SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Strategies & Market Trends : The Financial Collapse of 2001 Unwinding -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: John Pitera who wrote (516)10/24/2017 2:04:37 AM
From: elmatador  Respond to of 13775
 
My views:

The guys making money without exposing themselves to the downturn are not going to bad mouth Crypto.

Souped computers vendors, money laundering, convenience and lack of tracing, (no billionaire wants to end up on the court neighboring my apartment building in Curitiba. (see Judge Moro of Carwash fame jailing Brazil's 1%) talking heads and other stakeholders are going to keep peddling the shovels to the gold rush miners.

When the proverbial tide goes down, the naked swimmers will appear. There will be no 'too big to fail' in crypto.

Probably out of the technology brain power amassed to build crypto some benefits will come out. Probably the Blockchain part of it being used for real world applications.

We will get souped computers as the technology put this into the vendors' agenda. (there are always some useful stuff after a crash.

Long ago, value was on the hardware. Value shifted to Software, Today software is money itself.

IMF, World Bank, Bank of International Settlements and all CBs are all using crypto as a lab experiment.

You know governments. If this thing was going to co-exist along real money government would be talking taxation.

Now the dessert:
The Hot Speculative money in Bitcoin and the cryptocurrencies will pull down valuations of all risk assets.

Crypto may be straw in the speculative camel's back.

Should we not be thinking what a unwinding of the Collapse?
  • Mostly will be government actions
  • Governments using the opportunity to implement draconian controls?
  • Governments always use special situations to do their own thing?
  • Locking up some poor devils (or shooting them in China) to show the masses there are consequences?



To: John Pitera who wrote (516)10/27/2017 10:03:40 AM
From: elmatador  Respond to of 13775
 
China’s Two Choices: Crisis or Stagnation
Why the country cannot deleverage

Xi got Mao status on top o debt!

China has added more debt in the first nine months of 2017 than the United States, Japan, and the European Union combined.


“China requires 6.5 units of capital to create one unit of gross domestic product growth, double the ratio of a decade ago,” wrote the Financial Times, citing a report by investment bank UBS.


China will have to accept high-debt-zombified stagnation the way that Europe, Brazil, and Japan ended their debt cycle


https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinas-two-choices-crisis-or-stagnation_2338533.html



To: John Pitera who wrote (516)11/5/2017 1:55:00 AM
From: elmatador  Respond to of 13775
 
Saudi Arabia Copies Brazil Car Wash and jails tycoons

Saudi Arabia Arrests 11 Princes, Including Billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICKNOV. 4, 2017

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world’s richest men, was reportedly arrested in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. CreditIshara S.Kodikara/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesLONDON — Saudi Arabia announced the arrest on Saturday night of the prominent billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, plus at least 10 other princes, four ministers and tens of former ministers.

The announcement of the arrests was made over Al Arabiya, the Saudi-owned satellite network whose broadcasts are officially approved. Prince Alwaleed’s arrest is sure to send shock waves both through the Kingdom and the world’s major financial centers.

He controls the investment firm Kingdom Holding and is one of the world’s richest men, owning or having owned major stakes in News Corp, Citigroup, Twitter and many other well-known companies. The prince also controls satellite television networks watched across the Arab world.

The sweeping campaign of arrests appears to be the latest move to consolidate the power of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the favorite son and top adviser of King Salman.

At 32, the crown prince is already the dominant voice in Saudi military, foreign, economic and social policies, stirring murmurs of discontent in the royal family that he has amassed too much personal power, and at a remarkably young age.

The king had decreed the creation of a powerful new anti-corruption committee, headed by the crown prince, only hours before the committee ordered the arrests.

Al Arabiya said that the anticorruption committee has the right to investigate, arrest, ban from travel, or freeze the assets of anyone it deems corrupt.

The Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh, the de facto royal hotel, was evacuated on Saturday, stirring rumors that it would be used to house detained royals. The airport for private planes was closed, arousing speculation that the crown prince was seeking to block rich businessmen from fleeing before more arrests.

Prince Alwaleed was giving interviews to the Western news media as recently as late last month about subjects like so-called crypto currencies and Saudi Arabia’s plans for a public offering of shares in its state oil company, Aramco.

He has also recently sparred publicly with President Donald J. Trump. The prince was part of a group of investors who bought control of the Plaza Hotel in New York from Mr. Trump, and he also bought an expensive yacht from him as well. But in a twitter message in 2015 the prince called Mr. Trump “a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America.”

At 32, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is already the dominant voice in Saudi military, foreign, economic and social policies.CreditFayez Nureldine/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesBut his swift rise has also divided Saudis. Many applaud his vision, crediting him with addressing the economic problems facing the kingdom and laying out a plan to move beyond its dependence on oil.

Others see him as brash, power-hungry and inexperienced, and they resent him for bypassing his elder relatives and concentrating so much power in one branch of the family.

At least three senior White House officials, including the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were reportedly in Saudi Arabia last month for meetings that were undisclosed at the time.

Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main storyThe Interpreter NewsletterUnderstand the world with sharp insight and commentary on the major news stories of the week.

Before sparring with Mr. Trump, Prince Alwaleed was publicly rebuffed by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who rejected his $10 million donation for the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York because the prince had also criticized American foreign policy.

As powerful as the billionaire is, he is something of an outsider within the royal family — not a dissident, but an unusually outspoken figure on a variety of issues. He openly supported women driving long before the kingdom said it would grant them the right to do so, and he has long employed women in his orbit.

In 2015 he pledged to donate his fortune of $32 billion to charity after his death. It was unclear Saturday whether Saudi Arabia’s corruption committee might seek to confiscate any of his assets.

