Tag: news

There Are 199,235 “Ultra High Net Worth” People In The World With Over $30 Million In Assets

It is no secret that the bulk of “very rich people” in recent years has been created in Asia (where some $15 trillion in liquidity has entered broad circulation in just the past five years). As the FT reports, “Asia is producing more new wealth than any other part of the world at any point in history. Over the past five years, the assets of rich individuals have grown at triple the rate of the wealthy elsewhere, while the number of rich people has increased by twice that of other regions. Their number grew by almost 10 per cent to reach 3.7m last year, according to the survey, while their wealth expanded by 12 per cent to $12tn.” However, to find the truly ultra-high-net-worthy (UHNW), those with over $30 million in net assets, one has to go to the US and Europe – the places where Ben’s print baby print policy has most aggressively inflated the latest asset bubble, making the richest richester. “More people from the US and Europe entered this club in the past year than from anywhere else – the population in China and Brazil actually declined slightly.” So how many ultra-high-net-worth individuals are there? The answer: 199,235.

Some observations on how the UHNW allocate their wealth:

They will often have $20m tied in a business, with $5m in property and $5m to play with, says Mykolas Rambus, chief executive of Wealth-X.

…

For those with $30m or more, the first thing they want to buy once they hit that bracket is an aircraft, according to Bassam Salem, chief executive of Citi’s private bank in Asia.

 

“The newly rich are a bit more exuberant in terms of showing their wealth initially,” he says. “But it takes a little while to become ultra-wealthy for most. The richer you are, the less you want to show it in many countries.”

 

The exception to this is mainland China, where more people have become vastly rich in a much shorter time because of the explosive pace of growth in recent years. The average age of Citi’s ultra-rich clients in Asia excluding Japan is about 70, according to Mr Salem, whereas in China it is 35.

Another stunning age-related detail: “the average age of millionaires in China is about 33, but that of the world’s ultra-wealthy is 52.“

Naturally, the ultra wealthy – especially those from China – are the target audience of the UHNW advisors of the world.

“The reason this market is so lucrative is that a lot of the wealth is not very liquid yet,” he says. “They are likely to have a monetising event within a couple of years, like a listing, and they tend to spread their wealth around among a number of banks.”

 

There are many more potential clients among those with $5m or less, but they might only have liquid assets of $250,000 or less. “You cannot make money out of that in today’s high cost regimes,” Mr Rambus adds.

 

The newly rich can be much more demanding clients for private banks and other wealth managers, partly because they can take some convincing that a service they have never used or thought about is worth paying for. On top of this, as they are normally still tied in with their businesses, their investment expectations are for much higher returns than those who have been wealthier for longer and are more interested in preservation.

Sigh – the hard life of advising those for whom money is no object what to invest in…

Finally, if one moves beyond the merely UHNW set, and focuses squarely on the world’s billioanires, of which there are roughly 2170 as we observed previously, the story is a little different.

As Wealth-X reports, the average billionaire is worth US$3.0 billion with a liquidity of 18 percent, equal to US$545 million in cash and other liquid assets per person. This liquidity cushion of over half a billion dollars is higher than it was before the global financial crisis of five years ago, suggesting that the old mantra of “cash is king” remains as relevant as ever.

Private holdings still form the largest component of a typical billionaire’s wealth, with an average of over a US$1 billion in publicly-held companies on top of this.

The breakdown of the average billionaire’s wealth can be seen below:

Ah, the New Normal: $3 billion in assets for some, Wal-Mart stampedes for everyone else.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/hrCDvI_nx48/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Europe's Peak Youth Unemployment Gets Peak-er

Despite a ratings ‘upgrade’ Spain’s youth unemployment rate has re-surged to a record 57.4% (just below that of Greece which still tops the scary chart list at 58%). Italy and Portugal also saw notable rises (despite the former’s record low short-dated bond yields) at 41.2% and 36.5% respectively. Ireland and France saw modest improvements but overall the Euro-zone’s youth unemployment just keeps rising. In spite of all the rhetoric from Merkel, Van Rompuy, and Barroso, 24.4% of Europe’s under-25 population is unemployed…

