Americans Are Becoming Dumber

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Alberto Mancini

Math Scores dropping precipitously indicating that Americans are becoming Dumber

A random study was conducted with 348 young children to find how many of them (3-7 years of age) had a television in their room. The results were shocking, over 70% of them had televisions in their rooms. These kids had an 8-point drop in math scores, a 7-point drop in reading scores and another 8-point drop in writing scores. A similar study was conducted by John Hopkins University with 400 children. Full Story. The evidence illustrating that Americans are becoming dumber is growing. A more recent article from USnews indicates that math scores continue to drop and there appears to be no end in sight.

“We’re losing ground — a troubling prospect when, in today’s knowledge-based economy, the best jobs can go anywhere in the world,” said Education Secretary John B. King Jr. “Students in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Minnesota aren’t just vying for great jobs along with their neighbours or across state lines, they must be competitive with peers in Finland, Germany, and Japan.”

Research indicates that the Victorians were much smarter than Today’s Generation

Nonetheless, the researchers say that a meta-analysis of simple reaction times recorded between 1884 and 2004 shows a substantial decline in general intelligence: “1.23 IQ points per decade or fourteen IQ points since Victorian times.” While some dispute the notion that reaction time is an accurate measure of intelligence, Dr James Thompson, the honorary senior psychology lecturer at UCL told The Daily Mail that reaction times are “a real measure, with a reasonably large correlation with IQ, so this is an alarming finding and needs further investigation.” Big think

Americans are becoming dumber due to their obsession with watching Television

The English call the Television the boob tube and rightly so; individuals are weaned from one breast that provides nourishment to another that provides nothing but pure arsenic for the mind. Most of these kids watch meaningless cartoons where the concept of extreme selfishness and violence is the norm of the day; is it any wonder then that they grow up only thinking about themselves, their own needs, the fastest possible way to satisfy them and how to make a quick buck.

Throw in Reality TV, and you have the perfect recipe for stupidity on steroids.

After leading the world for decades in 25-34-year-olds with university degrees, the U.S. is now in 12^th place. The World Economic Forum ranked the U.S. at 52nd among 139 nations in the quality of its university math and science instruction in 2010. Nearly 50% of all graduate students in the sciences in the U.S. are foreigners, most of whom are returning to their home countries;

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs commissioned a civic education poll among public school students. A surprising 77% didn’t know that George Washington was the first President; couldn’t name Thomas Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence, and only 2.8% of the students actually passed the citizenship test. Along similar lines, the Goldwater Institute of Phoenix did the same survey, and only 3.5% of students passed the civics test; Psychology today. If regular TV made individuals think less, reality TV is almost as TV on steroids regarding its effect on the brain. A brain is not even necessary when you look at what passes for TV today.

As people get Dumber morale values decline

More and more parents are being put into nursing homes because these chaps don’t want to be burdened with any problems. They forget all the hard work and sacrifice their parents went through to raise them. There are more frivolous law suits now than any time in history; everyone is looking to make a big quick buck minus the hard work. The rate of fraud has reached historic proportions, and people are willing to do more insane things for a quick buck; a woman auctioned the space on her forehead for 10,000 dollars. This gives the online casino that won the bid the right to tattoo her forehead with their logo for life.

According to a very recent Gallup Poll, US moral values have slipped to a 7-year low.

Americans’ ratings of U.S. moral values, consistently negative through the years, have slipped to their lowest point in seven years. More than four in five (81%) now rate the state of moral values in the U.S. as only fair or poor. Gallup.com

The massive decline in moral values proves that Americans are becoming dumber by the day; the new mantra is anything for a buck.

Individuals have Kids for the wrong reasons

The previous generation was dumbed down to a certain extent but the present generation is getting a super sized portion of dumbness, and the biggest culprits, for the most part, are the parents. They simply don’t spend enough time with their children; their reason for this is “we don’t have enough time we are too busy trying to earn a living”. Our response to them is then why did you have kids in the first place.

