Analysis Topic: Economic Trends Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, September 13, 2020
Is this the End of Capitalism? / Economics / Economic Theory
By: Nadeem_Walayat
If one looks at the facts of rampant government money printing to monetize government debt, permanent deficit spending on an epic scale, debt to GDP north of 100% all to finance social projects such as the UK government paying 80% of furloughed employee salaries, with similar or even greater government interventions in nations such as Germany. We'll this begs the question, how can our economies still be labeled as capitalist?
We are not living in capitalist nations, the slogans might be all about free market economies, capitalism, and theories preached of the boom bust cycle in the financial press and taught at universities, instead we tend to have the booms without the busts! Because we are NOT really living in capitalist economies!
Then what are we living in?
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Friday, September 11, 2020
The Inflation Mega-trend is Going Hyper! / Economics / Inflation
By: Nadeem_Walayat
QE4EVER!
Virtually everything that cannot be easily printed is rocketing higher which includes GOLD! It's not hard to see why as a consequence of rampant money printing by governments across the world in the wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic economic depression. For instance the UK alone looks set to print about £550 billion this year most of which will be monetized by the Bank of England so that the government can pay the wages of about 1/3rd of Britains workforce for a good 6 months with likely many more economic stimulus measures to follow over the next 6 months towards fighting the Pandemics dire economic consequences.
Whilst the United States has printed $2.2 trillion of stimulus dollars to date with at least another $1.3 trillion to come, that's $3.5 trillion which dwarfs the 2008 financial crisis bailout of $720 billion. Funneling stimulus checks on an epic scale into the back pockets of every working age citizen. Printing money has REAL consequences which is REAL inflation hence what we have been witnessing in markets across the spectrum, and whist I have yet to take a peak at the housing markets, I would not be surprised if the UK housing market at least will start to experience a money printing inflationary boom over the coming year, this despite the fact that people have less disposable income to buy housing, but more on that in a future article.
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Thursday, September 10, 2020
Inflation by Fiat / Economics / Inflation
By: Michael_Pento
The Fed has now officially changed its inflation target from 2%, to one that averages above 2% in order to compensate for the years where inflation was below its target. First off, the Fed has a horrific track record with meeting its first and primary mandate of stable prices. Then, in the wake of the Great Recession, it redefined stable prices as 2% inflation—even though that means the dollar’s purchasing power gets cut in half in 36 years. Now, following his latest Jackson Hole speech, Chair Powell has adopted a new definition of stable prices; one where its new mandate will be to bring inflation above 2% with the same degree and duration in which it has fallen short of its 2% target.Just to be clear, the Fed has no idea what causes inflation. It also deliberately goes way out of its way to under measure it. Is it any wonder then that the Fed's historical record proves it has little ability to meet its own inflation target? As I explained in a commentary written a couple of month ago, the Fed has a tremendous amount of difficulty controlling inflation in either direction. In 7 out of the last 12 years, the Fed has been unable to achieve average annualized CPI of at least 2%. Therefore, 58% of the time the Fed has failed to reach its minimum inflation goal. Conversely, inflation spiked to double digits by 1975 and, after a brief pause in ’76-’77, eventually soared to 14.6% by early 1980. During this process, our central bank found it necessary to raise rates from 3.75% in February 1971, all the way to 20% by the middle of 1980. That doesn’t sound like inflation is easily managed does it? But the Fed is fond of trying to convince investors that is the case.
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Thursday, September 10, 2020
Unemployment Rate Drops. Will It Drag Gold Down? / Economics / Employment
By: Arkadiusz_Sieron
The U.S. labor market improved in August, although headlines paint too rosy a picture. What does it all mean for the gold market?Great news for the U.S. labor market: according to the BLS, the American economy regained 1.4 million jobs, while the unemployment rate fell below 10 percent for the first time in the pandemic era! To be more precise, the unemployment rate declined from 10.2 percent in July to 8.4 percent in August, as the chart below shows.
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Sunday, August 30, 2020
3 Truths That Will Define This 3-Part US Economy / Economics / US Economy
By: John_Mauldin
The economy recovery, when it comes—and it will—is going to be uneven.
In some parts of the economy, it's already starting. Other parts will be in what can only be described as a depression for quite some time. And still others are going to take off like a rocket ship.
This three-part economy won't fit compactly into the V- or U-shaped recovery that some are predicting (read: hoping) for. More likely, it will look like a "K."
Whether it's K-shaped or some other to-be-determined letter, there are three truths that will define this economic recovery:
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Friday, August 28, 2020
The US Economy Needs More Than a Vaccine / Economics / Coronavirus Depression
By: Michael_Pento
The hype and hope being promulgated by Wall Street and D.C. is that the imminent and well-advertised approval of vaccines will bring the economy back to what they characterize as its pre-pandemic state of health. However, even if these prophylactics are very efficient in controlling the pandemic and lead the economy back to “normal”, the state of the economy was anything but normal and healthy prior to the Wuhan outbreak.