 


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/5PjwGU8OJgE/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Europe’s Peak Youth Unemployment Gets Peak-er

Despite a ratings ‘upgrade’ Spain’s youth unemployment rate has re-surged to a record 57.4% (just below that of Greece which still tops the scary chart list at 58%). Italy and Portugal also saw notable rises (despite the former’s record low short-dated bond yields) at 41.2% and 36.5% respectively. Ireland and France saw modest improvements but overall the Euro-zone’s youth unemployment just keeps rising. In spite of all the rhetoric from Merkel, Van Rompuy, and Barroso, 24.4% of Europe’s under-25 population is unemployed…

 


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/5PjwGU8OJgE/story01.htm Tyler Durden

"Is This The Right Time To Get Into Gold?"

Today’s AM fix was USD 1,245.25, EUR 915.29 and GBP 763.07 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,241.75, EUR 913.12 and GBP 760.46 per ounce.

Yesterday the markets were closed in the U.S. for the Thanksgiving national holiday.
The closing fix in London was USD 1,245.50, EUR 915.54 and GBP 761.59 per ounce.

Gold continued its second day of gains in London, narrowing the largest monthly drop since June, as physical demand increased. Gold neared a 34-month low of $1,180.50/oz reached on June 28.


Gold in U.S. Dollars – 1 Week

There was more irregular price action in trading yesterday between 1800 and 1830 GMT. Gold had trended slightly higher in the afternoon and was trading at $1,244/oz prior to a sharp but very brief spike to $1,254/oz and then sharp concentrated selling saw gold fall by more than $20 to $1,231/oz.

The trading was unusual as foreign exchange markets saw no price movements of note, nor did the silver, platinum and palladium markets.

Contrary to frequent assertions, recent losses are unlikely to be due to the continual concerns of ‘tapering’. The U.S. Fed policy minutes released on November 20 suggested that an improving economy would warrant trimming debt purchases in the coming months. While U.S. economic data this week showed jobless claims unexpectedly decreased, the data has been mixed at best and the U.S. economy continues to struggle.

Buying from China, set to become the world’s biggest buyer of gold this year by a long way, picked up this week as prices continued to be under pressure. On Thursday, traded volumes of 99.99 percent purity gold on the Shanghai Gold Exchange hit their highest in seven weeks and Chinese gold premiums closed at $26 with Shanghai gold closing at $1,267.82/oz.
 
Russian bank VTB said overnight that it has begun exporting gold and silver bullion to India to expand its business in the Asia Pacific region. Indian demand for gold remains very robust and is so strong this wedding season that the short supply is forcing families to melt down and recycle family heirlooms.

Momentum and technical traders are dominant at the moment and with the short term trend down, gold may incur further losses in the short term.

Despite the very poor sentiment after recent price falls, gold’s fundamentals are actually quite sound.

Global physical demand is set to be very high again this year and may even reach a new record, despite the 25% price fall. This is especially the case, as Chinese demand is set to have new record this year despite the recent slight decline in demand. China’s net imports of gold from

Hong Kong alone in October reached the second-highest level on record last month. This does not include direct imports from Australia, Africa, Vietnam and other countries.
Indeed, Chinese demand this year looks set to be a new record for the highest gold demand from one country in one year ever. It is important to look at the aggregate annual demand figures rather than the ebb and flows of weekly and monthly data which can mislead.

Despite what is likely to prove short term weakness, the smart money is gradually accumulating on the dips. Dollar cost averaging remains prudent for buyers who wish to have an allocation to bullion but are concerned about further price falls.

“Is This The Right Time To Get Into Gold?”
Slow But Steady – Dollar Cost Averaging Remains Prudent
“Is this the right time to get into gold?” is a question we have been asked by clients and the public nearly every day for the last 10 years.

“Prices have gone up too much. I’ve missed the boat” was frequently how many of the public answered their own question. This was often the refrain, especially in the period from 2006 to 2010 when gold prices rose from $500/oz to $1,400/oz.

