The Fed has kept interest rates stuck near zero for the last seven years, so there's little wonder investors and savers feel like "perma-zero" is the new paradigm.
Despair and ennui have settled in. According to the Fed, some 31% of non-retired Americans have no savings or pension whatsoever.
Some have been frozen out, unable to save thanks to stagnating incomes and dismal job prospects. Others who might otherwise be able to save just don't see the point when they're not making any interest to speak of.
That negative outlook is understandable, given today's economic realities. But it doesn't have to be that way.
Not when a small investment in one easy-to-buy asset can make so much difference...
If Mark Twain were alive today, he'd probably say that there are "lies, damned lies, and inflation statistics."
There just aren't many more important numbers that so many depend on and that are so regularly and maliciously manipulated.
You see, wages, pensions, and Social Security are all dependent in some measure on the Consumer Price Index. It affects the income of some 80 million Americans through contracts or indexation.
Unless you have this investment on your side...
Policymakers need to start being more honest about how the U.S. debt works.
It's an age-old debate among the members of Congress. How do we cut the budget? How do we reduce the debt?
But that debate is being framed in the wrong way.
Here's what no one in Congress is telling you about how the U.S. debt works...
While the investing world is focused on Greece, events unfolding right now in Africa offer another important cautionary tale.
Thanks to reckless political and economic mismanagement, Zimbabwe holds clues to the future of other nations - like ours.
Granted, this failed state's policies have been more egregious than those perpetrated by the U.S. government against its people. Nonetheless, some of the outcomes could be similar. And I'm going to tell you one way to protect yourself.
But preparing for it is easier than you'd think...
Deflation in 2015 seems to be upon us. And while falling prices might seem like a good thing, deflation can wreak havoc on the economy.
In a deflationary period, prices will drop, corporate profits will dry up, wages will shrink, and all of this will reinforce the conditions of recessions.
These four charts show that the U.S. has a real deflation problem now...
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Gold stocks are poised for an upswing.
Just recently, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced a new policy to promote lending and, ultimately, inflation in the Eurozone. The move sent investors flocking to precious metals like gold and silver. And a recent election in April saw the seating of a new government in India. On account of the platforms of these new leaders, the Indian press has indicated to expect a considerable decrease in import duties.
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Silver prices have been sideways this week, cooling off from a mid-June rally sparked by inflation-minded investors wary of the U.S. Federal Reserve's dovish talk.
But the second half of the year looks good - here's why ...
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The two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting wrapped up today (Wednesday) with the U.S. Federal Reserve revising down its previously more optimistic economic growth forecasts, and reinforcing expectations that interest rates will climb faster than what was previously anticipated.
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Gold, silver, and the FOMC meeting today: Precious metal prices were fairly steady Wednesday morning awaiting the typically market-moving statement from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting today. The spot gold price was last trading down $0.90 at $1,271.50. July silver prices were last quoted up $0.003 at $19.735 an ounce.
Over the last several years, investors have shown a keen interest in shiny assets as the U.S. Federal Reserve liberally printed money and distrust in dollars grew. But that interest has waned as the Fed slows its bond buying.
Now an FOMC meeting can be a strong headwind for gold and silver...
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Top financial news today, June 18, 2014: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose marginally on Tuesday despite a swath of disappointing data, including higher inflation and poor housing numbers. Wednesday is gearing up to be one of the busiest news days in recent months for the financial markets.
Here's the financial news you need to know to make today profitable:
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
If you're like most Americans, you're being eaten alive by zooming food prices.
Thanks to a three-year drought in California - the state that accounts for between 85% and 99% of most of this country's fresh produce - every trip to the supermarket has turned into a financial flogging for U.S. consumers. In fact, vegetable prices have jumped 50% in the past month alone.
Here's a story about a bank that failed, got rescued, was resuscitated, and made its private equity investors more than 100% on their money, all the while costing the FDIC around $5.9 billion.
It's not a story about a failed bank... although it is.
It's not a story about how smart the bank's private equity "rescuers" were... although it is.
It's not a story about how the FDIC is such a great savior of banks.
Or that that moral hazard exists manifestly because the FDIC is a tool (not as in a tool used to fix something) that lets banks run hog-wild... although it is.
This is a story about how nothing has changed and why another bank crisis is coming... Full Story
From the Editor: We've been tracking this threat for years, ever since Keith Fitz-Gerald brought it to your attention back in January 2010. Today, Resources Specialist Peter Krauth weighs in on some recent developments in this story, because three of the commodities he covers can protect you. The Fed can't print these things... Here's Peter:
Central banks may have foolish policies, but central bankers are no dummies.
They know exactly what they're doing. They even comprehend a few of the implications, too.
Which is why it's interesting that some American central bankers have suggested doing away with the debt ceiling altogether.
Famed investor Marc Faber recently said, "The question is not tapering. The question is at what point will they increase the asset purchases to say $150 [billion], $200 [billion], a trillion dollars a month."
Faber expects the Fed's current QE4 to become "QE4-ever."
That could mean years of money printing and ultra-low rates.
Even bond king Bill Gross recently chimed in his latest monthly outlook that "The United States (and global economy) may have to get used to financially repressive - and therefore low policy rates - for decades to come."
Either way, don't depend on the Fed to save you. You can save yourself
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Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke announced in a press conference this afternoon that the U.S. Federal Reserve will continue quantitative easing, the controversial bond buying program, for now. Chairman Bernanke expressed concern over rising borrowing costs and their effect on the economy, saying that the situation calls for continued quantitative easing.
Analysts on and off Wall Street were surprised, to put it mildly. Markets responded very well to news of continued easy-money policy. The mainstream consensus was that the Fed would begin to taper off its $85 billion monthly bond purchases by around $10 or $15 billion each month. Current pricing just didn't take continued bond buying into account, and the bullish reaction was immediate, intense, and widespread.
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Inflation can be tough to contend with, yet investors should guard against inflation lest it eat away at their portfolios - which isn't hard to do if they know the best investments to hold when inflation rates rise.
Official interest rates are notoriously unreliable - outright false at times - which can downplay or underestimate the situation. Don't trust the numbers. Make that mistake, and your investments' value can evaporate before your eyes.
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