The year over year change in GDP in the fourth quarter of 2020 from the trailing 12 months was just 2.3%. Admittedly, this wasn’t indicative of a terrible economy; but it also was very far from what many have portrayed as the best economy anyone has ever seen on the planet. Most importantly, to even get to that rather pedestrian level of just trend GDP growth for the year, the Fed had to slash interest rates three times in the five months prior to the start of 2020. And, please also remember that the Fed felt it necessary to return to Quantitative Easing (QE) in order to re-liquify the entire banking system and save the markets from crashing.
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Thursday, August 27, 2020
What the Covid-19 Economic Recovery Really Looks Like / Economics / Coronavirus Depression
By: John_Mauldin
The media and politicians like to talk about "the economy" as a general term. These days, there is a lot of talk about it having V- or U-shaped recovery.
But within the economy right now are several different economies, and they won't see recovery at the same time or rate. So if we have to choose a letter for what the recovery will look like, maybe it should be a “K.”
That's because some will go up while others go down. This is already happening and apparent, as Heather Long illustrates for The Washington Post:
"This dichotomy is evident in many facets of the economy, especially in employment. Jobs are fully back for the highest wage earners, but fewer than half the jobs lost this spring have returned for those making less than $20 an hour, according to a new labor data analysis by John Friedman, an economics professor at Brown University and co-director of Opportunity Insights."
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Wednesday, August 26, 2020
We Have an Economic Eight-Body Problem / Economics / Coronavirus Depression
By: John_Mauldin
If you have three large objects that have gravitational impact on each other, you can determine where they have been in the past.
However, you cannot predict where they will be in the future. At least, not without great difficulty.
In physics, this is called the three-body problem.
In economics, we are well beyond the three-body problem. I think it is more like an eight-body problem. See if you agree:
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Wednesday, August 26, 2020
What Makes This Recession Different From the Rest / Economics / Coronavirus Depression
By: John_Mauldin
"It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job;
it's a depression when you lose yours."
—Harry S. Truman, 33rd US President
In recent weeks, numerous commentators started to suggest the US and the world are entering a depression.
For some areas of the economy, that is clearly true. But not every area.
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Sunday, August 23, 2020
CPI Goes Up in July. Will Inflation Dragon Take to the Air with Gold? / Economics / Inflation
By: Arkadiusz_Sieron
CPI rises again in July. But will the inflation dragon take to the air, taking gold with it?The U.S. CPI inflation rate rose 0.6 percent in July, for the second month in a row. The move was driven to a large extent by higher energy prices (the energy index increased 5.1 percent in June as the gasoline index rose 12.3 percent). The core CPI rose also 0.6 percent, following a 0.1 percent drop in May. It was the biggest monthly increase in the core rate since 1991.
On an annual basis, the overall CPI increased 1 percent (seasonally adjusted), following 0.7 percent increase in June. Meanwhile, the core CPI rose 1.6 percent, which implies the acceleration from 1.2 percent recorded in the previous month. So, as the chart below shows, inflation remains low, but it is no longer very low.
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Thursday, August 20, 2020
Economic Data Suggests Reopening, not Recovery. Will Gold Re-Rally Now? / Economics / Coronavirus Depression
By: Arkadiusz_Sieron
Retail sales growth has slowed down. What does it mean for the U.S. economy and the gold market?Retail sales increased 1.2 percent in July. The growth was worse than expected, which hit the U.S. stock market. As the chart below shows, the number was also much weaker than in the two previous months (8.4 percent gain in June and 18.3 percent jump in May), when it seemed that the economy started to rebound.
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Sunday, August 16, 2020
Hyper-Chaotic Expectations Could Collapse US Economic Recovery Expectations / Economics / Coronavirus Depression
By: Chris_Vermeulen
As much as we may not want to deal with the reality of the situation, recent news from the state of California suggests it and many other states may be reaching the fiscal boundaries of the COVID-19 economic contraction. The reality of the economic situation is that when consumers are restricted from normal activities, taxes, sales, and revenues decrease for the state exponentially. States that depend on consumers and business activity with very large budgets are at greater risk of experiencing immediate fiscal issues the longer the COVID-19 virus event continues. A recent Moody’s Analytics article suggested Nevada, Hawaii, New York, Washington, Florida, DC, and Connecticut would be hit the hardest by the COVID-19 virus.
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Monday, August 10, 2020
Has the Fed Let the Inflation Genie Out of the Bottle? / Economics / Inflation
By: MoneyMetals
The dramatic ascent of precious metals markets this summer reflects what could be just the start of a longer-term decline and fall in the Federal Reserve Note's value and status.