We first heard those concerns in late 2005 when gold prices rose to over $500/oz. One caller was adamant and said “I am not buying gold after its price has doubled in just 5 years”.


Gold in U.S. Dollars – 10 Years

More recently, the frequent refrain has been “prices are falling as the gold bubble has burst and gold is a bad investment.” And indeed, “I am not buying as gold prices are down 25% this year and 35% since the record high in August.”

These are understandable concerns. People do not want to lose their hard earned cash buying something that will fall in value.

However, there is a way that one can invest in or buy gold and sleep easy at night knowing that you do not have to be concerned about price falls. There are rarely free lunches in life, and that is particularly true when it comes to investing and saving.

However, there are two free lunches when it comes to investing. They are diversification or not having all your eggs in one basket and secondly a less well known but important strategy –
Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA).

Once you have learned about the power of dollar cost averaging you will be a better investor and a better gold investor and buyer.

Dollar-cost averaging or pound or euro cost averaging means putting the same amount of dollars, pounds or euros each month into an investment or asset, such as equities or gold. That is all it is.

Why put your hard earned cash into physical gold every month?

Because gold, while having bad days — even bad years as we see this year — goes up over time. When you accumulate a set amount — say 100 dollars, pounds or euros per month — your paper currency will buy you fewer ounces of gold when gold prices have risen, and more ounces of gold when gold prices are lower.

When you put dollar-cost averaging to work, you can relax, knowing that you don’t have to track or time the market – which even the professionals consistently fail to do.
Buying gold in a falling market sounds easy, but most people don’t have the stomach to do it. This has been seen graphically seen in recent months – particularly in western markets where sentiment is negative towards gold.

In fact, the gold market like many traded markets is the only place where people seem to get more interested when the prices are rising sharply. They are less interested when gold is “on sale” after falls in price.

This was graphically shown in 2011, when despite gold becoming overvalued when it surged from $1,500/oz on July 1st to over $1,900/oz on August 28th or 26.6% in less than two months.


Gold in U.S. Dollars – January 2011 – January 2012

August 2011 was a time to be cautious and not “pile in” after huge price gains. A strategy of dollar cost averaging at this time would have protected buyers from the subsequent price falls and the price falls of recent years. 

Dollar-cost averaging is easy to understand and even easier to do with gold ingold accumulation programmes. It will have a positive long-term effect on your portfolio by helping you to achieve diversification with safe haven gold.

The slow and steady approach of dollar cost averaging in gold accumulation programmes such as GoldSaver remain a prudent and wise way to accumulate gold. GoldSaver was the first gold accumulation programme in western markets. While Gold Accumulation Programmes are popular in Asia – in Japan
and more recently China and India, they were not known in European and American markets.

Some argue that using dollar cost averaging is the sensible approach to investing in precious metals, because for many investors jumping headfirst into gold seems like a risky strategy.

What do you want from this strategy?

The objective of dollar cost averaging is to avoid a sudden fall in the value of your investment or asset soon after purchase. The thinking behind it is that by gradually moving your money into an investment, you can avoid large losses. This is a good idea, as all markets including the precious metal markets are volatile – and they look set to get more so.

Often it is argued that the logic behind dollar cost averaging is turned on its head when it comes to investing in precious metals. Because gold and silver are purchased mainly for portfolio diversification and as a long run inflation hedge, many believe the best strategy is to buy your protective metal in one go, and then forget about it – you know it will rise to the occasion when you need it most.

True, but since the whole idea behind holding gold in the first place is to protect against a market crash, systemic crisis or currency devaluation, any steps you have taken to shield your wealth will be beneficial. Think of it this way: if there was a high possibility that contents of your house were about to be robbed, does it matter whether you pay your home insurance in instalments or as a once off lump sum?

This is especially the case for smaller investors who cannot afford a large lump sum investment.

Also, it is better to have some insurance rather than none. With gold, you can purchase a small lump sum and then dollar cost average with the rest of your position.
Dollar-cost averaging is all about minimizing large losses, and is normally used when an investor has a strong suspicion the market will move up but doesn’t want to commit too quickly.

