Episodes
USA Small Business: Danger Ahead?
Aug. 24, 2021
Then they came to the US Manufacturing sector. Here things were different. Here is the outlier. The Service Sector in the US is declining at about double the rate of the Europeans and double the rate of the manufacturing …
Europe's PMI Shows It's Strongest Recovery in 20 Years Continues.
Aug. 23, 2021
The Purchasing Manager's Index or PMI for short is usually the first bit of hard data that we get each month. And making this data even more relevant, a couple of years ago IHS Markit, the British-based research firm, began…
Afghanistan: The Unfolding Greek Tragedy.
Aug. 22, 2021
The ancient Greeks had a world view, that is almost the polar opposite of America today. For the Greeks, the Universe was an ordered place, where man existed with the Greek Gods. In life, each had a role to play. The "gods"…
The Week The USA Stepped Off The World's Stage.
Aug. 21, 2021
It has been an absolutely stunning turn of events. The United States, which for over 20 years has occupied Afghanistan, decided abruptly to leave. And the shock wave from that precipitous action is still being felt today. An…
The Continuing Problems With Global Sourcing.
Aug. 20, 2021
When launched a couple of generations ago, this concept of a Global Supply Chain seemed like a win-win. Developing nations, principally China and the Asian rim, would be able to take advantage of their lower labor costs, to …
5% Unemployment Or 5% Inflation? Take Your Pick.
Aug. 19, 2021
Yesterday afternoon the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee released the minutes of their latest meeting, which concluded on July 28. As is their tradition, the minutes from these meetings are released about a month after…
A New Level Of Uncertainty.
Aug. 18, 2021
It is said that the thing that markets dislike the most is: uncertainty. You see the financial markets live on their ability to reasonably predict the future of the economy, and the country. Stock value is often described a…
A Retailer's Worst Nightmare.
Aug. 17, 2021
It's setting up as a retailer's nightmare. And a shopper's worst outlook. As I pointed out last week, Chinese Authorities have closed their largest shipping port, the Ningbo Mishan Container Port. This port is the third-lar…
The End Of The Afghanistan War: What's It Mean For The Stock Market?
Aug. 16, 2021
There are many parallels drawn between today's loss in Afghanistan, with the American loss 46 years ago in Vietnam. Both were protracted conflicts in which the US lost both fortune and the lives of brave young soldiers. A…
The Week In Review
Aug. 15, 2021
This week we got a pretty good look at the world-wide trend in inflation. And overall, it appears that inflation may be moderating. That's certainly appears to be the case for the United States, where first we saw that the c…
The Week In Review: Is Inflation Moderating?
Aug. 14, 2021
This week we got a pretty good look at the world-wide trend in inflation. And overall, it appears that inflation may be moderating. That's certainly appears to be the case for the United States, where first we saw that the c…
China Closes It's Largest Port!?!
Aug. 13, 2021
However, all that likely changed on Wednesday, when the Peoples Republic of China was shutting down their third largest container terminal at the Ningbo-Zoushan port. This port is the largest Chinese facility, and will have…
Poly Network Hack: Our Flawed Response.
Aug. 12, 2021
Last night Poly Networks, a cross platform provider for Cyber Currency, was hacked. To the tune of over $600 million dollars. Making this particular hack one of the largest ever in the new and emerging field of Decentraliz…
Inflation Happens When Governments Loose Their Financial Discipline.
Aug. 11, 2021
This is what I call perfect timing. I give you two events, happening almost simultaneously. Last night the United States Senate passed the largest Federal Budget in the nation's history. At over $3 Trillion dollars, this bud…
Time To Ask For A Raise? What's Really Behind These Jobs Numbers.
Aug. 10, 2021
Yesterday we received word that there were over 10 million job openings in the country. Employers are currently looking for 10 million workers to fill positions. This is by far the greatest number of Job openings that we've…
What You And I Think About Inflation.
Aug. 9, 2021
... Now, the importance of this estimate is NOT whether consumers are accurate to the nth degree in estimating inflation. The importance of today's reading is what this is doing to consumer behavior. If I am accurate, and co…
Our Weekly Review - Evening Edition
Aug. 8, 2021
Going forward it will be critically important that consumer confidence, together with the consumer's willingness to spend: remain high. Without the consumer, which at least in this country represents about 2/3rd of our econo…
The Week Just Past: August 2-6 2021
Aug. 8, 2021
... Going forward it will be critically important that consumer confidence, together with the consumer's willingness to spend: remain high. Without the consumer, which at least in this country represents about 2/3rd of our e…
The End Of Summer? Our Look Back At The Week Just Past.
Aug. 7, 2021
Well, it must be the end of summer, as people seem less inclined to purchase that new car. This week saw vehicle sales around the globe, beginning to decline. Lead by the United Sates, which up until now has had a red hot us…
Empty Shelves? Blame "JIT."
Aug. 6, 2021
...But there is another issue here: It's the "Just In Time" Inventory Management, that has been the driving force behind the way that most retail businesses have operated for over a generation now.
Our Structural Labor Problem.
Aug. 5, 2021
America has a labor problem, of that everyone can agree. Too many people are out of work in this country, and hence reliant on the generosity of the Federal Government just to make ends meet. Just moments ago the US departme…
PMI: The Almost Perfect Indicator.
Aug. 4, 2021
Wouldn't it be great if we could have an economic indicator, that told us just when the production process began? Going up, when plants and factories begin to make things. And declining when they begin to cut back on their p…
Corporate Reform: China vs. The USA.
Aug. 3, 2021
Perhaps no where is the contrast between the economic systems of China and the USA more stark, than in their approach to Corporate Reform. Here in America, this is a particularly pressing issue. As more and more in the publi…
Corporate Reform: China vs. The USA.
Aug. 3, 2021
Perhaps no where is the contrast between the economic systems of China and the USA more stark, than in their approach to Corporate Reform. Here in America, this is a particularly pressing issue. As more and more in the publi…