Economic pressures

[Danny B]

Fear and liquidity

When we went off the gold standard, banks were able to conjure up near endless liquidity. Exter's Pyramid shows an inverted pyramid with gold at the bottom and, derivatives at the top. Each level in the pyramid had a decreasing level of "moneyness". Each level in the pyramid needed an increasing level of confidence. After we escaped gold, we had increasing liquidity built on increasing confidence. This translated to increased tangible wealth for the non-producers.
Finance is now 40% of the economy and 51% of Americans receive a check from GOV.
There were 21,995,000 employed by federal, state and local government in the United States. As a percentage, this has been falling.

https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/files/2015/01/GovPercent_Break.png&w=1484

https://creditbubblebulletin.blogspot.com/2018/12/weekly-commentary-thoughts-on-liquidity.html

You can't measure liquidity because you can't measure confidence. The "VIX" is called the "fear gauge" It wobbles around but, is only indicative. Liquidity has collapsed to the lowest on record.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-12-29/what-behind-markets-record-liquidity-collapse

https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2018/12/2019-zombie-markets-before-the-fall/

https://www.goldmoney.com/research/goldmoney-insights/the-arrival-of-the-credit-crisis

Just wait for next year.
So much money has pulled out of the markets that; a normally low-amplitude movement creates a huge effect,,, volatility.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-just-how-crazy-this-week-was-for-the-stock-market-in-one-big-chart-2018-12-28

We can only hope.

A $64 billion rotation out of bonds and, into stocks created a 900 point move,,, chump change.

[Danny B]

https://mises.org/wire/depression-2019-2021

[Danny B]

It all depends on how you define progress. The PBOC created more liquidity than the BOJ, FED and ECB combined. The more debt, the more instability. Trump has pushed a dagger into China.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/deflation-risk-rises-as-chinas-economy-keeps-faltering_2748628.html

Footing ! WHAT footing?
You already know what socialism did to East Germany. Look what it has done to Venezuela.
Sultan Knish: Socialism Can Kill You, But It Won't Bury You
"Capitalism, as it is acknowledged unreservedly in the Communist Manifesto, brought about economic growth, technical progress and unprecedented prosperity to the world. However, it also generated unemployment, fluctuations and crises, frequently and on an increasingly large scale, thus creating over time an ever-increasing inequality, especially in the last post-War period. The rise of socialism is rooted in these drawbacks of capitalism."

https://www.socialeurope.eu/the-rise-fall-and-future-of-socialism-1

"drawbacks of capitalism." The drawbacks of capitalism are easily understood. Capitalism is competitive. It has no rewards for the lazy and the stupid. The lazy and the stupid want to consume just like the productive people. As more and more job niches are automated, more and more people are falling off the end of the job ladder. For a great many of them, it isn't their fault that they chose a career path that was susceptible to automation. Socialism isn't going to make stupid people smart. It isn't going to provide motivation to lazy people,,, quite the opposite.
"ever-increasing inequality"
A New Kind of Classroom: No Grades, No Failing, No Hurry - The New ...

https://www.nytimes.com

A-F school grades aren't the answer if we want to raise empathetic and self-motivated students

https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/29/kolb-economy-fluctuating/

YES, but, it was profitable. That's all that matters in certain quarters.
This is the best news in years (crosspost) https://www.theamericanconservative....attis-dunford/

Armstrong on Dick Cheney,,, and the depths of the swamp.
"The World Trade Center 7 collapsed like a pancake when no plane ever touched it. That building has all the evidence of many things we will never know about. I have 20 years worth of recordings that would have been enough to put all the major New York trading banks in prison"

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/politics/vice-the-dick-cheney-rumsfeld-conspiracy/

Armstrong says that the FED is raising rates to rescue the pension funds. I claim that it will never work in time.
Armstrong, "Therefore, the Fed realizes that the next crisis is a pension crisis and they need to raise rates to help try to bail out the pension funds. They will not be able to raise the rates fast enough to avoid the crisis coming very rapidly which will contribute to raising tax rates and further suppressing economic growth into the future."

