Economics and Investing:

GG sent us this: Is inflation our next big worry?

Don’t let the rally fool you: Insiders Exit Shares at the Fastest Pace in Two Years (Thanks to Karen H. for the link.) Here is a quote: “If insiders are selling into the rally, that shows they don’t expect their business to be able to support current stock- price levels,” said Joseph Keating, the chief investment officer of Raleigh, North Carolina-based RBC Bank, the unit of Royal Bank of Canada that oversees $33 billion in client assets. “They’re taking advantage of this bounce and selling into it.”

Also from Karen: California, Vegas Home Prices Drop on Foreclosures “In California and the West and, really, a lot of the country, we have to be ready for more waves of foreclosures coming through for at least the next year,” Andrew LePage, an analyst with MDA DataQuick, said in an interview. “And no one really knows how big those waves are going to be.”

GG recommended this NPR report: Money Goes Haywire. “We continue our series on the nature of money, with economics professor Steve Hanke. The Johns Hopkins fellow studies what happens when money goes bizarre, as it has with hyperinflation in Zimbabwe.”The discussion on inflation starts at [minute mark] 4:45. (GG notes: “This was recorded before the Fed announced it would directly purchase Treasury bonds and toxic assets. Hanke specifically warns against monetizing the debt.”)

Items from The Economatrix:

FedEx is Fuming

California to Shed 1 Million Jobs During “Recession”

California to Issue IOU’s Starting July 2nd


Bernanke Says He Didn’t Bully BofA Into Buying Merrill Lynch

Jobless Claims Rise, GDP Dips at Lower Pace in 1Q

China Should Buy Gold to Hedge Dollar Fall

John Galt in Florida: Bernanke Remains In The Box, America Continues To Crash “The problem is the agency debt is just being recycled so Fannie and Freddie can buy the Chinese holdings back at a profit to them and to insure they will not nuke our dollar. The reason monetary velocity is in the toilet is that the funds allocated to purchase so-called toxic assets are being used to repurchase the bad MBS from certain foreign owners to prevent a run on the dollar at this time. Thus the reason the Federal Reserve could care less about the population as long as the fiscal appropriations provide a minimal safety net to prevent civil unrest. The fallacy of this statement is that by failing to inflate and commit to it now with any voracity, the danger of any unforeseen event will force another panic response in the near future which destabilizes the economy or the nation further and creates the fuse for hyperinflation immediately removing all controls from the Fed’s hands.”

$100,000 A Year Will Make You Go Broke on the California Tax System

Even Cops Losing Their Jobs in the Recession

Dr. Art Robinson: Bricks Without Straw