Category: Economics & Investing

Over at the View From the Porch blog, Tamara posted this gem on the recoveryless housing market: Missing the point. The comments that follow are also worth reading. Reader Sue C. highlighted this article: OECD Says Slowdown ‘More Pronounced’ Than Anticipated KAF sent this: Stimulus? Who Said Anything About a Stimulus? Items from The Economatrix: Stocks Resume Rally as European Debt Worries Ease. Consumers Cut Back on Credit Card Use Once Again Job Openings Rise for First Time Since April Hopes Rise as Jobless Claims Fall, Trade Gap Eases Stocks Extend Gains After Drop In Jobless Claims Mortgage Rates Edge …

A New York Times article: “The Inflation Cure” UK Telegraph: Wheat Prices push food costs to 13-month high Fear As Food Prices Soar The Hindu: Inflation likely to be high in future

For the “Why am I Not Surprised?” Department: New Steel 5 Pence and 10 Pence Coins a Disaster. SurvivalBlog readers on this side of the Atlantic should still be stocking up on nickels, before a similar switch! (Hat tips to Tod P. and Tony B. for the link.) A good one for USD Index watchers: Deflation Never Had a Chance Michael Pento Says Fed Will Buy Stocks And Real Estate In Its Next Attempt To Create Inflation. (Thanks to Nick J. for the link.) G.G. flagged this: No defence left against double-dip recession, says Nouriel Roubini “SIG” spotted this piece …

Reader Z.D.G. notes: “Our little small town in Texas recently raised our water rates by a whopping 59%. Ouch! Time to get water independence.” Homeless Outraged That $1 Menu at San Francisco McDonald’s Now 50 Cents More Higher taxes and fees ahead in 2011 and beyond: Recession Continues to Batter State Budgets; State Responses Could Slow Recovery

SurvivalBlog’s Poet Laureate George Gordon (“G.G.”) sent this: Germans, and a Wave of Swiss Bank Accounts, are Piling into Gold as if it’s a New Crisis The Daily Bell reports: US Fed Gains Power, Loses Credibility? More than 400 US Banks Will Fail: Roubini Reader Sam G. sent us a link to a piece that deconstructs some Orwellian journalism: TIME: Rising Unemployment Rate Is Good News Items from The Economatrix: Seven Steps to Becoming a One-Income Family Despite Hiring, US Unemployment Rate Seems Frozen Stocks Extend September Rally After Jobs Report Heavy in Dollars, China Warns of Depreciation Lehman Brothers …

UN calls special meeting to address food shortages amid predictions of riots; Poor harvests and demand from developing countries could push cost of weekly shop up by 10% Back in January, Turkey’s leaders were claiming that the then 6% annual inflation rate was “temporary“. But now it is back up to nearly 12%. Could a return to the Bad Old Days of 90% annual inflation (like Turks experienced in the mid-1990s) be on the horizon? Modern-day wheelbarrow loads of cash: Could Tiny Somaliland Become the First Cashless Society?

Some prescient predictions from Matthias Chang: Warning Global Fiat Currency Financial System Collapse By Early 2011 Tony B. sent this piece from PBS: The true cost of the bank bailout Mendo Mary was the first of several readers to mention this: Five Doomsday Scenarios for the U.S. Economy Fortune asks: Should US government debt be rated junk? (Thanks to American Expatriate (AmEx) for the link.) Jon R. suggested this news item: Use of rare earth metals outstripping supply Items from The Economatrix: Low Interest Rates Squeezing Pension Funds Obama Economic Advisor: Turnaround Insufficient Warning Global Fiat Currency Financial System Collapse …

“Inflation fighting”, Hugo? Venezuela introduces Cuba-like food card. This is like something out of Kim Jong-Il‘s playbook. Reader Phil. J. wrote ask: “The news people say that we are in a deflation. What proof do you have that inflation is coming?” First, don’t confuse commodity deflation and currency inflation. In the short term, both can happen simultaneously. This chart from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank shows that there will be plenty of consumer inflation in the near future. The Federal Reserve more than doubled the money supply in less than two years. Eventually, this rapid expansion is sure to …

Reader B.B. recommended this piece at Washington’s blog: Government Economic Leaders Surprised that Real World Isn’t Responding to their Magic Pixie Dust I warned you, folks! It started with little more than rumors. But now here is something substantive: US Departments of Labor and Treasury Schedule Hearing on Confiscation of Private Retirement Accounts. The government is desperate for sources of revenue, so there is a high likelihood that they will ramrod this through. I recommend that you run the numbers for your age and consider your personal circumstances. Determine wehther or not it makes see to cash out before the …

Deflation Delusion Continues As Economies Trend Towards High Inflation Reader Kimberly S. notes: “I noticed a dramatic increase in the cost of butter at Costco. Last summer the combination package of 4 one-pound boxes of butter was about $4.49. That was the lowest that I had ever seen butter at Costco. Today, the same 4 pound package was $8.99.” UN calls meeting on food price concerns How Hyperinflationary Hell–And Commodity Heaven–Will Happen Before the End of 2011

Unemployment Rate Rises to 9.6%. That is the official figure from the BLS. But the really telling number is for under-employment. That is buried down in line U-6 in Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization. And again, that is the official figure. A 2004 article suggested that the real world numbers are probably substantially higher. (Somehow I doubt that this under-reporting has been rectified.) Sue C. sent us this: Bernanke: Shut down banks if they threaten system 120 Days to Go Until the Largest Tax Hikes in History. Items from The Economatrix: Global Collapse of the Fiat Money System: …

Pearl wrote me to mention: “We homeschool and therefore I stock up on supplies when they go on clearance after public school children have started. I still have boxes of Papermate pens left over but couldn’t resist picking up a couple packages when I noticed they were on sale. When I got home I compared the clearance tags… Last year, I purchased boxes of 12 Papermate pens for $.35. This was 30% off the original price of $.50. This year, I purchased packages of 10 Papermate pens (no box) for $.70. These were also 30% off the original price of …

May I recommend the article titled The Correlation Curse by Howard Hill? Mr. Hill explains in very simple terms why, during a meltdown itself, it is critical to not be in debt. His thesis is simple – during a collapse, the primary asset at the center of the collapse simply cannot be sold so people begin selling everything else to cover their debts. This includes gold, silver and precious metals and is precisely why precious metals will ultimately fall when the final collapse comes. Now the good point is that precious metals will rapidly regain their value on the other …