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You can imagine the derision that would have flowed from the liberal “mainstream media” if George W. Bush had referred to the United States as well as its European allies as “developing countries.” This is exactly the term he used in an interview with The New York Times, which has just been published. In the interview, given in Galesburg, Illinois, the site of his distinctly unimpressive speech on the economy at Knox College last Wednesday, President Obama had this to say to reporters Jackie Calmes and Michael D. Shear: And one of the interesting things that we don’t talk about...

Union-Backed Protesters Causing Disruption Outside Fast Food Chains Young communists for a $15 minimum wage rallied in cities across the country today. The workers want the corporations to “quit stealing” from workers and double the pay. Fast-food worker Shenita Simon, who brought a baby with her to the interview, told Neil Cavuto: Shenita Simon: “Those that think we’re making so much money and if we follow a particular type of budget, I can’t afford to pay rent. I can’t afford to feed my children. I can’t even afford the healthcare for my husband. Things that you guys see as everyday...

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: I find it astonishing that he goes around making speeches in which he deplores the state of the economy, the growing income inequality, chronic unemployment, staggering middle class income, and it's as if he has been a bystander, as if he's been out of the country for the last five years. It's his economy; he's the president. He's talking as if this is the Bush economy, I don't know, the Eisenhower economy, and he just arrived in a boat and he discovers how bad the economy is. This is a result of the policies he instituted. He gave...

More than 19 million whites fall below the poverty line of $23,021 for a family of four, accounting for more than 41 percent of the nation's destitute, nearly double the number of poor blacks.

Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has warned shale oil and gas development poses a threat to the kingdom's economy, the Wall Street Journal's Summer Said reports. In an open letter to Saudi oil minister Ali al Naimi [in Arabic], Alwaleed also warns the kingdom must diversify its revenue streams in the face of flagging oil demand. A source translated the key portion of the note: With all due respect to your Highness’ viewpoint about shale gas and that it poses no danger on Saudi economy at ‘the present time’, I was hoping that your Highness would also shed light...

George Santayana, and before him the 18th-century British philosopher-politician Edmund Burke, had history in mind in observing that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. Events five years ago hardly qualify as "history," yet the evidence is mounting that many supposedly well-informed people have forgotten what got the U.S. into—and out of—the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. How else to describe the common attitude toward the Federal Reserve and its chairman, Ben Bernanke? The Fed and Mr. Bernanke were instrumental in pulling the country—and ultimately the world economy—back from the abyss. Yet the heroic effort...

Last Wednesday in Illinois, President Obama unwittingly explained how economies grow. Our 44th president asserted without a hint of irony that “Washington has taken its eye off the ball.” Exactly! Economies aren’t living, breathing blobs, rather they’re a collection of individuals. Because we individuals have infinite wants, economic growth is as simple as the government getting out of the way of our production. What we produce constitutes our demand, so if we’re not restrained by government policy, we tend to be productive. Considering government policy, from an economic perspective it’s best to break it down to four policy areas. Specifically,...

During his one-hour, six-minute snoozer of a speech supposedly about the economy in Galesburg, Illinois, on Wednesday, President Barack Obama denounced Washington’s “endless parade of distractions and political posturing and phony scandals.” “Phony”? The rest of the president’s speech was so utterly devoid of new ideas that even ordinarily reliable apparatchik Chuck Todd at MSNBC couldn’t handle it, aptly observing of Obama and his administration: “They have nothing new to say.” Obama, whose flunkies presented his speech as yet another “pivot” back to jobs and the economy, didn’t even identify employment growth as his top priority. Instead, he said that...

This is the Weekly Investment & Finance Thread (July 29 -August 2 2013 edition)----   Trying to focus on the markets for today and each day and the economic news This is where you can exchange some investment opinions and advice  If you see another FR economic thread you like and want to link to it here, please do Post your favorite economic site links. Your favorite economic blogs and precious metals blogs and sitesPing list -- on or off let me know here or via freep-mail. If I missed you then Freep-mail me I might ping you to other interesting economic...

Organizing for Action, the nonprofit organization assembled from the remnants of President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, is pushing for the president’s second-term agenda during a month-long “Action August” of advocacy and fundraising — but don’t expect to hear about the economy. Beginning on Obama’s birthday, August 4, OFA will spend the month promoting the administration’s top issues ahead of the 2014 midterm elections: the benefits of enrolling early in Obamacare (August 4), immigration reform (August 5), climate change (August 13), gun control (August 21), and immigration reform again (August 31). “I’ve always said that running for office is not just...

