UNDERSTAND INFLATION

via @OccupyWisdom : 1/ Falsely reported consumer inflation & asset inflation create bubbles. If consumer inflation is considered “low” it will keep the rate of interest low. This creates relaxed lending & easier borrowing, leading to investment in equities & real 2/ estate. These asset prices will rise as a result, so lenders becoming even more willing … Read more

Remember to regularly audit your subscription services! You may be letting anywhere from $5 to $20 slip out of your wallet each month

by believe0101 This video about the hidden costs of monthly subscription services by the Wall Street Journal just popped up on my YouTube recommended videos list.   Ironically, the top comment is from someone joking about how they need to cancel their digital subscription to the WSJ! This video prompted me to do a self-audit, generating a master … Read more

Walmart Q1 Free Cash Flow: $1.4 Billion; Walmart Q1 Dividends and Buybacks: $3.7 Billion

Walmart Q1 Free Cash Flow: $1.4 BillionWalmart Q1 Dividends and Buybacks: $3.7 Billion pic.twitter.com/qlTPLvreuS — zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 16, 2019 U.S. companies are still buying back their shares at a near record pace. Firms in the S&P 500 that have reported Q1 results repurchased $180 billion worth of their own stock in the period, on … Read more

Even before Trump heated up the trade war, consumers in both the U.S. and China were slowing down their spending

via axios: Data: Trading Economics and U.S. Dept. of Commerce; Chart: Axios Visuals Even before President Trump heated up the trade war again, consumers in both the U.S. and China were slowing down their spending. China’s retail sales rose 7.2% in April, the slowest rate of growth since May 2003, a sign their economy is cooling significantly. U.S. retail … Read more

Do you think we’ll eventually see “helicopter money”?

by pale_duchess Because “credit adventurism” was the prime cause of the 2008 crash, its effects were concentrated in the credit (banking) system. But GFC II, resulting instead from “monetary adventurism”, will this time put the monetarysystem at risk, hazarding the viability of fiat currencies. In addition to mass defaults, and collapses in asset prices, we should anticipate that currency crises, accompanied … Read more

Morgan Stanley naked shorted Uber into the IPO so they would hedge so that they could cover their shorts in a downdraft to support the stock…at much lower prices.

via Zerohedge: Uber’s underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley, were so (rightfully) worried that the company’s IPO was going to crater in the days after its public offering, they deployed what CNBC is calling “a nuclear option” and shorted IPO stock naked, even beyond the traditional greenshoe. Of course, anyone in the industry would simply call this “selling … Read more