Economics and Finance News

Authoritarian Madness: The Slippery Slope From Lockdowns To Concentration Camps Authored by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute, “All the Dachaus must remain standing. The Dachaus, the Belsens, the Buchenwald, the Auschwitzes—all of them. They must remain standing because they are a monument to a moment in time when some men decided to turn the […]

Visualizing The Russia-Ukraine Military Imbalance The fact that Russia has a larger military than Ukraine will hardly come as a surprise to most, but the extent to which the smaller nation is outnumbered in virtually every area may not be immediately clear. GlobalFirepower has assessed the military forces of both countries for 2022, and as Statista's Martin Armstrong shows in the […]

Xi Jinping Seeking "Global Domination": Mike Pompeo Authored by Nathan Worcester via The Epoch Times, Mike Pompeo said Chinese leader Xi Jinping wants “global domination—hegemony for the Chinese Communist Party,” warning that the rise of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could destroy the rules-based international order in place since the end of World War II. “It’s not […]

Watch: Sikorsky-Boeing Conduct First Army Air Assault Mission With Very Unusual Helicopter The Lockheed Martin Sikorsky-Boeing team completed mission profile flight tests for the Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition.  The flights were conducted with the Defiant X, a co-axial helicopter that derives most of its forward thrust from a tail-mounted […]

US Warns Against Travel To UAE After Drone Attacks From Yemen Authored by Jason Ditz via AntiWar.com, Missile and drone attacks on the UAE have killed three people in the past two weeks. Much more importantly, they changed the way people view the UAE, long a safe, stable country in the Middle East. Adding to that concern, the US State Department has issued a warning against travel […]

China Jails 50 Steel Mill Executives As Environmental Crackdown Intensifies The CCP has just fired off a warning shot to anybody who even thinks about trying to undermine its "climate" agenda, while simultaneously putting on a show to the international community to try and convince them that it is serious about curbing emissions. According to Bloomberg, 47 steel company officials […]

Shellenberger: Why San Francisco Is Denying Reality Authored by Michael Shellenberger via Substack, The San Francisco Chronicle has acknowledged that the city is operating a supervised drug site, but the city continues to deny it. Why? The San Francisco Chronicle today published an article confirming that San Francisco city government is operating a supervised drug use and […]

China Rips Off US Military With New "Mechanical Yak" Robot In what appears to be a direct ripoff of the US Army's quadrupedal robot, China showed off its new "mechanical yak," designed to go places deemed too risky for humans.  Footage published on state-run media outlet People's Daily Online's YouTube page shows the quadrupedal robot performing maneuvers on all sorts of rugged […]

Biden Admin To Regulate Bitcoin 'As A Matter Of National Security'; Report Authored by 'NAMCIOS' via BitcoinMagazine.com, The White House wants to bring order to the ‘haphazard approach’ that is currently being employed by regulators to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. The White House wants to set out a cohesive set of policies to regulate Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as currently […]

Rare Breed Triggers Responds To Alleged Leaked ATF Memo To Seize FRT-15s From Dealers Lawrence Demonico, the president of Rare Breed Triggers, has just released a YouTube video responding to the alleged leaked ATF memo circulating the internet in the last 24 hours.  "We have all seen the ATF letter that is spreading like wildfire across the internet, regarding the ATF plans […]

Florida Trucker In Canada Convoy: "We're Here To Join A Movement" By Nate Tabak of Freight Waves, Florida-based owner-operator DeAndre Mahadeo, like other truckers who rolled past throngs of supporters just outside Toronto, got a rousing send-off on Thursday as he prepared to head to the capital, Ottawa, in a protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates at the border. Hundreds of […]

George Soros Pledges 'Unprecedented' $125 Million To Help Democrats Win In November With President Biden's approval rating in the gutter and Democrats increasingly concerned about their chances of holding on to Congress (as evidenced by Justice Breyer's decision to retire), the Democratic Party is turning once again to one of its most reliable megadonors for a massive influx of […]

Censorship By Algorithm Does Far More Damage Than Conventional Censorship Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com, Journalist Jonathan Cook has a new blog post out on his experience with being throttled into invisibility by Silicon Valley algorithmic suppression that will ring all too familiar for any online content creators who’ve been sufficiently critical of official […]

With the first Federal Reserve rate hike widely anticipated (all but confirmed) for the March 15-16 FOMC meeting, this means that every one of the bill tenors with the exception of the 4-week are now inside that window. The 8-week maturity moved into it last week, on January 20, so its equivalent yield is now [...]

