Timing & trends

The House on Tuesday approved a bill to extend the federal government’s borrowing authority with no strings attached, after Republican leaders dropped all policy demands to avoid a market-rattling confrontation in an election year. – full article HERE

Canadian businesses, which former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney once accused of sitting on piles of cash, are beginning to spend again, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Wednesday.

“We’re beginning to see some life and some action,” he said of the businesses’ investment activity, at a conference examining the budget he delivered on Tuesday.

However, he said there was not as much business investment as he would like.

22 Facts About The Coming US Demographic Shock Wave

Posted by Michael Snyder - The Economic Collapse blog

on Wednesday, 12 February 2014 8:19

Dilapidated-House-In-Indiana-300x300Today, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers will retire.  This is going to happen day after day, month after month, year after year until 2030.  It is the greatest demographic tsunami in the history of the United States, and we are woefully unprepared for it.  We have made financial promises to the Baby Boomers worth tens of trillions of dollars that we simply are not going to be able to keep.  Even if we didn’t have all of the other massive economic problems that we are currently dealing with, this retirement crisis would be enough to destroy our economy all by itself.  During the first half of this century, the number of senior citizens in the United States is being projected to more than double.  As a nation, we are already drowning in debt.  So where in the world are we going to get the money to take care of all of these elderly people?

…..read full article @ Zerohedge HERE

German Polititians Raise Their own Salaries from 5,000 to 9,000 Euros per month

This idea of socialism and get the rich is just a cover, The Politicians just raised their own salaries from 5,000 to 9,000 euros per month. Yet they are good socialists when the preach to the masses.

With an increase in inventories of durable goods partly offset by a drop in inventories of non-durable goods, the U.S. Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing that wholesale inventories rose by less than expected in December.

The report said wholesale inventories increased by 0.3 percent in December after rising by 0.5 percent in November. Economists had been expecting another 0.5 percent increase.

The modest growth reflected a 1.3 percent increase in durable goods inventories, which was partly due to a 5.3 percent jump in inventories of computer equipment.

On the other hand, non-durable goods inventories fell by 1.3 percent amid steep drops in inventories of farm product raw materials and petroleum and petroleum products.

The Commerce Department also said wholesale sales rose by 0.5 percent in December following a 1.0 percent increase in November.

Sales of durable goods edged up by 0.3 percent amid a jump in sales of lumber and other construction materials.