However, dollar-cost averaging can also be used in conditions where the market is expected to go down. Precious metals move in the opposite direction from the market, which is the precise reason why investors should hold them in a portfolio. When it comes to moving your money into this asset, it’s not about the traditional taking on of more risk for a higher reward; rather, it’s about building up the protection you need if stock or bond markets take a nosedive. Most of our pensions remain allocated almost exclusively to just equities and bonds.

The greatest benefit of using dollar-cost averaging with precious metals is that it allows less sure or confident investors to advance carefully into new territory.
It is consistently the case that at the times we are most likely to need insurance we are least likely to have it. Human nature dictates that the most difficult time for us psychologically to cough up a chunk of cash to protect against risks is when everything seems to be ticking along just fine.
This is especially true for the majority of us who are trying to make money, rather than simply hanging on to a large amount of wealth generating assets.

However, dollar cost averaging is not just for smaller investors or buyers. We have wealthy clients who we have advised to gradually accumulate a position over a period of months. One client bought $100,000’s worth of gold bars on the 7th of each month for 7 months. He likes the number 7.
Today, the case for using gold as a protective cover or financial insurance cannot be understated.

With markets chugging along on a veritable life support system, and each round of QE prolonging this degenerative condition at the expense of us all, there has never been a better time to gradually move your wealth into the best financial insurance out there – gold. 


Gold in U.S. Dollars – 5 Year

Click Gold News For This Week’s Breaking Gold And Silver News
Click Gold and Silver Commentary For This Week’s Leading Gold, Silver Opinion
Like Our YouTube Page For The Latest Insights, Documentaries and Interviews
Like Our Facebook Page For Interesting Insights, Blogs, Prizes and Special Offers

 


    



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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/m7JMx3Ng-zQ/story01.htm GoldCore

“Is This The Right Time To Get Into Gold?”

Today’s AM fix was USD 1,245.25, EUR 915.29 and GBP 763.07 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,241.75, EUR 913.12 and GBP 760.46 per ounce.

Yesterday the markets were closed in the U.S. for the Thanksgiving national holiday.
The closing fix in London was USD 1,245.50, EUR 915.54 and GBP 761.59 per ounce.

Gold continued its second day of gains in London, narrowing the largest monthly drop since June, as physical demand increased. Gold neared a 34-month low of $1,180.50/oz reached on June 28.


Gold in U.S. Dollars – 1 Week

There was more irregular price action in trading yesterday between 1800 and 1830 GMT. Gold had trended slightly higher in the afternoon and was trading at $1,244/oz prior to a sharp but very brief spike to $1,254/oz and then sharp concentrated selling saw gold fall by more than $20 to $1,231/oz.

The trading was unusual as foreign exchange markets saw no price movements of note, nor did the silver, platinum and palladium markets.

Contrary to frequent assertions, recent losses are unlikely to be due to the continual concerns of ‘tapering’. The U.S. Fed policy minutes released on November 20 suggested that an improving economy would warrant trimming debt purchases in the coming months. While U.S. economic data this week showed jobless claims unexpectedly decreased, the data has been mixed at best and the U.S. economy continues to struggle.

Buying from China, set to become the world’s biggest buyer of gold this year by a long way, picked up this week as prices continued to be under pressure. On Thursday, traded volumes of 99.99 percent purity gold on the Shanghai Gold Exchange hit their highest in seven weeks and Chinese gold premiums closed at $26 with Shanghai gold closing at $1,267.82/oz.
 
Russian bank VTB said overnight that it has begun exporting gold and silver bullion to India to expand its business in the Asia Pacific region. Indian demand for gold remains very robust and is so strong this wedding season that the short supply is forcing families to melt down and recycle family heirlooms.

Momentum and technical traders are dominant at the moment and with the short term trend down, gold may incur further losses in the short term.

Despite the very poor sentiment after recent price falls, gold’s fundamentals are actually quite sound.

