Month: September 2016

2016 Budget Deficit Almost Final Around $600 Billion

usissuescom Entitlements, GDP & Employment, Statistics, Taxes & Spending , , ,

cropped-bob-shapiro.jpg   By Bob Shapiro

The US Budget Deficit for Fiscal 2016 is about to close, and various estimates bracket a $600 Billion Deficit. I’ve seen numerous analyses which forecast this to rise to over $1 Trillion over the next few years, largely due to the growth of Social Security, Medicare, & other Health outlays, which currently make up about 2/3 of total federal government outlays.

Here is a wealth of numbers from the Office of the President. (I copied below only a tiny amount because the many graphs didn’t copy well.)

2016 United States Budget Estimate

GDP: $16.5T

Total Receipts: $3.34T

Total Outlays: $3.95T

Total Surplus or Deficit as Percentage of GDP: -3.3%

* Note: To the extent feasible, the data have been adjusted using chained 2009 GDP to provide consistency with the 2015 Budget and to provide comparability over time.

CONTINUE READING –>

Powering Countries, Empowering People

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Energy Policy, Foreign Policy , , , , , , , ,

By Paul Driessen – Re-Blogged From http://www.WattsUpWithThat.com

Affordable energy brings jobs, improved living standards and pursuit of happiness 

electricity_access

For 16 years, in a scene out of pre-industrial America, Thabo Molubi and his partner made furniture in South Africa’s outback, known locally as the “veld.” Lacking even a stream to turn a water wheel and machinery, they depended solely on hand and foot power. But then an electrical line reached the area.

The two installed lights, and power saws and drills. Their productivity increased fourfold. They hired local workers to make, sell and ship more tables and chairs, of better quality, at higher prices, to local and far away customers. Workers had more money to spend, thereby benefitting still more families.

Continue reading →

Financial Repression And A Chronic Unemployment Problem

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , ,

By Gordon T Long – Re-Blogged From http://www.silver-phoenix500.com

What is little appreciated today is that the Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act in 1978 assisted in “birthing” Financial Repression and placing us firmly on the Monetary policy path the Federal Reserve is presently imprisoned by.

Deep State planners fully understood then that employment would become an increasingly larger problem in America and within the developed nations as leveraged buyouts with immediate “downsizing”, “rightsizing” and “outsourcing” were beginning to dominate the financial engineering game of the day.

Driven by the political concerns in the late 1970s about rising unemployment, the Humphrey-Hawkins legislation in 1978 fundamentally compelled the U.S. central bank to drive interest rates progressively lower (see chart below).

Continue reading →

Free Market Always Prevails

usissuescom Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy, Regulation , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Michael Pento – Re-Blogged From http://www.PentoPort.com

The global securities market got a surprise recently when US core consumer price inflation crept up to 2.3% year over year in the month of August. This closely followed core measure, which strips out the more volatile food and energy costs, increased 0.3%; this was the biggest rise in core CPI since February.

According to the government, while the costs associated with food and energy decreased, price increases came primarily from medical care commodities and medical care services. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the prices for medicine, doctor appointments, and health insurance rose the most since 1984.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that consumers will have any relief from the rising cost of health care. According to Freedom Partners the average state increase for health insurance premiums under the Affordable Care Act was 15.1% from 2015, as the promised premium reductions from Obamacare circles the drain.

The rise in health care costs stands as another glaring example of the negative consequence of supplanting free-markets with government control. Demonstrating once again how flawed Keynesian economic policies inevitably lead to stagflation.

Continue reading →

Enhance Prosperity And Improve Health: Slash Regulations

usissuescom Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Regulation , , , , ,

By Steven H Hanke – Re-Blogged From http://www.Silver-Phoenix500.com

Productivity and economic growth continue to surprise on the downside in most countries. While there is a great deal of handwringing over the so-called productivity puzzle, little attention is given to the real elixir: freer markets and more competition. Indeed, the policy tide is moving in the opposite direction in most places.

To get a grip on the productivity puzzle, let’s lift a page from the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who once said, “You’re entitled to your own opinions, but you’re not entitled to your own facts.” Yes. There is nothing better than a hard look at empirical evidence to see if it supports those who espouse freer markets or those who embrace the regulatory state as models to enhance our prosperity and health.

Continue reading →

Is Stockman Right? Is This The Big One?

usissuescom Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , , , , ,

By Andrew Hoffman – Re-Blogged From http://www.Silver-Phoenix500.com

(September 26, 2016) It’s early Monday morning, on what could not only be a historically bad week for global financial markets, but the “beginning of the end” of the manipulated worldwide perception that “everything’s OK.”  Most of the world’s 7.4 billion denizens know this already, having watched their savings, currencies, standards of living, and political and/or social stability decline substantially since the 2008 financial crisis.  Which also goes for the majority of Westerners, I might add.  However, Western “intervention operatives” – like the PPT, ESF, Fed, and gold Cartel – have been more successful at manipulating markets to defer such perception.  Moreover, having the world’s reserve currency enables the inflationary hell the vast majority are experiencing; and in some cases, like Venezuela, hyperinflation; to be temporarily averted, in lieu of a more gradual, “frog-in-a-pot” type syndrome.  This is why gold, in the “average currency,” is trading at, near, or in many cases well above previous all-time highs.  Which of course the “evil Troika” of Washington, Wall Street, and the MSM won’t dare discussing, in their cumulative desperation to have you believe the PPT-supported, “record-high” Dow Jones Propaganda Average is indicative of a stability that simply does not exist.

