Category Archive: 5) Global Macro

Facial recognition technology will change the way we live | The Economist

Facial recognition technology will transform the way we live in 2018. Machines that can read and recognise our faces will go mainstream, opening up exciting possibilities and posing new dangers Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: http://econ.trib.al/rWl91R7 In 2018 machines that can read your face will go mainstream, changing the way we …

Read More »

What Could Pop The Everything Bubble?

As central bank policies are increasingly fingered by the mainstream as the source of soaring wealth-income inequality, policies supporting credit/asset bubbles will either be limited or cut off, and at that point all the credit/asset bubbles will pop.

Read More »

Urbanisation and the rise of the megacity | The Economist

Urbanisation is happening faster today than at any time in history. By 2030 nearly 9% of the global population will live in so-called megacities—cities with more than 10m inhabitants. Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: http://econ.trib.al/rWl91R7 In 1950 New York and Tokyo were the only so called megacities; cities with more than …

Read More »

Transforming cities with technology | The Economist

Cities are growing faster than at any time in history, straining services and infrastructure. Technology-driven advances are at the forefront of solving this age-old problem Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: http://econ.trib.al/rWl91R7 By 2050, two thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. Urbanisation is happening faster than at any time …

Read More »

Subject To Gradation

Economic growth is subject to gradation. There is almost no purpose in making such a declaration, for anyone with common sense knows intuitively that there is a difference between robust growth and just positive numbers. Yet, the biggest mistake economists and policymakers made in 2014 was to forget that differences exist between even statistics all residing on the plus side.

Read More »

Emerging Markets: What has Changed

EM FX gained some limited traction Friday but still capped off another awful week. So far this quarter, the worst EM performers are TRY (-6%), MXN (-5%), ZAR (-4%), COP, and BRL (both -2.5%). We expect these currencies to remain under pressure as political concerns are unlikely to dissipate anytime soon.

Read More »

Stagnation Nation: Middle Class Wealth Is Locked Up in Housing and Retirement Funds

The majority of middle class wealth is locked up in unproductive assets or assets that only become available upon retirement or death. One of my points in Why Governments Will Not Ban Bitcoin was to highlight how few families had the financial wherewithal to invest in bitcoin or an alternative hedge such as precious metals.

Read More »

An Unexpected (And Rotten) Branch of the Maestro’s Legacy

The most significant part of China’s 19th Party Congress ended in the usual anticlimactic fashion. These events are for show, not debate. Like any good trial lawyer will tell you, you never ask a question in court that you don’t already know the answer to. For China’s Communists, that meant nominating Xi Jinping’s name to be written into the Communist constitution with the votes already tallied.

Read More »

Japan Is Booming, Except It’s Not

Japan is hot, really hot. Stocks are up to level not seen since 1996 (Nikkei 225). Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called snap elections in Parliament to secure a supermajority and it worked. Things seem to be sparkling all over the place, with the arrow pointing up: “Hopes for a global economic recovery and US shares’ strength are making fund managers generous on Japanese stocks,” said Chihiro Ohta, general manager of investment research at SMBC Nikko...

Read More »

CHARLES HUGH SMITH Central Banks will close and Currency will change

and

Read More »

Emerging Markets: What has Changed

President Xi Jinping’s concepts of socialist thinking were written into China’s constitution. Malaysia Prime Minister Najib presented an expansionary budget for 2018 ahead of elections. Czech billionaire Andrej Babis’ ANO party won the elections. South Africa's mid-term budget statement acknowledged the deteriorating outlook but offered little in the way of solutions. Press reports suggest Germany is working to cut funding for Turkish banks.

Read More »

Why Governments Will Not Ban Bitcoin

Those who see governments banning ownership of bitcoin are ignoring the political power and influence of those who are snapping up most of the bitcoin. To really understand an asset, we have to examine not just the asset itself but who owns it, and who can afford to own it. These attributes will illuminate the political and financial power wielded by the owners of the asset class.

Read More »

Political Economics

Who President Trump ultimately picks as the next Federal Reserve Chairman doesn’t really matter. Unless he goes really far afield to someone totally unexpected, whoever that person will be will be largely more of the same. It won’t be a categorical change, a different philosophical direction that is badly needed. Still, politically, it does matter to some significant degree. It’s just that the political division isn’t the usual R vs. D, left vs....

Read More »

Charles Hugh Smith Will The Private Sector Grow Fast Enough To Meet The Demands Of The Public Sector

Click here for the full summary: http://financialrepressionauthority.com/2017/10/27/the-roundtable-insight-charles-hugh-smith-on-will-the-private-sector-be-able-to-grow-fast-enough-to-meet-the-demands-of-the-public-sector/

Read More »

Housing Isn’t Just About Real Estate

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported today that sales of existing homes (resales) were up slightly in September 2017 on a monthly basis. At a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million last month, that was practically unchanged from the 5.35 million estimate for August that was the lowest in a year.

Read More »

The climate-change experiment | The Economist

Climate-change experts are researching ways to cool down the planet using geoengineering. How could spraying chemicals into the stratosphere help counteract global warming? Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: http://econ.trib.al/rWl91R7 What if you discovered a way to cool down the planet? Extreme weather events are becoming more common and more ferocious. As …

Read More »

The World’s Largest ICO Is Imploding After Just 3 Months

Earlier this summer, Tezos smashed existing sales records in the white-hot IPO market after the company’s pitch to build a better blockchain for cryptocurrencies made it one of the buzziest ICOs in the world. As we noted at the time, the company capitalized on that buzz by courting VC firms and other institutional investors with a $50 million token pre-sale. After the company opened up selling to the broader public, demand soared as investors...

Read More »

Instagram playboy is also the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea | The Economist

Equatorial Guinea’s vice-president records his lavish lifestyle on Instagram, but it is unclear where his money comes from. He is currently being tried for embezzlement and money-laundering in France, where a verdict will be announced this week. Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: http://econ.trib.al/rWl91R7 Meet one of Instagram’s most famous playboys. He …

Read More »

Le Liban découvre la politique monétaire non conventionnelle

S’il y a une chose que les Libanais savent faire, c’est compter! S’il y a une deuxième chose qu’ils savent faire, c’est oser s’exprimer. C’est exactement ce que le député Georges Adwan a fait: Calculer le manque à gagner généré par la Banque du Liban à travers sa politique monétaire, et en faire part.

Read More »

Bi-Weekly Economic Review: Yawn

When I wrote the update two weeks ago I said that we might be nearing the point of maximum optimism. Apparently, there is another gear for optimism in this market as stocks have just continued to slowly but surely reach for the sky.

Read More »