Economics

Bank of England & Carney: This Doesn’t Sound Good

"'The [UK] Treasury opened the door to a more aggressive monetary policy on Wednesday, as aides to the chancellor welcomed the next Bank of England governor’s radical views on stimulus measure for flagging economies. In a speech on Monday, Mark Carney suggested setting targets for the overall size of the economy, or nominal gross domestic product, rather than inflation.' [...] Does it worry anyone besides me just a teensy bit that this guy hasn’t even figured out where the BoE coffee pot is, and his people are already lying for him? Far be it from me to distrust an ex-Goldman Sachs banker, but still…" Continue reading →

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Detlev Schlichter: What is wrong about the euro, and what is not

"Merkel is desperately trying to pretend that these governments are not bankrupt, that the debt will be repaid, and in so doing she throws good money – that of the German taxpayer – after bad. Most of the governments in Europe, plus the US, the UK and Japan, are unlikely to ever repay their debt, and the big risk is that, once the 40-year fiat money boom that facilitated this bizarre debt extravaganza has ended for good, a lot of that debt will have to be restructured, which means it will be defaulted on. That is not the end of the world, albeit the end of the type of government largesse that has defined politics in the West for generations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDetlev Schlichter: What is wrong about the euro, and what is not

Costco’s Dividend Tax Epiphany

"When President Obama needed a business executive to come to his campaign defense, Jim Sinegal was there. The Costco co-founder, director and former CEO even made a prime-time speech at the Democratic Party convention in Charlotte. But now these people at the very top of the top 1% who preach about tax fairness voting to write themselves a huge dividend check to avoid the Obama tax increase they claim it is a public service to impose on middle-class Americans who work for 30 years and finally make $250,000 for a brief window in time." Continue reading →

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The Link Between High Tax Rates and Corruption

"Let’s pretend we have a modest tax rate of 20 percent. Now imagine you are part of an industry with $200 million in profits and you want a special tax break. How much are you willing to pay to get that loophole? Well, with a 20 percent tax, the most you can save is $40 million. So how much would you spend on lobbyists, campaign contributions, etc, in order to get that loophole? One thing we can safely assume is that the industry would never spend more than $40 million. But let’s now assume you live in a world with 50 percent tax rates. Does that change the incentive for influence peddling in Washington? Of course it does." Continue reading →

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Despite Tax Increase, California State Revenues in Freefall

"California State Controller John Chiang has announced that total state revenue for the month of November 2012 fell $806.8 million, or 10.8%, below budget. Voters thought they could hammer 'the rich' by passing Proposition 30 to create the highest state income tax in the nation. But it now appears that high income earners have already 'voted with their feet' by moving themselves and their businesses out of state, resulting in over $1 billion shortfall in corporate and income taxes last month and the beginning of a new financial crisis." Continue reading →

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Student Debt Bubble Officially Pops; 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Goes Parabolic

"It shouldn't be a surprise, at least to our readers who read about it here first, but what will stun the general public are the two charts below, the first of which shows the amount of 90+ day student loan delinquencies, and the second shows the amount of newly delinquent 30+ day student loan balances. The charts speak for themselves." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudent Debt Bubble Officially Pops; 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Goes Parabolic

China Will Build the Tallest Building In the World in Just 90 Days

"According to its engineers, this will be the tallest skyscraper in the world by the end of March of 2013. Its name is Sky City, and its 2,749 feet (838 meters) distributed in 220 floors will grow in just 90 days in Changsha city, by the Xiangjiang river. Ninety days! The skyscraper will be built in just 90 days at the unbelievable rate of five floors per day. They will be able to achieve this impossibly fast construction rate by using a prefabricated modular technology developed by Broad Sustainable Building, a company that has built 20 tall structures in China so far, including the that 30-story hotel." Continue reading →

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Moody’s downgrades France’s credit rating

"In what will be a severe blow to Socialist president François Hollande, the agency said it was reducing the country’s rating from AAA to AA1, claiming France’s ability for economic growth was being hampered by 'structural challenges' including its lack of competitiveness, high unemployment, public debt and market rigidity. It said it was not confident Hollande’s government could – or would – introduce the necessary structural reforms and spending cuts to improved its rating in the medium term and expressed concern over France’s exposure to risks from other ailing eurozone countries." Continue reading →

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Occupy hatches plot to destroy payday loan industry

"'The Debt Resistor’s Operations Manual' is 122 pages of some of the dodgiest financial advice we’ve ever seen. It’s no wonder the entire thing was published for free and written by 'an anonymous collective' of contributors. Here’s one of their more elaborate plans to upend the predatory payday lending industry, which involves finding 1,000 people from three different continents willing to commit fraud." Continue reading →

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