Free Republic

Biden and Congress continue their massive spending spree, mostly on themselves and their donors, creating a massive Debt Star capable of unfathomable economic destruction. This will require massive money printing to fund the US Debt Star. But as of today, M2 Money growth is negative as is bank credit growth. But all this is about to change. The U.S. federal government published a December deficit of $129 billion, up 52% from the previous year. The private sector recession is clear as expenses continue to rise while tax receipts decline. If we look at the period between October and December 2023,...

Jackson Browne said it best. The US economy is “running on empty.” M2 Money growth is negative. And M2 Money growth has been negative for the last year. The third and largest round of fiscal stimulus was in March of 2021. That’s when Biden’s popularity peaked at 55.1 percent. Base image from 588 Biden Approval Ratings. Why Biden’s Approval Rating Is Miserable Income is rising and so are wages. Even real income is up. But real wages are another matter. Personal income data from the BEA, hourly wages from the BLS, real hourly earnings and chart by Mish. Rental income...

An Army base in Washington state spent part of the long holiday weekend searching for a missing part to a .50-caliber machine gun, the latest incident after the service was criticized for lost weapons. The receiver assembly of an M2 .50-caliber machine gun went missing from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment's staff duty area and triggered an all-hands search that, for most of the rank and file, lasted a little over 12 hours. But it resulted in an Army investigation that was still ongoing Monday. A culprit was identified that afternoon, according to a soldier involved in the search. By...

Americans are worried a recession is looming—and according to a top economist, they ought to be. Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, said this week that he believes the U.S. is heading for a “whopper” of a recession next year. In an interview with CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Monday, Hanke argued that a major economic downturn had been made inevitable due to U.S. money supply soaring and stagnating. “We will have a recession because we’ve had five months of zero M2 growth, money supply growth, and the Fed isn’t even looking at it,” he...

If you are wondering when inflation will slow down, one of the first places to look is the overall money supply. There are several factors, but the easiest to understand are the M1 and M2 metrics. M1 is basically cash, and deposits. Seasonally adjusted M2 is constructed by summing savings deposits (before May 2020), small-denomination time deposits, and retail MMFs, each seasonally adjusted separately, and adding this result to seasonally adjusted M1.

Why are CEOs and corporate insiders selling their stocks at a far faster rate than we have ever seen before? Do they know something that the rest of us do not? If stock prices are going to continue soaring into the stratosphere like many in the mainstream media are suggesting, these insiders that are dumping stocks like there is no tomorrow will miss out on some absolutely enormous profits. On the other hand, if a colossal market crash is coming in 2022, then 2021 was absolutely the perfect time to get out. As I have said countless times before, you...

Both Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase have lowered Q2 Real GDP growth to 1%. Retail sales, although in Q3, were disappointing in today’s release. usretail071513 Tepid GDP growth and rising adjusted monetary base is not a great combination. moneyrelgdp As a consequence, M2 Money Velocity has plunged. m2velocbernake Of course, M2 Money Velocity is correlated with dwindling labor force participation. m2velpart The change in the M1 Money Multiplier is not so clear. m1multi And as I have discussed before, the rise in M1 Money Supply and the collapse of the Money Multiplier did not go unnoticed. m1multiexcess But both...

One of the little-known casualties of the Iraq war was the American M-2 Bradley IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle). Five years ago the U.S. Army stopped using the M-2 in combat. By then it was clear that the enemy was intent on using mines and roadside bombs in a big way and the M-1 tank, Stryker, and MRAP vehicles were much better able to handle these blast weapons than the M-2. This was a hard decision to make because up until then it was believed that the M-2 could be made competitive with upgrades. For example, the BUSK (Bradley Urban Survival...

Could Money Supply to Lead to Gold $10,000/oz? Mark O'Byrne Published 10/21/2011 Return To Article Gold is trading at USD 1,623.80, EUR 1,177.95, GBP 1,027.01, JPY 124,535.72, AUD 1587.39 and CNY 10,354 per ounce. Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD 1,623.00, GBP 1,027.02 and EUR 1178.14 per ounce. Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,629.00, GBP 1,033.24 and EUR 1,180.17 per ounce. Gold prices are mixed today as markets remain on edge due to increasing divisions amongst European leaders on how to solve the intractable euro-zone debt crisis. There continues to be very strong demand for physical bullion globally...

The U.S. Department of Defense recently ordered modification kits (for $5,700 each) for M2 12.7mm (.50 caliber) machine-guns. These kits upgrade existing weapons to the M2E2 standard and allow for quick barrel changes. Each barrel weighs 10.9 kg/24 pounds. There is also a mounting rail for scopes and a flash suppressor. Earlier this year, the Department of Defense also bought 8,000 more M2 machine-gun barrels (for $850 each). This M2E2 version is the best upgrade delivered for the M2 so far. There are others in the works. It was two years ago that the U.S. Department of Defense gave General...

