Inflation

No Inflation Friday: 42.4% Increase In The Price Of Being … Poor?

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Inflation-Ahead

– No inflation Friday: 42.4% increase in the price of being… poor? (Sovereign Man, May 23, 2014):

One of the most intellectually disingenuous statements made by western policymakers is that inflation is tame… nonexistent.

For example, the minutes released this week from the most recent Federal Reserve policy meeting said that the Fed saw NO inflation risk in ‘fueling job growth’ [i.e. printing money].

So by their own admission, the Fed thinks they can conjure hundreds of billions of dollars out of thin air without any consequences whatsoever. Zero risk.

Every time I hear something like this it just makes my skin crawl… and I always think, “go get on a plane.”

Inflation is out there in the rest of the world. To deny its existence is massively arrogant, insensitive, and just plain wrong.

Read moreNo Inflation Friday: 42.4% Increase In The Price Of Being … Poor?

Food Prices Skyrocket: ‘We’re Going To Have A Major Problem Coming Into The Fall’

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Related info:

– The Beginning Of The End Of Precious Metals Manipulation: The London Silver Fix Is Officially Dead:

The London Silver Market Fixing Limited (the ‘Company’) announces that it will cease to administer the London Silver Fixing with effect from close of business on 14 August 2014.

– Report: Food Prices Skyrocket: “We’re Going to Have a Major Problem Coming Into the Fall” (SHFTplan, May 15, 2014):

While government statisticians claim robust growth, recent data points suggest otherwise. Consumers are quickly running out of money, home sales have collapsed and hit their biggest drop in three years, there are more Americans out of the labor force than ever before, and one third of adults under the age of 35 are living with their parents because they can no longer afford to pay their own mortgage.

By all accounts, the reality is that we are now factually in a recession, a point further emphasized by the recent revelation that American companies are experiencing near zero percent earnings growth.

Read moreFood Prices Skyrocket: ‘We’re Going To Have A Major Problem Coming Into The Fall’

Peter Schiff: Meet ‘LOWFLATION’: Deflation’s Scary Pal

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dollar-euro

– Meet ‘lowflation’: Deflation’s scary pal (RT, April 7, 2014):

Peter Schiff
By Peter Schiff

In recent years a good part of the monetary debate has become a simple war of words, with much of the conflict focused on the definition for the word “inflation.”

Whereas economists up until the 1960’s or 1970’s mostly defined inflation as an expansion of the money supply, the vast majority now see it as simply rising prices. Since then the “experts” have gone further and devised variations on the word “inflation” (such as “deflation,” “disinflation,” and “stagflation”). And while past central banking policy usually focused on “inflation fighting,” now bankers talk about “inflation ceilings” and more recently “inflation targets”. The latest front in this campaign came this week when Bloomberg News unveiled a brand new word: “lowflation” which it defines as a situation where prices are rising, but not fast enough to offer the economic benefits that are apparently delivered by higher inflation. Although the article was printed on April Fool’s Day, sadly I do not believe it was meant as a joke.

Read morePeter Schiff: Meet ‘LOWFLATION’: Deflation’s Scary Pal

US Food Prices Are Up 19% In 2014

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– The Real Inflation Fear – US Food Prices Are Up 19% In 2014 (ZeroHedge, March 26, 2014):

We are sure the weather is to blame but what happens when pent-up demand (from a frosty east coast emerging from its hibernation) bumps up against a drought-stricken west coast unable to plant to meet that demand? The spot price (not futures speculation-driven) of US Foodstuffs is the best performing asset in 2014 – up a staggering 19%…

food-inflation

h/t Bloomberg’s Chase van der Rhoer

And it will only get much, much worse.

And 2008 will seem like a walk in the park.

Flashback:

Quantitative easing =  printing money = creating money out of thin air = increasing the money supply = inflation = hidden tax on monetary assets = theft!

When a country embarks on deficit financing (Obamanomics) and inflationism (Quantitative easing) you wipe out the middle class and wealth is transferred from the middle class and the poor to the rich.
– Ron Paul

“Deficits mean future tax increases, pure and simple. Deficit spending should be viewed as a tax on future generations, and politicians who create deficits should be exposed as tax hikers.”
– Ron Paul

U.S. Government Says ‘No Inflation’ As Food Prices Soar (Video)

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The Consumer Price Index does (intentionally) not include food and energy.


