Category: Economics & Investing

“H2O” in California sent this news item about Kern County, California: Kern unemployment continues to climb: 17.4% in February. H2O’s comment: “The bulk of Kern’s population is located in the Southern San Joaquin Valley, where agriculture and oil are the lynchpins of the local economy. With the legislative/judicial droughts being imposed on California, local farmers have been allocated just 15% of their annual contractual water supplies. This means that they cannot secure the crop loans necessary to grow the crops to feed the nation for the fourth year in a row. Food shortages are right around the corner, I fear.” …

From reader Michael S.: The Silent Entitlements Monster: Social Security, Medicare And Interest On The Debt Will Gobble Up Every Single Tax Dollar By 2020 Damon sent this: Time is Running Out for the US Dollar Reader S.M. kindly sent us links to five economic articles: The US Government will have to pay higher rates of interest in order to keep selling our debt in order to keep spending and going deeper into debt. Another indication of inflation A new tool to fight home foreclosures: borrowers don’t have to pay lenders! Re-writing delinquent mortgages. Not even 50% have been successful …

U.S. Is Riskier Than Euro Zone; So Says CDS Market. (A hat tip to Yishai for the link.) GG sent this: Central Banks Stashing Away Gold at Brisk Pace. Items from The Economatrix: Commentary from Dan Denninger: Housing Sales: Forget It! How the Middle Class Slowly Evaporated Over the Past 40 Years States Look Beyond Borders to Collect Taxes Owed Stocks Give Up Steep Gains on Renewed Greece Woes Bernanke: Record-Low Rates Needed to Aid Economy Watchdog Blasts Obama Loan Relief Plan Natural Gas Prices Reach Record Low

Damon sent this: Impasse Over Derivatives Slows Senate Banking Bill Also from Damon: U.S. health insurers’ Credit Default Swaps widen after reform From G.G.: Sales of New U.S. Homes Dropped in February to Lowest on Record Items from The Economatrix: Stocks Fall After Agency Cuts Portugal’s Debt Rating New Homes Sales Hit a Low; Durable Goods Orders Up Oil Settles Below $81 on Jump in US Crude Supplies US Has Lost 2.4 Million Jobs to China The Tipping Point at Zero

SurvivalBlog’s Poet Laureate, George Gordon, sent this: Underemployment Hits 20% in Mid-March H.H. spotted this: North Korean finance chief executed for botched currency reform. H.H.’s comment: “How ironic. In the United States, when a Treasury Secretary or Fed Chairman screw up the nation’s economy through back-door deals, insider trading and the manipulation of the currency, they are granted even more power. In North Korea, even if you’re just trying to do your job, you’re treated a bit differently.” Items from The Economatrix: Japan Joins China in Reducing Holdings of US Treasury Debt Bonds Reveal US Losing AAA Status IMF Warning …

GG sent this Wall Street Journal article: Public Pension Deficits Are Worse Than You Think Reader S.M. sent us some more evidence that the US is slipping towards the edge of a bond rating downgrade by Moody’s: Obama Pays More Than Buffett as U.S. Risks AAA Rating. Also, further economic difficulties with managing growing public debt: Lipsky Says ‘Acute’ Debt Challenges Face Advanced Economies. Items from The Economatrix: Agora Financial’s Five-Minute Forecast Court Says Fed Must Disclose Bank Bailout Records A Salon opinion piece by Gene Lyons: It’s Time for Wall Street to Pay Health Care Companies Pull Stock Market …

Dear Mr. Rawles, I thought I would drop you a note on my experiences in attempting to collect a significant volume of nickels. After seeing the Coinflation.com site and some of your articles and hearing about the changes being made by the US government in what materials are allowed to be used to make nickels, I decided to take your advice and start collecting. I decided to obtain $1,000 worth to start with, so I went to my local credit union and walked up to the teller and asked what their policy was on obtaining large volumes of coins. She …