[Danny B]

4 good articles

Here is a great article that covers everything.

https://www.theburningplatform.com/2018/12/31/2019-from-a-fourth-turning-perspective/

The higher the leverage, the less actual capital you need.
oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith: The Crisis of Capital
Another good article;

https://www.home.saxo/insights/content-hub/articles/2018/12/31/year-in-review-equities-were-a-pandoras-box

Your advanced degree allows you to survive paycheck to paycheck.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/12/28/living-paycheck-paycheck-is-disturbingly-common-i-see-no-way-out/?utm_term=.62b8c8419bad

[Danny B]

Labor-value,,,automation,,, consumption,,, debt

Capitalism is defined as ; taking something from nature and, adding your labor. Then trading this for something that you want. Even hunter-gatherers might trade spear points for hides,,, or whatever. The family and the clan were the original socialist units where the producers supported the non-producers to create offspring and genetic survival. Capitalism is the only system that works in the long run. Nobody works for free for those who are not direct genetic lineage.
Socialism endeavors to perpetuate a free-ride for people who are not our direct genetic lineage. Socialism has always failed because it runs counter to human nature. It has been tried over and over but fails.
Slavery works because of the lash and the whip. Wage-slavery works to transfer our labor value to the controllers. The State has locked up ALL private lands so that we can't exit the system and live a meager existence on a small plot of land. We have to keep running on the treadmill of productivity to transfer our labor-value to the rich. The State also taxes us exorbitantly to keep us on the treadmill.

The worker on the treadmill is supporting 2 groups. 1. The underachievers who have no niche in the private workplace. 2. The banker and bureaucrat who gain their sustenance by manipulating the instrument of exchange.
Redistribution to the non-employable is called socialism.
Redistribution to the banker & bureaucrat is called fascism.... sometimes, communism.
As far as the actual worker is concerned, it is theft of labor. He is held in chains by either the lash or the lawbook.

"CAPITALISTS PURCHASE labor-power on the market. In general, the wage--the price of labor-power--is, like all other commodities, determined by its cost of production, which is in turn regulated by struggles between workers and capitalists over the level of wages and benefits, and by competition between workers for jobs."
"In other words, the price of labor-power is determined by the cost of food, clothing, housing and education at a given standard of living. Marx adds that "the cost of production of...[labor-power] must include the cost of propagation, by means of which the race of workers is enabled to multiply itself, and to replace worn-out workers with new ones." So, wages must also include the cost of raising children, the next generation of workers."
That's not happning any more.

"The crucial point is that the cost of wages or labor-power depends on factors completely independent of the actual value produced by workers during the labor process. This difference is the source of "surplus value," or profit. So let's compare the price of labor-power to the value, expressed in price, of the commodities that workers creates through their labor."
"Similarly, struggles over wages and benefits are struggles over the value and price of labor-power, which is an expression of workers' standard of living. Capitalists seek to lower wages and slash benefits, decreasing the price of labor-power in order to increase the accumulation of surplus value, to maximize their profits."
Wages in America have been static for decades. The native birthrate has crashed at the same time. The southern border was left open to keep wages depressed. With the advent of containerized shipping, the jobs were simply sent to low-age producers. Any demands by workers for decent wages is met by either outsourcing or automation.
CNC robots don't demand wages or retirement. They are also self-propagating to a great extent.

"Most importantly, Marx's theory of exploitation reveals that because the source of capitalists' wealth is the unpaid labor of workers, the interests of workers and capitalists--like slave and master or serf and lord before them--are diametrically opposed and are impossible to reconcile. The two will always come into conflict since capitalists can only increase their share of the wealth at the expense of workers"
"But as long as the capitalist system exists, workers will be exploited, and their unpaid labor will remain the source of the profits that are the lifeblood of the system."

https://socialistworker.org/2011/09/28/what-do-we-mean-exploitation

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10455752.2016.1271817?src=recsys&journalCode=rcns20

The world is not in a crisis of productivity. It is in a crisis of consumption. Since wages have stagnated, the State through, warfare and welfare has tried to maintain consumption.
"unpaid labor will remain the source of the profits that are the lifeblood of the system"
OK, how much are we talking about? Take a look at this graph.

https://pix-media.priceonomics-media.com/blog/1292/image5.png

THIS is the source of wealth transfer to the rich. The unpaid labor of automatic machines. Energy figures very high on this list.
We lost out to automated machines and consequently, cut back on consumption and procreation. Our wages just did not cover the cost of creating replacement workers who have no job prospects.

