Do you remember what happened the last time the U.S. dollar went on a great run like this?
As you can see from the chart below, it was in mid-2008, and what followed was the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression… Full Article Here
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The Last, Great Run For The U.S. Dollar, The Death Of The Euro And 74 Trillion In Currency Derivatives At Risk
March 12, 2015
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Are we on the verge of an unprecedented global currency crisis? On Tuesday, the euro briefly fell below $1.07 for the first time in almost a dozen years. And the U.S. dollar continues to surge against almost every other major global currency. The U.S. dollar index has now risen an astounding 23 percent in just the last eight months. That is the fastest pace that the U.S. dollar has risen since 1981. You might be tempted to think that a stronger U.S. dollar is good news, but it isn’t. A strong U.S. dollar hurts U.S. exports, thus harming our economy. In addition, a weak U.S. dollar has fueled tremendous expansion in emerging markets around the planet over the past decade or so. When the dollar becomes a lot stronger, it becomes much more difficult for those countries to borrow more money and repay old debts. In other words, the emerging market “boom” is about to become a bust. Not only that, it is important to keep in mind that global financial institutions bet a tremendous amount of money on currency movements. According to the Bank for International Settlements, 74 trillion dollars in derivatives are tied to the value of the U.S. dollar, the value of the euro and the value of other global currencies. When currency rates start flying around all over the place, you can rest assured that someone out there is losing an enormous amount of money. If this derivatives bubble ends up imploding, there won’t be enough money in the entire world to bail everyone out.
Americans are spending more at bars and restaurants than grocery stores for the first time in history
March 5, 2015
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In January, Americans spent more at bars and restaurants than at grocery stores.
This chart, which we first saw from economist Mark Perry, shows that in January, spending at bars at restaurants totaled $50,475,000,000 against $50,466,000,000 spent at grocery stores.
Earlier in February, we highlighted this chart, which showed that spending at restaurants and bars rose 11.3% over the prior year, boosted by an increase in consumer confidence as gas prices crashed in the second half of 2014.
A serious sign of strength in discretionary spending from American consumers.
Categories: Economy
economy, grocery stores, United States
47 Signs That China Is Absolutely Destroying America On The Global Economic Stage
February 1, 2012
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Have you ever watched a football game or a basketball game where one team dominates the other team so badly that calling it a “blowout” would be a huge understatement? Well, that is what China is doing to the United States. China is absolutely destroying America on the global economic stage. Once upon a time, the Chinese economy was a joke and the U.S. economy was the most powerful the world had ever seen. But over the past couple of decades the U.S. economy has decayed and declined while the Chinese economy has skyrocketed. Today, China makes more steel, more automobiles, more beer, more cotton, more coal and more solar panels than we do. China has the fastest train in the world, the fastest computer in the world and they export twice as much high-tech equipment as we do. In 2011, our trade deficit with China was the largest trade deficit that one nation has had with another nation in the history of the world, and China has now accumulated more than 3 trillion dollars in foreign currency reserves. Every single day, we lose more jobs, more businesses and more of our national wealth to China. In technical economic terms, China has “taken us out behind the woodshed” and has beaten the living daylights out of us. Unfortunately, most Americans are so addicted to entertainment that they don’t even realize what is happening.
If you do not believe that China is wiping the floor with America in front of the rest of the world, just keep reading. The following are 47 signs that China is absolutely destroying America on the global economic stage…. Read more…
Categories: China, Economy, United States
China, global economy, United States
Is The US Monetary System On The Verge Of Collapse?
September 21, 2011
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Tune into CNBC or click onto any of the dozens of mainstream financial news sites, and you’ll find an endless array of opinions on the latest wiggle in equity, bond and commodities markets. As often as not, you’ll find those opinions nestled side by side with authoritative analysis on the outlook for the economy, complete with the author’s carefully studied judgment on the best way forward.
Lost in all the noise, however, is any recognition that the US monetary system – and by extension, that of much of the developed world – may very well be on the verge of collapse. Falling back on metaphor, while the world’s many financial experts and economists sit around arguing about the direction of the ship of state, most are missing the point that the ship has already hit an iceberg and is taking on water fast.
Yet if you were to raise your hand to ask 99% of the Read more…
Categories: Economy
Dollar, economy, United States, US Dollar
Global Stock Markets Drop Again on Economy Fears
August 20, 2011
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Stock markets fell across the globe on Friday, as investors showed new concern about the struggling U.S. economy and the stability of the European banking system.
The three major U.S. stock indexes — the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and NASDAQ — all dropped more than one percent Friday, following their decline of four to five percent on Thursday.
Asian stock indexes dropped sharply Friday, and European markets retreated as well, although not as much as on Thursday.
Analysts said that fear had overtaken stock trading, with many investors worried that officials in Europe and the U.S. will not be able to solve vexing economic and government financing issues.