With gold prices surpassing $2,000/oz recently, the monetary metal has now made new all-time highs versus all the world’s major fiat currencies. Gold is, as former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has acknowledged, the “ultimate money.”
The Fed, by contrast, is the ultimate inflator.
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Monday, August 10, 2020
Supply & Demand For Money – The End of Inflation? / Economics / Inflation
By: Kelsey_Williams
A current headline says “fears of currency debasement drive gold price higher”. Seems reasonable; and it is.
Historically, governments have been “debasing” their currencies for centuries. The debasement leads to a loss of purchasing power in the currency in use.
Since gold is original money and has proven itself to be a true store of value, then it should not be unexpected that gold’s higher price over time reflects that currency debasement.
The debasement leads to a loss of purchasing power in the currency in use.
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Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Protracted G7 Economic Contraction – or Multiyear Global Depression / Economics / Coronavirus Depression
By: Dan_Steinbock
Global growth prospects are deteriorating. Instead of a V-shaped recovery in the 2nd quarter, advanced economies will face historical carnage and a prolonged contraction. But there’s still worse ahead.
Current estimates for major advanced economies remain too optimistic, due to the mismanagement of the COVID-19, belated responses and premature exits, which have now caused far-earlier-than-expected secondary virus waves. As a result, the hoped-for V-shaped recovery will not happen in the 2nd quarter.
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Tuesday, July 21, 2020
How to benefit from the big US Infrastructure push / Economics / Infrastructure
By: Richard_Mills
The US economy continues to flounder like an East Coast freighter bashed by a mid-winter Nor-easter.
Fifty million claims is the latest unemployment milestone surpassed by the American workforce during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has drubbed the United States worse than any other country including China, where it started.
In a stark contrast of how the two biggest economies have fared, on Wednesday China reported its gross domestic product grew by 2.5% in the second quarter, beating analysts’ expectations and rebounding from a sickly first quarter when the country was assailed by the coronavirus. (Q1 output fell by 6.5%, the first quarterly GDP decline in China since 1992 when official records started being kept)
The news came as lockdowns to contain a second wave of covid-19 eased, and Beijing rolled out stimulus measures to keep its economy growing, including fiscal spending, cutting interest rates and lowering the amount of cash that banks must hold in reserve.
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Sunday, July 19, 2020
Help the Economy by Going Outside / Economics / US Economy
By: Patrick_Watson
COVID-19 cases are growing fast in large parts of the US. The same folks who said the virus would just go away now say not to worry because fewer people are dying.
A lower mortality rate helps, but it’s still too high. The sheer number of sick people is straining hospital capacity some places. Viruses don’t care what anyone thinks; they just spread until something stops them.
The economy can’t recover if people fear infection everywhere they go. We need to balance public health and economic necessity.
Fortunately, scientists are learning how to reduce risk with fewer economic side effects.
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Sunday, July 19, 2020
The Six-Year Jobs Recession / Economics / Coronavirus Depression
By: John_Mauldin
Most of us work for some form of paycheck, even the self-employed. Few subsist on their own efforts. Even retirees, politicians, and welfare recipients live off someone’s labor, if not their own.
Savings, if you have any, are the result of past labor. That makes a job shortage problematic for everyone, not just the jobless.
The June US employment report showed some welcome improvement. Businesses brought back many workers as parts of the country reopened. That’s great but it was only a start. We need several more months like that, and it’s not at all clear they are coming.
To be fair, there isn’t a lot of clarity when we look back at past data, either.
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Wednesday, July 08, 2020
States “On the Cusp of Losing Control” and the Impact on the Economy / Economics / Coronavirus Depression
By: John_Mauldin
“The future progression of the pandemic remains highly uncertain.”
The Federal Reserve wrote those words to Congress in its recent “Monetary Policy Report.” These are usually rather vague, dry documents on everything the Fed is doing right and what could possibly go wrong. This report is more interesting than usual because so many things have gone wrong and may get even worse.
Not that the Fed has good answers, of course. But here’s what it does know.
Many of the first countries the virus struck—China, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Italy, Spain—brought it under control with aggressive lockdowns, testing, contact tracing, social distancing, and isolation of confirmed cases.
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Monday, July 06, 2020
The Beatings Will Continue Until the Economy Improves / Economics / US Economy
By: John_Mauldin
You can’t live without making certain presumptions. You presume your car will start, your refrigerator will stay cold, and the lights will turn on when you flip the switch.
In fact, you could argue this “predictability” is what separates advanced economies from primitive ones. Most of us don’t have to worry about being attacked in our sleep or having food tomorrow. That security frees us to do other things.
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