Economy

Taxing Unrealized Gains Would Obliterate The U.S. Economy

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– Taxing Unrealized Gains Would Obliterate The U.S. Economy:

https://archive.is/v1OCi

Having used up all of the rest of the batshit, insane, counterintuitive economic dirty tricks left in the “we’ll literally do anything but cut spending” bag, the Biden administration is pushing what could be the most destructive idea for our country since prohibition: taxing unrealized gains.

As part of its budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year, the Biden administration is trying to raise an addition $4.3 trillion over 10 years in the worst way possible: imposing a minimum tax equal to 25 percent of a taxpayer’s taxable income and unrealized capital gains less the sum of their regular tax, for taxpayers with wealth over $100 million.

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Russia To Seize $440 Million From JPMorgan

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– Russia To Seize $440 Million From JPMorgan:

Seizing assets? Two can play at that game…

Just days after Washington voted to authorize the REPO Act – paving the way for the Biden administration confiscate billions in Russian sovereign assets which sit in US banks – it appears Moscow has a plan of its own (let’s call it the REVERSE REPO Act) as a Russian court has ordered the seizure of $440 million from JPMorgan.

The seizure order follows from Kremlin-run lender VTB launching legal action against the largest US bank to recoup money stuck under Washington’s sanctions regime.

Read moreRussia To Seize $440 Million From JPMorgan

First-Time Buyers Must Earn $120,000 To Afford The Average Home

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– First-Time Buyers Must Earn $120,000 To Afford The Average Home:

https://archive.is/yIW0e

Earlier today we reported that for at least 40% of Americans – up from 27% just two years ago – the American Dream is dead and buried and has been replaced with the American nightmare: renting for life.

And here’s why: according to a new survey from Clever Real Estate, a St. Louis-based real estate company, thanks to the galloping housing inflation, the median-priced home in the U.S. now costs $332,494, with NAR and Census Bureau data reporting that the median Existing and New Home sale price has risen to $393,500 and $430,700…

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Cities’ “Doom Loops” Are Even Worse Than You Imagined

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– Cities’ “Doom Loops” Are Even Worse Than You Imagined:

This is why those who understand these dynamics are getting out, even though the city was their home.

A correspondent who prefers to remain anonymous sent me this account of the “doom loop” that is playing out in many American cities. The correspondent makes the case that the Doom Loop is not limited to specific cities, but is a universal dynamic in all US cities due to the core causes of the Doom Loop: financialization and the multi-decade decay of cities’ core industrial-economic purpose / mission.

I have edited the text slightly, with the correspondent’s approval.

The context of the Doom Loop is the process and politics of this decay are the second-order results of central bank easy money (free fiat). That led to financialization becoming the city’s core function and the subsequent loss of the city’s previous mission. The people living in cities just haven’t gotten the message yet.

Read moreCities’ “Doom Loops” Are Even Worse Than You Imagined

Apple Slashes Vision Pro Shipment Projections By 50% As Demand For $3,500 Headset Craters

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– Apple Slashes Vision Pro Shipment Projections By 50% As Demand For $3,500 Headset Craters:

In what will come as a surprise to exactly nobody, the revolutionary if ridiculously overpriced Vision Pro virtual reality headset, which retails for $3,500, is not selling.

While it was hardly necessary – at least for anyone with a functioning frontal lobe –  an analysis published this morning by the widely-read TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (best known for gathering intelligence from his contacts in Apple’s Asian supply chain), who back in January correctly reported that Apple has lowered its 2024 iPhone shipments to a 15% decline, reported that Apple has cut its full year Vision Pro shipments to 400–450k units by as much as 50% versus the market consensus of 700–800k units or more.

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Chinese Have “Grabbed Gold By The Throat” As Capital Flight Accelerates

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Unobtainium is coming…

– Chinese Have “Grabbed Gold By The Throat” As Capital Flight Accelerates:

“Chinese speculators have really grabbed gold by the throat…”

That is how John Reade, chief market strategist at the World Gold Council, describes the scramble in the communist nation among investors looking to move money anywhere but in the yuan or Chinese assets.

As evidenced by soaring Chinese FX outflows, the recent surges in ‘alternate currencies’ such as bitcoin and gold strongly suggest where the Chinese are seeking safety.

Of course, worsening geopolitical tensions, unprecedented fiscal profligacy by the Biden administration that shows no signs of slowing, and a Fed that seemed willing to support that spending with rate-cuts that were wholly un-necessary based on the ‘data’ they are so ‘dependent’ on (prompting fears of a policy error) are all factors driving precious metals higher, but, as Bloomberg reports, juicing the rally is unrelenting Chinese demand, as retail shoppers, fund investors, futures traders and even the central bank look to bullion as a store of value in uncertain times.

China and India have typically vied over the title of world’s biggest buyer. But that shifted last year as Chinese consumption of jewelry, bars and coins swelled to record levels. China’s gold jewelry demand rose 10% while India’s fell 6%. Chinese bar and coin investments, meanwhile, surged 28%.

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‘Fields are completely underwater’: UK farmers fear widespread crop failure following wettest year in centuries

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– ‘Fields are completely underwater’: UK farmers fear widespread crop failure following wettest year in centuries:

Farmers have been dealing with record-breaking rainfall over at least the past year, meaning food produced in Britain has fallen drastically.

Livestock and crops have been affected as fields have been submerged since last autumn on account of it being an exceptionally wet 18 months.

According to the Met Office, 1,695.9mm of rain fell from October 2022 to March 2024, the highest amount record for any 18-month period in England.

Here, British farmers and growers tell us how they have handled the inclement weather conditions and what the heavy rainfall means for their immediate futures.

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Jim Quinn: WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT THE GREAT RESET, GREAT TAKING, GREAT REPLACEMENT, GREAT DEFLATION AND NEXT GREAT DEPRESSION?

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– WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT THE GREAT RESET, GREAT TAKING, GREAT REPLACEMENT, GREAT DEFLATION AND NEXT GREAT DEPRESSION?:

“At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move all the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre.” – Frank Zappa

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JPMorgan Chase is caught in U.S-Russia sanctions war after overseas court orders $440 million seized from bank

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– JPMorgan Chase is caught in U.S-Russia sanctions war after overseas court orders $440 million seized from bank:

  • A Russian court sided with state-run lender VTB Bank in its efforts to recoup $439.5 million from JPMorgan Chase that VTB says the U.S. lender froze after the Ukraine invasion.
  • The court ordered the seizure of funds in JPMorgan’s Russian accounts and “movable and immovable property,” including its stake of a Russian subsidiary, according to a filing published Wednesday.
  • VTB had filed a suit last week in a St. Petersburg arbitration court seeking to be made whole for funds frozen in the U.S., asking for relief because JPMorgan has said it will exit Russia.

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– Court orders seizure of $440M JPMorgan funds in lawsuit over US-Russia sanctions:

A Russian court ordered the seizure of $439.5 million in funds from JPMorgan Chase’s bank accounts in Russia that the largest American lender froze after the Ukraine invasion, according to a court filing.

The court’s ruling Wednesday comes after state-owned VTB Bank filed a lawsuit in a St. Petersburg arbitration court after the Russian bank was hit with sanctions following the invasion.

JPMorgan declined to comment on the Russian court’s interim measures.

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