by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on German Miracle Economy Trips, Good Weather Gets Blamed
After a decent first quarter, a lot of iffy data has cropped up in Q2. Today, industrial output added to the woes. The weather got blamed … the warm weather in Q1 that caused the drop-off now! I mean, come on!
He has “no name, no face, no party,” “never runs for office,” “and yet he governs,” François Hollande said about “his true opponent” in 2012. The speech went viral. But that courage didn’t last long.
Under the nimbus of its illustrious performance, the European Banking Authority has reduced the world of money to two abbreviations: VC (virtual currency) and FC (fiat currency). And it has taken sides.
About that jobs report? I won’t quibble over the details. Companies have been hiring. OK, the number of full-time workers plunged and involuntary part-timers who want to be full-timers soared, but hey.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on How The US Government Deliberately Understates Inflation
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.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on ‘It’s Like We Have Developed An Inability To Even See Risks’
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.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on How Wall Street Manipulates The Buy-to-Rent Housing Racket
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.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Economic Growth in America’s “Two-Tiered Society”
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.
