Economic Trends

Long-term trends grow from short term trends. We attampt to determine the short term trends and where they are pointing.

You’d Better Hope The U.S. Government Likes What You Do For A Living

Leave a Comment / Freedom, Government / By

It seems like almost daily we are hearing of more and more government encroachment on our freedom and liberty, whether it is the IRS targeting certain groups or NSA evesdropping on private conversations or even passing around “captured” pictures but today we are going to look at the practices of the Department of Justice (DOJ). In this article Leif Simon of “The Offshore Living Letter” takes a look at “Operation Choke Point”.

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QE Ending Or Just Getting Started?

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While the Federal Reserve has laid out specific plans to end their quantitative easing (QE) program, a new season of QE may be getting ready to kick-off across the pond. From Reuters:
The euro fell broadly on Wednesday, hitting a 19-month low against the Swiss franc, as speculation that the European Central Bank (ECB) will resort to quantitative easing was fueled by yet more bad news from the eurozone…ECB chief Mario Draghi fueled speculation that monetary policy would be further loosened in the eurozone over the weekend by saying the central bank would use “all the available instruments” to deal with the threat of deflation at the U.S. Federal Reserve’s annual conference in Jackson Hole. Developments on Wednesday only worsened the picture for the eurozone: data showed German consumer morale fell for the first time in 1-1/2 years, while Italy’s economy minister said the country must cut its growth forecast.

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Ukraine Pipeline

Will Putin Lose His Eastern European Energy Gamble?

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said he doesn’t think the European community can do without the natural gas it gets from energy monopoly Gazprom. With a Russian economy starting to decline, however, it may be Gazprom that’s too strongly interconnected to the European market to break free. The narrative over European energy security reaches at least

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How's the Middle Class Doing

How is the Middle Class in the U.S. Doing? (Infographic)

2 Comments / Economic Trends / By

In the United States we consider a family with a household income of less than $100,000 to be “Middle Class”. But how well are families really doing? Let’s look at middle class income, net worth, taxes, etc since the recession of 2008. According to the 2010 census, the median household income was $51,371. Which means that half the households earn more and half earn less.
If we break the population up into 5 segments of 20% each we can get a closer look at how the population as a whole is doing. Based on the $100,000 definition, the “middle class” probably comprises segments 3 and 4 of the total population. Households in the top 20% earned about $239,100 per household and those in the bottom 20% earned about $24,100 before taxes. But that doesn’t tell the whole story…

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Crimea

What the Loss of Crimea Means for Ukrainian Energy

1 Comment / Energy, Europe, Oil / By

Birth of a New Ukrainian Nation? Interview with Robert Bensh Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula is now Russia’s. It was done with an impressively organized non-violent military operation, and supported by the foregone conclusion of a referendum on independence from Ukraine. One Ukrainian soldier was reportedly killed on 18 March, after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the

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