8 Lessons That We Can Learn From The Epic Economic Meltdown In Venezuela

by Michael Snyder, End Of The American Dream:
We are watching an entire nation collapse right in front of our eyes. As you read this article, there are severe shortages of just about anything you can imagine in Venezuela. That includes food, toilet paper, medicine, electricity and even Coca-Cola. All over the country, people are standing in extremely long lines for hours on end just hoping that they will be able to purchase some provisions for their hungry families. At times when there hasn’t been anything for the people that have waited in those long lines, full-blown riots have broken out. All of this is happening even though Venezuela has not been hit by a war, a major natural disaster, a terror attack, an EMP burst or any other type of significant “black swan” event. When debt spirals out of control, currency manipulation goes too far and government interference reaches ridiculous extremes, this is what can happen to an economy. The following are 8 lessons that we can learn from the epic economic meltdown in Venezuela…
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What Happens When Thousands Of Chinese Cab Drivers Get Pissed At Uber

Forbes Slashes Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes' Net Worth From $4.5 Billion To Zero

After Elizabeth Holmes topped the Forbes list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women with a net worth of $4.5 billion, today, the magazine lowered its estimate of her net worth  to nothing. 

Alan Greenspan: “We’re Running To A State Of Disaster”

from ZeroHedge:
Back in March, the former Fed chairman said that we’re in trouble because “productivity is dead in the water, and real capital investment is way below average because business people are very uncertain about the future.” Greenspan went on to add that entitlement programs are crowding out capital investment, and thus crowding out productivity.”
Alan Greenspan is back delivering more warnings about the state of the global economy, hammering home the same key points made back in March.
“We have a global problem of a shortage in productivity growth and it’s not only the United States but it’s pretty much around the world, and it’s being caused by the fact that populations everywhere in the Western world are aging, and we’re not committing enough of our resources to fund that. We should be running federal surpluses right now not deficits. This is something we could have anticipated twenty five years ago and in fact we did, but nobody’s done anything about it. This is the crisis which has come upon us.”
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Is It Time To Buy More Junior Mining Stocks?

by Dave Kranzler, Investment Research Dynamics:
That is an impossible question to answer with any degree of conviction because the extreme degree to which the precious metals market is manipulated. I think now is a good spot to add to positions or start new positions. As an example, in my latest issue of the Mining Stock Journal, I recommended a high quality junior that had almost pulled back to its 200 dma. I said I was buying it for what I thought would be a “low risk” 25-40% bounce if the pullback cycle in the sector is over. That stock bounced 7% today.
A good way to protect yourself somewhat is to find high quality junior mining companies that are exceedingly cheap to their underlying “intrinsic” value. I presented a company in the latest MSJ issue that, despite a big move already, has the potential to be a 5-bagger from here. Insiders control 44% and put in millions of their own money over the last 5 years to keep the Company going. This Company is on its way to becoming very significant mining company.
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The Great Hollowing Out Of The Middle Class: New Business Formation Collapses

For a country that prides itself (or used to at least) on the success of the entrepreneur and small business creation, a disturbing trend has developed. According to according to a new analysis by the Economic Innovation Group, fewer new businesses were created in the last five years than any other period since at least 1980..."It's hard to put into scale the collapse of new business formation. We have no precedent for that rapid and steep of a decline. It will have a ripple effect in the economy."

Flexible Labor Is The Future

We can't go back, so we must go forward. It is possible to create employment security, but it can't be forced by imposing guarantees on employers. If employers can't respond flexibly to a dynamic global economy, their only choice will be to shut down. When that happens, everyone loses.

"It's A Nightmare" - As Rail Workers Go On Strike In France, Hollande Scrambles For Calm

With just over a week to go before the first match in Euro 2016 gets underway in France, and with the CGT union causing fuel disruptions in the country, French president Francois Hollande is now facing significant transportation disruptions.

July Rate Hike Odds Rise As Beige Book Signals "Tight Job Market", "Modest Growth"

The Beige Book offered its ubiquitous modest, moderate, mummified growth outlook but added a few points that provide The Fed more ammo for hiking rates: Employment grew modestly since the last report, but tight labor markets were widely noted; wages grew modestly, and price pressure grew slightly in most Districts. The reaction was a further rise in July rate-hike odds (and easing of June and September).

What A 'Carve-Up' - Economists Fake-Panic Over Brexit

Carve-up, n. “An act or instance of dishonestly prearranging the result of a competition.” Just two hours before it was barred from issuing any more fatuous propaganda about Brexit, the UK Treasury last week managed to surpass themselves...

"Clients Still Don’t Believe The Rally" - Smart Money Sells Stocks For Record 18th Consecutive Week

BofA: "last week, BofAML clients were net sellers of US stocks for the 18th consecutive week, continuing the longest uninterrupted selling streak in our data history (since ’08)."