YouTube

– Food prices soar as incomes stand still (CBS News, Feb 16, 2014):

NEW YORK – Writer Jen Singer, the mother of two teenage boys, wrestles with her grocery list every week to keep the household budget from getting away from her.

“I’d like the government to stop by my house, come food shopping with me and see where the real costs are,” she said.

The adage “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” is impossible thanks to apple prices, she said.

Read moreU.S. Government Says ‘No Inflation’ As Food Prices Soar (Video)

IRA Confiscation: It’s Happening

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Related info:

– Obama Introduces MyRA: The ‘No Risk, Guaranteed Return’ Retirement Savings Bond

ira-confiscation

– IRA confiscation: it’s happening (Sovereign Man, Jan 29, 2014):

I have an old acquaintance named Sam who has a hell of a deal for you.

Sam is actually a pretty famous guy with a big reputation. Unfortunately he has been a bit down and out on his luck lately… but he’s trying to make a comeback. And Sam is prepared to float you a really great investment opportunity.

Here’s the deal he’s offering: you give Sam your hard-earned retirement savings. Sam will invest your funds, and pay you a rate of return.

Granted, the rate of return he’s promising doesn’t quite keep up with inflation. So you will be losing some money. But don’t dwell on that too much.

Read moreIRA Confiscation: It’s Happening

Marc Faber: ‘Insiders Are Selling Their Shares Like Crazy … I Own PHYSICAL Gold Because The Old System Will Implode. Those Who Own Paper Assets Are DOOMED.’

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marc-faber1

– Marc Faber Warns “Insiders Are Selling Like Crazy… Short US Stocks, Buy Treasuries & Gold” (ZeroHedge, Jan 28, 2014):

Beginning by disavowing Mario Gabelli of any belief that rising stock prices help ‘most’ people (“Fed data suggests half the US population has seen a 40% drop in wealth since 2007“), Marc Faber discusses his increasingly imminent fears of the markets in this recent Barron’s interview.

Quoting Hussman as a caveat, “The problem with bubbles is that they force one to decide whether to look like an idiot before the peak, or an idiot after the peak. There’s no calling the top,” Faber warns there are a lot of questions about the quality of earnings (from buybacks to unfunded pensions) but “statistics show that company insiders are selling their shares like crazy.”

His first recommendation – short the Russell 2000, buy 10-year US Treasuries (“there will be no magnificent US recovery”), and miners and adds “own physical gold because the old system will implode. Those who own paper assets are doomed.”

Read moreMarc Faber: ‘Insiders Are Selling Their Shares Like Crazy … I Own PHYSICAL Gold Because The Old System Will Implode. Those Who Own Paper Assets Are DOOMED.’

No Inflation Friday: The U.S. Dollar Has Lost 97% Of Its Value Against Stamps

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The U.S. Dollar Has Lost 97 Percent Of Its Value Against Stamps

– No inflation Friday: the dollar has lost 97% of its value against stamps (Sovereign Man, Jan 24, 2014):

One of the greatest lies of the modern financial system (and that’s really saying something) is about inflation.

The puppet masters who control the system have managed to convince people that deflation = bad, and inflation = necessary evil.

Perhaps the even bigger lie is that of the actual inflation statistics. They tell us that there’s no inflation… or minimal inflation.

Read moreNo Inflation Friday: The U.S. Dollar Has Lost 97% Of Its Value Against Stamps

Peter Schiff Destroys The ‘Deflation Is An Ogre’ Myth

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– Peter Schiff Destroys The “Deflation Is An Ogre” Myth (ZeroHedge, Jan 22, 2014):

Submitted by Peter Schiff via Euro Pacific Capital,

Dedicated readers of The Wall Street Journal have recently been offered many dire warnings about a clear and present danger that is stalking the global economy. They are not referring to a possible looming stock or real estate bubble (which you can find more on in my latest newsletter). Nor are they talking about other usual suspects such as global warming, peak oil, the Arab Spring, sovereign defaults, the breakup of the euro, Miley Cyrus, a nuclear Iran, or Obamacare. Instead they are warning about the horror that could result from falling prices, otherwise known as deflation. Get the kids into the basement Mom… they just marked down Cheerios!

