Reader G.W. wrote to mention that the Coin Debasement Modernization Act [1] passed on November 30th. It is now waiting President BHO [2]‘s signature. I’ve been warning folks about a likely change in the composition of the U.S. Nickel (Five Cent coin) for more than three years. This may be your last chance to get real nickels at no premium over their face value [3] and without the effort of any sorting. (Once a coin composition change takes places, it will become labor intensive, just as it did with pennies.)
Jason in Central New York sent this: Was There A Big Recession Warning Buried Inside This Week’s ISM? [4] Jason’s comment: “Looks like manufacturing being purchased for inventories ratio is a good indicator of what’s to come.”
MERS: The Mortgage Database That’s Clouding Millions of Titles [5]
By way of Forbes, Michael Pollaro itemizes U.S. Government Debt Monetization [6]
Items from The Economatrix:
Why Governments Will Buy Silver [7]
Bernanke Doesn’t Rule Out QE Exceeding $600 Billion [9]. (Of course he doesn’t! Note that Bernanke stonewalled congress [10] for more than a year about announcing the size of the bank bailouts, and the roster of recipients. It was only last week that we found out that it was actually $9 trillion in taxpayer-guaranteed loans, lent to just a handful of big banks [11] at ridiculously low interested rates.