Congratulations America, you are now 14 trillion dollars in debt. The U.S. national debt is now more than 14 times larger than it was just 30 short years ago. The federal government is literally drowning in debt. Now some members of Congress are actually debating whether we should raise the debt ceiling again. At the moment, the U.S. government debt ceiling is is set at $14.294 trillion, and considering the fact that the U.S. government is borrowing approximately 2.63 million more dollars every single minute, that cap will be reached very quickly. The U.S. Congress has raised the federal debt ceiling six times in just the past three years, so you would think that raising it again would not be that big of a deal for our debt-addicted politicians. But this past November a significant number of Tea Party candidates were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and they are eager to prove that they are serious about fiscal responsibility. (Read More...)
Investing
Is The New Madrid Fault Earthquake Zone Coming To Life?
What in the world is happening in the middle of the United States right now? Thousands of birds are falling dead from the skies, tens of thousands of fish are washing up on shore dead, earthquakes are popping up in weird and unexpected places and people are starting to get really freaked out about all of this. Well, one theory is that the New Madrid fault zone is coming to life. The New Madrid fault zone is six times bigger than the San Andreas fault zone in California and it covers portions of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. The biggest earthquakes in the history of the United States were caused by the New Madrid fault. Now there are fears that the New Madrid fault zone could be coming to life again, and if a “killer earthquake” does strike it could change all of our lives forever. (Read More...)
30 Reasons Why 2011 Is Going To Be Another Crappy Year For America’s Middle Class
Do you think that 2011 will be a good year for America’s middle class? Well, you might not be so optimistic after you read the 30 statistics posted below. The truth is that 2011 is going to be another crappy year for America’s middle class, and there is not a whole lot that you or I can do about it. Sadly, what we are facing as a nation is not just a short-term economic downturn. Rather, there are some very serious long-term economic trends that are absolutely ripping apart the U.S. middle class. For example, did you know that even though our population has been growing at a brisk pace we have lost about ten percent of our middle class jobs over the past decade? The vast majority of jobs that have been created have been low paying service jobs. We now have hordes of highly educated young people that are waiting tables and that are welcoming customers to Wal-Mart. Without good paying jobs there is no middle class, but today American corporations are actually creating more jobs overseas than they are inside the United States. This has helped pad the profits of the big corporate fatcats, but it has been devastating for middle class communities across the United States. Every time a factory gets closed down in America and gets set up in some other country instead, it means that the U.S. middle class is shrinking just a little bit more. The new “global economy” has been good for the bottom line of the largest U.S. corporations, it has been great for countries like China and India, but it is absolutely wiping out the U.S. middle class. (Read More...)
What Kind Of Mood Are The American People In As We Enter 2011?
Around the end of the year a ton of polls and surveys get taken. Media organizations love to get a “snapshot” of how the American people are feeling as the new year begins. So what kind of mood are the American people in as we enter 2011? Well, if the polls are to be believed, they are less optimistic, they are a bit scared, they are very frustrated and they are becoming increasingly angry. A solid majority of Americans believe that the country is moving in the wrong direction and they desperately want someone to fix the economy. What Americans seem to want most of all are good jobs. At the end of the day, Americans want to be able to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. If they can’t do that, then what is going on with other “important issues” really isn’t going to seem very important to most of them. (Read More...)
9 Signs That The Price Of Oil In 2011 Will Soar Well Beyond 100 Dollars A Barrel
Will we see the price of oil rise significantly in 2011? Unfortunately, that appears to be precisely where we are headed. Despite stubbornly high unemployment and a very sluggish economy in the United States, the price of oil continues to creep upward. Part of it can be attributed to the fact that the U.S. dollar and other major currencies are continuing to lose value relative to all commodities, and part of it can be attributed to the continuing rise in the global demand for oil. But those factors alone do not explain what we are seeing. Expectations are a very powerful thing, especially for financial markets, and right now there is an overwhelming consensus that oil prices are going to rise in 2011. The big oil companies, the big oil exporting nations and the big investment banks are nearly all in agreement that a higher price for oil is coming and the speculators smell money and are starting to jump on to the bandwagon. (Read More...)
Bye Bye American Pie: 10 Reasons Why America’s Economic Pie Is Rapidly Shrinking
All over the mainstream media today, the wealthy are being pitted against the poor. Those advocating for the wealthy claim that if we could just cut the taxes for the rich and make things easier for them that they will create lots of jobs for the rest of us. Those advocating for the poor claim that the gap between the rich and the poor is now larger than ever and that if we could just get the workers to fight for their rights that we could get things back to how they used to be. It is a very interesting debate, but it totally ignores a reality that is even more important. America’s economic pie is rapidly shrinking. As part of the new globalist economy, every single month massive amounts of U.S. wealth is being transferred out of the United States and into foreign hands in exchange for oil and cheap plastic trinkets. In addition, every single month our national government goes into more debt, our state governments go into more debt and our local governments go into more debt. The interest on all of this debt represents a tremendous transfer of wealth. What most Americans fail to grasp is that our collective wealth is getting smaller. There is now less of an “economic pie” for all of us to divide up. (Read More...)
Will The Obama Tax Cut Deal Save The Economy? NO!!
All over Washington D.C., top Republicans and Obama administration officials are running around declaring that the tax cut deal that was just passed will save the U.S. economy. But is this even partially true? Of course not! Mostly, what the “tax cut deal” does is keep tax rates exactly where they already are. Now, many of us are extremely thankful that we will not be paying higher taxes, but the truth is that if these tax cuts were going to “save the economy” they would already be saving it. Yes, this tax cut deal will provide a minor short-term stimulus to the economy, but it will also add $858 billion (some say closer to $1 trillion) to the projected federal budget deficits over the next two years. You see, this tax cut deal contained “all candy and no spinach”. In other words, the tax cuts were not accompanied by corresponding spending cuts, and that is going to lead to big trouble in the long run. (Read More...)
Buying Gold: Why Are The Chinese Gobbling Up Gold Like There Is No Tomorrow?
Why are the Chinese buying so much gold? In 2010 it has been demand out of China that has been one of the primary factors for the dramatic rise in the price of gold. Gold is up approximately 26 percent this year, and most analysts expect it to go even higher in 2011. So is China buying gold at a breathtaking pace because they view it as a good investment, or are there other factors at work here? Do the Chinese view gold as a hedge against inflation? Is China seeking to get out of U.S. Treasuries? Has gold simply become much more attractive than paper currencies such as the euro and the U.S. dollar? Or could China be preparing for the coming financial collapse that so many economists see coming? It is always difficult to tell exactly what China is up to, but one thing is for sure – they are buying gold like there is no tomorrow. (Read More...)