DE WERELD NU

Economische aanraders 18-04-2015

Veren of Lood biedt u op zondag wekelijks een inkijkje in (minstens) 10 belangrijke of informatieve artikelen en interviews die de voorafgaande 7 dagen op economisch terrein verschenen.

De kopis de link naar het oorspronkelijke artikel, waarvan de eerste (twee) alinea’s hier gegeven zijn.

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Wrath of Financial Engineering: It’s Now Eating into Earnings – Wolf Richter
15 oktober

Companies with investment-grade credit ratings – the cream-of-the-crop “high-grade” corporate borrowers – have gorged on borrowed money at super-low interest rates over the past few years, as monetary policies put investors into trance. And interest on that mountain of debt, which grew another 4% in the second quarter, is now eating their earnings like never before.
These companies – according to JPMorgan analysts cited by Bloomberg – have incurred $119 billion in interest expense over the 12 months through the second quarter. The most ever.
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There Goes The Final Pillar Of The US “Recovery”: The Loan-Growth Paradox Explained – Tyler Durden
15 oktober

With the manufacturing side of the economy now openly in recession (based not only on earnings call confessions, regional Fed surveys, but an inventory-to-sales spread that has never been greater and is screaming liquidation, as well as an energy sector that has been in freefall for the past year), and the US consumer – that 70% component of US GDP – slamming into a wall following not only three months of disappointing payrolls, non-existent wage growth, plunging retail sales, a high-end consumer that has stopped spending, and the lowest consumer confidence measured by Gallup in 2015, not to mention GDP itself, there were just two pillars of the so-called recovery that had not yet been crushed: housing and loan growth.
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What “Progressive” Corporate Welfare Looks Like – Andrew Syrios
13 oktober

There appears to be a mistaken belief on the Left that any government action is either done in the interest of “the people” or in the interest of corporations and rich oligarchs. So the naked corporate welfare to Archer Daniels Midlands is called out, as are the sports stadiums being paid for by taxpayers and of course the banker bailouts as well. (Although, it should be noted that congressional Democrats voted in support of TARP by a rate of three to one whereas a slight majority of Republicans opposed it.)
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The Paradox of Risk: Central Planning Is Linear, Reality Is Non-Linear – Charles Hugh Smith
14 oktober

You thought it was safe to drive 90 miles an hour on a rain-slicked narrow road while you were tipsy because the airbag would save you, but it still hurts when you crash.
I first discussed the Paradox of Risk in August, 2008, just before the stock market melted down: The Unintended (Risky) Consequences of “Backstopping” Risk (August 12, 2008)
This is the Paradox of Risk: the more risk is apparently lowered, the higher the risk we are willing to accept.
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How Modern Sweden Profits from the Success of Its Free-Market History – Yonathan Amselem
16 oktober

Bernie Sanders’s entry into the presidential race has sparked a nationwide conversation about socialism and its potential to remedy the real and perceived pathologies suffered by Americans. Throughout Sanders’s extensive political career, he has proudly labeled himself a socialist while being careful to distance his ideological roots from basket cases such as North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and other collectivist nightmares. Rather, as with most progressive socialists, he considers himself a “democratic” socialist sharing more in common with the relatively wealthy Scandinavian countries.
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Visualizing The Demise Of The Once Mighty Euro – Tyler Durden
15 oktober

The European Union has always been primarily a political project. The idea of the union was to take peoples that had long and complicated histories, and to place them in a situation where they must work together and shed their differences in order to achieve success.
From the political angle, it can be argued that this objective has been achieved. War and conflict within Western and Central Europe has mostly been stymied. Considering the continent’s lengthy history in these areas, this is great news.
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EXCLUSIVE: The Smoking Gun Proving Silver & Gold Manipulation – David Fairfax
16 oktober

Gold price suppression!
The amount of ink spilled on this topic could fill a supertanker. Goldbugs the world over believe in the suppression story as an article of faith, and indeed, the evidence that “something is happening” appears incontrovertible.
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US Freight Shipments Have Worst September since 2010 – Wolf Richter
14 oktober

Shipping is a measure of the real economy. And it isn’t doing very well, apparently.
September is in the early phase of the make-or-break holiday shipping season. Shipments usually increase from August to September. They did this year too. The number of shipments in September inched up 1.7% from August, according to the Cass Freight Index.
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The Paradox of Financialized Industrialization – Michael Hudson
16 oktober

The great question today is whether post-feudal rentier capitalism will stifle industrial capitalism instead of serving it. The aim of finance is not merely to exploit labor, but to conquer and appropriate industry, real estate and government. The result is a financial oligarchy, neither industrial capitalism nor a tendency to evolve into socialism.
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The Problem Isn’t Student Loans–It’s Higher Education – Charles Hugh Smith
16 oktober

Forgiving skyrocketing student debt won’t solve the real problem, which is the soaring costs imposed by a cartel that is failing to prepare students for the economy of tomorrow.
Everyone understands soaring student debt is a problem: burdened with $1.3 trillion in student loans, young people are unable to start businesses, buy homes and start families. The high cost of housing and meeting regulations to launch businesses add additional burdens, but the weight of $1.3 trillion in debt right out of the starting gate is crushing.
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How much money does the 1% have hidden in Tax Havens – Gabriel Zucman
8 oktober

Tax havens are at the heart of financial, budgetary, and democratic crises. Let’s take a look: In the course of the last five years alone in Ireland and Cyprus—two offshore centers with hypertrophic financial systems—banks have gone almost bankrupt, plunging thousands of people into poverty. In the United States, Congress has revealed that one of the largest companies on the planet, Apple, avoided tens of billions in taxes by manipulating the location of its profits.

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Disclaimer: De VoL-redactie selecteert deze artikelen op interessante inzichten, of naar wij denken nuttige informatie. Wij kunnen echter geen enkele aansprakelijkheid aanvaarden voor de gevolgen van beslissingen die op grond hiervan door lezers zijn genomen, zakelijk zomin als privé.