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Friday 31 July 2015

The Middle Class Is Dying, & More



Home House For Sale Mortgage Mortgages

If The American Dream Is To Own A Home, Then It Hasn’t Been In Worse Shape Since 1967


Thanks to the “Obama recovery”, the rate of homeownership in the United States has fallen to the lowest level in 48 years.  The percentage of Americans that own a home is widely considered to be a key indicator of the health of the middle class, and we have just learned that during the second quarter of 2015 that number dropped from 63.7 percent to 63.4 percent.  It is now the lowest that it has been since 1967
Homeownership Rate 2015
 Unlike a lot of other government economic statistics, this one is fairly difficult to manipulate.  Either someone owns a home or they do not.  And what the homeownership rate is telling us is that the percentage of Americans that can qualify for a mortgage has been falling dramatically.  Just take a look at the following chart.  This is not just a decline – this is a complete and utter collapse…


Puerto Rico Risking Point of No Return With Debt Payment Default


Puerto Rico is poised to set in motion a chain of events to force investors into negotiating a restructuring of the island’s $72 billion debt burden.

The commonwealth’s Public Finance Corp. will likely fail to make $58 million in bond payments due Aug. 1, the first default since Puerto Rico was ceded to the U.S. following the Spanish-American War. Government officials say they can’t make the payment because the legislature didn’t appropriate the funds last month for the current fiscal year.
A default would be the biggest salvo yet between creditors and the debt-ridden island since Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said in June that Puerto Rico cannot repay its obligations and was seeking to delay debt payments for a number of years. Prices of the securities are tumbling as officials, who are pursuing the use of bankruptcy, prepare to release a debt-restructuring plan by Sept. 1.
“They’re setting up the process of the entire restructuring,” said Lyle Fitterer, who helps oversee $38 billion of municipal securities, including Puerto Rico debt, at Wells Capital Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. “They’re probably getting advice from someone saying if you’re not going to pay on som

Treasury Secretary says U.S. debt limit won't be hit before Oct. 30




The U.S. is not at risk of breaching the debt ceiling before Oct. 30, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Wednesday, in a new estimate sent to Congressional leaders. Treasury has been using so-called extraordinary measures since mid-March. Lew told the lawmakers that those measures will now last through the end of October. The Treasury Secretary urged Congress to raise the debt limit as soon as possible. The debt limit caps how much the government can borrow. It used to be raised routinely but has recently become the source of a bitter political tug-of-war.

China Stocks Fall as Traders Puzzle Over Sudden Late-Day Swings


Chinese stocks fell suddenly in the last hour of trading, almost wiping out Wednesday’s rally and leaving investors in the dark about reasons for the moves.

The Shanghai Composite Index slumped 2.2 percent to 3,705.77 at the close, erasing an earlier gain of 1.5 percent. Drugmakers and technology companies led declines. A gauge of 100-day price-swings rose to the highest level in six years. Trading volumes in Shanghai have halved from their peaks in June, while margin debt, which had fueled a world-beating rally for China’s stocks, declined to a four-month low.
Thursday’s trading was almost a reverse image of the previous day, when the Shanghai Composite surged in the last hour to close 3.4 percent higher. Volatility has increased this week as Monday’s 8.5 percent plunge by the benchmark gauge shredded a calm induced by unprecedented state intervention.


viernes, 20 de septiembre de 2013
As for medical care, there’s always been free medical care in Argentina as well as private medical care. The public one was not very good but it kept you alive before 2001. After the collapse it just became pitiful and patients ended up in leaking, cold, roach-infested hospitals and were asked to bring their own gauze, cotton and bandages due to lack of supplies. The government is now using the private sector to compensate for the poor public one, making the private care much worse than it used to be.




Russian loan leafletsAccording to the Russian United Credit Bureau (UCB), 40 million Russians have loans or mortgages.
By June, 12.5m of those loans had not been paid for at least a month, and in another 8m cases the arrears stretched back over three months.




A rising number of Greeks in rural areas are swapping goods and services in cashless transactions since the government shut down banks on June 28 for three weeks, restricted cash withdrawals and banned transfers abroad to halt a run on deposits and prevent a collapse of the banks.




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Jeff Bezos, Amazon– Jeff Bezos is a pioneer in world of internet commerce, and was instrumental in defining this space that is now defining many aspects of the internet world. It is Jeff Bezos who innovated the concept of “predictive analytics”–recommending products to customers based on search history and buying habits. Whether you like the concept or you hate it, the idea has made online commerce more profit rich and efficient, and is making online shopping a better experience for consumers throughout the world.


Top Weekly Ideas and Insights


An Inconvenient Truth:

What Happens When Science Confronts Unsubstantiated Fiction?





 EXISTENTIAL REALITY 



"Humanity Coming of Secular Age"

 - The Last Days of Theism -






Thursday 30 July 2015

These Markets Are Going Nowhere, & More



7 "Saves" in 7 Months: A Market Going

 Nowhere Fast

Can markets be saved an eighth time, a ninth time, a tenth time this year? How about next year?

What do we make of a stock market that's been "saved" seven times in a mere seven months? Saved from what, you ask? Saved from rolling over, of course; after six years of upside, the current uptrend is getting long in tooth, and evidence of global recession is mounting.
What's "saved" the market seven times in seven months? The usual burps of hot air: the Federal Reserve issued more mewlings (zero rates forever), Greece was "saved" again, China's crumbling stock bubble was "saved" again, and so on.



