Another Oil Rig Explosion In The Gulf Today
Posted on 02. Sep, 2010 by Shera Crossan in Audio-Video, Business & Finance, Economy, Health, Shera Crossan, Top Stories
An explosion on an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico early today ignited a fire that caused workers to evacuate into the water, but the U.S. Coast Guard said that all the workers survived and there are no oil leaks reported near the platform. The cause of the explosion is not yet known, [...]
Bitter GOP Criticism of the Fed May Be Ahead
Posted on 02. Sep, 2010 by Rob Belatucadros in Audio-Video, Economy, Foreign and Domestic Intelligence, Politics, Rob Belatucadros, Top Stories
Ben Bernanke may have painted a big bull’s eye on the Federal Reserve when he spoke last week in Jackson, Wyoming, about the Fed providing additional stimulus if the economy needs it. Although he wasn’t specific about what it might do and when it might do it, Bernanke clearly indicated that the Fed was ready [...]
Wealthy Govt. Lawmakers Increased Their Riches as Economy Shrivelled in 2009
Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Politics
While the economy struggled through a recession during much of 2009 and the nation’s unemployment rate soared to 10 percent, the stock market rebounded, helping lawmakers with large investments. The S&P 500 rose by about 28 percent in 2009. Total assets for the 50 wealthiest lawmakers in 2009 was $1.5 billion — that’s actually a [...]
The Erosion of America’s Middle Class
Posted on 30. Aug, 2010 by Rob Belatucadros in Economy, Politics, Rob Belatucadros, Top Stories
While America’s super-rich congratulate themselves on donating billions to charity, the rest of the country is worse off than ever. Long-term unemployment is rising and millions of Americans are struggling to survive. The gap between rich and poor is wider than ever and the middle class is disappearing. Ventura is a small city on the [...]
Audit the U.S. Gold Reserves, Where Is the Gold?
Posted on 30. Aug, 2010 by Rob Belatucadros in Business & Finance, Economy, Politics, Rob Belatucadros, Top Stories
In an exclusive interview with Kitco News, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) revealed that next year at the start of the newly inaugurated 112th United States Congress, he would introduce a new bill to audit the U.S. gold reserves, which are reportedly stored at the New York Federal Reserve and Fort Knox. The reason behind this [...]
Obama: Kenya’s new law a boon
Posted on 22. Aug, 2010 by Shera Crossan in Economy, Hidden Crimes, Politics, Shera Crossan, Top Stories
President Obama has paid glowing tribute to Kenyans for endorsing the new constitution in a letter to President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga which could signal a strengthening of the relationship between the two countries. The American President described the successful referendum as “a proud moment in Kenya’s history” and said he hoped it [...]
A Year After Claiming Economy As His Own, Obama Still Pointing Finger At Bush
Posted on 22. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Economy, Nathaniel Bacon, Politics, Race
President Obama this summer has repeatedly blamed George W. Bush for the nation’s economic woes, a year after he took ownership of the economy and criticized those who “carp and gripe.” The White House’s effort to tie congressional Republicans to Obama’s predecessor comes less than three months before the midterm elections. But the president’s campaign [...]
Time Running Out For America’s Middle Class
Posted on 21. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Nathaniel Bacon
While America’s super-rich congratulate themselves on donating billions to charity, the rest of the country is worse off than ever. Long-term unemployment is rising and millions of Americans are struggling to survive. The gap between rich and poor is wider than ever and the middle class is disappearing. For a while, America seemed to have [...]
Housing Crisis Growing: 1.3 Milllion Homeowners Drop out of the Mortgage Relief Program
Posted on 21. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy
WASHINGTON – Nearly half of the 1.3 million homeowners who enrolled in the Obama administration’s flagship mortgage-relief program have fallen out. The program is intended to help those at risk of foreclosure by lowering their monthly mortgage payments. Friday’s report from the Treasury Department suggests the $75 billion government effort is failing to slow the [...]
Texas Taxpayers Spend $250 Million Annually on Illegal Immigrants
Posted on 19. Aug, 2010 by Heather Wright in Economy, Heather Wright, Immigration, Top Stories
Austin – Texas taxpayers spent at least $250 million last year in state prison and health care costs for illegal immigrants. The Texas House State Affairs Committee solicited information about services and benefits provided to illegal immigrants in preparation for a legislative push to enact tougher immigration laws similar to those enacted in Arizona. According [...]
Lies and Unction
Posted on 18. Aug, 2010 by Rob Belatucadros in Business & Finance, Economy, Politics, Rob Belatucadros, Top Stories
In his remarks upon signing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on July 21, 2010, President Obama said that “the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes.” This was one of the most quoted sound bites in main stream media accounts of the passage [...]
