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1 December 2014 Last updated at 14:22 Japan downgraded by Moody's amid rising fears over debt Moody's has cut Japan's credit rating by one notch over rising doubts about its ability to reduce debt levels. The decision by the ratings agency sent the yen to a seven-year low against the US dollar. The downgrade comes less than a two weeks before a snap general election called by prime minister Shinzo Abe. His economic stimulus policies and a decision to delay a second sales tax rise will be among the key campaign issues. Tom Byrne, regional credit officer of Moody's, said...

Tyler Durden 12/01/2014 Last week, total US debt was a meager $17,963,753,617,957.26. Two days later, as updated today, on Black Friday, total outstanding US public debt just hit a new historic level which probably would be better associated with a red color: as of the last work day of November, total US public debt just surpassed $18 trillion for the first time, or $18,005,549,328,561.45 to be precise, of which debt held by the public rose to $12,922,681,725,432.94, an increase of $32 billion in one day.(snip)

Merryn Somerset WebbDecember 1, 2014 Russell Napier is a financial historian and the founder of ERIC, an online research firm that aims at connecting analysts and investors. Here he talks to Merryn Somerset Webb about the next deflationary bust – why it’s coming, what it means for you, and how you can survive it. Merryn Somerset Webb: Let’s start at the beginning. You are a firm believer, as I understand it, in the idea that we live in a deflationary environment and there’s almost nothing that central banks can do to change that. So, maybe talk a little bit about...

  Once again we can say we're looking at a great time for investing!  OK, so it means we wince over last Friday's metals prices, but like who does metals anyway dude, like it's soooo 2013 even.   That and the general feeling we get reading stuff like  Gold mining industry mostly ‘under water’ – Gold Fields CEO (h/t Chgogal). Hey, I'm talking stock market year end "window dressing"† January effect --check out the averages over the past 30 years for the Dow, S&P500, and the NASDAQ, they typically go up 3.4%, 3.6% and 4.8% respectively.  On top of that...

Columbia County, Ark. — There’s no sign of it here in Magnolia, Ark., but the boycott season is upon us, and graduates of Princeton and Bryn Mawr are demanding “justice” from Wal-Mart, which is not in the justice business but in the groceries, clothes, and car-batteries business. It is easy to scoff, but I am ready to start taking the social-justice warriors’ insipid rhetoric seriously — as soon as two things happen: First, I want to hear from the Wal-Mart-protesting riffraff a definition of “justice” that is something that does not boil down to “I Get What I Want, Irrespective...

The GOP is preparing to mount a full-scale assault on President Obama’s regulatory agenda, using the party’s strengthened hand in Congress to delay, soften or block contentious administration rules at every turn. As long as Obama sits atop the executive branch, Republicans’ power to derail scores of rulemaking efforts now under way is limited. But control of both the House and Senate in the next Congress will enable GOP lawmakers to ratchet up their attacks on what they view as overzealous regulation. “So long as we have this president the federal agencies can go around Congress," said Sen. Jim Inhofe...

RadioShack won't be the only store to open on Thanksgiving Day, but it might be the only one of its particular makeup to do so. This isn't Walmart or a call center, in which volunteers who want overtime pay can be chosen first. Most RadioShack stores have just a handful of employees, most or all of whom will work Thanksgiving whether they want to or not. Retail employees have very, very little in the way of perks, of things that are understood to be sacred. Having Thanksgiving Day to themselves was one of them. RadioShack is a company of massive...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The busiest shopping day of the year also saw a major boom for gun sales, with the federal background check system expected to set a record of more than 144,000 background checks Friday, according to the FBI. The staggering number of checks -- an average of almost three per second, nearly three times the daily average -- falls on the shoulders of 600 FBI and contract call center employees who will endure 17-hour workdays in an attempt to complete the background reviews in three business days, as required by law, FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer said. "Traditionally, Black Friday is one...

Tyler Durden11/29/2014 A week ago, when we reported that in a stunning move, the "Dutch Central Bank Secretly Withdrew 122 Tons Of Gold From The New York Fed", and when looking at the NY Fed's monthly reports of gold deposits by foreign entities, we observed that "we can see that while the 5 tons outflow in 2013 was most likely Germany, the recent surge in gold repatriation from Liberty 33 was the Netherlands. That said, only 77.5 tons of NY deposits gold has been officially repatriated through September, which means the October update, when it comes out, will be a...

When it comes to poverty, the two biggest states, California and Texas, offer a vivid contrast: Results matter more than well-meaning intentions, and work beats welfare. Once again, California has the highest poverty rate in the nation at 23.4%, according to a new Census Bureau report that takes into account the variable cost of housing from state to state as well as noncash benefits such as housing vouchers and food stamps. (The official poverty measure assumes the same costs throughout America.) This broad poverty measure shows that Texas' poverty rate dropped to 15.9%, the national average. Along with the nation's...

