Kerry Lutz's--Financial Survival Network (general)

Brad Williams explains, for the first time ever, there’s a job opening for every unemployed worker

The big pickup in job openings has done what’s not ever been accomplished in the nearly two-decade history of this economic series — there’s now a job opening for every unemployed worker.

According to the latest data from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, there were 6.55 job openings in March. In March, there were 6.59 million unemployed, meaning there are 1.01 unemployed workers for every job.

In July 2009, just as the U.S. exited the Great Recession, there were 6.65 unemployed people for every available job.

The question now of course is how to get those unemployed workers into those jobs. It won’t be easy.

The fact that job openings have climbed so steadily — at a time when jobs growth is slowing — suggests that companies are now having a hard time finding the right workers.

A separate survey from the National Federation of Independent Business found that 88% of companies hiring or trying to hire reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill. Other business surveys report similar complaints.

Related: Small-business sentiment barely registers an increase in April

The standard retort to that point, is if the job market is so tight, why aren’t companies aggressively raising wages?

The fact is companies are increasing pay, though not at the rate typically associated with a tight labor market. While average hourly pay was just 2.6% in the 12 months ending April, the three-month average of median wage growth in March was a stronger 3.3%, according to Atlanta Fed data.

With higher-paid older workers leaving the workforce, the average rate of pay may be depressed.

Besides, the JOLTS report put the quits rate at the highest level since the recession. Workers are choosing to ditch their jobs presumedly because there’s incentive for them to do so.

Eric Hadik joined us for a look at current market conditions. With the exception of the US$, everything has pretty much been trendless or sideways. But getting towards the end of the year, Eric sees that all changing. Oil could be breaking $75 per barrel, gold could be hitting or exceeding $1450 per ounce and there could be declines in bonds and the stocks. As he explains, it's all connected and there's always the potential for wars, both the military and trade variety. Stay tuned till after the summer when this could get really interesting. 

Everything that can possibly go wrong in Italy is now going wrong. Once again they're edging into chaos. Right now they'd like to pull a rabbit out of a hat and save it all, but it's getting to the point where nothing can save them. The debt is just too high.

And speaking of that FSN Community Member Bill wants to know when the global monetary reset is coming. John is absolutely certain and believes it's just a matter of time. Where do you put your gold?There are a number of places to choose from. Hope we answered the question to everyone's liking. 

Sprott Asset Management's Jason Stevens is bullish on a few under-performing sectors, chief among them Uranium, fertilizer, dry bulk shipping and Canadian oil companies. These sectors have largely been left out of the recent financial orgy and for that reason, Jason thinks high quality entrants are the way to go. Every dog has its day, and while we may be late in the cycle, these industries could be ready to pop.

There's trouble brewing in Italy. The people have spoken and now the powers that be are seeking to set aside their verdict. As Gerald explains, the Italians have many just reasons for being upset. The so-called refugee crisis, the banking crisis and many other factors are making Italy increasingly less stable. If oils starts climbing due to Middle East instability, then gold should start rising quickly as well. Beware of the key $1450 per ounce resistance point. 

It's quite amusing and entertaining watching the Q anon cottage industry respond to the latest drops. Much of what is contained in these drops appears to be coming true. I'm still waiting for Hillary's arrest, but who knows? I'll settle for everyone other than Hillary and Obama being brought to justice. Many of you ask why isn't it happening sooner, faster. You're impatient for the swamp to be drained. The answer requires a little thought. Trump could simply sign 10 executive orders demanding that the whole matter be disclosed and action be taken. He could be just like Obama with his pen and phone. But will that really help restore the rule of law to America. We've been living in a state of increasing lawlessness arguably since the execution of JFK. The rule of law must be restored and using it in an uncorrupted way to bring these deep state actors will go a long way in that regard. This is a case where the process is almost as important as the substance. Trump and Sessions get that and they're doing their best to bring it about. Also a little Trumpian showmanship doesn't hurt either. Timing is everything and Trump is a master of it. 

In The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration: An America First Manifesto (releases May 21) authors John Zmirak and Al Perrotta emphasize why it is SO important that America BUILDS THE WALL.

“With a Wall, you know who’s coming through the door. If you need a ticket to get into a concert, you should need a ticket to get into the country.”