Many ‘Baby Boomers’ No Longer Have Enough for Retirement
Posted on 18. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Economy, Health, Nathaniel Bacon
America’s baby boomers—those born between 1946 and 1964—face a problem that could weigh on the economy for years to come: The longer it takes for the economy to recover, the less money they’ll have to spend in retirement. Policy makers have long worried that Americans aren’t saving enough for old age. And lately, current and [...]
Is A Crash Coming? 10 Reasons to be Cautious
Posted on 18. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Nathaniel Bacon
Could Wall Street be about to crash again? This week’s bone-rattlers may be making you wonder. I don’t make predictions. That’s a sucker’s game. And I’m certainly not doing so now. But way too many people are way too complacent this summer. Here are 10 reasons to watch out. 1. The market is already expensive. [...]
China Now Second Biggest Economy
Posted on 17. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Economy, Race
BEIJING – China has eclipsed Japan as the world’s second-biggest economy after three decades of blistering growth that put overtaking the U.S. in reach within 10 years. Japan is still far richer per person after confirming Monday that economic output fell behind its giant neighbor for the three months ending June 30. However, the news [...]
Millions to Lose Jobless Benefits by Years End
Posted on 17. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Economy, Rob Belatucadros
While hundreds of House members and dozens of senators hit the campaign trail in a fight to save their jobs with help from President Obama, more than 2 million out-of-work Americans are faced with dropping into unemployment obscurity by the end of the year. Though Congress last month passed a jobless benefits extension, the boost [...]
Health Care Premiums Are Already Soaring in Advance of “Obamacare”
Posted on 17. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Health, Nathaniel Bacon, Rob Belatucadros, Shera Crossan
This past month millions of Americans got notice from Blue Cross/Blue Shield providers across the country that their insurance premiums are going way up effective immediately. Here is the terse reason CareFirst/ Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Washington gave its subscribers for raising a monthly premium from $333 to $512 on a middle aged man who [...]
How The U.S. Economy Is Being ‘Japanized’
Posted on 16. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Nathaniel Bacon
In 1963, Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz wrote a seminal piece on the Great Depression (A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960), parts of which have become accepted wisdom in monetary policy and theory ever since. Friedman and Schwartz’s argument is that what turned a recession into a depression in the 1930s (where output [...]
The Entire Financial System Could Collapse Under a Derivatives Bubble
Posted on 15. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Nathaniel Bacon
Today there is a horrific derivatives bubble that threatens to destroy not only the U.S. economy but the entire world financial system as well, but unfortunately the vast majority of people do not understand it. When you say the word “derivatives” to most Americans, they have no idea what you are talking about. In fact, [...]
IRELAND: 33% of the Population Under 30 is Unemployed
Posted on 14. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Europe News, Nathaniel Bacon
When Ann Moore returned to have breakfast with her family after a 12-hour night shift at a nursing home, she found riot police and bailiffs outside her home of 16 years. She and her husband, Christy, and their three children were being evicted. Despite climbing a ladder to the top of the house for six [...]
U.S. Running Out Of Economic Solutions
Posted on 13. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Nathaniel Bacon
Ben Bernanke is running out of ammo in his attempts to combat the anemic US economy. Investors signaled their retreat yesterday, driving the Dow down 265 points, after the Federal Reserve chief’s latest effort to spur growth, buying back government debt, failed to allay fears of an economic slowdown. Stocks tumbled on two continents, the [...]
Europe Pocketed Billions From U.S. Bailout Money
Posted on 13. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Nathaniel Bacon
WASHINGTON (AP) – The $700 billion U.S. bailout program launched in response to the global economic meltdown had a far greater impact overseas than other countries’ financial rescue plans did on the U.S., according to a new report from a congressional watchdog. Billions of dollars in U.S. rescue funds wound up in big banks in [...]
The Stunning Drop in Obama Mania
Posted on 13. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Economy, Nathaniel Bacon, Politics, Race
The last few weeks have been a nightmare for President Obama, in a summer of discontent in the United States which has deeply unsettled the ruling liberal elites, so much so that even the Left has begun to turn against the White House. While the anti-establishment Tea Party movement has gained significant ground and is [...]
Obama Overtures to Business Fall Flat
Posted on 11. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy
Labeled antibusiness by Republicans and some corporate chiefs, President Barack Obama mounted a campaign to show he wasn’t. But his charm offensive has hit a rocky patch. Business leaders gripe about burdensome new financial and health care regulations, what they see as unfriendly tax policies and vast government spending. They were put off by Obama’s [...]
Endless Debt and Tyranny
Posted on 11. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Nathaniel Bacon
On June 5th, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Emergency Banking Act which declared America bankrupt and insolvent. Twenty years after the 1913 Federal Reserve Act authorized a private central bank to loan money to the government at interest, the country declared its bankruptcy. Twenty years after the Federal Reserve Act was passed, [...]
