1. By radically flattening the yield curve in this Operation Twist program (where the Fed sells short-dated securities and buys maturities between six and 30 years), net interest margins in the banking sector will likely be negatively affected.
2. The dramatic decline in the 30-year bond yield is going to aggravate already-massively actuarially underfunded positions in pension funds
3. The Fed says it is going to extend this Operation Twist program through to June 2012. Th... (more)
Commodities fell to a nine-month low as silver, copper and nickel tumbled on deepening concern that policy makers are running out of tools to avert another global recession, hurting demand for metals, fuel and food. Gold fell below $1,700 an ounce in New York.
The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 commodities fell as much as 2.2 percent, the most since Dec. 2, and was down 0.8 percent at 2:40 p.m. in London. The index is down 7.8 percent this week, the most since May 6. Silver sl... (more)
"I hear all this, you know, 'Well, this is class warfare, this is whatever. No. There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own -- nobody," Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) said. Warren is running for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Warren hopes to face off with Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) in the general election.
... (more)
Of course she would believe this, she made all her money being a parasite leeching off other people through the state. The fact remains everyone engaged in voluntary trade makes their money despite the state, and historically the people who went west and built a fortune made all their money without any state at all. - Chris
Warren says "the rest of us" pay for services such as police, government schools, and firemen, but Schiff points out that it's business that not only pays the majority of those taxes, it employs the people who are also paying (at gunpoint, if necessary) those taxes.
Schiff also points out that wealthy business owners typically pay 40 to 50% of their wealth in ta... (more)
When Julie Veilleux discovered she was American, she went to the nearest US embassy to renounce her citizenship. Having lived in Canada since she was a young child, the 48-year-old had no idea she carried the burden of dual citizenship. But the renunciation will not clear away the past ten years of penalties with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).[1]
Born to American parents living in Canada, Kerry Knoll's two teenaged daughters had no clue they became dual citizens at birth.... (more)
With no solution in sight for Europe and new fears of a global recession, investors dumped stocks and commodities and ran to the safety of U.S. Treasurys.
Treasury yields , as a result, slipped to historic lowswith the 10-year yielding 1.75 percent and the 30-year at 2.86 percent.
The dollar was also a beneficiary of a massive fear trade that sent U.S. stocks sharply lower, on th... (more)
Will global financial markets reach a breaking point during the month of October? Right now there are all kinds of signs that the financial world is about to experience a nervous breakdown. Massive amounts of investor money is being pulled out of the stock market and mammoth bets are being made against the S&P 500 in October. The European debt crisis continues to grow even worse and weird financial moves are being made all over the globe. Does all of this unusual activity indicate that somet... (more)
Federal Reserve policy makers will replace some bonds in their portfolio with longer-term Treasuries in an effort to further reduce borrowing costs and keep the economy from relapsing into a recession.
The central bank will buy $400 billion of bonds with maturities of six to 30 years through June while selling an e
Congressional Republican leaders, in a rare move, sent a letter to the Federal Reserve urging its chairman, Ben Bernanke, not to intervene in the U.S. economy with further "monetary stimulus proposals," given that they feel the central bank's actions to date have not spurred a recovery.
"Respectfully, we submit that the board should resist further extraordinary intervention in the U.S. economy, particularly without clear articulation of the goals of such a policy, direction for su... (more)
Deep in the 7.4-acre Singapore FreePort next to Changi International Airport’s runways is the bullion vault of Swiss Precious Metals, behind seven-metric-ton steel doors built to survive a plane crash or earthquake.
The rooms are almost full after demand rose fivefold in the year since the Geneva-based company opened the facility. The firm plans an extension, and relocated Chief Executive Officer Jean-Francois Pages to Singapore last month to cope with the surge of investors willi... (more)
If you think the U.S. economy is bad now, just wait for a few months. Things are about to become absolutely nightmarish. None of the long-term economic trends that are hollowing out our economy have been addressed and more bad economic news seems to come out virtually every single day. Now there is constant talk of the "next recession" in the mainstream media. But did the last recession ever truly end? The number of good jobs continues to decline, more stores are closing, incomes continue t... (more)
In January 2009, the administration claimed that if Congress passed a rush stimulus bill, the United States would be saved from economic catastrophe that was threatening to send unemployment figures above 8 percent. Government stimulus was the answer and if we cared about our country, we would set aside our reservations and do what needed to be done to pass the bill. Congress passed the bill. Unemployment continued to go up and has been well over 8 percent ever since. (In fact, economist Joh... (more)
Gold will probably top $2,000 an ounce by year-end amid surging investor demand, a Bloomberg survey showed.
Prices will rise to a peak of $2,038 before Dec. 31, based on the average of 16 respondents in a Bloomberg survey at the London Bullion Market Association’s annual conference in Montreal. Next year, gold will rally as high as $2,268, according to the average in the survey.
Gold has surged 25 percent this year, touching a record $1,923.70 in New York on Sept. 6... (more)
Most Americans remain concerned about inflation and lack confidence in the Federal Reserve Board to keep it under control.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 83% of American Adults are at least somewhat concerned about inflation, including 52% who are Very Concerned. Just 14% are not concerned, with two percent (2%) who are Not At All Concerned. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
PRINCETON, NJ -- Thirty-four percent of Americans say gold is the best long-term investment, more than say so about four other types of investments. Real estate (19%) and stocks (17%) are distant second choices.
The Aug. 11-14 Gallup poll was conducted at the end of a tumultuous week on Wall Street that sent the price of gold soaring.
Gallup asked a similar question from 2002 to 2010, but that question did not include gold. Real estate, savings accounts, and stocks<... (more)
Somehow I missed this article, it's from August 25th, 2011. Unfortunately, they don't ask do you actually own any, I'd really love to know how many Americans actually own it, I know a lot of people who want to, but don't. - Chris
The Fed in the week ahead is widely expected to pull the trigger on a new easing program, as the European debt crisis continues to boil.
The housing market will also be a focus when new and existing home sales data is released Tuesday and Wednesday. New data this past week showed a jump in foreclosure starts, signaling that a big wave of foreclosed properties will hit the struggling housing market early next year.
The Dow and S&P 500 had their best week since July ... (more)
In his famously doleful, dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell described a world enthralled to what was functionally a "permanent war economy," an "economy existing by and for continuous warfare."
Today, on the heels of a debt ceiling increase calculated to forestall a federal-government default, we both are witnessing and are yoked to the many indispositions of what could be characterized as a permanent debt economy.
This is one of the best interviews I've seen with Doug Casey, the host is a bit adversarial in a good way and it makes for a great interview. Filmed on Sept 9th.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking member, and all distinguished members of this panel. Thank you for inviting me here today to offer my opinions as to how the government can help the American economy recover from the worst crisis in living memory.
Despite the understandable human tendency to help others, government spending cannot be a net creator of jobs. Indeed many efforts currently under consideration by the Administration and Congress will actively destroy jobs. These initiatives m... (more)
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