Authored by Mark St.Cyr,
Since the initial turmoil began with the onset of what is now referred to as “The great financial crisis,” one strategy has proven more profitable than any other. That strategy? BTFD (buy the f___n’ dip.)
Submitted by John Rubino via DollarCollapse.com,
Talk about diminished expectations. Friday morning’s estimate of 1.4% Q4 GDP growth is being hailed as a pleasant surprise. Which is odd, considering that for most of the past century a number this low would have been seen as weak enough to require emergency action.
Heinz is no longer to officially considered to be ‘ketchup’ in Israel. Israel’s Health Ministry ruled in 2015 that the brand product did not contain enough “tomato solids” to be labeled as ketchup in Israeli stores and was relegated to the title “tomato seasoning” The Times Of Israel reports: The ruling was the result of a lobbying campaign by Israeli food manufacturer Osem, which produces a large portion of the ketchup consumed in Israel.
The world will soon be facing a tsunami of defaults on bad debts. This will include municipal or local government defaults, governments “defaulting” on promises they’ve made to the people (Social Security, Medicaid), a default on the social contract between society and politicians such as the one in Cyprus (a default on the notions of private property and Democracy), stealth defaults on debts in the form of inflation and finally, of course, outright sovereign defaults.
The sovereign defaults will come last; all other options will be tried first.
Submitted by Wolf Richter via WolfStreet.com,
This wasn’t part of the rosy scenario.
The Merchandise World Trade Monitor by the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, a division of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, tracks global imports and exports in two measures: by volume and by unit price in US dollars. And the just released data for January was a doozie beneath the lackluster surface.