Alan Greenspan was appointed Fed chairman by Ronald Reagan in August 1987, he was reappointed by Bush and Clinton, at successive four-year intervals until retiring after a record-setting tenure on January 31, 2006. During that time period he was one of the most powerful men in the world. The stock markets literally hung on his every word. People made it their full time job to try and decipher what cryptic meaning might be obtained from his press releases. At times his words boosted the market as he dealt with issues like the Black Monday stock market crash that occurred shortly after he first became chairman. At other times he tried to talk the market down and he referred to the … [Read more...]
Can You Really Get a Free Credit Report?
Anyone who has surfed the web long enough has probably seen offers for "Free Credit Reports" but when you go there you usually find that it is just a scam that requires you to register or buy something first. Well, I recently found the one true source of free credit reports and actually was able to verify it with the Federal Trade Commission! I strongly recommend that before you sign up for any free credit report that you check it with the FTC. (See the end of this article for a link to the FTC). -- editorIn the United States, there are three main credit reporting companies they are Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. They are strictly monitored by the Federal Government and are required … [Read more...]
Free Resources
Free Resources for Investors. (Limit 1 Per Person) Learn to think for yourself Make your own decisions and be your own person. Change the way you invest forever. Download the information the FED doesn't want you to read. Discover the trade set-ups of a lifetime just waiting for you to snag them. Check it out … [Read more...]
May Inflation Surges to 3.2% in OECD Countries
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has finished aggregating the May inflation data provided by its member countries and has released the results. Energy prices were up a whopping 14.2% for the 12 months ending in May while food prices were up by 3.9%. The overall average for all products in all the OECD countries was 3.2% in May. This was up from the 2.9% reported in April. The major components of this increase were mainly a sharp acceleration of inflation in Canada (to 3.7% in May, up from 3.3% in April) and the United States (to 3.6%, up from 3.2%) with high food and energy prices being the main drivers. The following chart breaks the components down by … [Read more...]
April Inflation Up in OECD Countries
OECD annual inflation continues rising to 2.9% in April 2011 The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the April inflation numbers for its member countries today. Although we have known the U.S. inflation numbers for a couple of weeks now it is interesting to see how they compare to other developed countries around the world. Some of the biggest gainers were the United Kingdom (to 4.5% in April, up from 4.0% in March) and the United States (to 3.2%, up from 2.7%). Inflation also accelerated in Germany (to 2.4% up from 2.1%), Italy (to 2.6%, up from 2.5%), France (to 2.1%, up from 2.0%) and Japan (to 0.3%, after four consecutive months at 0.0%). Average … [Read more...]
Raw Materials Price Inflation Skyrockets– Manufacturing Collapses
According to the May report of the Richmond FED-- the index of manufacturing activity fell 16 points from a positive level of 10 in April to a declining (negative level) of -6 in May thus indicating that manufacturing actually contracted during the time period. During this same time the cost of raw goods required to manufacture goods increased dramatically. Inflation was the monthly equivalent of an average annual rate of 6.12% in May the highest monthly reading since December 1993 up 27% from April's equivalent of 4.81%. As I've said many times 5% annual inflation will stifle the economy 6% is pretty devastating. Manufacturing activity in negative territory is a sign of a recession … [Read more...]
Soros Sells Gold- No Longer Fears Deflation???
When I think of using gold for asset protection I think of it for protection against inflation. But obviously, according to the WSJ, I am all wrong (or maybe not). According to a Wall Street Journal article, billionaire George Soros sold his $800 million stake in precious metals in the first quarter of 2011 saying that he "no longer fears deflation". What? With inflation climbing, I can see why he no longer fears deflation... but why would he buy gold to hedge against deflation, in the first place? … [Read more...]
Does the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Include Taxes?
Question: I have heard over the years that the CPI does not include taxes as one of its components. In other words, an increase or decrease in a tax rate is not considered a change in consumer prices/costs. Is this true? If so, how is this omission justified? Thank you, James Schmidt … [Read more...]
Agflation- What is it?
Agflation, is a relatively new term coined by analysts at Merrill Lynch in 2007. Back then rising demand for agricultural products started driving up prices. Agflation is simply a combining of the words agriculture as in "agricultural commodities" and the word inflation. Inflation is commonly used to mean an increase in prices (although it originally meant an increase in the money supply which eventually resulted in an increase in prices). So agflation is simply an increase in the prices of agricultural products. But agflation is not the result of an increase in the money supply like typical inflation, but rather it is simply a result of supply and demand factors. In 2000, the world wide … [Read more...]
How to Calculate the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment
How Does The Government Calculate the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) on your retirement benefits like Social Security? I recently received the following question from Jerry: What formula does the government uses to figure out COLA based on inflation for retired people each year? That is a great question! Social Security benefits are indexed for inflation to protect beneficiaries from the loss of purchasing power due to inflation. The government uses a complex averaging system to take the average CPI index for the 3rd quarter of the previous year versus the average CPI index for the current year and calculate the inflation rate based on that. Cost of Living adjustments are … [Read more...]
