Monday, December 30, 2019
Don’t Fall for This Deadly Dividend Trap / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2019
By: Robert_Ross
When’s the last time you bought Kraft Mac & Cheese?I imagine it’s been a while.
Thirty years ago, every cupboard in America had a box. But consumer trends have shifted. People don’t want hyper-processed foods like Kraft Mac & Cheese anymore.
Warren Buffett, one of the greatest investors of all time, must have overlooked this when he bought a 27% stake in Kraft Heinz (KHC) in 2015.
Not long after, Kraft’s sales flatlined. Earnings rose slightly, but this came from cutting costs, not growing sales.
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Monday, December 30, 2019
Fed’s Fake Stock Markets / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2019
By: Zeal_LLC
The US stock markets soared in 2019, blasting to dozens of new all-time-record highs. Euphoric traders attributed these massive gains to strong corporate fundamentals and US-China trade-war progress. But the real driver of stocks’ astounding ascent was the Federal Reserve’s epic extreme easing. A panicking Fed pulled out all the stops to goose and levitate stocks, leaving fake artificially-inflated markets in its wake.
This year’s huge stock-market rally delighted nearly everyone, generating widespread euphoria. That made Americans feel wealthier, leading them to spend more freely. That pushed corporate sales and profits higher than they otherwise would’ve been. Speculators and investors loved the easy largely-one-sided gains. And stocks’ biggest fan, Trump, reveled in what lofty record stock markets implied about his policies.
With the flagship US S&P 500 stock index (SPX) rocketing up an amazing 28.6% year-to-date at best by late December, everything looked awesome. Record-high stock markets must mean the US economy is booming, the best of times. But under that happy-headline facade, the real stock-market picture is deeply troubling. The SPX’s monster gains have been directly driven by an American central bank terrified of a recession.
Some background context is necessary to understand 2019’s stunning stock-market action. Back in late 2008, the US stock markets were slammed by the first true panic in 101 years. The SPX plummeted 30.0% in a single month, which proved part of a larger 56.8% bear. That threatened a severe recession if not an outright depression due to stock markets’ powerful wealth effect. The Fed rushed to mitigate those risks.
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Monday, December 30, 2019
Is Sports Direct Racial Profiling Shoppers? Meadowhall Sheffield / ConsumerWatch / Shopping
By: N_Walayat
Racial profiling is basically where retailers single out shoppers on the basis of skin tone for 'special attention'. Usually this means staff traipse around the store after targeted shoppers with smartphone's or walkie talkies in hand in an obvious manner, which obviously creates for an unwelcoming climate for shoppers.
Virtually every ethnic person in Britain experiences being racially profiled whilst out shopping to some extent, in fact it's become so common that many like us have become immune to the special attention, and just tend to blank them out.
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Monday, December 30, 2019
How to Fix Dirty Disk Volume Read Only Windows Error 0x80071AC3 / Personal_Finance / How to Guides
By: HGR
Eventually virtually every Windows user is going to come across the Dirty Disk error message that basically locks a hard drive from being able to write to it as a protection. Which usually coincides with an unexpected loss of power be it your computer being switched off without shutting down or more usually an external hard drive being unplugged whilst data is being written to it. Nine times out of ten, your drive will be fine, but there will eventually be that one time when you find that you are no longer able to write data to the drive.
What's basically happened is that Drive has had it's Dirty Bit set, and to get to write again that dirty bit needs to be cleared. Which can prove more difficult to do than many web sites and youtube suggest to run CHECKDISK and the problem will be fixed. Instead in reality you will find that you have less than a 50% chance of Check disk working amongst a whole list of methods often recommended as listed below -
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Sunday, December 29, 2019
Does Bitcoin Have Value; Is It Money? / Currencies / Bitcoin
By: Kelsey_Williams
Writing about Bitcoin is a challenge for several reasons. It has a short history (ten years), it is highly complex, and there is a certain vagueness to the logic behind the concept. When reading about it, or listening to explanations, I wonder whether or not I understand it adequately. I also wonder how many others do.
Much has already been written and discussed, such that further commentary might be superfluous. But some additional perspective likely won’t hurt. So, for those who asked…
What is it? Bitcoin, simply stated, is a form of digital currency. That is how most people describe it when pressed for an acceptable answer. That does not make Bitcoin unique, though, since most of our money supply today is in the form of digital currency.
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Sunday, December 29, 2019
Americans Are Not “Free to Choose” Anymore / Politics / Social Issues
By: John_Mauldin
When you write for a wide audience, no matter what you say, or how carefully you say it, some people will misunderstand. Sometimes it’s amusing. Reading through my feedback (and I do read all of it), I get called both heartless capitalist and bleeding-heart socialist in reaction to the same article.
