Yellen's Wand Is Running Low on Magic

By Doug French, Contributing Editor

How important is housing to the American economy?

If a 2011 SMU paper entitled "Housing's Contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)" is right, nothing moves the economic needle like housing. It accounts for 17% to 18% of GDP.

And don't forget that home buyers fill their homes with all manner of stuff—and that homeowners have more skin in insurance on what's likely to be their family's most important asset.

All claims to the contrary, the disappointing first-quarter housing numbers expose the Federal Reserve as impotent at influencing GDP's most important component.

The Fed: Housing's Best Friend

No wonder every modern Fed chairman has lowered rates to try to crank up housing activity, rationalizing that low rates make mortgage payments more affordable. Back when he was chair, Ben Bernanke wrote in the Washington Post, "Easier financial conditions will promote economic growth. For example, lower mortgage rates will make housing more affordable and allow more homeowners to refinance."

In her first public speech, new Fed Chair Janet Yellen said one of the benefits to keeping interest rates low is to "make homes more affordable and revive the housing market." Continue reading "Yellen's Wand Is Running Low on Magic"

Putin's Secret Weapon – How Russia Could Take Down America Without Firing a Single Shot

By: Casey Research

Here's a startling fact most investors have never heard: During the last financial meltdown in 2008, when the U.S. economy was on the brink, Russian leaders met with China to persuade them to dump the dollar – and destroy the world's reserve currency.

Before they could act, the Fed pumped over $700 billion into the economy and delayed their day of reckoning. Still, the threat remains. China holds over $1.2 trillion in U.S. debt today. And with their Russian allies, they could drop the dollar at any moment. This excerpt from our eye-opening documentary called "Meltdown America" explains the severity of this imminent threat:

For the full story and to learn more about what could be "the early stages of the end of the West," click here to watch the full version of this documentary.

You'll hear the harrowing and true stories of three people who survived economic and political collapse in Zimbabwe, Yugoslavia, and Argentina… and discover how their powerful stories of hardship foreshadow what's happening in the U.S.

Click here to watch this full-length documentary right now – it’s FREE!

How I Intend to Survive the Meltdown of America

By: Louis James, Chief Metals & Mining Investment Strategist

It is with a troubled heart that I look at the continued fighting in eastern Ukraine. I worry about my friends and students in the country who may well be in physical danger soon, if the conflict escalates. As an investment analyst, it’s the financial war the Russians seem quite willing to wage that has my attention.

It should have yours as well.

In our just-released documentary, Meltdown America, one of the experts noted that the Kremlin had already made moves to dethrone the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency before the renewed East-West tensions of this year. Putin has openly threatened what amounts to economic warfare as a response to sanctions placed on Russia after its Crimea grab.

Now bullets are flying—can Putin’s financial ICBM be far behind? Continue reading "How I Intend to Survive the Meltdown of America"

Why I REALLY Moved to Puerto Rico, and You Should Too

By Alex Daley, Chief Technology Investment Strategist

Much fuss was made yesterday when my colleague Nick Giambruno released a report outlining the incredible tax benefits to be had, by Americans no less (the only people in the world to be taxed back home even when we leave), in Puerto Rico.

As you may have seen, that report was based in large part on my personal experience relocating to the island, a process I started in earnest last October. And, yes, I am here, writing you at this moment from beautiful Palmas Del Mar—if you ask me, the most beautiful piece of coastland on the island, but only just being rediscovered after a long hiatus from the spotlight.

What can I say, I love a comeback story, especially when it looks like this… Continue reading "Why I REALLY Moved to Puerto Rico, and You Should Too"

Don't Keep Your Gold and Silver in the US, Says Marc Faber

Publisher Marc Faber discusses the fragile state of the US and global financial systems… how rising inflation will affect the average American… how soon the bubble will burst… and why gold and silver will triumph.

Here are a few highlights:

"The US is a country that likes to create trouble, but they don’t like to clean up things."

"We've now been five years into the bull market and the US economy bottomed out in June 2009. We already had a crack-up boom—not in the economy of the typical household, but in the economy of the super-well-to-do people, whose asset prices rose dramatically and as a result created a huge wealth inequality." Continue reading "Don't Keep Your Gold and Silver in the US, Says Marc Faber"