China has ordered a nationwide audit of all government debt, underlining fears that the recent slowdown in its economy may impact the financial sector. Local governments in China borrowed heavily after the global financial crisis to try to sustain growth rates. The last audit, published in 2011, showed they had debt of 10.7tn yuan ($1.7tn; £1.1tn) by the end of 2010. Debt may threaten China's growth, and there are growing fears that local governments may not be able repay. "In line with a request of the State Council, the National Audit Office (NAO) will organize auditing agencies across the country...

Nigel Farage has pledged to follow the example of Paddy Ashdown and to establish "clusters of councillors" around the country elected on the challenging first-past-the-post system as a first step to winning parliamentary seats at future general elections. In a Guardian interview, the Ukip leader said people would vote for the "real thing" on Europe and immigration rather than support David Cameron who is occupying "our turf" under the influence of the Tory strategist Lynton Crosby. Farage admitted that his party is experiencing something of a "lull" but insisted that it was on course to win next year's European parliamentary...

Worst. President. Ever. After four-and-a-half years of Obama four of five American adults sturggle with joblessness and near-poverty conditions.The AP reported: Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.....

In a bid to change the national narrative, President Obama slammed ongoing investigations into Administration actions as “phony” and “a distraction from the real issues Americans care about.” Incidents being investigated include the attack in Benghazi that killed the US Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, the IRS abuse of political opponents, and the extensive spying on US citizens by the NSA. “The tragedy in Benghazi was heart rending,” Obama acknowledged. “But no matter what we do now we can’t bring those people back to life. Stirring things up, trying to figure out who to blame diverts us from...

President Obama gave a series of rousing speeches on college campuses last week, touting the miraculous economic growth since he became President. Obama: “…the economy is far stronger now than it was four and a half years ago.“ True, unemployment has improved since President Obama became President. But not for 16-19 year olds. unemp1619a Or African-Americans. Actually, the unemployment rates for African-Americans is HIGHER today than when President Obama took office. blackuenmploy Real personal income growth has been collapsing since the late 1960s, but has gone negative recently. 20130727_income Real GDP growth? Sort of like Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day...

Over two years ago, in March of 2012, when it was taboo to even suggest the Fed may be forced to admit failure once again with its then "final" monetary intervention Operation Twist (following similar failures with QE1 and QE2), we explained clearly "Why The Fed Will Have To Do At Least Another $3.6 Trillion In Quantitative Easing." The premise was simple: while the Fed had succeeded in raising the notional amount of traditional bank liabilities, primarily deposits (through a matched reserve expansion) courtesy of unsterilized QE, it was failing to expand the universe of money-equivalent collateral in the...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed the books on 2012 with $33.4 million in unallocated cash on hand — down from $167 million the year before — while adding to the mountain of debt piled on Chicago taxpayers, year-end audits show. Last week, Moody’s Investors ordered an unprecedented triple-drop in the city’s bond rating, citing Chicago’s “very large and growing” pension liabilities, “significant” debt service payments, “unrelenting public safety demands” and historic reluctance to raise local taxes that has continued under Emanuel. The 2012 city audits explain why. [Snip] The audits by the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche provide a treasure...

As many a former factory worker can attest, U.S. companies have invested so heavily in technology that some plants now practically run themselves. This illustrate a rethinking under way on how to measure economic output, a discussion that is leading to an overhaul of government data this week that will show the U.S. economy is a bit larger than previously thought. This will change on Wednesday when the Commerce Department releases decades of revised data that will include R&D as a category of investment. Under the new framework, R&D added about $300 billion to GDP in 2010. This could give...

GALESBURG, Ill. — In a week when he tried to focus attention on the struggles of the middle class, President Obama said in an interview that he was worried that years of widening income inequality and the lingering effects of the financial crisis had frayed the country’s social fabric and undermined Americans’ belief in opportunity. Upward mobility, Mr. Obama said in a 40-minute interview with The New York Times, “was part and parcel of who we were as Americans.” “And that’s what’s been eroding over the last 20, 30 years, well before the financial crisis,” he added. “If we don’t...

