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The downturn in jobs reported last month by the Labor Department provided evidence of an economic downturn that even the economy's greatest cheerleaders could not ignore. Healthy economies do not shed jobs. During the core periods of the upturns in the eighties and nineties, there were three months in which the economy lost jobs. In two of these, the loss was attributable to major strikes. (The jobs of striking workers are not counted in the survey.) That leaves a grand total of one month in more than twelve years of recovery in which the economy lost jobs. In other words,...

The late Nobel Economic laureate Milton Friedman once remarked, “Money is too important to be left to central bankers. You essentially have a group of unelected people who have enormous power to affect the economy. I’ve always been in favor of replacing the Fed with a laptop computer, to calculate the monetary base and expand it annually, through war, peace, feast and famine by, perhaps, a predictable 2 percent,” Friedman said.

An Economic Pillar on the Verge of Collapse By Steven Pearlstein Wednesday, December 6, 2006; D01 It's been more than a year since we've heard from those who denied there was a housing bubble. Since then, the industry boosters, along with the "soft-landing" crowd over at the Federal Reserve, have coalesced around the idea that maybe the market got a bit frothy after all, but now the correction is almost complete, the unsold inventory's been worked off and the worst is behind us. But just when you're feeling hopeful again, you get reports like yesterday's Wall Street Journal piece reporting...

Dollar woes poised to carry over into next year Greenback is down about 50% vs. euro in past five years; down 6% vs. yen By Wanfeng Zhou, MarketWatch Nov 28, 2006 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- After a precipitous slide in the last week that caught many traders off guard, the dollar is vulnerable to further losses and may continue to weaken against major rivals heading into 2007, analysts said Tuesday. "Sentiment for the dollar has been deteriorating steadily over recent weeks," said Mitul Kotecha, head of global foreign-exchange strategy at French investment bank Calyon. The decline was not prompted by...

I am convinced that the housing bubble is gigantic and will burst before long with massive implications here and abroad. In fact, it's the key to the global economic outlook. Setting the Scene House prices in recent years have leaped well beyond their normal relationships to the CPI...

This week it was announced that both producer and consumer prices dropped by 1.3% and .5% respectively, while housing starts unexpectedly increased by 5.9%. Not surprisingly, Wall Street celebrated the apparent good news, sending the Dow Industrials into uncharted territory. As has been its recent tendency, the market is unconcerned with recent bad news, instead championing it as confirming the highly touted “soft-landing.” September’s much weaker than expected non-farm payroll data and the Philadelphia Fed survey that showed an unexpected deterioration in manufacturing, are two recent examples. However, a closer look at the supposed good news reveals just how unwarranted...

LONDON (AP) -- The U.S. dollar was higher against other major currencies in European trading late Wednesday. Gold fell. The euro traded at $1.2688, down from $1.2727 late Tuesday in New York. Later, in midday trading in New York, the euro fetched $1.2688. Other dollar rates in Europe, compared with late Tuesday, included 118.03 Japanese yen, up from 117.89; 1.2512 Swiss francs, up from 1.2451; 1.1274 Canadian dollars, up from 1.1206. The British pound traded at $1.8844, down from $1.8872. In midday New York trading, the dollar bought 118.02 yen and 1.2512 Swiss francs, while the pound was worth $1.8835....

LONDON (AP) -- The U.S. dollar was mixed against other major currencies in late European trading Monday. Gold fell sharply. Analysts said gold prices declined following a report that Iran was considering complying -- at least temporarily -- with the U.N. Security Council's demand that it suspend its uranium enrichment program. The euro bought US$1.2685, up from US$1.2676 late Friday. Other dollar rates: --117.77 Japanese yen, up from 116.87 --1.2459 Swiss francs, down from 1.2468 --1.1212 Canadian dollars, up from 1.1204 The British pound traded at US$1.8617, down from US$1.8649. Gold closed in London at US$585.30, down from US$609.00 late...

40% chance of 'U.S. Hard Landing,' National Bank says. OTTAWA - The odds of a U.S. recession have increased dramatically, economists at a Canadian bank are warning. And if the United States were to go under, it would require a shift in policies here by governments and the Bank of Canada to keep the Canadian economy from going under too, the National Bank of Canada's chief economist said yesterday. That would require income-tax cuts by the federal and other levels of government and interest-rate cuts by the Bank of Canada, Clement Gignac said after the bank announced that the odds...

When Ben Bernanke told Congress that moderating economic growth will likely contain inflationary pressures, Wall Street responded with its biggest one-day rally in nearly two years. Unfortunately for the Wall Street party boys, the Fed Chairman is likely wrong on both counts. In the first place the U.S. economy will not merely slow, but tumble, in the coming months/years, and rather than quelling inflation’s fire, the inevitable recession will actually stoke its flames. Bernanke’s faulty logic assumes that inflation is somehow a by-product of economic growth. However, real economic growth emanates from increased productivity, which tends to hold prices down....

