Middle Class Dismissed

Punk Economics: The Kidnapper wears Prada

"The Kidnapper wears Prada: Why the rich are getting much, much richer, why the Fed is in a corner and what it means for you! As the Federal Reserve gets a new chair and decides what to do next, whether to print $85 billion a month more or not, we examine the heist, who gets all the loot, why today's kidnappers wear Prada. Wake up. See what happens when financial kidnappers dress up as loyal patriots and extort money in the name of the common good." Continue reading →

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Fed to America: ‘QE Scam Will Continue’

"Yesterday, the Fed announced that the scam would continue. In a typical sleight of hand, it took its monthly asset buying down from $85 billion to $75 billion… but also told us that zero-bound interest would keep flowing for even longer than expected. As a card-carrying, asset-owning and secret-handshake-giving member of the 1%, we’re delighted to know that the filthy lucre will continue coming our way. But as a financial philosopher we find the whole show rather shabby and tawdry. Not only does the program shift income from the public to the insiders, it also masks the real problems in the economy and stifles real corrections." Continue reading →

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When We Will Celebrate the End of QE, and Why

"Central bank money is disseminated through the banking system. And the banking system over years funnels it into investable facilities like the stock market. It is a criminal system, predicated on rigorous control of money stock. If bankers really wanted to benefit the middle class, they'd pump it directly into bank accounts. But they won't, for that would reveal the essential phoniness of the system and it would also generate vast price inflation. But price inflation they will have nonetheless. By the time bubbles are visible, as they are, it is way too late for the economy to contain the damage. And thus they pretend to cut. Or trim the advance. But markets, especially stock markets, will continue to rise." Continue reading →

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What Happened to the Fed’s Trillions? Back on Deposit…at the Fed!

"So you can understand why they wanted to have the tool. Now the question is whether or not this tool as it was implemented throughout this financial crisis, and aftermath, has exacerbated the problems with the credit channel. A bank can decide, 'Do I want to give a three-year loan to a risky borrower, or do I want to get 25 basis points at the Federal Reserve? I'm really risk averse right now. I don't really want to lend to anybody so I'd rather take my 25 basis points.' So I believe that at the margin, this has affected the credit channel, the effectiveness of the credit channel." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat Happened to the Fed’s Trillions? Back on Deposit…at the Fed!

David Stockman: Lunatic Fed Engineering Global Collapse

"Yellen has been part of this Fed system since the 1990s. Just start with the year 2000: The balance sheet of the Fed was $500 billion. Today it’s pushing $4 trillion. That’s an eight-fold increase just in this century. She’s been part of it all along, and if that isn’t monetizing the debt, (then) I don’t know what the word means. It is only the top 1% that has experienced a huge windfall from the serial bubbles that the Fed has created. So, if you go right to the core of what this is all about -- what the Fed’s mission is, what the new chairman of the Fed will be doing and saying, I think we had a pretty good indication that she’s going to take this lunatic policy that we’ve had for years now right over the edge." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: The Fed’s Big Lie

"Whatever may be said about today’s cockeyed economies, there is nothing 'normal' about them. What’s normal about a government that runs up as much debt as it had in World War II – with no war… no national emergency… and no way to pay the money back? What’s normal about an economy that depends on the lowest interest rates in three generations… and a central bank that holds them down like a crooked butcher with his finger on the meat scale? And what’s normal about an advanced capitalist country where the typical man earns less than he did 43 years ago?" Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: The Real Numbers Behind America’s Phony Recovery

"What kind of economy is it that reduces a man’s wages over a 43-year period? We don’t know. But it’s not likely to win any prizes. But why, with so many strikes against it, does the US economy still have the bat in its hands? It’s partly because the Fed has pumped up stock, bond and house prices – not to mention net corporate profit margins and consumer spending . So, the averages look pretty good… and they mask the ugliness beneath them. The bottom 90% of the population – people in 9 houses out of 10 – have 10% less income than they had 10 years ago. This is not a success story. It’s a disaster. And not one that tempts us into an overvalued US stock market." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: Is This the World’s Cheapest Commodity Play?

"Brazil has made its share of bad decisions… and suffered its share of bad policies. Generals, dictators, repression, depression and hyperinflation – Brazil has seen it all. In the 1980s, Brazil’s consumer price increases went wild. In constant currency, a taxi ride that might have cost 4 cruzeiros in 1980 would have cost 5 trillion cruzeiros in 1994. The government tried to head off inflation by introducing a new currency, the cruzado. Then came the new cruzado. Then came the cruzeiro back. And finally, the government introduced the real. With prices rising so rapidly, it was impossible for investors and business people to make reasonable projections." Continue reading →

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Don’t Let the Fed Pick Your Pocket

"If you are one of those who believe that rates will rise when Ben Bernanke leaves office in January, think again. The new Federal Reserve chief, Janet Yellen, has no intention of boosting rates. She will certainly not be a friend to savers. During Yellen’s confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill, she acknowledged that seniors are hurt by low interest rates that are a matter of policy. However, the incoming Fed chief believes the greater good — the health of the U.S. economy — takes precedence over savers. This means that if you’re still relying on CDs and interest-bearing accounts to generate income, you’ll be slaughtered." Continue reading →

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Top Hedge Fund Manager on Global Equity Trends and Blown-Up Markets

"Dr. Conrad certainly participated successfully in his era, and his hedge fund uses the latest diversified strategies and instruments around the world to achieve further success today. He's even purchasing farmland and is expanding his commodity positions generally because he believes US equity markets are going to underperform considerably in the next decade. In today's hyper-regulated environment, the kinds of non-regulated, private, diversified strategies that Dr. Conrad employs stand as testimony to diversifying broadly over assets and instruments. Rockier times are surely coming, though not before a 'Wall Street Party' that may elevate equity positions considerably." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTop Hedge Fund Manager on Global Equity Trends and Blown-Up Markets