History Repeating

Spanish banks’ bad loan ratio rises to record in June

"The overall bad debt ratio for Spanish banks was up from 11.2 percent in May and has been steadily increasing since a drop-off at the end of last year when rescued lenders transferred toxic property assets to Spain's so-called bad bank. Spanish lenders' earnings were gutted last year by steep government-enforced provisions on properties and loans to developers, in the wake of a 2008 real estate crash. Those unable to cope were bailed-out with European funds, and most of their real estate loans were transferred to a government-backed bad bank." Continue reading →

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What The 25% Collapse In Homebuilder Stock Prices Tells Us

"The most important factor that sets the fate of the homebuilder stocks is the housing market. If the housing market has growth potential ahead, then you can bet on homebuilder stocks to provide a stunning performance to the upside. If it’s the opposite scenario, with the housing market looking shaky, then homebuilder stocks usually tank. In other words, homebuilder stocks are very fickle, but they are also a great indicator of future activity in the housing market. Since mid-May, the Dow Jones Home Construction Index has plummeted roughly 25%, and it’s in negative territory year-to-date." Continue reading →

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California adds 500,000 renters while homeownership declines amidst a boom

"The California housing market is providing us with two different pictures. First, home prices have surged and inventory is still very low. However, the homeownership rate continues to decline from the peak reached in 2006 of 60.2 percent. Since 2007 California has added a net of 500,000 renter households while losing a net of 233,000 homeowners. Yet the market continues to boom in the face of a declining homeownership rate. As we look at the market today we start seeing a slowdown in the speed in which flips are being accepted and inventory is rising. With higher interest rates and the fall season just before us, will the market thaw or continue to accelerate?" Continue reading →

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This failure rate will shock you

"There’s always a new elite showering themselves with unchecked dictatorial powers– from control of the money supply to control of the military. For example, four men control over 70% of the world’s money supply in our modern central banking system. They have the power to conjure unlimited quantities of currency out of thin air in their sole discretion. Meanwhile, the 'richest' countries in the world (US, Europe, Japan, etc.) are so deeply in debt that they have to borrow money just to pay interest on the money they’ve already borrowed. This isn’t rocket science. Predicting the end of this system is not attention-seeking sensationalism; it’s just common sense." Continue reading →

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How ancient Rome influenced European law

"The Roman Empire collapsed in AD 476. Isn’t it astonishing that its influence is still so great almost 2,000 years later? [..] When the empire fell, remnants of Roman law remained, coexisting with the common law of the barbarians. But it continued to thrive in the east of the Roman Empire. In the first half of the 6th century, Justinian gathered and compiled every legal judgement from the previous centuries. In the West, this compilation was rediscovered in Bologna, Italy, at the end of the 11th century. From that emerged the creation of Europe’s first university and first law faculty. From there, Roman law spread across all of Catholic Europe." Continue reading →

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A Colonial Gatekeeper That Hillary Would’ve Approved Of

"The year was 1998, when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke on The Drudge Report. Hillary Clinton famously lamented that the Internet lacked a 'gatekeeping function'. This mentality is nothing new. Here's a quote from way back in 1671, from Colonial Virginia. The Governor at the time was Sir William Berkeley, and he reported back to the British Crown: 'Thank God, there are no free schools nor printing and I hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy and sects in the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us from both!'" Continue reading →

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Interest-Rate Market Going Berserk

"It seems the more bond yields surge, the more the bond fund managers say it’s not a 'real' crisis because 'inflation is still anemic.' These are the same guys who are bleeding assets, losing you money, and who have utterly failed to foresee the carnage of the past few months. Bond yields are not rising solely because of higher inflation, the traditional cause of rising rates. Instead, it’s all about the flow of hot money! Too much hot money piled into the bond market over the past four and a half years, encouraged by reckless Fed policy. And now the same investors who dog-piled into bonds to piggyback on the Fed’s policy are getting crushed." Continue reading →

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Administration Can’t Let Go: Felony Streaming Provisions Of SOPA Are Back

"We've been working our way through a paper released last week by the Commerce Department, concerning copyright reform, and will have a much more detailed post about it soon (there's a lot in there), but over at the Washington Post, they're highlighting the silly recommendation to bring back the plan to make unauthorized streaming a felony. This was a part of SOPA and was widely discussed. This got a fair amount of attention when Justin Bieber was asked about the law, and said that Senator Klobuchar should be locked up. It's no surprise that this is coming back. It's one of the points that's been raised a few times since the death of SOPA." Continue reading →

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India’s Worst Economic Crisis Since 1991 When It Had To Airlift 67 Tons Of Its Gold

"At the time, the country had secured a $2.2bn loan, backed by 67 tons of gold reserves. To satisfy the IMF's concerns about access to the collateral, the RBI had to airlift 47 tons of gold to be deposited offshore with the Bank of England and 20 tons of gold with UBS. While such action is unlikely this time around, if the crisis continues to escalate, Asia's third largest economy will struggle to grow. Even though economists still do not expect a contraction, it is now a real possibility. Some weakening of the rupee may have been desirable for exporters, but losing control of the exchange rate was not what the RBI had in mind." Continue reading →

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