Global physical demand is set to be very high again this year and may even reach a new record, despite the 25% price fall. This is especially the case, as Chinese demand is set to have new record this year despite the recent slight decline in demand. China’s net imports of gold from

Hong Kong alone in October reached the second-highest level on record last month. This does not include direct imports from Australia, Africa, Vietnam and other countries.
Indeed, Chinese demand this year looks set to be a new record for the highest gold demand from one country in one year ever. It is important to look at the aggregate annual demand figures rather than the ebb and flows of weekly and monthly data which can mislead.

Despite what is likely to prove short term weakness, the smart money is gradually accumulating on the dips. Dollar cost averaging remains prudent for buyers who wish to have an allocation to bullion but are concerned about further price falls.

“Is This The Right Time To Get Into Gold?”
Slow But Steady – Dollar Cost Averaging Remains Prudent
“Is this the right time to get into gold?” is a question we have been asked by clients and the public nearly every day for the last 10 years.

“Prices have gone up too much. I’ve missed the boat” was frequently how many of the public answered their own question. This was often the refrain, especially in the period from 2006 to 2010 when gold prices rose from $500/oz to $1,400/oz.

We first heard those concerns in late 2005 when gold prices rose to over $500/oz. One caller was adamant and said “I am not buying gold after its price has doubled in just 5 years”.


Gold in U.S. Dollars – 10 Years

More recently, the frequent refrain has been “prices are falling as the gold bubble has burst and gold is a bad investment.” And indeed, “I am not buying as gold prices are down 25% this year and 35% since the record high in August.”

These are understandable concerns. People do not want to lose their hard earned cash buying something that will fall in value.

However, there is a way that one can invest in or buy gold and sleep easy at night knowing that you do not have to be concerned about price falls. There are rarely free lunches in life, and that is particularly true when it comes to investing and saving.

However, there are two free lunches when it comes to investing. They are diversification or not having all your eggs in one basket and secondly a less well known but important strategy –
Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA).

Once you have learned about the power of dollar cost averaging you will be a better investor and a better gold investor and buyer.

Dollar-cost averaging or pound or euro cost averaging means putting the same amount of dollars, pounds or euros each month into an investment or asset, such as equities or gold. That is all it is.

Why put your hard earned cash into physical gold every month?

Because gold, while having bad days — even bad years as we see this year — goes up over time. When you accumulate a set amount — say 100 dollars, pounds or euros per month — your paper currency will buy you fewer ounces of gold when gold prices have risen, and more ounces of gold when gold prices are lower.

When you put dollar-cost averaging to work, you can relax, knowing that you don’t have to track or time the market – which even the professionals consistently fail to do.
Buying gold in a falling market sounds easy, but most people don’t have the stomach to do it. This has been seen graphically seen in recent months – particularly in western markets where sentiment is negative towards gold.

In fact, the gold market like many traded markets is the only place where people seem to get more interested when the prices are rising sharply. They are less interested when gold is “on sale” after falls in price.

This was graphically shown in 2011, when despite gold becoming overvalued when it surged from $1,500/oz on July 1st to over $1,900/oz on August 28th or 26.6% in less than two months.


Gold in U.S. Dollars – January 2011 – January 2012

August 2011 was a time to be cautious and not “pile in” after huge price gains. A strategy of dollar cost averaging at this time would have protected buyers from the subsequent price falls and the price falls of recent years. 

Dollar-cost averaging is easy to understand and even easier to do with gold ingold accumulation programmes. It will have a positive long-term effect on your portfolio by helping you to achieve diversification with safe haven gold.

The slow and steady approach of dollar cost averaging in gold accumulation programmes such as GoldSaver remain a prudent and wise way to accumulate gold. GoldSaver was the first gold accumulation programme in western markets. While Gold Accumulation Programmes are popular in Asia – in Japan and more recently China and India, they were not known in European and American markets.

Some argue that using dollar cost averaging is the sensible approach to investing in precious metals, because for many investors jumping headfirst into gold seems like a risky strategy.

What do you want from this strategy?

