Economic and Finance News

Rare Breed Triggers Accused Of Creating "Machine Gun" Loses First Court Battle With ATF Florida company Rare Breed Trigger, LLC manufactures a drop-in trigger that makes an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle cycle rounds faster lost its first court battle with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), according to Orlando-based news outlet WFTV. This means the company […]

What’s left of the debt-fueled property speculation that drove growth is a huge explosive mess and an enormous amount of debt.

China Q3 GDP Growth Disappoints, Inflation Expected To Stay "High For Some Time" Facing a “complex and severe domestic and overseas environment", China’s stats bureau spokesperson Fu Linghui admitted that economic indicators all weakened in Q3/September. China 3Q GDP Grows 4.9% Y/Y; Est. 5% - MISS China Sept. Industrial Output Rises 3.1% Y/Y; Est. 3.8% - MISS China […]

Weiss: We Got Here Because Of Cowardice, We Get Out With Courage Authored by Bari Weiss via Commentary.org, A lot of people want to convince you that you need a Ph.D. or a law degree or dozens of hours of free time to read dense texts about critical theory to understand the woke movement and its worldview. You do not. You simply need to believe your own eyes and ears.  Let me […]

Washington State Trooper Gives 'Final Sign Off' After Refusing To Take Vaccine; Tells Governor To Kiss His A** A Washington state trooper released a video of his 'final sign off' after more than 22 years on the Yakima County force, after he was forced out of his job for refusing to take the Covid-19 vaccine by Oct. 18. "This is my final sign-off after 22 years serving the citizens […]

Greenwald: Civil Liberties Are Being Trampled By Exploiting "Insurrection" Fears Authored by Glenn Greenwald via greenwald.substack.com, When a population is placed in a state of sufficiently grave fear and anger regarding a perceived threat, concerns about the constitutionality, legality and morality of measures adopted in the name of punishing the enemy typically disappear. The […]

'Coffee Cup Gestapo': The Latest Covid Crackdown Viral Video Out Of Australia Examples of Covid policy crackdowns out of Australia have only grown more and more absurd as viral videos continue to hit the web on a weekly basis showing the insane and Orwellian lengths police and government authorities are willing to go supposedly in the name of keeping people "safe". The latest […]

Jussie Smollett Forced To Face Trial After Judge Denies Dismissal Request Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times, Jussie Smollett’s criminal trial will move forward after a judge on Friday struck down the actor’s effort to dismiss the criminal case. Smollett in early 2019 made headlines after he told police officers that he was attacked by two white men who shouted […]

Malone, Kirsch, & Wuhan Whistleblower Hit Maui To Promote Rational Debate On All Things Covid As protests against Covid-19 mandates rage in major cities around the world, a group of US-based truth seekers took to Maui over the weekend to headline the 'Free Maui Unity March & Rally' - where they promoted the free exchange of information abuot the virus, untainted by government […]

Why Goldman Expects A Huge Market Melt-up In The Coming Weeks Below we excerpt from the latest Goldman"Tactical Flow-of-funds: October 2H" report by flow trader Scott Rubner who writes that he is "on FOMO Watch" and lays out the argument for a major market breakout in the coming weeks. October 1H (S&P is +3.03% MTD ) = “We made it through the October __________ scare.” Word […]

40% Of California State Workers Are Unvaccinated Despite Newsom's Order  This might come as a surprise, but 40% of California state employees are unvaccinated despite Gov. Gavin Newsom's directive to mandate the jab or be subjected to regular testing.  Newsom issued this new directive in July following a surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. At the time, he […]

Dozens Of Climate Activists Arrested After Storming Interior Department, Police Sustain "Multiple Injuries" By Tammy Hung of Epoch Times, A group of activists protesting against fossil fuels were arrested after staging a sit-in at the Interior Department in Washington on Oct. 15. Climate activists during a protest on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 15, 2021 The protesters […]

Joe Manchin Slams 'Out-Of-State Socialist' Bernie Sanders Over VA Op-Ed Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) says he 'won't take orders from a socialist' after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wrote an op-ed in a West Virginia newspaper urging Manchin's constituents to support President Biden's infrastructure bill. "This isn't the first time an out-of-stater has tried to tell West Virginians what is […]