The finance sector of the economy has created a bubble that is multiples of the GDP. The human-machine partnership wiped out human reproduction in Japan decades ago. The fertility rate in China is only 1.6. 25% below replacement. Runaway automation will ensure that consumption by humans will continue to drop. The current financial bubble is an effort to counter the effects of a drop in consumption.

Many writers have speculated what the financial landscape will look like AFTER the crash. What could possibly bring a renewal of the birth rate?,,,consumption?,,,debt money?,,, credit?

[Danny B]

Prognosis for 2019

Ronald Reagan Quotes. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
The middle class stopped consuming and, the State tries to be a stand-in for the missing consumption. But, WE are the State.
Another epic economic collapse is coming - The Washington Post
$250 Trillion in Debt: the World's Post-Lehman Legacy - Bloomberg
The State has been subsidising TOO MANY entities. The public debt is just too high. The private sector unloaded everything on Uncle Sam.
Here's who owns a record $21.21 trillion of U.S. debt - MarketWatch
Remember that this figure doesn't include $3 trillion owed to SS,,,, part of the $212 unfunded liabilities (Kotlikoff)

We are starting a new year. Which way will the winds of sentiment and confidence blow?
You can bet that the shutdown and turmoil in the District of Corruption will spook the markets.

The yield curve has always been a good predictor of recession. It's not looking good right now. There is too much volatility of investors to stomach.

https://moneymaven.io/mishtalk/economics/yield-curve-recession-watch-7-year-treasury-yield-inverts-with-1-year-Ko1gGwDlokylgXl7PMgnPA/

Stimulus to who? Both have a shrinking population. China's Belt and Road initiative is trying to develop external markets. But, the global mean wage doesn't allow for much consumption.

China is strangling on pollution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwOBRH56Ic0

Also, automation isn't going to go away. https://qz.com/1510405/gms-layoffs-c...into-machines/

The markets have finally come to the realization that solar power is a technology, NOT a fuel. As such, they will no longer fund losing proposition like Nuke power or coal power. Natural gas too is losing market share to solar. This will play havoc with energy markets.

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/adam-browning-2018-reflections#gs.SE6P=KY

44 Numbers From 2018 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe

http://kunstler.com/cluster****-nation/forecast-2019-ding-ding-margin-call-usa/

Evidence indicates that interest rates can never rise while the population is falling. How do you raise interest cost when wages are static and population is falling?

https://acting-man.com/?p=53976

Pretty good article.

[Danny B]

Nobody knows which way to run for cover

Charles Hugh Smith has lots to say that is well worth reading.

https://www.oftwominds.com/blogjan19/2019-thoughts1-19.html

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/market-talk/market-talk-january-2-2018/

So, don't buy Chinese stocks.
Avoid US stocks, Go With Emerging markets - Morgan Stanley
The merging markets have $13 trillion in debt that is increasingly more difficult to service.

There is a very good reason that quantitative easing isn't done. With a flow of new liquidity entering the markets, nobody can formulate a strategy for long-term investment. They have to lock in to short term investments. Valuations for short term assets get overly inflated. This causes a yield curve inversion and, everybody knows that short term assets are primed for a fall. The world-improvers are trying to inflict socialism on America. Did they cause the FED to maintain QE? Did the FED do it on it's own? Greenspan, Brnanke and Yellen insisted that we needed 2% inflation,,,, to maintain price stability. The Goy FED heads wanted nothing to do with this.

QE Has Done Something Much More Damaging Than The Fed Could Have Imagined
"The abnormally long, QE-fueled bull market killed off anything that wasn't, at its core, a short volatility strategy. Now, whether it's risky credit, levered equities, or risk parity, almost all strategies are taking similar risks. QE has done something much more damaging than the Fed could have imagined. It changed the very nature of the market,"

"If we have a recession with overnight rates still at 2.50%, what can the Fed do? Coordinated easing with the ECB and BOJ is off the table -- their rates are negative and they're running out of assets to buy for QE. At least the Fed won't have that issue. With surging budget deficits, the Fed will have plenty of Treasuries to buy. And that's only just begun, because the next put for the markets is really from fiscal, not monetary policy."
But, will the FED buy treasuries after all the warning signs?

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-01/one-river-asset-management-qe-has-done-something-much-more-damaging-fed-could-have

The whole board of directors walked out. What is the admin going to do?

