ECONOMICS AND FINANCE:
.
DOW'S WORST 3 DAY START SINCE 1932, (CNBC).
S&P 500 worst start since 2000.
Nasdaq has lost 5.6% in 3 days.
.
PRESIDENT BUSH MEETS WITH 'WORKING GROUP ON FINANCIAL MARKETS', (Reuters). Some folks call this group the Plunge Protection Team. Some other folks have denied all along that this group even exists, and probably still will in the future. Here's another link with an article on the group.
.
FED UPS AUCTION AMOUNTS TO AID BANKS, (Washington, AP). They are increasing the amount of money available to banks to 'ease the nation's severe credit squeeze.' This is in addition the billions already injected into the system. Europe's central banks also put in about $500 billion recently.
.
UNEMPLOYMENT UP, STOKING RECESSION FEARS, (Washington, AP). The fewest new jobs in about 4 years were added. Also we need to take into account how the government actually calculates the data. Birth/death rate models are used to estimate jobs created, for example, along with statistical seasonal adjustments. And the unemployment figures do not account for people who have been out of work so long that they are out of benefits and just drop off the map as far as the government is concerned.
.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT PLANS SOCIAL SECURITY DEBIT CARD, (Reuters). The report said the card will be targeted towards Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients who don't have a bank account, and is also aimed at providing cheaper and more secure payments by shifting away from paper checks.
..."We've been working for a while to try to understand the needs of the unbanked. Combine that with problems we've seen with financial crimes and identity theft problems with forged checks and stolen checks and so on - the debit card seemed like the right answer," said Judith Tillman, commissioner of the Treasury's Financial Management Service.
...Sounds good, but I also wonder if this is just another step toward the Mark of the Beast. More on that on my other blog End Time Events. Many people believe that the mark will be some kind of implanted chip or even a tattoo forced onto people to control them. But reading Revelation 13, it says that the mark is for financial transactions. No one could buy or sell without the mark. Why does the mark have to be an implanted chip? People already are 'marked' with unique biometric identifiers in their fingerprints and in their eyes.
...Folks familiar with the end time scenarios might choose to die rather than accept the dreaded 'mark'. But what if it came in a form that they didn't expect. What if someday when we have moved completely to a cashless society, everyone is required to log onto a central computer system in order to conduct any financial transactions, and must provide biometric identification to access that system? Would they think anything about it?
...I'm certainly not saying this debit card is the mark. I do a lot of electronic payments, have direct deposit and know many people who have to provide biometric identification to access secure locations now.
...But it is all leading to that day when the beast system will require everyone who wishes to participate in the financial system to agree with the fine print in the agreements and provide biometric identification to do so. I guess the devil will really be in the details at that point. I wonder how many people will just blithely go along, having been conditioned little by little for so many years. How many will not recognize what is happening because they have been expecting some kind of evil dictator who will forcibly try to 'mark' everyone? How many will give in because all of a sudden they can't make their house payments and buy groceries otherwise?
.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Friday, January 04, 2008
01.04.08 Food Shortages, Higher Prices Ahead?
FOOD:
.
FORGET OIL, THE NEW GLOBAL CRISIS IS FOOD, Alia McMullen, National Post. "A new crisis is emerging, a global food catastrophe that will reach further and be more crippling than anything the world has ever seen," said Donald Coxe, global portfolio strategist at BMO Financial Group.
...The article says raw food prices have gone up 22% over the past year. Wheat is up 92% and corn 44% in the past year. As more farmers convert their acreage to corn to be used as biofuel at the expense of food grains with our government's encouragement and our money, that trend doesn't look to reverse anytime soon.
.
HIGHER FOOD PRICES START TO PINCH CONSUMERS, (Wall Street Journal online). People are starting to feel the effect of the biggest jump in food prices in 17 years.
.
Laying in some extra food and water not only will provide a much needed cushion in emergencies, but also can be considered a sound and safe investment, that is unless you think food prices are going to go down in the next year or two.
.
.
FORGET OIL, THE NEW GLOBAL CRISIS IS FOOD, Alia McMullen, National Post. "A new crisis is emerging, a global food catastrophe that will reach further and be more crippling than anything the world has ever seen," said Donald Coxe, global portfolio strategist at BMO Financial Group.
...The article says raw food prices have gone up 22% over the past year. Wheat is up 92% and corn 44% in the past year. As more farmers convert their acreage to corn to be used as biofuel at the expense of food grains with our government's encouragement and our money, that trend doesn't look to reverse anytime soon.