Continue reading →

New USGS Study Shows Heat Retaining Concrete and Asphalt Have Encroached Upon US Climate Stations

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Statistics , , , ,

By Anthony Watts – Re-Blogged From http://www.WattsUpWithThat.com

A new study from USGS by Keven Gallo and George Xian verifies what we’ve already learned and published on via the Surface Stations project; that concrete and asphalt (aka impervious surfaces) have increased near weather stations that are used to monitor climate. In this case, it is the much studied USHCN, that climate network I presented a poster on at AGU 2015. Details here.

What is most important about this paper is that it quantifies the percentage of stations that have had increased amounts of impervious surface area getting closer to the stations. As I have long since maintained, such things act as heat sinks, which increase the night-time temperature when they released the stored energy from the sun that was absorbed during the day as infrared, warming the air near the thermometer, and thus biasing the minimum temperature upwards.

Continue reading →

Rejoice…Central Banks Think You’re On To Something

usissuescom Foreign Policy, Monetary Policy , , , ,

By John Stepek – Re-Blogged From http://www.Gold-Eagle.com

Central banks have got the economy and markets covered.

They know what they’re doing. Their theories are backed up by decades of academic research and expert advice.

Queen Elizabeth inspecting gold bars in Bank of England. Source: Money Week

Expert advice, as we all know, is completely apolitical, changes rarely, and never, ever does a complete U-turn, like – I don’t know – telling us all to start eating butter after years of telling us not to, or something crazy like that.

Continue reading →

Bond Bubble has Finally Reached its Apogee

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , ,

By Michael Pento – Re-Blogged From http://www.PentoPort.com

Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren recently rattled markets when he warned that low-interest rates were increasing the temperature of the U.S. economy, which now runs the risk of overheating. That sunny opinion was echoed by several other Federal Reserve officials who are trying to portray an economy that is on a solid footing. And thus, prepare investors and consumers for an imminent rise in rates. But perhaps someone should check the temperatures of those at the Federal Reserve, the idea that this tepid economy is starting to sizzle could not be further from the truth.

In fact, recent data demonstrates that U.S. economic growth for the past three quarters has trickled in at a rate of just 0.9%, 0.8%, and 1.1% respectively. In addition, tax revenue is down year on year, S&P 500 earnings fell 6 quarters in a row and productivity has dropped for the last 3 quarters. And even though growth for the second half of 2016 is anticipated with the typical foolish optimism, recent data displays an economy that isn’t doing anything other than stumbling towards recession.

Continue reading →

THE DISINTEGRATION OF U.S. INFRASTRUCTURE: Quarter Million Water Main Breaks A Year

usissuescom Energy Policy , , , ,

Re-Blogged From SRSrocco Report

The United States is sitting on top of a massive amount of aging infrastructure that continues to disintegrate at an alarming rate.  According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the U.S. suffers from 240,000 water main breaks a year.  That’s roughly 700 water main breaks each day.

Some of these water main breaks can be quite large.  Here is a picture of water main break that took place on Howard Street in Baltimore.

large-water-main-break

Continue reading →

The War On Cash Is Good For Gold

usissuescom Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , , ,

By Frank Holmes – Re-Blogged From http://www.Gold-Eagle.com

The consumer price index (CPI), a measure of inflation, came in hotter than expected Friday, registering 2.3 percent year-over-year in August on expectations of 2.0 percent. With the five-year Treasury yielding 1.19 percent, government bond investors are now receiving a negative real rate of return (because 2.3 minus 1.19 comes out to negative 1.11 percent).

This is highly constructive for the price of gold. As I’ve discussed many times before, the yellow metal has benefited when real rates have fallen below zero. This was the case in September 2011 when gold hit its all-time high of $1,900 per ounce. And last year around this time, the opposite was true—positive real rates were a drag on gold.

Continue reading →

Fascist Business Model: Reich Economics

usissuescom Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy, Statistics , , , , ,

By Jim Willie CB – Re-Blogged From http://www.goldenjackass.com

The Fascist Business Model incorporates all the worse elements of Keynesian economics, a broken fallacious school of thought. The model also integrates a vast system of economic heresy, put forth as public address dogma. All their messages are wrong. They are instead aligned with support of the power structure where big banks conduct self-dealing and print money for themselves.

