Saving America, Chinese Style: A Book Review
Written by Bradley G. Lewis
Saving America, Chinese Style is a fine, provocative work that is well worth reading. Author Frank Li was born and raised in China, with B.E., M.E., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering earned in China, Japan, and the U.S., respectively, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. After working for corporations in Europe and the United States, he formed his own company, West-East International, in the scale industry, in 2005.
He began writing, he says (and I believe him), because he is an American convinced that China is on path to replace the U.S. as the world's largest economy-and not merely because it has so many people. Mr. Li has recombined, revised, and added to the columns that he has written online since May 2011 for Global Economic Intersection to create a useful, thoughtful book.
What We Read Today 15 October 2013
Econintersect: Click Read more >> below graphic to see today's list.
The top of today's reading list describes the potential financial crisis from a U.S. default that would make the Lehman crisis "look like a pimple" ........ and the last article reviews the activism of all supreme courts since World War II.
Market Commentary: Averages Fail To Keep Highs For The Day And Sinks Lower
Closing Market Commentary For 10-15-2013
Markets closed down as US law makers failed to make the comprises necessary to settle the debt issue. The averages continued melting downward when it became abundantly clear that a compromise was not in today's cards.
By 4 pm the US law makers 'middle finger negotiations' was over for the day and the SP500 once again closed below 1700.
Market Commentary: Markets In Safe Mode Waiting For Debt News
Midday Market Commentary For 10-15-2013
By noon the markets in general reached new historic highs (small caps) or daily highs. Not being able to punch through the upper resistance, the averages retracted a bit dropping back into the red and are presently sliding sideways on low volume.
Charts and other technical crystal ball forecasting is useless until the US law makers get rid of investors biggest fear of US default. Investors are sitting back with trigger fingers on the buy/sell button.
Bridge Collapse in China Two Missing
Two people were missing and another two injured in the collapse of an bridge support under construction in southwest Chinas Chongqing Municipality on Saturday morning. The No. 4 pier of a bridge being built across the Yangtze River.
Market Commentary: Markets Open Down Remain Mixed By 10 AM
Opening Market Commentary For 10-15-2013
Premarkets started out at -0.06% and melted down to -0.35% prior to the opening. Earnings are mixed with Citi missing, J&J beating and Coca-cola matching street views. The NY Manufacturing fell sharply for October giving one more worry to investors regarding the US financial health and supposed recovery. The party should go on unabated with the Fed's taper being put off to a later date.
Markets opened down as expected with some confused BTFD gamblers jumping in to slum for profitable leverage. By 10 am the averages had climbed back up near yesterday's closing numbers on low to moderate volume.
October 2013 Empire State Survey Below Expectations
Written by Steven Hansen
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey (manufacturing in New York State) in October 2013 shows manufacturing is expanding for the fifth month in a row - albeit slowly.
Read more >>
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Stratfor: Debt Crisis from the Founders' Perspective
By George Friedman, Founder and Chairman, Stratfor
The U.S. government is paralyzed, and we now face the possibility that the United States will default on its debt. Congress is unable to resolve the issue, and President Obama is as obstinate as the legislators who oppose him. To some extent, our political system is functioning as intended -- the Founding Fathers meant for it to be cumbersome. But as they set out to form a more perfect union, they probably did not anticipate the extent to which we have been able to cripple ourselves.
Read more >>
Poverty - Looking Beyond Income
by Adanna Chukwuma, INESAD
Despite the progress the world has made towards eliminating extreme poverty, one in five people on the planet are still unable to provide for their most basic needs. A report by the High Level Panel-a 27 member group advising the United Nations on a global development framework beyond the target date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)-on the post-2015 development addresses this unacceptable statistic by placing the eradication of poverty on the global agenda. The question that begs answering: 'What and whose poverty?'
Rising Wealth-to-Income Ratios, Inequality, and Growth
by Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman This article was originally posted on Voxeu.org on Sep. 26, '13
According to many measures, inequality has been increasing in the developed world and is now approaching pre-war levels. Income inequality does not tell the whole story. This column documents the increase in the ratio of private wealth to national income. This macroeconomic change, precipitated by slowing GDP growth, exacerbates the problem of wealth inequality and makes the economy more susceptible to bubbles.
Read more >>
Market Movers Week of 14 October 2013
5 Must-Watch Market Movers
by Cliff Wachtel, FX Empire
1. Speculation On Resolution Of US Debt Ceiling And Budget Deadlock
As noted here, last week markets fell and rose depending on the level of fear that the US Congress wouldn't reach a deal to raise its legal borrowing limit (aka debt ceiling) before October 17th, the purported date when the US technically runs out of money. That in turn would cause a variety of troubles for the US economy, such as those we detailed here.
Burundi Has the World's Highest Hunger Levels
by Felix Richter, Statista.com
According to the Global Hunger Index report, Burundi, Comoros and Eritrea currently have the highest amount of undernourished people worldwide. Even though the prevalence of underweight children has fallen in Burundi since 2000, 15 years of civil war and extreme poverty have strongly impacted the nation's economic and nutritional wellbeing.
John Authers Interviews Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Econintersect: In a two part interview for the Financial Times, John Authers discusses black swan events and fragility in financial and political economic systems. This interview is particularly timely in light of the Nobel Prize awards in economic announced Monday, 14 October 2013.
Videos can be viewed after the Read more >> jump.
Three Americans Win Nobel Prize in Economics
Econintersect: Robert Shiller (Yale University) shared the 2013 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel with two University of Chicago professors, Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen (no relation to Econintersect co-founder and publisher, Steven Hansen). The citation said indicated the three were being recognized for having "laid the foundation for the current understanding of asset prices".
Video summary follows the Read more >> jump.
A Corrupt System that Rewards Stupidity
by Marc Faber, Daily Reckoning
For the greater part of human history, leaders who were in a position to exercise power were accountable for their actions. If they waged wars or had to defend their territories from invading hostile forces, they frequently lost their lives, territories, armies, power and crowns. I don't deny that some leaders were irresponsible, but in general, they were fully aware that they were responsible for their acts and, therefore, they acted responsibly.
Infographic of the Day: Silk Road Vs. Street: A Comparison Of Drug Prices
Here are charts that compare the average price of marijuana and cocaine on the street and on Silk Road, the now-defunct online drug marketplace, as well as prices in different countries and purchasing behaviors.
The Reasons Why 15% of American Adults Are Offline
by Felix Richter, Statista.com
Believe it or not: 15 percent of American adults do not use the internet. This chart shows the most frequently named reasons to be offline. Given the degree to which most of our lifes are entangled with the internet, it seems difficult that there are still people who live entirely without it.
