Economy
WH projects $1 trillion deficit for 2019 (tmn)
As a candidate, President Trump promised to wipe out not only the deficit but the entire federal debt, which has surpassed $22 trillion.
Republicans cast aside projections that their 2017 tax reform law would add $1.9 trillion to the deficit over a decade. Larry Kudlow, the top White House economic adviser, claimed just last week that the tax cuts were on track to pay for themselves.
Fed’s Williams calls for urgent replacement of Libor (Sparky1)
His speech zeroed in on what’s called the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, or SOFR. This overnight rate, published daily by the New York Fed and based off Treasury bond borrowing costs, is aimed at creating a more reliable system of interest rates for financial transactions. It is supposed to replace Libor, a long-running system that has suffered from a series of scandals in which it was manipulated.
Disney joined more than a dozen billionaires last month urging lawmakers to raise their taxes Opens a New Window. . The billionaires penned a letter addressed to 2020 presidential candidates asking them to support “a moderate wealth tax” on billionaires to fund projects addressing issues such as clean energy, infrastructure and healthcare.
Citigroup and Other Banks Are Buying Back Their Stocks and That’s Good for Earnings (Thomas R.)
Citigroup’s adjusted earnings of $1.83 excluding the one-time gain on the sale of Tradeweb (an electronic trading platform) were slightly above the consensus estimate of $1.81 a share. The adjusted earnings were up 12% year-over-year. Net income excluding the gain rose just 1% in the second quarter. The difference reflects the lower share count. Citigroup’s revenues were up 2% in the quarter but were little changed excluding the one-time gain.
Inside The Battle For the Next Global Monetary System – Facebook Libra vs Central Banks (pinecarr)
Could these be the opening shots in the battle for the next global monetary system? Join Mike Maloney as he explores the serious implications that arise from Facebook’s foray into the world of finance, and whether or not their Libra project is the ultimate Trojan Horse.
Records Show Medicare Advantage Plans Overbill Taxpayers By Billions Annually (edelinski)
Now CMS is trying again, proposing a series of enhanced audits tailored to claw back $1 billion in Medicare Advantage overpayments by 2020 — just a tenth of what it estimates the plans overcharge the government in a given year.
At the same time, the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General’s Office has launched a separate nationwide round of Medicare Advantage audits.
Congress courageously sticks US taxpayers with a $6 trillion liability (thc0655)
We’ve talked about this before a number of times– the vast majority of state, local, and even corporate pension plans in the United States (and worldwide for that matter) simply don’t have enough money to keep their promises.
Moody’s Investor Service estimated last year that the total pension funding gap in the US is $4.4 trillion. A few months ago the American Legislative Exchange Council estimated it at nearly $6 trillion.
Goldman Sachs earnings blow past Wall Street on strong investment banking, trading results (Thomas R.)
The New York bank notched better-than-expected equities revenue with $2.01 billion in the second quarter, a 6% increase year over year and the second highest quarterly performance in four years. Analysts had been expecting $1.80 billion. The beat was helped by a better market environment with more trading activity compared with the first quarter, the bank said.
Wilburn bought his semitruck four years ago after years of working as a company truck driver. But amid rock-bottom rates, Wilburn wasn’t able to make a payment one month — and his truck was repossessed.
“I was only six months away from paying it off,” Wilburn told Business Insider. “I’m trying to transition back into law enforcement now — don’t want to ever drive trucks again. Definitely not worth it.”
Living in California Is Living on the Edge (Adam)
I can’t pretend it’s quite like living in Israel in the midst of an intifada, or in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, but there is nevertheless a low-grade febrile uncertainty amid the routines of daily life here. When your 100-year-old house shifts and groans with a sound like the straining timbers of a wooden vessel under sail—as ours did the other day—it’s hard not to feel a certain nauseated intimation of mortality.
Shale Investors Fear Bloodbath As Earnings Season Kicks Off (Michael S.)
By “hiding,” the bank said that investors were sticking with midstream and integrated companies, and also clean energy. They are “not seeking” oilfield services companies, which are particularly out of favor. That doesn’t mean that they are shunning shale altogether, but Goldman’s assessment was that most investors are sticking with “quality,” and the bank cited EOG Resources, Pioneer Natural Resources, as well as the majors, including Chevron and ExxonMobil, as examples.
Tesla drops ‘Standard Range’ Model S and Model X, lowers prices of ‘Long Range’ variants and Model 3 (Thomas R.)
Reducing the number of model variants at the top end of Tesla’s lineup should help it minimize costs and focus high-end buyer appetite on trim levels with greater profit potential for the automaker with less production complexity. And the upside it gains there can be applied beneficially to cost of the Model 3, which is increasingly the source of the automaker’s growth.
Gold & Silver
Click to read the PM Daily Market Commentary: 7/15/19
Provided daily by the Peak Prosperity Gold & Silver Group
Article suggestions for the Daily Digest can be sent to dd@peakprosperity.com. All suggestions are filtered by the Daily Digest team and preference is given to those that are in alignment with the message of the Crash Course and the "3 Es."
The post Daily Digest 7/16 – Living On The Edge In CA, Inside The Battle For the Next Global Monetary System appeared first on Peak Prosperity.
from Peak Prosperity https://ift.tt/2jKbewt
