The European economy is turning from stagnation to contraction. Financial journalists are concluding that "austerity" is the reason.
They say that forced reduction in government services is sending not only the continent, but the U.K. into an economic tailspin and — heaven forbid — the same could happen to the United States. Look and panic: America's various levels of governments are contracting, laying off workers and cutting services.
Corn prices are officially through the roof, spiking to record highs. It's been headed this way through six years of crazy volatility. Now the spike is undeniable. At the same time, crop yields are lower they have been since 1995.
Everyone blames the drought, as if the market can't normally handle a supply change. The real problem is that the corn market is fundamentally misshaped by government interventions that have made a mess of this and many more markets. The distortions are ... (more)
If you add up all the taxes a rich person pays over their life and post death, the government takes over 90%, leaving their kids with a measly 10%. How is this any different from communism?
Obama has a brilliant new plan to save U.S. farmers suffering from drought--give them hordes of taxpayer money for their produce, "freeze it," then use it at a later date.
HOLLAND, Mich. — Several weeks after a city zoning officer shut down his hot dog business, 13-year-old Nathan Duszynski and his parents are homeless.
The family was hoping Nathan’s hot dog cart could help them through a difficult time. Nathan’s mother, Lynette Johnson, suffers from epilepsy and his stepfather, Doug Johnson, has multiple sclerosis. Their illnesses have restricted them from finding permanent, full-time work.
Note: We're testing a new custom YouTube embed code, the front page should no longer lag as it should load about five times faster! Please email us or post if you find any bugs. - Chris, InfoLib
A 40% loss of post-IPO market-cap, channel-stuffing largesse, contract-law destruction, and all with tax-payer backing. That is what the Bailout'er-in-chief has in mind for every manufacturing company in the US. As Politico reports this evening, President Obama gave a speech we think rivals his 'you didn't build it' miasma as he alienated foreigners, encouraged socialized l... (more)
We've had plenty of stories over the years of Monsanto's incredibly aggressive stance when it comes to its "Roundup Ready" patents. The company has now been awarded $1 billion from Dupont for infringing on one of these patents. Now, he... (more)
Socialist security, possibly the world's largest wealth redistribution scheme in history is finally now coming to an end. Like a scam chain letter, the first people who "sent in a dollar" got a hundred back in return, but the last pay in and get nothing. Such is the case now with socialist security reports the AP, "People retiring today are part of the first generation of workers who have paid more in Social Security taxes during their careers than they will receive in benefits after they ... (more)
A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a bill that would exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana. The bill, if passed, would get around the DEA's refusal to differentiate hemp from marijuana and could result in American farmers being allowed to grow the industrial crop.
The bill, Senate Bill 3501, was introduced last week by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and cosponsored by Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR). It would amend t... (more)
Gibson Guitar has agreed to pay a $300,000 ransom to the Federal government in order to be allowed to continue their business. Additionally, $262,000 worth of wood the government stole from them will not be returned. To add insult to injury, as CNN reports, the company was forced to make a "community service payment" of $50,000 to the U.S. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to "promote conservation a... (more)
Russian billionaire Aleksandr Lebedev is selling all his Russian assets and moving his money elsewhere. The reason? According to the New York Times, Lebedev, who has supported the opposition to President Putin’s increasingly authoritarian rule, stated that police and regulatory inspections had become overly intense. “The special services steamrolled my businesses into the pavement,” he said. “I give up.”
It’s a classic case showing the benefit of a highly regulated econom... (more)
The past week provided clear lessons not just in how central bankers have a limited ability to positively influence the economy but also how they are limited in their capacity to deliver the shortsighted policy actions that investors currently crave. The developments should provide new reasons for investors and economy watchers to abandon their faith in central bankers as super heroes capable of saving the economy.
The employment report released on Friday confirmed that the U.S. ... (more)
Welcome to Capital Account. The CEO of RBS warned about a huge fine facing the bank due to the Libor scandal; meanwhile HSBC set aside $2 billion to cover regulatory problems, including Libor-rigging and money laundering. We often cover regulation violations by the big banks, but today will talk about a litany of absurd small business regulations that could be crushing... (more)
Is a blowout bust coming for high-flying Internet stocks? There was the disappointing Facebook IPO, but many people wrote that off as due to managerial errors at the Nasdaq. But those errors must have persisted, because the stock has been down nearly 40%, reaching a low point. Every talking head is muttering about the problem of how Facebook is going to pay its bills.
An isolated case or a foreshadowing of widespread disaster? If events play out in the way of the dot-com bust of a... (more)
In today's political climate, the more implausible the claim, the more likely it is to stick. One that seems to be sticking now is that government today is small by historical standards and constantly shrinking.
Run that one by the man on the street — looted by the tax man, harassed by police, hounded by regulators — and he will scoff. Now comes the highbrow journalist with a nuanced view to correct him, citing all kinds of complex data.
