Business

These updates to my list of “Seven Troubles Assailing the US Economy” are far too important to remain buried at the end of that article since many readers may not return to the article to check for updates. The summer economic crisis I’ve been predicting is building even more rapidly than when I reported a week ago. It’s almost here:

Total household debt now exceeds the peek it hit just before the economic collapse into the Great Recession. While the number of households is also up, wages are correspondingly down, so households have maxed out … again:

Authored by Jorg Guido Hulsmann via The Mises Institute,

It may seem unusual that an economist would talk about culture. Usually, we talk about prices and production, quantities produced, employment, the structure of production, scarce resources, and entrepreneurship.

Bitcoin’s 150% surge since the beginning of the year has caught the attention of “Mrs. Watanabe,” the metaphorical Japanese housewife investor, and a legion of South Korean retirees who’re hoping to escape rock-bottom interest rates by investing in cryptocurrencies, according to Reuters.  

Via StockBoardAsset.com,

Sbmitted by Mike Shedlock of MishTalk

Dollar Rent-A-Car Truly Sucks; Industry Shakeout Coming; Value of a Customer

It is easy to get good or bad customer service reps at any company. My complaint today is not about agents, but about piss poor corporate policy. We flew into Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Friday, May 19. We had a car rented from Dollar Rent-A-Car at the airport. Our flight was delayed.