
Analysis Topic: Economic Trends Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Italy’s Banking Crisis Is Nearly Upon Us / Economics / Financial Crisis 2016
By: John_Mauldin
There is a high degree of probability (approaching 90%, I’d say) that Italy will experience a severe banking crisis in the next few quarters. Perhaps they can stave off the problem for a year, but something will have to be done about the banks.
Italian GDP per person lagging the rest of Europe
Italian citizens haven’t had much fun the past decade, judging from their GDP. You can see on the left side of the chart below that GDP per person has lagged the EU since 1995. Worse, it kept falling after 2009, even as Italy’s neighbors recovered.
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Tuesday, December 13, 2016
A Closer Look at Our Recent US Employment Numbers / Economics / Employment
By: Rodney_Johnson

But let’s dig a little deeper past the headline numbers. For years we’ve argued that there’s more to the story than just the number of jobs created. We want to know, and our economy depends on, how much money people are paid.
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Tuesday, December 13, 2016
WTO Debacle Heralds the End of Postwar Trade Regime / Economics / Global Economy
By: Dan_Steinbock
“China is not a market economy,” President-elect Donald Trump said in Iowa a few days ago. In the past few months, Trump has also pledged to undo the North-American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), beat back the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), impose huge tariffs on China and Mexico, and rewrite the rules of trade.
Nevertheless, the Obama White House, the EU and Japan beat Trump in the reset of the international trading regime by refusing China its market economy status (MES). The key clause in China’s agreement for joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) expired on Sunday.
Monday, December 12, 2016
The Robot Workforce is Coming - Here’s Why It's Best for Everyone / Economics / Employment
By: John_Mauldin
BY PATRICK WATSON : Every day brings a new warning: robots are coming to take our jobs. Soon we’ll all be unemployed… and unable to buy what the robots produce.
What good are robots if all they do is make stuff we can’t afford? I don’t know. But there's no doubt automation will replace some human workers—even (gasp!) writers and editors.
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Thursday, December 08, 2016
Our Future Economy, Jobs, Banking, And Governance – Part2 / Economics / US Economy
By: Raymond_Matison
One Possible Outcome - Future demographic impact on the global economy
Developing or emerging nations are still growing in population, are at a much younger average age, and are eager to own more goods. They do not yet have the long life span seen in advanced nations, and hence a larger proportion of their population remains as consuming spenders. Their spending patterns will promote the kind of consumer economic model that had existed in the more developed world of Europe and North America in the last century. Accordingly, consumer spending of emerging nations can be projected to rise for decades.
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Thursday, December 08, 2016
Developing Knowledge-Intensive Society and Knowledge Industrial Hub in Kerala: Global Applications and Implications / Economics / India
By: Dr_R_M_Mathew
This is a work on Development Strategy based on Knowledge and Brain Power, rather than Capital and Technology, including Information Technology. It is prepared for the specific context of Kerala, one of the smallest Indian states and also known as ‘God’s Own Country’. Kerala has the highest digital connectivity. The proposed Kerala Model may have wider applications to various small and big countries, including India as a whole, in pursuing a Knowledge-Intensive Development Strategy (KIDS).
Wednesday, December 07, 2016
More Talk About More Economic Growth and More Globalization / Economics / Global Economy
By: Raul_I_Meijer
The world is facing the “first lost decade since the 1860s”, said Bank of England governor Mark Carney this week. Arguably good for soundbite of the day, but the buck stops there. The only way that buck could have kept rolling would have been for Carney to take a critical look at himself and his employer(s), but there was none of that.
The Canadian import governor has no doubts about anything he’s done, or if he does he shows none. Instead he puts the blame for all that’s gone awry, on some -minor- elements of what he think globalization means, not with the phenomenon itself, or his enduring support for, and belief in, it. The problem with that is it’s indeed belief only; he can’t prove an inch of what he says.
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Wednesday, December 07, 2016
The Imminent Multi-Trillion Dollar Surge In Social Security & Medicare Costs / Economics / Government Spending
By: Dan_Amerman
For decades we have known that the time would come when Social Security & Medicare costs would begin a rapid and explosive growth upwards. That time is no longer the distant future - but something that will take place next year, and the year after, and the year after. The long expected storm is now upon us, and as can be seen below, the amounts involved are staggering and they will arrive much faster than most people realize.
Monday, December 05, 2016
If Trump Doesn’t Do This, We Will Have the Great Depression 2.0 / Economics / Great Depression II
By: John_Mauldin
No matter who won the presidency, the economic way forward was not going to be easy. The Republican team understands they must “stand and deliver.” But as we will see, that is not going to be easy.
I’m going to depart from the normal format, where I talk about the economic realities we face and how we should invest, and instead offer my view of what I think the Trump administration and the GOP-led Congress should do.
But first, let’s look briefly at where we are now—at the constraining facts that any economic proposal must take into consideration.
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Monday, December 05, 2016
Here’s How We Can Avoid a Horrific Economic Future / Economics / US Economy
By: John_Mauldin
We have to face up to our economic reality.
If we don’t bring the budget deficit beneath the nominal growth rate of GDP (which is unlikely to go above 4% in the near future), our debt will explode during recessions; and we will ultimately face a debt crisis.
Those never end well. The choices we will have at that point will be far fewer and even more stark.
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Monday, December 05, 2016
Our Future Economy, Jobs, Banking, And Governance / Economics / US Economy
By: Raymond_Matison
Part 1. Our Past and Present Experience
World leaders, central bankers, leading politicians, and economists are all clamoring for increased economic growth. If growth falls below a perceived minimum rate, financial or fiscal stimulus programs are initiated and maintained in order to accelerate it. The concept for necessity of continued growth is so engrained in our society, that few question under what kind of conditions, when, why, and for whom it is necessary or beneficial. The populace has been brainwashed for decades to believe if economic growth slows that it will have meaningful negative consequences for our quality of life. Contrariwise, we have been falsely led to believe that if the economy grows rapidly, everyone benefits.
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Friday, December 02, 2016
We Are Putting Off the Inevitable / Economics / Recession 2017
By: John_Mauldin
Only two presidents in history did not see a recession, and they were inaugurated after single-term presidents. In every single instance at the end of a two-term presidency, there’s been a recession. This means there is a 100% chance of recession for the new president.
My friend Raoul Pal, in his latest Global Macro Investor, talks about the potential for a recession in 2017:
The following chart shows every recession since 1910 (in yellow) with the new president after a two-term election marked in white and the new presidents after a single-term presidency in red. Wilson and Eisenhower appear as both. Only Coolidge saw more than a year (sixteen months) from his second-term election and the onset of the subsequent recession at the end of WWI…
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Friday, December 02, 2016
Macroeconomic Cycles & Demographics - A Fuse, An Explosive and The Igniting Catalyst / Economics / Demographics
By: Gordon_T_Long
Investors need to focus on the two key long term structural changes now underway which are going to ignite destructive global dislocations through early 2020. To better understand why this is going to occur we need to place them in context by first examining the major economic cycles currently underway.
Harry Dent's Macroeconomic Cycles & Demographics
This initial cycle chart is from an in-depth discussion I had with Harry Dent earlier this year. Since leaving Harvard, Harry has spent most of his adult working life studying demographics and cycles.
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Thursday, December 01, 2016
Burn the Flags, Can Trump Salvage The Sinking US Economic Ship? / Economics / US Economy
By: Jeff_Berwick
When Nobel Peace Prize winner, Barack O’Bomber, was sworn into office on January 20, 2009, the national debt was $10.62 trillion.
The United States currently has a national debt total of over $19.9 Trillion according to the US national debt clock as of the writing of this blog. That’s an astonishing 87% increase in less than an 8 year period.
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Thursday, December 01, 2016
US Economic Data - These Were Supposed To Be Hillary’s Numbers! / Economics / US Economy
By: John_Rubino
Good headlines just keep coming. The Chicago PMI index of Midwest economic activity jumps to its highest level in two years. The ADP employment report shows 216,000 new jobs added in November. US Q2 GDP growth is upgraded to a completely acceptable rate of 3.2%.
Very nice numbers all. And – had the election gone a different way – a big help in easing the transition from one Democrat administration to another. Success breeding success.
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Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Economic Imperialism Could Lead to China’s Demise / Economics / China Economy
By: Rodney_Johnson

