Barack Obama Promises That Events In Greece And Puerto Rico Will Not Cause A Global Financial Crisis

Barack Obama Giving Speech - Photo by Gage SkidmoreBarack Obama says that we shouldn’t be alarmed by what is happening over in Greece.  On Tuesday, he told reporters that this “is an issue primarily of concern to Europe” and that “I think the markets have properly factored in the risks involved“.  And apparently Obama is not too concerned about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico either.  In fact, the Obama administration has already completely ruled out any sort of federal bailout for the island.  Barack Obama is assuring us that everything is going to be just fine and that we are not headed for another global financial crisis.  So is he correct?   (Read More...)

18 Sobering Facts About The Unprecedented Student Loan Debt Crisis In The United States

Student Loan DebtThe student loan debt bubble in America is spiraling out of control, and it is financially crippling an entire generation of young Americans.  At this point, the grand total of student loan debt in the United States has reached a staggering 1.2 trillion dollars, and an all-time record high 40 million Americans are currently paying off student loan debts.  Just when our young people should be planning on buying homes and starting families, they find themselves financially paralyzed by oppressive levels of debt.  What makes all of this even worse is that only some of our college graduates are able to get the “good jobs” that we promised them.  So with limited job prospects and suffocating levels of debt, this generation of young Americans is increasingly putting off major life commitments such as buying a home and getting married.  As a society, we really need to rethink how we are “educating” our young people, because what we are doing now is clearly not working.  The following are 18 sobering facts about the unprecedented student loan debt crisis in the United States… (Read More...)

10 Signs That America Is On The Verge Of A Horrible Municipal Debt Crisis

Is America on the verge of a horrible municipal debt crisis?  Unfortunately, the answer is yes.  From coast to coast there are an increasing number of cities, towns and counties that are rapidly going broke.  Financial analyst Meredith Whitney took a lot of heat when her prediction of a municipal bond crash in 2011 did not happen, but she was not fundamentally wrong in her analysis.  A horrifying municipal debt crisis is starting to unfold right in front of our eyes.  It just did not happen as soon as she thought that it would.  When most Americans think of our “debt problem”, they think of the federal government.  But the truth is that we have hundreds and hundreds of smaller “debt problems” all across the country.  In 2012, cities such as Stockton, California and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania have already defaulted and a whole bunch of other cities and towns are headed down the exact same path.  Once we see the first major wave of municipal defaults, creditors will become much tighter with their money and that will cause even more municipalities to get into financial trouble.  This crisis could start spinning out of control at any time. (Read More...)

Is Germany Secretly Maneuvering To Kick Greece Out Of The Euro?

What in the world is going on in Europe?  Each day things just seem to get stranger and stranger.  We are being told that a “deal” for a second Greek bailout has been reached and that Greece will not default in March.  But behind the scenes it seems clear that many politicians in Germany (and in the other northern European countries as well) would like to kick Greece out of the euro.  So what exactly is happening here?  Well, it is complicated.  The United States, along with other members of the international community, put a tremendous amount of pressure on Germany to bail out Greece one more time.  Germany does not want to look like the bad guy, so they are going along with this bailout but they are also imposing conditions on Greece this time that will be almost impossible to meet.  And when Greece fails to meet its “obligations”, that will give the northern Europeans the excuse that they need to kick Greece out of the euro.  At this point, many politicians in northern Europe are convinced that Greece is a “lost cause” and that it is not fair to ask northern European nations to pay the price for the financial mistakes of Greece.  Greece is basically completely and totally bankrupt, and the nations of northern Europe don’t want to have a “financial dependent” on their books forever.  They are looking for a “way out”, and this new agreement lays the foundation for that. (Read More...)

20 Signs That Europe Is Plunging Into A Full-Blown Economic Depression

An economic nightmare is descending on Europe.  With each passing month, the economic numbers across Europe get even worse.  At this point it is becoming extremely difficult for anyone to deny that Europe is plunging into a full-blown economic depression.  In fact, some parts of Europe are already there.  In Spain the overall unemployment rate is over 22 percent, and in Greece one out of every five retail establishments has already been closed down.  All over Europe, economic activity is rapidly slowing down, unemployment is skyrocketing and bad debts are unraveling.  It isn’t even going to take a default by a nation such as Greece or a collapse of the euro to push Europe into an economic depression.  All Europe has to do is to stay on the exact path that it is on right now and it will get there.  Normally, European governments would respond to an economic slowdown by increasing government spending.  But this time most of them are already drowning in debt.  Instead of increasing government spending, most governments in Europe are actually cutting back.  All over Europe, national governments are being encouraged to implement even more tax increases and even more budget cuts.  The hope is that all of this austerity will help solve the nightmarish sovereign debt crisis that Europe is facing.  But unfortunately, all of these tax increases and budget cuts are also going to involve a tremendous amount of economic pain. (Read More...)

Financial Panic Sweeps Europe As The Head Of The IMF Warns Of A “1930s Depression”

Are we on the verge of another Great Depression?  Christian Lagarde, the head of the IMF, said this week that if dramatic action is not taken immediately we could actually see conditions “reminiscent of the 1930s depression” and that no country on earth “will be immune to the crisis”.  Right now, financial panic is sweeping across Europe, but most Americans are not too concerned about it because they simply don’t understand how important the EU is.  The truth is that the EU has a much larger population than the United States does.  The EU has an economy that is nearly as large as the economies of the United States and China combined.  The EU has more Fortune 500 companies that the United States does, and the banking system of Europe is substantially larger than the banking system of the United States.  Anyone out there that believes that a massive financial collapse in Europe would not dramatically affect the rest of the globe is being delusional.  The European debt crisis is one of the biggest stories that we have seen in a long, long time and the coming financial meltdown is going to permanently change the global economy. (Read More...)

The United States Of Europe: A Proposed “Economic Government” Would Integrate Europe To A Degree Not Seen Since The Roman Empire

Are you ready for “The United States Of Europe”?  The integration of Europe is about to go to another level.  As the European debt crisis deepens, there are cries all over the EU for full economic integration in Europe.  On Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel sent a letter to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy which stated that they want a new “economic government” for Europe to be formed.  According to the letter, Sarkozy and Merkel want the leaders of the eurozone countries to “elect” a president for the new “economic government”.  The idea would be that the president would hold twice-yearly summits to address the debt problems that Europe is facing right now.  But many pro-EU critics are already howling that Sarkozy and Merkel have not gone nearly far enough.  A whole lot of “experts” in Europe are proclaiming that without full economic integration and the creation of “eurobonds”, Europe is doomed.  Jennifer McKeown, an economist for Capital Economics, put it this way when asked what would happen if eurobonds are not created fairly soon: “The likely outcome is the eurozone ceases to exist”. (Read More...)

Gold And Silver Are Thriving While The U.S. Dollar Is Dying

Have you heard the news?  Gold hit another new record high on Thursday.  It reached $1447.40 before settling back a bit.  Most people responded to that news with a yawn.  Why?  Well, because it is happening so frequently these days.  It seems like the price of gold is constantly setting a new record.  Silver likewise is thriving.  The price of an ounce of silver briefly hit $38.13 on Thursday.  That was the highest price for silver in 31 years.  But most people also responded to that news with a yawn.  Why?  Well, because the price of silver always seems to be going higher these days.  Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar is struggling.  The ICE Dollar Index fell to 75.340 earlier this week.  That was the lowest it has been since December 2009.  Even at a time when the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is flaring up again and there is tremendous instability all over the world the U.S. dollar still can’t find much traction.  In fact, many are convinced that the U.S. dollar is on the verge of another major fall.  So what in the world is causing all of this? (Read More...)