Free Republic

The reason why Zero Hedge has been steadfast over the past 6 years in its accusation that the Fed is making a mockery of, and destroying not only the very fabric of capital markets (something which Citigroup now openly admits almost every week) but the US economy itself (as Goldman most recently hinted last week when it lowered its long-term "potential GDP" growth of the US by 0.5% to 1.75%), is simple: all along we knew we have been right, and all the career economists, Wall Street weathermen-cum-strategists, and "straight to CNBC" book-talking pundits were wrong. Not to mention the...

Venezuela's black market exchange rate weakened below a key level on Thursday, as the bolivar's decline steepened in the face of hyperinflation and a rapidly shrinking economy. Over the past couple of years the value of the currency has plummeted against the dollar to its present 300 bolivar level. In 2012, a dollar would get you 10 bolivars, according to unofficial exchange rates. By the time President Nicolas Maduro was inaugurated in April 2013, it was 24 bolivars to the dollar and by this January it was at 173. This black market rate of 300.72 on Thursday was almost 50...

So, beginning in [ARSH]sic 2008 when it became clear that the Constitutional Republic was in the process of being overthrown in a cold putsch, and then forward as I continued to blog here, I called a series of things, in no particular order, except for the last three, which are obviously end-game events, and thus placed at the end of the list: 1. Reformation of the Islamic Caliphate facilitated by the Washington DC regime 2. Total economic war executed by the Washington DC regime against the American people, specifically the Cloward-Piven Strategy, namely driving as many people as possible out...

Munger says prepare for harder world as buying power slides     | March 26, 2015 : 4:47 PM MYT    Share on facebook Share on twitter (Mar 26): Charles Munger, who became a billionaire while helping Warren Buffett build Berkshire Hathaway Inc., predicted it’s going to get tougher for consumers to maintain their standard of living in coming decades.“We should all be prepared for adjusting to a world that is harder,” Munger, 91, said Wednesday at an event in Los Angeles, in response to a question about the increase in the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet since...

Obamacare’s boosters have made so many implausible assertions about its supposed successes that it’s difficult to single out one as the most preposterous. But any list of their most comical claims would have to include those involving the law’s “wayback clause.” Haven’t heard of that one? Well, like the provision authorizing the IRS to issue subsidies via federal exchanges, it’s absent from PPACA’s text. Nonetheless, its efficacy is routinely touted by Obamacare’s proponents as proof that “reform” works. The most celebrated effect of this amazing provision is its retroactive reduction of medical inflation during the years preceding the law’s implementation....

~snip~ Germany was able to sell $3.72 billion of five-year bonds at a negative interest rate of .08%. In essence those who lent Germany this money were willing to pay the German government for the privilege of the government holding the investor’s funds for 5 years. The move reflects, in reality, that investors are more concerned about the return of principle than the return on principle. ~snip~ The disastrous consequences of the current economic policies allow negative interest rates to occur. Negative interest rates are a clear sign of an impending deflationary spiral. ~snip~ Just as the housing market and...

Very few people in America are willing to identify as upper class, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.About 94% of people in that income bracket (over $100,000) identified as middle class, upper middle class, or lower middle class while only 6% called themselves upper class.Here are the results of the survey:Pew Research Center While a family of three with an income of up to $122,000 is still considered "middle income," the over-$100,000 range also includes families with much higher salaries than that.Pew Research Center And although only 6% of survey respondents identified as upper class, Pew's data shows...

In 2006-2007 I called for a recession. We got a big one. I called for another one in 2011, as did the ECRI. That recession never happened. 50% is not a very good recession predicting track record except in comparison to consensus economic opinions that have never once in history predicted a recession. Consensus opinion is batting a perfect 0.00% Investigating the Record By the way, the ECRI was late in calling the recession of 2007. They still deny it. And questions regarding the 2001 recession and ECRI have still not been answered. I have talked about all of this...

EcoMatters February 26, 2015 CPI Core Shows Inflation The drop in energy prices, had the knee jerk reaction that we were in a deflationary spiral, again markets get many things wrong on first blush. The drop in energy prices is inflationary in the overall economy, and today`s CPI report showed what a sophisticated analysis would forecast regarding inflation and the role that low energy prices play in the overall inflation equation. We are going to have a transfer from the food and energy components which rely heavily on energy costs into the core inflation reading as consumers have more money...

How are the United States' historic budget deficits, money-printing and depressed economy any different from the country's that have experienced hyper-inflation? The three-part answer is:(1) we don't have any problems selling our debt(2) we aren't actually printing money; and (3) the United States is a highly productive economy that is nothing like bombed-out Budapest.

