Without exaggeration, I truly find recent recent business news to be stomach-turning:
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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.
The Era of Revenge
Given the title, I want to make clear at the outset that this post has nothing to do with gun violence, particularly prompted of the events of this weekend. I’ve been thinking about this post long before those events, and even though I am loudmouthed to a fault about my points of view, the whole issue of guns is something I’ve never, nor will ever, touch. No sense is alienating the handful of readers I haven’t pissed off already.
No, this is about something far more psychological and long-term. I am speaking of what I view is the correlation between social mood and justice. Specifically, the forgiving nature of the public during prosperous times and the vengeful disposition it takes during times of hardship.
(more…)Dien Bien Phu (by Binkius Hippo)
There is an absolute shocked silence here in Taiwan. The Taiwanese have just seen an American president kow-tow to a Chinese emperor. Not since the Ming dynasty has China been able to dictate terms of trade to the USA.
If the US president is willing to sell out his own people to the Chinese communists, what hope does Taiwan have of the USA coming to defend democracy on the doorstep of communist China?
This is a pivotal moment in history. Pax Americana is over.
(more…)Highlights for Children
Yesterday, without even looking for it, I stumbled across this headline from an interview in the spring of 2016:
Seven-Up
It all seems a little too contrived. On May 30, we got word that Mexico was going to get nailed with big tariffs unless they do something about the illegal aliens crossing our southern border. And then, just eight days later – – problem solved! Trump announces Mexico has made a deal, there will be no tariffs, and we can just dump aliens back across the border with Mexico’s pledge to “feed, house, and educate” them.
Wow, THAT was easy!
In any case, it’ll be more than a little interesting to see what the ES and NQ do on Sunday evening. It’ll be even more interesting to see what the actual markets do on Monday. Will markets explode higher on this suspiciously good news, or will they inexplicably slump? We’ll know soon enough.
(more…)Making America Mediocre Again?
I wrote this article for the Opening Notes segment of this week’s Notes From the Rabbit Hole. At the end of the post is a really interesting interview with Peter Atwater sent to me by pal and subscriber Michael Pollaro that you should do yourself the favor of listening to. It’s pretty far reaching, but I think Michael sent it to me because it eloquently expands on the subjects (Trade War & the Fed) introduced below and a lot more. The stuff about Nationalism and the stock market’s vulnerabilities are must listen.
There is nothing new under the sun. As Donald Trump goes about the 1970s playbook (on steroids) the economic world is shifting in ways that will be impossible to quantify ahead of time.
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