U.S Job Market Shrinks Again
Posted on 07. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Nathaniel Bacon
The economy sheds 131,000 jobs in July as governments lay off workers. Companies appear to be investing in raising productivity instead of hiring. With the U.S. economy losing jobs for a second straight month in July, evidence is mounting that U.S. companies are spending huge sums on new equipment and taking other steps to make [...]
‘Unemployment Likely to Rise’, Treasury Secretary
Posted on 06. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Economy, Nathaniel Bacon
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner acknowledged that it is still a “tough economy” for most Americans, and warned it’s possible the unemployment rate will go up for a couple of months before it comes down as more people enter the labor force. The economy is not rebounding as quickly as Geithner and the Obama administration would [...]
U.S. Companies Emerge in Robust Health
Posted on 06. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Nathaniel Bacon
BOSTON — You may have heard recently that U.S. companies have emerged from the financial crisis in robust health, that they’ve paid down their debts, rebuilt their balance sheets and are sitting on growing piles of cash they are ready to invest in the economy. American companies are not in robust financial shape. Federal Reserve [...]
GM Invests $500 Million to Generate Jobs, Upgrade Plant ..in Mexico
Posted on 06. Aug, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Nathaniel Bacon
MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)–U.S. automobile giant General Motors Co. said Tuesday it plans to invest close to $500 million in its Ramos Arizpe plant in northern Mexico to produce a new line of engines as well as a new vehicle. Lieblein said General Motors has invested $4.1 billion in Mexico over the last four years. [...]
The New Push for a Global Currency
Posted on 05. Aug, 2010 by Rob Belatucadros in Economy, Foreign and Domestic Intelligence, Politics, Rob Belatucadros, Top Stories
You surely didn’t think that the governing elites would let this economic crisis pass without pushing some cockamamie scheme for control. Well, here is the cloud no bigger than a man’s hand, a revival of a 60-year-old idea of a global paper currency to fix what ails us. The IMF study that calls for this [...]
‘Hope’ For Recovery Fading
Posted on 31. Jul, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Nathaniel Bacon
The recovery is fading, and a troubling new pattern is setting in: economic growth that is too slow to put Americans back to work. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, grew at a 2.4 percent annual rate in the April-through-June period, the government said Friday, down from 5 percent at the end [...]
U.S. Can’t Account For $8.7 Billion Pentagon Spent on Iraqi ‘Reconstruction’
Posted on 31. Jul, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Economy, Nathaniel Bacon, War Coverage
BAGHDAD — A U.S. audit has found that the Pentagon cannot account for over 95 percent of $9.1 billion in Iraq reconstruction money, spotlighting Iraqi complaints that there is little to show for the massive funds pumped into their cash-strapped, war-ravaged nation. The $8.7 billion in question was Iraqi money managed by the Pentagon, not [...]
German Economy Minister Planning Big Drive to Attract Skilled Immigrants
Posted on 31. Jul, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Economy, Europe News, Immigration, Nathaniel Bacon
With Germany industry facing a looming skills shortage, Economy Minister Rainer Brüderle revealed on Friday he was planning a major recruitment drive to attract skilled migrants. That included encouraging German firms to pay cash incentives to lure foreign workers, he told daily Handelsblatt. Part of the plan encourages payment of Begrüßungsgeld or “welcome money” for [...]
U.S. Military and Israel Forging Lasting Friendship in Defense Projects
Posted on 28. Jul, 2010 by Nathaniel Bacon in Economy, Israel & Jewish Issues, Nathaniel Bacon, War Coverage
The United States has agreed to fund Israel’s new anti-missile system while discussion is underway on Israeli plans to purchase US-made F-35 stealth fighter jets. The Israeli defense ministry and the US Missile Defense Agency signed an agreement on Sunday under which Tel Aviv will receive full funding for the development and production of Arrow [...]
The Death of Paper Money
Posted on 27. Jul, 2010 by Rob Belatucadros in Economy, Politics, Rob Belatucadros, Top Stories
Each big inflation – whether the early 1920s in Germany, or the Korean and Vietnam wars in the US – starts with a passive expansion of the quantity money. This sits inert for a surprisingly long time. Asset prices may go up, but latent price inflation is disguised. The effect is much like lighter fuel [...]
Tracking of All Gold Coins
Posted on 27. Jul, 2010 by Rob Belatucadros in Business & Finance, Economy, Foreign and Domestic Intelligence, Politics, Rob Belatucadros
The Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill contains a provision that requires companies buying gold and other minerals to submit an annual report outlining what they are doing to ensure their minerals are “conflict-free.” Most of the focus on this provision, to date, has been on the ramifications for high tech companies such as Apple and Intel. [...]
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