Analysis Topic: Economic Trends Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Wednesday, March 01, 2017
US Drives Global Economic Growth / Economics / Global Economy
The US is back in the driver seat again as a sustained and growing economic powerhouse – the Trump Economy. Since the November 2016 elections, the US economic data and outlook have been driving investment in US equities as well as select foreign investment opportunities. The reduction in regulations and business friendly Trump administration seems to have unleashed the hoard of cash and opportunity of the past 7+ years. US and foreign business are, again, “wheeling and dealing” with the intent of generating greater profits and more opportunities.
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Wednesday, March 01, 2017
The Rise and Decline of Four Little Dragons - Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore / Economics / Asian Economies
After a stunning growth performance, all four dragons are slowing and aging. In the absence of drastic policy changes, they are facing relative stagnation, says Dan Steinbock.
In The Four Little Dragons (1992), U.S. academic Ezra Vogel argued that the four little dragons—Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore—were the newly-industrialized economies, which had followed Japan's export-led growth model to prosperity. Unlike major advanced economies, which established their position in a century or two, the four dragons made their mark in just a few decades.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Global Inflation Surges, Central Banks Losing Control and Triggered the Wage Price Spiral? / Economics / Inflation
Whilst in Britain, inflation focus is on the surge in prices following the BrExit vote that triggered a 20% drop in sterling which is slowly but steadily feeding its way through the supply chain and heralds a nightmare 2017 for already distressed retailers such as Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer that is literally facing a crisis which I have been covering in a series of videos the latest of which follows a BBC investigation into its 'fake' shelf prices duping customers into buying products at expired offer prices.
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Friday, February 24, 2017
The Whole US Economy Hangs In The Balance / Economics / US Economy
I have talked with many of the actors in the tax reform process—both in Congress and in think tanks. These discussions have served as the basis for my recent writing in Thoughts From the Frontline (subscribe here for free).
I’ve seen one point of agreement—the tax system must be massively reformed. That point, sadly, is where agreement ends.
Tax reform ideas usually fail because the status quo gives everybody some kind of perceived benefit. In reality, the benefit may be worth less than people think. But it’s preferable to the uncertainty of a new system.
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Tuesday, February 21, 2017
How The Slowing Shipping Industry Could Spark A Banking Crash In Germany / Economics / Germany
BY ANTONIA COLIBASANU : In geopolitics, events rarely occur in isolation.
Several stories about German exports, banks, and the shipping industry recently appeared in the media. But these stories do not gain their full significance unless taken as part of a bigger picture.
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Saturday, February 18, 2017
Not Nearly Enough Economic Growth To Keep Growing / Economics / Global Economy
It’s amusing to see how views start to converge, at the same time that it’s tiresome to see how long that takes. It’s a good thing that more and more people ‘discover’ how and why austerity, especially in Europe, is such a losing and damaging strategy. It’s just a shame that this happens only after the horses have left the barn and the cows have come home, been fed, bathed, put on lipstick and gone back out to pasture again. Along the same lines, it’s beneficial that the recognition that for a long time economic growth has not been what ‘we’ think it should be, is spreading.
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Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Here’s How Germany Buys Time From China / Economics / Germany
BY JACOB SHAPIRO : As we’ve written before, Germany’s economy has avoided problems besetting most export-dependent countries in the last two years.
In 2015, Germany accomplished this by compensating for decreased demand from China by substantially increasing its exports to the United States and the United Kingdom. In 2016, the situation was reversed. Exports to China increased while exports to the US and UK declined significantly.
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Monday, February 13, 2017
Reinventing the Global Economy Is the Only Way Out / Economics / Global Economy
As I’ve written previously, central bankers received a lot of criticism over the last year or two as the global economy has stubbornly refused to recover from the Great Recession at anywhere near the rate of past post-recession growth cycles.
Economics has come under fire along with other “establishment” institutions that are perceived as uncaring and out of touch. The criticism grew more intense—and more effective in the past year as Brexit and then the Trump victory occurred.
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Thursday, February 09, 2017
Retroeconomics – Global Challenge for Economic Development / Economics / Economic Theory
Vladimer Papava writes: In many and mostly poor countries, their economies have been using obsolete technologies. As a result, all of these countries do not have a real chance to be successful in any long-term economic growth. The usage of obsolete technologies by any company can create the illusion that this or that business is prosperous. At the level of international competition, however, it is obvious that these types of companies do not have any chance for success.
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Thursday, February 09, 2017
According to “Unmassaged Data” the US Economy is Rolling Over / Economics / Recession 2017
Yet another “unmassaged” data point has shown that the US economy is rolling over.
If you’ve been reading me for a while you know that one of my biggest pet peeves is the fact that headline US economic data (GDP growth, unemployment, inflation, etc.) is massaged to the point of being fiction.
