Category Archive: 5) Global Macro

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Another Historic Social Security Cost of Living Increase is on the Way

2022-08-03

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2022-08-03

It’s almost time for the Social Security Administration to break out pencil and calculator to find out how much more it costs to live this year than it did last, and then decide how much of a raise Social Security beneficiaries will get in 2023. For 2022, the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) was 5.9%, the largest increase since 1982.

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Can We "Export Inflation?" Yes We Can, Yes We Are

2022-08-03

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2022-08-03

A strong currency exports inflation to those nations which do not issue the currency. Though it's difficult to be confident of anything in the current flux, I am pretty confident of three things: 1) price is set on the margins 2) currencies are the foundation of every economy 3) the financial forecasts issued to calm the public do not reflect operative geopolitical goals.

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How Much of "Inflation" Is the Price Being Jacked Up Under the Excuse of "Inflation"?

2022-08-02

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2022-08-02

The problem for global corporations feasting on "Inflation" profiteering is that the vast majority of consumers can't afford another lavish vacation, overpriced vehicle or specious subscription.

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What Can The Beatles Teach Us about Management?

2022-08-01

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2022-08-01

Own your work. Don't give it away or let others profit at your expense. Leverage it when opportunities arise. What can The Beatles teach us about management?Young readers may wonder why The Beatles still matter 52 years after the band broke up. It's a fair question.

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Weekly Market Pulse: Opposite George

2022-08-01

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2022-08-01

It all became very clear to me sitting out there today, that every decision I’ve ever made, in my entire life, has been wrong. My life is the complete opposite of everything I want it to be. Every instinct I have, in every aspect of life, be it something to wear, something to eat… It’s all been wrong.

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There Won’t Be Any Winners Because The Status Quo Is Corrupt Everywhere

2022-07-28

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2022-07-28

Systemic corruption on this vast scale optimizes failure and collapse. Debating which nations will "win" as the global economy unravels is a popular but pointless parlor game.Since the status quo in every nation is deeply, profoundly, systemically corrupt, there won't be any "winners," there will only be losers.

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What’s Truly Important? The Global Revaluation Is Accelerating

2022-07-27

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2022-07-27

How much gold will you trade for a few eggs? It depends on how hungry you are. Two ideas will help us understand the rest of this tumultuous decade: core-periphery and the revaluation of what's truly important: systemic adaptability, transparency, accountability, risk, capital and resources.

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Why the Labor Shortage Isn’t Going Away

2022-07-21

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2022-07-21

It's getting hard to fill toxic low-pay jobs, and that's not going to change. The nature of work and the labor market are changing in ways few discern or perhaps are willing to discern because these changes are disrupting the exploitive system they want to remain unchanged. But refusing to discern change doesn't stop change.

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The Real Policy Error Is Expanding Debt and Calling It "Growth"

2022-07-20

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2022-07-20

Waste is not growth, and neither are the unlimited expansion of debt and speculative bubbles. The financial punditry is whipping itself into a frenzy about a Federal Reserve "policy error," which is code for "if the music finally stops, we're doomed!"

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Ask Bob: Is Maxing Out Your 401k A Good Investment Decision?

2022-07-20

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2022-07-20

Since the beginning of 401(k) plans in 1978, people have considered it to be the quintessential retirement plan—you get to save money before taxes and in most cases, the company puts money into your account, too. What could be better than that? But now, 44 years later, it’s time to take a broader look at 401(k)s that considers taxes on 401(k) distributions.

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The Only Real Solution Is Default

2022-07-19

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2022-07-19

The destruction of 'phantom wealth' via default has always been the only way to clear the financial system of unpayable debt burdens and extremes of rentier / wealth dominance. The notion that the world could always borrow more money as long as interest rates were near-zero was never sustainable.

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Weekly Market Pulse: There Is No Certainty In Investing

2022-07-18

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2022-07-18

Investors crave certainty. They want to know that there are definitive signals for them to follow as they adjust their investments to fit the current market and economy. They want to know that A leads to B leads to C. Tea leaf readers are always in high demand on Wall Street and they continue to find employment despite their almost universally dismal track record.

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4 Social Security Changes to Expect in 2023

2022-07-15

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2022-07-15

Looking into a crystal ball and prognosticating the future is always a risky endeavor, but when it comes to Social Security and the year 2023 there are 4 things that have a high probability of happening.

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US Dollar Strength: “Unintended Consequences” Or “The Empire Strikes Back”?

2022-07-14

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2022-07-14

How unintended can these consequences be? My guess: not very. A great many people got the U.S. dollar trade wrong. The conventional view held that "printing money", i.e. expanding the supply of money, would automatically devalue the currency. It isn't quite so simple, it seems.

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Calm Before the Tempest?

2022-07-13

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2022-07-13

Is it beyond conception that the core actually strengthens for a length of time before the unraveling reaches it?Let's start by stipulating the obvious: no one knows the future, and most of the guesses--oops, I mean forecasts--will be wrong. Arguing about the forecasts now won't make any difference as to which ones are correct and which ones are wrong.

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Why Nations Fail

2022-07-12

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2022-07-12

The irony is that the suppression of dissent is the suppression of competing ideas that generate systemic stability via rapid adaptation. Nations that appear stable may fail once they're under pressure.

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Weekly Market Pulse: A Most Unusual Economy

2022-07-11

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2022-07-11

The employment report released last Friday was better than expected but the response by bulls and bears alike was exactly as expected. Both found things in the report to support their preconceived notions about the state of the economy.

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You Know What Would Be Really Irritating? A Crazy Rally to New Highs

2022-07-08

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2022-07-08

It would be very irritating to have a rally suck in all the bears salivating for a crash from a bear-market rally peak and then decimate the shorts with a rally that soars rather than collapses to new lows. As a contrarian, I'm always squinting at the consensus and wondering if it is really that easy to be right.

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Wasting Money on Medicare

2022-07-07

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2022-07-07

How would you like to waste a lot of the money you spend on Medicare coverage and miss a bunch of the benefits Medicare provides? Crazy question. But that’s exactly what’s happening to millions of Medicare beneficiaries. In October 2021, the insurance website MedicareAdvantage.com published the results of its most recent survey of Medicare beneficiaries.

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The One Solution to All Our Problems

2022-07-06

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2022-07-06

Pick one, America: national security of the essential material foundation of everything, the industrial base, or "global markets," maximizing greed / corporate profits.Sorry about the clickbait title.

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