 

Consider many of the Fascist Business Model messages, laced within the endless din of propaganda. Their messages are all false, in support of the existing power structure in place. The Jackass privately calls it Reich Economics, a truly broken appendix to the demonstrably broken Keynesian chapters of heretical economics. The West has followed the methods of John Maynard Keynes, who also held disdain for the Gold Standard. In doing so, the West has destroyed the financial platforms, eroded the capital formation devices, polluted the business arenas, and put the entire USEconomy at risk of systemic failure. The only success of the model is preservation of power, which soon will come to an end.

Continue reading →

Japan’s New Framework Of Hyperinflationary Failure

usissuescom Foreign Policy, Monetary Policy , , , , , , , , ,

By Andrew Hoffman – Re-Blogged From http://www.Silver-Phoenix500.com

Am I allowed to start with Deutsche Bank?  Or do I have to defer to the Bank of Japan’s Keystone Kops; who once again laid a giant goose egg?  Who, beyond a shadow of a doubt, proved they have not a clue what they are doing – in dramatically accelerating the pace at which the “Land of the Setting Sun” plunges to “second world” status, en route to becoming the first “Western Power” to experience 21st Century hyperinflation.

Hmmm, what to do?  As sadly, I could easily write entire articles on countless other topics as well – such as the Bank of International Settlements issuing a dire warning about the massively over leveraged Chinese banking sector; Donald Trump’s surging popularity; Wells Fargo’s “crime of a lifetime”; the exploding worldwide pension crisis;  OPEC’s Secretary General all but confirming “no deal” at next week’s “all-important” crude oil producers meeting; and the U.S. national debt – and budget deficit – expanding at the fastest rate since the 2008-09 financial crisis.  And the answer is, I’m starting with Deutsche Bank – as unquestionably, it poses the greatest near-term risk to global political, economic, social, and monetary stability.

Continue reading →

Using Evidence for Decisions

usissuescom Energy Policy, Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment , , , ,

cropped-bob-shapiro.jpg   By Bob Shapiro

Sometimes numbers can give different messages depending on how you look at them. With a Presidential election a month and a half away, this can be a problem.

For example, stats were released on Tuesday for Housing Starts and also for Housing Permits. The Starts number for August was down about 6% from the July figure, while the Permits were down just slightly.

Image result for housing starts

Continue reading →

The Great Skittles Non-troversy

usissuescom Foreign Policy , ,

By Kyle Becker – Re-Blogged From http://www.IJR.com

[There’s a Skittles comparison bruhaha going on. This video was from quite a few years ago. -Bob]

The video masterfully demonstrates the problem with massive immigration to the United States, and the more effective strategy of exporting freedom and democracy around the world to improve people’s quality of life. Gumballs, Skittles, there’s something about immigration controversy that lends itself to candy analogies.

CONTINUE READING –>

The New York – New Jersey Bombings Illustrate Why Donald Trump Will Win

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , , , , , ,

By Onan Coca – Re-Bloggd From http://www.Constitution.com

In 2004 President George W. Bush ran a hard-fought reelection campaign against a popular, if doofy, Democrat opponent John Kerry. For all of his faults, Kerry was far more well-liked and far less scandal plagued than today’s Democrat candidate. Bush was able to eke out a reelection victory mostly on the shoulders of his decisive reaction to the 9/11 tragedy.

In fact, the 2004 election made the phrase “security moms” famous, as the once known “soccer mom” had suddenly awakened to our dangerous new world where Islamic terrorism was the reality and her “mama bear” instincts had taken over. The “security mom” knew she had to do all she could to care for her loved ones, and that now meant using her vote to keep them safe.

Continue reading →

What The Media Is Not Telling You About The Captured Afghan Terrorist And Where He Learned His Terror Trade

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , , , , , , ,

By Walid Shoebat – Re-Blogged From http://www.FreedomOutpost.com

(Note: If pictures/videos don’t display, please go to link at bottom of page. -Bob)

We now know that the Chelsea bombing and other bombings suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami was trained in Afghanistan and slipped the eye of the intelligence. Investigators first identified Rahami Sunday afternoon by identifying him through a fingerprint. The cell phone on the pressure cooker device was also found.

A man who described himself as a childhood friend of Rahami told the Herald the suspect had made a life-changing trip to Afghanistan two years ago.

“At one point he left to go to Afghanistan, and two years ago he came back, popped up out of nowhere and he was real religious,” friend Flee Jones, 27, said of suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami. “And it was shocking. I’m trying to understand what’s going on. I’ve never seen him like this.”

Continue reading →

Why I Deny Big Climate Alarmism

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Energy Policy, GDP & Employment , , , , , , , ,

By Walter Donway – Re-Blogged From Savvy Street

What leads an objective non-scientist, examining the arguments, to reject “global warming,” a.k.a., “Big Climate alarmism”?

A couple weeks ago, my wife and I had dinner with a long-time friend of hers and her boyfriend. My wife had been friends with this woman for years, but never introduced me. Now, it seems, the woman wanted to meet me and to bring along her boyfriend. My wife warned me that they were “very Left,” “big Sanders supporters, now Hillary supporters,” and “politically correct.” I hoped that the restaurant’s cuisine would be endlessly fascinating material for conversation, but, just in case, I boned up on Jane Austen’s novels.

