Economics and Investing:

Deutsche Bank Unveils The Next Step: “QE Has Run Its Course, It’s Time To Tax Wealth” – G.G.

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The Two Income Trap has only gotten worse: America has become a dual-income nation since one income isn’t enough to maintain a household. – D.B.

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Are Members of Congress Becoming Telemarketers? (60 Minutes/CBS) Excerpt: “And your job, new member of Congress, is to raise $18,000 a day. Your first responsibility is to make sure you hit $18,000 a day.

Crony Capitalism and the Rigged System: 0.01% of Households Gave 33% of Money Raised by Political Parties and Congressmen. (My Budget 360) Excerpt: “The system is rigged. Like a carnival game, the odds are against you. This isn’t something that started this year or last, but has been going on for many decades. As long as the media was controlled in a few hands the propaganda kept most of the public in the dark.”

Federal Inspectors General Under Threat (Government Waste Fraud and Abuse) Excerpt: “Denial of documents or stonewalling of investigations impedes the OIGs work and puts taxpayer’s interests, as well as their money, at risk. It was therefore a step in the wrong direction when departments and agencies under the Obama administration grew more and more obstructive beginning in 2010.”

A New Report Signals Disaster for American Shopping Malls (Business Insider) Excerpt: “Department stores need to close as many as 800 more locations — or one-fifth of all anchor space in US malls — to return to the levels of productivity they saw 10 years ago….”

International News

Saudi Prince Unveils Sweeping Plans to End “Addiction” to Oil (Reuters) Excerpt: “The powerful young prince overseeing Saudi Arabia’s economy unveiled ambitiious plans on Monday aimed at ending the kingdom’s “addiction” to oil and transforming it into a global investment power.”

A Millenial Has Taken Over Saudi Arabia’s Oil Policy and People Have Serious Concerns (Business Insider) Excerpt: “Paul Sankey, a senior analyst at Wolfe Research, told the Financial Times in April that because of Prince Mohammed’s young age — Sankey specifically calls him a “millennial” — he is pushing “the ‘old guard’ Saudi traditions” aside, “notably of behind-closed-doors consensus decision-making.”

BHS Collapse: 11,000 Workers’ Jobs at Stake as Retailer Goes Into Administration (The Telegraph) Excerpt: “BHS’s pension scheme, which has over 20,000 members and a significant deficit that could cost £571m to address, has been under assessment by the Pension Protection Fund lifeboat since last month….”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

21 Money-Saving Tricks That Every Homeowner Needs to Know (Bob Vila) Excerpt: “Putting a dent in your home improvement to-do list can often put an even bigger dent in your wallet. But these 21 humble DIY projects reduce, reuse, and reimagine what’s already under your roof to yield big results – and even bigger savings.”

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