Pentagon Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over Vaccine Mandates On Military, Federal Employees And Contractors By Mimi Nguyen Ly of The Epoch Times, Service members from all five branches of the U.S. military, federal employees, and federal civilian contractors have joined in a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Defense over its COVID-19 vaccine mandates. A civilian contractor […]

Has The Housing Bubble Peaked: Zillow Pauses Robo-Flipping Due To "Snags" In recent weeks we had heard several anecdotal reports that Zillow's electronic house flipping service was underperforming, buying houses at overinflated prices and then flipping them for a loss (even when factoring in fees and commissions). Zillow is charging handsome service fees and commissions that are […]

Hedge Fund CIO: The Old And The Young Are Set For A "Terrifying, Agonizing" Battle By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management “Today’s announcement has the potential to be a game-changer,” said Biden, from the White House steps, directing attention to the Port of Los Angeles and its newly extended hours of operation. “Private sector companies need to step up as […]

Fauci Tees Up Unvaccinated Blame Campaign Over Potential 'Fifth Wave' Biden's chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Faucci, is setting the stage to blame the next uptick in Covid-19 cases on the unvaccinated. Fauci's 'science' - which does not include the vastly superior naturally-acquired immunity from previous Covid-19 infections, or the fact that the vaccine does not prevent […]

What's Next For Washington: $2.5 Trillion In Spending, Higher Taxes And More By Michael Zezas, Chief US Public Policy & Municipal Strategist at Morgan Stanley Full disclosure: This is NOT another tea leaf reading on exactly how and when Congress will manage to raise the debt ceiling, keep the government open, and pass a multitrillion-dollar package of spending offset by tax […]

China Condemns US & Canada For Joint Warship Sail Throughs Of Taiwan Strait The Pentagon revealed on Sunday that it sailed a US warship through the contested Taiwan Strait in conjunction with a Canadian frigate. The pair went through on Thursday and Friday at a moment tensions between China and Taiwan continue to intensify. The warships were identified in the US military […]

"Cash Is Not A Crime": The Raw Tyranny Of Civil Asset Forfeiture Authored by Brian McGlinchey via Stark Realities, On May 14, 2019, Ameal Woods drove from rural Mississippi to Houston with $42,300 in cash. He was ready to achieve a major goal he and his wife had worked, saved and borrowed for: Purchasing a second semi truck for the fledgling trucking business he operated with his […]

Starving Afghan Parents Forced To Sell Children To Survive   A humanitarian crisis is quickly unfolding in Afghanistan as the country fell under Taliban rule about one month ago. The conditions are so disturbing that Afghan parents are selling their children to survive, according to WSJ.  Saleha, a 40-year-old mother of six in western Afghanistan, makes 70 cents per day cleaning […]

McAdams: A Desperate Biden Administration Turns To Terrorism Authored by Daniel McAdams via The Ron Paul Institute, For Americans watching the shocking re-Nazification of Germany - where once again the ability to even buy food depends on a person's physiological/medical status - it may be tempting to downplay the re-emergence of a nasty German political virus and scoff that, "it […]

Alabama School District Says It Can't Feed Its Students Due To "Supply Chain Issues" With Food Vendors How bad are the shortages across the country getting? One Alabama school district is literally running out of food.  Alexander City Schools have started asking parents to feed their children breakfast at home or to send them to school with snacks because the district hasn't […]

Taibbi: Yes, Virginia, There Is A Deep State Authored by Matt Taibbi via TK News, On The Young Turks the other night, during a segment called — this is not a joke — “RebelHQ,” commentator Ben Carollo extolled the virtues of the CIA. In one section, he described how intelligence officials responded to “Donald Trump trying to plan some ridiculous scheme to maintain himself […]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities   Some see the cup as half empty. Some see the cup as half full. I see the cup as too large. George Carlin   The quote from Dickens above is one that just about everyone [...]

Israel Demanding Answers After Biden Quietly Removed Sanctions On Iranian Missile Companies Pro-Israeli lobbying and advocacy groups are seeking answers from the Biden administration over why it removed two Iranian firms believed linked to Iran's ballistic missile program from the US sanctions blacklist earlier this month.  The US Treasury Department had quietly and without […]

For The First Time Since The '70s, Demographics Support Higher Rates Authored by Bryce Coward via Knowledge Leaders Capital blog, New projections of the labor force growth rate by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics show the US labor force growth accelerating in the 2020s for the first time since the 1970s. How could this be? There are two reasons. More people are working past 65 […]

Although silver is widely known as a precious metal, its industrial uses accounted for more than 50% of silver demand in 2020.