It is a sign of our times, however, that the one topic of conversation once reliably safe and boring—the weather—is now more treacherous than an abandoned mine field. (Let’s not get into that.) The global warming/climate change Gestapo (just kidding, will explain) sought out the ugliest epithet of modern times—Holocaust denier—and tailored it to fit their intellectual adversaries. It reflects, I suppose, their scientific temperament of openness to challenge and maintaining an atmosphere of objective discourse. About as much as if I, observing their bully boy tactics toward all opponents, referred to them as the Gestapo of global warming. But I don’t.

Continue reading →

Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #241

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Energy Policy, Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Regulation , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Week That Was: September 17, 2016 – Brought to You by www.SEPP.org

By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project

Vale Roger Cohen PhD RIP: We have lost a friend. Among his many accomplishments, Roger Cohen was a leader of the Exxon research team who knew that the guesses made by climate modelers were exactly that – guesses. They were not scientific predictions or knowledge. Apparently, many politicians, including attorneys general, cannot comprehend the difference among scientific guesses, predictions, and knowledge. See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.

###################################################

Quote of the Week. “Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt.” ― Richard Feynman

Continue reading →

War on Cash Turns to $20, $50, and $100 Bills

usissuescom Monetary Policy, Regulation , , , , ,

Re-Blogged From Money Metals News

Harvard professor and economist Ken Rogoff is once again leading the chorus of high-level academics and officials who declare cash is only for criminals. He made his case in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial called the “Sinister Side of Cash.” The solution, he declares, is to simply get rid of anything but the smallest bank notes.

In his vision, drug dealers, human traffickers, and tax cheats are everywhere, but they are reliant on cash. Our benevolent central planners can largely incapacitate them by ridding society of anything larger than a $10 bill.

Kingpins won’t know what to do when a single-engine Cessna full of cocaine requires a Boeing 747 full of $1s, $5s, and $10s to make payment.

Rogoff seems to blame cash, not bad people, for facilitating criminal activity. He writes;
Continue reading →

Things Go From Bad to Worse for Ireland

usissuescom Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Regulation , , , , , , ,

By Dan O’Brien – Re-Blogged From http://www.independent.ie

Twenty years ago this month I moved to Malta to work in the European Commission’s diplomatic mission on the island. With the Mediterranean state seeking to become a member of the EU, my job, as the mission’s economic and political affairs officer, was to be a cog in the complicated process of the country joining the bloc.

But within weeks of arrival, the government unexpectedly changed. The new administration was almost alone among European political parties at the time in not wanting membership of the EU. The Maltese had something akin to their Brexit moment. The accession process was halted in its tracks.

As is the case now with Theresa May’s government, it was far from clear what kind of relationship the new Maltese administration wanted with Europe. Like the Brexiteers last June after the referendum, the island’s opposition hadn’t expected to win and were not prepared for the consequences of its victory.

Continue reading →

The Fed Has Set Us Up For A Massive 50% Market Collapse

usissuescom Uncategorized , , , , , ,

By Graham Summers – Re-Blogged From http://www.Gold-Eagle.com

The Fed is running a virtual repeat of 1937.

The common narrative is that the Fed “didn’t do enough” during the Great Depression. This is used to justify the Fed’s use of non-stop extraordinary monetary policy post-2008.

But it’s a total lie.

The Fed went bananas in the aftermath of 1929, expanding its balance sheet by 300%. On a relative basis, the Fed’s balance sheet grew from 5% of US GDP to 23% of GDP.

Continue reading →

American Economics

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , ,

By Andy Sutton – Re-Blogged From http://www.Silver-Phoenix500.com

Over the years, we have written multiple times about the system of Keynesian economics, its dysfunction…and the fact that it is a pure lie. This has all been well-documented from studies, observations, right down to remarks made by Keynes himself regarding the long-term viability of his new faux economics.

However, from Keynesian economics, there has morphed another type of economics. A more ignorant and destructive type of scarce resource allocation – which is what economics really is after all – and this type is no respecter of persons, intellect, position, or influence. We could easily call it the economics of entitlement, but that would be misleading because when most think of entitlements, they think about Social Security, Medicare, and other government programs. No, that’s not where the sense of American (and global) entitlement ends. It ends with the average working stiff who is paying 20% on a $40,000 / 7 -year truck loan with a balloon payment because his buddies told him he wasn’t cool if he didn’t have such a truck.

Continue reading →

How Much Will Americans Pay to Battle Climate Change? Not Much

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, GDP & Employment , , , , ,

By David Middleton – Re-Blogged From http://www.WattsUpWithThat.com

This is a question that is rarely asked by pollsters, but is is probably far more important of a question than “Are you now, or have you ever been a climate denier?”…

A wide range of public opinion polls point to a clear and growing trend: Americans of all political stripes are increasingly worried about climate change. This is undoubtedly good news for those advocating for robust policies to reduce carbon emissions, the main contributor to climate change.

