Tuesday, September 12, 2017

The Financial Toll of Two Major Hurricanes


Within the span of 2 weeks, U.S. shores have been hit by 2 major hurricanes. Harvey which hit Texas and Southwest Louisiana in late August, and Irma making its way through the Florida coast. With the devastation left in their path, the question now is what is the financial toll on the U.S. after 2 major disasters? The toll for Harvey’s destruction is estimated to be anywhere between $70 and $90 billion, with only $35 billion protected by insurance, by RMS a disaster modeling firm. Analysts have predicted that Irma’s financial toll can reach up to $172 billion in the U.S. alone. Countries in the Caribbean are expected to see cost of up to $65 million from Irma alone. [more...]

The Equifax Storm


Equifax, the Atlanta-based company – one of America’s three giant credit reporting agencies – announced this September that hackers had penetrated its computers and stole data for at least 10 weeks before being detected on July 29. What these hackers stole, Equifax reported, were the names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, and other data of 143 million “customers” – nearly half the U.S. population. (“Customers” is in quotes because you likely never asked or agreed to be an Equifax customer, and you have no ability under current law to make them stop gathering personal financial data about you.) This attack struck 143 million Americans (most of whom have not yet felt it) and could put our nation underwater for years to come – perhaps even drown our personal and national economy and prosperity. [more...]

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Should the Trump Administration Pull Out from South Korea Trade Deal?


The Trump administration is considering withdrawing from KORUS (the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement). The data supports pulling out, but globalists - who support economic growth in other countries but support only Wall Street and Silicon Valley growth here - are freaking out. The case for pulling out of KORUS is stronger than the case for pulling out of NAFTA. First, Korea is a recidivist currency manipulator. It’s currency, the won, remained 14.4% undervalued in May, making Korean goods and services cheaper than they would be with a fairly-priced won. Mexico’s currency, in contrast, is not undervalued. Second, America's trade performance under the KORUS agreement is the worst among all U.S. trade deals. [more...]