All the FAANGs are falling badly. Sentiment and confidence don't look good so, this will probably go down for several more weeks.


The ECB is the only entity buying Italian debt. Will the FED be the only one buying U.S. debt?
2019: It Is Going To Be Much Worse Than You Think… – End Of The American Dream
Ukraine is going down hard and fast. It was recently proved that they shot down the MH17 flight. Food is getting expensive, https://www.rt.com/business/447207-e...ending-rating/
Fresh Russian sanctions will make things worse.

[Danny B]

Confidence has turned to doom loops

Ronnie Rayguy put together the plunge protection team. Their job was to put a floor under the markets if they fell too much. It did work after a fashion. The Western CBs put together a cartel to suppress the price of gold. It did work for several years. There are lots of claims that the PPT is at work again, trying to stop the fall in markets. Along with the PPT is the exchange stabilization fund.. Remember that these groups have a key to the printing press and, it doesn't cost anything to pump in liquidity.
Armstrong claims that the PPT can not change anything. BUT, his program Socrates gets the RSS feeds and knows ALL. Did Socrates allow for the actions of the PPT in it's calculations?
Here is Armstrong to tell you that nobody can manipulate the markets.

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/history/panics/the-myth-of-the-plunge-protection-team/

A. Socrates knows what the PPT is doing.
B. It is OBVIOUS that the markets can be controlled in the short

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2019/01/01/the-federal-reserve-interest-rates-and-the-easy-money-myth/#1f872c19468e

You see the fallacy, don't you. Borrowers are NOT borrowing dollars to buy tractors. They are borrowing dollars to speculate. They are NOT borrowing dollars to invest in human capital. Robots, maybe, but not people.

If you borrow money for pure consumption, you likely can't repay it. If you borrow money for investment, there is a good chance that you can repay it. If you borrow money for pure speculation, you might be able to repay it. If EVERYBODY borrows money for pure speculation, they can't all repay it. When it all unwinds, everything is affected.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-01/five-doom-loops-investors-may-confront-in-2019

OK, so, the doom loops have started to loop and loop. What else does that affect?

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-03/everything-plunging-stocks-yields-dollar

An Inside Look At The Social Decay That Is Eating Away At America Like An Aggressive Form Of Cancer

https://moneymaven.io/mishtalk/economics/184-trillion-in-global-debt-86-000-per-capita-what-can-possibly-go-wrong-ysz9ZECM2UeLV2_NITYWdg/

China is both a liar and, a cheerleader. If they issue a warning, it is probably too late to stop the crash.

As long as it sells expensive arms, everybody should be happy.

[Danny B]

https://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/4/29/saupload_gdp_excluding_debt_thumb1.png

"I then took the GDP data and subtracted the annual federal budget deficit from the GDP. I did this because deficit spending is in essence "borrowing" prosperity from the future, either through direct government spending or through payments to states, local governments, and individuals who then go out and spend money. As we know, about 70% of GDP is consumer spending and about 60% of the federal government budget is devoted to payments directly to or for citizens. It's pretty easy to see how deficit spending artificially inflates GDP, since that borrowing leads directly to consumption which would not occur without it."

https://seekingalpha.com/article/266601-u-s-economic-growth-gdp-minus-the-federal-deficit

No president was willing to have the FED take away the punch bowl during his tenure. ALL credit cycles come to an end. Trump is willing to take the heat for a controlled demolition instead of letting things go uncontrolled. His corporate tax reduction made FED GOV that much weaker but, it bought some time for others to collapse first.

Smith, "Any political elite that delivers the bad news that prosperity is over risks being overthrown or voted out of office, and so the ruling elites seek to extend high returns on capital and general prosperity by any means available."
"Successful economies generate a double-bind once they reach the stagnation-decline phase: the populace (and capital) both expect strong permanent growth as a birthright, and they see the previous boost-phase and maturity phase as evidence that the economy "should" continue delivering outsized returns on capital and widespread prosperity essentially forever."
" The stagnation phase has many causes: a reduction in resources or depletion of soil/water resources; a sustained shortage of energy or a sharp rise in the cost of energy; stagnating productivity, and the rise of parasitic elites, insiders who feather their nests at the expense of the many.
All of these factors act as friction in the system, and eventually the system is unable to sustain the parasitic elites, high returns on capital and general prosperity."
That friction can be seen as the debt load and interest payments that is dragging down the system.

