Economy and Finance Thread

Bob, precisely why the current system that allows for some being obsessed over $100k plus speakers while others starve to death will ultimately cause a total collapse. It's not unique, they say history does not necessarily repeat but it sure does rhyme very often, or by some "wheel of karma", the civilization keeps returning to the rise of the riches and power only to face the ultimate and colossal collapse and do it over and over....

Technology has helped us achieve tremendous progress and riches yet like the Dragon that starts to eat its own tail, we keep pumping money back at the source of the financial furnace to make more, more, more while others are exploited and die from disease and starvation or even a lack of clean water.... Shameful really but it is the reality.

Even the poor kids as young as 7 are exploited to dig for cobalt for batteries because it makes us feel good that we are doing less damage to the planet as we drive our Tesla to the store for MORE luxury goods while a kid starves to death elsewhere..

I suppose the prefrontal cortex was both a blessing and a curse as it sure gives us intelligence but directs it to be very egoistic and against the laws of balance of nature? So mankind one day will ultimately disappear and most likely by its own man-made demise. We keep sending probes to Mars looking for what is left of that planet and wondering why there is an asteroid belt instead of another planet... Wondering why there are isotopes in the atmosphere of Mars that could only have come from a massive scale atomic blasts? Do we really have to wonder?
 
Housing prices have skyrocketed during the pandemic, as it seems many people bought new homes. But something else is going on, too: not enough homes are hitting the market.

A report from real estate analytics corporation Black Knight puts into perspective just how dire the situation is: housing inventory is down by 40% compared to the same time last year, with new listing volumes down 16% year-over-year in January and 21% in February, amounting to a 125,000 deficit in inventory compared to 2020 levels.

"Any hopes of 2021 bringing an influx of homes to the market and lessening pressure on prices appear to be dashed for now," Ben Graboske, Black Knight's data and analytics president, told real estate news site HousingWire.


The increase in housing prices was of concern to Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather, who said in the report that it's putting homeownership out of reach for many Americans.

"That means a future in which most Americans will not have the opportunity to build wealth through home equity, which will worsen inequality in our society," Fairweather said.





Plenty of articles on the "institutional buyer" aggressively buying up any real estate they can grab and turn them into rental cash cows for their portfolios. This is nothing new and has started over a decade ago and is only accelerating.

This video puts it all together nicely to understand the picture of what is going on. The Great American Real Estate Heist | Watch Out! - YouTube
 
Good time to keep a very close eye on your portfolios. With the market valuations quite a bit outside the sane and reasonable level (my own opinion FWIW) if the FED refuses to do anything about the inflation to keep the market from tanking, the average Joe feeling the pressure and the closed loop system of how economies actually work will eventually tank the market anyways.


"President Joe Biden received further negative news Wednesday about the economic environment in the U.S. under his leadership as newly released numbers show that the economy is overheating and inflation is growing at an even higher rate than anticipated. “Inflation accelerated at its fastest pace in more than 12 years for April".

“Rising commodity markets, supply-chain blockages and hiring difficulties have prompted some investors to expect a prolonged upswing in consumer prices,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “That could lead the Federal Reserve to raise its target for short-term interest rates sooner than it has signaled, potentially weighing on stocks and other assets that have benefited from over a year of near-zero borrowing costs.”

The news comes less than a week after the Biden administration suffered a major setback when April’s jobs report showed that only 266,000 jobs were added to the economy, 700,000 less than had been projected."

Why work when sitting on the couch and not paying your rent will yield a better result? Let's see how long the FED/Administration can keep that up. :rolleyes:
 
Shadowfax said:
Told you it could not be done without Politics :)
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That's not politics but the quote from the article saying that the current president received news that under his leadership, things are not going great as far as inflation and jobs... But we all knew that already
 
TheOctopus said:
That's not politics but the quote from the article saying that the current president received news that under his leadership, things are not going great as far as inflation and jobs... But we all knew that already
Click to expand...

The whole market, economy, pipeline hacks and everything going on is all Politics, no way to get around it.

Back to my popcorn :popcorn:
 
Shadowfax said:
The whole market, economy, pipeline hacks and everything going on is all Politics, no way to get around it.

Back to my popcorn :popcorn:
Click to expand...

Because the world always needs a scapegoat and a guy/gal to point the finger on. Human nature. In reality some things are a direct effect of policies and others not so much. They exist and manifest outside the residing presidents/administrations. Presidents get the blame, and take a lot of the credit, for the performance of the stock market while they are in office. The truth however is that the president's ability to impact the economy and markets is generally marginal and indirect at best.

Remember, no president wants to tank the market and hold that bag of doo-doo of blame and they tread carefully when it comes to any policy that directly affects the markets and wealth of the hands that feed the politicians and donate to their campaigns. The highest net worth on Capitol Hill is over $360 Million. Congress is rich. How rich? From an article some years back..."On Monday, Roll Call released its annual analysis of financial-disclosure forms, identifying the 50 richest members of Congress, and this isn’t an easy club to get into—it takes a minimum net worth of $7.4 million to crack this year’s list."
 
But the actual negative OIL prices in 2020 were something! Not that it was Trump's doing but the actual pandemic and the whole world reacting. The coordinated effort of world leaders shutting everything down and saving the human race from the nasty virus that kills 0.0025 percent of the population did have a direct effect on the lack of demand for OIL and other commodities. We will pay for that in the coming years with higher prices and the socio-economic as well as psychological damage will linger for decades. That's not one guy that was to blame and it will not be one guy to save the world either.
 
You must not be listening too closely to Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum's plans and suggestions.