US Asks Hungary To Host Troops Aimed At Russia, Despite Long Snubbing Orbán It's been revealed that the United States approached Hungary this week to ask the country to host a temporary troop deployment related to the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto "received an American request about temporary deployment of troops" - CNN reports.  Hungary's […]

Durham Court Filing Reveals DOJ Inspector General Horowitz Withheld Key Evidence From Special Counsel Authored by Jeff Carlson and Hans Mahncke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A new court filing by special counsel John Durham reveals that Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz concealed crucial information from Durham in connection with the ongoing […]

Russia-Ukraine War Would Be "Horrific", Civilians "Will Suffer Immensely": Pentagon In a Friday briefing on the Russia-Ukraine situation, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russia's military build-up near Ukraine' border is "larger in scale and scope than we have seen in recent memory" and that there's been nothing like it since the Cold war. Austin said of Putin that […]

Lax Prosecution Contributing To LA Cargo Theft Surge, Experts Say By Cara Ding of The Epoch Times, In recent weeks, national attention became focused on photos and videos showing Union Pacific rail tracks littered with discarded cartons and boxes following organized looting just east of downtown Los Angeles. Many of the packages that hadn’t been stolen or damaged would head […]

"Pulling The Plug": After Multiple Recalls, GM May Be On The Verge Of Ending Production Of Its Chevy Bolt After numerous recalls and the ensuing bad press that comes with them, it looks like General Motors could be set to literally "pull the plug" on its Chevy Bolt EV.  "GM announced a $35 billion investment in EVs by 2025, including $4 billion to build electric versions of its […]

Technically speaking, the rebound from the 2020 recession wasn’t strictly a supply shock. That was a huge part of it, no doubt, but a near-concurrent demand shock, if you will, also materialized. The combination of the two left the public bewildered, believing it an actual inflationary impasse which could only be further passed on into [...]

War On Cash: The Digital Dollar Via SchiffGold.com, Last week, the Federal Reserve released a “discussion paper” examing the pros and cons of a potential US central bank digital dollar. According to the Federal Reserve press release, the central bank hopes to get public feedback on the idea. “We look forward to engaging with the public, elected representatives, and a broad […]

Pennsylvania Court Rules Mail-In Voting Unconstitutional A Pennsylvania court ruled on Friday that the state's two-year-old mail-in voting law is unconstitutional, siding with Republicans who challenged the law following the 2020 election. According to the ruling released today, Act 77, which allows PA residents to vote by mail, violates Article VII of the state constitution - and […]

IRS Seeing 'Mountains Of Fraud' In Cryptocurrencies, NFTs: Special Agent Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A special agent from the Internal Revenue Service has warned that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies are highly susceptible to fraud and manipulation as they grow in popularity. A woman looks at a NFT by Ryoji Ikeda titled "A […]

Public Health 'Experts' Have A New COVID Boogeyman Called "Stealth" Omicron Deaths involving patients infected with COVID have risen in the US recently, even as case numbers have continued to decline. But what's even more concerning is that a growing percentage of overall deaths are being attributed to 'breakthrough' infections involving vaxxed & booster patients). It's just the […]

Here in Part 2 of our interview with contrarian macro analyst David Hunter, David reveals the assets he thinks will perform best during the 40% meltup in the markets he sees ahead (all the way to 6,000 on the S&P 500).

Is Democracy Dying Or America Disintegrating? Authored by Pat Buchanan, “What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The revolution was in the minds of the people.” What did John Adams mean when he wrote this to Thomas Jefferson in 1815, after both had served as president? Adams was saying that […]

A Las Vegas, Nevada resident has sold his prized possession, a superb condition silver dollar made in 1794 that many rare coin experts believe is the first silver dollar ever struck by the United States Mint. It has been purchased for a record $12 million by GreatCollections Coin Auctions of Irvine

Swiss gold exports rose final 12 months to their highest since 2018 as demand for bullion in China and India, the largest client markets, recovered from a

Russia’s international reserves rose to almost $640 billion over the week, hitting a new all-time high

Fed signals plans to start raising rates in March — DiMartino Booth with Charles Payne of FBN Making Money.

S&P Suffers Worst Start To A Year Since 1939 As Yield Curve Yells 'Recession' Before we start, let's make this clear right from the start - despite today's panic-buying, this is the worst start to a year for the S&P 500 since 1939 (and on course for its worst January ever)... Nasdaq is down 5 straight weeks (16% from its highs) - the longest losing streak since 2012 - […]

They’re about to make things worse with tightening into weakness, with tapering and with rate increases. The market already sees this coming because they’ve seen the movie before. They know how it ends. And it ends poorly.

Inflation has eaten up every penny of income gains for the last year.

The Fed Put is very real, top Fed officials cave soon after tightening cycles fuel major stock selloffs. This next one won’t prove any different.

Chinese stocks extended their nearly $1.2 trillion rout this month even as mutual funds, state media and companies all intensified efforts to support the market.