We posed this question to some of our associates and we rather surprised to find out that many of them were doing the same thing. In many instances the answer was “Oh we felt it was time to have kids” or we wanted to have kids or some variation of that answer. Not once did any of them state that they wanted to have kids to maybe make this world a better place by teaching them the things they were denied or something along these lines.

Parents are catering to their Kids and in doing creating Generation of Spoilt Brats

Parents claim they want to give their children all the things they did not have when they were growing up. However, this only turns normal kids into brats. It seems this world thinks that material things will make for a better generation (many parents seem to think that if they give the kids all the material things they lacked that they are doing a good job; wrong they are doing a terrible job. If these individuals have nothing to strive for as kids they will not want to work hard for anything when they grow up).

The dinner table is ground zero. “When parents begin to cede control to their kids, food choices are often the first thing to slide,” Sax writes in his new book, The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups. A rule such as “No dessert until you eat your broccoli” has recently morphed into “How about three bites of broccoli, and then you can have dessert?” The command has become a question capped with a bribe, as Sax puts it. Dinner at home requires polling kids on what they’re willing to eat; the options might include roast chicken and potatoes or chicken fingers and fries. You can bet which they choose. So parents renegotiate: How about sweet potato fries? Full Story

Once the parent gives in, it’s all downhill from there. It’s the same thing with investing. If you give in and follow the herd, the result is always brutal. Only those that don’t follow the masses tend to well in life and the stock market. Indirectly, parents are teaching kids that is good to be part of the herd. It’s good to give in as you will be rewarded; real life does not work this way.

Today’s general has lost the ability to think inductively

Inductive thinking is where you have to determine something without being fed standard or distorted data. For example, real Technical Analysis; here you look at a chart and try to determine a pattern, but you do so based on indicators that appeal to you and you also determine how you should use them. Now in fundamental analysis, you just look at fixed data, so you and everyone else end up with the same conclusion. The same is true for the so-called Technical Analysis the average Joe tries to memorise and hopes that this information is enough to make him a fortune. The masses are taught to use a standard set of tools in a specific manner, so no inductive thinking is involved.

Reading stimulates the Mind; TV puts the mind to sleep

That’s why it’s far better to let kids read books or play games than to let them sit by the TV and vegetate in every sense of the word. Is it any wonder then that the United States cannot even make it to the top 20 in the world when it comes to Mathematics, Science, and Writing skills even though we spend more money than any other nation on education; some of the poorest countries in the world are leading in these areas. For more details click on this link Americans are behind other developed nations

Today’s Generation does not understand the principle of hard money

The main purpose of creating a generation of dummies is so that no one will question Fiat. Fiat money is backed by nothing other than people’s faith in their government. As corrupt individuals run our government, it is easy to project that the deficit will continue to grow in the trillions with the passage of each year. Most of the today’s generation does not even understand that they are being paid with a worthless currency that is created out of thin air. Then they wonder why the cost of goods continues to rise; well the number of dollars has risen, so your purchasing power is dropping.

Very few people know the true significance of Gold and how it could end all the misery caused the insidious silent killer tax otherwise known as inflation.

To become a successful investor, you need to think out of the box

The crowd will always be used a cannon fodder and more so now as each generation seems to become dumber than the previous generation. This creates a vicious cycle, and the top players are only too happy to let it continue. The crowd never bothers to learn from history; if they did, they would not fall for the same ploy over and over again. They are tricked into buying assets when they are over inflated and then pushed into selling them when they are underpriced.

Dumb People are easier to Manipulate; expect more financial boom and bust cycles

Think like a true contrarian investor and not a fashion contrarian. Understand the basic principles of Mass Psychology, and you can avoid 90% of the pitfalls the average Joe succumbs to especially when it comes to the financial markets. In the financial markets, there is no room for hope or desperate people. In their desperate attempt (it may not seem desperate but study the actions of most parents, and you will find that in general, it is) to give their kids a better life than they had, they are giving them one that is infinitely worse than they could have ever imagined.

Once again we find ourselves mouthing the same phrase “welcome to the new world order”, an order which will be built on chaos and the “I want everything now syndrome”.

