Wolf Richter

How The US Government Deliberately Understates Inflation

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Since rents aren’t fully reflected in the Consumer Price Index, we’re behind the curve. And the Fed, which relies on the PCE index, “won’t even see the curve,” says Lee Adler in this must-see video (and chart) that raised my blood pressure.

‘It’s Like We Have Developed An Inability To Even See Risks’

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My convo with a wealth manager at a megabank who’s been at it for 30 years, has seen three crashes while on the job, but unlike others in finance, hasn’t re-forgotten the lessons for the third time.

How Wall Street Manipulates The Buy-to-Rent Housing Racket

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The smart money had a goal, which it now reached via the “multiplier effect” by which a small number of sales can have extreme consequences in price for the rest.

Economic Growth in America’s “Two-Tiered Society”

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It’s been glorious: global M&A in Q2 soared 47% to $1 trillion, highest since 2007, just before the financial crisis. But in California, 30% of the people making less than $40k were in worse financial shape than last year, despite all the bubbles around them.

UBS: The Secret Reason The Fed Is ‘Tolerating’ Bubbles

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“Asset prices have reached stunning levels, obviously out of line with ‘fundamentals.’ The “most dangerous” are housing bubbles; when they burst, they “wreck whole economies.”

Google Glass Hacked, Can Record Everything You Stare At

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You don’t need to break a code; you don’t need to capture a server. “Hardcore hackers wouldn’t even bother with it,” says one of the hackers. “They’d find access too easy.”

Federal Regulator Details Crazy Risk-Taking By Banks, Blames Fed

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Banks are again taking the same risks that triggered the financial crisis, and they’re understating these risks. It wasn’t an edgy blogger that issued this warning but the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. And it blamed the Fed’s monetary policy.