Independent thinking for complex markets and current events
The Department of Justice (DOJ) warned a Jan. 6 defendant Tuesday that his sentence would not be reduced, regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision in a coming case related to a statute he was charged under. Jan. 6 defendant Anthony Williams asked the court in February to grant him bond pending his appeal in light of the …
Making your life worse isn’t a side effect; it’s the goal. Without so much as a whisper of pushback from Congress, the White House is bulldozing forward with a regulatory proposal that could cost the average household up to $10,000 extra in water costs. But it’s not only President Joe Biden‘s campaign that is scared of this latest forefront …
Millennials Are Losing Their Cars. Billing disputes surged year-on-year among Gen X and Millennials, LegalShield said, who have experienced a 96 percent increase in billing inquiries. Calls are up across the board as well, with a 53 percent increase among all LegalShield members, indicating a broader rise in billing-related issues. John Saltarelli, a LegalShield provider …
via Mike Shedlock US-born employment is lower now than it was in January of 2020. Foreign-born workers make up over 100 percent of the employment gains. The Center for Immigration Studies reports Compared to 2019, All Employment Growth Has Gone to the Foreign-Born Comparing the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2023 shows …
It’s much easier sitting in your air-conditioned station searching for “bad speech” online than risking your life investing criminals in a crime neighborhood. This is where your tax money goes. h/t @thelasttellurian
via Simon Watkins The ability of either the U.S. or China – or even both working together – to contain Iran’s response to the attacks on its military proxies may have disappeared with the latest U.S. attacks on them. The U.S.’s toleration of increased oil flows from Iran to China also meant that Beijing was …
Synergy is the concept that the combined value and performance of two companies will be greater than the sum of the separate individual parts. Basically, they bought Activision for X and accounted for it in their sheats as X + Y h/t 2ndSifter
by Chris Black Hopefully this doesn’t lead to some kind of tragedy, like the door blowing off of a Boeing jet. But that’s really crazy to think something like that would happen, just because you’re replacing the people who run the airline system with mentally retarded people. Fox News: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is …
This is the way… https://t.co/rv4UGVx6e4 — @amuse (@amuse) December 27, 2023 Javier Milei said he will cut welfare payments from protesters who block streets. If we did this in America, the climate cultists would stop glueing themselves to roads and there would be no more anti-Israel protestors blocking streets, bridges, and airports. These extremists… pic.twitter.com/TLirrm2wXa …
Southwest Airlines and its pilots’ union have reached a new preliminary labor agreement that would give pilots 50% cumulative pay increases over the life of the contract, a deal that could end years of tense negotiations. Southwest is the last of the largest U.S. passenger airlines to strike a deal that is set to give …
via dismal-jellyfish: Source: https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2023/12/dropping-like-a-stone-on-rrp-take-up-in-the-second-half-of-2023/ Background: Liberty Street has a paper Treasury Bill Supply and ON RRP Investment based on the Staff Report Banks’ Balance-Sheet Costs, Monetary Policy, and the ON RRP. TLDRS: The authors call out the increase in Overnight Reverse Repurchase (ON RRP) take-up from 2021 to May 2023 was influenced by several factors, including higher balance-sheet costs …
This year’s stock market rally was led by a handful of technology stocks that have come to be known by Wall Street as the ‘Magnificent Seven’. Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, NVIDIA, Meta, Microsoft and Tesla together are up around 75 percent since the beginning of the year. Americans holding them in their 401(k) savings accounts will …
by Chris Black There’s no more ammo, so they need more soldiers. We used to have to source this news from RT and TASS, or Chinese sources. Now, the mainstream Western press is printing daily about the Ukraine disaster situation. Reuters: Frontline Ukrainian troops face shortages of artillery shells and have scaled back some military …
by Chris Black Germany is the strongest economy in the EU. If Germany is running out of money… I told you a long time ago that Germoney was going to be “deindustrialized” by the American war on Russia. You can’t just shut down an industrial economy’s entire energy industry – even outside of the total …
This frustration is a common sentiment. While official statistics report a modest 5% increase in food outside the home, many consumers, like this individual, perceive a more significant rise, possibly around 20%. It’s not just about the cost; there’s concern about diminishing quality in both food and service. The gap between official figures and lived …
The EPA has put up a map with the change in the number of hot days. They will be forced to take it down very soon since it shows that global warming is a lie. https://co2coalition.org/2023/07/14/epa-few-stations-show-increase-in-hot-days/ A total of 863 weather stations, or 81%, reported either a decrease or no change in the number of …
by HighYieldLarry In America, the crisis is never over because it’s never solved. It is just patched and kicked down the road.
