Volkswagen Wants to Challenge Tesla

Volkswagen Soars 30% On Profit Upgrade, Plan To Dethrone Tesla https://t.co/S18e2SI4Ci

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 16, 2021

Illinoisans pay the highest state and local taxes in the nation

Illinoisans Are Over-Taxed, New Study Confirms https://t.co/nYzq9p8i0Y

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 16, 2021

RETIREMENT POINTS
from MarketWatch

Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Though it also has sugar-sand beaches and azure waters, Fort Walton Beach often gets overlooked in favor of its better-known Gulf Coast neighbors, Pensacola and Panama City. But this town has plenty to offer residents including fishing and world-class beaches; museums like the Emerald Coast Science Center, with a robotics exhibit and a hurricane simulator; and “a laid-back island spirit,” writes AARP. The cost of living here is 6% below average for the nation, according to Sperling’s Best Places; the median home costs around $150,000, according to Zillow (Z); and the state of Florida has no personal income tax. The biggest downside: Summers are brutally hot and humid.

Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Nestled on the shores of Lake Michigan, this “bustling” waterfront town boasts former fishing shanties that have now become restaurants and shops, though “the Great Lake’s long vistas, busy marinas and legendary waves — people actually surf here — are the main attraction,” AARP writes. Real estate is cheap (the median home is just over $100,000, according to Zillow) in this town of fewer than 10,000 residents, and the cost of living is well below average, according to Sperling’s. However, the biggest nearby city (Milwaukee) is a full 55 miles away and temperatures in the winter are regularly below freezing.

Abilene, Texas
Median homes here cost around $150,000 and there’s no income tax throughout the state, but Abilene is more than just cheap living. This “old West charmer” is “authentically Texan, with lots of boots, hats and barbecue joints,” AARP writes. “But it’s also “a fabulous town for foodies…while outstanding steak, barbecue and Mexican food are a given, there are also three Thai restaurants and an excellent wine bar called the Mill.” To some, Abilene may feel like it’s in the middle of nowhere (Dallas is more than two hours away), but, as Sperling’s points out, “The town has a good set of arts and cultural amenities for a town its size, and has been recognized for its use of the arts to preserve and revitalize the historic district.”

Bristol, Virginia/Tennessee
Bristol, which spans both Virginia and Tennessee, is “culturally fantastic,” says AARP’s Hickey -- with plenty of venues to see country music, myriad churches and volunteer opportunities and one of Nascar’s most popular venues, the Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s also known for its plethora of outdoor recreation (there are dozens of miles of hiking trails), she adds. Other perks are the climate, which is moderate, and the cost of living, which is 18% below average; however crime here is slightly higher than average, according to Sperling’s.

Cañon City, Colorado
The great outdoors is the big draw in Cañon City, which borders the Arkansas River and has myriad options for hiking, fishing and rock climbing, Hickey says. Plus, the city boasts more than 250 days of sunshine per year -- all the better for enjoying the great outdoors — and lacks the suburban sprawl and traffic of other Colorado destinations, she says. The cost of living here is nearly 10% below average homes are relatively affordable. However, some retirees may be put off by the city’s remoteness. (It’s roughly an hour from Colorado Springs and more than two hours from Denver.)

Equity is the net on any asset that you own.

Equity = Assets - Liability.  Investors and potential buyers measure the value of an asset by its equity.  

There is also shareholder's equity, stocks that represents ownership in a business.  Anothet name for ownership shares is stock.  

In accounting and finance, equity is the difference between the value of the assets and the cost of the liabilities of something owned.  For example, if someone owns a car worth $15,000 but owes $5,000 on a loan against that car, the car represents $10,000 equity.  Equity can be negative if liability exceeds assets.  

In an accounting context, shareholders' equity (or stockholders' equity, shareholders' funds, shareholders' capital or similar terms) represents the equity of a company as divided among shareholders of common or preferred stock.  Accounting shareholders are the cheapest risk bearers as they deal with the public.  Negative shareholders' equity is often referred to as sharesholders' deficit.  

For purposes of liquidation during bankruptcy, ownership equity is the equity which remains after all liabilities have been paid.  

This way we know. 

Interesting article from The Dollar Vigilante . . .

One of the inspirations for our name, The Dollar Vigilante, was what used to be called the Bond Vigilantes.

Okay, that was interesting to learn.  But what really caught my eye was this . . .

Last seen in full force in the inflationary early 1980s, bond vigilantes were anti-establishment figures who were said to have rebelled. They had decided to keep central banks and governments honest by raising long term interest rates in the open market. They would do so whenever the authorities kept their own interest rates too low, or let budget deficits grow out of control.

Read the rest here:

It was in 2010 that I overheard the term "bond vigilante" on a radio program once again and laughed for a moment, saying in my own head, Ah, yes, with interest rates at near zero or negative percent, Quantitative Easing to infinity and budget deficits in the US stretching the boundaries of belief, where are the bond vigilantes now?

And I thought to myself, "I guess the system is so far out of control now that you can't sell bonds to keep central banks or government under control as they'll just print up unlimited money to keep buying it."

I then had an epiphany and told myself, "What we need today are dollar vigilantes!"

That's what started this all...

In a sense, George Soros is a fellow dollar vigilante.  An outsider who once tried to break the system... and he did.

On September 16, 1992, Black Wednesday,  he sold short more than US$10 billion worth of pounds (which is just play money today but back then it was a massive amount) against the Bank of England. He was betting on its reluctance to raise its interest rates or float its currency.

The BoE finally withdrew the currency from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, devaluing the pound sterling, and earning Soros an estimated US$1.1 billion. He was dubbed "the man who broke the Bank of England”.

And for that, we cheer(ed) him!  What happened, in my estimation is that the ring of power (that's what the Lord of the Rings, by anarchist J.R.R. Tolkien was all about) is so strong that no one can be uncorrupted by it.

Anyway, George was called to Buckingham palace to see the Ring Master herself, the Queen of England. That must have been quite a conversation. Afterwards, George became a ring wraith.  He started his foundation and became the leftist power he is today.

He became part of the New World in other words.

These days he clearly functions at the highest (public) levels, overthrowing countries to support the coming global order. And he raises funds to support organizations like Black Lives Matter to keep the people divided and chaotic. The more social turmoil there is, the easier it is to manipulate people and even whole societies. That's how globalism is achieved.

SO WE MEET AGAIN

Now we meet George again. Not as a dollar vigilante but as a wring wraith and fellow gold buyer. He's heavily long on gold and short the US stock market.

He's plunging into gold buying 19 million shares from Barack Gold valued at over $260 million. He's purchased 1.05 million shares of the SPDR Gold Trust ETF and doubled his short-sell on the U.S. S&P 500 Index.

You can see the dramatic sell-off of long equity holdings here:

I have been writing for years that we are NOT heading for a period of high inflation. You are getting this idea from some other site. Search this site for "hyperinflation". 

You do not buy bonds to hold until maturity. You hold them for capital appreciation when rates fall. In recessions, 30-year T-bond rates fall.http://bit.ly/1HzNZuk Investors make profits.  --Gary North

The China Factor on Commodities?

Rick Rule, founder of Sprott Global Resources