economy

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With 40% of Americans One Bill Away from Financial Disaster, What's Next?

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning • @DavidGZeiler -

Despite hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout money and U.S. Federal Reserve stimulus, the U.S. economy is still not working very well for the average American.

According to a survey by Bankrate.com, 40% of Americans say they are just one big bill away from financial disaster. That tells Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald that the government's efforts to rescue the U.S. economy have failed.

He said there's one figure he's watching this week that will show if there's much hope for Main Street at this point...

Why the European Central Bank's Massive Economic Experiment Will Fail

By , Resource Specialist, Money Morning -

Eurozone conflict

Last week, the European Central Bank's turn finally came to announce large scale quantitative easing.

As the continent witnesses a battle between deflation and attempts at inflation, will it finally be enough?

Europe is following in the footsteps of the United States, hoping for similar "successful" results.

Instead, it's likely to fall somewhere between the U.S. and Japan.

From the Land of the Rising Sun there is precedent, but it's a forewarning.

Here's the story...

The Truth Behind the Dangerous "Helicopter Money" Delusion

By , Resource Specialist, Money Morning -

helicopter money

Seeking out major trends and power shifts in the global economy is a part of my work that I enjoy most.

It's a lot of work, and needless to say, it involves constant research.

That's why a piece I recently read in Foreign Affairs absolutely shocked me...

The piece is a bit revolutionary, as its authors speak to a drastically different way of stimulating an ailing economy than the path we're on today.

Full story...

U.S. Labor Department Jobs Report: Big Gains in June, but Still Lagging Behind

By , Contributing Writer, Money Morning -

U.S. Labor Department jobs report

Optimism surrounded Thursday's release of the June U.S. Labor Department Jobs Report, but although the numbers were better than expected, we still have plenty to worry about, and the economy is still in trouble.

Employers added 288,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate dipped to 6.1% from 6.3%, the lowest level since September 2008.

Despite some encouraging figures in the jobs report, it is still peppered with troubling data - like these dismal numbers...

This "Hidden" Inflation Could Wipe Out Small Returns

By , Global Credit Strategist, Money Morning • @MichaelELewitt -

Official measures of inflation tell a very different story from the reality facing consumers as they shop for groceries, gasoline, insurance, healthcare, and other everyday goods.

In the real world away from government statistics, product prices continue to rise at an inexorable rate.

Asset prices also continue to rise, particularly the prices of financial assets such as stocks and bonds as well as high-end real estate and art.

While there remain pockets of weakness in the housing markets, the prices of homes have also resumed their upward trajectory after crashing during the financial crisis.

So the question remains: If the prices of just about everything are rising, why is the government telling us that inflation is so low? Full Story

Just How Bad Is the Low Labor Participation Rate for Youth?

By , Money Morning -

In another sign that the U.S. economy is not as healthy as some in Washington would have you believe, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has reported that the labor participation rate among youth aged 16 to 19 in February was a paltry 32.9%.

"The difference between 3% growth in the economy per year versus 2% isn't a 1% slower decline, it's a 33% slower decline, and you're really seeing these numbers add up," said Money Morning Defense & Tech Specialist Michael Robinson on FOX Business' "Varney & Co."

In this video, Michael discusses this troubling trend and offers some suggestions for how Americans can deal with it.

Read More…

Profit Massively from This "Margin Call" on American Homeowners

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Morning • @ShahGilani_TW -

Get ready. There's more trouble ahead for home buyers, home builders, and especially homeowners who took out home-equity lines of credit before the housing crisis. Those heydays have turned into haymakers.

What's already started to happen might not only knock out the formerly aspiring but now petering-out housing recovery, but also might knock the already weak economy to the ground.

Back in the good old days, when banks and mortgage shops were selling mortgage money and home-equity credit lines like carnival barkers wowing crowds into the big top, millions of homeowners stepped right in.

That circus tent was nothing but a trap, however. And now I'm going to tell you what that trap means for those borrowers - and the rest of the economy... Full Story

Low Rates Won't Hide This Looming Threat Forever

By , Global Credit Strategist, Money Morning • @MichaelELewitt -

Financial markets are experiencing a significant divergence in 2014 between the direction of stocks and bonds.

While the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average have traded to new record highs, the yields on benchmark Treasury bonds have dropped sharply.

Normally, one would not expect stock prices to rise and bond yields to drop simultaneously because these movements suggest contradictory readings of the economy.

Higher stock prices indicate bullishness about economic growth, while lower bond yields suggest just the opposite.

However, the inconsistent signals being sent by markets are not as surprising as they seem, given the context of the post-crisis environment in which Federal Reserve policies have distorted normal market pricing mechanisms.

This situation could blindside investors who don't see it coming... Full Story

The Fed's "Growth-Buying" Scheme Is Failing

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Morning • @ShahGilani_TW -

The numbers are in. And they are ugly...

Based on preliminary first-quarter data, U.S. GDP (gross domestic product) growth is 0.1%.

That's not much.

But then again what do you expect for $3.4 trillion dollars of Federal Reserve spending to boost the economy?

So the question is, how is it possible that we've got nonexistent economic growth, or worse, negative growth and possibly another recession looming, when the Federal Reserve since September 2008 has spent $3.4 trillion to prime the economic pump?

This could push the whole economy past the brink... Full Story

The "Holy Grail" of Energy Investing Is Going to Make You - and Your Grandchildren - Rich

By , Global Energy Strategist, Oil & Energy Investor • @KentMoors_OEI -

Storage has long been one of energy's biggest "Holy Grails." It holds the key to every significant move into smart grids.

The reason is pretty simple: If energy cannot be stored, it is lost. Even transferring it from one type of energy to another is of little consequence unless you can reverse the erosion in the entire system.

It's called entropy, and it's a pervasive problem.

Now, there are a number of rather complicated ways to explain this, but let's keep ours straightforward. Over time, a system ends up having more energy than can be readily used. This is always the biggest drain on any attempt to structure a more efficient approach.

So the basic question becomes how to "save" all of this energy from being lost.

That's what's at the center of a breakthrough project I came across yesterday...

March Jobs Report: Still Stuck in Second Gear

By , Contributing Writer, Money Morning -

U.S. Labor Department jobs report The highly anticipated March jobs report out today supported what U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said earlier this week: The job market is not back to normal and the Fed has more to do on the unemployment front. This morning, the U.S. government announced that the economy barely missed expectations of 200,000 new jobs […]

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