In fact, I’m neither. I am a capitalist, and proudly so. I believe free markets are the best way to bring maximum prosperity and peace for everyone. But I’m not heartless, nor do I think markets are perfect. Even the best medicines can have serious side effects. That is doubly so when you aren’t taking the medicine correctly.
Sunday, December 29, 2019
The Ethics of a Gold Standard / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: Antonius_Aquinas
The efficacy of a metallic monetary system is beyond dispute at least among real economists which eliminates just about 95% of whom are now engaged in the “profession.” Money, which gold is, allows for specialization, the division of labor, and provides the means for mankind to escape from barter and, thus, a primitive existence. Like free trade, money naturally integrates mankind both among and between peoples.
A system of central banking with an unbacked paper currency is the antithesis of a gold standard. Manipulation of currencies by central banks, mostly through debasement, hinders trade, creates distortions, and ultimately leads to the dreaded business cycle. Murray Rothbard aptly describes the baneful results of state intervention in the monetary system:
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Saturday, December 28, 2019
Trump Impeached in the House! Is It Time for Gold Now? / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: Arkadiusz_Sieron
Last week, the House voted to impeach Donald Trump. This is the third time in the U.S. history such an event has happened to the sitting President. What does it imply for the gold market?
Trump’s Impeachment, Explained
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives impeached Donald Trump. He became only the third U.S. president in history to be impeached, following Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998.
According to the Constitution, the President “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, a Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”. Democrats created two articles of impeachments which refer to these other high crimes and misdemeanors. The first one accuses Trump of abusing his power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, the former U.S. Vice President, in order to interfere in the 2020 presidential election.
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Saturday, December 28, 2019
Precious Metals Meandering Continues – So Please Maintain Patience / Companies / Gold & Silver 2019
By: Avi_Gilburt
When the metals are in a bear market, metals enthusiasts are frustrated. And, even when the metals are in a bull market, metals enthusiast become frustrated. This is what I have been seeing of late, as the metals are consolidating for their next bullish run.
But, if you trade metals, you know that they actually spend much of their time consolidating. The reason is that their moves are so strong and powerful, they complete quite quickly, while spending the great majority of their time within a consolidation. And, that is what I think we are seeing now.
Yet, I don’t think we will see the bigger fireworks until 2020, and it may not even be until the 2nd quarter of 2020.
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Saturday, December 28, 2019
Hacking The Economy To Determine An Election: Is It Happening? / Economics / Economic Theory
By: Dan_Amerman
On August 27th, 2019, in an editorial published in Bloomberg, William Dudley, the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank Of New York, did what had previously been considered unthinkable. The foundation premise of the Federal Reserve is that it is supposed to be completely nonpartisan, insulated from all political considerations. However, Dudley wrote that Donald Trump was a threat to the Federal Reserve and the nation, and urged Fed officials to make decisions that would take into account the need to keep Trump from being reelected.
The freezing up of the repurchase agreement (repo) market had nearly collapsed the U.S. financial system as one part of the financial crisis of 2008, however, the market had enjoyed 11 years of relative calm since then. Three weeks after Dudley's editorial, during the week of September 16th, 2019, the repo market returned to crisis mode and was likely saved only by emergency interventions on the part of the Federal Reserve. A contributing factor was some major mistakes that were made by career officials at the New York Fed - Dudley's former staff.
If the current related crises in the repurchase agreement market and with the funding of the national debt continue and get worse (which is far from certain at this time), crossing over into the wider markets, interest rates and the economy, it could become one of the defining political events of our lifetimes.
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Saturday, December 28, 2019
The Key to Solving the Climate Crisis Is Beneath Our Feet / Politics / Climate Change
By: Ellen_Brown
The Green New Deal resolution that was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives in February hit a wall in the Senate, where it was called unrealistic and unaffordable. In a Washington Post article titled “The Green New Deal Sets Us Up for Failure. We Need a Better Approach,” former Colorado governor and Democratic presidential candidate John Hickenlooper framed the problem like this:
Read full article... Read full article...The resolution sets unachievable goals. We do not yet have the technology needed to reach “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions” in 10 years. That’s why many wind and solar companies don’t support it. There is no clean substitute for jet fuel. Electric vehicles are growing quickly, yet are still in their infancy. Manufacturing industries such as steel and chemicals, which account for almost as much carbon emissions as transportation, are even harder to decarbonize.