Read morePeter Schiff Destroys The ‘Deflation Is An Ogre’ Myth

We Will Be Told Hyperinflation Is Necessary, Proper, Patriotic, And Ethical

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One Hundred Trillion Dollars

– We Will Be Told Hyperinflation is Necessary, Proper, Patriotic, and Ethical (Ludwig von Mises Institute, Jan 13, 2014):

Hyperinflation leads to the complete breakdown in the demand for a currency, which means simply that no one wishes to hold it. Everyone wants to get rid of that kind of money as fast as possible. Prices, denominated in the hyper-inflated currency, suddenly and dramatically go through the roof. The most famous examples, although there are many others, are Germany in the early 1920s and Zimbabwe just a few years ago. German Reichsmarks and Zim dollars were printed in million and even trillion unit denominations.

Read moreWe Will Be Told Hyperinflation Is Necessary, Proper, Patriotic, And Ethical

Four Key Lessons From 2013

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– Four key lessons from 2013 (Sovereign Man, Jan 2, 2014):

1) Politicians believe there are no consequences for destroying our liberty…

Stimulus and response. That’s the easiest way of summing this up. When politicians steal, and there are no consequences, they’re going to keep stealing.

Cyprus proved this point handily. The government froze bank accounts for everyone in the country (of course, the big bosses got their money out in time). And yet, there was no violent revolution in the streets. People just accepted it.

Poland nationalized pensions. Argentina imposed severe capital controls. The French are taxing everything under the sun. The US government was caught red-handed spying on… everyone.

Read moreFour Key Lessons From 2013

What If There’s A Recession In 2014?

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Flashback:

– Gold is a Crap Investment – Unless …

– Inflation, Hyperinflation and Real Estate (Price Collaps)

revolver
What the Fed is looking at.

– What If There’s A Recession in 2014? (Gonzalo Lira, Dec 16, 2013):

If policymakers were gunfighters, they’d be out of bullets: They have run out of effective policy tools to improve the economy.

So the question is simple: If there is a recession in 2014, and policymakers are out of bullets, how will it play out across the American economy?

Recently, Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid very astutely pointed out that the current “expansion” of the U.S. economy is on its fifth year—the seventh longest in history.

We are due for a recession.

Read moreWhat If There’s A Recession In 2014?

Inflation Watch 2013; Price Of Christmas Surges 7.7%

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– Inflation Watch 2013; Price Of Christmas Surges 7.7% (ZeroHedge, Dec 2, 2013):

Over the past 30 years, the rise in the price of Christmas according to PNC’s annual 12-days-of-Christmas price index has matched the CPI at around 2.9% YoY. However, in recent years, the reality is considerably worse than the well-managed inflation data the government profers. The price of Christmas in 2013 is up a stunning 7.7% over 2012 – the biggest jump since 2010′ 9.2% rise. The biggest driver of the increase were the dancing ladies (must be the minimum wage decree?) though 8 items saw modest increases also. Once again, it seems the government’s benign inflation data is fictionalized by reality’s rising price of everything.

Read moreInflation Watch 2013; Price Of Christmas Surges 7.7%

Venezuala: Inflation (The Annual Rate Has Now Reached Staggering 54%), Shortages, And Social Democracy

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– Inflation, Shortages, and Social Democracy in Venezuela (Ludwig von Mises Institute, Nov 29, 2013):

The economic turmoil in Venezuela has received increasing international media attention over the past few months. In September, the toilet paper shortage (which followed food shortages and electricity blackouts) resulted in the “temporary occupation” of the Paper Manufacturing Company, as armed troops were sent to ensure the “fair distribution” of available stocks. Similar action occurred a few days ago against electronics stores: President Nicolás Maduro accused electronics vendors of price-gouging, and jailed them with the warning that “this is just the start of what I’m going to do to protect the Venezuelan people.”