Would you be surprised to learn that tens of billions in cold, hard cash was shuffled around just prior to 9-11 by none other than the Fed itself? Probably not. Here's a graph, illustrating the change in USD currency production over a ten week period prior to 9-11 compared to the average over the five years prior (which, by the way, includes the Y2K money printing orgy in the year 2000 itself, which skews the average higher):

President Obama’s economic hour-long speech at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., on Wednesday was scary, not just for its statements, but for what some characterize as disregard of the rule of law. Obama made yet another case for government spending — which he calls “investment” — on infrastructure, education, and health care. Then he threatened to use executive power or public shaming to move his agenda if Congress failed to act. Politicians have a right to make their case, but not to make an end run around the law. Yet Obama said “I will not allow gridlock or inaction or...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of people who applied for new unemployment benefits rose by 7,000 to 343,000 in the week ended July 20, showing little change in the U.S. labor market, according to government data released Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected claims to rise to 342,000 from a revised 336,000 in the prior week, adjusted for seasonal variations.

According to a USA Today/Bipartisan Policy Center poll, "Americans by more than 2-1 say the best way to make positive changes in society is through volunteer organizations and charities, not by being active in government." Even better news: People under 30 are especially put off by politics and are "significantly less likely than their parents to say participating in politics is an important value in their lives." Why is this good news? There are at least two reasons. One is that the less faith people have in government, the more they are likely to have in themselves. The second is...

President Barack Obama on Wednesday, in his speech on the U.S. economy, spelled out the beginning of the end for federally controlled mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “We’ll work with both parties to turn the page on Fannie and Freddie, and build a housing finance system that’s rock-solid for future generations,” Obama said, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. See more Obama speech coverage. That might take a while. True, both the House and the Senate are working on legislation to get rid of the giants, which were took under control by the federal government in...

A federal bankrutpcy judge ruled Wednesday that federal courts will decide if Detroit is eligible for bankruptcy, staying challenges to the bankruptcy in state court. Detroit's Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr—a bankruptcy expert appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder earlier this year to oversee Detroit's finances—has said the federal bankruptcy filing is necessary to get the city out from under some $18 billion in liabilities. But the city's employee unions argued the bankruptcy is an end-run around the state constitution, which protects their pension benefits. The unions backed a series of lawsuits filed in Michigan courts to block the bankruptcy. Last week,...

President Obama and his senior aides are billing Wednesday’s speech at Knox College in Illinois as a major moment in his second term, a unique opportunity to restart a debate over the right way forward for the nation’s economy on his terms. “Our goal … is to lay out a vision and a plan, and then to just keep on pushing — not just legislatively, but across the board — so that we’re changing the nature of the conversation and focusing on what matters,” Obama said in a preview of the speech at a fundraiser Monday night for Organizing for...

According to political reporter Salena Zito, today's economic speeches by Barack Obama represent the 19th "pivot" for the president:(See link for Tweet)Chuck Todd tried to coin a phrase "this pivot to the economy," by calling it "Déjà Pivot": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg2rpoLmtlY “This speech, this pivot – pivot to the economy, again it’s like déjà pivot I have when it comes to the economy. But it seems like they really are signaling they are going to have a campaign approach to this fight with congress when it comes to the debt ceiling, when it comes to sequestration 2.0. All of the decisions coming...

Mea Culpa: The president is planning a major speech in Illinois Wednesday on economic policy. You don't need a crystal ball to predict what he'll say. But here's what he arguably should say. My fellow Americans, eight years ago, I stood here on the steps of Knox College to deliver a commencement address, and I took the opportunity to lay out my vision for economic opportunity. The speech was an indictment of President Bush's idea of a go-it-alone "ownership society." The key to America's greatness, I argued, came from government programs like Social Security, from government regulations, and from government...

In 1975: 1.You could buy an airline ticket and fly without ever showing an ID. 2.You could buy cough syrup without showing an ID. 3.You could buy and sell gold coins without showing an ID 4.You could buy a gun without showing an ID 5.You could pull as much cash out of your bank account without the bank filing a report with the government. 6.You could get a job without having to prove you were an American. 7.You could buy cigarettes without showing an ID 8.You could have a phone conversation without the government knowing who you called and who...

Just over a month ago, we chronicled the efforts of the North Carolina House and Senate to reform the states uncompetitive tax code and move towards a pro-growth tax system. At that point, the House and Senate had two competing bills and were attempting to broker a compromise that also had the approval of the North Carolina’s Governor, Pat McCrory. Last week, an agreement was reached and both the House and the Senate passed an outstanding tax reform package designed to super charge the economy. The Governor has signed that bill this afternoon, ushering in a game changing tax reform...

