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The miserable American economy - including the dismal jobs numbers released last Friday -- along with the growing crisis in the euro zone in the banking sector, have world markets in a near panic. The Tokyo exchange hit a 28 year low as investors scrambled for the security of Japanese government bonds, which were yielding an astonishing 0.80%. MyWay news: Germany's DAX lost 1.4 percent to 5,963.41 and France's CAC-40 shed 0.3 percent to 2,940.33. Markets in Britain were closed for a public holiday.Wall Street appeared headed for a lower open, with Dow Jones industrial futures shedding 0.6 percent to...

Oil speculators are benefactors of humanity. We should be very grateful to all of them. Next time you see an oil speculator, thank him for what he is doing. Most Americans would strongly disagree with me. But they are wrong -- not morally wrong, but factually wrong. One of the consequences of the recent increase in the price of gasoline has been the demonization of oil speculators. Politicians, journalists, talking heads, bloggers, and agitators have been denouncing speculators and proclaiming that the general public has been harmed by their speculating. Most of the anti-speculator rhetoric has been civil. But some...

If you "want to be hedged for complete disaster – World War III… you are better off in commodity-related investments", says Marc Faber in the latest issue of US financial paper Barron's. That might seem drastic. But Faber is convinced that China's rise, and its diminishing dependence on America, means that "eventually, we will have a war, big time".

The Calm Before The Storm: Are We Approaching A Turning Point For The U.S. Economy? by: Michael T. Snyder November 01, 2010 An eerie calm has descended upon world financial markets as they await perhaps the two most important financial events of the year this week. On Tuesday, investors will be eagerly awaiting the results of one of the most anticipated midterm elections in U.S. history. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve is expected to end months of speculation by formally announcing the details of a new round of quantitative easing. If either the election or the meeting of the Federal...

Sen. John McCain reaffirmed his tough position on border issues at a Town Hall event Saturday in Green Valley, saying Congress should not take up comprehensive immigration reform until the U.S.-Mexico border is secure. “I will be glad to look at that situation after we get the border secure,” McCain said.What does a secure border look like? “It’s like a lot of other things,” McCain told a reporter after the meeting. “... You know it when you see it.” McCain said the border would have to be deemed secure by local law enforcement, such as Arizona sheriffs and the governor,...

If you want to know how the bureaucracy works this video is for you. We should be discussing the contents of this video. No it's not another Ron Paul video but it does bring up unknown facts about the FED.

Contrarian Investor Sees Economic Crash in China David Barboza January 8, 2010 James S. Chanos built one of the largest fortunes on Wall Street by foreseeing the collapse of Enron and other highflying companies whose stories were too good to be true. Now Mr. Chanos, a wealthy hedge fund investor, is working to bust the myth of the biggest conglomerate of all: China Inc. As most of the world bets on China to help lift the global economy out of recession, Mr. Chanos is warning that China's hyperstimulated economy is headed for a crash, rather than the sustained boom that...

Glum trader who missed most of the upside is now convinced the market will only go down for the rest of the year. The Dow is down over a hundred points today and it's making professional traders nervous. We spoke to a friend this morning at a large prop trading desk inside an investment bank and we’ve never heard him so bleak. He says that all the equity traders on his desk think the market will do nothing but go down for the rest of the year. “We’re all waiting for the market to crack. And it looks today like...

Economic Fundamentalists by: Malcolm A. Kline, March 16, 2009 A Baptist minister gave a sermon on economics that the ACLU and the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State would surely regard as crossing the theological divide. “During the last two years, some of the most notable commercial reputations have been hopelessly destroyed,” he said. “Men in the great world of trade, who were trusted, around whose characters there hovered no cloud of suspicion, not even the shade of doubt, have proved themselves reckless of honesty and devoid of principle.” “The fiery trial has been too much for...

More on the possible contribution of index fund investment to recent commodity price moves. We and many others have been discussing whether the surge in investment fund purchases of long positions in commodity futures contracts may have been a factor contributing to the spot prices of those commodities beyond what would be warranted by considerations of physical supply and demand. John Mauldin shares an interesting graphic from Deutsche Bank researchers, showing that the prices of a number of commodities in which no futures market exists have increased even more dramatically than those traded on major exchanges.

Just wondering about this before the hurricane hits... But we have a wide diversity of people on FreeRepublic and I know many of us play the market. I think we need a stock market ping list for discussion (if we already have one, please clue me in). For example, I've made a great deal of money on GYI (options) and BBX (rolling stock) this year because I follow them closely (as well as a few dozen others). I would love to hear from other Freepers about establishing a ping list and discussing stocks that other Freepers are following. For the...

Traveling around Japan, one senses little excitement about the US primaries, though officials may be secretly hoping John Kerry doesn’t become president. While the Democratic frontrunner’s economic policies are a work in progress, Japan may not like what it has seen so far. A Kerry win could spell renewed friction between Washington and Tokyo, the kind that may unnerve markets. Tokyo-based economists are eyeing a couple of potential economic landmines listed in Kerry’s website, www.johnkerry.com. One is his push to get Japan, China and others to stop manipulating currencies. Another is his desire to break down barriers to key export...