Economics and Investing:

Fed May Lack Legal Authority for Negative Rates: 2010 Memo – G.P.

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Collapsing America: America’s Infrastructure Decaying Into 3rd World Status.

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

2016’s Economy Begins with a Whimper (Mises) Excerpt: “During many Fed tightenings, the stock market and overall economy improved for years afterward because the Fed stimulus had actually brought a temporary form of economic recovery. But rarely, if ever, has the mood turned dark so fast after the Fed officially announced that the recovery is sound and the life support can be removed.”

Puerto Rico Emergency Fiscal Measures to be Exhausted by June: GDB President (The Fiscal Times) Excerpt: “In a Friday briefing to U.S. congressional staff members who asked about the island’s proposed debt restructuring, GDB President Melba Acosta said Puerto Rico was “really at the end” of finding creative ways to stretch its cash.”

International News

Franco-German Central Bankers Call for the Creation of Eurozone Treasury (The Telegraph) When the existing mess can’t be cleaned up, just add another layer of centralized control, right? Here’s the argument: Excerpt: “While monetary policy has delivered a lot of support for the euro-area economy, it cannot bring about long-lasting economic growth…. More integration appears to be the most straightforward solution….” Read on. This article is rich with insight into the present, and the future.

Deutsche Bank Shares Drop Again as European Banks Get Pummeled (Wall Street Journal) Excerpt: “The pressure that prompted the bank to reiterate its liquidity position reflected how nervous investors have become.”

Global Bond Rally Near “Panic” Level with Japan Yield Below Zero (Bloomberg Business) Excerpt: “The flight to quality gained momentum Monday because of speculation Deutsche Bank AG would have trouble paying its debts…. “That really spooked the market,” Gorman said. “People immediately thought there’s a problem where banks can’t pay and they can’t fund themselves to pay. It does feel like we’re reaching a point where the market is panicked.”

China’s Foreign-Currency Reserves Drop $99.47B (Market Watch) Excerpt: “The foreign-exchange reserves fell by $99.469 billion from the previous month to $3.231 trillion, with capital continuing to leave the shores of the world’s second largest economy….”

Argentina Offers $6.5B Cash Deal to End Debt Battle (Reuters) There’s a catch. Excerpt: “The payment will be financed through new sovereign debt issuances.”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

12 Months of Prepping – The First Year (Backdoor Survival) Here’s a great way to organize household efforts to live prepared. The calendar outline is manageable and incremental. It’s truly a starter list based on a relatively short time line for needs and provisions, but it’s an excellent way to begin and to build momentum toward longer term emergency preparedness and self-sufficiency. If you’re just getting started, this is a helpful resource tool… Now. Go get to it!

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