Social Security COLA Could Get Pushed Higher – But “Real” Inflation May Absorb It

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From Birch Gold Group Social Security recipients are on track for a cost of living adjustment (COLA) this year of a mere 1.6-1.7%. That’s according to Sean Williams at The Motley Fool, who analyzed data available so far this year. Once data for August and September are available from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the official COLA for … Read more

How Employees & Employers Get Bled by Health Insurance

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Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, http://www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter Something is seriously wrong with this system. The annual cost of the average health insurance family plan through employers — employer and employee contributions combined – rose another 4.9% in 2019, to $20,576. This is up 255% from 20 years ago, having soared five times faster than the Consumer Price Index … Read more

12,460 Hospital Bill for a Hangover

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45 minutes in the hospital Is this the most expensive hangover ever? Cameron Fisher, 30, went out drinking with his buddies two days before tying the knot. The next day, he was in a bad way, throwing up and unable to keep anything down. So his fiancee took him to the emergency room. They missed … Read more

The Fed is no longer talking about zero-bound but effective lower bound. What’s the difference? Where is it?

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via mishtalk: Change Observation So, I have an observation here. Bernanke was VERY clear about how careful they were with even a single word "given" to markets. I assume that has not changed. If Powell doesn't want negative rates, why change the verbiage from "zero" to "effective" lower bound? — Randy Woodward (@TheBondFreak) September 24, 2019 … Read more

Great Moments In Self-Delusion

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New York Times Publisher: Trump Hates Us, But We’re Fair, Accurate, and Unbiased. Fresh in the wake of a New York Times factual face-plant over some sort of a non-accusing accuser of Brett Kavanaugh, Times publisher Arthur Gregg Sulzberger accused President Trump of weaponizing the term “fake news” in a talk at Brown University on Monday, which became a 3,400-word Times essay titled “The … Read more

Labour Votes To Dissolve Britain.

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WOULDN’T IT BE SIMPLER FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO DISSOLVE THE PEOPLE AND ELECT ANOTHER? via theamericanconservative: Think of it! Foreigners living in Britain would have the right to vote for members of Parliament, which is to say, for who governs Great Britain. And Labour will open the borders. The British people will lose sovereignty in … Read more

Iranian oil shipments now under the protection of China! Trump sanctions China for shipping Iranian oil China says it will continue operations

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The Trump administration blacklisted several Chinese firms and their top officials for allegedly shipping Iranian oil in violation of U.S. sanctions, in an attempt to cut off the last vestiges of Iran’s crude exports. The action represents a response by Washington to suggestions that the U.S. ease its sanctions regime amid rising tensions. “Know that … Read more

Florida teen attacks elderly relatives over tomatoes after grandma claims she ate ‘more than her fair share’

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Apparently, this family is really into tomatoes. A homey scene turned bizarrely violent in Florida when a young woman got into a fight with her elderly family members at the dinner table over the number of tomatoes she could eat. While the disagreement started with a fight over the food, it ended with the girl allegedly … Read more

Who Will Foot the Bill If More of China’s Troubled Regional Banks Fail?

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via scmp: People’s Bank of China governor Yi Gang addressed plans for bailing out regional banks for the first time after three crisis in the last five months Problems at Baoshang Bank, Jinzhou Bank and Hengfeng Bank renewed concerns about the financial health of Chinese small banks China’s regional banks “engaged in blind expansion” in recent … Read more

What Has Frightened Wall Street Banks from Lending in the Repo Market?

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via wallstreetonparade: Last Friday the Federal Reserve Bank of New York made it clear that its interventions in the overnight repo lending market were going to be a longer-term action. Call it what you will, the Fed has effectively returned to quantitative easing (QE) where it buys up Treasuries, Federal agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities … Read more

HERE WE GO: Whistle-blower complaint to be delivered to congress at 4 PM today!

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WHISTLEBLOWER COMPLAINT TO BE DELIVERED TO CONGRESS AT 4 P.M. (2000 GMT) ON WEDNESDAY -FOX NEWS — First Squawk (@FirstSquawk) September 25, 2019 Whistleblower complaint is getting turned over to Congress by 4 pm. This after the acting Director of National Intelligence threatened to resign. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/acting-director-of-national-intelligence-threatened-to-resign-if-he-couldnt-speak-freely-before-congress/2019/09/25/b1deb71e-dfbf-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html   AC

How Healthy are American Banks? – Chris Whalen

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In Whalen’s view, banks will soon face increasing margin pressure as well as, eventually, deteriorating credit conditions. Filmed on August 2, 2019 in New York.   Chris Whalen, chairman of Whalen Global Advisors, dives deep into the current state of the U.S. banking industry. He argues that while American financial institutions have largely recovered from … Read more