But here’s a less asked and probably more important question: What are Americans actually willing to pay to do something about it?

This is what researchers from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) and the Associated Press—NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago set out to better understand. Their nationally representative pollfound that 43% of Americans were unwilling to pay an additional $1 per month in their electricity bill to combat climate change—and a large majority were unwilling to pay $10 per month. That’s despite the fact that a whopping 77% said they think climate change is happening and 65% think it is a problem the government should do something about. Support plummets as the amount of the fee increases.

Continue reading →

Federal Reserve Risks Markets Shock With September Rate Hike

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , ,

Re-Blogged From http://www.Newsmax.com

Janet Yellen will deliver “the biggest shock to markets since taking over as chair of the Federal Reserve” should the U.S. central bank raise interest rates this month, a Financial Times survey of Wall Street economists has found.

The FT reported that 85 percent of those polled expect the central bank to refrain from a rate hike at a meeting next week.

The central bank last raised borrowing costs in December, ending seven years of near-zero rates. Policymakers signaled in June they could still hike rates twice in what remained of 2016.

Policymakers will go into the meeting divided, with some concerned current low rates will fuel a surge in inflation while another camp has argued that the Fed should not rush to raise rates.

Continue reading →

United States Imported Oil and Gold

usissuescom Energy Policy, Foreign Policy, Monetary Policy , , , , ,

By Gary Christenson – Re-Blogged From The Deviant Investor

The US has imported crude oil for many decades. The following data (1970 – 2015) comes from the Energy Information Administration of the US government. This data shows reported barrels of crude oil imported into the US.

(Note: This is not a comprehensive analysis of imported energy, nor does it compensate for exports of crude oil, imports or exports of coal, natural gas or other energy sources.)

Continue reading →

Why The Greater Recession Will Be Dollar Bearish

usissuescom Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Michael Pento – Re-Blogged From http://www.gold-eagle.com

The Great Recession of 2008 provided markets with an interesting irony: As the US economy was collapsing under the weight of crumbling home prices, investors curiously flocked to the US dollar under the guise of “The Safety Trade.”

But the truth is that investors weren’t running into the dollar for safety, what they were actually doing was unwinding a carry trade. In a carry trade an investor borrows a depreciating currency that offers a relatively low interest rate and uses those funds to purchase an appreciating currency that offers the potential for higher returns on its sovereign debt and stock market. The trade’s objective is to capture the difference between rates, while also benefitting from the currency that is rising in value against the borrowed (shorted) funds.

Continue reading →

Economists Report that a $15 Minimum Wage Only Hurts Low Wage Workers!

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Regulation , , , ,

From the Daily Caller News Foundation:

The push by labor unions and activists to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour may hurt young and less-educated workers the most.

In 2013, the Obama administration proposed an increase to the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00 an hour. President Barack Obama has continued to call for an increase in the federal minimum wage.

The fight focuses on $15 as the new minimum acceptable number to activists and labor leaders. Seattle raised its minimum wage to $15 in 2014, followed by San Francisco and Los Angeles. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a new $15 minimum wage for New York state in 2016, and the University of California has proposed to pay its low-wage employees $15.

Continue reading →

End States Who Sponsor Terrorism

usissuescom Foreign Policy , , , ,

Originally published on October 2, 2001. All the more relevant today. — Editor

By Leonard Piekoff – Re-Blogged From http://capitalismmagazine.com

Fifty years of increasing American appeasement in the Mideast have led to fifty years of increasing contempt in the Muslim world for the U.S. The climax was September 11, 2001.

Fifty years ago, Truman and Eisenhower surrendered the West’s property rights in oil, although that oil rightfully belonged to those in the West whose science, technology, and capital made its discovery and use possible. The first country to nationalize Western oil, in 1951, was Iran. The rest, observing our frightened silence, hurried to grab their piece of the newly available loot.

Continue reading →

The FED and the Elections

usissuescom Monetary Policy , , , , , , ,

cropped-bob-shapiro.jpg   By Bob Shapiro

The Stock Markets often predict the outcome of Presidential elections. If stocks are up – or even if they just are flat – the party which holds the White House tends to win the election. If stocks are down – especially if they’re down big time – the opposite party is favored to take the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been in the 18,000 area for the last two years, and as the US Economy has stagnated, the PE Ratio has gotten up to a near bubble level over 25. This has been achieved single handedly by the FED, which except for last December’s hike, hasn’t raised rates for 10 years, keeping them near zero for several of those years.

fed-funds-85-2016

Continue reading →

Attack The Fed’s War On Savers, Workers And The Unborn (Taxpayers)

usissuescom Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , ,

By David Stockman – Re-Blogged From Stockman’s Contra Corner

The central banks have gone so far off the deep-end with financial price manipulation that it is only a matter of time before some astute politician comes after them with all barrels blasting. As a matter of fact, that appears to be exactly what Donald Trump unloaded on bubble vision this morning:

By keeping interest rates low, the Fed has created a “false stock market,” Donald Trump argued in a wide-ranging CNBC interview, exclaiming that Fed Chair Janet Yellen and central bank policymakers are very political, and should be “ashamed” of what they’re doing to the country…

He’s completely correct. After all, they are crushing real wages with their 2% inflation targeting; destroying savers with NIRP and sub-zero rates; and burying unborn taxpayers in monumental debts that today’s politicians are pleased to issue with reckless abandon because the short-run carry cost is nil.

