investment

U.S. auto sales jump 13 percent in 2012

"US auto sales jumped 13.4 percent in 2012 to their best performance since the crash of 2008, as better economic times, hot new models and the need to replace ageing vehicles drew consumers to showrooms. It was the biggest yearly gain since 1984. Toyota, Honda and Chrysler outpaced their rivals with sales gains that blew past 20 percent while Ford and General Motors posted modest growth Thursday that led their market share to shrink significantly." Continue reading →

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ADP Jobs Number Blows Through the Roof

"The just released ADP jobs report shows a 215, 000 increase in private sector jobs in December. That's 50% higher than the 140,000 that was expected. Bernanke money printing manipulation of the economy upward. Unfortunately, because it is a manipulation, it will crash down the road, but not now, For now, happy days are here again. And most of the jobs gains are in the capital goods sector, as would be expected based on Austrian Business Cycle Theory." Continue reading →

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November’s Leading Indexes Suggest Expansion in 49 States in First Half of 2013

"The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released the leading indexes for the 50 states for November 2012. The indexes are a six-month forecast of the state coincident indexes (also released by the Bank). Forty-nine state coincident indexes are projected to grow over the next six months, while one index (Wyoming’s) is projected to decrease." Continue reading →

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Japan plans ‘nationalisation’ of factories to save industry

"Premier Shenzo Abe is to spend up to one trillion yen (£7.1bn) buying plant in the electronics, equipment, and carbon fibre industries to force the pace of investment, according to Nikkei news. The disclosure came just a day after Mr Abe vowed to revive Japan's nuclear industry with a fresh generation of reactors, insisting that they would be 'completely different' from the Fukishima Daiichi technology. Mr Abe's Liberal Democrats have already lambasted the central bank, threatening a new bank law unless it adopts radical measures to pull Japan out of deflation – including a growth target of 3pc for nominal GDP, implying massive monetary stimulus." Continue reading →

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Detlev Schlichter: It’s a mad mad mad mad world

"Shinzo Abe, Japan’s new prime minister, has some exciting new ideas about how to make Japan’s economy grow. How about the government borrows a lot of money and spends it on building bridges and roads all over the country? If that doesn’t sound so new, it is because it isn’t. It is what Japan has been doing for 20 years, and it is the main reason why Japan is now the most heavily indebted nation on the planet. But never mind. The Keynesians agree that this policy was a roaring success, and that this is why the country needs more of it. Mr. Abe also plans to force the Bank of Japan into printing more money, and this is surely going to be a great success, too." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDetlev Schlichter: It’s a mad mad mad mad world

India’s ultra rich: younger, richer and buying gold

"India’s community of high net worth individuals is growing fast and, for them, the most favoured form of investment is gold. The HNI population in India rose by around 20.86% in 2010, and their wealth is estimated to have grown by more than 11%, to $530 billion. India is one of the fastest growing HNI segments in the world, currently contributing approximately 1.2% to the global HNI wealth. And, importantly, while their assets are growing the members of this class are also getting younger. The average age of Indian high networth individuals (HNIs) has fallen to the mid-40s from the early 50s in just five years." Continue reading →

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Where to Be Born in 2013

"Economist Intelligence Unit has calculated where are the best places to be born in 2013. Its quality-of-life index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys—how happy people say they are—to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries. Not surprising, Switzerland, perhaps the freest country in the world, tops another list of best country to live in." Continue reading →

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U.S. Birth Rate Falls to a Record Low; Decline Is Greatest Among Immigrants

"The U.S. birth rate dipped in 2011 to the lowest ever recorded, led by a plunge in births to immigrant women since the onset of the Great Recession. The overall U.S. birth rate, which is the annual number of births per 1,000 women in the prime childbearing ages of 15 to 44, declined 8% from 2007 to 2010. The birth rate for U.S.-born women decreased 6% during these years, but the birth rate for foreign-born women plunged 14%—more than it had declined over the entire 1990-2007 period. The birth rate for Mexican immigrant women fell even more, by 23%." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Birth Rate Falls to a Record Low; Decline Is Greatest Among Immigrants

5 Urgent Questions for 2013

"No matter what Washington does at the 11th hour tonight, we end the year with one, absolutely indisputable, conclusion: The mammoth U.S. debt monster is not going away. It’s continuing to grow. And in early 2013, it will return to haunt the White House, Congress and the Fed in a great, new debt ceiling debate! Here are the hard facts." Continue reading →

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ProPublica: Govt Now Runs the US Mortgage Marketplace

"The American home mortgage market has, for all practical purposes, become nationalized since the 2008 financial meltdown, according to an analysis by ProPublica, the non-profit investigative journalism project. The takeover, without which the housing market could barely function, has occurred against a backdrop of little planning or public discussion. In fact, nine out of every 10 new mortgages are now backed by the U.S. taxpayer, up from three in 10 in 2006. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-supported housing giants, alone guaranteed 69 percent of new mortgages in the first nine months of 2012." Continue reading →

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