Oaktree Threatens Rift With China After Seizing Evergrande's Prized "Versailles" Plot, Derailing Massive Restructuring Plan While the collapse and default of Evergrande was 2021's business, the subsequent restructuring - and its potentially absurd fallout - will be with us for a long time. Take the fluid restructuring plan of China's most indebted property developer: according to […]

Imbalances in the Chinese economy have worsened and delayed China’s transition to consumption-led growth, the International Monetary Fund said in an annual review on Friday, slashing its outlook for the country this year.

Meanwhile, they’ve unleashed a wave of price inflation that will soon surpass their late-1970s / early-1980s handiwork, as it rockets towards the 19.66 percent CPI that was hit in 1917.

Let’s look at the 10Y-2Y Treasury curve. It typically falls below 0 basis points before every recession. Except the mini-COVID recession of 2020. But notice that the Treasury curve did not recover from the COVID recession as it typically did. More along the lines of 1984-1985.

Nothing says "BTFD in stocks" like collapsing sentiment (UMich 10 year lows this morning) and crashing growth expectations and no lesser entity than The Atlanta Fed just released its latest GDPNOW forecast for Q1 economic growth in the US... and it's a doozy.

After the Consumer Price Index surged last year to its highest level since 1982, politicians are feeling pressure from constituents to do something about it.

Rising energy costs have helped create the rise in consumer prices and inflation. Not to mention chip shortages for car and trucks. The University of Michigan conditions for vehicles plummeted to 46 (100 baseline) as used vehicles prices sky rocket.

The equity, real estate and bond markets all rode the coattails of the Fed's ZIRP and easy-money liqudiity tsunami for the past 13 years. As those subside, what's left to drive assets higher?

The post-meeting statement from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) did not provide a specific time frame for increasing the overnight lending rate. However, there are many indications that such could happen as soon as the March meeting. As shown in the charts below courtesy of “The Daily Shot.”

Powell should pay attention here so he’s better prepared at the next press conference when asked about the impact of inflation on regular Americans.

But companies were finally able to rebuild some woefully low inventories.

This week, I had to opportunity to speak to one of my all time favorite podcasters, Tom Bodrovics from Palisades Gold Radio about my arguments from my latest article on inflation, called “Inflation Is The Kryptonite That Will End Our Decades-Long Monetary Policy Ponzi Scheme”.

The last thing a volatile stock market needs right now is more surprises from the dark corners of Wall Street. Unfortunately, we can guarantee you that more surprises are coming in the way of uncleared derivatives blowing up on the balance sheets of publicly-traded corporations.

It looks like two years of “transitory" preaching has un-anchored the religious belief that The Fed has everything under control. Get back to work Mr.Powell

Analysts expected a mixed picture from income and spending data in December (with spending expected to drop and incomes rise - an odd pairing during the Christmas month) and they were right with incomes rising 0.3% MoM (slightly less than expected) but spending tumbling 0.6% MoM (meeting expectations).

Employers spent 4% more on compensation last year, an increase not seen since 2001, as they competed for workers in a tight labor market.

The bottom line is that investors who are well positioned in hard assets shouldn’t fear the Fed. Those who cling exclusively to dollar-denominated financial assets, though, should be very afraid.

Global gold demand rose 10 per cent in 2021 to 4,021 tonnes, recouping much of the coronavirus-induced losses sustained in 2020. The growth was driven by a surge in jewelry purchases and central banks, which shored up their bullion reserves, according to the World Gold Council.

“Starting 2022, you will see demand setting up a new normal toward 800-850 tons,” compared with an average of 667 tons in the five years through 2020, said P.R.

Powell should pay attention here so he's better prepared at the next press conference when asked about the impact of inflation on regular Americans.

Bloomberg’s Craig Torres Shakes Up the Fed’s Zombie Press Conference with a Gutsy Trading Scandal Question By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: January 28, 2022 ~ Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conferences are tortiously zombie affairs even for Fed wonks like us. The vast majority of questions coming from the press strictly adhere to coloring inside the lines. That means only slight […]

Gold was set for its worst week since late November, with its price falling to a six-week low on Friday, as the dollar rallied on an expected U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike in March.

Inflation hasn't hurt Apple's business, which reported rising gross margins in the December quarter, and Apple hasn't raised prices in response to inflation in the U.S.

Strong demand and limited supply led to a historic jump in the value of the U.S. housing stock, which surged to $43.4 trillion last year.

Persistently high inflation will haunt the world economy this year, according to a Reuters poll of economists who trimmed their growth outlook on worries of slowing demand and the risk of interest rates rising faster.

Increasing correlations between crypto and stocks may create risks to the financial system, an official told Yahoo Finance.

The head of the IMF's market oversight team said Thursday he wouldn't be surprised by further selloff in the stock markets at some point this year.

