Category: Economics & Investing

Hi Hugh, I was just reading James’ blog on saving nickels again. I have about a year or more’s worth of coins I’ve been saving. My late wife had rolled $10 worth of halves which I’ve saved. Would it be wise to hold onto them? How about Canadian silver coins? Aren’t they mostly silver? HJL’s Comment: The base metal content of half dollars made from 1971 to 2014 is 91.67% copper and 8.33% nickel with a current value of less than six cents. Unless you are able to procure coins of high silver content, they are most likely not worth …

Fed Issues An Ominous Warning To JPMorgan Chase And Leaders Flock To Secret Meetings – Submitted by JFJ o o o Sanctions Lifted, Now Iran Wants To Get Paid o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News How of Representatives Files Amicus Brief in Support of Judicial Watch Taxpayer Lawsuit to Prevent DC Government from Illegally Spending Taxpayer Money (Judicial Watch) Excerpt: “Regardless of whether it is sound policy for the District of Columbia to have budget autonomy, [the defendants] cannot ignore the law. Yet, they do.” Privatizing the US Postal Service (Cato) Excerpt: “…with the rise of electronic …

United abandons ObamaCare in most States – P.S. o o o How Mainstream Econ Promotes Socialism o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Obamacare Latest: Insurers Flee Exchanges, Uninsured Rate Projected to Rise, Co-ops Failing (Townhall) Excerpt: “Let’s take a quick spin through some recent Obamacare-related headlines, shall we?” Another Payout for Obamacare Cronies (Government Waste Fraud and Abuse) Excerpt: “Contemporaneous documents show industry officials terrified they would miss the Obamacare train and eager to lock in favorable terms by sidling up to the negotiating table first.” $1.35B of Counterfeit Goods Seized in 2015 (Washington Examiner) Excerpt: “The …

Items from Mr. Econocobas: Silver Heads for a Bull Market as Prices Rally to 10-Month High “This Will All Blow Up In The Fed’s Face,” Schiff Warns Peter Schiff: The Winter of Discontent Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Pensions for Public Servants to Force Government Failures (My Gov Cost) Excerpt: “The problem is surprisingly simple: States and cities overestimate returns on their pension fund investments, while systematically underfunding them.” Peabody Declares Bankruptcy, Could Leave Clean-Up Costs to Taxpayers (Taxpayers for Common Sense) Excerpt: “The company has a total of $2 billion in outstanding mine clean-up or reclamation liabilities, $1.4 …

Hungary Issues Sovereign Bonds Denominated In Yuan: Another Nail In US Reserve Currency Status? – G.G. o o o ‘Danger is rapidly building,’ wealthy flee cities – DSV o o o : Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Why Regulators Think JPMorgan is Still Too Big to Fail (Washington Examiner) Excerpt: “They also said that the bank would have difficulty winding down its books of derivatives during a failure.” House Passes Bill to Add Section to Bankruptcy Code for Banks (Washington Examiner) Excerpt: “The legislation ‘ensures that shareholders and creditors, not taxpayers, bear the losses related to the failure of …

Deutsche Bank Confirms Silver Market Manipulation In Legal Settlement, Agrees To Expose Other Banks o o o Obama Has Collected $18,764,164,000,000 in Taxes–$124,003 Per U.S. Job – Sent in by B.B. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Shoe Company: Obama Admin Pressured Us to Stay Quiet on TPP (The Weekly Standard) Excerpt: “Tariffs on shoes are steep, and New Balance is one of a handful of shoe companies that still manufactures shoes in the United States.” Panama Papers Offer More Evidence that Free Trade isn’t Really Free (Huffington Post) Excerpt: “But what about the United States — …

Blackmail on a national scale: Saudi Arabia warns of economic fallout if Congress passes 9/11 bill – A.C. o o o Why Is The Msm Covering Up Recessionary Data? o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Arizona College Includes Fee to Pay for Illegal Alien Scholarships (Townhall) Excerpt: “If you’re attending Prescott College, you might want to tell mom and dad that a new fee has been added to the tuition bill, one that will help establish scholarships for illegal aliens.” Ten-Step Checklist for Revitalizing America’s Immigration System (The Heritage Foundation) Excerpt: “Exhibit one is the Border Security, …

