Category: Economics & Investing

Back in December of 2013, when the protracted rumors of the Quantitative Easing taper finally came to fruition, I posted my conjecture in SurvivalBlog that to compensate for the lost dollar value of the tapering, the Fed would make some backroom deals with one or more nations to either: A.) Swap debt purchases (their ugly paper, for ours), or B.) Secretly buy more of our own debt, through intermediaries. Then in late 2014, the proverbial smoking gun was found. Citing some research by the often-cited Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge, Jeff Nielson at Bullion Bulls Canada wrote: “Belgium is a …

Items from Mr. Econocobas: David Stockman: Wall Street Remains Clueless—–Even As The Brown Stuff Heads Straight Into The Fan U.S. GDP Growth Raised for Third Quarter – It’s laughable to think the Fed will raise rates in December unless they want to bring this whole thing down.. National Debt Spikes $578 Billion in Three Weeks – This is astounding… Items from Professor Preponomics: 21.6% of U.S. Children on Food Stamps (CNS News) NYSE Joining the NASDAQ in Eliminating Stop Orders (Market Watch) Household Finance: Spending Books Can Help You Save (Christian Science Monitor) The Case for $1 Gas (24/7WallSt) 5 …

The Fed Balance Sheet & The Price Of Silver o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: Equities vs. Everything Else: Deutsche Bank Warns One Side Must Be Wrong (Zero Hedge) When Wall Street Gets DeFANGED — LOOK OUT! (Contra Corner) Brazil Inflation at 12 Year Highs Compounds Economic Crisis (Financial Times) Finland Emerges as the “New Sick Man of Europe” as the Eurozone’s Worst Performing Economy (The Telegraph) A Sign that the World’s Richest are about to Hit a Rough Patch (Business Insider) Puerto Rico’s Rapture (Huffington Post) Americans Shoplift $13B in Merchandise Each Year (Market Watch) The Price of …

A very interesting read on the coming economic disaster: Is This How the Next Global Financial Meltdown Will Unfold?. Sent in by GJM o o o The Future of Money – Banking without a bank in Kenya. – C.L. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: Next Crisis in the Making: David Stockman Points to the $4.6T Leveraged Loan Market (Contra Corner) ECB Policymaker Says Monetary Policy Risks Becoming Ineffective in a Low Growth World (Reuters) China’s $1.2T Debt “Ponzi Scheme” Could Trigger Financial Crisis (Breitbart) Container Freight Rates Plummet 70% in 3 Weeks (Zero Hedge) Investors Warn of Greater …

Caterpillar sales drop for the fourth year in a row because of China: Those good years won’t come back. sent in by RBS o o o Sent in by B.B. – Fed To Hold An “Expedited, Closed” Meeting On Monday “As we are sure to be told: ‘It’s probably nothing!’ “ – Uhh, sure… o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: Auto Loans and Mortgages Push Household Debt to Highest Levels Since 2010 (Bloomberg) Baltic Dry Index Drops to Record Low (Bloomberg) Iron Ore Price Craters (Mining) Lifetime Cost of Refugee Settlement: $55B (Breitbart) Resettling Middle Eastern Refugees Costs Taxpayers …

They would have you believe that the U.S. economy is recovering and strengthening. Actually, the dollar is strengthening because everyone else is debasing their currency faster than we are; however, it’s all downhill. The Fed Induced Farce. Link sent in by J.Q. o o o The Baltic Dry Shipping Index Just Collapsed To An All-Time Record Low o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: Barclays to Pay $150M More to Regulator in Forex Probe (Reuters) Citrix to Restructure: 1,000 Pink Slips Coming (Triangle Business Journal) Los Angeles and the Crisis of Homelessness (Los Angeles Times) Chinese Paddy Wagons Pick Up …

The Pension Problem Is Worse Than You Think – G.G. o o o If The Economy Is Fine, Why Are So Many Hedge Funds, Energy Companies And Large Retailers Imploding? – M.A. o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: Video interview: USA Watchdog -Craig Hemke-Get Physical Metal Because the End is Coming Video- Mike Maloney Hidden Secrets of Money- Episode 6.. – If you have not seen the first five episodes, I would strongly encourage you to do so… They are all very well done. Items from Professor Preponomics: Terrorists: A Dangerous and Costly Economic Threat (Fox News) WSJ Reports: …