President Trump has been promoting a major increase in infrastructure spending. Howard Comes believes that it's not enough to spend more. Howard has personally investigated a number of failed South Carolina infrastructure projects and explains why these things happen. It's not a question of how much money gets spent, but rather the corruption and deliberate sabotage that takes place endangers the public and wastes our money on a colossal scale. Disasters like the recent FAU Bridge Collapse in Miami and the crumbling Oakland Bay Bridge span show that there is more accountability and standards. Until then these disasters will keep happening. 

Have you eaten at Chili's lately? Better check your credit card statement asap. They suffered a massive data breach that led to all credit card numbers and ccv codes being stolen by hackers. The hackers don't care about what you ate at Chili's, so your guacamole consumption habits are safe. The data in question was from diners between March and April of this years. That covers millions of card holders around the country. We keep you posted on the fallout. 

The more things change, the more they stay the same. When it comes to debt things never change. Since the beginning of time, man has been writing IOU's that often became uncollectible. The very act of farming required credit or the borrowing of other people's surpluses. Credit based on barter became very impractical and thus the need for money evolved. Today, even though we track everything on computers and global networks, the basic economic functions haven't evolved. And there's the rub. We haven't figured out how to make everyone whole and thus the need for frequent jubilees. Lending at interest kind of makes it all an inevitability. 

Los Angeles County is in an extreme crisis. The Sheriff's Office has become ineffectual due to horrible leadership and management. That's  where Bob Lindsey comes in. With 32 years experience in the upper echelons of the Sheriff's Office, no wonder 93% of the deputies overwhelmingly support his election efforts. With 1500 openings in the office, the need to reform the office has become urgent. Unfortunately, there's really no one else who is up to the job. That's why FSN is endorsing Bob Lindsey for LA County Sheriff. 

Frank Vernuccio says it's game on between Trump and the Deep State. Every day it becomes move obvious that the Deep State was out to sabotage Trump's campaign and after his victory they were try to depose him. Fortunately for the country, these plans failed miserably. But the fight isn't over yet. It's happening on a multitude of fronts, the Meuller Investigation, the Inspector General, the House and the Senate. It certainly appears that Trump has them on the run and is on his way to prevailing. 

Derrick Michael Reid is a long time listener to the show and a libertarian. He's now the libertarian candidate for California's US Senate seat. He became motivated to run for public office out of a desire to help rescue the country. He believes that there's a giant wealth transfer taking place from poor to rich or the powers that be. Derrick is ideally qualified to serve with his background as an engineer, military scientist and geopolitical analyst. And his stated goals of bringing back sound money and ending the deficit are right on point. Let's hope Californians come to their senses before it's too late. 

Mickey Fulp and FSN have been discussing the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to Brent Crude price ratio for nearly 7 years. During that we haven't seen any so-called reputable financial publications discuss the relevance or significance of the measure. All of a sudden, John reports, the WSJ screaming warnings from the rooftops claiming that the ratio is heading into dangerous territory. What's a truth seeker to do? Contrary to their contention, the ratio isn't sending up an oil price warning signal. Rather, it's very close to its historic average and could in fact be predicting a significant price decline. Let's see what happens next. 

Jeff Ferry writes "That for decades, economists have taught David Ricardo’s Law of Comparative Advantage as if it is an absolute law. But the tide is turning, as some highly respected economists are now moving away from the doctrinaire position that all free trade is always good everywhere, and they begin to acknowledge that free trade and large trade deficits have inflicted substantial harm on the U.S. economy."
 
"From the mid-1970s on, growing trade has also meant the growing loss of good-paying jobs to competitor nations. Around the year 2000, the process accelerated. Globalization entered a new phase, 'hyper-globalization,'" which has wrought much pain and destruction upon American industrial corporations. How do we end it and have a healthy economy in the process?

According to Trace Mayer, one of crypto currencies' earliest boosters, there's still a lot of opportunity to be had in the space. People will either figure it out or they'll be big losers. That's why you need to do your homework and not expect any governmental babysitter to protect them or come to their rescue once they've been scammed. His proprietary Mayer Multiple can help determine accurate values and keep you out of trouble. We'll be including it in our monthly reports from now on. 

Taylor Letterman is a relative newby to the Crypto currency space. He's been developing trading bots to take advantage of price differentials on the various exchanges. He's extremely bullish on security tokens which have a bright future ahead. There's obviously regulatory issues that must be dealt with in the mean time. If the SEC regulates Cryptos will sellers and dealers need to be licensed security dealers? Many questions need to be answered and will be addressed in the not too distant future. 

