US employers announced far fewer cuts in November as companies tried to navigate a messy economic backdrop — tariffs, softer demand, and vibes-based uncertainty.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported on Thursday that planned layoffs fell 53 percent from October, dropping to 71,321.
That’s still 24 percent higher than this time last year, and the biggest November total in three years. Continue reading
Americans the general sense of where the real American economy lies and the dynamics that suggest no matter how much the Trump administration or any successive administration props it up, an accounting is coming, and it most likely means the inevitable collapse of the U.S. economy. It won’t take much of a hiccup to cause a massive economic disruption to be accompanied by extreme social upheaval and violence, especially given all we have witnessed from our illegal alien “guests” – guests hell – damned foreign takers and looters.
Before this happens, despite Trumps efforts to rid us of taxes and stoke the economy by way of sound energy and immigration policy, we can expect to see Big Government fighting to survive. This means the American people will eventually be put upon with much heavier taxes in order for the nation to remain solvent, as government enforcers take their five pounds of flesh and make Americans bleed money, one way or another. Continue reading
Torn between supporting cattle ranchers and bringing down prices, the president is trying to have it both ways on beef.
Think of the cattle auctioneer’s chant as a prayer. To the untrained ear, it’s nonsense, a stream of words compressed beyond recognition. If you know what to listen for, phrases emerge from the hum and buzz: Will you go four? Will you give five? The job of the auctioneer is to whip bidders into a frenzy, selling cows, heifers, bulls, and steers at the highest price possible through the power of constant supplication. Continue reading
The Great City of Uruk
The ancient people of Uruk – who lived in modern-day southern Iraq more than 5,000 years ago – didn’t seem terribly interested in bequeathing colorful stories of their civilization to history.
Rather than memorialize abundant tales of their immense works, or chisel countless tablets embellishing stories of their military victories, the main artifacts they left behind to modern historians are rather mundane market accounts and grain prices.
It would be as if the only thing to be locked into a time capsule from our own era were the stock section of the Wall Street Journal. It would hardly be a reasonable description of our time.
Nevertheless, the ancient scribes of Uruk went to great lengths to record financial and commercial transactions. And one of the things we can see from their civilization is that they used silver (and NOT gold) as the primary medium of exchange. Continue reading
Gold prices spiked in October, reaching a new record high of over $4,300 per ounce. And while they’ve declined slightly since that point, the yellow metal is still selling at significantly higher prices than just a few years ago.
In fact, as of late November, the gold price per ounce was over $4,100. (Today (11.26.25) – Spot gold is at $4,167.05) In November 2023, it was barely above $2,000. “Gold prices have been experiencing one of the steadiest two-year uptrends ever,” says Jim Wiederhold, commodity indices product manager at Bloomberg Indices/Bloomberg Index Services Limited. Continue reading
There’s a $38 trillion time bomb ticking in the heart of the American financial system, and in 2026, it’s going to detonate, not with the slow burn of a typical recession, but with the devastating speed of a controlled demolition.
Every domino is already in position, every fuse has been lit, and when the first one falls, the cascade will be unstoppable. Right now, as you’re reading this, over $500 billion in corporate debt is racing toward a refinancing deadline.
Companies that borrowed money at 3% interest rates during the pandemic boom are about to face 9% rates when those loans come due. Banks that seemed rock solid are sitting on portfolios of commercial real estate loans that are worth half what they were two years ago, and the very institutions that were supposed to catch the falling pieces, private credit funds and leveraged loan markets, are quietly pulling back just when the system needs them most. This isn’t another prediction about some distant economic downturn.
Why are seasoned investors bidding farewell to gold and embracing silver?
Historically, gold has been seen as a more valuable investment than silver, with 24% of Americans saying gold is the strongest investment.
But that doesn’t mean silver isn’t without its benefits. While it can be seen as volatile, particularly over a short period, silver is often considered an inflation-proof option for investors looking to boost their bank accounts.
To get to the facts on silver and whether it’s a wise investment, here are 14 considerations before you add this shiny commodity to your portfolio. Continue reading
Some investors are showing a renewed interest in physical gold. Reports indicate that wealthy individuals and institutions are buying more gold and using secure storage methods. This trend may reflect concerns about future economic conditions. Analysts continue to observe these investment choices and their possible impact on the broader market.
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“Jackson Slaying the Many-Headed Monster,” 1828. Private collection, Peter Newark American Pictures / Bridgeman Art Library
It’s hard to believe the United States government was ever debt-free.
But it happened once – in 1835 – thanks to President Andrew Jackson. He was the first and only president to pay off the national debt completely.
One biographer says the former president viewed debt as a “moral failing,” a sort of “black magic.”
When he became president, Jackson was determined to rid the US of its national debt. After all, debt enslaves you to your creditors. Continue reading
Looking at the above title, the reader may conclude that he has begun to read an article that he might better save until he has a holiday weekend in which to read it. And there can be no doubt that volumes could be written describing the Fed and its inner-workings. For readers who do seek a comprehensive description of the Fed, I can recommend no source more highly than The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin.
However, the purpose of this article is to describe as simply as possible what the function of the Fed is. As Mr. Griffin himself points out, the central function of the Fed is remarkably simple. Whilst the Fed is cloaked in mystery, its central purpose is not complex. However, even when boiled down to the simplest of descriptions, it is still confusing. Continue reading
