Last Monday, Thomas Hoenig, the Vice Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), sent a stunning letter to the Chair and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. The letter contained information that should have become front page…
Now that US President Donald Trump has been in office for six months, we can more confidently assess the prospects for the US economy and economic policy making under his administration. And, like Trump’s presidency more generally, paradoxes abound. The…
According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), as of March 31, 2017 there were a total of 5,856 banks in the U.S. operating under its Federal deposit insurance umbrella. But according to government financial researchers, five of those banks…
Submitted by: ButtCracker — The dollar bill, that long-time rival of credit-card giants, is under attack once again. After years of fighting to get their cards accepted in stores, Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. are stepping up efforts to get merchants…
Welcome to debt-serfdom, the only possible output of the soaring cost of living for the unprotected many who are ruled by a hubris-soaked, subsidized Protected Elite. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation is bogus on a number of…
I have come to the conclusion that capitalism is successful primarily because it can impose the majority of the costs associated with its economic activities on outside parties and on the environment. In other words, capitalists make profits because their…
Economists and tax experts push back against White House reported plan to slash corporate rate by 60 percent. With reports that President Donald Trump wants to slash the corporate tax rate by 60 percent and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claiming…
The S&P 500 Index and CBOE Volatility Index have historically moved in opposite directions about 80 percent of the time, but that’s changed recently… As Bloomberg reports, both gauges are heading for declines this month, after the two rose in…
Nobody yet can tell whether Donald Trump is an agent of change with a specific policy in mind, or merely a catalyst heralding an as yet undetermined turning point. His first month in the White House saw him melting into…
By Justin Gardner The second state in less than a month has made a direct challenge to the Federal Reserve monopoly on money, by forwarding a bill that would “eliminate capital gains taxes on gold and silver specie.” The Idaho…
One. Big. Squeeze… It was quite a week for ‘uncertainty’ as Europe’s VIX crashed to record lows, and FX and Rate vols plunged after the Fed move and Dutch elections.. benefits. Discover the strength of Legg Mason…
In the shadow of Donald Trump’s spree of controversial actions, the European commission has quietly launched the next offensive in the war on cash. These unelected bureaucrats have boldly asserted their intention to crack down on paper transactions across the…
Submitted by: ButtCracker — The Senate voted strictly along party lines Friday morning to repeal a regulation requiring disclosures for the payments that energy companies make to foreign governments. The measure passed 52-47 in a pre-dawn vote. The Securities and Exchange…
Why the public is so pissed off Fair warning, my family just received a 61.5% increase in our healthcare insurance premium of 2017, on top of last year’s 24.8% increase, so I am quite annoyed at the moment. For my…
As tumultuous as last year was from a global political perspective on the back of a rocky start market-wise, 2017 will be much more so. The central bank subsidization of the financial system (especially in the US and Europe) that…
The final stages of capitalism, Karl Marx predicted, would be marked by global capital being unable to expand and generate profits at former levels. Capitalists would begin to consume the government along with the physical and social structures that sustained…
Military, police and Homeland Security units have all long been preparing for riots and widespread civil unrest during a prolonged collapse. What is the anatomy of a breakdown? The past eight years have been extremely difficult for the real economy.…
Gary Cohn, President and COO of Goldman Sachs — Two former Goldman Sachs bankers and the sitting President of the Wall Street firm are taking high positions in Donald Trump’s administration despite the egregious role that Goldman Sachs played in…
Yves here. Wolf addresses a pet peeve, and even better, in long form. By Wolf Richter, a San Francisco based executive, entrepreneur, start up specialist, and author, with extensive international work experience. Originally published at Wolf Street Some falsehoods simply…
On 19 April 2016, China was rolling out its new gold-backed yuan. Russia’s ruble has been fully supported by gold for the last couple of years. Nobody in the western media talks about it. Why would they? – A western…
