Category: Economics & Investing

John R. sent a link to a map that shows the global race to the bottom: The global debt clock Panel sounds foreclosure warning, industry downplays. (A hat tip to B.B. for the link.) John R. spotted this post over at Karl Denninger’s site: The EU’s Lies Blow Up In Their Face. B.B. sent: Poverty in America, The Big Picture Euro under siege as now Portugal hits panic button Matthew Lynn asks: Who’s next? First Greece went bust. Now Ireland is on the brink of a bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Items from The Economatrix: …

Gary Shilling Sees `Significant’ Stock Selloff Within 12 Months From Dr. Gary North’s e-newsletter: “There is a cartoon video all over the Web that discusses “quantitative easing.” It is a riot. This is very, very bad for Bernanke. When the public starts laughing at a senior government bureaucrat, he is in trouble.” John R. sent this: Nassim Taleb Says Fed Doesn’t Understand Risks of Quantitative Easing Items from The Economatrix: Stocks Finish Mixed As Dollar Gains   Retail Sales Rise Is Led By Higher Auto Purchases   Credit Card Writedowns Continue Decline In October   The Worth of Gold and …

“Straycat” sent us this: What Is The Best U.S. State To Move To If You Want To Insulate Yourself From The Coming Economic Meltdown? James Grant: How to Make the Dollar Sound Again. (Thanks to Siggy for the link.) John R. suggested a piece by Mike Whitney at Zero Hedge, titled QE2: Last Rites for the World’s “Reserve Currency”

Greenspan Accuses U.S. of Dollar Weakening (Thanks to F.J.D. for the link.) Sue C. spotted this: Currency Disputes Hang Over G-20 Summit Amherst’s Goodman: One in five distressed homeowners at risk of losing home. (A hat tip to B.B. for the link.) John R. sent this: The Scariest Crash Is The Muni Bond Crash Items from The Economatrix: Doug Casey On Gold’s New High, The Fed, And The Greater Depression   Economic Irony:  Creating Bubbles To Maintain Stability  

Food inflation sees Ben & Jerry’s break through £4 Duane sent: NIA Projects Future U.S. Food Price Increase M.B. pointed us to: Bacon Math. Why your toilet paper is shrinking. (Thanks to Ferd for the link.) Secret Walmart Survey Shows Inflation Already Here

SurvivalBlog’s Poet Laureate sent this: Markets Alert for Credit Crunch 2.0 German Finance Minister Warns: The US Has Lived on Borrowed Money for Too Long Chocolate Poised to Become a Scarce, Luxury Commodity B.B. sent this: World To Fed: Stop Printing All That Money (A hat tip to Kimberly for the link.) A recent piece over at The Daily Bell: Nouriel Roubini vs. the Mises Institute? John Embry: Die Was Cast Before Elections. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.) Bernanke’s Cowardice Has Sealed Our Fate Items from The Economatrix: Is The Fed’s Debt-Buying Unconstitutional? World Economy Faces “Difficult And Dangerous …

B.B. sent this: Dark Ages for a modern Middle Class – Modern day debt serfdom and rising prices not seen through the consumer price index. Coffee up 50 percent for the year. What Will Cause the Next Crisis? Jonathan C. sent: California: The Lindsay Lohan of States The Wall Street Journal reports: Ireland’s Fate Tied to Doomed Banks Steve K. sent a link to a very scary mortgage fraud deposition. Super-sized pensions, and a doomsday scenario. (Thanks to Ben G. for the link.) More FDIC Friday Follies: Three bank closures in Arizona and Georgia. Items from The Economatrix: Hiring Remains …

G.G. forwarded this link: The rest of the world goes West when America prints more money. Here is a key quote: “This crazy money-printing is going to be seen as the primary cause of Western inflation, food riots and a commodity price spike.” Reader J.B.G. sent this: Is Soros Betting on U.S. Financial Collapse? Also from J.B.G.: Two Million People About to Be Denied Unemployment Benefits Frequent content contributor B.B. sent this: Chinese Credit Rater Downgrades U.S. Jon in New York flagged this: Centro, facing money problems, plans to combine, eliminate routes north and west of Syracuse. Jon noted: “Comments …

Market pundit Robert Wiedemer recently had the nerve to call gold “the biggest, baddest bubble of them all.” What myopia. He’s looking up at gold’s position only because his vantage point is from the veritable crater formed by the collapsing U.S. Dollar. Gold is simply rising to its natural level, amid a bevy of fiat currencies that are in a frantic race to the bottom. The precious metals are nowhere near the end of the current bull market. China Says Fed Easing May Flood World With `Hot Money’ Fed Will ‘Self Destruct,’ Policy ‘Deeply Flawed’: Ron Paul Sullivan: The Coming …

Ay, Carumba!: California borrows $40 million a day to pay unemployment benefits. No doubt, higher payroll taxes will be coming soon for Californians. Obama returns fire after China slams Fed’s move. [JWR’s comment: The Obama Administration’s position on the Quantitative Easing monetization scheme is like a teenager claiming that he can pay his VISA Card balance with his MasterCard.] I guess you’ve all seen the recent jump in the spot price of silver. FWIW, I’ve been touting silver since February 2001, just before it bottomed. I’m standing by my prediction of $50+ silver. I’ll grant that I was early when …

A Daily Bell interview: Rick Rule on Scarce Commodities, the High Price of Gold and the Sale of Global Resources Several readers sent this: Zoellick seeks gold standard debate Quantifying What QE 2 Means for Future Inflation and Gold and Silver Prices  JBG sent this from a Wall Street Journal blog: Number of the Week: $10.2 Trillion in Global Borrowing Items from The Economatrix: Fed’s Trillions Purchase of Bonds is a Fraud Caught In A Lie: Bernanke Promised Congress the Federal Reserve Would Not Monetize the Debt But Now That is Exactly What is Happening Currency Wars, Debase, Debt Default …

P.D. flagged this one: Right Now, a Complete Collapse of the Financial System is Not Out of the Question Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large) recommended this article: Bernanke soft-pedals QE2 risks. The age of the dollar is drawing to a close. (Thanks to H.W. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Stiglitz:  We Have to Throw the Bankers in Jail or the Economy Won’t Recover Largest 15 States are Spending Over 220% of their Tax Revenue Microsoft CEO Sells $1.3 Billion of Shares World Blasts Deranged Madman’s Uncheckable Insanity German Minister Renews Fed Criticism Inflation Watch: Chris Mayer: …

Thanks to B.B. for this link: Dollar at Risk of Crashing, Triggering Inflation G.G. spotted this recent post over at Zero Hedge: David Stockman Says The Fed is Injecting High Grade Monetary Heroin into the Financial System Susan H. flagged this: Citi: Central Banks Are Going to Start Dumping Dollars in the Coming Weeks Doubts grow over wisdom of Ben Bernanke ‘super-put’. The last line in the article is chilling: “If they start to act on this suspicion, they could push rates higher instead of lower, and overwhelm the Bernanke stimulus. That would precipitate an ugly chain of events for …

Reader Michael A. suggested reading this commentary by Karl Denninger: Bernanke’s Folly: The End Game. K.T. liked this piece by Bix Weir at The Road to Roota Letters: A Final Checklist for Everyone. The article opens with this sobering words: “My Road to Roota analysis shows that we literally days away from the breakdown of the entire fiat monetary system and I thought it a great time to go over final preparations for the coming chaos. In the grand scheme of things you can never be fully prepared for what is about to transpire because nobody on earth has been …