The objective of dollar cost averaging is to avoid a sudden fall in the value of your investment or asset soon after purchase. The thinking behind it is that by gradually moving your money into an investment, you can avoid large losses. This is a good idea, as all markets including the precious metal markets are volatile – and they look set to get more so.

Often it is argued that the logic behind dollar cost averaging is turned on its head when it comes to investing in precious metals. Because gold and silver are purchased mainly for portfolio diversification and as a long run inflation hedge, many believe the best strategy is to buy your protective metal in one go, and then forget about it – you know it will rise to the occasion when you need it most.

True, but since the whole idea behind holding gold in the first place is to protect against a market crash, systemic crisis or currency devaluation, any steps you have taken to shield your wealth will be beneficial. Think of it this way: if there was a high possibility that contents of your house were about to be robbed, does it matter whether you pay your home insurance in instalments or as a once off lump sum?

This is especially the case for smaller investors who cannot afford a large lump sum investment.

Also, it is better to have some insurance rather than none. With gold, you can purchase a small lump sum and then dollar cost average with the rest of your position.
Dollar-cost averaging is all about minimizing large losses, and is normally used when an investor has a strong suspicion the market will move up but doesn’t want to commit too quickly.

However, dollar-cost averaging can also be used in conditions where the market is expected to go down. Precious metals move in the opposite direction from the market, which is the precise reason why investors should hold them in a portfolio. When it comes to moving your money into this asset, it’s not about the traditional taking on of more risk for a higher reward; rather, it’s about building up the protection you need if stock or bond markets take a nosedive. Most of our pensions remain allocated almost exclusively to just equities and bonds.

The greatest benefit of using dollar-cost averaging with precious metals is that it allows less sure or confident investors to advance carefully into new territory.
It is consistently the case that at the times we are most likely to need insurance we are least likely to have it. Human nature dictates that the most difficult time for us psychologically to cough up a chunk of cash to protect against risks is when everything seems to be ticking along just fine.
This is especially true for the majority of us who are trying to make money, rather than simply hanging on to a large amount of wealth generating assets.

However, dollar cost averaging is not just for smaller investors or buyers. We have wealthy clients who we have advised to gradually accumulate a position over a period of months. One client bought $100,000’s worth of gold bars on the 7th of each month for 7 months. He likes the number 7.
Today, the case for using gold as a protective cover or financial insurance cannot be understated.

With markets chugging along on a veritable life support system, and each round of QE prolonging this degenerative condition at the expense of us all, there has never been a better time to gradually move your wealth into the best financial insurance out there – gold. 


Gold in U.S. Dollars – 5 Year

Click Gold News For This Week’s Breaking Gold And Silver News
Click Gold and Silver Commentary For This Week’s Leading Gold, Silver Opinion
Like Our YouTube Page For The Latest Insights, Documentaries and Interviews
Like Our Facebook Page For Interesting Insights, Blogs, Prizes and Special Offers

 


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/m7JMx3Ng-zQ/story01.htm GoldCore

Wal-Mart Plagued By The "Wrong Kind" Of Lines On Black Friday

Yesterday, it was fast-food workers explaining that a 100% minimum wage rise “would do just fine” and today it is Wal-Mart employees pressing for a 50% rise. As McClatchy reports, Wal-Mart employees plan to disrupt operations at 1,500 of the company’s stores on Black Friday. “Wal-Mart raked in $15.7 billion in profits last year alone, but apparently they don’t feel any need to share that wealth with their millions of workers,” rages one union campaign organizer as they hope the protests will also put pressure on Congress to increase the minimum wage. The reality of raising the minimum wage remains lost on most who never stop to think of where the ‘money’ comes from. But the protest lines and “unprecedented” disruption is unlikely to encourage Wal-Mart executives to soften their stance.

 

 

Here’s Harry Reid’s clarifications…

 

 

 

And the magical job creation he envisions…

 

 

 

So why not raise it to $20 or $30 per hour? Think of the jobs that would ‘create’?