Holiday selling season is going to be a mess: Look not for what you want but for what the store has.

No one knows total stock market leverage, but it’s huge and ballooning, as we see from the tidbits we’re allowed to see.

122.3 1970s stagflation? No! But NOT why you think...———Ep 122.3 Summary———"Despite some eerie echoes, the past is not the best guide to the present," writes The Economist. Jeff Snider agrees, but for entirely different reasons. Stagnation? Yes, definitely. But NOT inflation - despite the clear price increases! Wait, what?———Sponsor———Macropiece Theater with Alistair Cooke […]

A couple of Economists have caused some noise by reviewing consumer confidence estimates in the United States, associating big declines in them with imminent recession, and then pointing out such substantial drops in both of the major consumer sentiment surveys just recently. If valid, their correlations would seem to suggest a US contraction.We’re meant to [...]

They say that history rhymes. That civilizations and societies tend to follow cycles -- boom/bust, feast/famine, war/peace, cultural experimentation/a retrenchment to the “old ways”. Famed demographer Neil Howe, the author of the best-selling book The Fourth Turning, lays out his prediction that today’s society has entered the "bust" part of our current cycle.

OK, so we went through the ways and reasons consumer price increases are not inflation, cannot be inflation, are nowhere near actual inflation, and what all that really means. The rate they’ve gone up hasn’t been due to an overactive Federal Reserve, so it has to be something else. This is why, though the bulge [...]

Gold futures settled lower on Friday, pressured by strength in Treasury yields and U.S. benchmark stock indexes, but prices still saw a modest gain for the week, the strongest advance in six weeks.

Unbeknownst to the giddy participants, they're not just betting on the omnipotence of the Fed Politburo, they're also making a max-leverage bet that "the madness of crowds" will never end.

Millions of families should soon receive their fourth enhanced child tax credit payment, which the Internal Revenue Service distributed on Friday. More than $15 billion was sent to families of roughly 61 million children, the Treasury Department and IRS said.

The sweeping national mandate, covering 80 million workers, will almost certainly face challenges in court from some businesses and Republican organizations.

House Republicans plan to unveil a bill on Friday to block the Biden administration's deeply controversial proposal to give the Internal Revenue Service additional scrutiny over most Americans' bank accounts in order to crack down on wealthy tax cheats.

Commentary An energy crisis is rocking the world, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1970s. ...

If, as seems likely, the rate of change is hitting a peak, it might not be long before talk of price deflation returns.

The explanations for inflation are a combination of demand-side and supply-side factors. On the demand side, there’s the Fed’s continued monetary expansion. On the supply side, there’s lingering production bottlenecks from the pandemic. Both of these factors continue to push up prices, the argument goes.

A monstrously overstimulated economy that caused global supply chains and transportation systems to buckle.

Dollar Tree is raising prices above one dollar for the first time in its 35 year history. This change tells us something about the future of our economy.

The big question for the global economy: Will price rises feed further inflation cycles? More than a dozen central banks have raised interest rates but two that haven’t are those that loom largest over the global economy: the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

The University of Michigan's gauge of consumer sentiment fell to a preliminary October reading of 71.4 from a final September reading of 72.8. Economists...

Social media users have begun posting pictures of empty shelves, blaming the problem on Joe Biden's mismanagement as shortages begin to be felt.

The use case suggests a feature in which the employee would opt in to sharing that data with his supervisor. The document does not go into specifics on what data would automatically be shared with or analyzed by the agency and what would require specific consent from employees.

More than a dozen prominent cybersecurity experts on Thursday criticized plans by Apple and the European Union to monitor people’s phones for illicit material, calling the efforts ineffective and dangerous strategies that would embolden government surveillance.

We should understand, though, that there are a ton of signs pointing to a very specific stage of the broader market cycle. That would be well past the “euphoria” stage, into the “anxiety” stage, headed for the “denial” and “fear” stages which mark the official onset of a bear market.

Economic policymakers have said inflation will prove temporary, but rising rents may challenge that view and pressure Washington to react.

Dems Want to Soak the Rich by Snooping on the Poor

"The dubious constitutionality of the Federal Reserve System set up in 1912 might have been overlooked if it had provided price stability, lower unemployment, or enhanced economic growth." ~ Robert F. Mulligan

Corelogic takes a look at understated rent and understated Owner's Equivalent Rent.

