Clipmarks | blueridge's economy collection

Fed Chairman: Economy Bad, Worst "in Memory"

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:19:13 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: It is not just gas prices. Bernanke talks about how inflation has not yet had its full effect, comparing it to a storm that has not yet fully hit the mainland:

"Although we have seen some improved functioning in some markets, the financial storm that reached gale force'' around this time last year "has not yet subsided, and its effects on the broader economy are becoming apparent in the form of softening economic activity and rising unemployment,'

Bush and McCain do not acknowledge this, and Obama's policies would never fix it.

The role that both Bush and Congress have played in RUINING the economy through government overspending (on unjust wars), devaluing the dollar (which is a key factor in inflation), and causing a rise in oil prices, are not discussed.

The Fed is not innocent and causes inflation too by printing more money for government overspending from thin air!

The Fed Chairman is using this to try to obtain new powers for th

Clip Source: wvgazette.com

Bernanke: Financial crisis taking toll on economy

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said today the financial crisis that has pounded the country -- coupled with higher inflation -- is taking a toll on the economy and poses a major challenge to Fed policymakers as they try to restore stability.

"Although we have seen some improved functioning in some markets, the financial storm that reached gale force'' around this time last year "has not yet subsided, and its effects on the broader economy are becoming apparent in the form of softening economic activity and rising unemployment,'' Bernanke said in a speech to a high-profile economics conference here.

Although Bernanke welcomed the recent drops in prices for oil and other commodities, and believes inflation will moderate this year and next, the Fed chief said the inflation outlook remains highly uncertain.

financial and economic environment is one of the most challenging to Fed policymakers "in memory,''

Tags: economy, federal reserve, inflation, unemployment, oil prices, bush

Oil Supply Increases, Oil Price Increases

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:05:15 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Proof again supply is not the problem driving prices on oil and gas.

Note this happens as the oil laden Caspian region (Russia, Georgia, etc.) comes into play with war and rumors of war--and particularly as Condi Rice (former exec at Chevron) goes around heightening US rhetoric against Russia and signing provocatory missile agreements with its satellite states.

It is not actual supply so much as perceived supply which is effected by wars and "geopolitical" tensions and factors.

Change the (neoconservative) war policy, prices will drop.

Clip Source: www.breitbart.com

Oil prices rebound even as crude inventories jump

NEW YORK (AP) - The price of oil bounced back near $115 a barrel on Wednesday, as traders shrugged off a massive increase in U.S. crude inventories and a stronger dollar and focused on possible supply threats.

It was a volatile day for energy prices, which initially retreated after the U.S. Energy Department said a big gain in imports drove crude inventories up by a hefty 9.4 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 15. The figure came in much higher than the average analyst forecast for a 1.7 million-barrel increase, according to energy information provider Platts.

Many analysts say the price of oil—still more than 60 percent higher than a year ago—appears to be consolidating at current levels.

Tags: oil, oil prices, gas prices, war, economy

Inflation Could Lead to Financial Tsunami

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:13:00 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Less disposable income to pay debts. Oil is leading this by effecting all consumer goods, not just gas.

Clip Source: www.bloomberg.com

Faster Inflation May Unleash `Financial Tsunami': Chart of Day

June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Rising consumer prices will leave more U.S. consumers unable to pay their debts and may lead to a ``financial tsunami,'' according to Bennet Sedacca, president of money manager Atlantic Advisors LLC in Winter Park, Florida.

A battered, over-indebted consumer, if forced to retrench, could create even more problems for the banking system as loan delinquencies would begin to rise even further. All sorts of delinquencies are rising. This is now a systemic issue.''

Tags: economy

$4 per Gallon Gas Pinching Low Income Families Worst

Wed, 14 May 2008 16:17:47 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: This is forcing major shifts in spending and life changes as the cost of everything goes up respective to fuel costs, not just at the pump. This is pinching Americans, especially at lower income levels, while the well off remain careless and distracted. In turn this will increase government welfare spending, and force some out of their cars completely.

All this to due dollar devaluation, due to heavy debt spending by government, printing money, to finance unjust and needless war-mongering abroad against countries that pose no threat to the U.S.. The poor suffer the most, as usual, who have the least to do with war policy, merely attempting to survive.

