In this week's Off the Cuff with Mish & Chris podcast, Mish and Chris tackle
- The German Constitutional Court decision
- What importance does it have? Any?
- America is back in recession
- More hard-to-refute data
- Whither the Fed?
- Why markets will be disappointed by Bernanke
Surprising to those who don't read this site, a number of notable announcements are happening this week besides Apple's unveiling of the iPhone 5…
Today, the German Constitutional Court made its ruling on the legality of Mario Drahgi's plans to flood European banks with liquidity. The court has the power to block the ECB's profligacy; but it seems that once again, politics trumps justice. Draghi will be allowed to proceed with some tissue-thin restraints.
Meanwhile, new data show North America's economies are slowing down. Indeed, more and more analysts are coming to the conclusion that the US has slipped back into recession (even though to many it feels as if America had never left it). Jabbering of 'recovery' and slight declines in the official employment rate – which is a complete farce, as those unable to find work after a time are removed from the lists of those counted as 'unemployed' – are fooling no one at this point.
Which leads all eyes to the Fed. What will it do (or better asked, what can it do) to combat this dismal data?