Our Ponzi Economy
The Rot Within: Part I
by Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds
(Read Part II.)
Depending on blowing the next bubble to temporarily prop up the economy is the height of foolhardy shortsightedness.
Inflation Is Not "Growth"
The Rot Within: Part II
by Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds
(Read Part I.)
Just as the Federal Reserve cannot directly force you to stick the needle of monetary heroin (debt) into your arm, it also can't force employers to pay employees more.
A Word from This Newsletter's Sponsor
Join Amazon Prime Through this Link and We Get $2 to Support the Newsletter
That time the US planned to nuke the moon
After launching Sputnik I the US devised a plan to raise Americans morale about the US position in the space race. Called Project A119 the plan was to nuke the moon and create a massive explosion that would be visible to people on Earth.
What We Read Today 27 July 2014
Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary "reading list" which will include very brief summaries (and sometimes longer ones) of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for "reading list" items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.
- Gold Set to Post Second Straight Weekly Loss (James Hyerczyk, FX Empire) Looks like gold has established another leg down. As Hyerczyk suggests, there may be a counter trend rally for a few days but playing it as a longer move could be dangerous.
Industrial Production Surge Looks Like 2007 Just Before Economy Collapsed
by Lee Adler, Wall Street Examiner
The headline number on Industrial Production 'missed' last week, coming in at a seasonally adjusted gain of 0.2% versus the economic consensus guess of 0.4%. But is that accurate anddoes it matter?
Read more >>
A 'Do-or-Die' Moment for the US Housing Market
by Greg Guenthner, Daily Reckoning
As the real estate market slowly begins to show signs of life, homebuilders continue to slide.
The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction ETF is down almost 4% year-to-date. Over the past 16 months, the builders have been stuck in neutral, while the S&P has risen more than 26% over the same period.
You Can't Taper A Ponzi Scheme
Time to Reboot
by Ellen Brown, Web of Debt
One thing to be said for the women now heading the Federal Reserve and the IMF: compared to some of their predecessors, they are refreshingly honest. The Wall Street Journal reported on July 2nd:
Global Cities With The Highest Millionaire Density
from Felix Richter, Statista.com
by Niall McCarthy
According to a study carried out by Spear's magazine and wealth consultancy company WealthInsight, the tiny principality of Monaco has the highest density of millionaires in the world.
Spanish Bail Out of Catalunya Banc Costs Government euro 11.5 Billion
by Dirk Ehnts, Econoblog101
El Pais reports that the Spanish government has sold Catalunya Banc for euro 1.1 billion to BBVA. The newspaper writes:
Esta operacion supone que los contribuyentes pierden definitivamente 11.839 millones de euros, una cantidad que se acerca a los recortes en sanidad y educacion hasta 2013, que suman 13.800 millones.
La entidad, que llego a ser la cuarta mayor caja de Espana, tenia unas ayudas directas del Estado de 12.050 millones y otros 572 millones inyectados posteriormente por el FROB para la venta de la cartera de hipotecas toxicas. En total ha puesto 12.622 millones y recibira 783 millones con la venta porque solo tiene el 66% de Catalunya Banc. La operacion incrementara el deficit publico porque el FROB valoro en sus libros a Catalunya Banc en 1.858 millones y percibira 783.
Indonesia's Democratic Masses Brought Victory to Jokowi
by Ariel Heryanto, The Conversation
The 2014 Indonesian presidential election has been remarkable. Not only in comparison to the country's long history of dictatorship that crumbled less than two decades ago, but also to democratic processes worldwide.
Criminality Denied
AG Holder Describes Felony Fraud and Does Not Indict
by William K. Black, New Economic Perspectives
The third omission from Attorney General Eric Holder's press conference announcing the settlement with Citigroup of civil charges was the words 'criminal' and 'indictment.' The Department of Justice (DOJ) press conference had a scripted press release.
Trefis: Highlights Week Ending 25 July 2014
Written by Trefis
Below is a summary of the activity at Trefis during the past week that Trefis thoughtEconintersect readers would find interesting.
Trefis is a financial community structured around trends, forecasts and insights related to some of the most popular stocks in the US. It provides the unique feature of allowing the user to model future valuation based upon projected changes in components of each business. It also provides communication capabilities among members, including consensus of member analysis compared to Trefis staff analysis and blogging opportunities for members.
Click on graphic for larger image and go to
Trefis interactive page.
Click "Read more..." to see our clickable table of contents with the most covered companies (more than 1 article) of the week identified. This week no company had more than one article.
30% of Facebook Users Are Now Mobile-Only
by Felix Richter, Statista.com
While Facebook's overall user growth has naturally slowed down a bit - monthly active users grew 3% on a quarter-to-quarter basis and 14% year-over-year - the number of users who access Facebook via mobile devices is still growing rapidly.
Infographic of the Day: Tesla and Edison Compared
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American, born in 1856 and died in 1943, age 86.
