From Employment to Housing: “Reality” in a Great Correction

We can barely keep up.

One report tells us things are getting better. The next tells us that they are getting worse.

Last week, for example, we thought we might finally be seeing the sell-off we’ve been waiting for. But yesterday, the Dow rose. Gold rose. And oil rose. Gold’s back over $1,500…and oil is back over $100.

[Read more...]

Investing in Gold When Governments Take Action

I was kind of amused at the CNBC headline that read “Welfare State: Handouts Make Up One-Third of US Wages,” as if this is something new.

I mean, where have these CNBC weenies been the past decade?

Well, their complete cluelessness was immediately evident when they started out with the phrase, “Even as the economy has recovered,” which makes me laugh and laugh and laugh, and then I try to stop laughing because my stomach hurts from all that laughing, and then I get grumpy and fussy because my stomach hurts, and I put the blame squarely where it belongs; with the clueless CNBC saying, “even as the economy has recovered,” which still makes me want to laugh at its utter stupidity, and I would laugh, too, if my stomach didn’t hurt so much.

[Read more...]

US Recession: What’s Really Behind the Economic Data

You just can't keep a good economy down. At least, that's what you think upon reading the headlines this weekend.

“Fears of double-dip recession recede,? was the headline in The Financial Times.

Why the receding fear?

The private sector created 235,000 new jobs in the past three months, the paper explained.

[Read more...]

Personal Spending Outpaces Income

Well, the happy morning for the commodity currencies turned sour on the day, as the risk assets all got slapped around by the markets. The risk assets went sour after the personal income/spending data printed…

Say it ain't so, Joe!

Is this a case of “here we go again??

Here's the skinny of what I'm talking about… Yesterday, personal income printed at 0.2 less than personal spending! So… Are we back to spending more than we make? I sure hope not… But, that sure seems to be the bill of fare here. I have to say that I'm not surprised that the US consumer continues to spend during the recession and labor depression that we have, for this is the main reason I've said that this will be the difference between Japan's multi-year deflation, and the US… However, I am surprised at how strong that spending is…

[Read more...]

Going for the Gold

It seemed as though everyone with functioning financial sensibilities was aware of and understood the many factors driving up gold. Everyone, that is, except America's top financial expert:

Bernanke Puzzled by Gold Rally

[Read more...]

Bailing On a Canadian Dollar Rate Hike?

So, it looks to me that all my warnings about the euro (EUR) not being out of the woods just yet, were bang on… You see the “heat? is back on the Eurozone's debt problems, which is strange in that there were two successful bond auctions by member countries last week… You see, to me this is nothing more than the old saying about when the US sneezes the rest of the world gets a cold, is coming into play right now.

[Read more...]

The Two Divergent Views of Currency Market Investors

The weekly jobs numbers released yesterday morning showed 25K more people signed up for unemployment last week than the week prior. The number of continuing claims declined slightly, but remains above 4.5 million. The data confirms what everyone outside of CNBC has been saying for quite a while; this is a ‘jobless recovery' (if you can even call it a recovery!) What growth we have had has been spurred by government spending, the private sector just isn't expanding, and won't probably expand for some time.

[Read more...]

Getting On With the Depression to Make Way for Growth

I cant stand it anymore. I have to say something. You act like you actually want a depression. Whats wrong with you?

The above letter came from a dear reader who has missed the point. We are as generous and warm…as caring and sharing…as anyone outside a mental institution. We only want the best for our fellow countrymen…really.

[Read more...]