Detroit: Chinese Opportunity and Warning
Detroit, China, America and the Asian Century
by John West, Asian Century Institute
Detroit
has filed for bankruptcy. Chinese investors are swooping in on Motown.
Is this a symbol of the great power transition of the Asian Century?
Detroit has filed for bankruptcy. Chinese
investors are swooping in on Motown. Is this humiliation of the once
proud city a symbol of the great power transition of the Asian Century?
Some 60 years ago, Detroit was the
richest city in America and perhaps the richest in the world. Motor City
was the beacon of America's industrial might and genius. But since
1950, Detroit's population has fallen 63%, and its median household
income is now the lowest of America's 30 largest cities.
Detroit's Big Three - GM, Ford and
Chrysler - suffered at the hands of competition from Japanese companies
like Toyota and Honda. And the city has suffered from mismanagement,
corruption and labor issues. Its long term debts are $18 billion, of
which $9 billion are unfunded retirement benefits.
Syrian Escalation Threatens To Take The Markets With It.
Closing Market Commentary For 08-28-2013
I guessed today would be a consolidation
of sorts and it was. Investors are really scared to what might happen to
their long positions if this Syrian thing goes the wrong way, which it
could. The averages were mostly up as there are more bulls than bears at
this point. If the Syrian 'condition' turns sour, the bulls are going
to be a sorry lot as they take a big hit as they try to catch a falling
knife.
By 4 pm the indices had retreated from
their daily high, but posting respectable gains for the day. Still the
highs were lower than yesterday's session and that isn't a good thing.
What We Read Today 28 August 2013
Econintersect: Click Read more >> below graphic to see today's list.
The top of today's reading list reports on a "foolish"
plan to close Fannie and Freddie ........ and the last article is
about the amazing collapse of the Indian rupee as Sanjeev Kulkarni
eerily foresaw just two weeks ago on GEI Opinion.
Markets Continue To Melt Upwards With Eyes Closed
Midday Market Commentary For 08-28-2013
Volume has steadily fallen to very low
levels since this morning with intermittent spikes of red and green. No
one except the HFT computers, messing up the charts as they usually do,
seem to know or care what Mr. Market is doing or is going to do. Most
investors have already made up their minds what they think the market is
going to do.
By noon the averages had melted up from
the morning lows in preparation for the next decent. Investors must have
VERY dark sunglasses on or something.
Why Are American Health Care Costs So High?
The
complicated reasons why the United States spends so much more on health
care than any other country in the world, including that Americans
spend more of their tax dollars on public health care than other
countries. Who's at fault?
Markets Begin Consolidation Awaiting Syrian News
Opening Market Commentary For 08-28-2013
Premarkets were about even with yesterday's closing numbers lacking any overnight market moving news.
The markets opened with a brief melting
downward and then began melting upward on moderate volume best described
as churning. The BTFDers were out and buying what they conceived as the
bottom of the dip while the bears struggled to control those bulls.
Investors are obviously still not sure what Mr. Market is going to do
when the missiles start to fly over Syria.
By 10 am the market structure changed.
July 2013 Pending Home Sales Index Declines
Written by Steven Hansen
The pending home sales index for July was released by the National
Association of Realtors (NAR) today, and our analysis suggests that
August existing home sales will be marginally "less good".
Read more >>
A Word from This Newsletter's Sponsor
The Next Industry to Crumble...
Imagine owning Amazon.com (up over an insane 4,000% since 2001) when
Internet sales rendered big-box retailers obsolete. Now an industry 99% of
us use daily is set to implode... And 3 established companies are perfectly
positioned to take advantage of this game-changing economic shift.
Nonfinancial Leverage NFCI Again Deteriorates Marginally w/e 23 August 2013
The Nonfinancial leverage subindex of the National Financial Conditions Index increased slightly (less good) this week but still remains well inside of economic expansion territory. Econintersect focuses on non-financial tools to monitor the economy.
This index remains on a
"less good" trend line, and is believed to be a good forward indicator a
recession is coming. A value above zero is a recession warning.