 

And for those that are still unsure of why doubling the minimum wage is not the great idea some politicians suggest… here is four-and-a-half minutes of painful truth…

As professor Antony Davies explains that this view of the minimum wage overlooks an important detail:

 

The minimum wage does not force employers to pay a particular wage to every worker; it forces employers to pay a particular wage to every worker they choose to keep.

 

While the minimum wage may be well-intentioned public policy, it often huts the very workers most in need of our help.

 


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/U6Duy5w0IPQ/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Wal-Mart Plagued By The “Wrong Kind” Of Lines On Black Friday

Yesterday, it was fast-food workers explaining that a 100% minimum wage rise “would do just fine” and today it is Wal-Mart employees pressing for a 50% rise. As McClatchy reports, Wal-Mart employees plan to disrupt operations at 1,500 of the company’s stores on Black Friday. “Wal-Mart raked in $15.7 billion in profits last year alone, but apparently they don’t feel any need to share that wealth with their millions of workers,” rages one union campaign organizer as they hope the protests will also put pressure on Congress to increase the minimum wage. The reality of raising the minimum wage remains lost on most who never stop to think of where the ‘money’ comes from. But the protest lines and “unprecedented” disruption is unlikely to encourage Wal-Mart executives to soften their stance.

 

 

Here’s Harry Reid’s clarifications…

 

 

 

And the magical job creation he envisions…

 

 

 

So why not raise it to $20 or $30 per hour? Think of the jobs that would ‘create’?

 

And for those that are still unsure of why doubling the minimum wage is not the great idea some politicians suggest… here is four-and-a-half minutes of painful truth…

As professor Antony Davies explains that this view of the minimum wage overlooks an important detail:

 

The minimum wage does not force employers to pay a particular wage to every worker; it forces employers to pay a particular wage to every worker they choose to keep.

 

While the minimum wage may be well-intentioned public policy, it often huts the very workers most in need of our help.

 


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/U6Duy5w0IPQ/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Spock's Wisest Words

I have been a fan of Star Trek (the original series) ever since I was a child. The show means a lot to me on multiple levels, and I spent many hours in my youth watch and re-watching every episode. (And this is before we had these here newfangled VCRs and DVDs. You actually had to wait for a certain time of day when an episode, which you couldn’t control, would appear. Get off my lawn!)

In my present-day house, in which I’m now the dad and I’ve got children of my own, the television is almost never on. Out of a combination of tradition and curiousity, though, I turn on the Thanksgiving Day “Parade” (which is mostly just commercials and promotional snippets from Broadway shows) for my kids to watch. Of course, in between very brief glimpses of the actual parade, there was a lot of time devoted to Black Friday this and Black Friday that, with consumerism blasting its garish, vulgar grasping palms of desire by way of advertisements.

Yesterday was a disturbing day for me on multiple fronts, and one of those fronts was my disgust at all the crap being pushed on both children and adults. One commercial in particular was from Toys R Us, highlighting the fact that their doors would open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving for all the brats to burst through the front, rush through the aisles, and demand that their parents pay for whatever boxes of stuff made in China that they wanted.

Now I was a kid once too, and I liked toys as much as the next child, but over the years, I have grown increasingly aware of the fact of how short-lived the pleasure of Getting Stuff is. Whether it’s a toy as a child or a sports car as an adult, once you’ve actually got whatever it is that you thought you couldn’t live without, well, it just sort of blends into normalcy.

Which brings me to Spock. In Amok Time, one of the great original episodes, Spock has to battle to1129-spock the death with Kirk in order to score his Vulcan ‘tang in the form of T’Pring. Near the end of the episode, Kirk is ostensibly dead, and Spock, the victor, decides that his Vulcan male rival, Stonn, can marry T’Pring. He says to him something which I’ve remembered my entire life:

Stonn. She is yours. After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.

(FUN FACT offered by your favorite blogger: Arlene Martel, who played T’Pring, was, in real life, married and divorced no fewer than three times; so I suspect her ex-husbands would probably approve of Spock’s wisdom).

