China Earthquake: The economic aftershocks

A Chinese friend of mine spent most of last week on the phone, checking up on family. He’s from Sichuan, the Chinese province most affected by last Monday’s earthquake. The death toll is now expected to exceed 50,000. But millions of homes and businesses have not just been destroyed. My friend’s family had no casualties to deplore—but even they have been spending the last week outside, in tents and in cars, as fear of aftershocks have disrupted life all across the region.

Sichuan and the surrounding areas are among the most populous in China. The province has 40 percent of China’s…

Dollar Reversal: Prepare for oil and gold prices to drop this week!

Net shorts on a decline in the euro came in at 21,315 on April 29 — compared with net longs of 18,907 a week earlier, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Currency strategists now expect the dollar reversal to reach $1.52 within the next few days.

That’s not a whole lot, compared to the epic decline of the greenback against the euro and almost all other major currencies over the past four years. So far, however, the U.S. currency has appreciated 3.6 percent from its record low of $1.6019 on April 22.

(As a reminder, $1.60 per euro had been…

VIDEO: Tax Rebate Conspiracy

Global Recession: China’s manufacturing base is in crisis

If you follow the financial media, especially the output of dollar-phobe analysts, you might think that “Pork problems perturbing Peking” are the worst concern China is dealing with right now. But rising prices for moo-shoo pork due to increasing middle class appetites and upticks in inflation may be the least concern to Beijing.

While analysts are sticking to their guns that the American Century is over and Asia a whole new kettle of koi, it looks like the Chinese economy is about to catch a heck of a cold as America’s consumers sniffle.

Light export industries are experiencing massive losses. Growth in…

Airline Profits to Plummet