The Bank of Japan should keep its inflation-targeting stimulus rolling and consider shortening the maturity of its yield target to make its easing framework more sustainable, the International Monetary Fund said Friday, in comments that contrast with global moves to tighten policy.

The European Central Bank is still more than one and a half years away from raising interest rates, according to economists polled by Bloomberg.

The euro-area economy kicked off 2022 on a weak footing, with pandemic restrictions taking a toll on confidence and growing fears that Germany may be on the brink of a recession for the second time since the crisis began.

...the senior Goldman banker complained that the Fed’s political “independence" has been hurt, which in turn has weakened its credibility with markets. For a preview of how this could play out in the long term, just take a look at how successful Turkey's central bank has been at enforcing price stability.

Some 2,000 foreign contractors and nonprofits in 177 countries received more than $6.4 billion in United States’ federal pandemic response assistance between the spring of 2020 and the fall of 2021, according to a report by the U.S. Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC).

Given yesterday’s Census Bureau data on retail and wholesale inventory, there was a solid though not necessarily good reason to suspect how today’s BEA report on US real GDP might surprise to the upside. The way GDP is tabulated, inventory contributes to the figured increase; the bigger the inventory build, the higher calculated output goes. [...]

Gold prices slid to more than a two-week low Thursday, as the dollar rallied after economic data strengthened the case for a March Fed rate hike.

China’s 2021 gold consumption rose by over a third from the previous year, as its economy rebounded from the coronavirus impact, the China Gold Association said on Thursday. Consumption in the world's largest gold consumer rose 36.53% year-on-year to 1,120.9 tonnes. It was also up 11.78% compared with consumption in 2019, before the pandemic.

But companies were finally able to rebuild some woefully low inventories.

Overall, the impression one gets from watching the Fed today is that it's most certainly not in control of the situation and is hoping to muddle through. It's still unclear which way the Fed will go, however. Will it choose inflation or recession? Either way, a lot of people are likely in a lot of trouble.

A general decline in prices is good news for wealth generators, since deflation means the economy is cleaning out its bubble-fueled, wealth-destroying activities.

The Federal Reserve is aware of the “bubble of everything” created in recent years and the elevated levels of debt throughout the economy. Unfortunately, the Fed has already left rates low, and asset purchases high, for too long to prevent an inevitable negative economic effect. Even worse, the solution will likely be to repeat the same policies that created the conditions for excess.

"The market has been wearing beer goggles for the longest possible time. Everything looks beautiful because money was free. They just assume the Fed is going to bail them out. The strike price on the Fed put has moved significantly," says Richard Fisher.

In early December when the markets were hitting new high, contrarian forecaster David Hunter predicted that the S&P would soon correct by 10%. And that’s exactly what has happened this month, with his downside target of 4300 getting hit in Monday’s washout.

The advance GDP estimate for the 4th quarter of 2021 looks robust but details reveal otherwise.

The bounce hit as I had expected, but I must be honest… things got pretty hairy there for a few hours on Monday. The issue now is where do we go from here? Stocks are still in deep trouble. First …

The central bank should have stopped its asset purchases immediately and given a clearer signal on rate increases. The Federal Reserve’s statement on Wednesday delivered what markets wanted and expected. In the process, however, the central bank has fallen further behind economic developments on the ground.

Commodity prices soared to an all-time high, underscoring the inflation concerns that prompted Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to open the door to faster rate hikes to cool the hottest price rises in almost 40 years.

Americans are predicting that inflationary pressures will continue to build up steam, while about half are claiming financial hardships because of the rise in prices, indicating a morose economic outlook at least for the next six months.

…. Inflation is the loss of the purchasing power of the dollar…. By December 2021, the purchasing power of $100 in January 2000 dwindled to $60.60:...

With rapt attention from all across the nation, the High Priest of Finance at the Federal Reserve took his position behind his presser pulpit. Biting his quivering lip again and again, he uttered his benediction over the US economy. He made sure to carefully speak the words I hear repeated across the nation like a mantra: “The Economy is Strong.”

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its 12-month outlook for gold to $2,150 an ounce from $2,000 following Powell’s comments on expectations for slower U.S. growth, a rebound in emerging markets excluding China and faster inflation.

The conclusion we must reach is that the level of consumer price inflation does not matter to relative corporate bond performance. It does, however, matter for nominal performance. More semantics, some may say. What really matters is how it affects one’s wallet.

For starters, the Fed is hiding behind Covid. It continues its amazingly asymmetric policy of being hyperactive after bubbles pop but being extremely accommodative until they do pop.

