Out on the streets

[Bill Bonner’s Diary]( Out on the Streets By Bill Bonner Thursday, September 2, 2021 When I search the faceless crowd A swirling mass of grays and black and white They don’t look real to me In fact, they look so strange – Salt of the Earth, The Rolling Stones [Bill Bonner] YOUGHAL, IRELAND – We saw [yesterday]( that the feds “invested” more than $27 trillion between 1980 and today… in wars, bailouts, and boondoggles. Return on investment = negative. This is not to say that some people didn’t make out very well. Stock market investors (the 10% of the country with substantial stock holdings, in the Dow, for example) saw their wealth increase more than 35 times… even as the economy grew only eight times. [As we showed a few weeks ago]( an investment in Raytheon, General Dynamics, and other war suppliers rose 10 times just since 2000, while the economy only doubled. And the “educators” running the public school system in Baltimore never missed a holiday or a paycheck… even while, in one third of the high schools there, not a single student was proficient in math. As for the faceless crowd, it ended up with $28 trillion in debt… and nothing to show for it. Recommended Link [$25 to Join the Biggest Investing Event in 400+ Years?]( [image]( What’s about to occur will be talked about for the next century or more… Investors simply haven’t seen an opportunity this big in 400+ years. (Not since the Dutch invented the world’s first stock in 1602.) And the man who picked the #1 tech stocks of 2016, 2018, 2019 & 2020 – based on returns... Believes trillions of dollars (and eventually Quadrillions) are at stake. But investors who follow his simple guidance... Can position themselves to profit for just $25. [Click here to learn more.]( -- What Equality? Our theme this week: How the masses get the Afghan treatment from their own corrupt elite. How do they cheat thee? Let us count the ways. Schools that don’t teach. Wars that can’t be won. Regulations, rules, standards, licenses, controls, restrictions, punishments. And most important, fake money, that makes the rich richer and everybody else poorer. [Featured: 2,000X Bigger than Bitcoin? Forbes calls THIS the Future]( Our friend David Stockman tells us that over the last 25 years, federal policies have added $30 trillion to the net wealth of the top 1% – or $23 million per household. That works out at just under $1 million per household per year. The bottom 50%, meanwhile, got a total of $1.5 trillion – $23,000 per household, which works out at less than $1,000 per year… a thousand times less than the rich. Equality is a fraud and a myth. But we’d just like a little honesty. And perhaps, if it is not asking too much, a little integrity. Recommended Link [This man has average returns of 281% a year over the past 5 years. Here’s his latest pick.]( [image]( Since Teeka Tiwari took over as editor of The Palm Beach Letter in 2016, the average annual return on his recommendations is 281%. That’s more than 14X better than the S&P 500’s yearly return over the same time frame. Since coming aboard, Teeka has made recommendations that have gone on to soar 14,737%, 46,219%, and even 151,323%. Those who have listened to his buy and sell recommendations have seen gains of 2,050%, 11,004%, 14,354% and even 37,573% recently. Now, Teeka has his next big new idea. He says this is by far the most important thing you should be doing with your money right now. [Click here to learn more.]( -- Out on the Street Yesterday, the eviction moratorium expired. Some 3.5 million Americans are behind on rent and now face put-outs. Goldman Sachs predicts that 750,000 of them will get tossed onto the streets by the end of the year. Who are these people? The CEOs and consultants… the stockholders… the professors… the reporters? Members of Congress? The rich? Nah… Mostly, they are the uncounted heads, the wavering millions… the people the feds say they are trying to help. Well… LOL and thanks a lot! Since March 2020, their champions, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, have told them they don’t have to pay their rent. And now, they need to come up with a big check. [Featured: WARNING: Is Your Bank on this List?]( Rent of $1,000 a month would mean they would need $17,000 to settle up. Do they have that kind of money to apply to back rent? Not likely. And rents are rising sharply. According to the Yardi Index, monthly payments for renting a house are rising 13% year to year, and apartments are going up at an 8% rate. Who is responsible for that? Did landlords suddenly become greedy? Nope again. Landlords don’t create inflation; they just respond to it. And what about owning a house? Here’s our sidekick, Dan Denning, writing from Laramie, Wyoming: Home prices, for example, were up 18.6% in June from the same time last year, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case Shiller National Home Price Index. That’s the largest annual gain in the history of the data set, going back to 1987. House prices in America are now 41% higher than they were at the top of the housing bubble in 2007. Whose wages are rising at an 18% rate? Not those of the working class… Recommended Link [[Shocking] Americans Now Banned from Essential Businesses]( [ad_img]( Something strange is happening in America… According to MarketWatch, ordinary Americans are being put on ‘restriction lists,’ banning them from using certain businesses. Widely-followed geopolitical analyst Nick Giambruno says, “Ban lists are just the beginning. When Americans see what’s coming by the end of this year, the unrest we saw in the first half of 2020 will look like the ‘good old days’ in the United States of America.” He explained that, in the coming months, millions of Americans will have a critical decision to make: Comply, or you could be shut out of the economy completely. Nick’s message is controversial… and not at all what you’ll hear from the legacy media. But for right now, you need to see Nick’s urgent message… [Click here now!]