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.
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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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The fourth securitization deal of big investor-owned single-family homes for rent is here.
Is this just another Wall Street gamble that will wreck the economy again, or is this time different?
You be the judge.
I'll tell you where I stand...
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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
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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...
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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 […]To continue reading click here...
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Last week the Dow fell 200 points when Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen dared to suggest a timetable for raising interest rates.
But then it recovered and ended down only 114 points on the day.
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What stands out most from the Janet Yellen testimony Thursday to the Senate Banking Committee is that her remarks mirrored comments made on Feb. 11 in her first monetary policy testimony to a House panel.
Speaking on Capitol Hill about the Semiannual Monetary Report, Yellen repeated that the central bank is likely to maintain its approach of progressively trimming asset purchases. The taper will continue even as policy makers monitor data to determine if the recent spate of soft economy data is temporary or something more serious.
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On Tuesday morning, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it will provide $3 million to help the one animal that will make or break U.S. food prices: bees.
Commercial honeybees pollinate an estimated $15 billion worth of the nation's agricultural produce each year, as reported by The Associated Press on Tuesday. Bees and other pollinators account for one out of every three bites of food Americans consume.
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Today's stock market news, Feb. 18, 2014: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 126.80 points on Friday to finish at 16,154.39. While the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were flat. With several prominent firms reporting earnings this morning, pre-market trading and the futures are relatively quiet.
So what’s next? Here's what's happening in today’s stock market.
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Today's stock market news, Feb. 14, 2014: The Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked back above 16,000 on Thursday as the market continues to shrug off weak economic data. Due to the snowstorm that battered the East Coast on Thursday, the scheduled meeting between Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and the Senate Banking Committee has been postponed until later this month.
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U.S. retail sales - which account for 70% of economic activity - unexpectedly fell 0.4% for the month of January according to the Commerce Department today (Thursday). The decline marks the second straight drop after a 0.1% fall in December.
Auto sales were the major contributor to the miss. Sales of motor vehicles and parts dropped 2.1%, while Americans also spent less on restaurants and clothing. The report also showed soft holiday sales for retailers at the end of last year.
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