Category: Economics & Investing

D. B. sent in this link asking if it is The Beginning of the End for the U.S. Dollar? S.E. sent in a link showing how many Americans feel about the financial future. And M.R sent this email warning of the coming Global Financial Meltdown caused by China’s crdit bubble. Items from The Economatrix: 20 Early Warning Signs That We Are Approaching A Global Economic Meltdown Celente – The Entire World Is Now Unraveling Before Our Eyes JPMorgan’s Gold Vault Has Biggest One-Day Withdrawal Ever Bank-Run Fears Continue; HSBC Restricts Large Cash Withdrawals

P. sent in this interesting link about Russia:Russia’s Growing Regional Debts Threaten Stability o o o Local governments extending tax breaks to movie production companies is becoming commonplace now; Even to the point where cities and states compete with each other to be the hosting location for the movie company. Several readers sent this link in showing How Leonardo DiCaprio Cost New York Taxpayers $30 Million. HJL Adds: My own city recently released financials showing that in the past year, they hosted four movie productions, giving significant tax breaks to the production companies, with less than $9,000 increased revenue to …

H.L. sent this item: Oil Set to Rocket. HJL Adds: This sounds interesting. My concern is the statement: “The oil companies will be raking it in…” I’ve heard this before and it smacks of the 1% talk. The oil companies may make a pretty good profit, but nowhere near as good as some other companies. I have been receiving a large number of submissions regarding income inequality, usually describing that the top 1% now have as much as one half the world’s wealth. It seems repugnant at first, but it’s important to note that this concept is based on an …

Sent in by P.W.: Russia’s Growing Regional Debts Threaten Stability H.L informed us of this: Wells Fargo bans staff from investing in P2P loans C.S sent this link in: The Economic Slowdown No One is Talking About. Items from The Economatrix: What The Unemployment And Labor Force Participation Rates Would Be If All Of The Discouraged Workers Came Back IMF Paper Warns Of ‘Savings Tax’ And Mass Write-Offs As West’s Debt Hits 200-Year High Global Freight Data Indicates No Economic Recovery

G.G sent these two videos: Mike Maloney: The US Dollar WILL Collapse, and A ‘tsunami’ of store closings expected to hit retaile Thanks to C.R. for this: Fed approves Chinese bank purchase of U.S. bank Items from The Economatrix: What If All This Prosperity Was Just An Illusion? Six Things You Should Know How To Improvise Is the International Monetary Fund Hinting About An Economic Reset?

From J.B.G.: How to Survive the Coming Final Dollar ‘Bear Raid’ G.G. sends us this news article showing a Record 20% of Households on Food Stamps in 2013. G.G also sent this: Argentines Must File Tax Report On Web Purchases. Items from The Economatrix: Why Is Goldman Sachs Warning That The Stock Market Could Decline By 10 Percent Or More? Gold And Silver – There Are Reasons Greater Than Demand For Owning Them Max Keiser: Economics Of Human Extinction

Jim, I enjoyed the January 10 letter titled “How To Use Your IRA /401k to Fund a Survival Retreat Property“. I’d like to offer a few comments that your readers might find helpful. My bona fides: I am a tax attorney who has dealt with self-directed IRA’s in audits and in Tax Court. I have gotten my clients some very good results in those arenas. I deal primarily with real estate in IRA’s. The same rules that govern real estate would apply to other non-traditional investments via Self-Directed IRA’s (“SDIRA”). ROBS: The transaction that was described by “An Anonymous CPA” …

C. O. sent: Forbes: Mega Default In China Scheduled For January 31 R.B.S. sent this item: Change for a Nickel? U.S. Mint Is Weighing It – WSJ.com Items from The Economatrix: Wall Street Reacts to Selloff: Has the Correction Begun? The Economy Is Starting To Free Fall: Housing, Autos, Retail

R.B.S. sent: Bitcoin Mint Reopens After Nastygram From Feds. Of course physical Bitcoin is an oxymoron… G.G. suggested: The Big Reset, Part 1 Items from The Economatrix: 75 Economists Back Minimum Wage Hike More Of The Jobless Are Giving Up On Finding Work 10 Things You’ll Pay More For In 2014

Fractional reserve banking and central banking began their reign of destruction upon our financial world a few centuries ago. Politician’s greed and need for control over people have been ever present. Their mutual interests created an unholy union from which were born two progeny. Call them Fire and Ice. Call them Inflation and Deflation. This is their story – simplified and sanitized. FRACTIONAL reserve banking allowed banks to loan out considerably more currency than was received from depositors – this increased the supply of currency in circulation. If demand for currency did not increase proportionally, then each currency unit was …

CNBC’s Rick Santelli tells Obama he can’t redistribute wealth if there is no wealth The biggest export from America? The middle class. The tradeoff for cheap goods and financial cronyism is coming back in a big way. Items from The Economatrix: The Level Of Economic Freedom In The United States Is At An All-Time Low When A Dollar Store Is Too Expensive: Growing Class Of Poor Americans Unable To Afford Items At Dollar Stores. Disabled Veterans Get Back Pension Raises

Hello, I just read your article about stocking up on nickels. You suggested requesting new “wrapped” (fresh Federal Reserve Bank issue) rolls but then there were updates regarding the [potential] change to steel nickels. I did additional research and it appears that the nickel is still made of 25% nickel and 75% copper. Correct? So the suggestion would still be valid today. Correct? Or is it better to not request “new” nickels? Thanks, – Patrick F. JWR Replies: To the best of my knowledge the composition of U.S. has NOT changed since 1946. Although there are tentative plans, there have …

Hello, One of your letter writers about IRA funding of retreat property said that “you can’t distribute half a house,” therefore the distribution could be a big tax hit. You cannot use or live in an IRA owned property until you take 100% distribution and take the tax hit at tax time, it is true. However, you can take gradual partial distribution over time to make the tax hit more tolerable. I have an IRA property that is a rental and the IRA ownership is currently 100%. I will start taking small distributions when I must at 70 and 1/2 …