This may be a big problem for Powell as pending home sales are often looked to as a leading indicator of existing-home purchases given properties typically go under contract a month or two before they’re sold

A Government Study Shows that Wall Street Megabanks Have Dramatically Shifted their Derivative Exposure to Corporations By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: January 27, 2022 ~ The last thing a volatile stock market needs right now is more surprises from the dark corners of Wall Street. Unfortunately, we can guarantee you that more surprises are coming in the way of uncleared derivatives blowing up on […]

The Fed has just released its first public consultation paper on a dollar-based central bank digital currency. For many, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are a means of heading off private sector cryptos, but coincidentally the prices of bitcoin and others have collapsed, losing half their value since early November.The CBDC proposition is being sold to us by the central banks as keeping […]

And while the US economy closed on a high note, it's all downhill from here, with sellside expectations for Q1 2022 looking much more ominous, somewhere in the 2% range, a number which we expect will continue sliding over the next 2 months potentially turning negative some time around the March FOMC.

After jumping to the highest since October, initial jobless claims were expected to drop last week and did so, falling to 260k (from a revised higher 290k the previous week). Non-seasonally adjusted claims crashed back down as perhaps signs of Omicron anxiety are fading.

After an unexpected 2.6% MoM surge in November, preliminary December data for US Durable Goods Orders was expected to show a contraction of 0.6% MoM. Analysts got the direction right but the magnitude was far larger as orders tumbled 0.9% MoM...

How much further is the Federal Reserve willing to let stocks slide? That’s the burning question of the moment for financial markets, and Greg Jensen, co-chief investment officer at Bridgewater Associates, has an answer: as much as 20% more.

Bonds tumbled across the world on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s latest hawkish pivot, with yields from Wellington to London breaching multi-year highs.

Strategists at the world's top investment banks scrambled to change their Federal Reserve rate calls on Thursday after policymakers emphasised at a policy meeting that it would tighten policy to clamp down on inflation. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it was likely to hike interest rates in March and reaffirmed...

Governor Tiff Macklem was going to risk losing some credibility at this week’s Bank of Canada decision, whatever he did.

Australia's central bank will end to its bond-buying programme on Tuesday, but is expected to wait till this November before it responds to higher inflation with its first interest rate rise in over a decade, a Reuters poll showed. While Governor Philip Lowe was suggesting as recently as last month that a rate tightening...

Chile’s peso jumped on Thursday after the central bank unexpectedly delivered its biggest interest rate hike since 2001 and signaled borrowing costs will continue to rise higher than many investors had expected.

Annual inflation surged to 5.9% in the final three months of 2021 from 4.9% in the prior period, Statistics New Zealand said Thursday in Wellington. That was the fastest pace since 1990, shortly after the Reserve Bank began targeting inflation to try to contain an outbreak from the previous decade.

Rising inflation in the United States and around the world is forcing investors to assess the likely effects on both “risky” assets (generally stocks) and “safe” assets (such as US Treasury bonds).

If wage increases accelerate, central banks will be obliged to respond firmly or lose even more credibility, so interest rates will be rising as economies are still struggling to emerge from the pandemic. It is fortunate that Powell has recently been reappointed, as he may not win any popularity contests in 2022.

The Federal Reserve, which is poised to begin hiking interest rates as early as its next meeting, is stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. In fact, one could argue that the central bank has at least a few different hard places to avoid crashing into — but two in particular stand out.

Cross-posted from The Saker, who writes: Intro: I need to begin with a MAJOR caveat and tell you how/why this “interview” happened. I did not plan to interview Michael Hudson. I was listening to a well known Russian economist, Mikhail Khazin, and I was fascinated by what he was saying. I also understood only some Continue Reading The post The Seven Trumpets? first appeared on Michael Hudson.

The balance sheet is “substantially larger than it needs to be,” and “there is a substantial amount of shrinkage to be done.” We'll put some numbers to it.

It’s not hard to reason why there continues to be this conflict of interest (rates). On the one hand, impacting the short end of the yield curve, the unemployment rate has taken a tight grip on the FOMC’s limited imagination. The rate hikes are coming and the markets like all mainstream commentary agree that as [...]

Watch to a high level discussion with the IMF’s FAD group on our paper Post-Corona Balanced-Budget Super-Stimulus: The Case for Shifting Taxes onto Land with Michal Kumhof, Nicolaus Tideman, Charles Goodall and myself. Enjoy this rich policy detail. Photo by Yunus Tuğ from Pexels The post IMF and our Paper on Post-Corona Budgets first appeared on Michael Hudson.

The first time I can consciously remember using the term landmine was probably here in February 2019. I had described the same process play out several times before, I had just never applied that term. There was all sorts of market chaos in the final two months of 2018, including a full-on stock market correction, [...]

The rise of the unfinished houses. Massive supply building up in the pipeline.

Goldman Sachs believes that the stage is set for gold to enjoy a big rebound as investors are poised to pile into the inflation-hedging safe haven this year.

