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Recent economic numbers reflect serious problems with the U.S. economy. On Tuesday the National Association Of Realtors announced the largest drop in existing home sales since 1968 when they began to keep such records. This happened in one of the stronger months for home sales, and with deflated prices and record low mortgage rates. So why did home sales drop so much in July? Well part of it was demand pushed forward to get the government bribe in the form of the $8,000 or $6,500 tax credit. But the main reason home sales plunged is because Americans have no confidence...

Could Wall Street be about to crash again? This week's bone-rattlers may be making you wonder. I don't make predictions. That's a sucker's game. And I'm certainly not doing so now. But way too many people are way too complacent this summer. Here are 10 reasons to watch out. 1. The market is already expensive. Stocks are about 20 times cyclically-adjusted earnings, according to data compiled by Yale University economics professor Robert Shiller. That's well above average, which, historically, has been about 16. ... 2. The Fed is getting nervous. ... 3. Too many people are too bullish. ... 4....

Climatologist Warns Of Second Dust Bowl In Growing Southwest Desert Gus Lubin Aug. 13, 2010, 11:43 AM A climatologist at Columbia University says the Southwest looks forward to "permanent drought" conditions on par with the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Arizona was already an arid and hot, but here's how Professor Richard Seager says it will get worse. Grist: A critical player in this drying cycle is the planetary-scale circulation system known as the Hadley cell... The Hadley cell is growing. Its expansion above a larger swath of the American Southwest, along with a shifting of the jet stream and...

It's time to get liquid. Yesterday, the Fed announced plans for "QE2" – Quantitative Easing, the sequel. It'll be using the principal payments from its mortgage-backed securities to buy Treasury Bonds. In other words, the Fed will be both selling and buying T-Bonds. In more words... the fed will be monetizing debt. This is a big, BIG deal. The market seemed to ignore the potential effects on Tuesday. But it looked like investors finally got the picture yesterday, when the market spent most of the trading session down more than 2%. It's a big deal because the Fed is basically...

REMEMBER: In 1930, They Didn't Know It Was "The Great Depression" Yet Henry Blodget Aug. 11, 2010, 10:21 AM In the past year, we've written a lot about the similarity between the rally of early 1930 and the one we had through April of this year. The early 1930 rally came after the market had fallen nearly 50% in the fall of 1929. The spring 1930 rally took the market up nearly 50% again, to a level that was only about 20% below the previous peak. That rally, of course, was also the biggest sucker's rally in history. After the...

John Hussman: It's Official, The Data Says Another Recession Is Coming Joe Weisenthal Jun. 28, 2010, 12:48 PM Fund manager John Hussman (via PragCap), who's been bearish for awhile, says it's now clear that a double-dip is coming. Based on evidence that has always and only been observed during or immediately prior to U.S. recessions, the U.S. economy appears headed into a second leg of an unusually challenging downturn. A few weeks ago, I noted that our recession warning composite was on the brink of a signal that has always and only occurred during or immediately prior to U.S. recessions,...

Why This Chart May Spell Doom For The U.S. Economy Gregory White Jun. 30, 2010, 5:18 PM Deutsche Bank is particularly concerned about this chart, the US MPF FCI (United States Monetary Policy Forum Financial Conditions Index), because this chart typically is at these levels during a recession or right before one. It has, in the past, predicted recessions. But it has also been wrong, notably in 1994, 1995, and 2003, according to Deutsche Bank. The longer the index is lower, however, the more likely it will have an impact on GDP. And its impact on GDP tends to be...

Prepare NOW: They "Get It"Saturday, June 5. 2010 Posted by Karl Denninger in International at 12:14 Anyone who doesn't believe that "they" (the powers that be) "get it" at this point needs to remove their head from their ass: G-20 central bankers and finance ministers agreed in a joint statement today that “within their capacity, countries will expand domestic sources of growth.” At the same time, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet told reporters that Europe’s best contribution to the global rebound is to achieve fiscal sustainability. Those two are polar opposites. You just heard Trichet admit that what everyone...

Anyway, I write today's update because the worst of it is dead ahead and we care greatly about the finances of our readership. Scores of you have written to tell us how much you've saved selling important assets before their respective markets tanked (or by waiting to buy until prices were lower), and believe me when I say we have taken those stories to heart. That's the main reason you'll continue to get trusty asset and credit deflation updates from us from time to time. Meanwhile, it pains me greatly to write this one, but I suppose every cancer patient...

Now Everyone Thinks The Market's Going To Crash Henry Blodget May 30, 2010, 10:23 AM A month ago, with the market charging ever higher, climbing the "wall of worry," most bearish voices had been silenced. Now they're back with a vengeance. (Why? Because, as we saw clearly at the depths of the market crash 15 months ago, what most people expect the market will do in the future is what the market has done in the recent past. The most recent past is a month in which the market has fallen more than 10%. So more people are getting bearish....

