Last month the Federal Government spent $589B and ran a $314B deficit. To pay for the $314B they didn't have, they said they borrowed $261B from the public and drained their savings account by $73B. That doesn't quite add up but that doesn't surprise anyone. What's $34B between friends? When the Fed's savings account gets low, they have to come [...]
Over the weekend, another European nation turned toward the populist direction. It was enough to get one’s attention when Italy did it, but Sweden is something else altogether. The country has been long held out as an exemplar of everything that is right with globalization. They have industry, youth, etc. How in the world could another “far right” party score [...]
Note: This will be a short update. We are shifting the timing of some of our reports. The monthly Global Asset Allocation update will now be published in the first week of the month, aiming for the first of each month. I’ll put out a full report next week. The Bi-Weekly Economic Review is shifting to a monthly update, published [...]
On June 21, 2017, Italy’s Parliament approved Law #96. The new regulation altered Law #130 of 1999. Pertaining to limitations on the activities of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV), the 2017 amendment expanded their scope. The intention was clear; SPV’s were going to be used as the primary method of cleaning up Italian banks as a conduit for the country’s mountain [...]
There may come a time not too much further down the road when Brexit will have been not quite forgotten but placed into a second tier of European disintegration. In that top level, if it should continue, would reside all on its own Itexit. The Italians not the Britons will goad the question of the euro, and therefore the whole [...]
With all the election post-mortems flying about, there really only needs to be reference to pre-mortems that predicted such results. Even typically leftist media outlets have seen the “message” for what it was. From The DailyBeast: Yes, the stock market is booming but overwhelmingly Americans are unhappy with their economic situation—and for good reason. Wages are stagnant and middle-class household [...]
In another piece of the puzzle ending the reign of Bernanke’s monetary influence, there remains deep dissatisfaction with the economy. Poll after poll just ahead of the coming midterms shows the economy as “somehow” the top concern. The discontent in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll is palpable. Despite its fitful gains, seven in 10 Americans rate the nation’s economy [...]
With an election looming it is no surprise that efforts to sway voters via economic framing have been heightened. There are, however, the usual and predictable responses, and then there is what can only be called epic trolling (as the kids say). Publishing in Forbes, of all places, Adam Hartung quotes somebody named Bob Deitrick: President Obama has achieved a [...]
There's Something Happenin' Here, What it is ain't exactly clear... "For What It's Worth" - Buffalo Springfield My friend Josh Brown (okay, he's linked to some of our stuff; maybe friend is a bit of an exaggeration) often quotes and links to videos of rap songs on his blog, The Reformed Broker. At the age of 50 (51 this month), [...]
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