With oil now hitting record highs and gold well off mid-May levels, the gold-oil ratio continues to shrink. Today, one ounce of gold only buys 8.57 barrels of oil - a ratio of 0.11.Oil hit a fresh record high of $75.78 a barrel today, boosted by strong demand in the United States and global tension ranging from Iran's nuclear work to North Korea's missile tests. Prices drew early support from a U.S. government report yesterday showing gasoline demand grew by 1.4% in the last four weeks from a year ago, with summer driving months still head. But rebel attacks in...

While millions of Americans look with awe to the Federal Reserve to protect the nation's financial well being, millions more mistrust the Fed, seeing it as an unaccountable, private banking cartel siphoning off citizens' wealth and manipulating America's economy for the benefit of a hidden elite. Where does the truth lie? That's the question that's asked – and answered in-depth – in the July issue of WorldNetDaily's acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine. Titled "THE FEDERAL RESERVE: FRAUD OF THE CENTURY," Whistleblower documents authoritatively and with uncommon clarity how the "Federal Reserve" – which is neither part of the federal government, nor...

Casey Files: Government Debt – Termites in the HouseAs I write, gold has rebounded handsomely over the $600 mark, perhaps putting a stake through the heart of the recent steep correction. Or, perhaps not.After all, it isn’t the fundamentals, per se, that are currently causing gold to spike. It’s largely just the chattering of the trading community based on their reading of the tea leaves revealed in the Fed’s latest press release.In order to make any real sense of where gold should be trading, and will be trading soon enough, you have to look deeper, much deeper, into the...

The month of May brought with it, like clockwork, the long awaited correction in commodities, including the gold and silver sector, with both the physical metals and stocks taking a solid one the chin. The question on everyone's mind therefore is whether this was a single, high-quality shot on the noggin, or the start of a ferocious combination that will ultimately leave our golden prize fighter down for the count? Following the correction, as is usually the case with reactionary "experts" focused on rear view mirrors, commentaries flooded the newswires suggesting the commodities "bubble" might in fact be over. They...

Gold and metals rallied again to record levels on Thursday fueled by supply constraints, crude oil approaching $74 a barrel and continued dollar weakness. In recent action, gold for June delivery was surging $18.10 to $723.80 an ounce. It earlier reached a morning high of $728, a level unseen since September 1980. With gold gaining close to $200, or 40%, since the start of the year -- and with the rally showing little fatigue since topping $700 an ounce this week -- more analysts are throwing up caution flags. "A significant sharp correction is lurking out there," writes Peter Grandich,...

Gold rallied to a new 25-year high near $700 an ounce on Tuesday on dollar weakness, while platinum set a new record on strong industrial demand and fund buying. Other precious metals also gained from the bullish environment in commodities, which saw copper setting a new record and aluminium surging to an 18-year peak. "We have a combination of overlaying sets of momentum here. More and more of genuine investors have become convinced that some portion of their assets should be put into the sector," said Sean Corrigan, chief investment strategist at Diapason Commodities Management. "Clearly this is a very...

Gold futures surged above $660 an ounce Monday to their highest level in more than 25 years, as a weak U.S. dollar and concern about Iran's nuclear- research program fueled safe-haven buying and broad-based metals rally. "Sheer momentum, combined with a sliding U.S. dollar and heightened geopolitical concerns, greatly underpins the long-term direction for gold," said Peter Grandich, editor of the Grandich Letter, adding that while he believes a correction is "out there," he's not willing to predict it. Gold for June delivery climbed to a high of $663.80 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a level the...

A HIGH probability of a sharp slowdown in US economic growth and a slide in the dollar are likely to continue driving investment in gold this year, says precious metals consultancy GFMS in its Gold Survey 2006, launched yesterday. The main reason for gold’s current strength is investment demand rather than jewellery manufacturing, says GFMS chairman Philip Klapwijk. Inflationary pressure and political tension in the Middle East should also boost demand for gold. As the gold price performed well, it would attract new investors. “We’d only need to see a tiny slice of mainstream assets diverted into gold, which comparatively...

I'm very bearish on the U.S. dollar and have been for years. That's why I have so many of them. This sounds like a contradiction, but let me explain. The reason I have so many dollars, even though I think they're worth less and less, is because I don't hang on to them. In my mind, cash is trash. One of the reasons why we have this enormous gap between the world's haves and have-nots is because the have-nots value money -- they work for it, save it, cling to it, and lose it.A friend just bought a new SUV....

MASSIVE WORLD SPECULATION DOMINOS by Christopher Laird PrudentSquirrel.com http://www.prudentsquirrel.com/ March 20, 2006 Last year, many Asian and other foreign stock markets went up as much as 50%. There is a synchronized world housing bubble that is a very analogous follow on bubble from the Japan collapses in the early 90’s, and the Fed loosening following 9-11. We had the tech bubble crash in 2000/1, and a have now a general US stock bubble that is yet to really pop. Right now, we are about at the same DOW level before the market collapses in 2001/2. There is a massive US...