.
HIGHER FOOD PRICES START TO PINCH CONSUMERS, (Wall Street Journal online). People are starting to feel the effect of the biggest jump in food prices in 17 years.
.
Laying in some extra food and water not only will provide a much needed cushion in emergencies, but also can be considered a sound and safe investment, that is unless you think food prices are going to go down in the next year or two.
.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
01.03.08 News & Notes
ECONOMICS:
.
"We were taught in Economics 101 that countries could not for long sustain large, ever-growing trade deficits. Our country has been behaving like an extraordinarily rich family that possesses an immense farm. In order to consume 4% more than they produce - that's the trade deficit - we have, day by day, been both selling pieces of the farm and increasing the mortgage on what we still own." Warren Buffett, as quoted in the article Winning Attitude: Ten Resolutions That Will Help You Survive The Coming Bear Market, by Paul B. Farrell, in his column in today's MarketWatch. Not all Mr. Farrell's resolutions are specifically market related. I enjoy his writings whether or not I agree with him or not, and I do not always agree with him. For instance, he does not believe that anyone can beat the markets consistently. Yet our NoTouch Portfolio and OOPs portfolios detailed on our financial blog have done so consistently over the years.
.
Debt reduction ranks 2nd among the most popular resolutions for 2008, according to another worthwhile article on today's MarketWatch by Marshall Loeb. Sound advice in the column towards a very worthwhile goal. The Bible says that the debtor is servant to the lender. A system that makes it easy to borrow and penalizes you for saving by confiscating those savings with inflation and taxes is like children getting to pick their own menus every day. Candy and sweets may be tasty, but that doesn't mean that they are good for you on a regular basis, especially as your main diet.
.
The dollar making new lows, oil and natural resource prices rising, and foreign investors now buying up our businesses rather than take as many of our increasingly devalued dollars, are all signals that we are looking at trouble. Watching CNBC yesterday in another rough day on Wall Street, I heard one of their regular anchors railing against people who recommend gold and oil buys as only saying those things because "that is what they are selling."
...Laughable. Like the regular Wall Street shills aren't doing the same every day?
.
INFLATION CALCULATOR:
...Here is a neat tool provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. You can measure the rate of inflation on goods and services you have purchased (using their data, of course, for what that is worth.) You just plug numbers into the fields on their form. For example, if you say I bought $1.00 of goods in 1997, what would they have cost in 2007? Their answer is $1.29.
...Of course, government inflation numbers are severely distorted to the conservative side. But if you know what you paid for something, say a food item several years ago, you can put in the current rates and see how much the price has increased on an annualized basis since?
.
H5N1 Avian Flu. This is starting to come back on the radar. The link is to the government site covering the bird flu. Note their map showing cases with confirmed cases of the H5N1 flu. There's a lot of information on the site regarding how families should prepare for a potential emergency. This information would also be useful for any other potential emergency.
.
.
.
"We were taught in Economics 101 that countries could not for long sustain large, ever-growing trade deficits. Our country has been behaving like an extraordinarily rich family that possesses an immense farm. In order to consume 4% more than they produce - that's the trade deficit - we have, day by day, been both selling pieces of the farm and increasing the mortgage on what we still own." Warren Buffett, as quoted in the article Winning Attitude: Ten Resolutions That Will Help You Survive The Coming Bear Market, by Paul B. Farrell, in his column in today's MarketWatch. Not all Mr. Farrell's resolutions are specifically market related. I enjoy his writings whether or not I agree with him or not, and I do not always agree with him. For instance, he does not believe that anyone can beat the markets consistently. Yet our NoTouch Portfolio and OOPs portfolios detailed on our financial blog have done so consistently over the years.
.
Debt reduction ranks 2nd among the most popular resolutions for 2008, according to another worthwhile article on today's MarketWatch by Marshall Loeb. Sound advice in the column towards a very worthwhile goal. The Bible says that the debtor is servant to the lender. A system that makes it easy to borrow and penalizes you for saving by confiscating those savings with inflation and taxes is like children getting to pick their own menus every day. Candy and sweets may be tasty, but that doesn't mean that they are good for you on a regular basis, especially as your main diet.
.
The dollar making new lows, oil and natural resource prices rising, and foreign investors now buying up our businesses rather than take as many of our increasingly devalued dollars, are all signals that we are looking at trouble. Watching CNBC yesterday in another rough day on Wall Street, I heard one of their regular anchors railing against people who recommend gold and oil buys as only saying those things because "that is what they are selling."
