Matt Taibbi, once again, gives us the grim details... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Continual Screwing of Jefferson County, Alabama by Matt Taibbi
The House Financial Services Committee has just voted to delay the
scheduled implementation of reforms in the Dodd-Frank bill that would
limit the ability of banks to pull Jefferson-County style scams in the
future. Among other things, the new rules would have required banks to
act in the best i...
Business Week has a fascinating article exploring the business model and economic woes of the USPS. The USPS is a massive organization:
Six days a week it delivers an average of 563 million pieces of mail—40 percent of the entire world's volume. It takes an enormous organization to carry out such a mission. The USPS
has 571,566 full-time workers, making it the country's second-largest
civilian employer after Wal-Mart Stores (WMT). It has 31,871 post offices, more than the combined domesti... Continue reading ...
The U.S. spends approximately half of the world's total defense budget. In 2011, the U.S. will spend nearly $700 billion on two wars, million dollar missiles, military bases in 140 countries, playing the role of the world's policeman, etc. As you know the country is running a $1.5 trillion deficit and has $14 trillion in total debt. Thanks to a complicit Congress and a war mongering President, defense spending just grinds higher every single year. That is until May 18 when two tough talki... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, May 24, 2011,
In :
Politics
David Stockman explains how neither party is serious about debt reduction and both are leading us off a cliff:
“The real problem is the de facto policy of both parties is default.
When the Republicans say no tax increases, they’re saying we want the
U.S. government to default. Because there isn’t enough political will in
this country to solve the problem even halfway on spending cuts. When
the Democrats say you can’t touch Social Security, when you have Obama
sponsoring a war budg... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Thursday, May 19, 2011,
In :
Culture
There's a wonderful website called Catalog Choice that allows you to painlessly unlist from company catalogs, credit offers, phone books, etc. Since we signed up a couple years ago, I estimate that 90% of our junk mail has gone away. It's nice to open your mailbox and have two or three letters, rather than dragging out a load of crap you're just going to toss in the garbage.
Catalog Choice even calculates the environmental benefits of your opt-out selections. According to their calculator... Continue reading ...
Former Sen. Rick Santorum said Tuesday that Sen.
John McCain, who spent 5 1/2 years enduring brutal treatment at the
hands of his North Vietnamese captors, doesn’t know how effective
waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques can be. The
Republican presidential contender insisted... Continue reading ...
The Reinwasser Middle-Class Index (RMCI) was built to more accurately measure the month-to-month improvement or deterioration in the economic health of the middle-class. The RMCI captures data in the Jobs, Housing, Wealth &
Spending, Confidence and Inflation categories and compares current data to the average over the previous four months. If a data point is better than the four-month average it is scored a +1, if it's worse it is scored -1. As such, RMCI scores range from +10 to -10. F... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, May 17, 2011,
In :
Economy
Last week the St. Louis Federal Reserve, which tracks all manner of economic statistics, provided an update to the Real Retail and Food Service Sales category. At first glance the numbers seemed lower, so I compared them to the numbers I entered in the Reinwasser Middle-Class Index database. Wow, what a complete joke. From January 2010 through March 2011, Real Retail and Food Service Sales were reduced by an astounding $22.8 billion! In other words they miscalculated by $1.5 billion per m... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Monday, May 16, 2011,
Repost from November 10, 2010:
Imagine this nightmare scenario: You're on your way to work and get
distracted by spilling some coffee. To stop the agony of the burning
coffee running down your leg, you reach into the backseat to grab a box
of kleenex and at that exact moment you fail to see a yield sign and you
smack into a couple on a motorcycle. The young couple is severely
injured and won't be able to work for a year. They sue you and win $1
million settlements but your insurance ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Sunday, May 15, 2011,
In :
Economy
In this year-end letter, investor Seth Klarman points out that we're living in a Fantasyland, where everyone says deficits, excessive entitlements and stimulus need to be reigned in...but not yet. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two problems are upon us at once: short-term stimulus that is
unaffordable over the long run and runaway entitlements that must be
reined in. But restoring fiscal sanity will be bad for the eco... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Sunday, May 15, 2011,
In :
Gold and Silver
The brilliant hedge fund manager, Harris Kupperman (Kuppy) weighs in on silver volatility, the dangers of leverage and why he's buying more silver... ------------------------------------- Volatile Silver By Kuppy
Every few months, silver has a stunning collapse and the whole world
seems astonished by the ferocity of the move. I think it’s time that we
all take a step back and accept that silver is a wild animal. At any
time, it can move 30% and that isn’t out of the normal—in fact, that ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, May 11, 2011,
In :
Gold and Silver
Besides Mrs. Solitude Canyon asking when we're going to buy new patio furniture, the most common question I get is if the gold bull market is over. I certainly don't think so, but it sure is hard to explain why. An excellent explanation was put forward by Jim Grant, of the Grant Interest Rate Observer. He feels you can value gold with this simple formula:
Gold Price = 1/N.
With N being the capacity of Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, Congress and the President to responsibly manage the U.S. dol...
I'll just take a guess and say Newport Beach is drowning in debt...on behalf of all private workers, we're tired of having sand kicked in our face. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lifeguarding in OC is Totally Lucrative, Some Make Over $200K by Brian Calle
High pay and benefits for lifeguards in Newport Beach is the latest
example of frustrating levels of compensation for public employees. More
than half the city’s full-...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, May 10, 2011,
In :
Gold and Silver
Just when I thought I knew everything about gold, here comes this fascinating interview with Shanta, an Indian citizen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When a Gold Necklace Isn't Jewelry Jeff Clark, Casey Research
My friend Jayant Bhandari, who’s worked for Casey Research in the
past and is now a consultant to an institutional investor, has told me
for ye...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Monday, May 9, 2011,
In :
Economy
Zillow's Home Value Index shows single-family home values fell in March for the 57th straight month. The last time single-family homes rose in value was June 2006.
The average single-family home is valued at $171,800, which is 1% lower than February and 8.4% lower than March 2010's value of $187,600. The index peaked in June 2006 at $242,000, so we're 30% off the peak.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Saturday, May 7, 2011,
In :
Culture
I first listened to the Imus radio show in the mid-90's while living in the most miserable place in the world: Sioux City, Iowa. The Imus in the Morning program made everyday better and the long drive to a crummy job a little easier. Ever since, I've been a huge Imus fan and watched or listened to his show whenever I can. An integral part of the show is Imus' long-time friend and devoted side-kick Charles McCord. Charles, who is truly the gold standard of side-kicks, decided to hang-up t... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, May 4, 2011,
In :
Economy
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation, commonly known as food stamps, rose to 44,199,391 in February. This is the 29th straight rise in food stamp usage and represents a 11.6% rise over February 2010. On a somewhat positive note, SNAP usage rose by "only" 11,000 vs. January 2011. This compares to an average month-over-month rise of 396,000 over the past year.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, May 3, 2011,
In :
Economy
Niall Ferguson sets the record straight on what real inflation rates are doing to ordinary Americans. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I can’t eat an iPad.” This could go down in history as the line that launched the great inflation of the 2010s.
Back in March, the president of the
New York Federal Reserve, William Dudley, was trying to explain to the
citizens of Queens, N.Y., why ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Monday, May 2, 2011,
In :
Gold and Silver
In 2005, I became convinced silver was about to go into a record setting bull market. Five reasons stood out:
Silver is a tiny market. In 2005,just $10 billion could have purchased the entire available silver supply.
I expected a housing crash would lead to a horrific recession and the government would respond by printing endless sums of money. This, of course, would devalue the dollar and drive the price of silver higher.
Silver has very unique properties and its industrial uses were expandi...