Saudi Arabia is an executive monarchy without a written Constitution or independent government institutions like a Parliament or courts, so accusations of corruption are difficult to evaluate. The boundaries between the public funds and the wealth of the royal family are murky at best, and corruption, as other countries would describe it, is believed to be widespread.

The arrests came a few hours after the king replaced the minister in charge of the Saudi national guard, Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah, who controlled the last of the three Saudi armed forces not yet considered to be under control of the crown prince.

The king named Crown Prince Mohammed the minister of defense in 2015. Earlier this year, the king removed Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as head of the interior ministry, placing him under house arrest and extending the crown prince’s influence over the interior ministry’s troops, which act as a second armed force.

Rumors have swirled since then that King Salman and his favorite son would soon move against Prince Mutaib, commander of the third armed force and himself a former contender for the crown.

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington.

A version of this article appears in print on November 5, 2017, on Pag



To: John Pitera who wrote (516)11/19/2017 3:30:13 AM
From: elmatador  Respond to of 13775
 
Emerging Stocks Outperform
Rally in emerging-market stocks will last for another two years, according to Terra Nova Capital Advisors
By Faseeh Mangi

November 16, 2017, 6:05 PM GMT+3


The rally in emerging-market stocks will last for two more years as declining debt levels lead to sustainable economic growth, according to Terra Nova Capital Advisors Ltd. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index has climbed twice as fast as the MSCI World Index and hit its highest level since 2011. “I don’t think we have seen the end of the EM rally,” said Ami Kemppainen, managing partner at Terra Nova in Dubai. “Perhaps the thing that will end it is a global correction in all equity prices.’’



To: John Pitera who wrote (516)11/21/2017 12:43:44 AM
From: elmatador1 Recommendation

Recommended By
John Pitera

  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 13775
 
These Charts Show the U.S. Economy Yellen Will Leave to PowellBy
Vince Golle

November 20, 2017, 11:20 PM GMT+3

At the direction of President Donald Trump, the Federal Reserve chairmanship baton will be passed to Jerome Powell from Janet Yellen, and with it, a U.S. economy that’s been uninspiring in terms of growth yet remarkable in its longevity.

America’s economic expansion has run for roughly 100 months and is already the third-longest on record, yet the average growth rate is more subdued than the previous three periods. As for the Fed’s mandate -- maximizing employment and keeping prices stable -- the report card is mixed.

The following nine charts capture the nation’s ascent from the Great Recession of 2007-2009. The recovery, engineered by the Fed through a combination of low borrowing costs and so-called quantitative easing, has also been marked by sharp increases in both household wealth and borrowing.

Yellen said Monday she’ll resign from the Fed’s Board of Governors once Powell is sworn in as chairman, removing the question of whether she would stay on in a diminished role. Trump nominated Powell for the position earlier this month, and his appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.

1. Labor ProgressThe jobless rate of 4.1 percent is close to a 17-year low and for eight months has been below the Fed’s estimate of full employment -- or the rate at which anyone who wants a job can get one and companies have an incentive to boost pay as demand for workers increases.



2. Inflation ConundrumAs successful as Yellen & Co. have been laying the groundwork for more hiring, Fed policy has yet to engender the desired price stability. During Yellen’s term as chair, the central bank’s preferred inflation gauge has persistently fallen short of the Fed’s 2 percent goal.



3. Slow VelocityThe speed of the economy has been more subdued in the current expansion that began under Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and continued in 2014 with Yellen’s appointment. Gross domestic product has increased a little more than 2 percent a year on average, weaker than the 2.8 percent in the previous expansion through most of the 2000s and half as fast as the 1980s growth period.



4. Cars and DriversBy keeping interest rates low for an extended period of time, Fed policy makers made it easier for American consumers to finance big-ticket purchases. Motor vehicle sales showed steady growth up until this year -- with hurricanes boosting demand in September and October -- -- and were instrumental in driving up household outlays. Nonetheless, real personal spending has grown at a slower pace than in previous expansions.



5. Capital ContributionConsumer spending and business investment combine to make up about 80 percent of the economy. Capital spending on structures, equipment and intellectual property has increased at a 4.5 percent average annual pace since the end of the last recession, spurred in part by the oil and gas industry. While that’s better than the previous expansion, it’s running slower than it was during the technology revolution of the 1990s.



6. Weak ProductivityThe economy’s ability to grow faster, and raise Americans’ standards of living in the process, is being constrained by tepid productivity. While some economists contend that productivity isn’t being measured correctly, another possible explanation is technological advances aren’t providing as big of a bang for the buck that they did decades ago. Others posit that business investment in equipment has been subdued.



7. Equities’ ElevationPerhaps the biggest beneficiaries of Fed monetary policy have been investors. The stock market is in the midst of a bull-market run that’s catapulted to all-time highs. The S&P 500 has climbed about 15 percent this year. It’s also started to cause some indigestion among Fed policy makers about elevated vulnerabilities associated with asset valuations.



8. Divided DividendsFor direct and indirect holders of equities, the advance has driven household net worth to a record. That’s the good news. The problem is that the wealth generated by surging stock prices is concentrated among the most well-off Americans.



9. Debt BuildupEasy monetary policy has also resulted in more borrowing. While mortgages remain the largest share of household debt, financial institutions have also made more car loans while student loans have surged. On the corporate side, debt outstanding has increased 75 percent in the last decade. Rather than economy-enhancing upgrades to operations or paying employees more, businesses have largely used the credit to repurchase shares.

Corporate debt issuance last year reached a record $1.5 trillion. For those companies without large cash holdings, stretched balance sheets could become problematic should the economy lose altitude.



— With assistance by Sho Chandra