Analysis Topic: Economic Trends Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Chinese Corporatism Turns Sour / Economics / China Economy
As even the casual observer of the effects from the corporatist model for economic commerce knows, permanence in a developing prosperity is transient at best. What becomes the rush to ratchet up industrial production ends up in a piercing disappointment for long term stability. China is the latest example of a corporatist model in serious trouble. And who will suffer the most? Those dependent on export manufacturing are clearly poised for a very bumpy ride. While the oligarchs play global chess with their foreign companies, the enterprise of creating a rise in world-wide wealth suffers.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Greece- What Happens When Economists Talk Politics / Economics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
As the “Varoufakis Files” provide everyone interested in the Greek tragi-comedy with an additional million pages of intriguing fodder -we all really needed that added layer of murky conspiracy, re: the Watergate tapes-, a different question has been playing in my head. Again. That is: Why are economists discussing politics?
Why are the now 6 month long Greece vs Troika discussions being conducted by the people who conduct them? All parties involved are apparently free to send to the table whoever they want, and while that seems nice and democratic, it doesn’t necessarily make it the best possible idea. To, in our view, put it mildly.
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Friday, July 24, 2015
What Blows Up Next? Part 1: Resource-Based Economies / Economics / Brazil
MoneyMorning.com The Great Recession and its aftermath was actually the best of times for countries with natural resources to sell. The US, Europe and Japan ran record deficits and cut interest rates to zero or thereabouts, sending hot money pouring into mining and energy projects around the world, while China borrowed (as it turned out) $15 trillion for an epic infrastructure build-out.
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Thursday, July 23, 2015
Commodities Damage to BRICs Economic Cushion / Economics / Emerging Markets
Aside from $ trillions in monetary stimulus from the world's major central banks, a major source to the recovery from the 2008-9 global financial crisis emerged from the BRICs economies. The dependence on commodities exports from Brazil, Russia and China proved instrumental in these economies' rapid comeback thanks to the cushion from rapid gains in agricultural and energy prices from 2002 to 2008. But now that agricultural commodities have crashed, metals crumbled and energy plummeted, what becomes of the BRICs engine to the world economy?
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Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Japan Ageing Population Still a Problem With No Solution / Economics / Japan Economy
There’s a village in Japan where the dead outnumber the living, and I don’t mean the ancestors in the cemetery. The bodies are dispersed around the small town of Nagoro.It’s a small community of some 35 people, most in their 60s or older. The place is so sparsely populated that the locals consider their 150-plus dead a part of their community.
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Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Worker Productivity and Modern-Day Horse Manure / Economics / Economic Theory
“They just use your mind and they never give you credit. It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it.”
– Dolly Parton, “Working 9 to 5”Almost everyone wants to be more productive. I include myself in that group – there are lots of ways I could be more productive. When I have conversations with people I think are very productive, they almost always tell me they wish they were more productive. What more could anyone expect from them?
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Monday, July 20, 2015
The Fed’s Confusion Over the "Natural Rate" of Unemployment and Inflation / Economics / US Federal Reserve Bank
In May, the US unemployment rate stood at 5.5 percent against the rate of 5.3 percent for the “natural unemployment,” also known as the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU).
According to the popular view, once the actual unemployment rate falls to below the NAIRU, or the natural unemployment rate, the rate of inflation tends to accelerate and economic activity becomes overheated. (This acceleration in the rate of inflation takes place through increases in the demand for goods and services. It also lifts the demand for workers and puts pressure on wages, reinforcing the growth in inflation).
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Sunday, July 19, 2015
Canada in Recession Admits Canadian Central Bank, Operation Twist? / Economics / Recession 2015
... The Solution: More Bubbles; Operation Twist Canadian Style?
The Bank of Canada admitted on Wednesday that Canada was in Recession. Well sort of.
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is afraid to speak the "R-Word". Instead, Poloz phrased it this way: "Real GDP is now projected to have contracted modestly in the first half of the year."
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Sunday, July 19, 2015
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics / Economics / Economic Statistics
The government released their monthly CPI report this week. Even though it came in at an annualized rate of 3.6%, they and their mouthpieces in the corporate mainstream media dutifully downplayed the uptrend. They can’t let the plebs know the truth. That might upend their economic recovery storyline and put a crimp into their artificial free money, zero interest rate, stock market rally. If they were to admit inflation is rising, the Fed would be forced to raise rates. That is unacceptable in our rigged .01% economy. There are banker bonuses, CEO stock options, corporate stock buyback earnings per share goals and captured politician elections at stake.