This Bear Market Is Nowhere Near A "Buying Opportunity," Says Rosenberg Henry Blodget May 31, 2010, 11:13 AM Some not-so-fun facts from David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff: We went back to the history books and found that at fundamental lows in the S&P 500, whether they be in real bear markets or in severe corrections in a bull market, the index bottoms when it gets 13% below the 50-day moving average and 24% below the 200-day moving average. As of Friday’s close, we are talking about a market that is barely below the 50-day m.a. now and 5% below the...

Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough: The U.S. Collapse Will Follow Europe's, And Bernanke Will Be Fired Kamelia Angelova | May 27, 2010, 11:15 AM | 3,635 | comment 20 The domino effect of debt maturity is coming to America, says Keith McCullough, CEO of Hedgeye Risk Management. "The U.S. is on the road to perdition and it is not going to end well." "When you burn your currency, you promote inflation and you enrage your citizens," says McCullough. He says that Ben Bernanke will soon be voted out for his excess borrowing policies and failure to deliver on promises to cut...

Bob Chapman First 6 months of 2010, Americans will continue to live in the 'unreality'…the period between July and October is when the financial fireworks will begin. The Fed will act unilaterally for its own survival irrespective of any political implications …(source is from insider at FED meetings). In the last quarter of the year we could even see Martial law, which is more likely for the first 6 months of 2011. The FDIC will collapse in September 2010. Commercial real estate is set to implode in 2010. Wall Street believes there is a 100% chance of crash in bond...

Bob Chapman First 6 months of 2010, Americans will continue to live in the 'unreality'…the period between July and October is when the financial fireworks will begin. The Fed will act unilaterally for its own survival irrespective of any political implications …(source is from insider at FED meetings). In the last quarter of the year we could even see Martial law, which is more likely for the first 6 months of 2011. The FDIC will collapse in September 2010. Commercial real estate is set to implode in 2010. Wall Street believes there is a 100% chance of crash in bond...

The CBOE volatility index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, is trading above 25 Thursday. Is this volatility good for the market? James Hardesty, president, market strategist and chief economist at Hardesty Capital Management and David Hefty, CEO of Cornerstone Wealth Management shared their insights. “It undermines investor confidence and confidence is important in pushing this market higher,” Hardesty told CNBC.

Stock Market Historic Crash, A Warning Shot Across Our Collective Bow Stock-Markets / Financial Crash May 17, 2010 - 11:41 AM By: Captain Hook That’s the way you should view yesterday’s historic crash, witnessing the largest single day point swings in history. You should view it as a warning shot across your bow, because most market participants will stay in the stock market until it’s too late. Then, when the real panic starts, a lasting panic with no recovery like yesterday, they will freeze like deer in the headlights, and it will be all over but the crying as stocks...

Markets Sell Off HARD -- Here's What You Need To Know Joe Weisenthal May. 13, 2010, 4:00 PM First the scoreboard: Dow: -115 S&P: -13 NASDAQ: -31 And now some key stories: * Violence broke out big-time in Bangkok today, a place once thought to be a bastion of stability in the hot-growing region. * Networker Cisco fell hard after reporting decent earnings after the bell last night. That paced the big losing index, the NASDAQ. * Gold finally took a breather, while oil fell to $74.40. * A key amendment to the financial reform bill was passed that will...

The U.S. Government Is About To Get Hit With 'The Perfect Storm' Of Debt Casey Research May. 12, 2010, 3:32 PM(This post by Chris Wood, Jake Weber, and Vedran Vuk originally appeared at The Casey Report) Hearing President Obama’s economic peptalks, you might be under the impression that the U.S. needs to keep spending for just a little while longer to stimulate the economy – but then will swear off big deficits. Reinforcing the point, to address concerns stirred by a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecast that the U.S. government will accumulate total deficits in excess of $6 trillion over...

If you have read the "Essential Articles" in the I.O. Sidebar, you may have an idea of where he is coming from. Video: "Gerald Celente: Wall Street Fall, Dow Jones collapse, 2010 global crash" It's not one guy making a little mistake. No. The system is so rigged -- this is what we're trying to say. When things are going on that people have no idea about. Oh, they call it a "fat finger that hit a 'B' instead of an 'M,'" come on, you know, let's grow up about this. It's bigger than that. The systems are collapsing. And...

20 Things You Will Need To Survive When The Economy Collapses And The Next Great Depression Begins Michael Snyder May. 7, 2010, 10:26 AM (This is a guest post from The Economic Collapse Blog.) Today, millions of Americans say that they believe that the United States is on the verge of a major economic collapse and will soon be entering another Great Depression. But only a small percentage of those same people are prepared for that to happen. The sad truth is that the vast majority of Americans would last little more than a month on what they have stored...