Category Archive: 5) Global Macro

Charles Hugh Smith on the Loss of Confidence in Institutions

Click here for the full transcript: http://financialrepressionauthority.com/2019/05/06/the-roundtable-insight-charles-hugh-smith-on-the-loss-of-confidence-in-institutions/

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Good Riddance to a “Nothing-Burger” Trade Deal

China has expanded its domestic debt to fund its growth, much of which qualifies as malinvestment, creating financial vulnerabilities its government is anxious to mask. As I noted in Trade Deal Follies: The U.S. Has Embraced the World's Worst Negotiating Tactics (April 8, 2019), the trade deal was a Nothing-Burger for the U.S. Without any consequences for violating trade deals, China violates all trade deals, starting with the WTO.

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CHARLES HUGH SMITH – Expect Some Crisis Like The Supreme Thing

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Income Inequality and the Decline of the Middle Class in Two Charts

These two charts of average incomes of U.S. households by quintile (bottom 20%, middle 60% (20%+20%+20%) and top 20%) have both good news and bad news. (Charts are from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office -- CBO).

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Are monarchies a thing of the past? | The Economist

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are celebrating the birth of their baby boy. A new emperor has ascended to the throne in Japan. And Thailand is crowning its new king. Around the world monarchies are holding up surprisingly well. What is the secret to their success? Read more here: https://econ.st/2LoxqcC Click here to subscribe to …

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The Accelerating Decay of the Middle Class

Ironically, their ample compensation allows them to avoid the poor-quality services they've designed for everyone below them. If we define middle class by the security of household income and what that income can buy rather than by an income level, what do we conclude? 

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What Tokyo Eurodollar Redistribution Really Means For ‘Green Shoots’

Last April, monetary officials in Japan were publicly contemplating ending asset purchases under QQE. This April, they are more quietly wondering what other financial assets they might have to buy just to keep it all going a little longer. I’d suggest something like the clouds passing over the islands or the ocean water surrounding them. Nobody would notice either way and it would be equally as effective.

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The Erosion of Everyday Life

Working hard and doing what you're told is no longer yielding the promised American Dream of security, agency and liberty. Volume One of Fernand Braudel's oft-recommended (by me) trilogy Civilization & Capitalism, 15th to 18th Century is titled The Structures of Everyday Life. The book describes how life slowly became better and freer as the roots of modern capitalism and liberty spread in western Europe, slowly destabilizing and obsoleting the...

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There Are Two Little Problems with “Taxing the Rich” to Pay for “Free Everything”

No super-wealthy individual or household is going to pay billions in additional taxes when $10 to $20 million will purchase political adjustments. The 2020 election cycle has begun, and a popular campaign promise is "free everything" paid for by new taxes on the super-wealthy. Who doesn't like free stuff? Who will vote for whomever offers them free stuff? No wonder it's a popular campaign promise.

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Globally Synchronized…

The economic sickness is predictably spreading. While unexpected in most of the world which still, somehow, depends on central banking forecasts, it really has been almost inevitable. From the very start, just the utterance of the word “decoupling” was the kiss of death.

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Durably Sideways

Next month, in the durable goods series, the Census Bureau will release the results of its annual benchmark changes. In May 2019, the agency will revise the seasonal adjustments going back to January 2002. Unadjusted data will not be, well, further adjusted.

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Mandela’s legacy: 25 years on | The Economist

Nelson Mandela is one of the great icons of the 20th century. Yet many of South Africa’s “born free” generation—those born after the end of apartheid—are conflicted about his legacy. https://econ.st/2GJ7OCX Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: https://econ.st/2xvTKdy For more from Economist Films visit: http://films.economist.com/ Check out The Economist’s full video catalogue: …

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Push Them Hard Enough and the Productive Class Will Opt Out of Servitude

People love their big paychecks, but they also value their sanity. One of the most astonishing manifestations of disconnected-from-reality hubris is public authorities' sublime confidence that employers and entrepreneurs will continue starting and operating enterprises no matter how difficult and costly it becomes to keep the doors open, much less net a profit.

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This is the most over-fished sea in the world | The Economist

The Mediterranean supports countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa—but its fish stocks are almost completely collapsed. Meet the man who is leading attempts to revive its marine habitats. Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: https://econ.st/2xvTKdy This is the extraordinary story of one man’s dream to save the most over-fished …

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The Feedback Loop of Doom: When Mobile Creatives and Capital Abandon Unaffordable, Dysfunctional Cities

When the 4% who generate the jobs and tax revenues have had enough and leave, the effects quickly impact the 64%. At the end of any trend, everyone's a true believer: this trend is so enduring, so broad-based, so based on unchanging fundamentals that it will never ever reverse.

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How to defeat malaria | The Economist

Malaria still kills around 400,000 people a year. Efforts to eradicate the disease have stalled because of drug resistance—but pioneering gene-editing technology might offer a new solution Read more here: https://econ.st/2XHVIiY Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: https://econ.st/2xvTKdy For more from Economist Films visit: http://films.economist.com/ Check out The Economist’s full video catalogue: …

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If “Getting Ahead” Depends on Asset Bubbles, It’s Not “Getting Ahead,” It’s Gambling

Given that the economy is now totally and completely dependent on inflating asset bubbles, it makes no sense to invest for the long-term. Beneath the endlessly hyped expansion in gross domestic product (GDP) of the past two decades, the economy has changed dramatically. The American Dream boils down to social and economic mobility, a.k.a. getting ahead through hard work, merit and wise investments in oneself and one's family.

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Charles Hugh Smith – Debt Rising Faster Than Income

Can team Trump keep the economy going until after the 2020 election? Journalist and book author Charles Hugh Smith says, “I think you are pushing a little bit on a string to get a 10 year long expansion to stretch out to 12 years. It’s like you are pushing sand uphill at some point. . … Continue reading »

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The Eurodollar, Unfortunately, Is What Is Rebalancing China’s Services Economy

If the “equation” CNY DOWN = BAD is valid, and it is, then what drives CNY downward in the first place? In conventional Economics, authorities command the currency to affect the level of exports. In reality, that’s not at all how it works. The eurodollar system of shadow money is almost purely calculated risk versus return.

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COT Blue: Distinct Lack of Green But A Lot That’s Gold

Gold, in my worldview, can be a “heads I win, tails you lose” proposition. If it goes up, that’s fear. Nothing good. If it goes down, that’s collateral. In many ways, worse. Either way, it is only bad, right? Not always. There are times when rising gold signals inflation, more properly reflation perceptions. Determining which is which is the real challenge.

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