Actually it is what he did. He paid his workers well and they helped buy the cars that made Ford a success. Of course, automation is at work now, which is why there are so many subprime auto loans instead of more sound auto loans based on good wages.

Nice article. But maybe #derivatives have something to do with it. I don't know.

If the company does not force or encourage front loading, then these people should be able to buy whatever they want from Herbalife.

Only #JimGrant would lump #HelicopterMoney with negative interest rates. The goal of helicopter money is to push us off of negative interest rates. I am disappointed in his analysis.

Thanks Steve. I just think there are trillions of dollars of bonds committed as collateral for derivatives. Even without #QE, bond yields have gone down. Seriously, this is the new normal and it presents problems. We will be in low rate territory for decades unless some other factor comes into play.

Hi Steve. Thanks for responding to my comment. You may be right about the cars.

Investors are paying down debt in Europe and Japan. As even you said, we have not turned negative yet.

As far as government bonds relationship with energy, I confess I am not an expert about that at all. I do think that energy is not the only game in town, and wasn't it funded by junk instead of pristine treasuries? I think the demand for bonds is more in the interest rate derivatives market, which is much larger than the energy derivatives market. That is why I don't think energy can destroy everything. But I could be wrong.

Yes, government bonds are debt, but they are gold. They are, in fact, of higher rating than gold itself when used as collateral for interest rate derivatives. In fact, they are in short supply, and demand exceeds supply. Just FYI.

I wrote about that a couple of times. Here is one showing a lot of bond hoarding, new gold hoarding, going on: www.talkmarkets.com/.../a-whole-lot-of-gold-hoarding-going-on

I think you have to have a little cash to buy new cars. And there is still massive demand for negative debt. It is pretty clever when you can get investors to pay down government debt. Of course, the upside is that governments can stimulate a little bit with the wiggle room. Strange system and very hurtful to main street except for this potential stimulus, but they are muddling through. Government bonds are like gold, a collateral for derivatives: www.talkmarkets.com/.../central-bank-victory-and-negative-bond-rates

Nice article, except that real #HelicopterMoney won't need treasury bonds, which are already in short supply as collateral for derivatives. Real helicopter money would just involve base money, even if Bernanke and others don't quite want to face that kind of real helicopter money.

Shah, just wondering what you think about banks willingness to lend if interest rates were raised? Wouldn't they pass that on in the form of more lending and greater profits as house prices declined a little at first, anyway?

What is exiting about shrinking the GDP with automated technology? Too bad techies don't understand more about economics. Many people will gravitate to people, not technology. I don't want a robot preparing and serving my food.