From 2020, much higher today! Money Supply Up Over $3 Trillion Since March

Gold prices fell on Friday as a rebound in U.S. bond yields and a surprise increase in September retail sales dented the metal’s appeal as a safe-haven asset.

Following September's modest rebound from Q2's plunge, early October data from UMich sentiment survey was expected to show the rebound continued, but it did not. Preliminary October sentiment slipped from 72.8 to 71.4 (well below the 73.1 expected). That is the second-lowest level since 2011, as Americans grew more concerned about both current...

Given the flip-flopping nature of the last 5 months, US retail sales are expected to decline modestly in September (and if BofA's excellent predictive track record continues, the drop in retail sales could be a lot worse). However, for once, BofA was way off as Retail Sales surged 0.7% MoM in September (far better than the -0.2% expected) and August's data was revised higher from +0.7% to +0.9% […]

But the people in power won’t even say as much, let alone do something about it.

Grant Thornton’s Diane Swonk said she doesn’t expect inflation in the U.S. to slow down significantly until 2023, showing the risks the Federal Reserve faces if it moves too slowly in removing the pandemic-era stimulus from the economy.

As governments around the world redesign the financial sector with new infrastructure and digital money, it is time to reconsider what matters. Moves by central banks to issue new digital currencies need to be scrutinized for how they affect people’s rights, such as privacy, choice, and access to the economy.

Any digital currency the Bank of Japan issues should have a simple design that private firms can use to develop financial and payment services for customers, a senior central bank official said on Friday.

There was some speculation today that the long-awaited SEC decision on a futures-based bitcoin ETF was imminent, which is what sparked the earlier surge in the crypto sector.

The Bank of England's deputy governor for financial stability, Jon Cunliffe, has warned that cryptocurrencies could spark a global financial crisis unless tough regulations are introduced.

And this is where we get to the punchline: as BofA admits, it’s all about greenlighting the biggest QE episode in history! It's really all about launching the biggest debt monetization - and wealth transfer - episode of all time.

The roadmap is part of the White House’s longer-term agenda to slash domestic greenhouse gas emissions nearly in half by 2030 and transition to a net-zero emissions economy by mid-century while mitigating the impact of climate change on the economy

The SEC Is Taking a Hard Look at Dark Markets, Except for the Darkest of All – Dark Pools By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: October 15, 2021 ~ On Tuesday, SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee delivered an exceptionally well-researched speech on the rising dangers to the broader U.S. economy from the burgeoning dark private markets for non-publicly traded stocks. She makes many important points. […]

122.2 Commodity Prices Are Telling Us This... ———Ep 122.2 Summary———We review palladium, copper and iron ore - all metals and minerals that peaked in value in May (lumber too). Some commodities continue to rise in value, specifically energy. How do we reconcile the deflationary/disinflationary former to the inflationary latter? Also, US auto sales. ———Sponsor———Macropiece […]

More inflation numbers around the world, more of the same. Producer prices, this time. Beginning in the US, the annual rates remain high and reached a little higher in September 2021. Commodities have been the highest of all, up 20.47% year-over-year for another greatest increase since the mid-seventies. The PPI for final demand goods was [...]

And my 2 cents about the high “failure rates” of new businesses, being a small-business owner myself.

The topics revolve around what is next for gold, what is the general sentiment and how to assess the current situation geopolitically, with a special focus on China..

“Gold and silver roared back alive this week and it is showing how oversold and appealing it is to buyers on pullbacks, with growing inflation concerns globally and deep negative real yields,” Peter Spina, president and chief executive officer at GoldSeek.com, told MarketWatch.

Russia has reached a historic record in international reserves, ranking fifth in the world after China, Japan, Switzerland and India, the Accounts Chamber said after an audit of the country’s gold and foreign exchange holdings.

It would only take a small number of brokers deciding to leave the Ring to consign it to the history books. The LME has said that if several of the biggest Ring dealers quit, or if the total number of Ring dealers drops below six, it would automatically shift official prices to be set electronically – likely leading to the permanent closure of the floor.

Health care employment is down 3.2% since February of 2020. It's not the overall percentage that's the problem but the distribution.

There were 2.7 million people long-term unemployed in September. These people, who’ve been out of work at least six months, account for 34.5% of all unemployed Americans.