" You see the double-bind: the ruling class must deliver outsized returns on capital and general prosperity, and the only way they can do so is to create new money rather than new wealth, something that is beyond their power.
Depending on the wealth and productivity of the existing economy, the world may accept this new money as having value for a time. But as the need for more currency increases, ruling elites start to "print" or borrow new currency in excess of what the economy actually generates in income and value."
Been there,,, doing that.
"In developed economies, the ruling elites protect their own incomes and power, and those of capital, as the owners of capital are part of the ruling elite. The net result of this is rising income/wealth inequality as the few increase their share at the expense of the many. (Thomas Piketty characterized this process as a higher rate of return on capital than on labor.)"

" At that point the proponents and the ruling elites will be trapped: they won't be able to withdraw all the benefits ("free money") of QE for the People, nor can they reverse runaway inflation without drastically reducing the creation of currency.
Various politically expedient policies will be tried--wealth taxes, the issuance of a new currency, perhaps even a state cryptocurrency--but none of these can reverse the underlying dynamic."
oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith: The Crisis of 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhSg9X3q2gc&feature=youtu.be

Democracy and prosperity were destroyed in Europe to forever put the lower loop in servitude to the upper loop. The Kalergi Plan to destroy racial unity and harmony were forced in to ensure that no political movement would have the cohesiveness to challenge the bankers. Pritchard may talk about getting rid of the Euro, but, the PTB will make that prospect as painful as possible. You saw what they did to Greece to dissuade others from breaking away. What is unfolding in Europe is , neo-feudalism.
The Italian right & left united to battle it. The French are warming up for the fight. I wish them all luck.

[Danny B]

So, just print new money.

To look at the increase of government debt between 2007 and 2009, as Reinhart-Rogoff did, was not, as it turned out, a long enough time-frame to fully reflect the consequences of the Lehman crisis on government debt. The increase recorded over 2007-09 was 32%, yet economists and others were still talking of austerity until only recently. The whole period between the Lehman crisis and the election of President Trump is perhaps a better time-frame, and we see that US Government debt between 2007 and 2016 increased by an astonishing 217%.
The State was / is stuck on control+P

https://www.goldmoney.com/research/goldmoney-insights/markets-are-all-about-flows

America has definitely entered a debt-trap. Powell is trying to do a controlled demolition. Powell has said that he won't resign even if Trump asks him.
Everybody KNOWS that the FED will eventually return to QE. I believe that Powell will refuse. Powell will take the heat instead of Trump. The previous FED heads destroyed the economy to save the banks. I believe that Powell will try to unwind all that without collapsing sovereign debt to nothing.

[Danny B]

Profitless prosperity,,, competing for investor money in the bond markett

Everybody saw that the runup to the dotcom was full of venture capitalists throwing $millions at anything that sounded like a good idea. Well, the FED has done it again. They pumped in megatons of liquidity. There weren't enough good investments to absorb all that liquidity so,,,, it flowed into bad invetsments.
The losses piled up very quickly and, everybody tired to get out. In the final analysis, there just wasn't enough profit to keep it all going. It is happening again. Profits don't matter,,,, just grow your share of the markets and, riches will follow,,for all participants.The Profitless Prosperity Sector Will Collapse... | AdventuresInCapitalism | Small Companies--Big Upside

I can't seem to copy from this article but, losing companies are at a level last seen in 2000.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/29/no-profits-no-problem-the-economy-has-a-growing-appetite-for-unprofitable-companies.html

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-04/tectonic-shift-chinas-economy-has-largely-gone-unnoticed-investors

So, China and America will be competing for investor cash. What about Japan and Europe? I think that those 2 are screwed.

[Danny B]

https://www.rt.com/business/448182-e...le-burst-2019/

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-market-investors-its-time-to-hear-the-ugly-truth-2019-01-05

So, our wages wouldn't suffice to keep it all going. Free money for the bankers was the answer.

U.S. economy added 312,000 jobs in December and wage growth ...
https://www.washingtonpost

https://stephenlendman.org/2019/01/us-jobs-creation-reality/

Evidently, THEY are planning to sell these stocks to you.

True, but, if the markets set the interest rate, the State would be broke long ago.