...Laughable. Like the regular Wall Street shills aren't doing the same every day?
.
INFLATION CALCULATOR:
...Here is a neat tool provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. You can measure the rate of inflation on goods and services you have purchased (using their data, of course, for what that is worth.) You just plug numbers into the fields on their form. For example, if you say I bought $1.00 of goods in 1997, what would they have cost in 2007? Their answer is $1.29.
...Of course, government inflation numbers are severely distorted to the conservative side. But if you know what you paid for something, say a food item several years ago, you can put in the current rates and see how much the price has increased on an annualized basis since?
.
H5N1 Avian Flu. This is starting to come back on the radar. The link is to the government site covering the bird flu. Note their map showing cases with confirmed cases of the H5N1 flu. There's a lot of information on the site regarding how families should prepare for a potential emergency. This information would also be useful for any other potential emergency.
.
.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
01.02.08 RISE OF THE KINGS OF THE EAST, CONTINUED WAR ON U.S. MIDDLE CLASS
2008: THE YEAR A NEW SUPERPOWER IS BORN, (Independent.co.uk). "China is set to make 2008 the year it asserts its status as a global colossus by flexing frightening economic muscle on international markets, enjoying unprecedented levels of domestic consumption and showcasing itself to a watching world with a glittering 20b (British pound) Olympic games."
...We have long been predicting that the Chinese would use the 2008 Olympic games much as Hitler used the 1936 Olympic games to demonstrate his nation's might and grandeur. It is one of the reasons that I have felt all along, as stated often in my financial blog, that natural resource stocks should continue to do well for the foreseeable future as China and India, the world's two most populous nations, move toward center stage.
...The other thing that caught my eye in this article was that Chinese sovereign funds would start spending some of its $1.3 trillion foreign currency reserves in Britain. Up until now those funds had only been allowed to invest in Hong Kong.
...China's emergence is yet another piece of the last generation puzzle as the players continue to move into place on the world stage. When the Bible speaks of a 200,000,000 man army, what other nation could field such a force?
.
AN OTTOMAN WARNING FOR AMERICA, (FT.com). Another article showing the power shift to the east. The author compares the U.S. present day situation to that of the 1870s. The author, Niall Ferguson, a professor at Harvard Business School and a senior fellow the Hoover Institution at Stanford, says, "...we are indeed living through a global shift in the balance of power very similar to that which occurred in the 1870s. This is the story of how an over-extended empire sought to cope with an external debt crisis by selling off revenue streams to foreign investors. The empire that suffered those setbacks in the 1870s was the Ottoman empire. Today it is the U.S."
.
BROKE BRITAIN: MILLIONS FACE STRUGGLE TO STAY AFLOAT AS FINANCIAL CRISIS HITS HOME, (Independent, UK). "Debt experts are predicting a record number of personal insolvencies this year as excessive Christmas shopping, rising mortgage payments and soaring food and fuel costs force thousands of people over the financial edge and into bankruptcy."
.
CRUNCH TIME FOR AMERICAN CONSUMERS, Peter Schiff, SaveHaven.com. "The subprime mortgage crisis is merely the tip of a very large iceberg. Beneath the surface lies not only a sea of tenuous loans to prime borrowers, but also an assortment of other liabilities backed by auto loans and credit card debt."
.
WELLNESS PROGRAM DISCIPLES GOD'S PEOPLE TO LOSE WEIGHT AND LEAD OTHERS TO BETTER HEALTH, (ChristianNewsWire). "The spirit of sloth and gluttony has taken over [the Christian] community, but there is something we can do to stop it. Once our leaders recognize the importance of having proper nutrition and daily fitness as an integral part of their own lives, they will continuously convey the importance of having a healthy lifestyle to their congregations," said Bonnie Mechelle, a wellness coach.
.
HONEY MAKING A MEDICAL COMEBACK, (MSNBC). Potent type used as antibiotic amid fears of drug-resistant superbugs.
...I believe that if we ate the foods the good Lord gave us to eat in the way that He provided them (without hormones, pesticides, genetic modification, etc.), and used natural remedies, we would be healthier. It might hurt the revenues of those folks whose profits soar when people are sick and hurting, but so what?
.
KATRINA DISASTER RELIEF REMAINS A DISGRACE, (Dan K. Thomasson, syndicated columnist, seattlepi.com).
