Economics

Food Shortages in Venezuela Bigger Worry Than Constitution

"At a bustling food market in downtown Caracas, armed officers belonging to President Hugo Chavez’s National Bolivarian Guard marched by boxes of lettuce and tomatoes, checking prices and storage rooms. The inspection is part of a nationwide campaign to crack down on over-pricing and hoarding the government blames for shortages of basic goods, from toilet paper to sugar. The government said today that consumer prices in December jumped the most in 2 1/2 years, highlighting the growing economic problems that are amassing as Chavez’s battle with cancer unleashes a power struggle." Continue reading →

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Economic Riots and TrampleFests

"This is just a peek at what lies ahead. In a Detroit suburb, rioting ensued when a government organization attempted to hand out welfare freebies in the form of Section 8 Housing Vouchers. The county was giving out 1,000 vouchers and at least 4x that many people showed up to get the freebie. The Michigan State Police had to come in and suppress the out-of-control redistribution celebration gone wild." Continue reading →

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Themes for 2013: Eight trends to follow in 2013 and beyond.

"Rather than attempt to predict the unpredictable – that is, specific events and price levels – let’s look instead for key dynamics that will play out over the next two to three years. Though the specific timelines of crises are inherently unpredictable, it is still useful to understand the eventual consequences of influential trends. In other words: policies that appear to have been successful for the past four years may continue to appear successful for a year or two longer. But that very success comes at a steep, and as yet unpaid, price in suppressed systemic risk, cost, and consequence." Continue reading →

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Catherine Austin Fitts: Coming Clean Beyond the Fiscal Cliff

"Here are the most significant challenges we must address to put our federal fiscal house in order. Each includes a brief description. Click on the link that follows for more discussion of the particular challenge, including examples and stories from my experience as well as other recommended references." Continue reading →

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Japan approves £73bn stimulus package

"The government will spend the funds on public works, incentives for corporate investment and financial aid for small firms to help the economy emerge from a mild recession triggered by falling exports last year. It expects the stimulus to raise real economic growth by 2 percentage points and create 600,000 jobs. The government will sell around 5 trillion yen more bonds than originally planned for the current fiscal year to fund the stimulus, a government official said. Mr Abe is gambling that a shift to a more expansionary fiscal policy and more monetary easing from the central bank can end years of stop-start growth." Continue reading →

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Switzerland and Britain are now at currency war

"'Everybody is trying to weaken their currency at the same time. The Swiss have got away with it and now the Japanese want to try. The Sandinavians are pulling their hair out. The Turks are cutting rates even though the economy is overheating, and putting in credit controls instead because they don’t want the currency to rise. Policymakers are doing things that if you had suggested four years ago they would have put you in a straitjacket and thrown you in a cell. I don’t rule out anything any longer in this market. Desperate times lead to desperate acts,' said David Bloom, currency chief at HSBC." Continue reading →

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Nigel Farage: This Is My Greatest Worry As We Head Into 2013

"What really has me worried, and this may go beyond 2013, but I think the one thing that is going to change is we’ve been through a period, since 2008, of interest rates being virtually zero. During that period of time, governments have racked up vast, vast amounts of debt, and are continuing to run huge budget deficits. And I think we are going to be heading into a world of rising interest rates. That is when our governments, who are continuing to run these deficits, are going to be in real, real trouble...." Continue reading →

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Thought The Euro Crisis Was Over? These 18 Charts Show The Real Crisis That Lies Ahead

"The latest Eurostat unemployment figures released today remind of a far bigger problem that the eurozone now must face – staggering levels of youth unemployment across the region. Governments on the euro periphery – which desperately need to institute difficult economic reforms to put budgets on sustainable paths – receive little support from a younger generation that feels like its opportunities and its future have been crushed already by the very same actors." Continue reading →

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North Korea Enlists German Help to Prepare Economic Opening

"Pyongyang may be preparing to open up its economy. A report in a prominent newspaper claims the regime has enlisted the aid of German economic and legal experts to lay the groundwork for foreign investment in North Korean companies. The move could be made as soon as this year. Still, even as there are many in the country's leadership who are in favor of opening up the country to investments from Japanese, South Korean and Western companies, the professor the paper cites notes that it is far from a done deal. 'The military in North Korea,' he told the paper, 'will not want to give up power.'" Continue reading →

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Jim Grant Exposes “The Bureau Of Money Materialization” And A Submerging America

"Jim Grant spends exactly the correct amount of time (zero) discussing the 'urban myth' of the trillion dollar coin in this brief interview on CNBC; instead deciding to try and strike up some intelligent understanding of the dire situation we face. By providing context for our massive 16 trillion dollar debt (360 million pounds of $100 bills), and explaining how exponential the idiocy has become, Grant brings us full circle." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJim Grant Exposes “The Bureau Of Money Materialization” And A Submerging America