Economics

Scary Charts – 02.06.23

/ SupremeCmdr / 3 Comments

To the extent that the Fed knows anything, it knows this, and really, really wants to force that blue line down into negative territory if possible. But it also knows that doing so will send prices spiraling out of control – which is another way of saying the dollar will crash (not necessarily against the euro and the yen, which have similar problems, but against oil, lumber, eggs, milk, cars, and all the other things voters buy regularly). The result? Political and financial chaos.

Welcome To the Death Spiral — https://rubino.substack.com/p/welcome-to-the-death-spiral

YIKES!

On a positive note I’ll likely be dead when the SHTF.

What Middle Class?

/ SupremeCmdr / 8 Comments

Hat tip to Mike Shedlock, a registered investment advisor at SitkaPacific Capital Management for highlighting the following video for his blog readers.

This is the portion of the blog post where I typically add a snarky comment.

Nope. Not going to joke about this.

Data shows 400 pension funds could trigger garnishment – Wirepoints Special Report April 16, 2018

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It’s foolish to think that garnishments are going to solve anything. Taxpayers in municipalities across the state – who already pay the highest property taxes in the nation – have been putting more and more money into pensions, only to watch the funds continue to deteriorate.

Despite a doubling of taxpayer contributions since 2005, police and fire pension debts have doubled to $10 billion instead of shrunk, while funding ratios have fallen.

HT – Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge.

 

The Housing Trilemma | Oregon Office of Economic Analysis

/ SupremeCmdr / 1 Comment

Every city wants to have a strong local economy, high quality of life and housing affordability for its residents. Unfortunately these three dimensions represent the Housing Trilemma.  A city can achieve success on two but not all three at the same time.

Source: The Housing Trilemma | Oregon Office of Economic Analysis

Check out the graphic above courtesy of the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis.  I may have been biased about life in the middle but never had the facts to back up my opinions.  But after reading this article I now have facts.  This analysis demonstrates a city can have success on two fronts, but rarely on all three.

I started life in New York and grew up in New Jersey.  A sizeable amount of time was also spent in Dallas.  For over a decade I’ve held the belief that my family could not replicate our lifestyle and quality of life anywhere else in the country.  Well, I admit to being wrong.  We could probably do as well in Cincinnati, Omaha, or Des Moines.

If you can stand the weather, OKC is not a bad place to live in.

HT – Calculated Risk.