Global Market Commentary, Analysis and Investments
The feds released a jobs report on Friday. It said that things weren’t as bad as everyone thought. The US economy actually added 103,000 new jobs in September.
But wait. That is not a lot of jobs. There are about 150 million people who make up the labor force. This number increases — by immigration and population growth — by about 1.2 million per year. So, 100,000 new jobs doesn’t do much to restore full employment.
[Read more...]We were on the edge of our chairs yesterday. We wanted to see if the Dow would crash through the 10,000 barrier. A break below 10,000 would probably hit the markets like a drone attack on a birthday party…
…perhaps causing investors to panic…and the feds to do something really stupid.
[Read more...]Have we told you where we think the US and other developed countries are headed? No?
Well, things won’t necessarily be so bad. In a few words: the lust for MORE will become a lust for BETTER.
Yes, the age of easy growth is over. You probably won’t make any money buying stocks. And your house will never return to the levels of ’05-’06. And oh yes…you may not be able to get a job.
[Read more...]What strange pass have we come to?
The whole world is on the edge of its seat, this morning. Taking short breaths.
People watch. They wait. They listen for a pronunciamiento that could mean trillions in losses…or gains. It could — in theory — push up the world’s growth rate…speeding up economies and bringing millions into the workforce, where they can earn money to pay for their wants and needs.
[Read more...]The Europeans are trying to find a way out of their debt mess.
“Paris and Berlin in last-ditch Greek talks,” says this morning’s headline at The Financial Times.
Americans are studying maps and watching the stars too.
Meanwhile, over on the other side of the globe, the Chinese seem to be checking the trees for moss.
[Read more...]The Europeans are trying to find a way out of their debt mess.
“Paris and Berlin in last-ditch Greek talks,” says this morning’s headline at The Financial Times.
Americans are studying maps and watching the stars too.
Meanwhile, over on the other side of the globe, the Chinese seem to be checking the trees for moss.
[Read more...]So far, this century has been a delight. From tech bubble to tech bubble in scarcely 10 years.
On our recent trip to China, all of a sudden we felt 10 years younger. For in the coffee bars of China’s futuristic cities were entrepreneurs, dreamers and lunatics who still thought it was 1999. A group of young techies filled us in: “We don’t worry about profitability. We can worry about that later. We want traffic. Because we know we can monetize the traffic on the stock market.” Here were people who still believed they could take eyeballs to the bank.
[Read more...]More Disasters, Please!
Whoa. Tuesday’s gains had disappeared before traders’ coffee had gone cold, yesterday morning. The Dow ended the day down 173 points…signaling what looks like a 7th straight week of losses. Stay tuned.
Oil ended the down at $95. The dollar went up.
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On the Continuing Zombification of the US Economy
We have been exploring the zombification of the US economy. Major industries — finance, health, education and defense — have been taken over by zombies, parasites whose real interest is to transfer wealth to themselves, from the part of the economy that remains productive.
As the economy becomes more zombified, the part of it dominated by these non-productive industries increases, leaving fewer resources for the productive part. And as the productive part weakens, so does the entire economy’s ability to produce real wealth, or grow its way out of debt.
[Read more...]