A new survey shows retirement age investors are concerned rising inflation could make it difficult to find steady income from their investments.

"America’s sanctions policy is both costly and cruel, with the gains rarely worth the resulting human harm. The Biden administration should review current policy and sharply limit the use of economic sanctions." ~ Doug Bandow

Biden's bank account–monitoring plan draws fierce backlash

If stocks DO NOT reclaim this line right here and now, it’s likely GAME OVER for the bull market. The whole situation is similar to that of 2008. At that time stocks broke down, then rallied to “kiss” the 50-DMA several times. When they failed to reclaim it is when the REAL fireworks hit.

More Americans typically prefer a limited government role to an active one, think there is too much rather than too little regulation of business and believe the government is too powerful.

The Federal Reserve’s most embarrassing ethics scandal in years has cast a harsh spotlight on the world’s most powerful central bank and the arm’s-length governance of its 12 regional branches.

Citing unproductive debt, velocity, and a negative multiplier from government debt, Lacy Hunt sticks with his prognosis of lower treasury yields.

It’s frustrating to watch gold and silver languish when they’re surrounded by major catalysts and since, well, everything else is going up. More than frustrating, it’s bewildering.

The time to buy is when the market is boring. When nobody cares.

Senate Banking Chair, Sherrod Brown, Gives Fed’s Quarles a Scathing Bon Voyage By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: October 14, 2021 ~ Yesterday was the last day that Randal Quarles served in the post as Vice Chair for Supervision at the Federal Reserve. Senator Sherrod Brown, the Chair of the Senate Banking Committee that oversees the Federal Reserve, used the occasion to send a scorching letter […]

So the taper will start in November. It’s a mistake but that’s the Fed for you. They make one mistake after another. Get ready for a new recession in 2022.

Gold edged higher on a weaker dollar after its biggest advance in seven months as investors weighed concerns around stubbornly high inflation and the looming reduction in stimulus...

For the first time since early March 2020, less than 300k Americans filed for first time unemployment benefits last week...

Is The Fed already too late with its taper?

Prices of fossil fuels around the globe have been surging. Some commodity pros are referring to this current condition as an “energy crisis,” one that could have far-reaching implications for average Americans but also for energy policy as the U.S. --- and the rest of the world --- attempts to wean itself off crude oil and transition to renewable sources of power.

Washington itself is undermining the US dollar's long-time status as the world’s largest reserve currency by using the greenback as an instrument of sanctions abroad, while raising the national debt and driving inflation at home.

The rebound in economic activity from coronavirus restrictions has exposed shortages across the supply chain with companies scrambling to find workers, ships and even fuel to powers factories, threatening a nascent recovery.

The pace of headline inflation in Sweden picked up to its highest level in more than a decade in September, data published on Thursday showed, though the central bank is unlikely to react unless price pressures become persistent. Consumer prices in Sweden, measured with a fixed interest rate, rose 0.5% in September from the previous month and were up...

Base metals surged, led by zinc, which spiked to the highest since 2007 after European smelters became the latest casualties in a global energy crisis that’s knocking supply offline and heaping pressure on manufacturers.

The nation’s largest bank said Wednesday that it’s starting to get worried about inflation, warning that the hot pace of price increases could last through 2022.

G7 finance officials on Wednesday endorsed 13 public policy principles for retail central bank digital currencies, saying they should be grounded in transparency, the rule of law and sound economic governance, the Treasury Department said. “Innovation in digital money and payments has the potential to bring significant benefits but also raises considerable...

World stock markets rose and longer-dated bonds rallied on Thursday as investors reckoned rising inflation would bring forward rate hikes around the world.

China’s factory-gate prices grew at the fastest pace in almost 26 years in September, potentially adding to global inflation pressure if local businesses start passing on higher costs to consumers.

122.1 US Dollar Outgains All! (...except for one??) ———Ep 122.1 Summary———The US dollar is rising in value against a collection of currencies (except one). It's disconfirming evidence of sustainable economic recovery; it implies strained USD-funding. And there's still that one key, stable currency - unusually stable; suspiciously stable.———Sponsor———Macropiece Theater […]

There was never really any answer given by the Chinese Communists for why their own export data diverged so much from other import estimates gathered by its largest trading partners. Ostensibly different sides of the same thing, it’s not like anyone asked Xi Jinping to weigh in; they report what numbers they have and consider [...]

