Powell’s Singular Focus, Housing Stagflation & Avoiding a Kinetic Battle with China | Peter Boockvar

2023-08-31

Mauldin Economics COO Ed D’Agostino talks to Louis Gave, CEO of Gavekal Research, about China’s so-called economic crisis, the Fed’s unspoken third mandate, and “the real story of the summer.” You’ll also hear about Louis Gave’s top investment themes, the future of reshoring, and what the United States’ $30+ trillion debt train means for the US dollar.

You can learn more about Louis Gave here:
https://research.gavekal.com/author/louis-vincent-gave/

Stay informed on the big trends by subscribing to Global Macro Update here:
https://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/JM528A/YTB

Please stay in touch by following me on X (formerly Twitter) @EdDAgostino:
https://twitter.com/EdDAgostino

Time stamps:

Introduction: 00:00

The world’s most important asset class: 01:03

The Fed’s unspoken third

2023-08-11

US trade with China is way down with one disturbing exception: fentanyl. Thousands of Chinese companies are capable of manufacturing ingredients needed to produce the drug and exporting them to the West, along with instructions on how to create fentanyl powder.

Many of these companies are state-owned enterprises, according to Allison Fedirka, my guest this week. She says there is no denying that China’s government is involved with the fentanyl drug trade to the US.

Allison Fedirka is the director of analysis at Geopolitical Futures (GPF). My readers are familiar with the in-depth work of George Friedman and his team at GPF.

Fentanyl is the number one cause of drug overdoses in the US. The involvement of Mexico’s drug cartels, and the possible expansion of fentanyl production into

2023-08-04

Zombie companies need cheap money to survive. Cheap money is a thing of the past, and casualties are piling up. It’s a familiar script: borrow money to fund growth, and compete on price. That business model fails when interest rates rise quickly. As debt-burdened, low-cost providers get squeezed by higher rates, more will fail. The irony is that culling weak companies may actually be inflationary—a knock-on effect the Fed will not welcome. My guest this week is a Mauldin Economics favorite—Barry Habib of Highway.ai. Barry is concerned about the Fed’s approach to data. He fears it is looking for clues in the rear-view mirror. Looking ahead and extrapolating trends would give the Fed a better perspective and less incentive to raise rates.

There are a lot of variables in the real estate

2023-07-21

Trust in elected officials has been in steady decline for decades. It’s hard to decide if members of Congress and other elected officials are self-serving or civil servants. One thing is certain—many are getting richer while in office. They are investing based on insider knowledge. If you or I did that, we’d go to jail. If you are in Congress, it’s perfectly legal.

Matt K. Lewis just released a book on this topic, and he pulls no punches. Filthy Rich Politicians explains just how badly our system is broken and which politicians are the most egregious when it comes to lining their pockets.

In this week’s conversation, Matt and I discuss:

– Legal trading on insider information.
– Politicians’ quest for “honest graft.”
– Nepotism: How friends and family get rich.
– How much money you

2023-07-07

Some predict there will be "people who tell computers what to do and people that are told by computers what to do." #artificialintelligence #airobot #airobots #finance #fintech #chatgpt #jobs #techjobs

2023-06-30

If you listen to the financial media, you would think seven stocks are responsible for “the market’s” gain this year. But the charts are telling us otherwise. Almost every sector is up double digits since last June. To understand what’s happening in the markets, this week we connect with market technician JC Parets. JC is the founder and chief analyst at All Star Charts. The company offers daily market commentary and a technical analysis platform for research and options trading. He covers the many opportunities available to those investors willing to look beyond the US, with charts on several stocks, commodities, and sectors. Below are highlights and timestamped links to the video.

You can learn more about JC and All Star Charts here:
https://allstarcharts.com/about/?

Stay informed

2023-06-16

The cost of college has risen so much that more than half of Americans no longer think a college education is “worth it.”

We have reached the point where the cost of a four-year degree will likely be the second-largest expenditure in your lifetime, second only to your house. Students are literally mortgaging their futures to pay for college.

Colleges today are experiencing falling enrollment. They’ve created their own crisis. What happens next for higher education, and how should prospective students and their parents weigh their options? These are the topics of this week’s Global Macro Update.

Economist Dr. Gary Shilling joins us with his thoughts on the cost of higher education and alternatives to the college track. Gary is a veteran analyst, so be sure and watch through to the end

2023-06-02

The world did not return to its business-as-usual, pre-pandemic normal. Instead, we are currently in a transition phase characterized by what Bruce Mehlman calls The Four Addictions.

Bruce Mehlman is a partner at Mehlman Consulting (https://mehlmanconsulting.com/team-member/bruce-p-mehlman), and previously served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy under President George W. Bush. He has over two decades of experience in assisting leaders and organizations to understand, anticipate, and navigate political risk.

In this week’s interview, Bruce and I discuss the four main challenges he sees as we navigate a period of tough domestic choices and geopolitical realignments. Highlights of our conversation include:

– Identifying the four addictions: China, digitalization,