Safe Haven | Bernanke's Math

"No warning can save a people determined
to grow suddenly rich." - Lord Overstone

HOME

ARCHIVES

FORUMS

SITE MAP

ABOUT US

Home -> Archives -> Axel Merk -> Bernanke's Math - Does It Add Up?

Printer Friendly

eMail Article

June 03, 2009

Bernanke's Math - Does It Add Up?
by Axel Merk

The current account deficit is down as we are less reliant on foreigners to finance our deficits; the government's deficit is increasingly covered by the domestic private sector as private sector borrowing is down. -- These were the approximate words of Fed Chairman Bernanke in testimony to the House Budget Committe. This statement is so troublesome, let's examine it a step at the time.

The current account deficit reflects the amount foreigners need to buy in U.S. dollar denominated assets to keep the currency from falling. As the trade deficit shrinks because of weaker global trade, the current account deficit came down a bit last year. However, external financing is part of the current account and as the U.S. government has to raise trillions in the markets this year, it is difficult to imagine that the current account deficit will be down this year from last. It would imply that over $2 trillion in new U.S. government debt will be financend entirely domestically. Two main ways this may be achieved:

Money that U.S. government raises is money not available to the private sector, referred to as crowding out the private sector. We have been warning about this for some time, but if Bernanke truly thinks this is going to happen at the scale required to keep the current account deficit down, economists would be well served to revise their growth estimates for private sector growth down sharply.
The Fed could finance the government debt, referred to as debt monetization by economists. The Fed has been monetizing the debt already, but not on the scale that may be required to keep interest rates low or to not rely on foreigners.

More realistically, the dip in the current account deficit was temporary as foreigners will continue to play a major role in financing U.S. deficits. However, because there is less trade and foreigners could use the money in their own countries, it will be an uphill battle to attract the massive amounts needed. The task is made more difficult by U.S. policies that are at risk to leading to unsustainable deficits. The reference to unsustainable deficits come from Mr. Bernanke himself who is well aware of the challenges.

In our assessment, the cost of borrowing should increase substantially as the supply of new debt may simply dwarf the demand - in that context, it is not particularly relevant whether the demand is domestic or international; plunging bond prices in recent weeks may be a pre-cursor of what is to come. Lower bond prices imply higher costs of borrowing not just for the government, but everyone. A nascent recovery could easily be stalled in the process. That in turn may tempt the Fed to monetize the debt, although at this stage Mr. Bernanke says the Fed will not pursue this path.

With regard to foreign appetite for U.S. debt, it may be noteworthy that foreigners have indeed continued to buy U.S. debt in recent months; however, foreigners have been bidding for short-term Treasury Bills at unprecedented amounts. That implies foreigners may agree with our assessment that long term bonds are overvalued and shift to shorter maturities to mitigate potential losses should inflationary expectations rise. While this may make sense from investors' point of view, it poses yet another challenge to the government that may struggle to issue longer dated debt. In our view, the government is digging itself into a hole that may not be very different from those of consumers that took out adjustable rate mortgages, only to be caught off guard as interest rates eventually rose.

Axel Merk
Axel Merk is Manager of the Merk Hard Currency Fund

The Merk Hard Currency Fund is a no-load mutual fund that invests in a basket of hard currencies from countries with strong monetary policies assembled to protect against the depreciation of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies. The Fund may serve as a valuable diversification component as it seeks to protect against a decline in the dollar while potentially mitigating stock market, credit and interest risks - with the ease of investing in a mutual fund.

The Fund may be appropriate for you if you are pursuing a long-term goal with a hard currency component to your portfolio; are willing to tolerate the risks associated with investments in foreign currencies; or are looking for a way to potentially mitigate downside risk in or profit from a secular bear market. For more information on the Fund and to download a prospectus, please visit www.merkfund.com.

Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks and charges and expenses of the Merk Hard Currency Fund carefully before investing. This and other information is in the prospectus, a copy of which may be obtained by visiting the Funds website at www.merkfund.com or calling 866-MERK FUND. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest.

The Fund primarily invests in foreign currencies and as such, changes in currency exchange rates will affect the value of what the Fund owns and the price of the Funds shares. Investing in foreign instruments bears a greater risk than investing in domestic instruments for reasons such as volatility of currency exchange rates and, in some cases, limited geographic focus, political and economic instability, and relatively illiquid markets. The Fund is subject to interest rate risk which is the risk that debt securities in the Fund's portfolio will decline in value because of increases in market interest rates. As a non-diversified fund, the Fund will be subject to more investment risk and potential for volatility than a diversified fund because its portfolio may, at times, focus on a limited number of issuers. The Fund may also invest in derivative securities which can be volatile and involve various types and degrees of risk. For a more complete discussion of these and other Fund risks please refer to the Fund's prospectus. Foreside Fund Services, LLC, distributor.