The Bust

For years Doug Noland has written a weekly column called "The Credit Bubble Bulletin". He has certainly seen the present cataclysm approaching. Even so, he has always been quite honest about what the credit markets have been up to. For example, even after the troubles began last year, escalating with each passing month, he was still detailing all the ways in which credit was still massively expanding.

But now it's time to be afraid. Very afraid. Scroll down to the last heading, "The Wall Street Bust". Noland is saying that the total failure of the credit system has arrived.

excerpt:

Credit growth is now in the process of collapsing.

At this point, there is clearly insufficient Credit expansion to support inflated asset markets; incomes and household spending; corporate cash flows and investment; and government receipts and expenditures. Lending markets are frozen, securitization markets broken, corporate and muni debt markets in disarray, derivatives markets in shambles, and the leveraged speculating community is engaged in panic de-leveraging. As a consequence, the over-indebted household, corporate and state & local sectors now face a devastating liquidity crisis.

We are today witnessing the Acute Stage of Bursting Credit Bubble Dynamics. It’s an absolute debacle, and there’s little our well-intentioned policymakers can do about it other then try to slow the collapse. To be sure, there were momentous effects to both the Economic and Financial Structures during the Bubble period between 1994’s $578bn Non-Financial Debt Growth and 2007’s $2.561 TN. It is also worth noting that Financial Sector Debt expanded $462bn in 1994 compared to $1.753 TN in 2007. Mortgage debt almost doubled in the six years 2002 through 2007 to $14.0 TN, while Financial Sector borrowings rose 75% to $16.0 TN. This Credit onslaught fostered huge distortions to the level and pattern of spending throughout the entire economy. It is today impossible both to generate sufficient Credit and to main previous patterns of spending. Economic upheaval and adjustment are today unavoidable.

Over the years I’ve chronicled this historic Bubble in Wall Street Finance. It is worth recalling today that Wall Street assets began year 2000 at about $1.0 TN and ended 2007 at $3.0 TN. The ABS market surpassed $1.0 TN in 1998 and ended 2007 at $4.5 TN. GSE assets surpassed $1.0 TN in 1997 and ended last year at almost $3.4 TN. Agency MBS surpassed $2.0 TN in 1998 and closed 2007 at almost $4.5 TN. “Fed Funds and Repos” reached $1.0 TN in 2000 and ended 2007 at $2.1 TN. This Bubble in Wall Street Finance was one of history’s most spectacular Credit expansions. It also comprised the greatest use of speculative leverage ever.

Despite last summer’s collapse in private-label MBS and related markets, the faltering Wall Street Bubble nonetheless persevered up until the Lehman collapse. While it was problematic that overall system Credit growth had slowed markedly, there remained key sectors of Credit and risk intermediation that remained very much in expansionary mode. In particular, GSE-related obligations, bank Credit, and money market fund assets had expanded rapidly in spite of the subprime collapse. Importantly, the speculator community had maintained easy access to cheap finance. As I have noted often, despite the unfolding bust in mortgage and risk assets, market faith in “money” and the core of the system had held steadfast. This all ended abruptly three weeks ago with the Lehman filing.

Today, confidence has been shattered, and Wall Street finance is a complete and unsalvageable bust. The spigot for Trillions of finance - that for years fueled the asset markets and U.S. Bubble economy – has been essentially shut off and dismantled...