by Calculated Risk on 10/23/2013 10:03:00 PM

From Neil Irwin at the WaPo: Another billionaire is predicting doom. Ignore him.

Hedge fund billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller is really, really worried about the future of the United States. He is doing an event at Georgetown next week making the case that entitlement spending will form the next mega-financial crisis, and not for the first time.

This kind of quasi-apocalyptic talk is breathtakingly common. His is of a thread with a lot of commentary that suggests that the whole world economy is just a shell game being propped up by profligate government spending and central bank money-printing, that it’s all a scam that will implode soon enough.
...
[T]here are Druckenmiller’s arguments on Social Security obligations as the trigger of the next global financial crisis. The poster advertising Druckenmiller's speech last week argues that the "true national debt" is more than $200 trillion. What the sponsor seems to be doing is looking at the liabilities side of the balance sheet, but not the asset side. Yes, Social Security and Medicare are on the hook to pay out a lot of money in the future. But they are also on track to collect many trillions in tax revenue in the future.

I've read Druckenmiller's comments and Irwin is far too kind.

Thursday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, the initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for claims to decrease to 335 thousand from 358 thousand last week.

• At 9:30 AM, the Markit US PMI Manufacturing Index Flash for October. The consensus is for a decrease to 52.7 from 52.8 in September.

• At 10:00 AM, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for August from the BLS.

• At 11:00 AM, the Kansas City Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity for August. The consensus is for a reading of 9 for this survey, up from 8 in August (Above zero is expansion).

Note: New Home sales for September - originally scheduled for tomorrow - will be released on December 4th