Category: Economics & Investing

Economics and Investing:

Amid sales surge, Dollar General plans 900 new stores – RBS o o o Some people just never learn: US credit card debt balloons to $917B: What it means – G.P. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News The Biggest Force Powering the Stock Market is Starting to Disappear, and It Could be a Huge Problem (Business Insider) Excerpt: “The issue that should scare investors is what would happen if this corporate stimulus went away.” Without Buybacks There is No Earnings Per Share Growth (Contra Corner) Excerpt: “According to a chart from Deutsche Bank, as sales and profit …


Economics and Investing:

Food Stamp Beneficiaries Exceed 45M for 56 Straight Months – Sent in by B.B. o o o Hold off on buying forever stamps until after April 10th – The value will drop to $.47 Sent in by C. Maxwell (You might want to check his website out at www.foreverstampvalue.com/ .) o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Senators Accuse State Department of Defying Congress with $500M UN Climate Payment (Fox News) Excerpt: “Lawyers cannot replace the constitutional requirement that only Congress can appropriate money….” Puerto Rico’s Game is Rigged (Washington Examiner) Excerpt: “But as happened 70 years ago, …


Economics and Investing:

SILVER OUTBREAK: Investment Demand Will Totally Overwhelm The Market o o o North Milwaukee State Bank is closed, taken over by a North Carolina bank. – Sent in by G.G. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News The Incredible Story of How Hackers Stole $100M from the New York Fed (Zero Hedge) Excerpt: “…everything from casinos, to money laundering and ultimately a scheme to steal $1 billion from the Bangladeshi central bank.” Warning: Commentary following the article may include bad language and/or inappropriate avatar images. $1B Plot to Rob Fed Accounts Leads to Manilla Casinos (Bloomberg) Excerpt: “…just …


Economics and Investing:

The Curious Case Of The 550 Million Missing Barrels Of Crude Oil o o o Commercial property bubble gets out of control: Commercial real estate is now up 102 percent from the lows reached in 2009. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Demand Agencies Go to the Chopping Block (Government Waste Fraud and Abuse) This is an excellent opinion piece written by columnist Cal Thomas. Excerpt: “We live in troubled times. The institutions we once trusted no longer seem reliable.” Feds Paid $709,000 to Academic Who Studies How Glaciers are Sexist (Daily Caller) “Merging feminist postcolonial science …


Economics and Investing:

Chinese Exports Plunge 25.4 Percent Compared To Last Year o o o Deflation Is Coming To The Auto Industry As Used Car Prices Drop, Off-Lease Deluge Looms – Sent in by RBS o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Former BP CEO Expects More US Bankruptcies (Fox Business) International News Italy Isn’t Greece — It’s Worse (Business Insider) Excerpt: “…banks will be allowed to cleanse their balance sheets by packaging the NPLs and selling them to investors, along with enticing government guarantees for the least risky portions of the debt. The catch? The securities must be priced at …


Economics and Investing:

Death Of Paper Gold Picks Up Speed Big Time Today o o o President Obama Calls Surprise Meeting With Financial Stability Oversight Council. Sent in by P.R.M. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Thanks, Bush and Obama: 1 in 7 Americans Were on Food Stamps in 2015 (Mises) Excerpt: “Forty-five million Americans were on food stamps — also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — at some point in 2015.” The Hurdles to Getting US Workers Off the Sidelines (Wall Street Journal) Note: The Wall Street Journal may require sign-on, registration, and/or an active subscription …


Economics and Investing:

The overheating real estate market: Even the National Association of Realtors acknowledges that rising home prices without rising incomes is not a good thing. Deep analysis of Culver City home and surrounding properties. o o o BlackRock Suspends ETF Issuance Due To “Surging Demand For Gold” o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Math Gone Mad: Regulatory Risk Modeling by the Federal Reserve (Cato Institute) Excerpt: “Most of all, they are based on the na?ve belief that markets are mathematizable. The Fed’s regulatory stress tests are subject to all these problems and more.” Obamacare Ripe for Fraud While …


Economics and Investing:

K.F. submitted this article. It was written about a month ago but is very compelling: Facing the Next War: Financial Systems o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: German Banks Told To Start Hoarding Cash In The Past Year, The U.S. Added 360,000 Waiters And Only 12,000 Manufacturing Workers Jim Rogers: There’s a 100% Probability of a U.S. Recession Within a Year. (Text with accompanying video.) Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Which States Rely Most Heavily on Federal Spending (Mises Wire) 9 Charts Showing Americans Never Recovered from the Great Recession: If You are Wondering Why People are So …


