FUTURE MONEY TRENDS: Silver Will Break $50 In 2016
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New Year begins with record number of men not in the labor force: Those not in the labor force increased by 1.9 million last year while the labor force increased by only 1.1 million.
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Items from Professor Preponomics:
US News
New Year Begins with a Record Number of Men NOT In the Labor Force (My Budget 360) Excerpt: “Employment, income, and financial prosperity are the most important issues for Americans. It is ironic that in 2008 the election was driven largely by the economy. It is very likely to be driven again by the same thing now that it is official that the middle class is a minority. Keep an eye out on the labor force participation rate.”
Law Enforcement Groups Cry Foul After Congress Seizes Money from Controversial Forfeiture Fund (CNS News) One word for this: WRONG. Excerpt: “In short, law enforcement agencies have grown dependent on civil forfeiture revenues, with the inevitable result being that agencies end up seizing property from property owners who are wholly innocent.”
Puerto Rico is in SERIOUS TROUBLE. (Huffington Post) Be careful from whom you borrow and under what terms… Excerpt: “Puerto Rico’s terms of repayment are particularly onerous because so much of its debt is now controlled by big U.S. hedge funds.”
International News
How a Demographic Time Bomb Will Transform the Global Economy (The Telegraph) Excerpt: “Japan’s population is now projected to shrink from around 126m today to 87m in 50 years’ time. At this rate, there will be no one left by 2500.”
Portugal: Europe’s Next Greece? (Outside the Beltway) Excerpt: “With much of Europe worried about terrorism and refugees, there hasn’t been much attention paid to the financial issues that have gripped many of the continents weaker members, but that may be about to change thanks to Portugal…”
Greek Central Banker Urges Government on Bailout Reforms (Reuters) Excerpt: “Greece’s central bank chief has urged the leftist-led government to implement bailout reforms agreed with the country’s lenders, warning that backtracking would entail risks the economy could not withstand.”
Personal Economics and Household Finance
10 Reasons Why You Should Switch to Linux (It’s F.O.S.S.) #1 Reason: It’s FREE! We switched all of our computers to Linux some time ago, for several reasons, including the fact that Linux is almost maintenance free, works on older computers, is very fast, and the software is…free!