Earlier this month, in another attempt to ensure “happiness for all people,” Maduro began to hand out Christmas bonuses, in preparation for the coming elections in December. But political campaigning is not the only reason for the government’s open-handedness. The annual inflation rate in Venezuela has been rapidly rising in recent months, and has now reached a staggering 54 percent (not accounting for possible under-estimations). Although not yet officially in hyperinflation, monetary expansion is pushing Venezuela toward the brink.

In such an environment, paychecks need to be distributed quickly, before prices have time to rise; hence, early bonuses. This kind of policy is nothing new in economic history: Venezuela’s hyperinflationary episode is unfolding in much the same way Germany’s did nearly a century ago.

Read moreVenezuala: Inflation (The Annual Rate Has Now Reached Staggering 54%), Shortages, And Social Democracy

Inflation Is Raging … If You Know Where To Look

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– Inflation is Raging – If You Know Where to Look (Dollar Collapse Blog, Nov 24, 2013):

Most people – certainly most governments and economists – define inflation as a general rise in prices. But this is wrong. Inflation is an increase in the money supply, of which a rising general price level is just one possible result – and not the most common one.

More often, excessive money creation shows up as asset bubbles, where the new money, instead of flowing equally to all the products that are for sale at a given time, flow disproportionately into the ‘hottest’ asset classes. Readers who were paying attention in the 1990s might recall that the consumer price index was well-behaved while huge amounts of money flowed into financial assets, producing the dot-com bubble.

The same thing happened in the 2000s, when excess currency flowed into housing and equities. In each case, mainstream economists and government officials pointed to modest consumer price inflation as a sign that things were fine. And in each case they were simply looking in the wrong place and completely missing the destabilizing effects of an inflating money supply.

Read moreInflation Is Raging … If You Know Where To Look

Fake Employment Numbers – And 5 More Massive Economic Lies The U.S. Government Is Telling You

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– Fake Employment Numbers – And 5 More Massive Economic Lies The Government Is Telling You (Economc Collapse, Nov 19, 2013):

According to a whistleblower that has recently come forward, Census employees have been faking and manipulating U.S. employment numbers for years.  In fact, it is being alleged that this manipulation was a significant reason for why the official unemployment rate dipped sharply just before the last presidential election.  What you are about to read is incredibly disturbing.  The numbers that the American people depend upon to make important decisions are being faked.  But should we be surprised by this?  After all, Barack Obama has been caught telling dozens of major lies over the past five years.  At this point it is incredible that there are any Americans that still trust anything that comes out of his mouth.  And of course it is not just Obama that has been lying to us.  Corruption and deception are rampant throughout the entire federal government, and this has been the case for years.  Now that some light is being shed on this, hopefully the American people will respond with overwhelming outrage and disgust.

The whistleblower that I mentioned above has been speaking to John Crudele of the New York Post.  In his new article entitled “Census ‘faked’ 2012 election jobs report“, he says that the huge decline in the unemployment rate in September 2012 was “manipulated”…

Read moreFake Employment Numbers – And 5 More Massive Economic Lies The U.S. Government Is Telling You

Ron Paul Exposing The Fed-Driven Erosion Of US Living Standards (Video)

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FYI.


YouTube Added: Nov 10, 2013

– Ron Paul Exposes The Fed-Driven Erosion Of US Living Standards (ZeroHedge, Nov 11, 2013):

Submitted by Ron Paul via The Free Foundation,

One of the least discussed, but potentially most significant, provisions in President Obama’s budget is the use of the “chained consumer price index” (chained CPI), to measure the effect of inflation on people’s standard of living. Chained CPI is an effort to alter the perceived impact of inflation via the gimmick of “full substitution.” This is the assumption that when the price of one consumer product increases, consumers will simply substitute a similar, lower-cost product with no adverse effect. Thus, the government decides your standard of living is not affected if you can no longer afford to eat steak, as long as you can afford to eat hamburger.

