Category: Economics & Investing

QE2: Many Americans Haven’t a Clue What It Means (Video) OBTW, they also don’t know what “Keynesian” means. (Another brief video) More Mainstream Media Nonsense: US Federal Reserve Decision Expected to Boost American Economy B.B. sent us this: Freddie Mac Says Net Loss $4.1 Billion Items from The Economatrix: It’s All About The Dollar US Pensions Reaching A Breaking Point? US Federal Reserve’s Latest Bubble Threatens Mayhem Fed Expected to Pump Up to $1 Trillion Into US Economy

Fed Easing May Mean 20% Dollar Drop: Bill Gross. (Hat tips to Greg C. and B.H. for the link.) G.G. sent us this: ‘The World Does Not Need to End’ A Gold Bull and His Prediction: $10,000 an Ounce Are Asian Traders Preparing A Major Squeeze Of Silver Shorts? (Thanks to B.B. for the link.) B.J.G. sent this: Roubini: Japan is ‘Accident Waiting to Happen’ Items from The Economatrix: Why Growth Will Stay Too Weak To Ease Unemployment Economy Offers Mixed Picture Day Before Election UPS Says 2011 Rates Will Rise 4.9% The Next Global Economic Crisis The Utility of …

Frequent content contributor B.B. sent this: U.S. home prices expected to slide another 8% December 7th: Planned European Bank Run. (Thanks to Richard S. for the link.) Daniel Amerman: Bailout Lies Threaten Your Savings Most Americans Say the Recession Isn’t Over Yet. About three out of four Americans say the U.S. is still in a recession, with Republicans and women slightly more pessimistic about the economy than Democrats and men, according to a new AOL/Poll Position survey. Items from The Economatrix: A Paralyzed Fed Defers Decision On Monetary Policy To Primary Dealers In An Act That Can Only Be Classified …

Forbes: Nitty Gritty Numbers Suggest Downward Spiral Gold Will Outlive Dollar Once Slaughter Comes: John Hathaway Reader John L. mentioned a piece by Doug French: Bank Failures in Slow Motion Items from The Economatrix: Imminent Big Bank Death Spiral Piercing The Mystery of the Gold Market Shipping The Housing Market Overseas The Coming Silver Shortage Moody’s: US Companies Hoarding Almost $1 Trillion In Cash ForeclosureGate Explained: Big Banks On The Brink The Tipping Point Has Arrived

Gonzalo Lira: Signs Hyperinflation Is Arriving The market is ‘baking in” significant inflation. Investors are buying United States government bonds that effectively had a negative rate of return, because these bonds offer a guaranteed protection against inflation. (TIPS). The investors who took part in the $10 billion auction are betting that inflation, now at about 1 percent annually, will rise to a level that more than compensates for the premium they paid. The Inflation ‘Genie’ Unleashed: “By reducing real interest rates and trying to break the psychology of ‘Why spend today when I can buy goods cheaper tomorrow,’ they are …

Peter Schiff: Bernanke’s QE 2 Will Sink Just Like the Titanic 30 Reasons Why People Should Be Getting Really Nervous About The State of the U.S. Economy. Your Savings Will Be Funding ForeclosureGate Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: The Fed’s impending blunder Items from The Economatrix: AP Survey: Painfully Slow Economic Gains Into 2011 A Visual Representation Of The Wall Street-Main Street Disconnect Fed to Avoid “Shock And Awe” Stimulus

At The Daily Bell: The US $200-Trillion Debt Which Cannot Be Named. “Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff says U.S. government debt is not $13.5-trillion (U.S.), which is 60 percent of current gross domestic product, as global investors and American taxpayers think, but rather 14-fold higher: $200-trillion – 840 per cent of current GDP. ‘Let’s get real,’ Prof. Kotlikoff says. ‘The U.S. is bankrupt.’” Dollar Printing Feeding China Inflation Pimco likens US to ‘Ponzi’ scheme KAF sent this: HSBC Accused of Silver Manipulation Trigger Points, Black Swans, And Other Unpleasant Realities. (Thanks to K.T. for the link.) Gerald W. sent this: …

“Crisis is an Opportunity”: Engineering a Global Depression to Create a Global Government From The Telegraph: Greece reignites Europe debt woes And Harry is so humble, too: Reid: But for Me, We’d Be in Worldwide Depression Brett Arends: Warning: Retirement Disaster Ahead Items from The Economatrix: Durable Goods Orders Rise, Business Spending Cools Stocks Fall Amid Questions About Fed Plan Northfolk Southern 3Q Profits Soars As Shipments Rise Gerald Celente: The Economy, Wars, What’s Next? Night Of The Living Fed China Ministers: Dollar Printing Out Of Control

The Monetization of Lumber National 17.5%, California 22% Global Food Crisis Forecast As Prices Reach Record Highs Fed looks set for new round of monetary easing From Zero Hedge: A Quick Glance at Real World Inflation The chart says it all. The official hedonic-adjusted inflation figures are laughable. Federal Reserve Asset Buying May Reach $2 Trillion, Goldman’s Hatzius Says

Dollar Selloff Is Going ‘Too Far, Too Fast’: Strategist. (Thanks to Susan H. for the link.) Greece Likely to Default Within Three Years, El-Erian Says Seal Beach home from a price listing of $2,900,000 to selling for $900,000. Chasing the housing market down. Could someone be expecting a market crash? Watch the smart money: Insider Selling Volume at Highest Level Ever Tracked. (Thanks to Jonathan C. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Stocks Eke Out Gains On Mixed Earnings Consumer Confidence Rises Only Slightly in October Steel Industry’s Outlook Gloomer on Slower Growth Foreclosures Push Home Prices Down in …

TIPS Inflation Bonds Get Negative Yield for First Time Bernanke Asset Purchases Risk Unleashing 1970s Inflation Genie Germany Calls Out Geithner’s Hypocrisy, Says Money Printing Is FX Intervention Dollar At Risk Of Becoming “Toxic Waste” Oil Could Hit $100 Barrel Soon, Says JPMorgan Coffee at 13-Year High, Sugar Surges Rising Cost of Kimchi Alarms Koreans Global food crisis forecast as prices reach record highs

City drowning in rubbish: 10,000 TONS of waste pile up on streets of Marseilles in chilling echo of British ‘winter of discontent’ Items from The Economatrix: Pension Age Increases to Get Far Worse Default or Hyperinflation: The US’s Only Two Options (The Mogambo Guru) In 15 of Last 25 Months, The Treasury Needed to Borrow Money for Social Security Benefits Gold Advances as Dollar’s Decline Spurs Demand for Alternative Investments Soc Gen’s Albert Edwards: The US Public is About to Revolt

Kelli C suggested: 99 Weeks: When Unemployment Benefits Run Out Jay B. flagged some “Scary New Wage Data” from Tax.com B.B. sent this: Dollar at Risk of Becoming ‘Toxic Waste’: Charts Also from B.B.: Treasury Shields Citigroup as Deletions Undercut Disclosure Puru speaks: The US Dollar is doomed. (Thanks to Brett G. for the link.)

R.F.J. sent a piece about the far-reaching effects of China’s embargo of rare earths: You Don’t Bring a Praseodymium Knife to a Gunfight Sue C. forwarded this: Fed’s Fisher: Policy Makers Must Be Aware of Dollar Impact B.B. suggested this piece by Bob Chapman: We See Totally Surreal Markets Thanks to Susan O. for this one: 75 Ways That The Government And The Financial Elite Will Be Sucking Even More of the Life Blood Out of the American People in 2011