, "Helicopter Money" Stimulus Package

David Rosenberg Calls For A Multi-Trillion, "Helicopter Money" Stimulus Package

 

With the inherent weakness in US GDP and the rising probability of a recession (two weeks ago Bank of America modeled that the next recession would likely start roughly one year from now [4]), Gluskin Sheff's David Rosenberg thinks that with monetary options exhausted it will take a fiscal boost in the trillions of dollars to kickstart the economy. These issues were discussed in an extended interview with Real Vision TV, where the chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff proposed some radical policies to engineer the growth needed in nominal income. 

His ideas, some of which can be seen here in a clip of the interview, include helicopter money attached to a $2 trillion perpetual bond, massive infrastructure spending and measures to tackle the $1 trillion student debt load that has seriously hamstrung the economy.

Here are some of the interview highlights:

Doing the Same Thing Over Again and Expecting a Different Outcome

Whether the US will in fact experience the technical definition of a recession is a matter of fervent debate, with the odds something like 20%-30%, according to Rosenberg (60% according to Deutsche Bank) [5], but with growth averaging around 1%, there is no doubt the economy is weak.

“There are some people saying a recession is here right now,” Rosenberg says, “I don't think that we meet those conditions yet. But people say, well, look. Twelve months in a row of negative year on year industrial production, that's never happened outside recession, check. We've had now going into six quarters of profit contraction, year over year. That's only happened in the context of a recession, check. I mean, all that is true, but so much of this has been related to the oil shock that we had.”

Rosenberg’s problem with monetary policy, now in its 7th year of unorthodox experimentation, is that it has become a weak antidote to structural problems in the economy (even if it is still quite potent at boosting financial asets). Fiscal policy on the other hand, if constructed right, could be the answer due to its very powerful multiplier impact. “I can't say that I know for sure, but it's the old Einstein adage about the definition of insanity,” Rosenberg said. “And we're finding that we're really-- if we're not hitting the wall on monetary policy, we're certainly seeing classic economics 101 of the law of diminishing returns.”

In terms of infrastructure spending, he said that one lesson from recent history and the Great Recession is that you've got to have the credibility to convince people that this is going to be permanent and not temporary, in terms of the impact on the economy. “So it can't be transitory. It's got to be very big. With interest rates as low as they are, there's certainly the capacity. I mean, you've got a lot of governments around the world issuing 50 or 100-year bonds. So this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to borrow money.”

To watch video and continue reading please click link http://www.zerohedge.com/print/575610