Clip Source: jeromeprophet.blogspot.com

Gasoline - The Difference A Dollar Makes

For millions of upper middle class, and upper class U.S. consumers tacking on an extra dollar per gallon to the price of gasoline is no big deal, however, to the millions of working Americans who live from paycheck to paycheck the recent increase spells for financial hardship.

The Cost Of Everything Is On The Rise

A one dollar increase in the price of gallon of gasoline will effectively raise the price of everything else. Food prices are already on the rise. Inflation driven by higher energy cost will increase the cost of every good, and every service. Even when products aren't made with oil the price of oil will in some way effect the cost of that product. The cost of services are also effected directly, and indirectly by the cost of oil.

While upper middle class, and upper class Americans will chuckle at a one dollar increase in the price of a gallon of gasoline tens of millions of American families will be forced to find ways to survive.

Tags: gas prices, food prices, economy, personal finances, war

Weak Dollar and Traders Behind Gas Prices, Not Supply and Demand

Sun, 11 May 2008 18:15:35 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: This refutes a lot of talk about OPEC and such causing high oil and gas prices. It also explains higher prices on consumer goods, not just driven by fuel prices alone. The dollar is becoming as valued as the paper its printed on, which (this articles does not go into) is because of national indebtedness for heavy war spending, as Ron Paul pointed out during his campaigning. Traders and speculators in the investment community are increasingly buying oil futures for their portfolios and war fears (i.e. war on terrorism, middle east war-mongering) increase price on the trade floor, period.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

A peek behind the price at the U.S. gas pump

From Capitol Hill to Wall Street to the campaign trail, the recent surge in oil prices is quickly threatening to supplant the mortgage crisis as the country's leading economic issue. Last week, prices for crude set another record, finishing at $125.96 a barrel on Friday, while gasoline prices closed in on $4 a gallon.

While no one disputes that China and other emerging economies are craving more crude, the stunning rise of oil from $62 a year ago is hard to explain as only a matter of supply and demand. After all, analysts have noted adequate inventories.

Over the same period, the dollar has declined nearly 15 percent against the euro, and the jump in oil prices "is very much driven by the dollar,"

buying oil has become a way for hedge funds, pension funds and other institutional investors to offset their exposure to dollar-based assets like United States stocks and bonds

Graphic
Weaker dollar, higher cost
» View

Tags: gas prices, oil prices, opec, dollar, federal reserve, inflation, economy

Silver Coins Highly Valued as Dollar Declines

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:00:18 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: from former Treasury Sec'y Paul Craig Roberts, who should know. Look at the value of silver coins--if you have or find any horde them! A silver quarter is worth $3.55!

The article is worth reading, takes you from dollar decline to coming war with Iran, which he says will be the last financial straw.

Clip Source: www.vdare.com

Watching the Dollar Die

I’ve been watching the dollar die all my life. I sometimes think I will outlast it.

Our coinage was silver. Our dimes, quarters, and half dollars had purchasing power. Even the nickel could purchase a candy bar, ice cream cone or soft drink, and a penny could purchase bubble gum or hard candy. If a kid could collect 5 discarded soft drink bottles from a construction site, the 2 cents deposit on the returnable bottles was enough for the Saturday afternoon movie. Gasoline was 32 cents a gallon. A dollar’s worth was enough for a Saturday night date.

Our silver coinage was 90% silver. People sometimes melted coins in order to make silver spoons, known as coin silver, which can still be found in antique shops.

The 10 cent piece of my youth contains $1.42 worth of silver at today’s silver price. The quarter is worth $3.55, and the half dollar contains $7.10 of silver. The silver dollar is worth 15.2 times its face value.

The silver in the wartime nickel is worth $1.10

Tags: money, economy, dollar, silver

Fed Moves to Prevent Global Run on Banks

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:24:28 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Desperate moves by Fed to prevent total meltdown of financial markets and banks.

Clip Source: www.marketwatch.com

Fed acts Sunday to prevent global bank run Monday

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Acting quickly to prevent a run on major global financial firms, the Federal Reserve cut its discount rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.25% and offered to lend money to a longer list of firms than ever before.

The extraordinary weekend moves came as J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM:

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$4 per Gallon Gas Coming by Spring

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:11:28 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Oil prices have quadrupled in 6 years it states, that is since the "war on terrorism" started with the Bush regime. The comparison is made to the last middle east conflict in 1980. Do Americans really want to pay this price, for arbitrary and unjust wars?

