Gold hit three new record highs last week. This week, following the announcement by the US Fed on Tuesday, it is hitting still more highs…closing in on $1,300 as we write. Gold should go up with consumer prices. But, for nearly two decades – from 1980 to 1999 – gold went down while consumer and asset prices rose.
September 27th, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "consumer"
Oil’s Out…Clean Energy Is In
The International Energy Association (IEA) has spoken. What the world needs now is a clean energy technology revolution. June saw the 2010 launch of IEA’s biannual report, Energy Technology Perspectives. Speaking at the launch was Nobuo Tanaka, executive director for IEA.
September 17th, 2010 | Marin Katusa | 11 comments | Continued
You say Obama; I say Ozawa! You say boom; I say ka-boom!
The Nobel Prize committee has never withdrawn a prize. It might want to consider it. In Tuesday’s New York Times, prizewinner in economics, Paul Krugman reveals either that he knows nothing about economics…or that there is nothing worth knowing in it. We’re beginning to think it’s the latter.
September 13th, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Misguided Gratitude for Government Stimulus
In New York, markets enjoyed some brief respite from the blizzard of weak data as reports on the US housing market and consumer confidence proved better than feared. The Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence climbed to 53.5 last month from 51 in July…
September 2nd, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Consumer Debt Repayment: The Sign of a Lengthy Correction?
By 2008, consumer debt increased seven times, while the savings rate was seven times lower than in 1980.Now consumers are paying down their debt – or defaulting on it – at a rate of about 6% per year. We don’t know where this process will go, but if consumer debt is to be cut in half.
August 19th, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Boomer Consumers Reduce Spending. Economy Exhales.
Boomers are cutting back? Of course boomers are cutting back! They’re getting ready for retirement. They need to save some money. It was loony to think you could finance your retirement out of the increases in your house’s value. Who were you going to sell the house to? Boomers were the biggest buyers of houses.
August 18th, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 1 comment | Continued
Exporting Economic Growth
Nothing much happened on Wall Street Friday. Gold…stocks…held more or less where they were. So, we take up another week…wondering…waiting…trying to puzzle out what is going on. Just like every other week! Economists are finally beginning to ask questions. How come the economy isn’t doing better?
August 17th, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Inflate Your Debts Away
You can recover from a fall. You can recover from a broken heart. You can recover from a head cold. You cannot recover from death. You can only become a zombie. The US economy merely became more zombified, after the crisis of ’07-’09. Houses are underwater. People are living on food stamps and unemployment compensation…
August 3rd, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
US Jobs Data: One Reason Why It Might Not Be Getting Better
Dow up 56 yesterday. Gold down $6. Deflation stalks markets and economies. Don’t believe us? Just look at the 10-year T note. It’s about the only thing that is going up. It means people want safety, safety and more safety. Of course, they will find little safety in T-debt. But that’s a long story…
July 21st, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 1 comment | Continued
The Role of Consumer Spending in Phony Economic Growth
It was time for a bear market/credit contraction. The correction began in January 2000. The NASDAQ collapsed. And in 2001, the economy entered a recession. But this recession was phony. Consumer spending didn’t go down; it went up. Consumers kept borrowing money. It wasn’t correcting the debt problem, in other words, it was making it worse.
July 20th, 2010 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
Why Your Portfolio Should Not Speak English
Consumers in emerging markets are now the dominant consumer group in the world, surpassing the US. We’ve crossed an important threshold. Emerging Market economies now represent about 33% of consumer spending worldwide. US consumer spending, at 27% of worldwide GDP, trails for behind. As recently as 2006, US consumer spending was greater than that of the Emerging Market economies.
July 9th, 2010 | Chris Mayer | 0 comments | Continued
Biggest Factor Affecting Consumer Price Inflation is Growth in Bank Credit
Much will be revealed this week in the Aussie market, although a lot will probably remain obscure too. Producer price data for the September quarter comes out from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Inflation anyone? Maybe not in wages. But certainly in raw materials (energy).
October 26th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued
If Americans Do Not Return to Work, There Is No Recovery
We have rallied based on one of the largest and most concerted propaganda campaigns ever waged, supported by government stimulus. But no government can stimulate forever…
August 7th, 2009 | Bill Jenkins | 0 comments | Continued
Two Good Reasons to Own Gold
Just when I thought I would go berserk at such horrific economic news, I see John Stepek at Money Morning newsletter had a subhead that caught my eye, which was “Three sound reasons to own gold.”
May 26th, 2009 | Mogambo Guru | 1 comment | Continued
A Long Time Before Investors Will Gamble on Housing Debt
USA Today opens with a cover story on “the new homeless.” There’s a photo of a 53-year-old man sitting in his tent. It’s a “temporary situation,” he says. But the tent city in Pinellas County, Florida, may be home for longer than he expects.
May 7th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
