Massive layoffs predicted in law schools

A plunge in the number of applicants to law schools will likely lead to closures and faculty layoffs, according to law professors following the statistics.

Based on current trends, the number of law school applicants for the 2013 school year is expected to number between 53,000 and 54,000, a 30-year low. In 2004, for example, 100,000 people applied to law schools, the New York Times reports. “Responding to the new environment,” the Times says, “schools are planning cutbacks and accepting students they would not have admitted before.”

Experts attribute the drop in interest to higher tuition costs and a decline in high-paying law firm jobs. University of Southern California law and economics professor Gillian Hadfield told the Times there is “a significant mismatch between demand and supply.” According to Hadfield, the problem is not an overproduction of lawyers. “Actually, we have an exploding demand for both ordinary folk lawyers and big corporate ones,” she said. But general practitioners dealing with matters like mortgages and divorce have a hard time making a living, she said. Big companies, on the other hand, aren’t satisfied with law schools’ emphasis on academics at the expense of practical training, she said. Read more >>

Food banks struggle as federal government hands out less

Consumers are not the only ones trying to stretch their food dollar in the face of rising prices. As the market demand for food increases, the federal government is buying less fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products to give to needy families. Food banks and pantries nationwide are feeling the pinch as they struggle to provide food to the hungry, especially as record numbers of families turn to them for help.

Although Food Finders Food Bank in Lafayette has managed to increase the amount of food distributed to area agencies in the last few years, it has recently seen cuts in the federal food that is donated. Kim Motuliak, director of operations at Food Finders Food Bank, said there has been a 39 percent drop in the amount of federal food donated this year compared to last.

In the first seven months of 2011, the food bank received 1.12 million pounds of food from the federal government to distribute to 170 nonprofit agencies in 16 counties across midnorth Indiana, including Tippecanoe County. Read more >>

With Every Government Printing, $3000 Conservative For Gold

Image by motoyen via Flickr

Joe Weisenthal
This seems to be a very common theme.

In his latest letter to investors, regarding the euro bailout, Kyle Bass revealed that he made a big gold buy on the grounds that everyone from Brussel to Tokyo was now in print-and-debase mode.

In his daily note, David Rosenberg says almost exactly the same thing:

Meanwhile, a new socialist government in Japan wants a weaker yen. Sterling has only one way to go in an environment of heightened political uncertainty and a balance sheet that is at least as extended as Greece. And the ECB just gave notice with its agreement to buy sovereign and corporate debt that it is willing to distort the pricing of risk in the bond market for the greater good of helping profligate countries to avoid either defaulting or certainly help them finance their obligations at a subsidized cost. The Bundesbank, this is not.

So gold is no government’s liability and the shape and shift in its supply curve is the shape would seem to be a little easier to make out than fiat currency. We may end up being overly conservative on our peak gold price forecast of $3,000
an ounce.

It seems hard to argue with the logic of the gold bulls right now, except that when everyone is making the same call, that's not usually a time for bullishness.

What else could be bearish for gold?

Well, if the real economy comes humming back, that could prompt investors to pour money into real assets. And if the world enjoys a shock bout of stability, then at least some of the fear premium could come out.