Labor

Brazil's landmark labor reform bill, intended to relax the country's restrictive labor laws and a main plank of embattled President Michel Temer's efforts to bolster investment and pull the economy out of its worst recession ever and widely seen as the country's second most important reform agenda after the Pension bill, was unexpectedly rejected by a special committee in Brazil's senate, with 10 votes against it, 9 in favor and 1 abstention. 

Authored by Wolf Richter via WolfStreet.com,

Commercial and residential real estate bubbles choke the economy. The upper bounds of hype and craziness have been reached.

Via The Daily Bell

What if everyone declared bankruptcy, would that solve all financial woes? Or rather, would it be the ultimate debt bubble burst? Bankruptcy is a “solution” that would become disastrous if everyone were to use it. So can it truly be considered a solution at all? It just shifts the financial burden to someone else.

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

The state of Illinois has not passed a budget for close to three years.

Arguably it’s just as well because Illinois budgets for decades have been nothing but a moth-eaten collection of lies, one time deficits repeated endlessly, and financial wizardry statements designed to disguise Illinois’ real problems: failure to rein in spending coupled with a very business unfriendly environment.

Authored by Shannara Johnson via HardAssetsAlliance.com,

Some experts think it will be the trigger for the next financial collapse. Others call it a “national crisis” of unprecedented proportions.

But what all of them agree on is that there’s no way US pension funds can keep their promises to the next wave of retirees.