The International War On Cash [1] – Sent in by G.G.
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Reader H.L. sent in this depressing link: This is how much the average American investor made last year [2]
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Items from Professor Preponomics:
US News
Oil Plunge Sparks Bankruptcy Concerns – Energy Journal [3] (Wall Street Journal Money Beat) Excerpt: “As many as a third of American oil-and-gas producers could flirt with bankruptcy and restructuring by the middle of next year unless oil prices stage a big rebound…”
Is the Auto Loan Bubble Ready to Pop? [4] (Mises Institute) Excerpt: “While the media claims that this record has been reached because of drastic improvements to the US economy, they are once again failing to account for the central factor: credit expansion.”
Fasten Your Seatbelts! UBS Warns of Record Spikes in Volatility if this Level Breaks [5] (Zero Hedge) Excerpt: “If we look into the macro world we are obviously living in a world of extremes. We have record debt in the Emerging Market complex, in Europe, in Japan and in the US; with margin debt in the US at record levels, M&A hitting record levels, record ETF holdings in corporate bonds, record auto loans in the US, and the list continues.”
The Fed Paid $97.7B to Treasury in 2015 [6] (Washington Examiner) Excerpt: “The profits were earned on the Fed’s massive portfolio of bonds. The Fed’s $4.5 trillion holdings, are mostly in U.S. Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities backed by the government. That portfolio earned $113.6 billion in interest income in 2015…”
International News
BP to Cut 4,000 Jobs in Exploration and Production as Oil Price Bites [7] (The Telegraph) Excerpt: “But BP also warned that there could be additional job losses in the downstream business – the part of the company that deals in oil refining and marketing – for which it said it ‘does not yet have estimates for’.”
Australia Bet the House on the Red Ponzi — Now Comes the Reckoning [8] (Contra Corner) Excerpt: “Australia’s long-term bet on China was and still is conceptually simple – an incredibly flawed assumption that the country would never cease to consume increasingly more iron ore.”
Personal Economics and Household Finance
Four New Scams You Want to Avoid in 2016 [9] (Clark Howard) Be on the lookout! Government imposters, a new type of political scam, data breaches, and mobile wallet hacks.
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