Can someone comment on this picture of this M2 and it's ammo?

June 14th, 2005 Dear ****** We have important news to share with you to keep 50 caliber sniper rifles out of the hands of terrorists. Congressman James P. Moran (D-VA), author of the 50 Caliber Sniper Rifle Reduction Act, will be offering an amendment this afternoon during House consideration of the Science, State, Justice and Commerce (SSJC) Appropriations bill (HR 2862) that would prohibit the exportation of the 50 Caliber Sniper Rifle. Congressman Moran wrote the following letter to his House colleagues today about this important homeland security public policy measure: "Capable of inflicting a devastatingly accurate impact from well...

Comdey Central, a network included in our basic cable in Maryland, has a show called "Insomniac with Dave Attell" that starts at 9pm EST. I've learned that the show is basically about a guy who goes out late at night to interview people who are working or are out and about in late night hours. I caught a few seconds of tonights show while channel surfing. The host was apparently in a porn production company (ok, I guess we can expect this from cable) and proceeded to ask about a prop on a desk. He held up a sex toy...

A Home for a Gay Channel By BILL CARTER Published: May 30, 2004 EXECUTIVES of MTV Networks seemed to be caught a bit off guard by the hostile reaction to their announcement last week that they intend to create the first cable entertainment channel devoted to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender viewers, called Logo. Religious groups, including the Traditional Values Coalition, denounced the idea as amounting to "moral anarchy" and promised to organize a boycott of companies that advertise on the channel. But the executives behind the project remain convinced that MTV Networks will be able to overcome any impediments....

National Coalition Launches www.STOPMTV.org 2/13/04 1:42:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk, Religion Reporter Contact: Maryam Kubasek of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families, 513-521-6227, ext. 111; web: http://www.nationalcoalition.org CINCINNATI, Feb. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families has launched a new educational initiative regarding MTV and its negative impact on teens. The organization has launched a web site, http://www.stopmtv.org , which gives parents some startling facts about the music channel and encourages them to make some tough choices regarding viewing it. MTV's latest production, the halftime show at...

U.S. M-2 money supply fell $20.3 bln Dec 22 week Friday January 2, 4:29 pm ET NEW YORK, Jan 2 (Reuters) - U.S. M-2 money supply fell by $20.3 billion in the Dec. 22 week to $6.034.5 billion, the Federal Reserve said on Friday. The Fed said the four-week moving average of M-2 was $6,049.0 billion vs $6.055.0 billion in the previous week. Following are the details of the money supply report, and the Fed's H.3 and H.4 reports: . One week ended December 22 (billions dlrs) . Latest Change Prev week Rvsd from M-1....1,288.2 down....1.8 vs 1,290.0.....1,290.0 M-2....6,034.5 down...20.3...

<p>November 25, 2003 -- THE president of Show time had some strong words yesterday for the chairman of CBS about the ill-fated miniseries about Ronald and Nancy Reagan that was cancelled by CBS, then dumped on Showtime by their parent company, Viacom. "If [CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves] didn't know what movie he was getting, that's not the fault of the producers, the director or anyone associated with the film," said Robert Greenblatt, president of entertainment for Showtime Networks, in a telephone news conference yesterday with TV critics.</p>

Two Sundays ago, CBS broadcast their grand 75th anniversary celebration. Audiences were reminded of the rich history of a network that has, until now, put artistic integrity and principled news above politics. From I Love Lucy to Murphy Brown in the entertainment arena and from Walter Cronkite to the impressive team behind 60 Minutes in news, we have come to depend on CBS for their high quality programming. As a wonderful recent letter to the New York Times reminded me, it was Edward R. Murrow of CBS who stood up to Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, "a genuinely risky...

If Ronald Reagan were still in his prime, presidential 1980s form, he’d be saying to Hollywood: "There you go again." There are two kinds of films about presidents. There are documentaries which usually try to dwell in factual examination; and fictional movies which have a habit of wildly making things up to satisfy the demands of making either effective entertainment, or effective propaganda. Now CBS is preparing a dramatic and quite fictional miniseries for November titled "The Reagans." CBS promised reporters it would be "meticulously researched." Researched fiction, that is. The last Reagan-fictionalizing offender was Showtime, whose 2001 film on...

Yep, they're now whining because President Bush is going around them since they can't manage to tell the truth about the situation in Iraq. Poor Babies!!!! "Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2003 10:23 a.m. EDT Big Media: Bush Has Declared War on Us Now that President Bush has finally called the big media's bluff on its bad-news-only Iraq war coverage, mainstream reporters are squealing like stuck pigs. CBS's John Roberts sounded particularly overwrought the other night, complaining that Bush's decision to circumvent the networks and tell the Iraq story to local TV affiliates amounted to a declaration of "war." "It was the...