The NYT pair writes, “The fear now is that inflation will start to rise more quickly, potentially crimping global growth or forcing borrowing costs higher,” making it sound like inflation comes and goes with the wind.
All in Economics
Stagflation Appears while the Fed Wonders "Why is Inflation so Low?"
Yes, the economy is putty in the skilled hands toiling at the Eccles Building. Meanwhile, the St. Louis outpost of America’s central bank just published in its latest monthly report “Why is Inflation so Low?”
The Tesla Effect
However, Tesla is the catalyst for all of this development, despite being structurally bankrupt, “which is to say it depends completely on continued capital infusions for its survival,” Montana Skeptic writes on Seeking Alpha.
Searching For Trump's Genius
“Trump had a Clintonesque aura around him,” Smith wrote, “the effervescent divinity of a studied deal-maker, and a categorical ability to communicate and inspire the belief of others in his personal vision. He could no doubt have been an evangelist.”
Central Bank Musical Chairs
Reversing trillions of dollars worth of securities purchases will create market turmoil. And now that price inflation has entered the equation, the ride is bound to be bumpy. So, who should 401k investors be worried about and keeping an eye on? Bianco and Santelli agree, that person is ECB head man Mario Draghi.
Silicone Hookers and Phony Interest Rates
Financial basket case Greece, has 10-year bonds yielding 3.69%, 69 basis points is all Germany is paying and France’s bonds are yielding 96 basis points. These rates are as fabricated and detached from reality as the silicone sex doll brothels now opening throughout Europe.
Roe v. Wade caused the housing crash?
Habib told the packed room, “if builders would have consulted their inner Iacocca's, they wouldn’t have built so many homes.” A significant number of future home buyers had been aborted.
Blockchain: Answer to a Problem that doesn't exist
“What if there isn’t actually any use for a distributed ledger at all? What if, ten years after it was invented, the reason nobody has adopted a distributed ledger at scale is because nobody wants it?”
Out Sourcing Drive-By Property Valuations--to India!
BPO prices have fallen from $50 to $25, with one Indian company, AbVin Ventures LLP, offered to do the work for $10 a house.
Government: Where Unions still Thrive and Steal
Not surprisingly, most of this wrongdoing involved Presidents and Secretary-Treasurers of local unions stealing from their own members. The thefts ranged from thousands to millions of dollars, with the thieves spending the money on cruises, tickets to Carrie Underwood and Sesame Street Live concerts.
Uncle Sam's Paper is Downgraded
The way Beijing-based Dagong Global, a Chinese rating agency, sees it, Uncle Sam’s paper deserves, “a ‘negative outlook’ because of the US federal government’s declining capacity to repay debt, a situation worsened by tax cuts.”
Bitcoin Bugs become Gold Bugs
The current price swings across seemingly every cryptocurrency are bringing to the fore a question that has loomed over the industry since its inception: to what extent can a virtual asset be a store of value? By swapping out of digital gold and into the real thing, some investors may be providing an answer.
Trump Embraces the Bubble
Today was a dramatic day in some parts of Trump’s bubbleland, with Bitcoin closing at $10,124, down 25% for the day and a steep fall from $19,343 on December 19th. The DJIA broke 26,000 for the first time but closed lower, and the 2-year treasury note yield burst through 2 percent for the first time since the dark days of late 2007.
Bitcoin Obituaries Pile Up
So cryptos are not money. They are rather what has come from a consensual suspension of the laws against private-sector counterfeiting.
Sideways Skyscraper Curse
What those of us in Vegas are wondering (h.t. Jeff Barr); wouldn’t the skyscraper curse apply to large scale public works projects? The improvements are horizontal instead of vertical, but what happens at the end of massive highway infrastructure projects like the ones continuing in Las Vegas.
Newsletter Subscribers just wanna be Bitcoin Billionaires
In a word---Bitcoin, said Stansberry. Everything Stansberry sold last year had to have a bitcoin hook or angle to it. “We have to feed people the gruel they want,” he said.
The New American Way: Get High and Shop Online
This is a new segment of the industrial real estate market that is being created in front of our eyes,” George M. Stone, a longtime real estate executive now focused on the pot business told Gelles. “It’s a huge industry and only getting bigger.”
Trumpcoin!
So we have bitcoin, something everyone is talking about, but no one can see or understand, trading near $15,000 apiece. At the same time the President is like the simple-minded Chance in the movie “Being There” who has been educated only by television, has childlike naïveté, but rises, by accident, into the game of politics and the talk of the town.
Thank the Fed for Workamping
Bruder’s book is chalk full of sad stories of layoffs, foreclosures, and lack of family support. At the same time, these nomads, workampers or rubber tramps, are a resilient bunch, who left behind the costs and responsibilities of real estate for “wheelestate” to survive their golden years.
Tiny CAP rates, Massive Malinvestment
Grant wonders aloud during the podcast whether these central bank induced low rates are “perpetuating obsolete business models.”