Economics and Investing:

SILVER vs. GOLD: 2 Must See Charts

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23 Percent Of Americans In Their Prime Working Years Are Unemployed – Sent in by B.B.

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Junk Territory: US Corporate Debt Ratings Near 15 Year Low (CNN Money) Excerpt: “In the past four years, S&P has assigned a single-B rating to 75% of companies accessing the debt markets for the first time. That rating is just one notch up from triple-C, a rating given to companies with a high probability of default.”

School of Debt: How to Bankrupt Public Education, Chicago-Style (Bloomberg) Excerpt: “Today the Chicago public schools are in such dire straits that officials from the Illinois governor down wonder aloud about its solvency.”

Chicago’s $63 Billion Debt Burden (Illinois Policy) Excerpt: “All that debt has led Moody’s Investors Service to downgrade Chicago’s debt to just three notches above junk status. Chicago’s bonds are now rated the lowest of the nation’s biggest cities, other than Detroit.”

Lankford Targets Trump’s Historic Hotel (Government Waste Fraud and Abuse) Excerpt: “Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) targeted GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s historic hotel project in Washington, D.C. as an example of wasted tax-dollars, arguing that taxpayers will help foot the bill with $40 million in credits through the National Historic Tax Credit.”

“Deeply Troubled” DHS System Blows Millions, Feds Want Extra $1 Bil (Judicial Watch) Excerpt: “Years after the U.S. launched an automated Homeland Security system essential to keeping the nation safe, it’s a malfunctioning flop that’s so far swallowed a mind-boggling $1.7 billion and needs an additional billion and several more years to perhaps get it to work. That’s not even the best part.”

International News

China Owns the Canadian Real Estate Market: Chinese Account for One-Third of All Vancouver Home Sales Volume in 2015 (My Budget 360) Excerpt: “The Canadian housing market makes the U.S. housing bubble seem like a tiny pricing discrepancy.”

The Dollar Has Been Shanghaied (Daily Reckoning) Excerpt: “Having multiple central banks manipulate expectations and coordinate policy behind the scenes is complex. These efforts are doomed to fail because of unintended consequences and exogenous shocks. But that won’t stop the big brains from trying.”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

Hackers Posing as Company CEOs Trick Workers Into Handing Over Information (Clark Howard) Excerpt: “Just in the last six months, $800 million has been lost….”

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