In Europe, the concern is that banks are not strong enough to handle the continent’s debt problem sweeping through its financially troubled governments. Investors are also worried that Read more…
Categories: Economy, Stock Market
dow jones, economy, Nasdaq, stock market, unemployment
10 Signs That Economic Riots And Civil Unrest Inside The United States Are Now More Likely Than Ever
August 16, 2011
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You should let the video footage of the wild violence that just took place in London burn into your memory because the same things are going to be happening all over the United States as the economy continues to crumble. We have raised an entire generation of young people with an “entitlement mentality”, but now the economy is producing very few good jobs that will actually enable our young people to work for what they feel they are entitled to. If you are under 30 in America today, things look really bleak. The vast majority of the good jobs are held by people that are older, and they aren’t about to give them up if they can help it. It is easy for the rest of us to tell young Americans to “take whatever they can”, but the reality is that there is intense competition for even the most basic jobs. For instance, McDonald’s recently held a “National Hiring Day” during which a million Americans applied for jobs. Only 6.2% of the applicants were hired. In the old days you could Read more…
Categories: Economy, United States
economy, riots, unemployment, United States
World Bank Head Warns Markets Heading to New Danger Zone
August 15, 2011
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United States and Europe, coupled with a fragile economic recovery have pushed markets into a new danger zone, something that policymakers have to take seriously, the head of the World Bank said on Sunday.
(Photo: REUTERS / Tim Wimborne)
World Bank Chief Robert Zoellick gestures while speaking at the Asia Society’s annual dinner in Sydney August 14, 2011.
Speaking at the Asia Society dinner in Sydney, Australia, Robert Zoellick also said the global economy was going through a multi-speed recovery, with developing countries now the source of growth and opportunity.
“What’s happened in the past couple of weeks is there is a convergence of some events in Europe and the United States that has led many market participants to lose confidence in economic leadership of some of the key countries,” he said.
“I think those events combined with some of the other fragilities in the nature of recovery have pushed us into a new danger zone. I don’t say those words lightly … so that policymakers Read more…
Categories: Economy, world
Europe, global economy, Robert Zoellick, United States, World Bank
Second U.S. recession could be worse than the first
August 9, 2011
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A second recession, what many are calling the double-dip recession, could be on its way, economists warn. And should it come, it will probably be even more devastating than the previous period of economic woe.“It would be disastrous if we entered into a recession at this stage, given that we haven’t yet made up for the last recession,” Conrad DeQuadros, senior economist at RDQ Economics, told the New York Times.
The Standard and Poor’s downgrade of the U.S.’s credit rating bodes ill for the world’s financial markets as well as the domestic market.
President Barack Obama, once the debt deal with Congress to avoid a debt default was struck, announced a pivot to focus on jobs.
“I’ll continue also to fight for what the American people care most about: new jobs, higher wages and faster economic growth,” Obama said in a statement to press after the debt deal was passed last week.
While the working age population has grown 3 percent in the past four years, the economy has 5 percent fewer jobs — or 6.8 million less than four years ago. Unemployment stands at 9.1 percent.
Economists don’t think another stimulus package will do the trick, either.
“There are only so many times the Fed can pull this same rabbit out of its hat,” Torsten Slok, the chief international economist at Deutsche Bank, told the Times.
Categories: Economy, Uncategorized, United States
credit rating, depression, economy, recession, United States
China Boldly Goes (Again) Where Moody’s Has Never Gone Before, Downgrades US From A+ To A, Outlook Negative
August 3, 2011
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As was predicted last week, China’s rating agency Dagong, unlike its worthless western counterparts, has come through on its threat to downgrade the US in the event a subpar debt ceiling deal was hammered out. As Xinhua reports, ‘Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. said Wednesday it has cut the credit rating of the United States from A+ to A with a negative outlook after the U.S. federal government announced that the country’s debt limit would be increased.” Confirming that not being branded a NRSRO is the only thing that allows a rater to still think straight (and not in terms of lost client revenue if one goes ahead and tells the truth), Dagong’s decision was spot on: “The decision to lift the debt ceiling will not change the fact that the U.S. national debt growth has outpaced that of its overall economy and fiscal revenue, which will lead to a decline in its debt-paying ability, said Dagong Global in a statement.” So while Moody’s, which is now certified as the Read more…
Categories: China, Economy, United States
China, credit rating, Dagong, economy, national debt, United States
US raised debt ceiling 102 times – economist
July 17, 2011
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President Obama has warned the US is running out of time to deal with its financial troubles – the Congress must raise the current $14.3-trillion debt ceiling again. And as Professor Rodrigue Tremblay told RT, this has become a tradition in the US.
The US repeatedly gets away with raising the debt ceiling, Rodrigue Tremblay told RT.
“This system that the US has, has been in place since 1917. They raise the debt ceiling each year, they have done it 102 times; eight times under George W. Bush alone. Most countries do not run their Read more…
Categories: Deficit, Economy, United States
bailout, debt ceiling, economic crisis, reserve currency, United States
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