Father-of-six Tyree Landrum was driving to one of his three jobs when he came across a line of Ferguson protesters blocking the road in the middle of the San Diego rush hour. Furious that the demonstrators might make him late to work and risk him getting fired, he decided to get out of his car on the I-5 in La Jolla to confront the group of students. He then told a photographer for ABC News 10: 'If I don't get there, I'm going to get fired. I've got six f****** kids to feed.' Mr Landrum's reaction on Wednesday has since...

Lyle Denniston, the National Constitution Center’s constitutional literacy adviser, tackles a weighty issue: the FDA’s constitutional ability to mandate calorie counts on restaurant menus nationwide. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today finalized…rules requiring that calorie information be listed on menus and menu boards in chain restaurants [and] similar retail food establishments….The menu labeling final rule applies to restaurants and similar retail food establishments if they are part of a chain of 20 or more locations, doing business under the same name and offering for sale substantially the same menu items. Covered food establishments will be required to clearly and...

On Thursday, oil prices crashed. And on Friday, shares of oil companies around the world followed suit. Here were some of the biggest losers on Friday: BP (BP), down 5% Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A), down 6% Total (TOT), down 5% Statoil (STO), down 14% Exxon Mobil (XOM), down 5% ConocoPhillips (COP), down 9% Marathon Oil (MRO), down 13% Occidental Petroleum (OXY), down 7%

The biggest Black Friday protest ever hit Walmart today, and so far dozens of people who are calling on Walmart to pay their employees a living wage have been arrested. Santa Claus was also cuffed and taken away in California. Protests were scheduled today at 1,600 Walmart stores in 49 states, by workers and their supporters who are demanding that the nation’s largest private employer pays their workers a living wage. According to OUR Walmart, 11 workers and supporters were arrested at the store located outside of Chicago, and 35 Walmart protesters were arrested in Sacramento, CA, including the world’s...

Mike Bird November 28, 2014 Eurozone inflation figures just released put the rate at 0.3% in November, down from October's 0.4% and in line with estimates. With the recent impact of oil prices, that means deflation isn't just a possibility for the eurozone: markets are now suggesting it's the most likely outcome in a few months' time. Analysts had forecast that that the rate would come in at 0.3% again, though some suggested it could fall as low as 02% The ECB currently targets 2% inflation, but that target was last reached in the summer of 2012. These numbers increase...

<p>ATLANTA(AP)—To rebuild in the conservative South, Democratic leaders say their party must become more aggressive advocates for the middle class in an effort to energize African-Americans and attract whites.</p> <p>After the Republicans' success in the midterm elections, many say the Democratic Party should openly embrace government as a tool for lifting people out of economic hardship. They are advocating a return to party roots by emphasizing education and public works spending, stronger voting rights laws, tighter bank regulation and labor-friendly policies such as a higher minimum wage.</p>

November 27, 2014 By: Raul_I_Meijer We should be glad the price of oil has fallen the way it has (losing another 6% today as I write this). Not because it makes the gas in our cars a bit cheaper, that’s nothing compared to the other service the price slump provides. That is, it allows us to see how the economy is really doing, without the multilayered veil of propaganda, spin, fixed data and bailouts and handouts for the banking system. It shows us the huge extent to which consumer spending is falling, how much poorer people have become as stock...

Katya Golubkova and Vladimir Soldatkin, Reuters November 27, 2014MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's most powerful oil official Igor Sechin said in an interview with an Austrian newspaper that oil prices could fall below $60 by mid-way through next year. Sechin, chief executive of Rosneft, Russia's largest oil producer, also said U.S. oil production would fall after 2025 and that an oil market council should be created to monitor prices, the same day the OPEC cartel met in Vienna and left its output targets unchanged. "We expect that a fall in the price to $60 and below is possible, but only during...

*I have previously written several articles about how most Americans are pretty clueless. The results of the last elections showed that. A lot of Americans stayed home, and people from states that depend heavily on government programs, such as food stamps, welfare and social security, elected Republicans — the very people who have said they plan to slash these programs. MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, the architect of Obamacare, caught flak for referring to American voters as stupid, but he is right. Bill Maher, who is known for his biting comedy, recently ran a video montage showing all the times...

More consumers report lower intended holiday spending in 2014 compared to 2013, according to the 15th annual holiday spending survey conducted by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA). This year, 10 percent said they would spend more while 33 percent said they would spend less. In 2013, 13 percent said they would spend more while 32 percent said they would spend less. The proportion who said they would spend less declined steadily from 55 percent in 2008 to 32 percent last year before rising slightly this year. (Consumers almost always spend more than...