Mac Slavo February 19th, 2015It’s impossible to predict when and how our economy will finally reach a breaking point, but according to contrarian Shadow Stats economist John Williams it’s coming one way or the other. The only thing we can do now is to prepare for it and that means stockpiling critical supplies, just like you might for an earthquake or snowstorm, but in larger quantities. Because, if and when hyperinflation starts people will quickly realize that their dollars are worthless. And as we have seen time and again, and most recently in Russia, when a currency rapidly loses its...

It may be difficult to look beyond the current pricing environment for oil, but the depletion of low-cost reserves and the increasing inability to find major new discoveries ensures a future of expensive oil. While analyzing the short-term trajectory of oil prices is certainly important, it obscures the fact that over the long-term, oil exploration companies may struggle to bring new sources of supply online. Ed Crooks over at the FT persuasively summarizes the predicament. Crooks says that 2014 is shaping up to be the worst year in the last six decades in terms of new oil discoveries (based on...

Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto, Reuters Februry 15, 2015 TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's economy rebounded from recession to grow an annualized 2.2 percent in the final quarter of last year, giving a much-needed boost to premier Shinzo Abe's efforts to shake off decades of stagnation even as the global outlook deteriorates. But the expansion was smaller than a 3.7 percent increase forecast in a Reuters poll, suggesting a fragile recovery for the world's third-largest economy as consumer mood remained soft and uneven global growth weighed on exports. Still, the return to growth will allow the Bank of Japan to hold...

Food prices are out of control in Russia. So now, Russian officials are even thinking about putting a price cap on "essential food products," reports the Moscow Times. "We will see how to efficiently place [the restrictions] into law," the deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich said. He also added that the government may give "the state competition watchdog more power in enforcing existing retail market regulations," reports the Moscow Times.

Sarah Kaufman, Vocativ Febuary 4, 2015Thanks to the sharp decline in the ruble’s value, RBK reports that certain large packs of Procter & Gamble active baby diapers, as well as most of the company’s feminine products, men’s razors and toothpaste, will see a price hike of 50 percent. Starting March 7, Russians will have to pay around 2,650 rubles ($40) instead of the current list price of 1,767 rubles ($25) for a value pack of 186 Pampers. Considering Procter & Gamble accounted for almost 37 percent of diaper sales in Russia in 2013, that cost increase will affect hundreds of...

Elena Holodny Feburary 3, 2015Food prices are out of control in Russia. So now, Russian officials are even thinking about putting a price cap on "essential food products," reports the Moscow Times. "We will see how to efficiently place [the restrictions] into law," the deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich said. He also added that the government may give "the state competition watchdog more power in enforcing existing retail market regulations," reports the Moscow Times. What exactly counts as an "essential food product" is unclear at the moment. (snip)

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - The global economic outlook just got brighter after this week's big stimulus from the European Central Bank, leading policymakers from around the world said Saturday. In a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, they said a perkier Europe, coupled with a prolonged period of low oil prices, could help shore up the global economy following a period of underperformance that has prompted many forecasters to reduce their growth forecasts. "Lower oil prices and the big decision by ECB could further improve world economic outlook," said Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the Bank of Japan.

Indianapolis Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, who says he didn’t snitch on the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, told NFL Media’s Jeff Darlington that Brady was using a Colts football at the end of the first half Sunday night. Jackson spoke to an official, who said they couldn’t locate a usable football, during a TV timeout when the Patriots had the ball. Later in the first half, Jackson noticed that the Patriots were using Colts footballs.

Myles Udland January 15, 2015 The crash in oil prices might be good for consumers, but it's terrible for inflation data. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release the consumer price index on Friday morning at 8:30 ET. The index is a measure of consumer prices, and the most popularly cited measure of inflation. Expectations are for headline inflation to fall 0.4% in December compared to the prior month, which would be the largest month-on-month decline since December 2008. Compared to last year, headline inflation is set to rise 0.7%. "Core" inflation — which strips out the...

Inflation in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, slowed to just 0.2 percent in December, its lowest level in more than five years, and averaged 0.9 percent for the whole of 2014, according to new figures released on Monday. […] Using the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP)—the yardstick used by the European Central Bank—inflation in Germany was even lower at 0.1 percent in December, way under the ECB’s annual inflation target of just below 2.0 percent. The chronically low level of inflation across the single currency bloc has fueled concern the region could slip into deflation—a sustained and widespread drop in...