It must be hard for older people to watch the country they once loved deteriorating economically and socially. Political polarization contributes to feeling of despair and turns people away from each other rather than towards. The pandemic also really isolated people and increased depression in people. via YAHOO: Rising rates of suicide among older adults …
by confoundedinterest17 Is it sundown for the US commercial real estate market? According to Trepp, the volume of CMBS delinquency increased 49.4% during 10 months through October. Looking for more? This piece has been taken from Trepp and Commercial Real Estate Direct’s Q3 2023 Quarterly Data Review. Access the magazine here. The volume of CMBS loans …
Auto loan delinquencies among subprime borrowers reached a nearly-30-year high in September of 6.1% – the highest rate since 1994, per the Fed. Read more: https://t.co/MLaHAqNcKg — unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) November 15, 2023 Auto Insurance rates are crazy…40% up in 2 years. More accidents has to be the cause. Plus the cost to repair has skyrocketed …
by confoundedinterest17 US inflation is lower than it was a year ago (cheers from The View CNN and MSNBC cheerleaders), but inflation remains stubborning above The Fed’s 2% target rate and will likely remain above 2% for the nexf few years. So mortgage demand is much like inflation … mortgage demand increased in the latest …
More Than 3,700 Babies Were Born With Congenital Syphilis in 2022 — 10 Times More Than a Decade Ago and a 32% Increase From 2021 NEW YORK (AP) — Alarmed by yet another jump in syphilis cases in newborns, U.S. health officials are calling for stepped-up prevention measures, including encouraging millions of women of childbearing …
YouTube has become the latest platform to increase its prices, following in the footsteps of Netflix, Apple TV+ and Disney+. The price of the YouTube Premium family plan, which allows six accounts to use the same subscription, will increase by £2 from £17.99 to £19.99 in the UK. Meanwhile, in the US and Canada, costs …
Another record credit card debt Collectively, Americans now owe $1.08 trillion on their credit cards, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Steadily, persistently higher prices have caused consumers to spend down their savings and increasingly turn to credit cards to make ends meet. At the same time, credit cards are one …
I think we should significantly increase legal immigration. If someone has a track record of working hard and hasn’t committed crimes, they should be welcomed. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2023
"We estimate that the Treasury will need to borrow $1.5 trillion over the current and the next quarter, after having already borrowed $1.0 trillion in the last quarter" – DB — zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 30, 2023 GDP is a backward looking indicator, but this 4.9% real GDP print is what out of control fiscal spending …
The Royal Bank of Canada raises concerns about Canadian homeowners facing potential payment shocks, especially as 60% of Canadian mortgages are set to renew within the next three years. The Royal Bank of Canada is warning that Canadian homeowners could experience a payment shock unless interest rates significantly decrease. 60% of Canadian mortgages will renew …
Furious Apple TV customers have threatened to cancel their subscriptions, following the news that the company is increasing prices by up to 40 per cent. The change will bring the monthly cost from £6.99 to £8.99 in the UK, and from $6.99 to $9.99 in the US. Some customers say they are willing to pay …
Major poverty incoming? Food Banks Canada report paints dire picture of Canada-wide affordability crisis There are many heartbreaking tales behind the record number of Canadians using food banks as they struggle with high inflation and mounting housing costs, says a Vancouver food bank executive. “We see parents who are skipping meals so that their children …