Politics does not mean USA and a single guy. Politics is Global and there is a global plan to tank the US to push the Green New Deal and the Great Reset.

Your Parroting of the above is exactly what they want people to think while they try to take us down.

Is Klaus Schwab the Most Dangerous Man in the World? by John Mac Ghlionn
 
Shadowfax said:
You must not be listening too closely to Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum's plans and suggestions.

Politics does not mean USA and a single guy. Politics is Global and there is a global plan to tank the US to push the Green New Deal and the Great Reset.

Your Parroting of the above is exactly what they want people to think while they try to take us down.

Is Klaus Schwab the Most Dangerous Man in the World? by John Mac Ghlionn
Click to expand...

I'm familiar with that theory and Klaus Schwab. I'm familiar with the presentations. One does not need a crystal ball to see a future where the Fourth Industrial Revolution and largely displaced and unemployable society due to AI, robotics and failing education system will result in Universal Basic Income. We have seen that in the past year as people stopped paying rent/mortgages and are sitting on the couch instead of going back to work. The future is here and it hasn't even began yet. :) By 2030, 73 Million people will be displaced from jobs by AI and that is a conservative figure... So yes, the future will be very different with or without Klaus Schwab just like it was before, during and after Karl Marx and his visions.
 
A bit of a detour while on the AI topic...


While there are articles that claim there will be new jobs created with AI and automation (of course there will be but one needs to understand that AI and robotics were not invented to hire more people but just the opposite... ;)) the outlook remains grim for people not ready to retrain and adapt as well as get an education that will be useful going forward in another decade.

McKinsey Global Institute: between 40 million and 160 million women worldwide may need to transition between occupations by 2030, often into higher-skilled roles. Clerical work, done by secretaries, schedulers and bookkeepers, is an area especially susceptible to automation, and 72% of those jobs in advanced economies are held by women.

Oxford Economics: up to 20 million manufacturing jobs worldwide will be lost to robots by 2030.

McKinsey Global Institute: at the high end of the displacement by automation spectrum are 512 US counties, home to 20.3 million people, where more than 25% of workers could be displaced. The vast majority (429 counties) are rural areas in the Americana and distressed Americana segments. In contrast, urban areas with more diversified economies and workers with higher educational attainment, such as Washington, DC, and Durham, NC, might feel somewhat less severe effects from automation; just over 20% of their workforces are likely to be displaced.

Boston Consulting Group: 67% of Chinese executives and 50% of US executives expect a reduction in the number of employees over the next 5 years due to advanced robotics (global survey of more than 1,300 executives and operations managers).

ZipRecruiter: One in five job seekers (one in three for those between the ages of 18 and 22) fear they will one day lose their job to AI (survey of more than 11,000 job seekers in the US).






Listening to the technological/forefront leaders and the brains behind AI and their visions of a society where people will have more free time for spiritual and fulfilling lives that are focused more on helping others as well as focusing more on enriching oneself.. I can't help to think of one question... Who the hell is going to pay for the masses to live these fulfilling and spiritual lives instead of working? How does that economy work??? :rolleyes:
 
So far, most people remain unaware of the full impact the current shipping crisis will have on higher prices for consumer goods.

The global shipping industry is facing the worst crisis in the history of container freight - and a massive wave of disruptions is ahead. According to the big boss of a major logistics business, Rob Lewis, the operations director of Meachers Global Logistics, a "perfect storm" is leaving global supply chains in total chaos as freight rates just skyrocketed to the highest level ever recorded.

As a result, it's getting incredibly difficult - and expensive - for stores to restock their shelves, while manufacturers, carmakers, and builders can't get the parts they need, and farmers - particularly small farmers and ranchers across the U.S. - simply cannot afford to export their products anymore. All of these reasons, analysts say, are contributing to a huge jump in consumer prices.

Container Shipping Shortage Triggers Freight Rate Spike Of 500 Percent: The Worst Is Still Ahead - YouTube
 
Inflation is certainly pointing its face. ...Food, entertainment, gasoline, electricity, cosmetics, shoes, ...
Look @ the price of food around ... Cuba for example.
Look @ the price of homes around ... Toronto, Vancouver for example.
Look @ the price of timber around ... everywhere.
 
Speaking of shipping, the Ever Given pulled up anchor from Bitter Lake and started it's journey to the Netherlands yesterday.
 
"Have you already started feeling the impacts of living in a country with double-digit inflation? Just yesterday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released an update indicating that the consumer price index had soared to 5.4 percent over the past year, and such a high rate alarmed a lot of people. However, those people will be shocked to find out that the way inflation is calculated has been changed dozens of times over the past several decades, and if the rate was still calculated the way it was back in 1990, the official inflation rate would currently be about 9 percent."

This Is The Worst Inflation Since The 1970s & The Stage Is Set For The Total Collapse Of US Economy - YouTube
 
How much more is going to cost now for a decent pair of loudspeakers, and a pair of mono amps ... 9%, 18%, 33% more? What about a brand new 2023 Lamborghini? Are we going to pay more taxes on our properties, our lands, our homes, our water bills, our electricity, our solar panels, batteries, gas, oil, air conditioning, fire insurance, cell phone service and Internet providers, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple products, Windows 11, cameras, wheels, motyorcycles, yachts, movie tickets, TV cable, Music download, Disneyland?

Are they going to tax the poor more? Are they going to charge dead people?
I think there's a small lack of common sense balance in this world we live in (that is for people who can still breathe some air). Maybe, just maybe, someone somewhere's in charge? :( :S :disbelief: :dry:
 
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