DATELINE: MAY 18, 2012
The trading losses suffered by JPMorgan Chase have surged in recent days, surpassing the bank’s initial $2 billion estimate by at least $1 billion, according to people with knowledge of the losses. (Read Full Story)
Wait a minute. Since we know from Einstein that all motion is relative, everything CAN’T be going down. If everything were going down, everything would be standing still. Something must be going up as a point of reference. (Read Full Story)
Rating agency also downgraded 4 Spanish regions, 2 of them to junk. (Read Full Story)
Gas prices have been steadily falling in most of the nation, but West Coast drivers are still paying top dollar at the pump. (Read Full Story)
House Speaker John Boehner is playing a heroic role right now. In his efforts to prevent the Bush tax cuts from expiring, Boehner is aggressively taking on President Obama’s leadership ineptitude on the economy. In essence, Boehner is pushing a Republican policy to wrap up a debt-limitation bill… (Read Full Story)
If investors step back and look at this from a longer-term perspective, they will realize that politicians feel the only way out of this mess is to print more money. After the money… (Read Full Story)
And you thought that you were swimming free when you sent them off to college. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA – SUCKERS! (Read Full Story)
“Public debt is an enemy for the country” (Read Full Story)
While we knew TurboTax was beyond him, the Treasury debacle-in-chief admits he doesn’t understand how the debt limit has bubbled back up… (Read Full Story)
If the people and politicians of the U.S. can’t muster the will to reform Social Security and Medicare, the country will slide on down toward what internationally renowned economist Lacy Hunt calls the “bang point.” (Read Full Story)
The 8 Million Dollar Solution!
Don’t ever listen to your employees – just spend their retirement into oblivion! (Ed.)
A toothpaste factory had a problem: it sometimes shipped empty boxes without the tube inside. This was due to the way the production line was set up, and people with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time. Small variations in the environment (which can’t be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean you must have quality-assurance checks smartly distributed across the line so that customers all the way down to the supermarket don’t get pissed off and buy another product instead. › Continue reading
Obama Won’t Tell You About Impending Taxes And Cuts
Budget: Congressional Democrats plan massive tax increases and crippling defense cuts after November. Why not now? Because the voters would realize the Obama presidency has set the stage for fiscal catastrophe.
‘The way to deal with sequestration is put revenues on the table.” That is third-ranking Senate Democrat Charles Schumer of New York’s coded way of telling congressional Republicans that if you want to prevent the budgetary devastation of the U.S. military, you’ll have to break your promises to voters and agree to major tax hikes.
After the presidential and congressional elections this November, a lame-duck Congress will address an impending fiscal calamity. › Continue reading
Cleaning Out the Email Files: May 16, 2012
The U.S. is running a structural deficit, a deficit a country would post even while running at full capacity, that is seriously jeopardizing the country’s health. Until the government addresses massive liabilities, the country is headed for another downgrade. (Read Full Story)
Our day is really no different from that of the great wealth amassing initial period of the robber barons of the industrializing yester years of extreme mercantilism and lawlessness by the very few and the impoverished state of the very many. But today, again, in shocking negation of all civil rules and laws, the present demigods operate again without hindrance, with impunity and with government collusion, not only as the robber barons did, but also as much as their much earlier ancestors did, that unapproachable nobility class of olden days in the old countries. (Read Full Story)
The FDIC is often appointed as receiver for failed banks. This page contains useful information for the customers and vendors of these banks. This includes information on the acquiring bank (if applicable), how your accounts and loans are affected, and how vendors can file claims against the receivership. (Read Full Story)
Overly optimistic tax receipts combined with higher state expenditures are contributing factors for the Golden State’s financial Armageddon. Governor Jerry Brown (D), admitted on YouTube over the weekend that the state is headed into troubled waters and the waterfall is the $16 billion deficit. Overestimating potential revenues in California has become a common practice used to cook the books, however, all good things must come to an end and Governor Brown acknowledged the party is over. (Read Full Story)
Oil prices could double over the next decade with sweeping implications for the global economy, according to a report commissioned by the International Monetary Fund. (Read Full Story)
Buy Gold Below $3000? ‘You Can’t Lose’
[Gary Leibowitz frequently raises hackles in the Rick’s Picks forum with his mantra that business is great, stocks are underpriced, and -- at least for the time being -- the U.S. economy is going great guns. Who knew that he is also expecting a global depression that will last for more than a decade? In the guest commentary below, he explains why – but also why, with two caveats, gold is likely to be one of the best places for investors to be for at least the next six years. RA]
I must confess that I’d been a gold bear for many years. When I reevaluated my position, I surprised myself when my conclusions made a 180-degree turn. › Continue reading

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