In the sound money world there are a lot of journalists, a few serious analysts, and a handful of effective polemicists. But James Howard Kunstler is an artist, whose work frequently rises to the level of literature. His latest illustrates the point: Forced Liquidation Historians of the future, pan-roasting fresh-caught June bugs over their campfires, […]
Doug Noland: There’s No New Bubble Coming To Save Us
In this week’s Credit Bubble Bulletin, Doug Noland concludes that at long last the world’s governments have run out of new financial bubbles to inflate. The result: This time is different, in a very bad way. Here’s an excerpt from the much longer article, that should be read in its entirety. Please Don’t Completely Destroy… […]
The Pandemic Invades The Developing World
One of the oddities of the coronavirus pandemic has been its apparent preference for rich countries. The reason is thought to be that most developing countries are in warmer climes, and viruses don’t spread as readily in heat and humidity (which is why flu season in the US begins in the Fall and ends in […]
Even The Best-Case Scenario Is Pretty Grim
Let’s say President Trump is right about the coronavirus “miraculously” fading away as temperatures rise in the Summer. Will things then go back to the old normal of globalization, free trade and finance-driven “growth”? Almost certainly not, because the psychological damage has already been done. Over the past couple of weeks the modern globalized economy […]
Poetic Justice Coming For The 1%
To understand just how grim the coming decade is likely to be for the world’s super-rich, let’s start with three premises: 1) Capitalist democracy — defined as free individuals managing their own property and periodically electing new leaders — is the only system of social organization that’s consistent with human nature and is, therefore, sustainable. […]
Why A Flu Outbreak In China Can Spook Global Markets
When people talk about empires of the past, they generally mean Rome and Britain. But the biggest and in some ways most interesting empire was built and run by the Mongols in the 13th and 14th centuries. At its peak it stretched from China to Eastern Europe, which is more territory than Rome ever controlled. […]
Too Bad They’re Not Gold Bugs: A Review Of HBO’s Years And Years
HBO’s new series Years And Years begins in the more-or-less present, with the Lyons, an aggressively diverse UK Family that’s trying – and mostly succeeding – to navigate life’s complexities. There’s the acerbically funny grandmother, the gay grandson and his illegal immigrant mate, the African wife of another grandson, the wheelchair-bound sister who nevertheless gets […]
Last Year’s Treasure Becomes This Year’s Trash
Not so long ago the US economy had some bright spots that seemed to justify a general sense of optimism. The fracking revolution had turned the country into the world’s largest oil producer with, apparently, a lot more to come. And the growing number of tech “unicorns” – private companies with valuations exceeding $1 billion […]
Here Comes The Deluge Of Meaningless “Good News”
Today’s relief rally is brought to you by chastened US and Chinese trade negotiators who are now working on a “mini” trade deal that will apparently include a reduction in US tariffs in return for some minor Chinese concessions on things like mandatory joint venture partners for foreign companies wanting to set up shop in […]
So Much For Goldilocks
Stock prices are high and fairly stable, while interest rates are low and fairly stable. A casual observer might infer from this that the global financial markets are experiencing one of those fabled Goldilocks moments where everything is just right. But under the surface things are anything but just right. Among the high (or low)-lights: […]
Stumbling Towards Chaos: All This Happened In Just One Week
Every week is eventful these days. But the most recent one stands out for sheer edge-of-the-abyss when-it-rains-it pours diversity. Some of the highlights: US stocks fell for the 5th straight week “logging the longest weekly losing streak since June 2011.” The US yield curve inverted decisively as long-term Treasury yields plunged. Past yield curve inversions […]
Beef Just Lost Its Place In The Fast Food Burger World
Last year I read an article about the Impossible Burger, a plant-based patty that was supposed to rival the real thing. Intrigued, I called a friend who lives in a neighboring town and appreciates strange but environmentally cool things, and we met at a restaurant that served Impossible Burgers. They were good. Close to meat […]
What Went Wrong With Pensions — And Why The Whole World Should Be Worried
The past decade was a uniquely smooth stretch of financial highway. Pretty much every major asset class – stocks, bonds, real estate, fine art, you name it – did well, making it hard for conventional investors to lose money and easy for them to earn outsized returns. So why then are US public sector pensions […]
Michael Pento: China Can’t Stop What’s Coming
As this longest-ever expansion finally runs out of steam, the question on everyone’s mind is, “who will save us this time?” The last big crisis was “fixed” by a combination of lower interest rates globally and massive buying of commodities by China. But with interest rates still at cyclical lows in a big part of […]
Ocean Shipping Rates Plunge: Just A Blip Or The End Of Globalization?
The Baltic Dry Index represents the cost of renting an ocean-going container ship to move goods from, say, Chinese factories to the Port of Los Angeles. The more stuff being made and sold, the higher the demand for such ships, and thus the higher the price to rent one. And vice versa. This is definitely […]
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