Inflation has hit America hard and the economy seems to be reeling. So what’s to happen? Goldman Sachs has a prediction.

All the Fed pledges to do is monitor the situation while hiding behind Covid-19 concerns.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was ready to raise interest rates in March and didn’t rule out moving at every meeting to tackle the highest inflation in a generation.

Oil prices are at their highest level in more than seven years, adding to inflationary pressures seen across the economy.

The Federal Reserve is set to conclude its January policy meeting Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday indicated it could soon will raise interest rates for the first time in more than three years.

The linchpin that allows the world’s nefarious central banking model to be so effective is that the commonfolk - the plumber, the electrician, the teacher, the bartender, bus driver or barber - don’t understand it.

The problem: The US is the most hyperfinancialized economy in the world, any hit to financial assets will instantly smother the economy.

Yet on top of this mess, the Federal Reserve has been supercharging inflation by shoveling money into the US economy by the trillion.

David Einhorn warns that the Federal Reserve is playing with fire and is fueling inflation. Greenlight Capital commentary for the forth quarter ended December 31, 2021.

Standing in front of a local coin shop, I asked people if they'll trade my 1 oz Canadian maple leaf gold coin for random things they're carrying, including a soda and some ice cream

The “Goldilocks” period of the past 25 years is ending, and the world needs to prepare for a future of inflation, slower growth and labor shortages, the renowned value investor said in a Bloomberg “Front Row” interview.

The numbers: The U.S. trade deficit in goods topped $1 trillion in 2021 for the first time ever, as an economic recovery enabled Americans to snap up a record amount of imports such as toys, cell phones and appliances. For all of 2021, the trade gap in goods rose to $1.08 trillion from $893.5 billion in the prior year. The deficit in 2020 had also been a record high.

The United States of America had existed for 210 years — and 40 presidents had served as this nation's chief executive — before the debt first topped $2 trillion in 1986.

The number of traders who beat the indices soundly over both Bull and Bear markets are very few in number.

"Credit card debt is already very expensive and it will probably become even more costly in 2022," Rossman said.

US new home sales spiked in December by 11.9% from November, but were down 14% year-over-year.

Liquidity has dried up and the most speculative issues have taken the biggest hit. Cathie Wood's ARK ETF is an excellent example.

There is no safety, as in times past when the Fed was draining money out of the economy and could just flip back to pumping money in, because the Fed is running the outflow pump fast and furious, and the Fed has no option for reversing the pump or even just stopping it this time around.

We now have the highest rates of inflation in forty years - but this inflation is much more painful than it was forty years ago.

CNBC had an interesting Homer Simpson-moment when the Jubilee Debt Campaign suddenly realized that there was enormous debt outstanding, fueled by Central Banks and governments. They are only now realizing that Central Bank zero-interest rate policies leading to massive debt issuance may be a problem??

Raging mania in Phoenix, stalling prices in Boston & Washington DC, dropping condo prices in San Francisco.

Spot gold may rise into a range of $1,860 to $1,872/oz - technicals. Gold prices were steady on Wednesday as investors refrained from making big bets ahead of a decision on the pace of policy tightening by the U.S. central bank, while tensions surrounding Ukraine kept bullion near the previous session’s 10-week high.

Russia and China are also seeking to counter Western pressure over Iran, with the three countries wrapping up a joint military drill in the Gulf of Oman last week.

Russia warned Wednesday it would quickly take “retaliatory measures” if the U.S. and its allies reject its security demands and continue their “aggressive” policies, ratcheting up pressure on the West amid concerns that Moscow is planning to invade Ukraine.

A Fake Twitter Account Was Set Up in Our Name; Here’s What Happened Next By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: January 26, 2022 ~ Wall Street On Parade has the following business model: we focus our attention on research and bringing important facts and news about Wall Street and its perpetual sugar daddy, the Fed, to our readers. If our readers feel these articles deserve a wider circulation, we […]

The U.S. has sent a clear message that Russia, its key personnel and economic sectors as well as its leader Vladimir Putin, could face crippling sanctions.

As mortgage rates continue to rise, demand for refinances is plunging and homebuyers are struggling.

"There are large risks associated with the use of bitcoin on financial stability, financial integrity, and consumer protection," says the International Monetary Fund.

The Great Crypto Crash of 2022 dragged Bitcoin below $34,000, and it could get worse.

Oil has easily, it appears, rebounded after having moved lower in November. It bottomed out that first big day of omicron fear on December 1 (ironically, or not, the same day the eurodollar futures curve inverted). Since a low of just over $65 (WTI), crude’s front futures price is easily back in the $80s thereby [...]