Trends In Finding and Having A Job
from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Monday marks the fifth Labor Day since
the official end of the Great Recession in June 2009. While the number
of Americans employed is still trying to get back to pre-recession
levels, the way people work, where they work and how they work or
otherwise earn a living has changed significantly over the last five
years and will continue to evolve moving forward.
The Stormy History of Leveraged Buyouts
by Hamid Mehran and Stavros Peristiani - Liberty Street Economics, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
In global finance, leveraged buyouts
(LBOs) are an important tool for restructuring corporations. LBO
activities have had a turbulent history in the United States over the
last three decades-from the junk-bond-financed wave of the 1980s to the
most recent boom-and-bust episode of 2006-07 caused by the collapse of
asset-backed securitization.
Economic Forecast September 2013: Trend Change, Economy Improving
Written by Steven Hansen
Our
September 2013 Economic Forecast shows a change of trend. Many portions
of our economic model started to expand over the previous month's
baseline.
Read more >>
Pluralist Economics - The Verein Strikes Back
by Dirk Ehnts, Econoblog101
The German economist's association,
"Verein fur Socialpolitik" (VfS), has replied to an open letter from the
pluralist economics network, "Netzwerk Pluralistische Okonomie". The
letters - both in German - can be found on their website. Michael Burda
of "Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin" (The Humboldt University of Berlin)
and president of the "VfS" has taken his time. The original open letter
was dated Sep. 11, 2012. The reply is dated from Aug. 9, 2013. So,
eleven month to answer to an open letter. The "VfS" has taken this issue
seriously, it seems. Here is Burda's summary of the crucial issues of
the original letter:
How to Make 46% on My "Australian Independence"
Money Morning Article of the Week
by Martin Hutchinson, Money Morning
I like Australia's stock market right now. I think it provides you with a ton of upside potential.
Virtually every analyst on Wall Street disagrees, of course. They hate
Australia. But they didn't like Chile, either, where we're up 46%. And
they weren't crazy about Indonesia - another market that's making us
good money.
Independent thinking pays well, plain and simple. And right now, Australia can pay you extremely well.
Employer Sponsored Health Coverage in the Age of Obamacare
Econintersect:
Global professional services company Towers Watson (NASDAQ:TW) reports
that a survey of 420 mid-to-large size companies reveals that most
larger companies are committed to continuing medical benefits for at
least the next two years. According HIX (Health Insurance Exchange,
published by Employee Benefits Advisor), concerns that the Affordable
Care Act (ACA, aka Obamacare) will drive some employers to drop health
insurance may be overblown.
Top Ten Opinion Articles July 2013
Econintersect: The ten articles posted in July that received the most page views were led by Frank Li's "The Coming Demise of America". Michael Lombardi had two articles in the top ten.
Click through Read more >> to view list with hyperlinks.
Investing.com: Technical Analysis 27 August 2013
Investing.com Technical Analysis (as of Tue, 27 August 2013 05:00pm EDT)
by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
Below, technical overviews and analysis for key stock indices, commodities and
currency
pairs, based on market activity at the end of the 27 August 2013 U.S.
session. This information is a comprehensive summary derived from simple
and exponential moving averages along with key technical indicators
shown for specific time intervals.
China: The Rise of the G2 Consumer
Written by Michael Tonetti, Global Economic Intersection Associate
The disparity between China's urban upper
class and rural lower class is perhaps the biggest social issue facing
President Xi Jinpig's China. The rise of capitalism over the past 30
years in the previously communist country, however, provides the 'G2
consumer', or second generation of the capitalist Chinese, a chance to
rise up and break through to upper-middle class socio-economic status.
Infographic of the Day: How the Voyager Space Probes Work
After 35
years of space travel, the twin Voyager planetary probes are nearing the
very edge of Earth's solar system. They will become the first man-made
objects to travel between the stars.
Prometheus: Stock Market Extreme Moves Suggest Speculative Exhaustion
The S&P 500 index closed sharply
lower today, retreating further from previous highs of the cyclical bull
market from 2009 and moving down toward support at the lower boundary
of the uptrend from late 2012. After rebounding off of the short-term
low in April, the stock market has experienced extreme moves in both
directions. This [...]
