Category: Economics & Investing

Illinois Revenue Freefall: Fiscal Year-to-Date -8.1% and Worsening. Sadly, my state of Connecticut seems to be going down the same path! Now they are talking about a HUGE tax on our hospitals! – H.L. o o o Time To Hedge State Reserve Funds With Gold. Excerpt: “Financially prudent individuals set aside surplus funds to protect against unforeseen expenditures. This way, when faced with loss of income, house repairs, car trouble, or anything else, they will have a buffer against unanticipated downturns.” – H.L. o o o Stores Are Closing at a Record Pace as Amazon Chews Up Retailers. Sad. Soon …

From Hubert Moolman: Gold and Silver Boom or Bust – A bit heavy on the charts but interesting nonetheless. o o o OPEC’s No.2 Goes Rogue: Plans 600,000 Bpd Oil Output Increase. Despite talks of an OPEC extension, Iraq, which is OPEC’s second-biggest exporter, has plans to boost crude production to 5 million bpd by the end of the year. o o o I listened to a sermon one time about the phases that many organizations go through. There is the time of passion in which men and women of great passion do extraordinary things and the organization grows like …

After having great success in finding silver half dollars, the intrepid young “Silver Searcher” is still at it. Most recently he found a bank in Oregon that had $2,800 in Eisenhower (“Ike”) dollars available. He really should be searching more carefully, for rare date coins. – JWR o o o When the broader markets crash, the value of the precious metals will really take off: Massive Stock Correction To Send Metals Surging & Elites Lose Control o o o What I learned about the US real estate market this week o o o Short And Sweet: Fed’s New Policies A …

The market marches on to oblivion, ignoring the warning signs: Stupid Is As Stupid Does o o o Permian Pipeline Bottleneck Forces Steep Discounts. Oil production in the Permian Basin has been rising rapidly, and now the pipeline capacity in the region is struggling to keep up, forcing producers to provide discounts. o o o Gold Price Forecast: Getting A Read Of The Next Quarter o o o Record $10 Trillion Paper Gold Trading Market Continues To Depress Price o o o The Next Subprime Crisis Is Here: 12 Signs That A Day Of Reckoning Has Arrived For The U.S. …

Over at Gold-Eagle: The Balance Of Gold And Silver JWR’s Comment: Silver is still grossly under-valued in relation to gold, and hence it has the best long-term investment potential. Part of this is because nearly all gold is recovered as scrap, while a lot of silver ends up in landfills. o o o You know that the markets have escaped reality when: The market capitalization of Tesla Motors now exceed Ford Motor Company. JWR’s Comment: Ford had $26 Billion in net income in past five years, while Tesla has racked up 2.6 Billion in losses. Something is horribly wrong with …

Moscow And Beijing Join Forces To Bypass US Dollar In Global Markets, Shift To Gold Trade. JWR’s Comment: Ruh-ro! (Link submitted by reader G.P.) o o o The War on Cash: Old and New. Excerpt: “It would be a mistake, nonetheless, to think that the outright ban of cash will be the preferred method of our fiat-money lords. The most efficient and vicious method they can use is simply inflation while refusing to emit any new banknotes with higher denominations.” – DSV o o o Baby boom or bust: Retirement withdrawals now exceed contributions. Since 2008 US public debt up …

The World’s First Pension Crisis – DSV o o o Multiple Bubbles Are Going to Bring America to Its Knees: “The Warning Signs Are There” – B.B. o o o Without Obama, once-booming gun industry poised to shrink. Excerpt: “Founder Marty Daniel, who employs about 310 workers and is more than doubling his manufacturing facility’s square footage, said he was prepared for the dips in sales and anticipates those will last through the year. But he considers the downturn part of a natural business cycle, like those that hit the housing market.” – T.J. o o o Is Gasoline Demand …

Caterpillar to close Illinois plant, lay off 800 workers – G.P. HJL’s Comment: This is news that has been expected. Caterpillar was making a killing selling product to China when China’s economy was booming. Now that China is feeling the effects of overspending and has quit buying the heavy equipment, Caterpillar has way too much capacity for the market. o o o Zuma’s Night of Long Knives Risks ANC Split, Credit Rating. JWR’s Comment: Note the huge drop in the value of the South African Rand (ZAR) versus the U.S. Dollar (USD) in the past week. This level of instability …

Senators Enzi & McCain Reintroduce The Coins Act JWR’s Comment: After years of inaction—and more than seven years after I first warned SurvivalBlog readers—it looks like the composition of the Nickel coin will be changed. (For all except during World War II, the five cent piece has been 75% copper and 25% nickel.) This next few months will probably be your last chance to get the current composition nickels in bulk quantities at face value. One of three things is bound to happen: A.) The nickel’s composition will change, B.) The nickel will be dropped from circulation, or C.) Least …

How Will Gold Prices React To Strong Consumer Confidence? HJL’s Comment: Despite the narrative of a strengthening economy, consumers do not have a high confidence. Traditionally, gold doesn’t do so well in a strong economy, but it is currently holding its own, indicating that the economy may not be what you are being told. o o o Mike Tyson vs. The Grilled Cheese Truck – Excerpt: “We have little experience gambling, but we’re pretty sure that you can’t prosper by betting on every number at the roulette table.” o o o Huge 300,000 Bpd Fracklog Could Derail Oil Price Recovery. …

We are now experiencing net withdrawals from the 401K market. This is bad news: WARNING: U.S. Ponzi Retirement Market In Big Trouble, Protect With Precious Metals o o o Oil Majors Lower Risk: Favor Shale Over Offshore. Big oil has changed its strategy radically, investing much more in short cycle projects with high short-term yield. o o o $540,701,000,000: U.S. Property Taxes Hit Record in 2016 JWR’s Comment: Here is a puzzler: When is private property not private? When you have to pay a yearly rent to your government. Do you think that you really “own” your land, even when …

Mexico Sees Its First International Offshore Drilling Success. Eni has drilled the first well by an international oil company in Mexican waters, finding a meaningful volume of oil. o o o Podcast: Urban Agriculture (Peak Prosperity). Those living in cities/suburbs may find this podcast on urban agriculture of particular interest. o o o Warning: Three Major Bellwethers Are On Red Alert. I’m not much for charts in these turbulent economic times, but this is interesting. o o o It’s time to start believing in the Impossible (Article but includes a podcast.) o o o SurvivalBlog and its editors are not …

Pension Crisis Too Big for Markets to Ignore. Unfunded pension obligations have risen to $1.9 trillion from $292 billion since 2007. – G.G. o o o Just a quick reminder: the Federal Reserve is almost insolvent. Excerpt: “So if bond prices fall by just 0.9%, i.e. interest rates go up just slightly, the Fed will be insolvent.” o o o ‘Real’ Performance Comparison o o o Video: US Debt of $20 Trillion Visualized in Stacks of Physical Cash – H.L. o o o SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for …

Why This Market Needs To Crash – And likely will. – G.G. HJL’s Comment: As the article points out, since 2009 over $12 trillion of new money has been injected into the world creating a massive price bubble everywhere. When it finally pops, it will be impossible to hide data, and the financial markets will implode. Eventually the bankruptcy will happen. o o o Interview: Bix, Bitcoin, and the Bigger Picture. William Lehr had Bix on his show for an analysis of the bitcoin fork as it applies to the bigger picture of the impending banking collapse and the need …