When growth stops being growth, or the same growth, what do you do? The Keynesian textbooks all say “stimulus”, but what happens if the stimulus doesn’t stimulate? Worse, when it doesn’t stimulate because it can’t due to other pre-existing and intractable impediments.This is Xi Jinping’s dilemma and it only begins with the textbook’s missing chapters [...]

Raging mania in Phoenix, stalling prices in Boston & Washington DC, dropping condo prices in San Francisco.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Longtime readers/followers/enthusiasts will be forgiven for immediately thinking I’m quoting myself again, as I so often do: Following its emergence, the eurodollar market played a big role in the Bretton Woods system and also its breakdown and eventual demise in the early 1970s. The primary reason I refer [...]

The term “geopolitics” has a specific meaning, though in the context of assessing markets and their equally ubiquitous though purposefully non-specific “jitters”, it’s basically a catch-all, too. Should the stock market, in particular, take a bad step, reflexive commentary is quick to call up geopolitics. Such was absolutely the case late in January 2018 into [...]

Even a dead-cat bounce that makes your ears ring would do.

There’s an old axiom that says nothing in life is certain except death and taxes. True enough. But there’s one other thing that’s certain; we’re all going to retire—sometime. The number one retirement question I’m asked is, “What is the perfect age to retire?” Close on its heels is, “When should I start taking Social [...]

Blockbusterization out of desperation.

How often do we get a Bear Market after a strong bull market plunges to the 200-day moving average?

The market finally gets it: The Fed is going to tighten to get a handle on its massive inflation problem.

New vehicle sales out-plunged production. Used vehicle supply already above normal amid weak sales.

In recent weeks inflation has become a major economic concern. Nearly all the commentary emanating from monetary policy makers, economists, and the media is misguided, believing inflation is rising prices and must be addressed accordingly.They are only the symptoms of inflation. The true cause is the expansion of currency and bank credit, which, reflected in the US dollar’s M2 money supply has […]

On Super Imperialism and acts of (financial) warfare. Photo by Umanoide on Unsplash The post Wrestling with Jesse Ventura first appeared on Michael Hudson.

This article looks at the situation in the euro system in the context of rising interest rates. Central to the problem is role of the ECB, which through monetary inflation embarked on a policy of transferring wealth from fiscally responsible member states to the spendthrift PIGS and France. The consequences of these policies are that the spendthrifts are now ensnared in irreversible debt […]

Economist Michael Hudson explains inflation crisis and Fed’s secretive $4.5 trillion bank bailout. Economist Michael Hudson discusses the global inflation crisis and how the US Federal Reserve quietly (and apparently illegally) bailed out big banks in 2019 with $4.5 trillion of emergency repo loans. TRANSCRIPT BENJAMIN NORTON: Hey, everyone. This is Ben Norton, and I’m Continue Reading The […]

We’re told that debt forgiveness is impossible, because all debts must be paid, and to do the opposite is to invite anarchy and chaos. But what if none of it was true? Renowned economist Michael Hudson tells Branko Marcetic on New Zealand’s 1/200 podcast about the debt jubilees of the ancient world, how Jesus preached Continue Reading The post On Debt Parasites first appeared on Michael […]

To view this content, you must be a member of Karl's Patreon - Click "Read more" to unlock this content at the source The post WAPE 2021 Outline first appeared on Michael Hudson.

The establishment, including the state, central banks and most investors are thoroughly Keynesian, the latter category having profited greatly in recent decades from their slavish following of the common meme.That is about to change. The world of continual Keynesian stimulus is coming to its inevitable end with prices rising beyond the authorities’ control. Being blinded by neo-Keynesian […]

Following the Lehman crisis, it became fashionable to cite the Triffin dilemma as justification for inflationary US policies and why they would not undermine the US dollar in the foreign exchanges.But far from being simply a justification for continual dollar trade deficits, Triffin correctly described a situation which was bound to lead to problems for a reserve currency. This article describes […]

It has been a disappointing year for profit-seeking precious metal investors, but for those few of us looking to accumulate gold and silver as the ultimate insurance against runaway inflation it has been an unexpected bonus.After reviewing the current year to gain a perspective for 2022, this article summarises the outlook for the dollar, the euro, and their financial systems. The key issue is […]

Leading central banks like to think that through careful interest rate management, they have tamed the economic cycles which lead to regular economic downturns. Instead, they have only managed to bury the evidence.To appreciate the extent of their delusion one must understand the source of economic instability. In modern times it has always been driven by a cycle of bank credit. In this article […]

Part 2 to our Max Keiser interview. Photo by Gije Cho from Pexels The post The Danger of Foreign Denominated Debt first appeared on Michael Hudson.

The interview starts at 14 mins. Part 2 to follow. Photo by David McBee from Pexels The post On Bitcoin, With Max first appeared on Michael Hudson.