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Oil hits a high; some in U.S. see $4 gas by spring

Gasoline prices, which for months lagged the big run-up in the price of oil, are suddenly rising quickly, with some experts fearing they could hit $4 a gallon by spring. Diesel is hitting new records daily and oil closed at an all-time high on Tuesday of $100.88 a barrel.

The increases could not come at a worse time for the economy. With growth slowing, high energy prices that were once easily absorbed by consumers are now more likely to act as a drag on household budgets, leaving people with less money to spend elsewhere. These costs could exacerbate the nation's economic woes, piling a fresh energy shock on top of the turmoil in credit and housing.

On Tuesday, diesel prices rose to a record $3.60 a gallon, compared with $2.62 a gallon last year.

The price of oil has quadrupled in six years, and Tuesday's close was not far below the inflation-adjusted all-time high set in April 1980, after the Iranian revolution.

Tags: oil prices, gas prices, economy, bush, war on terorrism

Crude Oil Prices Break $101 per Barrel

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:21:17 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Cold weather (demand), weak dollar are mentioned as immediate causes, but never war, which has driven it all. The war tax via the pump continues.

Clip Source: www.marketwatch.com

FUTURES MOVERS

Crude surpasses $101 as cold weather lingers

Heating oil surges to new high; natural gas at highest level in two years

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures rallied more than $1 on Tuesday to close at a new high of $100.88 a barrel as cold weather in the U.S. continued. Heating oil also surged to a new record.

Crude for April delivery settled up $1.65 a barrel, or 1.7%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier it rose to a new intraday high of $101.15, surpassing the record of $100.65 hit last week.

Cold weather "kept heating oil, natural gas and crude oil all relatively firm, providing a steadier tone for the broader markets," said Edward Meir, an analyst at futures brokerage MF Global.

Also helping Tuesday's rally in oil prices was the weaker dollar. The index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, fell 0.6% to 75.08. See Currencies.

U.S. consumer confidence plummeted

Tags: economy, gas prices, oil, war

Black Monday: London and World Markets Drop

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:36:44 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: London and world reacts to Bush economic stimulus plan--i.e. get ready for U.S. recession, sell! Actually it was the Fed Reserve that approved, pushed Bush's announcement last Friday. Watch how the U.S. stock markets do Tuesday after today's day off.

This is also the price of war (oil prices are beating up consumers, including all consumer goods transportation costs) and huge government debt. Note the UK here says their gov't might have to raise taxes...which will kill everything worse!

Clip Source: www.thisislondon.co.uk

Miserable Monday as biggest FTSE crash since 9/11 wipes off nearly £60bn in shares

The stock market went into meltdown yesterday with the biggest fall in share prices since 9/11.

More than £75billion was wiped off the value of Britain's 100 biggest companies amid fears of a recession in the U.S.

In a disastrous day for investors, every single stock market in Europe and Asia plummeted, with falls of up to 8.5 per cent.

The FTSE 100 plunged an extraordinary 323.5 points to close at 5,578, a fall of 5.5 per cent.

Since January 2 it has lost nearly 1,000 points, or 13.6 per cent, hammering savings, pensions and other investments.

All eyes will be on Wall Street today when the Dow Jones index re-opens. It was closed yesterday for a holiday, but the futures market remained open and offered a grim portent, falling 546 points or 4.5 percent.

Analysts were warning that the Government may have to raise taxes by more than £10billion to claw its way out of trouble.

Tags: econcomy, stock exchange, federal reserve, bush

2008 Will Set Record Gas Prices, Over $3.40 per gal.

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:14:25 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Not so happy new year economically. The neocon wars have everything to do with market oil prices, which just went up due to the Pakistan assassination and Turkey's invading Iraq to hit militants.

Clip Source: ap.google.com

Oil Traders Eye $100 Crude Next Year

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices headed slightly lower Monday, marking a quiet end to a record-breaking year, although rising demand and geopolitical instability are expected to keep upward pressure on energy costs early in 2008.

"There's a good chance this week that we'll see some record highs," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.

At the same time, the EIA estimated that oil prices will average nearly $85 a barrel in 2008, while gasoline prices will average $3.11 a gallon, peaking above $3.40 a gallon in the spring.

