This Is What Happened The Last Time The Fed Hiked While The U.S. Was In Recession
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Physical Silver Investment Demand Great Deal Higher Than Official Estimates
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Items from Professor Preponomics:
U.S. News
Why This Sucker is Going Down. Again. (Contra Corner) Important Quote: “…permanent gains in wealth and living standards cannot be achieved by the kind of rampant speculation and debt-fueled financialization that had generated the phony boom of the Greenspan era.”
ECB Fumbles the Stimulus Baton Hand-Off (Wall Street Journal) Commentary: Yellen’s plans for “lift off” may be based more on economic psy-ops than on the reality of the big economic picture. This article presents interesting thoughts about the Fed strategy which may have been simultaneously advanced and complicated by the ECB.
The Best and Worst Run States (24/7 Wallst) Commentary: An interesting and challenging assessment. North Dakota and New Mexico create the “book ends” representing first place and last place respectively.
94M+ Americans are NOT in the Work Force (Breitbart) Commentary: The manipulation of employment numbers alongside the recasting of a good report showing the creation of just 211,000 jobs cannot overcome the fact that more than 94,000,000 Americans are not part of the work force.
International News
UBS Summed Up the “Third Wave” of the Financial Crisis in 2 Charts (Business Insider) Spoiler Alert: Asia has a debt problem and a debt service ratio problem (the cost to service the debt relative to income). Asia is not alone.
China Restocking and Demand for Iron Ore Lower than Expected (Market Watch) Note: Be sure to monitor economic conditions in China directly (in so far as this is possible given the likelihood that of misinformation or disinformation) and indirectly with respect to the impact of these conditions on emerging market economies.
Will Brazil Impeach Rousseff? (Mises Institute) A Thought: Often economic conditions have political consequences. …and although this commentary is not specific to Brazil (it is neither an endorsement of or objection to political events and outcomes unfolding), it may be said generally that political choices made by an electorate under significant economic strain do not generally lead to the healthiest and most stabilizing longer term results. Never underestimate the power or consequences of economic forces at work within any country or among countries whether or not they are (or appear to be) friendly.
Personal Economics and Household Finance
Gift Giving in the Style of a Minimalist Christmas (The Minimalists) Something to Consider: We have before us a tremendous opportunity to bring the Spirit of Christ and meaning of Christmas back into the celebration of this important holiday. This article includes several wonderful examples of ways to accomplish just this!