That the world is on the edge of a monetary and economic cliff is becoming increasingly obvious. And becoming more obviously permanent than transient, price inflation will almost certainly lead to rising interest rates. Rising bond yields, falling equity markets and debt-triggered insolvencies will naturally follow. According to the economists prevalent in official circles, a prospective mix of […]

An interview with one of Australia’s most respected economists, Alan Kohler. Why are Australia’s house prices almost double the US’s? With detail on geo-political issues re Belt n Road. Photo by Charles Parker from Pexels The post The Greatest Rip-Off first appeared on Michael Hudson.

Money and Liberty — In the Pursuit of Happiness & The Theory of Natural Money — by James Turk, Published by Wood Lane Books ISBN (paperback $19.99): 978-1-7398511-1-8 Available as a Kindle book from Amazon ($9.99).This book is timely — in time for Christmas, yes. But timely for a more important reason. It comes at a time when central banks are accelerating their money-printing to […]

Last week’s Goldmoney article explained the Fed’s increasing commitment to dollar hyperinflation. This week’s article examines the additional issues facing the euro and the Eurozone.More nakedly than is evidenced by other major central banks, the ECB through its system of satellite national central banks is now almost solely committed to financing national government debts and smothering […]

Thanks to all our Patreon supporters, we are now up to …. 67 patrons! Please support my work. This is an important interview. Michael Hudson Interviewed on Kevin Barrett’s Truth Jihad Radio, 11/15/21 Kevin Barrett: Welcome to Truth Jihad Radio, the radio show that wages the all-out struggle for truth by uncovering all sorts of Continue Reading The post Falling into Line: Turning Endless […]

On a tangent here with George Galloway. Starts from 14.30. Please support my new Patreon page. It’s as good as selling books! Leon Trotsky: “Our planet is being turned into a filthy and evil-smelling imperialist barrack.” Leon Trotsky was a very famous Russian indeed. A key figure in the Bolshevik Revolution, in the foundation of Continue Reading The post On Trotsky, on Imperialism first […]

I was glad to see Ayanna Pressley make clear over the weekend what a travesty has occurred, explaining that she had to oppose the infrastructure bill because House leaders did not honor the agreement that they had made: “We have been clear from the onset that any vote on the narrow roads and bridges bill Continue Reading The post Did the Squad give away their Bargaining Power? first appeared […]

  Is This the End of the Unreformable Democratic Party? Please support my new Patreon page. I now have 46 patrons. Thank you! History has been rewritten almost daily this week, almost immediately as it occurs. A Wall Street Journal editorial on November 4 spun its view of what is at issue for the Democratic Continue Reading The post The Unreformable Democratic Party? first appeared on Michael […]

An interview on The Zero Hour to discuss the newly-released third edition of the 1971 book, Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire. ESKOW: … The premise of your book, which has just been reissued, is something that I think a lot of people nebulously grasp parts of but don’t have a firm fix on. Continue Reading The post The Neoliberal Exploitation Under a […]

To view this content, you must be a member of Karl's Patreon - Click "Read more" to unlock this content at the source The post Post Corona Super Stimulus first appeared on Michael Hudson.

TRANSCRIPT Paul Jay Hi, I’m Paul Jay. Welcome to theAnalysis.news. Please don’t forget there’s a donate button on the top of our webpage. So if you’re watching on YouTube, you could maybe come on over to theAnalysis.news and hit donate. I think there’s a link on YouTube there too. And if you’re on YouTube, you Continue Reading The post The Tight Fist of Special Interests first […]

Economist Michael Hudson discusses the update of his book “Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire” and the financial motivations behind the US new cold war on China and Russia. Hudson has published a new, third edition of his book Super Imperialism that updates his analysis for the 21st century, discussing the new cold Continue Reading The post We Make the Rules first […]

The updated and expanded 3rd edition of Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire is now available. This highly respected study of U.S. financial diplomacy explores the faults built into the core of the World Bank and the IMF at their inception. Forensic detail reveals how the world’s core economic functions were sculpted to Continue Reading The post 3rd Edition: […]

If you like the depth of this discussion, please support my new Patreon page! This debate between Michael Hudson and Thomas Piketty was held on September 23, 2021. The debate was monitored by Lynn Parramore, and introduced by David Graeber’s widow, Nika. This debate between Michael Hudson and Thomas Piketty on September 23, 2021, is Continue Reading The post Piketty vs Hudson first appeared on […]

Cross-posted from Renegade Inc Ross: Welcome to Renegade Inc. With China’s increasing wealth, Western investors want some of the action. One of those investors is a bullish gentleman called George Soros. However, the Chinese are acutely aware that with Western investment comes inequality. So as Beijing begins to rethink how to do proper economic growth, Continue Reading The post The Affront of […]