Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

President Trump: Not A Proven Win-Win International Political Deal Maker

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A NO-WIN FOREIGN POLICY

It’s clear that President Trump’s “America First” policy does not produce a “win-win” outcome for it and other world trading partners…at least, it has not been proven, yet.

So far, he’s only been successful in tearing up prior agreements related to the Trans Pacific Partnership, the Paris Climate Agreement, the Iran JCPOA, and has threatened to tear up the NAFTA with Canada and Mexico.

Although he is in current trade talks with China, he has not been successful in negotiating a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, nor has he been successful in negotiating any other bi-lateral or multi-lateral agreement that I’m aware of, including a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

In fact, he has exacerbated tensions in current NAFTA negotiations by slapping hefty and punitive steel and aluminum tariffs on these two closest trading allies, as well as on the European Union…under the guise of “national security” concerns. (more…)

Bigger Bubble: Bitcoin Or The Stock Market?

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By Avi Gilburt, ElliottWaveTrader.net

Bubbles in Nasdaq, bubbles in financial assets, bubbles in cryptos . . . bubbles are being reported everywhere. Moreover, more and more analysts are pointing to some financial crisis after another as each day goes by. Whether it is because of the cessation of QE, or because of the issues in Italy, or trade wars, etc., we are clearly not lacking for any reasons as to why this market should crash.

The problem is that most bubble-callers have no objective perspective through which they can determine that any market is in a bubble. As an example, one article I recently read suggests we are in a bubble in the Nasdaq because we have exceeded the 2000 bubble high in the market. Well, along those lines, maybe the Dow should not have exceeded the “bubble high” it struck in 1929!?

Now, I want to highlight the ultimate intellectual dishonesty and inconsistency in most of their thinking regarding bubbles. You see, many of these same analysts are looking for a massive rally in gold. Yet, one has to wonder why they can logically see gold rally well past its “bubble high” struck in 2011, but they are unable to accept any other market rallying beyond their “bubble highs” struck in recent history? I think one has to start viewing much of the analysis being published today as more emotionally-based rather than analytically-based.

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