U.S. debt and unemployment grows - economy skidding

 

• Just days ago the Bank of Japan finally increased its interest rate from 0 to 0.25 percent. The famous carry trade, borrowing in Yen for near zero interest to invest in well paying U.S. dollar 'assets', started to unravel. Worse than expected U.S. economic data, the Fed's unwillingness to lower interest rates and an escalating crisis in the Middle East, added to the insecurity.
• Israel and Mideast markets crashed on Monday on fears of retaliation from Iran and Hezbollah. If the standoff between Tel Aviv and the Axis of Resistance escalates, it will reverberate through global markets and hit the US economy hard.
•  Banks are the largest lenders to commercial real estate (CRE) and have grown the business in the past decade. These loans are coming due amid decade-high interest rates and a drop in demand for office space stemming from hybrid work—upending a traditionally lower-risk business for banks. Financial institutions have yet to fully come to terms with their losses; the reckoning is coming. 
• Part-time summer employment is the only thing growing in the economy. More Americans working multiple jobs than ever.
• A former Fed insider has pointed to artificial intelligence (AI) as a key tool for employers looking to slash costs, suggesting that “for the next six to 18 months, AI is going to… feel like a weapon of mass destruction” when it comes to layoffs.
• We now have a 25% chance to have greater recession (or depression) however you like to label it.
• Federal Reserve is U.S. not likely to turn things around.
  
• China and other nations continue to dump US treasury bonds.
• There was also a 13 percent loss in value on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday. Investors are getting rid of their securities because they fear that the US economy will decline and drag the world economy down with it. The Middle East crisis could turn into a wider conflict within days, with resulting consequences for an expected rise in price of oil and the supply of raw materials. The fall in the value of the Tokyo Stock Exchange has a ripple effect on other Asian financial markets as well.
• U.S. debt is now over $35 trillion and counting. U.S. is spending $1 trillion a year (amount equal to the annual military budget) just to pay the interest on the debt.  
• U.S.-EU-NATO believe that WW3 is the only way to save their 500 year old western colonial control of world. With war comes little to no concern about debt.

The market slump, as well as the geopolitical issues, have great potentials to explode. 

We are heading toward neo-feudalism except you get a large screen color TV to watch it all - as long as you can pay the electric bill.

Hold onto your hat!

Bruce

~Much of the info above was gathered from various sources - many of which I regularly feature on this blog.