The nation's three largest oil companies, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips, had combined profits of $50.3 billion in the first nine months of the year, a decline of 8.5 percent from a year earlier.

Tags: gas prices, economy, oil

Banks Seeing Red, Comparing to 1929

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 05:48:23 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: "Happy New Year?" Doubt per what bankers are saying. This is a major crisis that they cannot prevent, and the international banksters are the ones who caused the trouble!

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Crisis may make 1929 look a 'walk in the park'

As central banks continue to splash their cash over the system, so far to little effect, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard argues things are rapidly spiralling out of their control

As the credit paralysis stretches through its fifth month, a chorus of economists has begun to warn that the world's central banks are fighting the wrong war, and perhaps risk a policy error of epochal proportions.

"The central banks are rapidly losing control. By not cutting interest rates nearly far enough or fast enough, they are allowing the money markets to dictate policy. We are long past worrying about moral hazard," he says.

"They still have another couple of months before this starts imploding. Things are very unstable and can move incredibly fast. I don't think the central banks are going to make a major policy error, but if they do, this could make 1929 look like a walk in the park," he adds.

Tags: economy, banks, fed

GOP Candidates Awake to Economic Crisis--Sort of

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:26:25 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Note Fred Thompson's quote. Almost sounds like Ron Paul, doesn't he? But they offer no concrete proposals as does Ron Paul, and their cheer leading for "optimism" (blue-blood Romney) is a denial of the severity of the problem that Americans already realize.

Ron Paul offers the real solution to eliminate the Income Tax, cut the Federal government back to Constitutional limits, and stop excessive spending, particularly on a trillion dollar war policy.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

In a debate that did not address hot campaign trail topics like the Iraq war and immigration, the Republicans found plenty of room for agreement on the need to rein in federal spending, bring down taxes and achieve energy independence.

The focus on economic issues gave the candidates a chance to lay out already published plans to ease growing public worries about the economy and reduce a federal debt they said was becoming a national security threat.

"Our country has a $9 trillion debt. A good chunk of that is owned by China. We're bankrupting the next generation, without any question," said Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee senator and Hollywood actor.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has fallen behind Huckabee in Iowa polls after leading for months, said the future was bright and the country's leaders should not "wring their hands."

"We need leaders up in Washington that will rein in excessive spending," he said.

Tags: national debt, economy, fed, 2008 candidates, ron paul

Wholesale Prices Up Highest in 34 years

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 04:27:01 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Inflation led by oil and fuel prices. Gas up 34% in November.

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

November also saw the biggest jump in wholesale inflation since 1973, according to two reports Thursday.

The Labor Department said wholesale prices for finished goods spiked 3.2% in November from the previous month and were up more than 7% from November 2006. The main culprit was energy, with gasoline soaring 34.8% in the month.

The report "drives a stake through the heart of the argument that the U.S. does not have an inflation problem," says Brian Wesbury, chief economist of First Trust Advisors, noting the overall price rise was the "largest single-month hike since 1973, beating every month during the high inflation of the late 1970s as well as the month affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita."

Fed officials have expressed some concern that consumer spending, about two-thirds of economic activity, will slow under the weight of high energy prices, a falling housing market and plummeting consumer confidence.

Impending Destruction of US Economy

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 02:37:01 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Economist and former assistant treasury secretary in the Reagan administration does not mince words. Recall that some Wall Street firms this week finally issued a warning of coming recession. Roberts points out just who Washington and the Fed will support--and it will not be you, the American citizen or taxpayer.

Clip Source: www.vdare.com

Impending Destruction of the US Economy

Hubris and arrogance are too ensconced in Washington for policymakers to be aware of the economic policy trap in which they have placed the US economy. If the subprime mortgage meltdown is half as bad as predicted, low US interest rates will be required in order to contain the crisis. But if the dollar’s plight is half as bad as predicted, high US interest rates will be required if foreigners are to continue to hold dollars and to finance US budget and trade deficits.

Which will Washington sacrifice, the domestic financial system and over-extended homeowners or its ability to finance deficits?

The answer seems obvious. Everything will be sacrificed in order to protect Washington’s ability to borrow abroad. Without the ability to borrow abroad, Washington cannot conduct its wars of aggression, and Americans cannot continue to consume $800 billion dollars more each year than the economy produces.