Alternative Visions – How Bankers Run the Fed and Donald ‘The Trumpet’ on Jobs – 06.23.17

Dr. Rasmus continues the review of the Federal Reserve Bank, showing how the private banks today control the Fed more than ever in recent decades. How the Fed’s structure permits private banking interests to dominate strategic decisions of the central bank, and how there control of the Fed is about to deepen further under Trump. Jack explains how the expansion …

Alternative Visions – US Fed Raises Rates Again + Part 3: Central Bankers at the End of their Ropes – 06.16.17

Dr. Rasmus reviews the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike decision this past week, showing how the Fed’s justifications for the rate hike based on ‘data’ are contradictory. How the data show no hike was justified. Rasmus explains how the Fed has been manipulating reporting the data on prices, unemployment and wages in order to justify 8 years of zero rate …

Alternative Visions – Will the ‘Trump Trade’ Fade? – 03.24.17

The US stock markets are recognized by a growing number of analysts as approaching, or already in, bubble territory. Yet stocks have ratcheted up another 15%-20% since Trump won the election. The run-up is sometimes called the ‘Trump Trade’. Investors have been ploughing in even more anticipating another stage of corporate profits subsidization by Trump and Republican fiscal policies—Trump proposed $6.2 trillion in tax cuts, deregulation (Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, EPA, Mergers & Acquisitions encouragement, etc.), shifting hundreds of billions $ from social programs to defense spending, and $1 trillion in Trump proposed infrastructure spending. Jack explains how expectations of the policy shift to fiscal from central bank, monetary policies from 2008-2016, is now the new strategy for subsidizing corporate profits and investor further wealth gains. Central bank monetary policy had run its course and began to develop contradictions. Fiscal policy—tax cuts, deregulation, infrastructure and defense spending—is the new strategy. US stocks surged in anticipation of the new profit opportunities. But signs Trump may not deliver have stopped investors in their tracks this past week. Failure to deliver policy may result in a major stock pullback in 2017. Jack cites various sources that the current stock market bubble has peaked.

Early Warning Signs of Recession Flash Faintly in U.S. Jobs Data

As the economy again started off the year on a sour note, the glass-half-full crowd pointed to the strength of the U.S. jobs market as a reason not to worry. As long as payrolls are racking up monthly gains of 200,000 or more, the economy remains in fine fettle, or so the optimists would have it. Take a peek below …

A Just Cause – Spotlight on Capitol Hill & Congressman John Conyers Jr – 01.31.16

The host Cliff Stewart, Lisa Stewart and Lamont Banks will be shining a Spotlight on Congressman John Conyers Jr., who in November 2014 was elected to his 26th consecutive term, making him the first African-American to hold the distinction as Dean (most senior member) of Congress.

Mike Whitney – Could This be “The Big One”?

Everyone take a deep breath. This isn’t 2007 again.  The banks aren’t loaded with $10 trillion in “toxic” mortgage-backed securities, the housing market hasn’t fallen off a cliff wiping out $8 trillion in home equity, and the world is not on the brink of another excruciating financial meltdown.  The reason the markets have been gyrating so furiously for the last couple weeks is because stocks …

Robert Reich – The Economy in 2016: On the Edge of Recession

Economic forecasters exist to make astrologers look good, but I’ll hazard a guess. I expect the U.S. economy to sputter in 2016. That’s because the economy faces a deep structural problem: not enough demand for all the goods and services it’s capable of producing. American consumers account for almost 70 percent of economic activity, but they won’t have enough purchasing …

Peter Koenig – Are EU Country Central Banks “Illegally” Buying Government Bonds?

The following text is an English transcript (translation) of an RT Berlin Interview in German regarding an apparent secret agreement between the European Central Bank (ECB) and individual Euro countries’ central banks issuing large amounts of government bonds. The discovery flared up just before the FED raised its base interest rate by a quarter percent on 16 December 2015, signalling the …

Fed Quietly Revises Total US Debt From 330% To 350% Of GDP, After “Discovering” Another $2.7 Trillion In Debt

Everyone has seen the chart of “Total Credit Market Instruments“, which as of its most recent update on March 31, 2015, was just over $59 trillion, or 330% of US GDP. For those who have not seen it, as well as for those who are familiar with this chart, take a long look, because this is the last update of …

Wall Street Just Got More Pessimistic About the U.S. Economy. Will the Fed Follow Suit? – Matthew Boesler Catarina Saraiva

Federal Reserve officials will probably cut their forecasts for economic growth when they gather again next month, though not enough to deter their intent to raise interest rates later this year. The median respondent to a survey of 79 economists conducted by Bloomberg from May 8 to May 13 said U.S. gross domestic product would grow 2.3 percent in the final quarter of 2015 …