War on Cash: Here are the latest disturbing developments Sent in by D.S. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: Requiem for QE: Seeds Sown for Future Economic Troubles (Cato Institute) DC Settles Civil Forfeiture Suit for $855K (Forbes) Value of Civil Forfeitures Exceeds Burglaries (Zero Hedge) Rent Control Policies: Ineffective and Unjust (Washington Examiner) Restoring Federal Fiscal Sanity Requires New Approaches and Strong Leadership (Washington Examiner) Oil Production in North Dakota Falls YOY for First Time in 11 Years (Business Insider) A Billionaire’s Post-Apocalypse Shelter: Here It Is (Zero Hedge) Puerto Rico is Running Out of Options (Bloomberg) Greece …

The Government Netted $4.5 Billion in Cash, Cars and Houses – Sent in by B.B. o o o The remaking of an American housing bubble: Home prices are up 78 percent since 2000 and 30 percent since 2012. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: $195M Pension Payment May Derail Detroit’s Post Bankruptcy Recovery (Detroit Free Press) Blackstone: Now the World’s Largest Owner of Real Estate(Business Insider) China Welcomes IMF Backing to Make Yuan World Currency (Yahoo News) Japan Relapses Into Recession (Reuters) California: Study Finds Half of Illegal Immigrants Qualify for Medicaid Benefits(Fox News) 38% of All Comex Gold …

Items from Mr. Econocobas: China Welcomes IMF Backing to Make Yuan World Reserve Currency Car Loans Hit $1 Trillion for First Time Japan Relapses into Recession in July-September, a Blow to ‘Abenomics’ Items from Professor Preponomics: Nordstrom: The Religion of Consumption Has Proven Unfulfilling (Market Watch) It’s Official. Obama Wants to Help You Manage Your Retirement Savings. (Zero Hedge) Jury Finds Ernst & Young Liable for Millions in Damages Related to the Madoff Ponzi Scheme (Reuters) Postal Service Tallies $5.1B Loss Even As Revenues Rise (U.S. News) 100 American CEOs Have More Wealth Than 116 Million Americans (My Budget 360) …

Americans are buying tons of gold November 12 Sent in by G.P. o o o Despite their own economic woes, the Chinese continue to chip away at the U.S. dollar dominance on the world scene: China welcomes IMF backing to make yuan world reserve currency – P.S. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: Four U.S. Firms with $4.8B in Debt May Default at Any Time: Energy Sector Losses Continue (Zero Hedge) Social Security: The Long Slow Default (Mises Institute) Obamacare’s Co-op Failure Contagion (Wall Street Journal) ECB Says Further Policy Easing is Coming to European Markets Next Month (Reuters) …

Hello, Your Nov 10 blog entry contained a link to Wikipedia’s “free rider problem“. That article in wikipedia is extremely biased. I’d like to suggest you also provide a link to this article as well. I had one experience that might be illustrative. I lived on a gravel road with eight other families. Eventually, we decided (after a lot of discussion) that we wanted it paved with asphalt. The decision was that everybody should pay equally. As we went around to get contributions, it turned out one would not pay and another would only pay $1000. The first was understandable, …

Sent in by G.P. – Fed Official Says Gold Standard Touted By Cruz Is ‘Unworkable’ “Doesn’t provide stability” is the answer given. I can sort of see that too. To just map the current money supply onto physical gold would push the price of physical gold into astronomical numbers simply because of all the free printing that has gone on in the last 30 years. o o o How Many More Recession Confirmations Do You Need? Yep. Every time I buy groceries, I am reminded that this is not a recovery. Sent in by J.Q. o o o Items from …

Hugh, Another reason for just underpaying your taxes is the increasing amount of tax fraud from people who will file a return as if they are you and claim your refund. What they never do is file for you and pay the small amount due. – C. C. S. o o o Hugh, It’s never, ever good to respond in a fit of anger. So, now that I’m calm, let me quote your letter writer in part: “If one must have a (pretend) “windfall” in April because of one’s lack of discipline or psychological needs…” Hey fella, the tax refund …