Economics and Investing:

46 Months Of Accelerating Deflation Mean Beijing Is Now Trapped – JFJ

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Apple has dumped $100B in market value in past month – RBS

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Items from Mr. Econocobas:

Study Finds Higher Minimum Wage Hurting Youth Employment – Not sure why they needed a study to realize this….

Puerto Rico Defaults on Debt Payments – Not sure how, but this news seemed largely ignored probably due to such market volatility

Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

End Injustices Now, Not Later (Mises Institute) Excerpt: “We’ve been robbing from Peter to pay Paul, and Paul’s taken out a mortgage based on income from the theft. You don’t want Paul to lose his house, do you?”

If You Think Oil is Cheap in Dollars, It’s Even Cheaper in Gold (Market Watch) Excerpt: “Things could get worse before they get better, of course, and there is historical precedence for a longish spell before things get back to normal. On the flip side, that precedent was a public mania for stocks akin to the Roaring 20s. We don’t seem to have that level of enthusiasm at the moment.”

Rail Shipments Point to a Recession (Business Insider) Excerpt: “…the big ones got crushed: carloads of coal, the largest category – done in by the low price of U.S. natural gas emanating from the collapsing natural gas industry – plunged 27.9%; metallic ores, the second-largest category, plunged 39.1%; and petroleum and petroleum products, the third largest category, plunged 20.5%. The commodities rout is tearing into railroads with a vengeance!”

International News

World Could Faces Months of Chinese Market Aftershocks (Associated Press) Excerpt: “The latest trigger was currency jitters, but Thursday’s plunge in Chinese stocks was just one in a series of aftershocks from last year’s boom and bust that could shake markets for months to come.”

Brazil’s Economic and Financial Meltdown (National Review) Excerpt: “We shouldn’t be surprised by the collapse of Brazil. For years now the government has been growing faster than economic growth, which is a formula for disaster. And we shouldn’t be surprised that a country that models its labor laws on those of Mussolini’s Italy ends up in trouble.”

Iran to Receive Major Economic Windfall as Nuclear Deal Begins (Washington Free Beacon) Excerpt: “Kerry might as well have wired the money directly into the Revolutionary Guards’ bank accounts…”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

How You Can Save Your Family $6,700 This Year (Clark Howard) Excerpt: “…the real problem is that Americans are racking up so much credit card debt that they can’t make the payments fast enough to keep interest costs down – and that’s costing families a whole lot of money.”