I started Docstoc in my 20’s, made the cover of one of those cliché “20 Under 20” lists, and today I employ an amazing group of 20-somethings. Call me a curmudgeon, but at 34, how I came up seems so different from what this millennial generation expects. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, and I see this generation making their own. In response, here are my 20 Things 20 Year-Olds Don’t Get. Time is Not a Limitless Commodity – I so rarely find young professionals that have a heightened sense of urgency to get to the next...

Economy: The White House is treating President Obama's upcoming economic speech as the "must see" event of the summer. It's more likely to resemble all those big-budget movies this year — an overhyped flop. A headline on the main White House website promises in bold letters that "You're going to want to watch this speech." And an official White House e-mail by top adviser Dan Pfeiffer talks about how "this one is worth checking out" because "this moment is so important" and you won't "be disappointed." Perhaps the folks at the White House are spending too much time hanging around...

Bix Weir is a tireless advocate for manipulation-free gold and silver markets. Weir says, “They are printing money, and the reason to control the price of gold is to control the perception the U.S. dollar is a sound currency.” The manipulation game is not going to go on much longer. Weir proclaims, “We’re at a point in our system and in the manipulation where people within the Fed and within our government are ready to pull the plug on the game and basically crash the system.” Weir goes on to say, “You’re looking at a complete wipeout of all debt...

Does anyone remember that we have an economy that is still in a slow recovery mode? It seems that the new normal is a slow economic recovery that produces very few jobs and most of them are part-time jobs. I know most of the people who read this post already understand that. Many people in Washington realize that our economy is not doing well at all. There are, however, some who would divert our eye from the ball that is bouncing down the court. Here is what President Obama thinks about this. Fox News - "The president thinks Washington has...

This is the Weekly Investment & Finance Thread (July-2013 22-26 edition)----   Trying to focus on the markets for today and each day and the economic news This is where you can exchange some investment opinions and advice  If you see another FR economic thread you like and want to link to it here, please do Post your favorite economic site links. Your favorite economic blogs and precious metals blogs and sitesPing list -- on or off let me know here or via freep-mail. If I missed you then Freep-mail me I might ping you to other interesting economic threads a few...

When a young Indian-American woman walked into the funky L.A. jewelry boutique Tarina Tarantino, store manager Lauren Twisselman thought she was just like any other customer. She didn't realize the woman was actress and writer Mindy Kaling. "I hadn't watched The Office," Twisselman says. Kaling both wrote and appeared in the NBC hit. This lack of recognition is precisely what the VIP-identification technology designed by NEC IT Solutions is supposed to prevent. The U.K.-based company already supplies similar software to security services to help identify terrorists and criminals. The ID technology works by analyzing footage of people's faces as they...

Senator Ted Cruz ✔ @SenTedCruz Reaganomics: You start a business in your parents' garage. Obamanomics: You move into your parents' garage. 6:51 PM - 20 Jul 2013 2,115 Retweets 695 favorites....

WASHINGTON — With major battles looming in the fall over the federal budget and the debt ceiling, President Barack Obama is trying to regain the initiative, embarking on a campaign-style tour of the Midwest this week to lay out his agenda for reinvigorating the nation’s economy, administration officials said Sunday. Obama’s offensive will begin Wednesday in Galesburg, Ill., with what his aides are saying will be a major address on economic policy at Knox College. Officials declined to provide details of the president’s message, but said he would set his terms for what they expect will be another bruising battle...

I think we can all agree that the evolution of 3D printing technology thus far has been stunning. But I wanted to know what specific ways entrepreneurs are actually looking to use the technology in business, and why — so I asked a panel of nine founders the following: As an entrepreneur, what’s most exciting to you about 3D printing? Where do you see it being utilized most in the near term? Their most compelling responses are below. 1. Fewer manufactured goods “Things” will no longer be manufactured and shipped to customers. Instead, you’ll purchase designs for everything from glasses...

Detroit’s bankruptcy filing is one depressing read. Poverty, crime, blight – you name the malady and there’s plenty of data to back it up. And unfortunately, Detroit’s not alone. You may be wondering which city hits the wall next. I’m not making predictions, but I’ve looked at one indicator that may offer some clues: population loss.As any good Ponzi Schemer will tell you, your future looks much better when there are more people moving in than moving out. Once the population change turns negative, a vicious circle can take hold, and that’s exactly what we saw in Detroit. In addition...