Read moreRon Paul Exposing The Fed-Driven Erosion Of US Living Standards (Video)

Don’t Worry: The U.S. Government Says That The Inflation You See Is Just Your Imagination

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– Don’t Worry – The Government Says That The Inflation You See Is Just Your Imagination (Economic Collapse, Oct 29, 2013):

If you believe that there is high inflation in the United States, you are just imagining things.  That is the message that the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve would have us to believe.  You might have noticed that the government announced on Wednesday that the cost of living increase for Social Security beneficiaries will only be 1.5 percent next year.  This is one of the smallest cost of living increases that we have ever seen.  The federal government is able to get away with this because the official numbers say that there is hardly any inflation in the U.S. right now.  Of course anyone that shops for groceries or that pays bills regularly knows what a load of nonsense the official inflation rate is.  The U.S. government has changed the way that inflation is calculated numerous times since 1978, and each time it has been changed the goal has been to make inflation appear to be even lower.  According to John Williams of shadowstats.com, if the inflation rate was still calculated the same way that it was back when Jimmy Carter was president, the official rate of inflation would be somewhere between 8 and 10 percent today.  But if the mainstream news actually reported such a number, everyone would be screaming and yelling about getting inflation under control.  Instead, the super low number that gets put out to the public makes it look like the Federal Reserve has plenty of room to do even more reckless money printing.  It is a giant scam, but most Americans are falling for it.

Meanwhile, the prices of the things that most Americans buy on a regular basis just keep going up.  The following are just a few examples of price inflation that we have seen lately:

Read moreDon’t Worry: The U.S. Government Says That The Inflation You See Is Just Your Imagination

How Brazil’s Middle Class Dream Became A Debt-Fuelled Nightmare

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– How Brazil’s Middle Class Dream Became A Debt-Fuelled Nightmare (ZeroHedge, Oct 9, 2013):

Quick: which BRIC nation has the highest consumer loan default rate?

If you said China, India or Russia, you are wrong. Actually, if you said China you are probably right, but since absolutely all economic “data” in China is worthless, manipulated propaganda, only a retrospective post-mortem after the Chinese credit, housing, commodity, consumption bubbles have all burst will we know the answer. So excluding China, which country’s consumers after a multi-year shopping spree funded entirely on credit, are suddenly suffering the epic hangover of soaring non-performing loans as they suddenly find themselves unable to even pay the interest on the debt? Just ask former billionaire Eike Batista whose OGX oil corporation is days away from filing bankruptcy. The answer, with 5.6% of all loans in default, above Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Turkey and India, is Brazil.

It is this same Brazil, where years of credit-driven expansion have resulted in rampant, 6% inflation, which moments ago forced the central bank to once again hike its key policy rate by another 50 bps to 9.50% in an attempt to halt surging prices and contain the flood of liquidity, both foreign and domestic.

Read moreHow Brazil’s Middle Class Dream Became A Debt-Fuelled Nightmare

Five Reasons Why Gold Prices Will ‘Decline’

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– Five reasons why gold prices will decline (Sovereign Man, Sep 26, 2013):

This morning I received a research note from a private bank I work with occasionally.Buried in the text was a call for lower gold prices, and the analysts listed five reasons why they think gold prices will decline. Here’s what they had to say:1) “We expect the scaling back of [the Fed’s] stimulus to happen this year at the December meeting. A reduction in monetary stimulus . . . shall reduce the attractiveness of gold as a zero-income asset.”

2) “Inflation pressures in the developed world should remain subdued, lowering demand for gold as an inflation-hedge.”

3) “We expect the US recovery to accelerate, reducing the attractiveness for gold as a safe-haven asset.”

4) “A subsequent improvement in investor sentiment shall also reduce demand for gold as safe-haven asset.”

5) “Physical demand from India should be discouraged by the gold import duty increases and other measures that aim to reduce the current account deficit.”

My analysis? These guys are completely missing the point.

The reality is that today’s financial markets are controlled and manipulated by central bankers who are destructively expanding their balance sheets to the point of insolvency. Many central banks are already insolvent. Most “rich” countries are bankrupt.