The Death Of The Virtuous Cycle

Current economic policy is not simply flawed in its logic and application but actually destructive. As should be evident to all by now, these experimental monetary and fiscal policies provide short term economic relief but only serve to exaggerate the problems they claim to solve. The elegant Virtuous Cycle that propelled western economies to prosperity has been quietly dismantled and replaced with an unproductive imitation. This new, Un-Virtuous Cycle euthanizes discipline and prudence in exchange for the immediate gratification of debt-fueled consumption.

The Fed Was Hacked More Than 50 Times Between 2011 And 2015

The U.S. Federal Reserve detected more than 50 cyber breaches between 2011 and 2015, with several incidents de

BP Oil Cargoes In Limbo At Terminal As Venezuela Can't Pay Its Bills

As Venezuela drowns in debt and takes its state-run oil company, PDVSA, down with it, Reuters is reporting that BP has over 2 million barrels of oil stuck at a terminal in the Caribbean over unpaid bills.

World's Largest Asset Manager Downgrades Global Equities To Neutral

With one after another bank issuing downgrade reports on global stocks, including such stalwarts as JPM and, most recently, Goldman, overnight a far more important market entity - the world's largest asset manager - joined the club when BlackRock downgraded U.S. and European stocks to neutral, citing elevated U.S. valuations and the higher probability of a midyear interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve.

The End Of The American Dream - Half Of US Households Are "Financially Fragile"

The middle class in America is in crisis, with incomes falling and life expectancy worsening. Why? And what can be done about it?

"A Spectacular Breach Of Trust" - Former CalPERS CEO Sentenced To Prison For Bribery

Former California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) CEO Federico Buenrostro was sentenced Tuesday by a federal judge to four and a half years in prison for accepting more than $200,000 in bribes trying to steer investments.

Urban Agroecoloy: 6,000 lbs of food on 1/10th acre – Urban Homestead – Urban Permaculture

by Urban Permaculture, SilverBearCafe.com:
Over 6,000 pounds of food per year, on 1/10 acre located just 15 minutes from downtown Los Angeles. The Dervaes family grows over 400 species of plants, 4,300 pounds of vegetable food, 900 chicken and 1,000 duck eggs, 25 lbs of honey, plus seasonal fruits throughout the year.
From 1/10th of an acre, four people manage to get over 90% of their daily food and the family reports earnings of $20,000 per year (AFTER they eat from what is produced).
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Here’s Proof That The US Dollar Is Insanely Overvalued

from Sovereign Man:
Shocking. Astonishing. Jaw dropping.
There’s just no other way to describe how cheap South Africa is right now.
Between the worldwide decline in commodities prices, and a major crisis of confidence in the national government here, the local currency (South African rand) remains at the lowest level it’s been… ever.
And that’s made nearly EVERYTHING here dirt cheap if you’re spending foreign currency… especially US dollars.
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“There Is Something Changing In The Market” – CEO Hints Of Massive Shortages As Tech Manufacturers Are Now Going Direct To Mining Companies In Search of Silver

by Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan:

If there’s one thing we know about precious metals, it’s that everyone has an opinion about how gold and silver will behave as we delve deeper into global economic crisis. So, who better to give us a bit of perspective than the Chief Executive Officer of one of the world’s largest primary silver producers?
Keither Neuemyer, who has been an outspoken critic of rampant price manipulation on commodity exchanges is the CEO of First Majestic Silver and the Chairman of precious metals mineral bank First Mining Finance. His latest revelation suggests that despite billions of dollars being traded daily on paper exchanges, physical silver supplies around the world have tightened to such an extent that manufacturers have been left with no choice but to come directly to mining companies to acquire the precious metal for their high-tech products. With this in mind, and the fact that silver demand today is greater than when it was trading at nearly $50 in April of 2011, one can’t help but think that based strictly on the fundamentals we should see a much higher price in coming months and years.
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Gold Rises to Snap Biggest Losing Run in a Year

by Ranjeetha Pakiam and Thomas Biesheuvel, MineWeb.com:
Gold advanced for the first time in ten days to snap its longest selloff in more than a year before data from the US that may determine the timing of monetary policy tightening.
Bullion for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.8% to $1 214.63 an ounce, before trading at $1 211.44 by 11:28am in London, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. Prices dropped to $1 199.80 on Monday, the lowest intraday level since February 17, and are down 6.4% this month, set for the biggest monthly decline since November.
Gold has slumped in May, trimming this year’s rally, as Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen indicated that an interest-rate increase may be warranted in the coming months. Bets on a rate hike have risen to 30% for June and the odds are more than even for an increase by July, according to Fed funds futures.
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