European Credit Markets Flash Hottest Warning Signal Since Crisis

| February 18, 2010

Yields on risker bonds rise sharply and a string of companies cancel share flotations, raising fears that the recovery may falter in coming months. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor Published: 7:21PM GMT 16 Feb 2010 Jitters over Chinese credit tightening and default risks in Greece and Dubai are causing bond vigilantes to batten down […]

Tongue Twister

| February 18, 2010

If today is Tuesday, what is the day after the day before the day before tomorrow?                                                                       Answer Spelled Backwards = yadseuT

Fast Company Ranks Its Top Ten Most Innovative Biotech Companies

| February 17, 2010

Fast Company 10 Most Innovative Biotech Companies by Elizabeth Svoboda (Additional Reporting By Erica Westly) 1. Novartis H1N1 put a spotlight on Novartis’s success with vaccines based on cells, a process that’s faster and more reliable than the traditional method of growing viruses in chicken eggs. Novartis won EU approval to sell cell-based flu vaccines, […]

U.S. vs. China…..A Dangerous Phase Has Begun

| February 17, 2010

U.S. vs. China: A dangerous phase has begun ……China is a formidable adversary whose ultimate strength is not its military hardware but its economic prowess, and whose diplomatic weapon is not saber rattling but great patience.   By Martin Jacques / February 17, 2010 The spats between the United States and China appear to be getting more […]

Drowning In Debt…..What It Means For You!

| February 17, 2010

Drowning in Debt: What the Nation’s Budget Woes Mean for You Economists Predict Cutbacks, Tax Increases That ‘Aren’t Even Imaginable’                                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By DEVIN DWYER WASHINGTON, Feb. 17, 2010 American political and economic leaders have sounded the alarm for years about the red ink rising in reports on the federal government’s fiscal health. But now […]

4 Million U.S. Homeowners Are 90 Days Or More Delinquent

| February 17, 2010

New wave of foreclosures by end of 2010 is feared About 4 million U.S. homeowners are 90 days or more delinquent on their loans or in foreclosure proceedings, Moody’s Economy.com says. A federal loan modification program is helping a relative few.                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By Jim Puzzanghera and Don Lee February 17, 2010 Reporting from Washington […]

Commercial Real Estate And The New Normal

| February 16, 2010

Commercial Real Estate Collapse Bigger than Subprime Implosion – Why is the Market Ignoring the $3.5 Trillion Commercial Real Estate Market Implosion? Pricing in Another Bailout. Posted: Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:41:28 +0000 Most people that follow real estate even at a cursory level have heard of the problems in commercial real estate.  The enormous […]

Get Out Of Debt….That’s The (New) Secret To Success

| February 16, 2010

The Only Certain Bet in this Market is paying Down Debt. Credit Card Rates Rise as Other Interest Rates Drop. $866 Billion in Revolving Debt Still Remains. Tue, 16 Feb 2010 The global economy remains on unstable footing as we see debt problems slam the European markets with Greece in the current spotlight.  Yet the […]

The “Baby Boom” Generation, It Came And Now It’s Going

| February 15, 2010

The “Baby Boom” generation consists of people born from 1946-64, which is that big bulge in the birth rate near the center of the chart.  When the 1980s arrived, those boomers were in their prime working years, and helped to push up both economic growth and stock prices.  They also caused the birth rate to […]

Rick Ackerman….No Easy Way Back For U.S. Economy

| February 15, 2010

No Easy Way Back For U.S. Economy Rick’s Picks Monday, February 15, 2009 “Phenomenally accurate forecasts”   We wrote here the other day that once the bailouts and misguided stimulus attempts fail, the U.S. will have to start from the gound up to rebuild the economy. “But what mechanism can be used to bring back all […]

John Mauldin’s Frontline Thoughts

| February 14, 2010

Thoughts from the Frontline Weekly Newsletter Between Dire and Disastrous by John Mauldin February 12, 2010 Path dependence explains how the set of decisions one faces for any given circumstance is limited by the decisions one has made in the past, even though past circumstances may no longer be relevant. In essence, history matters. With […]

The Euro May Be Working Its Way Into A Corner

| February 12, 2010

Jim Sinclair’s reply to the SocGen opinion of a Euro breakup is reviewed at the end of the article below.                                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~   Euro Area Headed for Breakup, SocGen’s Edwards Says By Alexis Xydias Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Southern European countries are trapped in an overvalued currency and suffocated by low competitiveness, a situation that […]

Rick Ackerman Checks In With Some Timely Thoughts About Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke

| February 11, 2010

A Cautious Bernanke Finally Gets It Right By: Rick Ackerman, Rick’s Picks   — Posted Thursday, 11 February 2010 Rick’s Picks Thursday, February 11, 2009 “Phenomenally accurate forecasts”    The stock market often swings wildly on insignificant news, but yesterday Wall Street appears finally to have taken some real news in stride, flatlining in response […]