Read moreFive Reasons Why Gold Prices Will ‘Decline’

Quantitative Easing Worked For The Weimar Republic For A Little While Too

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– Quantitative Easing Worked For The Weimar Republic For A Little While Too (Economic Collapse, Sep 22, 2013):

There is a reason why every fiat currency in the history of the world has eventually failed.  At some point, those issuing fiat currencies always find themselves giving in to the temptation to wildly print more money.  Sometimes, the motivation for doing this is good.  When an economy is really struggling, those that have been entrusted with the management of that economy can easily fall for the lie that things would be better if people just had “more money”.  Today, the Federal Reserve finds itself faced with a scenario that is very similar to what the Weimar Republic was facing nearly 100 years ago.  Like the Weimar Republic, the U.S. economy is also struggling and like the Weimar Republic, the U.S. government is absolutely drowning in debt.  Unfortunately, the Federal Reserve has decided to adopt the same solution that the Weimar Republic chose.  The Federal Reserve is recklessly printing money out of thin air, and in the short-term some positive things have come out of it.  But quantitative easing worked for the Weimar Republic for a little while too.  At first, more money caused economic activity to increase and unemployment was low.  But all of that money printing destroyed faith in German currency and in the German financial system and ultimately Germany experienced an economic meltdown that the world is still talking about today.  This is the path that the Federal Reserve is taking America down, but most Americans have absolutely no idea what is happening.

It is really easy to start printing money, but it is incredibly hard to stop.  Like any addict, the Fed is promising that they can quit at any time, but this month they refused to even start tapering their money printing a little bit.  The behavior of the Fed is so shameful that even CNBC is comparing it to a drug addict at this point:

Read moreQuantitative Easing Worked For The Weimar Republic For A Little While Too

Canadian Billionaire Ned Goodman Predicts End Of U.S. Dollar As World’s Reserve Currency (Video)

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YouTube Added: 15.09.2013

Description:

Canadian billionaire businessman Ned Goodman predicts the end of the U.S. Dollar as the world’s reserve currency. He predicts the transition out of the U.S. Dollar will become, “…quite ugly.” He delivered the lecture at Cambridge House’s Toronto Resource Investment Conference 2013 on Thursday, September 12, 2013.

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Dare To Question Argentina’s Inflation Data, Prepare To Go To Jail

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– Dare To Question Argentina’s Inflation Data, Prepare To Go To Jail (ZeroHedge, Sep 14, 2013):

Back in April, we saw that merely asking the local economy minister what Argentina’s rate of inflation is, was enough to prematurely terminate any interview and result in a mocking, viral twitter meme. Since then, things for Argentina haven’t exactly worked out too well: a recent Appeals court ruling found in favor of Elliott and the holdout bondholders, resulting in a downgrade of the country to CCC+, and leaving it with the possibility of having to fund billions in deferred obligations. “The lawsuit could result in the interruption of payments on bonds currently under New York jurisdiction, or it could prompt Argentina to undertake a debt exchange that we could view as distressed,” S&P said in the statement. “There is at least a one-in-three chance of either occurring within the coming 12 months.”

Of course, to many the fact that Argentina has still not redefaulted is even more surprising. The reason for that is that despite president Fernandez ongoing rose-colored glasses PR campaign, the domestic economy has been deteriorating at an accelerating pace with runaway inflation destroying local purchasing power for years. As a result of the ongoing authoritarian crackdown on not only individual liberties, but economic data, it has gotten to the point that the government is criminally prosecuting anyone who dares to publish independent inflation data.

Read moreDare To Question Argentina’s Inflation Data, Prepare To Go To Jail

“China May Be Exaggerating The Size Of Its Economy To The Tune Of $1 TRILLION By Releasing ‘Willfully Fraudulent’ Inflation And GDP”

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– China gets $1 trillion boost from dodgy data: Report (CBC News, Aug 16, 2013):

China may be exaggerating the size of its economy to the tune of $1 trillion by releasing “willfully fraudulent” inflation and GDP [gross domestic product] data, according to a study out this week.

Numbers from the world’s second largest economy are treated with skepticism by some economists, but this latest report has attempted to quantify the scale of discrepancy.

“There is strong evidence indicating that the rate of real Chinese GDP growth, and ultimately total real GDP, may be significantly over stated,” said Christopher Balding, associate professor at Peking University’s HSBC Business School, and the report’s author.

Read more“China May Be Exaggerating The Size Of Its Economy To The Tune Of $1 TRILLION By Releasing ‘Willfully Fraudulent’ Inflation And GDP”