( -- Another Fine Mess And here’s another fine mess the feds have gotten us into. Here’s economics writer Jeffrey Tucker: Large corporate buys of homes designed to be flipped into rental properties are rocking the financial markets. Two companies – Invitation Homes (INVH) and American Homes 4 Rent (AMH) – are up 38% for the year. In addition, one in five purchases of homes this year have been corporate, with the intention of turning them into rents. Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, and Investco have committed some $11 billion to the cause. And there is more money pouring into building new properties designed as rentals. How come the big corporates are paying so much for houses? Oh, Dear Reader, we can’t believe you’re asking us that question. It’s the Fed. Credit ratings agency Moody’s tells us that the yield on an Aaa corporate bond – the highest rating – is about 2.5%… which is only about half the latest inflation reading. Another big payday for the speculators. They can buy a house for $300,000, using money they borrowed at 2.5%. Already, they’re making 2.5% on the financing, after inflation. If they rent the house out for $2,500 a month… it gives them a gross yield of 10%, plus the 2.5% financing boost. Then, thanks to the Fed’s money-printing and interest rate suppression, house prices are going up at an 18% rate, giving them a total (very gross) return of 30.5%. Of course, prospective homeowners can borrow, too… But the pros can borrow more cheaply… and they have a lot more money to work with. More tomorrow… In preview: Say a prayer for the “salt of the Earth.” They’re going to need it. Regards, [signature] Bill --------------------------------------------------------------- Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to [feedback@rogueeconomics.com](mailto:feedback@rogueeconomics.com?subject=Out on the streets). --------------------------------------------------------------- FEATURED READS [Warren Buffett Turns 91, Prepares for a New Economy]( Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, has not benefited from the explosive tech growth in the last several years, but as Buffett turns 91, this is changing. Berkshire recently invested in Apple, and is already seeing impressive growth… [Home Prices Hit Another Record in June]( prices soared at an annual rate of 18.6% in June, the third month in a row of record price appreciation. Housing has been one of the strongest sectors during the past 17 months of the pandemic, with no signs of a slowdown. MAILBAG One dear reader responds to a fellow reader's comment on the effectiveness of central planning in China… Andrew D, what an idiot. He thinks the Chinese central planning works. But he doesn’t talk about the oppressions imposed on the people. Speak against the government and you get to assume the position. I am beginning to think we have enough dummies, we should rename the country “Dumsville.” – Hipolito C. Other readers respond to Bill’s essays, “[Love of Labor Lost]( and “[Let’s Drink to the Hard-Working People]( Interest rates will skyrocket, in my opinion, if the Fed stops all their games. Labor participation has been going lower because workers, unions and our government believe they have a right to all the profits of a business with no risk on their part. Also because of the Fed and our governments (federal and state) messing with the interest rates, supply and demand economy, and taking us off the gold standard, the employee dollar is not relative to the prices continually increasing. Why work if you qualify to get everything for free? And yet a small amount of Americans do have pride and won't take a hand out. – Richard S. In regard to the stimmy checks for $600 a week for 52 weeks and whether or not they were needed. Hard to tell. At first, if the government shut down the businesses, (and how did that work for you?) then it seemed to make sense to offer some help. But not for as long as we taxpayers spent on this stimmy. Who am I to complain? The Paycheck Protection Program helped me in keeping payroll that was affected by a greater than 20% decline of hours and rates, and now that I look at it, the stimmy was a better deal in total dollars… but the difference is making up the shortfall. – Walter F. Lastly, one reader is just thrilled with Bill’s writing on history and economics… Loved it! Great historical review and summation. Too bad most Americans will never see it! But my buddies will! Thanks! – Joseph C. How are you preparing for the possibility of higher interest rates? Do you agree with Richard S.’ assessment, “why work if you qualify to get everything for free?” Write us at [feedback@rogueeconomics.com](mailto:feedback@rogueeconomics.com?subject=Out on the streets). IN CASE YOU MISSED IT… [Silicon Valley Millionaire warns: “Forget Bitcoin – put your money here instead”]( He picked the #1 returning tech stock on the S&P 500 in 4 years out of 5. Now he says this will be the #1 tech play of the next 12 months… and Silicon Valley is already investing billions in it… [Click here for the full story.]( [image]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Get Instant Access Click to read these free reports and automatically sign up for daily research. 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