Economics and Investing:

I see bubbles bursting everywhere: Top academic Vikram Mansharaman o o o Reader D.S. mentioned this troubling news, over at Forbes:  How Fiduciary Rule May Censor Financial Broadcasters Like Dave Ramsey o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Fed Proposes New Limits on Big Banks’ Exposure to Each Other (Reuters) Jobs Report Reveals Lingering Long-Term Unemployment (Washington Examiner) GAO Study Documents Massive Fraud Likely in Obamacare Exchanges (Contra Corner) International News Debt “Explosion” Awaits Unless Policymakers Defuse Demographic Time Bomb, Warns IMF Chief (The Telegraph) EU’s Tusk Warnes Illegal Economic Migrants: Do Not Come Here (BBC News) Brazilian …


Economics and Investing:

Watching this conversation is well worth an hour of your time:  Mike Maloney & Harry Dent – The Great Deflation (YouTube video.)  JWR’s Comments: Dent and Maloney concur with my prediction that we will see a deflation followed by mass inflation. Their discussion of personal strategies to prepare to live through a deflationary reset begin at the 21 minute mark.   Heed their advice:  Avoid debt! In the unfolding deflationary depression, cash will be king and any debt will be painful. Then, as the inevitable mass inflation follows, cash will become trash, and silver and gold will be the new royalty. …


Economics and Investing:

Avalanche Lily (Mrs. Rawles) recommended a  great piece by economist/commentator Ann Barnhardt:  The Mark of The Beast Explained: MV = PQ, With Totalitarian Control of V(elocity) o o o G.G. flagged this:  Food Stamp Users Near Record High Despite Low Unemployment Rate o o o Fresh recession will cause eurozone collapse, warns Swiss bank o o o By way of Paul Caron’s TaxProf blog, we read: The IRS is using a system that was hacked to protect victims of a hack—and it was just hacked Items from Professor Preponomics: US News A Conversation with My Neighbor “Sam”(Mises)  Bank of America …


Economics and Investing:

Over at The Deviant Investor: Silver Prices in Five Years? o o o CBC reports: Canada sells off most of its gold reserves. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.) o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Understanding the Federal Reserve’s Shell Game (Mises)How the US Government and the HSBC Teamed Up to Hide the Truth from a Pennsylvania Couple (Liberty Blitzkrieg via Zero Hedge) Warning: Commentary following article may contain foul language and/or inappropriate avatar images. International News UK Exposed to Steel Deluge as US Clamps Down on Chinese Imports (The Telegraph) ECB Ready with New Stimulus: Bank …


Economics and Investing:

Glenn Reynolds: Cash is the currency of freedom o o o J.L recommended this at Zero Hedge: What’s The Real Unemployment Rate In The US? o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Another Economic Slump, Another Communications Test for Fed (Reuters) Get Used to an America Where Owning a Home is Not Part of the Dream: You Cannot Afford a Home on that Income! (My Budget 360) Did Free Markets Cause Flint, Michigan Water Disaster? (Mises) Michigan Senators Reach $220M Proposal Affecting Flint (The Detroit News) Detroit’s Latest Crisis: Its Dilapidated Schools Have Hit Their Debt Limit and …


Letter: A Forced Digital Currency Swap

Hugh and Jim, Yes, we can be effectively forced into a digital currency swap. Here is a real world example: In the early 1970s (as a young U.S. Army Captain) I was with the G2 Div, 2d Infantry Division in the Republic of Korea (ROK). In those days the military (and presumably civilian) personnel used Military Payment Certificates (MPCs) in lieu of US Dollars. This supposedly helped combat the local ROK black market which was notorious. A decision was made to make a change in the MPC (color, design, etc). The whole conversion process was initially classified until rollout. When …


Letter: Bullion Silver Coins Versus Pre-1965 Silver Coins

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Sir,I understand the need to have silver [available for barter] for the coming economic problems.  I have been obtaining silver Maple Leafs rather than pre-1965 US coins, mainly because they are less expensive [per ounce of silver].  However, many people I know and and bloggers say that people should have pre-1965 coins.To me when things get bad and the silver is used, it will be harder to explain the value of pre-1965 coins to normal people versus a 1 ounce silver coin. Is there a reason I am missing that pre-1965 coins are best? – JES JWR Replies: For anyone …