Four Banks Make Up 55% Of FDIC Backed Assets……Now They Really Are To Big To Fail!

| February 11, 2010

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 The FDIC provides deposit insurance at 8,099 institutions.  Collectively the FDIC overlooks $13.247 trillion in assets at these institutions.  Instead of feeling protected you should feel weary because the FDIC deposit insurance fund is insolvent.  Now the assets at these institutions range from softer side financial instruments like CDs and regular […]

TARP Panel: Small Banks Are Facing Loan Woes

| February 10, 2010

FEBRUARY 11, 2010 By CARRICK MOLLENKAMP And MAURICE TAMMAN Nearly 3,000 small U.S. banks could be forced to dramatically curtail their lending because of losses on commercial real-estate loans, a congressional inquiry concluded. The findings, set to be released Thursday by the Congressional Oversight Panel as part of its scrutiny of the Troubled Asset Relief […]

Traders Make Biggest Bet Ever Against The Euro Currency…. This Likely Will Be Bad For The Dollar In The End

| February 9, 2010

Traders Make $8 Billion Bet Against Euro Traders and hedge funds have bet nearly $8bn (€5.9bn) against the euro, amassing the biggest ever short position in the single currency. Figures from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, showed investors had increased their positions against the euro to record levels in the week to February 2. The build-up […]

What’s A Hundred Years Between Friends

| February 9, 2010

      Russia Vows to Defend Rights                Czarist Creditors Seek Lawsuit By Helene Fouquet and Lyubov Pronina   Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — The Russian government vowed to defend our rights after French holders of czarist bonds valued at as much as 100 billion euros ($137 billion) threatened to sue the Kremlin and seize property it […]

CPI Components And How Housing Controls It

| February 8, 2010

In the past few decades Americans have seen more and more of their income being eaten up by the housing sector of the economy:

Rash Of Retirements Could Push Social Security To Brink

| February 8, 2010

And many thought we were out of the deep poop………the government will just borrow more money, there will be a new deal, not as good as the old one for social insecurity….. the dollar will fall further and China will get even more control of the U.S.,  without ever firing a shot.  Who needs nuclear weapons when one has […]

The Power Of Ones Debt Held By Another Can Be Enormous

| February 8, 2010

The fall of great empires have one thing in common……Too much debt!     America presents unsettling parallels with the disintegration of Rome – a decline of moral values, a loss of political civility, an overextended military, an inability to control national borders, and a growth of fiscal irresponsibility by the central government. Do these sound familiar?   […]

John Mauldin’s “Outside The Box”….Simon Hunt’s Long Wave Theory Of Cycles

| February 8, 2010

This summary from John Mauldin’s “Outside The Box”, is from Simon Hunt, based in London. Simon travels to China many times a year, is an authority on copper and the Long Wave theory of cycles. Points below are summarizd and well taken in my view.    In summary, global economic recovery will disappoint as set out […]

The Volcker Rule…….It’s Also Called Having Skin In The Game

| February 8, 2010

Volcker Rule Unabridged By David Weidner, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Not since Lady Gaga was slated to appear at the Grammys has there been this much anticipation about a performance. With Paul Volcker expected to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Wall Street will get its first detailed glimpse into the former Federal Reserve chairman’s […]

The Return Of The Aspirational Consumer…..The Drift Between The Haves And Have Nots Is Bigger Than Ever!

| February 7, 2010

U.S. Shoppers Splash Out On Luxury By Jonathan Birchall in New York Published: February 7 2010 More prosperous American shoppers seem to be defying continuing high unemployment levels and economic uncertainty to renew their spending on luxuries such as jewellery, fashion and cosmetics. That is the picture emerging from the current round of US earnings […]

Household Debt…..A Long Way Down To Go!

| February 7, 2010

So……if the Fed can create money out of thin air through their banking web why is the economy still faltering?  In boom and bust cycles we see a love and revulsion towards debt.  Banks can be willing to lend out money but you can’t force average Americans to borrow.  This past decade we saw the […]

Mortgage Bankers Association Sells Headquarters At Huge Loss

| February 6, 2010

The emperor has no clothes……….. Like millions of American households, the Mortgage Bankers Association found itself stuck with real estate whose market value has plunged far below the amount it owed its lenders. On Friday, CoStar Group Inc., a provider of commercial real estate data, announced that it had agreed to buy the MBA’s 10-story headquarters […]

Secret Summit Of The Worlds Top Bankers Meet In Australia

| February 6, 2010

Hmm……secret summit of top world bankers in Australia.  We’ll hear more on this next week.    Secret summit of top bankers By George Lekakis and Fleur Leyden From: Herald Sun February 06, 2010 12:00AM World’s top bankers fly in To meet at secret location Trouble on the horizon THE world’s top central bankers began arriving […]