I have thought of Spock’s words many times. I’m not sure – – and I’m being very serious here – – that the world has always been as grasping, covetous, and wretchedly excessive as it appears to me now, or if I’m simply waking up to something that has always been there. But this entire season of buying crap is simpy grotesque to me. And the greatest irony of all is that, once all the wrapping paper has been shoved into landfill, the thrills will evaporate, the smiles will fade, and kids and adults alike won’t be any more content than they were than before they had whatever that Thing is that had to be bought.

Wanting is better than having, and we all do too much of each.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/xAFp331Sf_0/story01.htm Tim Knight from Slope of Hope

Spock’s Wisest Words

I have been a fan of Star Trek (the original series) ever since I was a child. The show means a lot to me on multiple levels, and I spent many hours in my youth watch and re-watching every episode. (And this is before we had these here newfangled VCRs and DVDs. You actually had to wait for a certain time of day when an episode, which you couldn’t control, would appear. Get off my lawn!)

In my present-day house, in which I’m now the dad and I’ve got children of my own, the television is almost never on. Out of a combination of tradition and curiousity, though, I turn on the Thanksgiving Day “Parade” (which is mostly just commercials and promotional snippets from Broadway shows) for my kids to watch. Of course, in between very brief glimpses of the actual parade, there was a lot of time devoted to Black Friday this and Black Friday that, with consumerism blasting its garish, vulgar grasping palms of desire by way of advertisements.

Yesterday was a disturbing day for me on multiple fronts, and one of those fronts was my disgust at all the crap being pushed on both children and adults. One commercial in particular was from Toys R Us, highlighting the fact that their doors would open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving for all the brats to burst through the front, rush through the aisles, and demand that their parents pay for whatever boxes of stuff made in China that they wanted.

Now I was a kid once too, and I liked toys as much as the next child, but over the years, I have grown increasingly aware of the fact of how short-lived the pleasure of Getting Stuff is. Whether it’s a toy as a child or a sports car as an adult, once you’ve actually got whatever it is that you thought you couldn’t live without, well, it just sort of blends into normalcy.

Which brings me to Spock. In Amok Time, one of the great original episodes, Spock has to battle to1129-spock the death with Kirk in order to score his Vulcan ‘tang in the form of T’Pring. Near the end of the episode, Kirk is ostensibly dead, and Spock, the victor, decides that his Vulcan male rival, Stonn, can marry T’Pring. He says to him something which I’ve remembered my entire life:

Stonn. She is yours. After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.

(FUN FACT offered by your favorite blogger: Arlene Martel, who played T’Pring, was, in real life, married and divorced no fewer than three times; so I suspect her ex-husbands would probably approve of Spock’s wisdom).

I have thought of Spock’s words many times. I’m not sure – – and I’m being very serious here – – that the world has always been as grasping, covetous, and wretchedly excessive as it appears to me now, or if I’m simply waking up to something that has always been there. But this entire season of buying crap is simpy grotesque to me. And the greatest irony of all is that, once all the wrapping paper has been shoved into landfill, the thrills will evaporate, the smiles will fade, and kids and adults alike won’t be any more content than they were than before they had whatever that Thing is that had to be bought.

Wanting is better than having, and we all do too much of each.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/xAFp331Sf_0/story01.htm Tim Knight from Slope of Hope

Japan Dispatches F-15s, E-767s And P-3 Into China's Air Defense Zone, China Scrambles Su-30 In Response

China’s escalation and re-escalation described in detail yesterday, has just been met with a corresponding re-re-escalation by Japan.

  • China’s Ministry of Defense reports that the nation identified Japanese military planes that entered into Chinese air defense identification zone today.
  • 7 batches of 10 Japanese planes consisting of E-767, P-3 and F-15 entered into the zone
  • China has also identified 2 batches of 2 U.S. surveillance planes consisting of P-3 and EP-3, without specifying whether the planes entered into the zone
  • China scrambled Su-30, J-11 and other aircraft in response.

And now it’s China’s turn to, once again, respond. And then Japan and the US again, and so on, until someone gets hurt.

Source


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/vp55kCBqcow/story01.htm Tyler Durden