Category Archive: 5) Global Macro

2016-09-23

Stick it to the Establishment by becoming a $1/month patron of this wild and crazy site via patreon.com.

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RTD Ep:46 “The FED Is Walking A Tightrope” – Charles Hugh Smith

2016-09-23

Subscribe and share the RTD interviews and news articles… Thanks for watching this interview with author and monetary enthusiast Charles Hugh Smith. Share your thoughts below and give us a thumbs up if you enjoyed this conversation. Interview w/ Charles Hugh Smith on 8/13/15 RTD Ep:20 “Currency Created Out Of Thin Air” – Charles Hugh …

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Why the Coming Wave of Defaults Will Be Devastating

2016-09-22

2016-09-22

In an economy based on borrowing, i.e. credit a.k.a. debt, loan defaults and deleveraging (reducing leverage and debt loads) matter. Consider this chart of total credit in the U.S. Note that the relatively tiny decline in total credit in 2008 caused by subprime mortgage defaults (a.k.a. deleveraging) very nearly collapsed not just the U.S. financial system but the entire global financial system.

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Julius Baer CEO says Asia revenue may excede Europe’s in 5 years

2016-09-22

by Investec

2016-09-22

Julius Baer Group Ltd. said Asia may overtake Europe as its biggest revenue-generating region, as the Swiss wealth manager steps up hiring in Hong Kong and Singapore. “In the next five years, Asia could be the biggest region for us if we grow at double-digit” rates, Chief Executive Officer Boris Collardi said Wednesday in an interview in Singapore. More than half of about 200 new bankers that Julius Baer plans to hire this year will be based in...

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The Three Stages of Empire

2016-09-21

2016-09-21

I consider it self-evident that we are in the third and final stage of self-serving Imperial decay. Though Edward Luttwak's The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century CE to the Third is not specifically on the rise and fall of empires, it does sketch out the three stages of Empire.

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The German village that produces five times more energy than it needs | The Economist

2016-09-21

Why be just a dairy farmer when you can be an energy farmer too? Thanks to an ambitious adoption of renewable energy techniques, residents of Wildpoldsried in Bavaria no longer need fossil fuels. Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: http://econ.trib.al/rWl91R7 The Disrupters is an original series exploring how major industries – from …

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Charles Hugh Smith: Optimizing Bad Policy Guaranteed to Fail

2016-09-20

Sep 21 – Well-known author and economic commentator, Charles Hugh Smith at oftwominds.com, explains the “optimization problem” facing policymakers and why this inevitably leads to some form of economic self-destruction… http://www.financialsense.com/subscribe

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The ZIRP/NIRP Gods and their PhD Priesthood Have Failed

2016-09-20

2016-09-20

The priesthood's insane obsession with forcing people to spend their savings by punishing savers with ZIRP/NIRP has failed spectacularly for a simple reason: it completely misunderstands human psychology. Let's start with a simple chart of the Fed Funds Rate, which the Federal Reserve has pinned near zero for years.

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Oil and gas companies are facing major technological disruption

2016-09-20

Pressure to reduce carbon emissions is putting the future of fossil fuel giants in jeopardy. Their survival plans involve carbon storage and floating wind farms. Meanwhile, one small German village is showing how large companies aren’t always essential. Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: http://econ.trib.al/rWl91R7 Over 80% of the world’s energy needs …

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Emerging Markets: Preview of the Week Ahead

2016-09-19

2016-09-19

EM ended the week on a soft note. Volatility is likely to remain high as markets are jittery and choppy ahead of the BOJ/FOMC meetings on Thursday. Dollar gains were broad-based last week, but EM certainly underperformed. China markets will reopen after a two-day holiday, but good news out of the mainland is doing little to help EM.

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Emerging Markets: What has Changed

2016-09-16

2016-09-16

The IEA forecast that the surplus in global oil markets will last for longer than previously thought. Philippine President Duterte called for US troops to leave the southern island of Mindanao. Relations between Poland and the EU are deteriorating. Former head of Brazil’s lower house Eduardo Cunha was expelled and banned from public office for eight years. Brazil’s central bank cut the amount of daily reverse swap contracts sold to 5,000.

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How About Presenting the Facts and Letting Voters Decide Who’s “Fit to Serve”?

2016-09-16

2016-09-16

This simple two-step process would greatly diminish the Ministry of Propaganda's influence. Here's a radical idea: how about presenting the facts and letting voters decide who is "fit to serve"? Consider the context of this presidential election and the judgment call as to who is "fit to serve":

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The Mainstream Media Bet the Farm on Hillary–and Lost

2016-09-15

2016-09-15

The MSM has forsaken its duty in a democracy and is a disgrace to investigative, unbiased journalism. The mainstream media bet the farm on Hillary Clinton, confident that their dismissal of every skeptical inquiry as a "conspiracy" would guarantee her victory. It now appears they have lost their bet.

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It’s Time to Bring Back Bernie

2016-09-13

2016-09-13

This tells you everything you need to know about how Hillary will operate as President: there will be no honesty, transparency or truth, ever. Hillary's bid for the presidency is no longer defensible; it's time to bring back Bernie Sanders as the Democratic nominee.

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How does a floating wind turbine stand up?

2016-09-13

It is not just utility companies racing to respond to the rise of renewable energy. Oil and gas giant Statoil is building on four decades of offshore experience to erect its first floating wind farm. Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: http://econ.trib.al/rWl91R7 The Disrupters is an original series exploring how major industries …

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Emerging Markets: Week Ahead Preview

2016-09-12

2016-09-12

EM ended last week on a soft note. Perhaps it was the North Korean nuclear test (see below). Perhaps it was disappointment in the ECB or rising Fed tightening odds. Whatever the trigger was, EM FX weakness persisted and appears likely to carry over into this week.

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Change is in the air for oil and gas companies

2016-09-12

Pressure to reduce carbon emissions is putting the future of fossil-fuel giants in jeopardy Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: http://econ.trib.al/rWl91R7 The Disrupters is an original series exploring how major industries – from music and cars to hospitality – are currently being disrupted by the latest wave of digital innovation. As well …

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If Everything Is So Great, How Come I’m Not Doing So Great?

2016-09-12

2016-09-12

National health expenditures, Gross Domestic Product, Wages

While the view might be great from the top of the wealth/income pyramid, it takes a special kind of self-serving myopia to ignore the reality that the bottom 95% are not doing so well. We're ceaselessly told/sold that the U.S. economy is doing phenomenally well in our current slow-growth world -- generating record corporate profits, record highs in the S&P 500 stock index, and historically low unemployment (4.9% in July 2016).

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Control What You Can and the Asset Ownership of the Wealthy

2016-09-11

2016-09-11

Our society does not make it easy to control what you can control. Assets are controlled increasingly by a smaller and smaller part of our society. Here's a couple of thoughts on productively controlling what we can control.

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Emerging Markets: What has Changed

2016-09-09