G.G. liked this piece at The Daily Beast: America’s Debt Gets Scary Greg C. suggested this blog article that has some serious implications: The Most Important Story that the MSM, Fox News, Glenn beck, and Others Will Not Cover. Flavio sent this linkio: Retail Sales Fall. Here is a real Economic Indicator: Box makers wait for signal of economic growth (Thanks to Mike A. in Ohio for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Stocks Fall on Worries Regarding Greek Debt Return The Four Cities that Best Weathered the Recession (As if the “recession” were in the past?) Germany and France …

Veteran analyst Jim Rogers talks about the world’s financial woe: Another recession ahead. It was nice of him to use the more kind term for it. From Chad S.: Food prices push Indian inflation up to 9.9 percent Also from Chad: China’s Wen pushes back against yuan rise calls. This quote from the article doesn’t bode well: “We are very concerned about the lack of stability in the U.S. dollar. If I said I was worried last year, I must say I am still worried this year.” G.G. liked this commentary from Richard Daughty (aka The Mogambo Guru): US Economic …

SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large Michael Z. Williamson sent us a link to an interesting graph on debt figures in the U.S.. Per capita debt almost $41,000 per person, and rising about $20 per day. Chad S. recommended this: How Can Anyone Claim that the Housing Crisis is Over When the Delinquency Rate on U.S. Mortgages Continues to Explode at an Exponential Rate? The latest Friday Follies installment: Regulators shut 7 banks in 5 states; 37 in 2010 Tod P. flagged an article from the Philippines, wherein the government pleads with its citizenry to spend their coins back into circulation, to …

Sue C. sent this: Derivatives debate splits U.S., European regulators China in Midst of ‘Greatest Bubble in History,’ Rickards Says. (I found that article linked at The Drudge Report.) Reader Brett G. spotted this: Roubini Economist: We’re Headed For World of Inflation GG sent this: My Inflation Nightmare Chad S. sent this: Latvia government collapses amid economic crisis Also from Chad: U.S. Hyperinflation Possible by 2015 Items from The Economatrix: Moody’s Fears Social Unrest as Triple A States Implement Austerity Plans Idaho’s Plan to Downgrade the Dollar Hipsters on Food Stamps Sovereign Debt = Subprime Debt China Trims Holdings of …

KT flagged this: FedEx Chart Means Double-Dip for Economy From GG: ‘Black Swan’ Author Concerned About Hyperinflation Also from GG: Buyers for Puerto Rico Banks? FDIC Has Three Institutions to Sell; Downside Is They May All Need Capital Items from The Economatrix: Construction Unemployment Rate Hits 27.1% as Another 64,000 Construction Workers Lost Jobs in February Moody’s Warns US Debt Could Test Triple-A Rating Dodd Unveils Sweeping Financial Regulation Plan

Thanks to Tom W. for sending this link: Fiscal Crises Hit Closer to Home; States and localities face burgeoning deficits; next phase in debt-deflation? Ben M. suggested this New York Times link: Junk Bond Avalanche Looms for Credit Markets. Several folks sent this link: Rising food prices may start with seeds Items from The Economatrix: Not Durable? Gold, Silver and Oil: Buying the Essentials in Tough Markets Fed May Hint at How Long the Rates Will Stay Low What Credit Card Pay-offs? Consumers are Dumping Debt! IRS: Get Tax Relief if Lender Forgives Part of Home Debt Housing Construction Drops …

Several readers mentioned this: Social Security to start cashing Uncle Sam’s IOUs. This does not bode well. The most telling statement is in the sixth paragraph. In summary, we’ll be borrowing from foreigners to pay our Social Security benefits. This article certainly makes it clear that Al Gore’s “Lock Box” rhetoric during a presidential campaign a few years back was absolute nonsense. Congress has been busily spending your Social Security “contributions”, for many years. Here is a quote from the article: “In all, the agency has about $2.5 trillion in bonds, all backed by the full faith and credit of …