While it barely got mentioned by the mainstream media mob, Hall says the plunging employment-to-population ratio leads him to believe the real rate of unemployment is much higher than 7.6% — perhaps 10.6%. Hall notes that June's 58.7% employment-to-population ratio is actually lower than when the recession began at the end of 2007. "And according to our biggest job creators, small business owners, government is playing a big role in holding back the economy," he added. Sadly, despite ample evidence their policies have failed, President Obama and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party plunge recklessly ahead with their plans...

Five years into the POR (Pelosi-Obama-Reid) economy, our government’s lowered expectations, eagerly embraced and endorsed by its media apparatchiks, are arguably more offensive, intolerable, and damaging than the failed government policies which have kept it in effect.Those policies, best understood as the final proof of Keynesianism’s collapse, have begotten awful results. Supposedly designed to generate robust economic growth coming out of the recession, they have instead led to the weakest post-downturn growth since World War II, with trillions of dollars in collateral damage.Three decades ago, during the first four years after the economy emerged from an awful recession while facing...

For several years, the economy limped along because of me. I scrimped on everything, did it myself if I could do it myself, and hoarded money out of fear that the recent recession had another dip or two left in it. Things are different now. I’ve turned my savings into spending, rung up thousands of dollars’ worth of purchases on my credit cards and in the process paid a lot more in taxes. And I’ll probably keep spending like this until I nearly run out of money. In other words, I’ve bought a house. All told, I could easily end...

Something peculiar has been going on the treasury market during the latest round of quantitative easing (QE). If we study the chart provided below we find that treasury rates increased as soon as a QE-program was enacted, and fell immediately after its termination. Take the TSY 10 year for example; as soon as QE1 was implemented rates rose rapidly from a low of 2.08 per cent to a high of 4.01 per cent. What is striking about this is the fact that the low was set three days into the program, while the high was set three days after the...

Economic blogger and author, Charles Hugh Smith, joins Rick for an in-depth discussion on cycles and why he foresees a banking crisis in 2015. Other cycles covered are cycles of war, and climate.

For over a month, JPMorgan managed to mysteriously avoid matching up the gold held in its (world's largest) vault with the Comex delivery notice update. However, as of today, that particular can will be kicked no more. Starting yesterday, JPM reported that just under 12,000 ounces of Eligible gold (the same Registered gold that two days earlier saw its warrants detached and convert to eligible) were withdrawn from its warehouse 100 feet below CMP 1. But it was today's move that was the kicker, as a whopping 90,311 ounces of eligible gold were withdrawn, accounting for a massive 66% of...

Ohio lost the second highest number of jobs in the country in June, just a month after posting the largest job gains, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. Ohio lost 12,500 jobs in June. Only Tennessee, which lost 16,500 jobs, posted a larger decrease in employment. New York was third, losing 11,400 jobs. In May, Ohio lead the nation in employment, with an increase of 32,100 jobs. Ohio's jobless rate for June was 7.2 percent, said Benjamin Johnson, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services spokesman. That is a slight increase over May's jobless rate of 7.0 percent. August...

Vanderbilt University Medical Center plans to cut its workforce by more than 1,000 employees within the next two years, The Tennessean reports, citing people familiar with the center's plans. Some of the cuts are expected to come by offering early retirement options. Vanderbilt University Medical Center is targeting $250 million in budget savings over the same time period, or about 8 percent of current expenses, according to The Tennessean. "It is clear that we must embark on a comprehensive effort that is immediate, achievable, proactive and ensures success over a multiyear period, while the health care and biomedical science economies...

Applying our labor supply estimates directly to this population, we predict a decline in employment of between 530,000 and 940,000 in response to this group of individuals being made newly eligible for free or heavily subsidized health insurance. This would represent a decline in the aggregate employment rate of between 0.3 and 0.6 percentage points from this single component of the ACA. The researchers arrive at these numbers by examining the labor market impact of Tennessee’s 2005 decision to discontinue its expansion of TennCare, the state’s Medicaid system. They found that the TennCare disenrollment caused “a large and immediate labor...

As the FED turns up the heat in the central bank frying pan, the frogs (public) don't realize they are being cooked to death by inflation. I am quite amazed how loud the sizzling sound has become, but for some odd reason hardly anyone notices it. Unfortunately, we are well past the point of no return. It's only a matter of time now before the whole "Financial Cliff" falls off the mountain side. Until then, gold and silver investors will have to put up with some of the worst analysis ever to come out of government and MSM. You see...