The US faces a perfect economic storm – G.G. o o o Taxpayer advocate warns taxes could kill the 2nd Amendment – DSV o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Wall Street is Edging Toward Win on Derivatives Capital Rule (Bloomberg) Excerpt: “The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision on Wednesday proposed a new method for banks to assess their exposure to derivatives, which could wind up lowering the amount of capital lenders need to meet restrictions on leverage.” 6 Reasons I’m Worried Derivatives Could Take Down the Economy Again (Yahoo! Finance) Excerpt: “A number of years ago, Warren …

In a new video, Mike Maloney warns of dangerously high P/E ratios and predicts a massive rollover of the stock market in the near future. Any SurvivalBlog readers still holding stocks are warned: Get out now! – JWR o o o The largest U.S. coal company just filed for bankruptcy April 13 – DSV o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Obama Builds a Corporate Tax Prison (Washington Examiner) Excerpt: “None of this would be necessary if the U.S. weren’t now such an inhospitable place to do business.” Will the Last Company in America Please Turn Off the …

US faces ‘disastrous’ $3.4tn pension funding hole o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: U.S. Runs $108 Billion Budget Deficit in March, Treasury Says Video: The April Emergency The Fed Doesn’t Want You To Know About – Mike Maloney – Interesting take.. Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Auditor: Government Will Owe More than Entire Economy Produces (Washington Free Beacon) Excerpt: “The audit also called into question the reliability of the government’s financial statements.” “Mr. Social Security” Indicted in $600 Million Disability Fraud Scheme (Washington Free Beacon) Excerpt: “The defendants are charged with designing an intricate scheme, using their expertise …

Why Obama is forgiving the student loans of nearly 400,000 people – G.G. o o o The education and employment myth: Almost two-thirds of people in the labor force do not have a college degree. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News US Government Banking Program Facilitates Remittances to Mexico (Judicial Watch) Excerpt: “The program is called “Directo a Mexico” (Direct to Mexico) and the Federal Reserve, the government agency that serves as the nation’s central bank, launched it nearly a decade ago.” The Salary Needed to Buy a Home in 27 Different US Cities (Visual Capitalist) Excerpt: …

12 frugal lessons from the Great Depression o o o Goldman-Sachs fined $5 billion. But, since they took $10 billion in bailout money from tax payer dollars, they still profited $5 billion plus what they initially stole prior to the crash. – DMS o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News What Harry Potter Can Teach the Federal Reserve (Mises) Excerpt: “Given the monetary dark arts being practiced around the world, I would much prefer my money in the hands of a Gringotts goblin, than at the mercy of our Federal Reserve Chairman Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. “ US Readies Bank Rule …

“The Greater Depression Has Started” – Comparing 1930s & Today – J.C. o o o Government Will Owe More Money Than Entire Economy Produces – G.G. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News The $1 Trillion Short Underlying Stocks’ Spring Awakening (Bloomberg) Excerpt: “Amid its biggest about-face in nine decades, a funny thing has happened in the U.S. stock market, where rather than loosen their grip bears have grown ever-more impassioned.” Obama Administration Pushes Banks to Make Home Loans to People with Weaker Credit (The Washington Post) Excerpt: “The Obama administration is engaged in a broad push to …

JWR, One of the catalogs that I receive has been listing .999 copper rounds (1 1/2″ dia) for sale. All have designs cast into them, with some borrowing classic currency designs like the Morgan and Walking Liberty dollars, and others are more commemorative or political in nature. Are these worth purchasing as a medium of exchange along with the more widely known and accepted silver dollars and rounds? – T.S.G. JWR Replies: In my estimation those are just a sort of lame collector’s coin, with only marginal resale value. You would be paying up to 10 times the spot value …