...Even our government recommends that people have a week or two supplies on hand for emergencies. Most people do not. Having some supplies on hand beats standing in a line for food and water. And in these last times, there will be more emergencies.
.
NAFTA CEMENTING A NORTH AMERICAN UNION, (Devvy Kidd, NewsWithViews.com). A somewhat strident viewpoint, but this is an issue that needs to be kept in the open. The powers that be are selling us out on this issue, all the while denying that there is anything to it. There is no shortage of valid links regarding this subject, including some excellent ones provided by Ms. Kidd in this article. There are some previous links given at various times in the past on my blog as well. Vicente Fox, the former el presidente of Mejico, did not deny that it is coming. He was quite open about it on his appearance on Larry King (see previous blog entries for links).
.
...We have long been predicting that the Chinese would use the 2008 Olympic games much as Hitler used the 1936 Olympic games to demonstrate his nation's might and grandeur. It is one of the reasons that I have felt all along, as stated often in my financial blog, that natural resource stocks should continue to do well for the foreseeable future as China and India, the world's two most populous nations, move toward center stage.
...The other thing that caught my eye in this article was that Chinese sovereign funds would start spending some of its $1.3 trillion foreign currency reserves in Britain. Up until now those funds had only been allowed to invest in Hong Kong.
...China's emergence is yet another piece of the last generation puzzle as the players continue to move into place on the world stage. When the Bible speaks of a 200,000,000 man army, what other nation could field such a force?
.
AN OTTOMAN WARNING FOR AMERICA, (FT.com). Another article showing the power shift to the east. The author compares the U.S. present day situation to that of the 1870s. The author, Niall Ferguson, a professor at Harvard Business School and a senior fellow the Hoover Institution at Stanford, says, "...we are indeed living through a global shift in the balance of power very similar to that which occurred in the 1870s. This is the story of how an over-extended empire sought to cope with an external debt crisis by selling off revenue streams to foreign investors. The empire that suffered those setbacks in the 1870s was the Ottoman empire. Today it is the U.S."
.
BROKE BRITAIN: MILLIONS FACE STRUGGLE TO STAY AFLOAT AS FINANCIAL CRISIS HITS HOME, (Independent, UK). "Debt experts are predicting a record number of personal insolvencies this year as excessive Christmas shopping, rising mortgage payments and soaring food and fuel costs force thousands of people over the financial edge and into bankruptcy."
.
CRUNCH TIME FOR AMERICAN CONSUMERS, Peter Schiff, SaveHaven.com. "The subprime mortgage crisis is merely the tip of a very large iceberg. Beneath the surface lies not only a sea of tenuous loans to prime borrowers, but also an assortment of other liabilities backed by auto loans and credit card debt."
.
WELLNESS PROGRAM DISCIPLES GOD'S PEOPLE TO LOSE WEIGHT AND LEAD OTHERS TO BETTER HEALTH, (ChristianNewsWire). "The spirit of sloth and gluttony has taken over [the Christian] community, but there is something we can do to stop it. Once our leaders recognize the importance of having proper nutrition and daily fitness as an integral part of their own lives, they will continuously convey the importance of having a healthy lifestyle to their congregations," said Bonnie Mechelle, a wellness coach.
.
HONEY MAKING A MEDICAL COMEBACK, (MSNBC). Potent type used as antibiotic amid fears of drug-resistant superbugs.
...I believe that if we ate the foods the good Lord gave us to eat in the way that He provided them (without hormones, pesticides, genetic modification, etc.), and used natural remedies, we would be healthier. It might hurt the revenues of those folks whose profits soar when people are sick and hurting, but so what?
.
KATRINA DISASTER RELIEF REMAINS A DISGRACE, (Dan K. Thomasson, syndicated columnist, seattlepi.com).
...Even our government recommends that people have a week or two supplies on hand for emergencies. Most people do not. Having some supplies on hand beats standing in a line for food and water. And in these last times, there will be more emergencies.
.
NAFTA CEMENTING A NORTH AMERICAN UNION, (Devvy Kidd, NewsWithViews.com). A somewhat strident viewpoint, but this is an issue that needs to be kept in the open. The powers that be are selling us out on this issue, all the while denying that there is anything to it. There is no shortage of valid links regarding this subject, including some excellent ones provided by Ms. Kidd in this article. There are some previous links given at various times in the past on my blog as well. Vicente Fox, the former el presidente of Mejico, did not deny that it is coming. He was quite open about it on his appearance on Larry King (see previous blog entries for links).
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)