Your Summer Tax Increase

Posted on July 16, 2013 by MN Gordon

Oil prices are holding above $106 per barrel.  What gives?  Wasn’t all the oil fracking supposed to increase production and decrease price?

So far, part of this equation has come to be.  In fact, the Energy Information Administration’s weekly report, for the week ending July 5, shows the U.S. produced 7.4 million barrels per day.  That’s up 18.4 percent from just one year ago.  What’s more, it’s the highest level for U.S. domestic oil production in over 21 years.

So even though the price of oil remains stubbornly high, the combination of increased domestic production and increased energy efficiency is having many positive benefits for the country…

“The increase of oil production in the U.S. is reversely driving down the amount of foreign oil the country is importing from OPEC countries because the fuel is less needed,” explains The Daily Beast.

“Meanwhile, the U.S. is reducing its use of oil—thanks to more efficient vehicles, less driving, the use of natural gas as a transport fuel, and greater investments in renewable energy.  Total liquid fuel consumption in the U.S. declined by 2.1 percent in 2012, according to the EIA, and is expected to rise by less than 1 percent in 2013. Continue reading →

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Market Moves Ahead Should be Good for Gold, Bad for the US Dollar

Posted on July 12, 2013 by MN Gordon

Market Moves Ahead Should be Good for Gold, Bad for the US Dollar
By John Williams, Shadowstats

Nothing is normal: not the economy, not the financial system, not the financial markets and not the political system.  The financial system still remains in the throes and aftershocks of the 2008 panic.  A number of underlying problems of that time, tied to the risks of a near-systemic collapse and the related, extreme economic downturn, were pushed into the future—not resolved—by the extraordinary liquidity and systemic-intervention actions taken by the Federal Reserve and federal government.  Further panic is possible, and severe US dollar debasement and inflation remain inevitable.

Nonetheless, several major misperceptions appear to have developed in the last month or two concerning an end to the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing, the level of crisis posed by US fiscal imbalances, and an unfolding recovery in the US economy.

Contrary to currently hyped expectations in the popular financial media, chances are negligible for any serious, near-term reduction in the Federal Reserve’s purchases of US Treasury securities. Continue reading →

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Safe Investment Losses

Posted on July 9, 2013 by MN Gordon

The Labor Department reported Friday that employers added 195,000 new jobs to their payrolls in June.  Nonetheless, the unemployment rate remained at 7.6 percent, as people entering the workforce subtracted out all job gains.  Still, markets were delighted.

The DOW closed the day up 147 points…and the S&P 500 increased a full percent.  But is this really a sign the economy is improving?

An ever so slight scratch below the surface of the headline number reveals a picture that is less sanguine.  The underemployment rate, which includes people who want to work but who have given up searching and those working part time who want to work full time, jumped to 14.3 percent from 13.8 percent in May.  Moreover, the new jobs that were added are not the type of jobs that grow the economy…

“More than half of the jobs were in the retail and leisure and hospitality sectors, which typically are relatively low-paid,” reported Reuters. Continue reading →

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Programs to Control the Uncontrollable

Posted on July 5, 2013 by MN Gordon

Things are melting up – and melting down – the world over.  What’s more, summer’s only just begun.  While Americans were dreaming of block parties and beach bashes as they punched out for the Independence Day holiday Wednesday afternoon, Cairo was under military coup.

Tanks and troops took to the streets.  Soon after, as the sun set on the Egyptian capital, the sun also set on Mohamed Morsi’s presidency.  After that fireworks filled the sky.

What does it mean…exactly, who knows?  One headline says the turmoil in Egypt is what pushed oil above $102.  Sounds like as good a reason as any.

Markets were closed in the United States yesterday.  So we looked further east for dots to connect.  In Japan, we noticed stocks are melting up again.  After crashing 20 percent from mid-May to mid-June, the Nikkei 225 has run back up 12 percent.  What to make of it?

Was the selloff overblown?  Will the new run-up last? Continue reading →

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