How about that? both Venezuela and Iran have LOTS of oil. Both have slashed at least three zeros off their currency. When will Saudi Arabia follow?
It's all about priorities.


Bring weinies and marshmallows.
Kunstler is at his pessimistic best.
And the Circus Came to Town - Kunstler

[Danny B]

Finance is freaked out by Powell slowly letting the air out of the bubble

A combination of factors has made the FED all-powerful in world financial markets.

Post-WW II, America became a powerhouse of manufacturing and profit. The FED became a de facto global leader because the U.S. dollar was such a stable currency.
Here is Ambrose Evans-Pritchard explaining that things have turned down so bad that the FED and Powell have relented on rate increases.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/01/06/bears-beware-fed-has-listened-primordial-scream-world-markets/

Acting Man has great graphs showing clearly what is happening.

https://acting-man.com/?p=54002

The Automatic Earth laments the total world control the FED has.

https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2019/01/the-fed-is-the-ugly-truth/

https://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/the-year-of-living-dangerously

Historically, finance was about 7% of the economy,,,, even though it produced nothing. It is now about 40%. Here is a graph of GDP minus FED stimulus.

https://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/4/29/saupload_gdp_excluding_debt_thumb1.png

The entire finance sector has become grossly bloated by easy money that has negated ALL price discovery. The entire financial sector is desperate to keep it that way. The money supply inflation that floats the finance sector has caused price inflation in the working economy. Powell is trying to bring a legitimate reduction of the excesses of the finance sector to bring some relief to the non-finance sector. The finance sector doesn't like that one bit.
"bears-beware-fed-has-listened-primordial-scream-world-markets/"
This isn't entirely correct. The FED has amply demonstrated that is narrowly focused on American markets.
Previously, ALL the CBs did QE to keep any one currency from becoming a safe haven. Under Trump, the FED broke ranks and raised interest rates to let some air out of the credit bubble. The Other CBs reluctantly joined the FED and cut back on their QE. Once again, they did this to forestall capital flight. The ongoing creep of increased socialism was all financed by QE. Trump has slashed at growing socialism by forcing foreign CBs to cut funding for runaway State welfare.
At the same time, the Powell FED is cutting way back on socialist support / funding for banker welfare.

"The Chinese, Japanese and Eurozone slowdown are all happening in the middle of massive stimuli and deficit spending"

https://www.dlacalle.com/en/last-year-was-not-an-anomaly-outlook-for-2019-trapped-by-liquidity/

Stimulus just can't make up for rising automation / falling employment.
Nobody seems to put the blame where it belongs. The wipeout of wages in the lower loop has created a wipeout in the finance sector.

And people wonder why everyone wants to hold dollars.

[Danny B]

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-07/world-bank-president-kim-unexpectedly-resigns

Donald Trump: 'I don't care about Europe
Read between the lines and you get; European banks won't get liquidity from the FED when the ECB collapses. No more swap lines because nobody wants the Euro currency.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-07/imf-warns-world-dangerously-unprepared-upcoming-global-recession

Not one mention of wages.
"And then all of us would be confronted with the scariest unknown monster of all: A coming downturn with central banks never having normalized policy and a lot less ammunition in their coffer compared to previous downturns."

https://northmantrader.com/2019/01/06/2019-market-outlook/

It is ALL about the finance sector. Consumption doesn't matter.

"The energy sector was at or near the bottom of the S&P 500 for the second year in a row, Sanzillo pointed out. And that was true even within segments of the oil and gas industry. For instance, companies specializing in hydraulic fracturing fell by 30 percent, while oil and gas supply companies lost 40 percent. "
"Oil demand growth is flat in developed countries"
So, demand and consumption do eventually matter.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Bloodbath-In-Oil-Gas-Stocks-Could-Continue.html

AND
EC Rules Out Brexit Renegotiation - Will Continue Implementing No-Deal Plan
This is head bashing at it's finest,,,, just to see whose head can take the most bashing.

[Danny B]

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-has-global-liquidity-crashed-again-michael-howell/

A Farewell to "Bargain Shopping" - Kunstler


And
Democrat proposes government-funded healthcare for all illegal ..
I'm sure that they will get all of this worked out.

I'm sure that orange County will get all of this worked out.


This "far right" wants Germany to be for Germans, NOT worthless rabble from north Africa.