Continue reading →

Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #240

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Energy Policy, Foreign Policy, Regulation , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Week That Was: September 10, 2016 – Brought to You by www.SEPP.org

By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project

Treaty or No Treaty? According to reports, on September 3, U.S. President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed the Paris Climate Agreement (Treaty) prior to the G-20 economic meeting in Hangzhou, China. It is becoming clear that Mr. Obama has no intention of submitting the agreement for approval by two-thirds of the US Senate to become a Treaty, as required by the US Constitution — Article II, Section 2, Clause 2. As such, the agreement is not a treaty having the force of law in the United States, nor is it even a Congressional-Executive Agreement requiring a simple majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The enforcement of the agreement under international law is a subject for legal scholars and; possibly extensive litigation. As the situation exists now, the future President can simply state that the United States changed its mind. Of course, the avid green groups would be outraged.

Continue reading →

Negative Rates Will Kill Growth

usissuescom Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , , , , , , ,

By Peter Schiff – Re-Blogged From http://www.europac.com

For years I have argued that ultra-low interest rates act more as an economic sedative than a stimulant. This idea has elicited laughter from the economic establishment. But it is becoming clearer that rates set by central banks that are far below the levels that free markets would have otherwise determined have dragged the world into the economic mud. The simple proof is currently arising in Europe where negative interest rates are now transforming companies from agents of growth, production, and employment into financial sloths that exist solely to borrow money.

In a September 7 front page article, the Wall Street Journal reported that as of September 5,  706 billion worth of investment-grade European corporate debt, or roughly 30% of the market, according to trading platform Tradeweb, was trading at negative yields, an increase from just 5% in January. These negative yields were the result of intense activism on the part of the European Central Bank (ECB).

Continue reading →

The Impoverishment Of The Masses

usissuescom Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy, Regulation , , , , , , ,

By Alasdair Macleod – Re-Blogged From http://www.financeandeconomics.org

Feudal and mercantilist economic systems were characterised by the lower orders of ordinary people being enslaved by, or subjected to, the commands of an elite. Beyond basic subsistence, serfs and slaves were not enabled to consume other goods, nor were they given the means to do so. Communism was hawked as handing power to the serfs, or workers, united in and by the state. But again, it meant that workers remained serfs, employed and commanded by a state set up in their name. Freedom from the bourgeoisie became subjugation by the state. Only capitalism, founded on free markets and freedom of choice for all, held the promise of freeing the masses from a life of drudgery and servitude.

Continue reading →

Fiction, Fairy Tales And Fiat

usissuescom Foreign Policy, Monetary Policy , , , ,

By Guy Christopher – Re-Blogged From https://www.moneymetals.com

Do young Americans today know anything about economics?

No, they don’t, according to a study during the 2016 presidential primary season, which says lots of other Americans don’t either.

The survey found 58% of millennials favor government-run socialism (statistically 6 out of 10), while a nearly identical number (64%) don’t want government interference in free markets.

The incompatible findings make no sense, unless… Americans aged 18-24 simply don’t understand the real meanings of either concept.

Continue reading →

History Always Repeats Itself

usissuescom Foreign Policy, Monetary Policy , , , , ,

By Roxy Lewis – Re-Blogged From http://www.Gold-Eagle.com

The price of gold historically remained stable for 200 hundred years up to 1914, except for the period of the Napoleonic wars from 1797-1821.

After the unfortunate war of 1809 against Napoleon the rate of the Bankozettel (the paper currency of Austria) went into a serious fall accompanied by rising prices. The empire was forced to enter the “continental blockade” and was hit hard as imports on many goods was forbidden. Those on fixed incomes were barely able to avoid starvation. Corruption of civil servants grew massively. Great fortunes were made by some; the stock market turned into a literal “gambling hell”. The government made things worse by forbidding the publishing of prices in the newspapers. The farmers calculated their prices according to the stock market price of the Bankozettels and became rich, buying jewelry and luxuries for their women, to save money in goods as soon as possible. Real estate speculation broke out, and the prices of goods were rising into the sky. Another attempt was made to reform the state’s finances, exchanging the Bankozettel against another paper money, backed by a mortgage on church properties (a practical assumption that they belong to the state and spread widely after the French Revolution). This attempt failed as well.

Continue reading →

In the Middle of the “Hottest Year Ever” Come Record Wheat Harvests

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, GDP & Employment , , , , , ,

By Anthony Watts – Re-Blogged From http://www.WattsUpWithThat.com

From the “Paul Ehrlich is still spectacularly wrong” department:

Malthus Chokes on Bumper Wheat Crop

A generation after leading scientists and experts warned the world of an escalating series of horrendous famines, the crop gluts continue. The latest kick in the pants to the Malthusian doomsayers is a bumper global wheat harvest. Defying not only the Club of Rome doomsayers, but also the climate Chicken Littles who have been warning about damage from rising temperatures to world agriculture, food production is booming even as meteorologists call July 2016 the hottest month ever.