It is costing more to live and be, so naturally people are looking for who it is they need to blame. Maybe figure out some way to stop it. You know and feel for the basics since everyone’s perceptions begin with costs of just living. This is what makes the subject of inflation so difficult, [...]

“Inflation expectations mixed with global growth concerns have made many investors nervous that the business and the consumer will be much weaker in the second half of 2022. Safe-haven flows are starting to come gold’s way,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at brokerage OANDA, said in a note.

Building on the bitcoin model, central banks are planning to produce their own “digital currencies”. Removing any and all remaining privacy, granting total control over every transaction, even limiting what ordinary people are allowed to spend their money on.

Social Security recipients in 2022 are in line to receive the big payment increase in nearly four decades, reflecting a pandemic-drive inflation surge – but the boost could ultimately deplete the fund a year earlier than expected.

This is not our outlook but given the oddities of the current environment and our fiscal leaders’ carelessness, it’s one we must consider.

All of this really means that the FED and the U.S are in a tough spot. They need a lot of growth to dig out from mountains of debt, but they cannot afford for rates to move too high or debt service will become an issue.“

That the neofeudal lords and their lackeys offer the debt-serfs "choices" of forced labor would be comic if the results weren't so tragic.

Home Depot, Costco, Walmart, Target, and Dollar Tree have turned to private ship charters in an effort to stock shelves for the holiday season.

Since the last FOMC meeting (September 22nd) - when Chair Powell began to detail the taper and rate-hike traajectory to come - bonds are down (yields higher) but stocks, gold, and the dollar are all up around 1%...

Part 1 - October 7, 2021

CPI inflation highest since 2008 and 1991.

The Federal Reserve’s new motto: making housing unaffordable! With help from the US Treasury.

Regulation U is a 1936 Federal Reserve rule, that is still in force today, that allows federally-insured, taxpayer backstopped commercial banks to make margin loans for speculating in stocks. Unlike 1936, however, Wall Street trading houses are today allowed to own their own federally-insured, taxpayer backstopped commercial banks. That has allowed a lot of...

"There are many good economists who work for the IMF and they often produce high-quality research. Sadly, their sensible analysis doesn’t seem to have any impact on the decisions of the organization’s top bureaucrats."

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has quietly posted the names of the banks that grabbed billions of dollars under the Fed’s emergency repo loan operations that commenced on September 17, 2019 – months before there was a COVID-19 crisis anywhere in the world.

The House of Representatives voted Tuesday evening to lift the debt ceiling by $480 billion, temporarily postponing a possible default until early December. The bill, which had passed the Senate last week, heads to President Joe Biden's desk a few days before the October 18 deadline that Treasury Department officials had set for a possible default.

Let's look at 11 sectors in search of job winners and losers.

Households struggle to afford medical care and food, with figure rising to 59% for those with income under $50,000 a year

For retirees, 2021 was a nasty year: Red hot inflation and a stingy COLA. In 2022, they might fall behind more slowly.

The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2022 could give beneficiaries the biggest increase they've seen in years. One group says that's not enough.

Millions of retirees on Social Security will get a 5.9% boost in benefits for 2022. The biggest cost-of-living adjustment in 39 years follows a burst in inflation as the economy struggles to shake off the drag of the coronavirus pandemic .

Republicans are calling the IRS monitoring the 600 dollar transactions as overreach, amounting to a “surveillance state.”

The image above may be considered by some as unfair, as it suggests that taxation is a form of robbery. Well, let’s check the dictionary for a definition: “Robbery is defined as taking away of goods or property by force or intimidation.” Well, that certainly fits the bill. Of course, Inland Revenue (or the IRS, CRA, etc., depending upon where you’re from) would...

In short, no one can authoritatively list the single reason why workforce growth is so slow, or where all the "missing" workers are. But we should watch closely as more data become available. After all, the future arrives one day at a time, and no faster.

Quietly, the Fed Releases the Names of Banks that Got Billions in Emergency Repo Loans in 2019 By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: October 13, 2021 ~ The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has quietly posted the names of the banks that grabbed billions of dollars under the Fed’s emergency repo loan operations that commenced on September 17, 2019 – months before there was a COVID-19 crisis […]

Having slowed for two straight months, whisper numbers predicted a slightly hotter than expected September CPI (edging up to 5.4% YoY, slightly above the consensus of 5.3%) on the back of a re-intensification of supply-chain bottlenecks due to a combination of natural disasters and COVID disruptions in the US and Asia kept pressure on manufactured goods in September.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has sounded alarm bells over risks of runaway inflation in the U.S., saying the Federal Reserve is moving glacially in its efforts to counter the threat.