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Thursday, July 16, 2015
Euro-zone ‘Plan B’ Needed As Euro One Recession Away From Implosion – David McWilliams / Economics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
- Euro is one recession away from implosion – David McWilliams
- Mismanagement of euro “both laughable and terrifying”
- “When economic negotiations stop making economic sense, you should begin to question the motives of the EU”
- Germany is out of control
- Successful British exit will be model for other countries
- Euro membership is now conditional
- “Countries that don’t play ball with Germany will see their banking system used against their democratically elected politicians”
- Investors and savers need “PLAN B”
Thursday, July 16, 2015
The UK’s Growing Economies / Economics / UK Economy
Since the Economic Downturn in 2008, economic adjectives have been ubiquitous and we hear and read daily of an ailing or buoyant; expansionary or inflationary; bullish or recessionary economy. Optimistic or pessimistic perspectives on economic matters are often a result of one’s portfolio or even their political leanings and, consequently, many people are influenced by Medias need to define an economy as ‘In or Out of Recession’. Often the accepted formula of two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth or contraction in a sector fuels their abysmal report. Others such as Chief Economic optimist Joe Grice of The Office of National Statistics (ONS) see no statistical basis to characterise the economy as recessionary. He states, “Overall, in recent years, the economy appears to have been on a bumpy plateau, with an upward trend but at well below historic growth rates.”
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Monday, July 13, 2015
The Potemkin Bank of China / Economics / Central Banks
In the midst of an intense global economic slowdown that began in 2008, China's economy amazingly appeared to be unaffected. Defying the world-wide real estate collapse, China's GDP grew by an impressive 8.7% in 2009. Fueled initially by a $586 billion stimulus package, China would end up plowing and additional $20 trillion dollars into a fixed asset bubble that was designed to produce the government's desired GDP print.
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Friday, July 10, 2015
Labour Productivity Misconceptions / Economics / Economic Theory
In the media warm-up for Wednesday's UK budget, we were told of Britain's poor productivity and Chancellor Osborne subsequently confirmed that his priority is to address it. Comparative figures for Europe quoted by the BBC were sourced from the OECD and are replicated in the chart below.
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Thursday, July 09, 2015
U.S. Economy Slouches toward Recession as Eurozone Crisis Widens / Economics / US Economy
Stefan Gleason writes: Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen may have missed her window of opportunity to raise interest rates. The economic data no longer paint a picture of even a tepid recovery. Since the start of the year, key indicators for the economy began pointing toward recession.
Add to that the recent Eurozone chaos surrounding the Greek default and a 30% crash in the Chinese stock market, and economic pressures are growing by the day.
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Thursday, July 09, 2015
Greece Enters Its Crack-Up Boom - The War on Cash / Economics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
The Austrian School of economics has a concept called a “crack-up boom” in which a critical mass of people conclude that their government is actively trying to devalue its currency.
Consumers respond by front-running the government, spending their paychecks immediately in order to convert their soon-to-be-less-valuable money into real things. Merchants, not happy about the sudden influx of suspect currency (and sensing the panic of their customers) hold out for ever-higher prices, causing inflation to spike. But it’s a special kind of inflation, driven not by a sudden increase in the money supply but by collapsing confidence among holders of the currency.
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Tuesday, July 07, 2015
Greece is Just the First of MANY Countries That Will Be Going Belly-Up / Economics / Global Debt Crisis 2015
ALL of the so called, “economic recovery” that began in 2009 has been based on the Central Banks’ abilities to rein in the collapse.
The first round of interventions (2007-early 2009) was performed in the name of saving the system. The second round (2010-2012) was done because it was generally believed that the first round hadn’t completed the task of getting the world back to recovery.
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Tuesday, July 07, 2015
Greece Crisis and the Top Demographic Trends of Our Time / Economics / Demographics
Greece is not the place to be right now.Its citizens are capped out at $67 a day on the ATM. Its pensioners are pinching pennies. Its doctors are leaving in droves. Its long-term demographics are deplorable, making the chances for recovery more and more abysmal. It’s a nightmare!
I’ve already explained that large-scale debt deleveraging will be one of the triggers that sends the global economy back into crisis. Now that Greece has defaulted on its $1.7 billion IMF payment, they’re looking more and more like the beginning of the end.
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Tuesday, July 07, 2015
The Uber Economy / Economics / Economic Theory
On a recent trip to the D.C. area, I needed a ride to the Baltimore airport. I dreaded calling a cab, since I knew the ride would be over $100 and the cab itself might make the 30-minute ride less than pleasant. So I took the occasion to hail an Uber car.The car arrived at 6:10am, and I had a very pleasant ride to the airport in a recent model Volvo S60.
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Sunday, July 05, 2015
Greece Referendum Vote Result Forecast Yes Win, But Depression Will Continue / Economics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
Its referendum day for a possible doomsday for Greece where the marxist Syriza government has been hell bent on engineering a Greek exit from the euro-zone ever since its election victory 6 months ago, towards which it has been working step by step attempting to trick the 70% of the Greece electorate who have consistently stated they wish to remain within the euro-zone resulting in a convoluted and confusing referendum question called on short notice that Syriza hopes will convince the majority to vote NO to the euro-zone and europe.
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Saturday, July 04, 2015
The Great Greek Economic Depression / Economics / Great Depression 2010's
Sean Brodrick writes: Did you know there’s a Great Depression taking place? Not here in the United States, but in Greece.
The cradle of Western democracy has tumbled hard in the past six years, and it looks like it has a lot more pain to bear.
Why is Greece in a Great Depression? Take a look at this chart comparing gross domestic product in Greece now with the “gold standard” of Great Depressions, the U.S. back in the 1930s.
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