Total Rail Traffic, As In Railroad………

| February 5, 2010

Measures Of Real Output Here we review a number of measures of real economic output that are distinct from FIRE Economy measures. Total rail traffic in the U.S. in 2009 was below 2008 levels, and trended down into the 4th quarter of 2009 as during 2008, curiously in a quarter when GDP numbers were robust. […]

Kessler: Bernanke’s Exit Strategy

| February 4, 2010

Kessler: Bernanke’s Exit Strategy ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANDY KESSLER, The Wall Street Journal (02/04/10): We can end bank panics forever by limiting the ability of lenders to create money out of thin air.   Last week, voting 70-30, the Senate confirmed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for another four year term. So now what will he do? […]

City Of Los Angeles Says We Have Eliminate 1,000 City Jobs, City Council And City Union Says Not On Our Watch……..So What Do You Do? Uh, May Have To Give Everyone A Raise

| February 4, 2010

February 4, 2010  Can you believe this……….The city of Los Angeles budget shortfall is $212 million this year and will be at least $484 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1.  Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa moved Thursday to eliminate 1,000 city jobs and begin planning layoffs of city employees, one day after the […]

George Gilder Has A Strong Opinion On Relations With China

| February 4, 2010

GEORGE GILDER, Gilder Telecosm Forum …… In my view, the United States is making what could be a fatal blunder with regard to China. Liberals who applauded every move toward appeasement of the monstrous Maoist regime now are relentlessly hostile toward the new capitalist leaders who have liberated more people than any other regime in history. […]

China Reserves…..Biggest Bubble in History Is Growing Every Day

| February 4, 2010

Beware China……..away we go.    China’s currency reserves grew by more than the gross domestic product of Norway in 2009.  Could end badly, the challenge for China alone is like trying to park an Airbus A-380 super-jumbo in a Volkswagen. Like all pyramid schemes, there’s no easy end in sight and things could end badly. If […]

Retailers Likely To Close More U.S. Stores: Analysis

| February 4, 2010

Excuse my rant, but……What were these REIT retail morons thinking when they opened all of these stores………Drive down any street in America, and how many stores do you count…..I’ll tell you…..lots and lots!   Now it’s time to close them down……Duh   And the REIT’s had one of the biggest stock rallies ever and they own most of this crap.  […]

Can The Growing Sovereign Debt Problem Take Down The World?

| February 4, 2010

Stocks, Metals Plunge as Dollar Gains on Debt, Jobs Concerns By Rita Nazareth and Gavin Serkin Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — Stocks plunged around the globe, with the MSCI World Index dropping the most in four months, and metals tumbled on concern an unexpected increase in U.S. jobless claims and growing sovereign debt will derail the […]

A Great Review Of The American Middle Class Fight For Economic Survival In Todays World

| February 3, 2010

The Devaluation and Fight for Survival of the American Middle Class – How Three Decades has Shifted the Concentration of Financial Wealth to the top 1 Percent.   Posted: Wed, 03 Feb 2010 The American middle class ideal is lionized around the world.  It is the core of what has made this country great.  The […]

U.S. May Lose 824,000 Jobs As Employment Data Revised

| February 3, 2010

U.S. May Lose 824,000 Jobs as Employment Data Revised: Analysis Feb. 3 (Bloomberg Multimedia) — The U.S. may lose 824,000 jobs when the government releases its annual revision to employment data on Feb. 5, showing the labor market was in worse shape during the recession than known at the time. Click here for a Bloomberg […]

The United States Budget Flow Chart

| February 2, 2010

Gene Inger….The China Power Posture

| February 2, 2010

Gene Inger’s Daily Briefing . . . for Wednesday February 3, 2010:   Good evening;   Is China trying to ‘buy’ . . .their way into a power posture vis-à-vis the U.S.A.? It’s a question that has dogged us all through the financial crisis domestically. Why would a smart crowd, even knowing (as our forecast […]

Greece….The Ballooning Of Sovereign Balance Sheets

| February 2, 2010

Greece Part Of Unfolding Sovereign Debt Story By Mohamed El-ErianGlobal investors worldwide are starting to pay more attention to what is unfolding in Greece. Yet most still think of Greece as an isolated case, just as they did for Dubai a few months ago. With time, they will see Greece as part of a much […]

Quote Of The Day…..

| February 1, 2010

“Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.”             – Alexander Hamilton

Gene Inger Talks About Growing Persian Gulf Tensions

| February 1, 2010

Gene Inger’s Daily Briefing . . . for Tuesday February 2, 2010:   Good evening;    A defined surge . . . by the Senior Averages on Monday was not unexpected for the early February start. However; the reigns were actually pulled-back on this express to the upside, even as it appears the move was […]

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