Category: Economics & Investing

Target and other online retailers did well, but traditional brick-and-mortar retailers took a pounding this Friday. A chilly Black Friday for some brick-and-mortar retailers o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: Beware of the Sure Thing: Possible Curve Balls for the December Market (Market Watch) U.S. Retailers Hunt for Attacks After Warning on Stealthy Malware (Reuters) Commentary: Take measures to protect your information When Financial Bubbles Burst: Real Estate Values are Plunging in Canadian Heavy Oil Patch (Contra Corner) Interest Rates to Stay Low Longer, Household Debt Remains a Concern – Says the Bank of England (The Telegraph) Glencore’s Oil …

“Brother, can you spare a dime?” is one of the best-known American songs of the Great Depression. The question was commonly asked by drifters hoping to be able to use the dime to buy a meal or two as they wandered the country looking for work. However, that was the 1930’s. Thus, it begs the question: in today’s economy, what’s a dime really worth? Is it still worth just a meal or two? Up until 1965, most American coinage was comprised of 90% silver, which is commonly referred to today as “junk” silver. Starting in 1965, the U.S. Mint diluted …

Are Millennials as broke as the media says they are? The answer is a resounding yes for the following reasons. o o o Fourth Turning – Social & Cultural Distress Dividing The Nation – Sent in by J.Q. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: Britain Sets 2018 Deadline for Claims in Country’s Costliest Bank Scandal (Reuters) European Banks Sitting on $1T in Bad Debt (Contra Corner) Switzerland is about to Launch a HUGE Experiment in the “War on Cash” (Business Insider) Commentary: The Swiss and the Swedes make for a very interesting contrast in the view of cash vs. …

Reader P.M. notes: Premera Blue Cross may have laid off over 300 people, and yet won’t talk about it. They are also rumored to be losing money on the individual line of business. The fallout from the poor design of Obamacare continues. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: A Shocking Number of Americans Don’t Have a Toilet (The Week) When Financial Bubbles Burst: Real Estate Values are Plunging in Canadian Heavy Oil Patch (Contra Corner) Interest Rates to Stay Low Longer, Household Debt Remains a Concern – Says the Bank of England (The Telegraph) Glencore’s Oil Deal in Libya …

Video: SPROTT MONEY & SRSROCCO INTERVIEW: Where Does Silver Go From Here? o o o Podcast: Negative interest rates to hit the US o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: We’re Now Just One Big Shock Away from a Global Downturn (Zero Hedge) What Does It Cost to Produce a Barrel of Oil? (CNN Money) Expedia Lays Off 40% of Orbitz Staff in Chicago (Seattle Times) VA Spends Millions Promoting Obamacare (Washington Examiner) Figures on Government Spending and Debt (AP via CNS News) United Health’s Obamacare Reckoning (Wall Street Journal) Insurer’s Warning Signals Troubles with Obamacare (USA Today) The Secret …

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 …