The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday that Randal Quarles will no longer be in charge of regulating the country's financial system after his vice chairmanship expires Wednesday, a move that could mark the beginning of major leadership changes at the Fed.

The self-ruled island has moved to the heart of deepening discord and rivalry between the two superpowers, with the potential to ignite military conflagration and reshape the regional order.

Worldwide poverty, hunger and unmanageable debt are all on the upswing. Employment has fallen, especially for women, reversing many of the gains they made in recent years.

Beijing will no doubt snare some bad apples as this latest rectification campaign unfolds. The rot at the core of the financial sector itself still needs stronger medicine.

Risks stemming from the boom in “appear contained for now,” but they should be monitored closely, the global body warned.

The risk of housing bubbles across Europe has accelerated as the pandemic sparked a global spending spree on larger living spaces that was turbocharged by central banks’ aggressive stimulus.

Miguel Patricio said the international food giant, which makes tomato sauce and baked beans, was putting up prices in several countries. Unlike in previous years, he said, inflation was "across the board".

Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing said the current bout of inflation will likely prove longer lasting, adding his voice to a widening group of leaders calling on central banks to react.

The yield on the 2-year was up 3.2 basis points to 0.350% after reaching as high as 0.36%, its highest level since March 25, 2020. Investors will closely monitor Wednesday's consumer price index (CPI) data for September, with expectations calling for a monthly rise of 0.3%. A $58 billion Treasury auction of three-year notes was generally regarded as soft by analysts...

U.S. central bankers broadly agree they can soon begin reducing their support for the economy, but are divided over how much of a threat high inflation poses, and - more importantly - what they might need to do about it. Some indication of the intensity of that debate should emerge on Wednesday when the Federal Reserve releases the minutes...

One more reason “transitory” and “temporary” have become a silly joke. Even the Fed is backing off promoting it.

Forgotten now, overridden by the arrival of the coronavirus, Germany’s economy was already well into recession before COVID. Quite a long time before. It wasn’t an earth-shattering collapse reaching downward to an incredible depth, that became the later effect of overreacting to the pandemic. We will simply never know what that prior contraction would have [...]

Today’s video from Mike Maloney is a must-watch. In this clip, you’ll learn how the National Debt is a huge open pit that we are constantly digging deeper into the future, while supporting ourselves with nothing but a flimsy trapdoor.

Energy is suddenly headline news. Oil, which traded at negative prices for a brief moment last year due to the global economic slowdown caused by the pandemic, is now expected by a number of analysts to hit $100/barrel soon.

Gold prices rose on Tuesday, as rising inflation fears dulled risk appetite and boosted demand for the safe-haven metal, although an advancing U.S. dollar limited bullion's gains.

Stagflation, if severe, can be damaging to both the economy and financial markets. But we don’t need a repeat of the 1970s for assets to be affected. Our analysis shows that even mild stagflationary conditions can have similar asset impacts to those in more severe stagflations.

The recent synchronized selloff in equities and Treasuries was likely just the beginning of what’s come for the popular 60/40 stock-bond portfolio strategy, a growing chorus of Wall Street strategists warn.

The Biden administration is focused on preventing inflation from being an issue in the future, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday.

The Fed is going to have a heck of a time calling inflation expectations “well anchored.”

A costly slow process that gives some buildings a second life.

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 […]

Mr. Soros has expressed his ideological fury at the prospect of not being able to make the kind of easy money off China that he was able to siphon off when the Soviet Union was carved up and privatized. On September 7, 2021, in his second mainstream editorial in a week, George Soros expressed his Continue Reading The post The Vocabulary of Neoliberal Diplomacy in Today’s New Cold War first […]

In a Financial Times op-ed, “Investors in Xi’s China face a rude awakening” (August 30, 2021), George Soros writes that Xi’s “crackdown on private enterprise shows he does not understand the market economy. … Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has collided with economic reality. His crackdown on private enterprise has been a significant drag on the Continue Reading The post George […]

The 3rd in a 10 part lecture series for the Global University for Sustainability, Hong Kong. The post Global Financial Empire 3 first appeared on Michael Hudson.