Continue reading →

Developing Countries Turn Citizens Into Debt Slaves

usissuescom Foreign Policy, Monetary Policy , , , , , , ,

By John Rubino – Re-Blogged From Dollar Collapse

One of the big advantages of being a Latin American or Asian country used to be — somewhat counter-intuitively — the lack of credit available to most citizens. The banking system in, say Brazil or Thailand simply wasn’t “advanced” enough to offer credit card, auto, or mortgage loans on a scale sufficient to turn the locals into US-style debt slaves.

But that, alas, is changing as those countries adopt their rich cousins’ worst habits.

Brazil, for instance, was once seen as a Latin American success story and future world power. But then it ramped up government spending and started encouraging its people to become “consumers.” And the rest is familiar, if depressing, history.

Continue reading →

Apple Gets A Shakedown From The EU. Is Ireland Next To Bail?

usissuescom Foreign Policy, Regulation , , , , , ,

By Frank Holmes – Re-Blogged From http://www.Gold-Eagle.com

“Total political crap.”

That’s how Apple CEO Tim Cook described the European Commission’s ruling that the iPhone maker must pay 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion), plus interest, in back taxes to Ireland, its longtime European host. Meanwhile, the island-nation is being accused of giving Apple an “illegal” sweetheart deal in exchange for jobs.

Political crap, indeed. I hate to say it, but I told you so.

June’s Brexit referendum, I’ve argued, was about so much more than immigration. U.K. citizens and businesses are fed up with mountains of rules and regulations from unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, controlled by French and German socialists, that trample on basic personal freedom. There are ludicrous laws on the books legislating everything from the kind of lightbulbs you can use to the wattage of your vacuum cleaner to the curve and length of your bananas and cucumbers to the color of your olives.

Now, Ireland is learning a similarly hard lesson on Brussels’ policies of envy.

Continue reading →

Ireland “Especially Exposed” To “International Shocks”

usissuescom Foreign Policy, Monetary Policy , ,

By Mark O’Byrne – Re-Blogged From http://www.Gold-Eagle.com

Ireland remains especially exposed to another financial shock because of the extremely high levels of public and private debt, the open nature of the economy and Brexit.  Irish Central Bank Governor Philip Lane has warned in a pre-budget letter to Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan.

“Ireland is especially exposed due to the legacy of high public and private debt levels, the sensitivity of small, highly-open economies to international shocks and Brexit-related vulnerabilities,” Ireland’s Central Bank Governor said.

Continue reading →

Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #239

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Energy Policy, Regulation , , , , , , , ,

The Week That Was: September 3, 2016 – Brought to You by www.SEPP.org

By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project

Did Obama Sign? What? There were reports speculating that U.S. President Obama and Chinese President Xi Junping would officially sign the Paris Climate Treaty (Agreement) when they met on September 3, ahead of the G-20 economic meeting in Hangzhou, China. As of midnight US Eastern Daylight Time on September 3, noon Hangzhou daylight time on September 4, there were no official reports that such a formal signing had taken place. Several news reports stated that both groups announced ratification of the treaty. However, there may be a language problem. According to the Constitution of the US, the President cannot ratify a treaty, ratification requires approval of two-thirds of the US Senate. In closing hours of the Paris Conference of Parties (COP-21) ending December 12, 2015, the US delegation insisted on changing the document so it would not appear to be a treaty but a non-binding agreement. No doubt, there will be several interpretations of the theater taking place in Hangzhou. It may be another version of theater dating back to the period of the Six Dynasties. See links under After Paris!

#############################################

Continue reading →

Cloud Feedback

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Statistics , , , , ,

By Willis Eschenbach – Re-Blogged From http://www.WattsUpWithThat.com

In the comments to Christopher Monckton’s latest post, Nick Stokes drew attention to Soden and Held’s analysis of feedback in the climate models. I reproduce their Table 1 below:

soden held table 1

Figure 1. Soden and Held’s Table 1, showing all of the feedback parameters calculated from the models.

I found several amazing things in this table. The first is the huge range of values for the various parameters. While all of the Planck parameters are within a few percent of each other, the lapse rate feedback varies by more than three to one from smallest to largest; the surface albedo feedback varies by nearly five to one; and the cloud feedback varies by an amazing factor of more than eight to one from smallest to largest.

Continue reading →

Can The “Rig” Survive An Economic War?

usissuescom Foreign Policy, GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Bill Holter – Re-Blogged From http://www.Silver-Phoenix500.com

I did not plan to write another public article so soon after the last one. However, today’s topic(s) are very important and very connected in my opinion.  I apologize for the length…but I can’t make this stuff up, I just try to tie it together.  First, we have been hearing the word “rigged” on a daily basis and pertaining to many facets of our life.  We hear the word regarding markets, politics (specifically elections), our rule of law and judicial system, and even when it comes to lawmakers and bribery.

