The Biden administration, led by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, and cheered on by progressives in the Senate like Liz Warren, are beginning an assault of crypto-currency freedom. The Wall Street Journal's Dave Michaels and Alexander Osipovich report: Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler this week declared war on what he called the Wild West of crypto trading, promising a vigorous attack on fraud and misconduct. But progress is likely to be more piecemeal and incremental than wholesale and sudden. Mr. Gensler outlined his desire to regulate digital assets such as bitcoin and … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2021
RENTS SOAR: Prices Way Up for City Dwellers
As inflation hits U.S. markets in many forms, one emerging area of price increases is for rents in big cities. Renters are coming back to the market that was devastated during 2020's pandemic scare. Bloomberg's Prashant Gopal reports: The biggest wave of tenants in U.S. history has arrived, and landlords are responding with the largest-ever rent increases. In the second quarter, the number of occupied units jumped by about half a million, the biggest annual increase in data going back to 1993, according to industry consultant RealPage Inc. Rents on newly signed leases soared 14.6% in June … [Read more...]
The Truth About the Fed’s $8 Trillion Balance Sheet
Is it true that the Fed holds over $8 trillion in assets on its balance sheet and that it has created 4 trillion dollars out of thin air since the pandemic began? Indeed it is. At the end of February 2020, the Fed held just over $4 trillion in assets. As of today, the Fed’s balance sheet stands at $8.2 trillion. Three-quarters of that increase, or $3 trillion, was created over a period of about 12 weeks last year. Four trillion dollars is a lot of money. That’s more than the total revenue the Federal government collects in a year. Did Congress pass a law last year that allowed the … [Read more...]
The Top 15 Destinations for Americans Escaping the City in 2020
In 2020, Americans fled from big blue blob cities to escape the COVID-19 pandemic, the strict mandates of governors and mayors gone wild, and the rioting and looting that took the cities by storm in the summer. Now CoreLogic has determined which cities gained the most refugees, and which lost the most residents. The top 15 destination metro areas were: Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Port St. Lucie, FL Jacksonville, FL San … [Read more...]
The Real Winners of the Infrastructure Bill: It’s Not You
You know when something receives "bipartisan" support in Washington, it's going to cost taxpayers a lot of money. The only time both parties seem to agree on anything is when both their sets of donors are getting paid enough of your money. The next bipartisan spending spree appears to be the infrastructure bill that Senators have been working on. At the Cato Institute, Randal O'Toole explains that the only people likely to see the benefits of this bonanza spending are the contractors asked to perform the unnecessary work. He writes: The Senate reportedly passed an infrastructure bill last … [Read more...]
Grocery Delivery Still Hard, Even for Amazon
Grocery delivery has stymied many companies, but when Amazon purchased Whole Foods, many people assumed the company could do what others had been incapable of. It turns out, grocery delivery is still difficult, and expensive. Amazon has begun adding delivery fees for Prime members in certain cities. Bloomberg's Matt Day reports: Amazon.com Inc. is tacking on a delivery fee for Prime members who shop at Whole Foods Market in several U.S. cities, an indication that the economics of grocery delivery continue to pose a challenge for even the world’s largest online retailer. Shoppers were … [Read more...]
BlackRock Wants Investors with a “Shared Vision”
Do you share BlackRock CEO Larry Fink's "vision?" BlackRock wants investors committed to a "shared vision to transfer to a low-carbon economy." The company's ESG guru for its iShares subsidiary, Sarah Kjellberg explained how she's implementing this vision to ETF Trends. They reported on the interview: Looking at how investors have integrated climate awareness into their portfolios, Kjellberg explains how BlackRock has integrated climate risks into their capital market assumptions. Kjellberg adds, “while we’re seeing institutions in the world take pretty significant action to address … [Read more...]
REPORT: Hidden Risk in Bond Funds?
A new report suggests there is often hidden risk U.S. bond funds that isn't being represented by their classification. Robin Wigglesworth reports in the Financial Times: Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? It is a question many bond investors should be asking themselves and the managers of their money. A bombshell paper that has been gradually wending its way through the peer-reviewed academic publishing process has now finally appeared in the latest edition of the venerable Journal of Finance, and deserves a wide airing. Sifting through the individual reported investments of … [Read more...]
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