Our last headline on the subject Screw Q (anon) was a little click-baitish. We apologize if you mistook Dr. Jerome Corsi's opinion for ours. As we've said on numerous occasions, we're not taking anyone's words as true without a close analysis, especially an anonymous intel insider who may or may not exist.

But upon close inspection of his posts, we're more inclined to believe most of them, than not. Some of the interpretations by so-called anons or autists must be looked at even closer. It's like reading the Nostradamus Quatrains. Sometimes they can be interpreted to mean just about anything. For example, the idea that there are 20 plus thousand sealed indictments related to a wholesale Deep State cleaning cannot be proven and is probably off the wall. We personally ran reports in a number of Federal District Courts and found a slight increase in sealed cases. However, that doesn't mean that certain key people aren't in the process of being indicted, simply that the numbers don't prove the case. 

And watch what happens when these powers that bee finally understand that the jig is up. Expect a whole of suiciding and clearing of the decks, just like they did in the movie Casino. Because when it comes to somebody talking and spilling the beans, well you just never know. And who can take a chance? 

Against all odds and expectations of the establishment, the Trump Economy is going on all cylinders. Unfortunately, we're getting to the end of the cycle. Consumers are maxed out on goods and services. Andrew says we're scraping the bottom of the barrel to keep markets expanding. Right now interest rates are low enough so we can all ignore it. But the day is coming when higher interest rates will bring it all into focus. And then look out below. 

Michael Stumo says that President Trump has a lot on his plate. When it comes to trade, it's Trump against the world. With Chinese, EU and NAFTA trade disputes, Michael says that Trump's attention span is short and you can expect NAFTA to continue on as it has since passage. Except that no one knows Trump will do next. When it comes to DJT, expect the unexpected. 

When we last spoke with Nick he was predicting a major dollar rally. Everyone thought he that he was only on a few cylinders, but time has proven him correct yet again. The dollar is soaring and roaring and the Euro is tumbling and people are scratching their heads. It's been a tremendous market advance and Nick has cashed in. All is not well in Euroland and Deutsche Bank's chart is looking horrible. Greece has issues again and so does Italy and of course the ECB continues to buy debt to keep it all going. There's lots more in store. 

Russia has been running a surplus and is using the proceeds to buy gold and fix things up. Things are looking up. The demographic situation is improving and they're diversifying their economy. The question is what benefits they'll realize from their relative frugalness? 

The Mideast is a total basket case. Iraq is becoming Italy. There's widespread rioting in Israel due to the US opening of its embassy in Jerusalem. Is this a longer term deterioration of the situation or is it just business as usual for this troubled region of the world?

Henk Van Alphen is CEO of Wealth Minerals, (FSN Sponsor) an incredibly well situated Chilean Lithium producer, where a large portion of the world's Lithium is produced. While electric cars or EV's are gradually expanding market share in the USA, the story is much different in Asia. China and other countries, faced with horrible air pollution, have implemented aggressive policies to replace the internal combustion engine with electric power. The price of Lithium is likely to head much higher, which will greatly benefit producers like Wealth Minerals. Add to this the fact that most of the world's Lithium deposits have already been identified and are spoken for and it's obvious that this rising boat will lift all producers. There's just not a lot of unclaimed deposits available at anywhere approaching a reasonable investment. And that could very well mean the future for both Lithium and Wealth Minerals is very bright indeed. 

The truth about online marketing. It's easy if you know what you're doing, but the problem is that most people don't have a clue. That's where Mike Gazzola comes in. He has a number of students who have far outperformed him. From ordering, to private labeling, to finding the right product, Mike shows you how to set up systems that work. Support is the name of the game. He showed how a bizarre product like a watermelon slicer could wind up on page 1 of Amazon and rack up major sales. And that's just one example. There's many more opportunities just waiting to be uncovered. 

They're voting with their feet. 800,000 people set to leave New York and California due to the new tax act. The death knell of these states is that the state and local tax deduction under the new law is limited to $10,000 per annum. In California just 43,000 people will be paying an average of $225,000 more per year. Some leftist economists have the gaul to argue that tax increases of this magnitude in high tax states will have no affect. This is naive and untrue. The migration from high tax states to low tax states has been going on for the past 50 years. Refusal to admit this reality will only result in disaster.