Bill Gross formerly of PIMCO, at one point managed the largest pool of money on the planet. He is no fool.  I would also believe because of his fame, tenure and reputation, he would not lightly claim that markets are “rigged”.  Not only has he claimed this for several months, he now says THE FED “has mastered market manipulation”!  https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bill-gross-fed-mastered-market-115839451.html   Please understand this is a VERY BIG statement on his part as he is (was?) a member of a very exclusive club (and we ain’t in it).  Do you suppose he would risk his reputation and inclusion in “the club” lightly on just a suspicion?  Or do you believe he is a man who firmly believes what he says and does so out of a steadfast conscience?

Continue reading →

Cart and Horse – Cause and Effect – Industrial Revolution and Climate Change

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Energy Policy, GDP & Employment , , , , , , ,

By Dr. Tim Ball – Re-Blogged From http://www.WattsUpWithThat.com

IPCC-horsecart1

Proponents of the anthropogenic global warming hypothesis (AGW) seldom, if ever, consider the null hypothesis. As a result, it is now accepted but still unproven. This parallels the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) whose work is accepted and applied as an underlying principle of policy and research in all countries even though it is found wanting by failed predictions (projections). You can see the effects of this in the US where the IPCC work is accepted by NOAA as the gold standard, which makes it the basis for all other research in every government department. The people, like Gavin Schmidt at NASA GISS, who are telling the politicians the work is valid are bureaucrats, most of them directly connected to the IPCC. In Canada, the Prime Minister used a report prepared for him by Gregory Flato, an Environment Canada employee, and a Lead Author of the 2013 IPCC Report. His Report says in part

Continue reading →

Two Hundred Million Dollar Scientific Grant Fraud Case

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism , , , , , ,

By Eric Worrall – Re-Blogged From http://www.WattsUpWithThat.com

Federal Prosecutors have launched a gigantic fraud case against Duke University, North Carolina, accusing Duke University of embezzling $200 million in federal research grants, by presenting doctored data with their grant applications.

Whistleblower sues Duke, claims doctored data helped win $200 million in grants

On a Friday in March 2013, a researcher working in the lab of a prominent pulmonary scientist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, was arrested on charges of embezzlement. The researcher, biologist Erin Potts-Kant, later pled guilty to siphoning more than $25,000 from the Duke University Health System, buying merchandise from Amazon, Walmart, and Target—even faking receipts to legitimize her purchases. A state judge ultimately levied a fine, and sentenced her to probation and community service.

Continue reading →

Psychological Manipulation And Economic Deception Are Now The Order Of The Day

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , ,

By Sol Palha – Re-Blogged From http://www.Silver-Phoenix500.com

It is possible if one takes the right actions to make money and remain relatively unscathed in such an environment. One cannot say the same for the masses because they are walking with their eyes wide shut. In other words, they do not see what’s happening; their heads are stuck in the sand. They are oblivious to what’s going around, and if you try to warn them, they are apt to strangle you. This situation is strikingly similar to “Plato’s allegory of the cave.”

Psychological Manipulation  

It is being used ubiquitously to control the masses and their perceptions.  The goal is to alter the perception; modify the perception and you change reality. You need to start positioning yourself to be in the land of neutrality when it comes to taking a stance. Neutral does not mean running and hiding in some zone. You should be able to look at the argument from both sides of the coin and agree with either side if necessary without becoming emotionally attached to the outcome.

Continue reading →

Ominous Warning From The Stock Market?

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Monetary Policy , , , , ,

By Dr Robert McHugh – Re-Blogged From http://www.Gold-Eagle.com

….The Fed has become increasingly political, and they have taken their role within the Plunge Protection Team, their legislative right from the President’s Working Group established in 1988 after the 1987 stock market crash, to greater heights, more frequent intervention, and intervention that occurs outside of a stock market crash environment which was the original intent. In other words, the Fed can print money, hand it to its Wall Street surrogates, and order the purchase of stock index futures to push the stock market higher, or to slow or stop declines.

Continue reading →

Urbane Legends

usissuescom CAGW Alarmism, Energy Policy, Regulation , , , , , , , , ,

By Willis Eschenbach – Re-Blogged From http://www.WattsUpWithThat.com

So we were sitting around the fire at the fish camp on the Colombia a few days ago, and a man said “Did you hear about the scientific study into meat preservatives?” We admitted our ignorance, and he started in. The story was like this:

“A few years ago there was a study done by some University, I can’t remember which one, but it was a major one. What they did was to examine the corpses of people who had died in Siberia, and those that had died in Washington State. Now of course the people in Siberia weren’t eating meat preservatives during their lives, and the Washington people were eating them. And when they dug up the graves and looked at the bodies, guess what they found?” 

the killer in the back seatUrban Legend: The Killer In The Back Seat SOURCE 

Continue reading →