Monthly Archives: May 2014

How To Play The Puerto Rican Economic Recovery

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“The Puerto Rican government is making substantial efforts to turn the economy out of an eight-year-long recession.  Improved real estate value and business conditions will provide catalysts for Puerto Rican bank stocks.  Watch the share price of Popular, Inc. to lead the way for three smaller banks on the island.”

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2176073-how-to-play-the-puerto-rican-economic-recovery

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Puerto Rico Budget Won’t Include Borrowing, Official Says

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“For the first time in two decades, Puerto Rico plans to balance its budget without selling debt, said Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla’s chief of staff.  Garcia Padilla’s proposed financial plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 relies mostly on spending cuts. The administration will also raise additional funds through ‘revenue enhancements.’  The 42-year-old governor will release the plan as soon as today. He’s set to give his State of the Commonwealth speech at 5:30 p.m. local time, where he will also announce a four-year roadmap that will ‘transform’ Puerto Rico’s economy and social demographics by 2018, Vila Biaggi said.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-28/puerto-rico-budget-won-t-include-borrowing-official-says.html

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The Future of Countries

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“We tend to forget that, although the world map has looked more or less the same since the end of World War II, it has been the norm, throughout history, for large parcels of property to change hands fairly often. Boundaries move. Countries become larger, smaller, or disappear altogether. Large empires are created, swallowing up smaller countries, sometimes lasting for 200 years or more, then inexorably breaking up into smaller remnants.  Certainly we are heading into a period of dramatic change—economic change, social change, and certainly political change. Whenever such a period occurs in history, changes in the lines on the map inevitably also occur.”

http://www.internationalman.com/articles/the-future-of-countries

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Hoarding Gold: China’s Plan for Survival

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“No one can know with any degree of accuracy when China will officially announce its gold reserves. I went out on a limb and said China could do that by April 24, 2014, since the country has a fetish for doing things in increments of five, and that date was five years after the previous announcement. But the reality is China could shock the world at any moment with its gold holdings. Focusing on a wrong date, though, is like faulting Shakespeare for misplacing a comma — you’re blind to the far-greater message: that China is cornering the market in gold because of a dramatic revision to the global monetary order that we all know as normal.”

http://thesovereigninvestor.com/2014/04/30/hoarding-gold-chinas-plan-survival/

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The Latest Bubble to Pop: Mortgage Refinancings

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“The refinancing game is nearly over.  Just looking at the mortgage side of life, this means that the increase of households’ retained cash flow is unlikely to improve further. For many of the large lenders, it also means a reduction in workforce—a significant one, in many cases—which will impact employment figures and possibly further recovery.  A final note in this saga pertains to household leverage. Common wisdom seems to hold that US households have deleveraged since the mid-2000s crash. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.  In 2008, total household liabilities stood around $14.2 trillion. At the end of 2013, they were $13.8 trillion—a paltry 2.8% decline.”

http://www.caseyresearch.com/cdd/the-latest-bubble-to-pop-mortgage-rates-and-their-butterfly-effect-on-the-e

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Fed taper to cause ‘severe recession’: Economist

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“The Federal Reserve’s move to eliminate its monthly asset purchasing program will cause a ‘collapse in asset prices and a severe recession,’ according to economist Michael Pento.  It will be all part of the end of the so-called wealth effect touted by former central bank Chairman Ben Bernanke, who asserted that rising asset prices in the stock market and elsewhere would help boost confidence and generate economic activity, Pento charged in a blog post Monday.  The longtime Fed critic said the withdrawal of quantitative easing will cause a sharp decrease in housing prices and stocks despite consensus predictions that the effects will be minimal.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101620798

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Fed Tapers Another $10 Billion, Expecting Rebound From Grim Q1

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“The U.S. economy stalled out in Q1, as GDP rose at a 0.1% annual rate, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. But with other data showing rebounding growth in the spring, the Federal Reserve voted to taper its bond-buys by another $10 billion.  The Fed’s decision, widely expected, cited ongoing improvement in the economy. But as previously signaled, the central bank left interest rates untouched and pledged to keep policy easy as long as the economy remained shaky.  Residential investment fell hard for a second straight quarter, and business fixed investment declined at a 5.5% rate. Both sectors were expected to help lead the economy in 2014.”

http://news.investors.com/economy/043014-699061-fed-tapers-expecting-better-growth-after-q1-gdp.htm?p=full

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Five+ Years of Fed Futility Laid Bare for All to See

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“It has been five-and-a-half years since Lehman Brothers, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other casualties of the credit crisis imploded! We’ve been subjected to more than a half-decade of the Fed’s supposedly useful and appropriate medicine … Unlimited money printing.  Zero percent interest rates.  Gargantuan bank bailouts.  Deliberate attempts to inflate stock and house prices.  And for what?  More than $3 TRILLION in extra padding on the Fed balance sheet doesn’t look like it’s done much for the broad economy.  GDP grew just 0.1 percent in the first quarter.   Even that dismal reading was propped up by a massive surge of $43.3 billion in health care spending tied to the Obamacare rollout.”

http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/five-years-of-fed-futility-laid-bare-for-all-to-see-60708

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Hunting for Foreign Real Estate Bargains

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“There are a number of reasons for looking into real estate in Cyprus—including beautiful Mediterranean beaches, an agreeable lifestyle, and crisis-driven bargains.  Cyprus has long been and will continue to be a popular place to own property. It enjoys a pleasant winter and what many regard as the Mediterranean’s most beautiful beaches. People from all over the world come to Cyprus to retire and to own vacation homes.  In some cities, including Paphos and Limassol, foreigners are a majority. If you find the thought of joining them attractive, then the lingering effects of last year’s crisis could present you an opportunity to get in cheaply.”

http://www.internationalman.com/articles/hunting-for-foreign-real-estate-bargains

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Surrendering U.S. Citizenship Over New Banking Regulation?

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“68% of the U.S. citizens we surveyed report that they are interested in severing ties with America. A shocking figure? Indeed. It is also supported by official statistics of passport relinquishments. The number of Americans relinquishing their U.S. citizenship surged in the second quarter of 2013, to 1,131 cases, compared with 189 in the same period in 2012.  But it is perhaps not as shocking when you consider that it was U.S. citizens living overseas who were the respondents in deVere’s survey — and that it is the estimated 7.2 million American expatriates and 13 million green-card holders who are the ones who are soon to suffer the serious, adverse effects of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.”

http://www.americanbanker.com/magazine/124_04/bankthink-surrendering-us-citizenship-over-new-banking-regulation-1066813-1.html

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