It’s more than half the height of Mount Everest, but aesthetic beauty wasn’t a factor. Beneath the mountain’s surface sits two billion tons of copper, one of the largest reserves in the world. Through a state-owned company, the Chinese government secured access to yet another natural resource overseas.
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Monday, November 28, 2016
If Trump Does This, We Will Win / Economics / US Economy
By: John_Mauldin
No matter who won the presidency, the economic way forward was not going to be easy. The national debt and deficit must be brought under control, or we will face a crisis.
Avoiding that crisis—even if it is 10 years out—is important. The solution doesn’t have to be implemented all at once. But there has to be a clear trajectory along the lines of the Clinton/Gingrich budget compromises. Those gave us balanced budgets and deficit reduction.
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Monday, November 28, 2016
Public Infrastructure – Welcome to the World of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse / Economics / Infrastructure
By: Steve_H_Hanke

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Thursday, November 24, 2016
Another US Election Year, Another Bunch Of Fake Economic Growth Numbers / Economics / Economic Statistics
By: John_Rubino
Some pretty good economic reports have energized various parts of the financial markets lately. Consumer spending is up, GDP is exceeding expectations and even factory orders, that perennial downer, popped this morning.
In response the dollar is soaring and interest rates are at breaking out of their multi-decade down-channel. The economy is clearly recovering, implying a return to normality. Right?
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Wednesday, November 23, 2016
The Winners and Losers of a Global Trade War / Economics / Global Economy
By: Harry_Dent

The world “shrinking” seemed to be a win-win at first. Countries could focus on what they do best and export to others while importing what they need. And, yes, longer-term that does work, as Adam Smith first espoused in 1776.
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