A study by Tendências consultancy, obtained by Folha, shows that households' purchasing power was R$ 240 billion (US$ 71.3 billion) in the monthly average from January to May -6.2% lower than in the same period in 2014 (R$ 256 billion, or US$76 billion). "After years of increasing consumption, it is difficult to admit to the empoverishment of Brazilians, but that's exactly what's happening," said Rodrigo Baggi, an economist at Tendências.



Venezuela and its state oil company have about $5.6 billion in bond payments due in the last three months of this year and about $10 billion in 2016, according to Bank of America Corp. estimates. Trading in credit-default swaps show an implied probability of default of 96 percent over the next five years, the highest in the world, CMA data show.



Global Downgrades Surpass Upgrades as geopolitical, economic risks Increase
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services downgraded 244 issuers worth $1.2 trillion in rated debt and upgraded 125 issuers with $621 billion in rated debt in the second quarter of 2015. Downgrades eclipsed upgrades around the world as geopolitical and economic risks rose, including Greece’s potential exit from the eurozone (the “Grexit”), a slowdown in economic growth in China, and the credit effect from interest rate normalization on part of the Federal Reserve System in the U.S.



The sell-off in emerging market Asia has pushed the Thai baht to a six-year low of Bt34.9 a dollar while currencies in Malaysia and Indonesia have fallen to levels unseen for nearly two decades.


Image result for paris france


Unemployment has continued to rise throughout the presidency of Francois Hollande despite a recent uptick in economic growth and a host of initiatives including state-sponsored jobs and tax breaks to spur recruitment in the private sector.



The dismal IMF forecast comes a few weeks after Italy’s central bank said the country’s public debt level had hit a new record of €2.2 trillion in May, up by €23.4 billion in a month. Italy’s public debt of more than 130 percent of GDP is second only to Greece in the eurozone.






“The countries that have yet to launch a U.S. dollar sovereign bond have missed their opportunity to lock in the ultra-low yields available during the past few years,” Ashbourne said. “The period of almost unquestioned optimism towards African sovereign debt is coming to an end.”




The probe is the latest effort by the government to crack down on reports of market manipulation after a recent equities rout wiped out nearly $4 trillion.

Learn Success: APPLY Tips From The Best





Jeff Bezos, Amazon– Jeff Bezos is a pioneer in world of internet commerce, and was instrumental in defining this space that is now defining many aspects of the internet world. It is Jeff Bezos who innovated the concept of “predictive analytics”–recommending products to customers based on search history and buying habits. Whether you like the concept or you hate it, the idea has made online commerce more profit rich and efficient, and is making online shopping a better experience for consumers throughout the world.


Top Weekly Ideas and Insights


An Inconvenient Truth:

What Happens When Science Confronts Unsubstantiated Fiction?





 EXISTENTIAL REALITY 



"Humanity Coming of Secular Age"

 - The Last Days of Theism -






Wednesday 29 July 2015

Brazil's Credit Rating Junk By S&P, & More





Image result for brazil economy


"The ratings company said in a statement Tuesday it revised the outlook on Brazil’s rating to negative from stable. The country’s rating from S&P is already at BBB-, the lowest investment grade.
The ratings move adds to challenges for President Dilma Rousseff and her economic team led by Finance Minister Joaquim Levy as they duel with Congress to shore up fiscal accounts at the same time the country slips into recession. "





"Brazil’s real led global declines and fell to a 12-year low after Standard & Poor’s changed the outlook on the nation’s credit rating to negative, citing challenges to balancing the budget and the unprecedented investigation of public officials."



Image result for ECB"The combined balance sheet of the European Central Bank and the euro zone's 19 national central banks rose by 6.2 billion euros ($6.85 billion) to 2.525 trillion euros in the week to July 24, the ECB said on Tuesday."








"Exit strategies used to be the preoccupation of Pentagon planners. Nowadays, it’s more a province for central bank watchers, since the Federal Reserve gorged on trillions of dollars of mortgage and government debt.
And in that economic realm, China has just added a new conundrum. The dependence of the nation’s stock market on official support was exposed Monday with the biggest drop since 2007 amid speculation aid had been dialed back. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.7 percent Tuesday even after China pledged to keep up efforts to “stabilize” the market."







"According to a new study released on Tuesday by CIBC, the average Canadian expects to be debt free by the time they reach the age of 56 years old; however, some Canadians forecast debt well into their sixties.
Only a third, or 29 per cent, of Canadians are debt free, while 13 per cent do not foresee a future without debt."


"The last time homeownership levels were this low, LBJ was president.
Data released by the Census Bureau on Tuesday reveal that the U.S. homeownership rate stood at 63.4% for the second quarter of 2015. The rate is down slightly compared to the first quarter (63.7%), and it represents the lowest level of homeownership in America since 1967."








estate agent signs"Responding to the figures, Campbell Robb, Shelter’s chief executive, said: “When house prices soar by this much in a single year thanks to our housing shortage, it’s clear that for millions of people across the country, a home of your own is fast becoming a pipe dream.”"






Rent prices jump, indicating coming crisis
"Low vacancy rate, high cost of home ownership conspire against renters"













Learn Success: APPLY Tips From The Best





Jeff Bezos, Amazon– Jeff Bezos is a pioneer in world of internet commerce, and was instrumental in defining this space that is now defining many aspects of the internet world. It is Jeff Bezos who innovated the concept of “predictive analytics”–recommending products to customers based on search history and buying habits. Whether you like the concept or you hate it, the idea has made online commerce more profit rich and efficient, and is making online shopping a better experience for consumers throughout the world.


Top Weekly Ideas and Insights


An Inconvenient Truth:

What Happens When Science Confronts Unsubstantiated Fiction?



 EXISTENTIAL REALITY 



"Humanity Coming of Secular Age"

 - The Last Days of Theism -





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