With the U.S. debt ceiling becoming an ongoing economic issue for American politics, you may be confused about some of the terms you hear and read in the news – or worse, maybe you don’t even question them and you talk about “debt” and “deficits” interchangeably.
Taxes and spending sound equally bad too, but there are [...]
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May 3, 2011
in Federal Reserve, US Treasury, USD, currencies, exchange rates, forex, inflation, international economy, market reports, market trends, sovereign debt, technical analysis, world reserve currency
The US Dollar has sunk to 2.5 year lows. This is a significant time frame, as currently, Brent oil futures are also at 2.5 year highs. Outdoing both of these, gold is at all-time nominal highs, having closed April 2011 at $1563/oz.
Bernanke keeps saying that a strong dollar is in the U.S.’ best interests, and [...]
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May 1, 2011
in Federal Reserve, OPEC, consumers, international economy, market trends, news and updates, oil, prices, seasonal investing, transportation
Should we be concerned about $110+ oil? Since the beginning of March, and noticeably after the March 11 triple tsunami-earthquake-nuclear disaster in Japan, oil prices have shot through the roof and show no signs of abating. Events in Libya have helped keep oil support levels high as well, but many argue this is no mere [...]
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December 3, 2010
in 2010, December, FOMC, Federal Reserve, QE, US debt, US economy, USD, central banks, economy, indicators, inflation, money supply, news and updates, stimulus
Apparently the late-Friday surge in stock markets might have been due to the possibility that “the Ben Bernanke” will intimate the possibility of higher levels of QE2 than initially indicated. More than $600 billion in Treasury purchases by June 2011, in other words.
Reuters caught sight of a report on the CBS website indicating that Bernanke [...]
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The difference between deflation and disinflation is quite important but not one you hear as much about. Yet it is important to not the difference because the two are not quite the same thing at all.
Keep in mind that INFLATION, strictly speaking, is an increase in the money supply (which eventually leads to an increase [...]
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October 18, 2010 · 5 comments
in CEO pay, Federal Reserve, Timothy Geithner, US Treasury, US economy, bailout, banks, brokers, bubble, central banks, collapse, ethics, executive compensation, films, financial education, government, leadership, money lessons, regulation, reviews, risk, wealth transfer
Review of The Inside Job by Charles Ferguson (2010).
Despite the fact that it’s a trite truism that Wall Street is fueled by greed and “greed makes the world – or at least the markets – go round,” it’s merely the tip of the iceberg of moral depravity and social corruption that has been exposed on [...]
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October 15, 2010
in 2010, FOMC, Federal Reserve, USD, indicators, inflation, market reports, market timing, money supply, news and updates, recession, stimulus, stimulus plan
Trading volumes have been historically low and stock markets in a trading range for quite some time now, even taking the brief September rally into consideration (buoyed by the Aug. 27 Jackson Hole speech comments by Bernanke with a view to the necessity for more quantitative easing in the near future).
Any given hour of the [...]
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