The 2nd in a 3 part lecture series for the Global University for Sustainability, Hong Kong. Photo by Scott Gummerson on Unsplash The post Global Financial Empire 2 first appeared on Michael Hudson.

A 3 part lecture series for the Global University for Sustainability, Hong Kong. Photo by Ilona Frey on Unsplash The post Global Financial Empire 1 first appeared on Michael Hudson.

President Biden put a popular flag-waving wrapping for America’s forced withdrawal from Afghanistan in his 4 PM speech on Monday. It was as if all this was following Biden’s own intentions, not a demonstration of the totally incompetent assurances by the CIA and State Department as recently as last Friday that the Taliban was over Continue Reading The post Biden forfeits his Afghan victory […]

An interview with the Positive Penger group. Jussi: So welcome all and welcome Michael. Good to have you here again. How are you? Hudson: It’s good to be back. Jussi: Our pleasure as usual. Let me just introduce you shortly first. I think most people know quite a lot about you. I’ll make it short. Continue Reading The post Living with Price Above Value first appeared on Michael Hudson.

Understanding of the dollar’s world role is dominated by the ideas of ‘dollar hegemony’ and ‘US hegemony’. In this paper, based on our extensive past work, we reveal how these ideas are ideologies, not theories. In their place, we reveal an understanding one that is theoretically sound and accords with the historical record, a geopolitical Continue Reading The post Moving Beyond Dollar […]

Published by Sage Journals Abstract Marx and many of his less radical contemporary reformers saw the historical role of industrial capitalism as being to clear away the legacy of feudalism—the landlords, bankers, and monopolists extracting economic rent without producing real value. However, that reform movement failed. Today, the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector Continue […]

Why is the Fed buying corporate junk bonds and debt but won’t buy out student debt? Michael Hudson on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay. Paul Jay Hi, I’m Paul Jay. Welcome to theAnalysis.news. Thank you to everybody who has clicked the donate button. And if you haven’t, maybe you might do it this time. If you’re Continue Reading The post Surprise: Corporate Junk Before Students? first […]

In this wide-ranging discussion on the Moderate Rebels podcast, Hudson addresses US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, the policies of the Joe Biden administration, Beijing’s economic model, cryptocurrencies, and dedollarization – the potential end to the dollar as the global reserve currency. Transcript Ben Norton 0:03 Hello everyone, I’m Ben Norton. You’re watching Moderate […]

The Radical Imagination episode with guests Michael Hudson & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove: April 21, 2021 (transcribed May 3, 2021):  Jim Vrettos:
 So, Michael, Jonathan. Thank you so very, very much for being here. Jonathan, you’re from… We’re looking at you from North Carolina there and Michael is in Queens. You’ve both had tremendous influence in your Continue Reading The post A […]

An interview on The Radical Imagination with Pastor Jonathan Hartgrove and host Jim Vrettos. Photo by Jacob Bentzinger on Unsplash The post Christian Nationalism’s Re-branding of Jesus first appeared on Michael Hudson.

Transcript Jussi: Welcome Michael. I just give a brief overview of the agenda and then I get back to you with a few questions. I just show you this picture, what we want to do today is this: Today we will get a long-term view on money debt and the economy, including the different power Continue Reading The post The Honest Sector first appeared on Michael Hudson.

The first lecture at the prestigious Southwest University, Chongqing, China: Global U, youtube channel, posted on 21 April 2021, video, Wen Tiejun’s account of Michael Hudson’s Ten Lectures Global U weixin channel, an account of Hudson’s Ten Lectures. Global U weixin channel, article, Hudson’s talk in Macau Michael Hudson’s Ten Lectures in 70 sections (First Continue Reading The post […]

Nearly half a millennium ago Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince described three options for how a conquering power might treat states that it defeated in war but that “have been accustomed to live under their own laws and in freedom: … the first is to ruin them, the next is to reside there in person, the third Continue Reading The post America’s Neoliberal Financialization Policy vs. […]

An interview with Australia’s Renegade Economists. Karl: Listeners, it’s time to discuss with Professor Michael Hudson, the author of ‘The Bubble and Beyond’, ‘Forgive Them Their Debts’, ‘Super Imperialism’ and so many others. We’re lucky to have Michael with us yet again to continue our series of interviews and, Michael, here we are where, in Continue Reading The post Dream […]