At the edges of the horror...

The tragedy - or multiple tragic disasters - unfolding in Japan are, to someone watching from afar,  shocking and beyond comprehension in real human terms.  Today I will be sure to "do something" for disaster relief, relative pittance as that may be, because the need is overwhelming (including my own, to step even a bit out of the spectator stance.)  So I feel awkward posting anything tangentially related to these horrible events here, at least in the context of the issues that focus the blog.  (As he awkwardly proceeds...)

I found a significant bit of "in-the-wake-of-the-disaster market news" in a Financial Times article that bolsters the argument against those "U.S. is going broke!" hysterics that drive so much current destructive policy in the Beltway & opportunistic fear-mongering across the country:

Amid the panic (Ed. - Asian stock & bond markets are down, as are even gold and oil contracts a bit), there is one asset class in demand: US government bond yields are tumbling as a safe harbour is sought. The yield on the 10-year benchmark is down 9 basis points to 3.28 per cent, at one point touching its lowest level since the start of December.

Global financial markets are saying, yet again, that US Treasury instruments are - even at historically very low yields - a secure haven.  (Interest yields going down means that demand is greater, i.e. that they are easier to sell at less cost to the Treasury.)  This can change, of course, but anyone who is pushing hysterics about the US being "broke" is either totally detached from objective reality or simply fear-mongering to promote an opportunistic agenda of social destruction (aka GOP "budget bills.")