MACROANALYSE – The World Just Got Riskier – met Charles Hugh Smith
Deze macroanalyse is feitelijk een zich zelf vervolgend verhaal, dat zich in een dialoog tussen gastheer en gast ontspint.
Deze dialoog wordt maandelijks voortgezet.
Gast: Charles Hugh Smith
Gastheer: Gordon T. Long
Publicatie 2 augustus
Meer gesprekken met Charles Hugh Smith vindt u op VoL hier.
In essentie de Transcriptie
One of the most consequential financial trends of the past 50 years has been ignored to the point of invisibility. I’m referring to the transfer of risk from the top tier to the middle and working classes. This transfer of risk has been broad-based, covering the entire economic spectrum:
1. Employment has shifted from secure (low risk of uneven / unpredictable incomes for workers) to insecure / precariat (high risk of uneven / unpredictable incomes). Gig workers are classified as contract workers so they receive no benefits.
2. Healthcare has been shifted to workers / government as corporations game employee hours to avoid paying healthcare; for those with coverage, monthly co-pays paid by workers are soaring as employers shift costs to employees. Healthcare plans have also shifted costs and risks to workers with high deductible plans, i.e. a simulacrum of healthcare insurance.
3. Private-sector pensions have shifted from defined-benefit pensions (costs and risks carried by employers) to 401K matching contributions (costs and risks carried by employees)
4. Federal Reserve policies have destroyed safe yields on savings and money-market accounts, forcing workers to take on the enormous risks of the rigged stock market casino (which is rigged to benefit high-frequency traders, front-running trading houses, and those with asymmetrically distributed information, i.e. insiders).
5. Tax burdens have shifted to the working poor (high Social Security/Medicare taxes), high-income workers (high income taxes), property owners (soaring property taxes) and small business while corporations and billionaires evade taxes with endless loopholes and subsidies.
6. Global corporations have shifted risk to small business via global environmental, regulatory, labor and currency arbitrage. Local governments fall all over themselves to give global corporations tax breaks and generous subsidies while heaping more junk fees and taxes on small business owned by ordinary citizens.
Verder lezen kan hier, op Of Two Minds