Math Is Hard: GDP Growth Stats Taking A Hint From Unemployment Numbers (via http://www.thebrennerbrief.com)
The Brenner Brief recently reported why the new unemployment number cannot be trusted, and starting this July, measures in GDP growth also cannot be trusted. In an attempt to make Obama and his economic policies look better, the U.S. is adapting how they will calculate GDP growth. GDP is an acronym…
Why The Wall Street Bull Market Doesn’t Matter (via http://www.thebrennerbrief.com)
Look everyone! The stock market on Wall Street is hitting all-time highs, and the largest transfer-of-wealth scheme in history is building momentum. The fundamentals of economic success, if not forgotten, are all but ignored as money vomits from the gaping mouth of the Federal Reserve carnival. With its flashing lights, roller-coaster ups and downs, and the grand prize winnings for those who participate, the mainstream media pitches to the crowd to “step right up” and prepare to lose everything.
Stop – just for a moment – just for a bit of sanity, and take a few minutes to review the seemingly outdated fundamentals.
The free market is a system of exchanging products and services. Grow some wheat, or manufacture a stove, and sell it – then use the profits to buy items you need and want such as food, transportation, etc.
The U.S dollar is shrinking as a percentage of the world’s currency supply, raising concerns that the greenback is about to see its long run as the world’s premier denomination come to an end.
When compared to its peers, the dollar has drifted to a 15-year low, according to the International Monetary Fund, indicating that more countries are willing to use other currencies to do business.
While the American currency still reigns supreme — it constitutes $3.72 trillion, or 62 percent, of the $6 trillion in allocated foreign exchange holdings by the world’s central banks — the Japanese yen, Swiss franc and what the IMF classifies as “other currencies” such as the Chinese yuan are gaining.
(Read More: Hedge Funds Reap Billions on Yen Bets)
“Generally speaking, it is not believed by the vast majority that the American dollar will be overthrown,” Dick Bove, vice president of equity research at Rafferty Capital Markets, said in a note. “But it will be, and this defrocking may occur in as short a period as five to 10 years.”
Bove uses several metrics to make his point, focusing on the dollar as a percentage of total world money supply.That total has plunged from nearly 90 percent in 1952 to closer to 15 percent now. He also notes that the Chinese yuan, the yen and the euro each have a greater share of that total.
via Is the Dollar Dying? Why US Currency Is in Danger.
The White House has leaked immigration legislation it’s preparing in case Congress fails to craft its own. According to USA Today, 11 million illegal aliens could apply for a “Lawful Prospective Immigrant” visa and after 8 years could get a green card. Criminals would be excluded––unless they served less than a year for their crime, or were convicted of 3 different crimes resulting in 90 days in jail. That will hearten the hit-and-run drivers and welfare cheats. Once they get a visa, their families will be in line for visas too. In other words, the president’s plan amounts to an amnesty that vaults lawbreakers, including some convicts, to the head of the immigration line.
The Republicans are squawking, but any plan they would sign off on will end up doing the same thing. Too many have drunk the electoral kool-aid and believe that caving on illegal immigrants will get them more Latino votes. But even if the Republicans’ share of Latino voters reached the 40% George W. Bush got, the Dems would still net 1.5 million more votes if illegal aliens became citizens. That’s not much of a payoff for betraying principle. And reaching that 40% appears increasingly unlikely, given that 75% of Hispanics want bigger government and more services, according to a Pew Hispanic Center poll last April, while a 2011 poll from Moore Information found that 29% think the Republican party “favors only the rich” and Republicans are “selfish and out for themselves.” They are already Democrats no matter what happens with illegal immigrants.
More important, the public discourse about illegal immigration is filled with incoherence, duplicity, and wishful thinking. One problem is the constant confusion of legal and illegal immigration. People justifiably worried about the latter are constantly chided for being “anti-immigrant” and forgetting that America is “a nation of immigrants.” But these are two separate complex problems, and trying to fix both with some “comprehensive reform” will end up with new policies that likely will make both worse. Today legal immigration is marred by “family reunification” preferences that count not just spouses and minor children but parents and siblings as “family.” Two-thirds of legal immigrants have come under these provisions, which take no account of whether or not these “family” members have skills beneficial to this country or are likely to become public charges.
via Half-Truths, Delusions, and Immigration.