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Tuesday, February 07, 2017
Bad News For Stock Bulls.. the US is Sliding Into Recession / Economics / Recession 2017
While the financial media was applauding last week’s jobs number, those of us who actually look into the details can tell you that the report was complete fiction.
The headline number of 227,000 was largely crafted through seasonal adjustments, NOT actual job creation. At a minimum 170,000 of those jobs were created in an excel spreadsheet by bean counters, NOT by businesses hiring.
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Monday, February 06, 2017
Why the Fed Gets Economics Wrong / Economics / Economic Theory
Economics (in general) is populated at its core by a lot of bad ideas. And these bad ideas have come to be accepted as the correct interpretation of how the economy functions and thus have become the basis for economic policy. This news shouldn’t come as a shock since I’ve written about this many times over the years in Thoughts from the Frontline.
Economics is an enormously useful tool for those of us who are trying to understand business and investments and government policy. But to paraphrase Dirty Harry, “An economist has to know his limitations.”
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Monday, February 06, 2017
A Non-Existent US Economic Recovery! / Economics / US Economy
Where is this economic boom that Former President Obama and his administration had taken so much credit for?
The Obama Administration, with the assistance of the Federal Reserve and Company, deliberately kept the U.S. economy from creating any growth at all. The money that flowed from the Federal Reserve, over the last 8 years, had a direct pipeline that flowed only into Wall Street Investment Banks. The American people were sold this false bill of sale that “Quantitative Easing” was going to make lending money to “Main Street America” easier to access. They promised that there would be a boost in hiring which would, in turn, increase aggregate demand and thereby reflect a newly stimulated economic growth!
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Monday, February 06, 2017
Inflation – What It Is, What It Isn’t, And Who’s Responsible For It / Economics / Inflation
Inflation is the debasement of money by the government. PERIOD.
It is NOT a general increase in the level of prices for goods and services.
The above statements are critical to an understanding and correct interpretation of events which are happening today – or expected to happen – that are casually attributable to inflation. So, let’s go one step further.
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Friday, February 03, 2017
Shocking Fact in Today's US Jobs Report: Employment Stalls / Economics / Employment
Initial Reaction
Today's employment report shows a robust increase of 227,000 jobs. The good news stops there. The rest of the report was horrific.
The big news is in employment where the three-month trend worsened.
In the last three months, employment has only risen by a grand total of 33,000. Employment in January declined by 30,000. For the entire year, employment rose by only 1,548,000. The average increase from a year ago is only 129,000 per month.
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Friday, February 03, 2017
Economic Depression, Stagflation, Stag-Depress-Flation / Economics / Great Depression II
The United States suffered through a deflationary depression in the 1930s. Stock prices crashed, currency in circulation declined, commodity and real estate prices fell hard and human misery prevailed.
President Roosevelt revalued gold from $20.67 to $35.00 per ounce in 1933 – a substantial devaluation of the dollar. Make-work and government spending programs were implemented. War followed the depression.
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Wednesday, February 01, 2017
He'll Bring Them Inflation, and They Will Love Him for It / Economics / Inflation
I used to make fun of the FOMC rate hike "decision" language in the mainstream media because under the Obama administration and its economic policies overseen by the Fed's monetary policy, there really was no decision, was there? It was ZIRP-eternity, interrupted by a lone and token rate hike in December 2015 (the Dec. 2016 hike does not count because the transition to a new administration and policy regime was already known; in effect, the Fed has already made its first hike under Trump).
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Saturday, January 28, 2017
Modern Delusions, Japan Thinks It Can Balance Its Budget / Economics / Japan Economy
A recurring problem for most developed-world governments is explaining why last year’s plan didn’t work while convincing voters that this year’s new and improved plan will do the trick. This is especially tough when the new plan is pretty much the same as the old one and therefore just as likely to fail.
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Friday, January 27, 2017
BEA Estimates US 4th Quarter 2016 GDP at 1.87% / Economics / US Economy
In their first (preliminary) estimate of the US GDP for the fourth quarter of 2016, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that the US economic growth rate was +1.87%, down by nearly half (-1.66%) from the prior quarter.
The quarter to quarter decline in the headline growth rate came from a number of sources: the growth of consumer spending on services was more than halved (down -0.68%), exports went into contraction (off a dramatic -1.69%) and imports were down yet another -0.86%. Partially offsetting those declines were upticks in consumer spending on goods (up +0.34%), and increases in the growth rate for commercial fixed investment (+0.65%) and inventories (+0.51%).
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Thursday, January 26, 2017
Inflation: Here's What the Wrong-Way Bet Looks Like / Economics / Inflation
Inflation: Here's What the Wrong-Way Bet Looks Like
Chart of the Day
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