Friday, December 27, 2019
How to Use Your Smartphone to Find REAL Sales Shopping 50% Discount Bargains / Personal_Finance / Shopping
By: HGR
The post christmas sales frenzy is in full swing. So here's an example of who to use your smartphone to find REAL bargains whilst out shopping, rather than end up paying more than what the prices were BEFORE the sales season!
It's quick, it's easy and could potentially save you more than 50% off it's regular selling price! Find out how in our latest monet saving video.
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Friday, December 27, 2019
Don’t fall for online casino scams: How to protect yourself from fraud / Personal_Finance / Gambling
By: Submissions
If you’re like most casino lovers today, chances are you’ve already started playing casino online, or trying your luck at online slots, or getting free spins online. While online gambling obviously comes with its plethora of benefits and perks, there is no hiding from the fact that it also exposes players to several unscrupulous individuals, websites, and games. Indeed, to win in a casino by simply lying in your sofa, and clicking a few buttons on your smartphone is a tempting offer for anyone, but you only need check out the number of people who have been fallen for the same bait and have been scammed over the last few years to fully understand the depth of online casino frauds. But how exactly do people get scammed? Read on to discover some of the approaches of these scammers.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, December 27, 2019
Stock Market Festivus / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2019
By: Gary_Tanashian
They say that Festivus is the “anti-Christmas”, but in this case we are going to call it the anti-Christmas Eve as the markets close out 2019’s Christmas Eve massacre.
“Many Christmases ago I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him I realized there had to be another way!”
This year markets are going another way.
We have been managing a potential Christmas Eve close-out sale in the stock market since SPX hopped the Bull Turnstile, negating topping potential and confirming bullish ascending triangles (not shown below as they appeared on daily charts) and its own major trends by breaking upward. Here is the most recent chart (from NFTRH 582) used to illustrate the situation.
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Friday, December 27, 2019
Hi-yo Silver Away! / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: Richard_Mills
Silver is expected to begin the next decade newly burnished, through a combination of higher industrial and investment demand, and tightened supply owing to mine production issues and output cuts.
As December winds down and precious metals trade volumes dwindle, market analysts including us at Ahead of the Herd are crunching the numbers from 2019 and looking ahead to what the New Year might bring.
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Friday, December 27, 2019
Will Negative Interest Rates Be the Last Straw? / Interest-Rates / Negative Interest Rates
By: MoneyMetals
Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) was considered “extraordinary” when central bankers rolled that out roughly ten years ago. At that time, people would still have laughed at the idea of negative interest rates. Lenders didn’t pay borrowers and nobody paid their bank to hold their deposits.
So much has changed in the past 10 years. Now negative interest rate policies (NIRP) look set to go viral.
Friday, December 27, 2019
Growth Hacking: Building a Sales Operation from the Ground Up / Companies / SME
By: Submissions
Building a sales operation from scratch is a challenging and sensitive process, that can determine the future growth of the company. Yet this process has high dependency in early stage decision making. Keeping a few simple guidelines along the way might save a lot of trouble in the future.Building a sales operation for a B2B startup may seem like a challenge for many corporate sales managers and depending on each company’s condition that might be the case, but in reality, there are some sustainable growth generating methods. By setting an organizational architecture with a functional sales team and a predictable sales process, managers had proven to build a sustainable sales unit.
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Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Amazon Boxing Day Sales - How to Spot REAL vs FAKE Sales Bargains / ConsumerWatch / Shopping
By: HGR
Amazon's boxing day sales frenzy is about to begin in just over 24 hours time, when the nations arm chair shoppers literally go mad on buying supposed bargains. However, Amazon like most retailers to prone to pumping up most of its prices just before the sales begin and then cutting them on Boxing day resulting in a FAKE sale price that may be higher than were the item was selling just a few weeks earlier. In this video we show you have to spot the real vs fake Amazon sales so that you really do pick up a sales bargain and not end up paying for something that will sell for cheaper AFTER the sales frenzy is over.
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Tuesday, December 24, 2019
BEST Christmas EVE, BOXING Day SALES 2019 - TOP Money Saving Tips! / Personal_Finance / Shopping
By: N_Walayat
Britain's Christmas high street sales frenzy is about to reach maximum intensity on Boxing day whilst most major retailers such as NEXT and PC World / Curry's will start their sales online on Christmas Eve so as to maximise profits from the the army of point and click armchair shoppers. Here is a comprehensive list of sales starting today, Christmas Eve and continuing into the high streets on Boxing day as well as those already well underway.
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Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Fintech and its Impact on Investments / Companies / Banking Stocks
By: Submissions
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