Published courtesy of the Tactical Investor

Central Banks Stock Market Rigging Driving stocks to new highs

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Alberto Mancini

Here’s how Central Bankers Rig the Markets

Central Banks Stock Market: Central bankers utilise fiat money to rain misery and pain on the unknowing masses. They no longer take from Peter and give to Paul, they make sure that Peter and Paul try to rob each other and everyone else to survive. They control the game, and you are just a pawn in this game. The only day the outcome will change, is when the Fed is eliminated from the equation. Many Great presidents and leaders warned of this day of reckoning but as usual, nobody listened, and it’s time to pay the Piper now.

Brian Rich, of Forbes, seems to agree wholeheartedly; this paragraph succulently summarizes his views.

Stocks continue to surge; stock market volatility continues to sit at ten–year (pre–crisis) lows. The interest rate market is much higher than it was before the election but now quiet and stable. Gold, the fear–of–the–unknown trade, is relatively quiet. This all looks very much like a world that believes a real economic expansion is underway, and that a long–term sustainable global economic recovery has supplanted the shaky post-crisis (central bank–driven) recovery that was teetering back toward recession.

The Fed is on course to eliminate the middle Class in the United States and create a new generation of slaves. In fact, it has already destroyed a significant portion of this group.

According to article published on CNN, 6 in 10 American’s don’t even have $500 in savings

Nearly six in 10 Americans don’t have enough savings to cover a $500 or $1,000 unplanned expense, according to a new report from Bankrate.

Only 41% of adults reported having enough in their savings account to cover a surprise bill of this magnitude. A little more than 20% said they would put it on a credit card, the report said, while 20% would cut their spending and 11% would turn to friends and family for financial assistance.

“This is a persistent American problem of how you should handle your finances and spending,” said Jill Cornfield, retirement analyst for Bankrate. Full Story

Another survey finds that nearly 7 in 10 Americans have $1000 or less in their savings accounts. GoBanking surveyed 7,000 people and found that 34 percent of the respondents had $0 set aside.

The current stock market bull is based on hot money; had the fed not injected trillions of dollars into the system, there would be no stock market bull or the so-called economic recovery.

These Quotes illustrate the Fed’s Nefarious Agenda

“The few who understand the system will either be so interested from its profits or so dependent on its favours, that there will be no opposition from that class.” — Rothschild Brothers of London, 1863

“Give me control of a nation’s money, and I care not who makes its laws.”– Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild

Great leaders have gone out of their way to try and educate the masses, but the masses have no interest in learning from history so will be doomed to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors; the price for this stupidity rises with the passage of each day. Each generation pays a higher and higher price for their lack of foresight and preparedness. These shadowy players rely on the fact that the masses are ignorant regarding what real money is. They control the education system and so ensure that from day one you learn what they want you to learn. The only way to break out is to start educating yourself.

“Most Americans have no real understanding of the operation of the international moneylenders. The accounts of the Federal Reserve System have never been audited. It operates outside the control of Congress and manipulates the credit of the United States.” — Sen. Barry Goldwater

“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is the absolute master of all industry and commerce.” — James A. Garfield, President of the United States

“To expose a 15 Trillion dollar ripoff of the American people by the stockholders of the 1000 largest corporations over the last 100 years will be a tall order of business.” — Buckminster Fuller

“It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” — Henry Ford

“We have, in this country, one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board. This evil institution has impoverished the people of the United States and has practically bankrupted our government. It has done this through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it.” Congressman Louis T. McFadden in 1932

“Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are the United States government’s institutions. They are not government institutions. They are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign swindlers.” — Congressional Record 12595-12603 — Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency (12 years) June 10, 1932

“As soon as Mr Roosevelt took office, the Federal Reserve began to buy government securities at the rate of ten million dollars a week for ten weeks, and created one hundred million dollars in new currency, which alleviated the critical famine of money and credit, and the factories started hiring people again.” — Eustace Mullins

Suggested Strategy

Manipulation is the order of the day, and one can see this in every aspect of one’s life. This trend will continue to gather steam, and it will only end when the masses revolt. The masses are notorious for responding very slowly, so we can assume that by the time they snap out of their comatose, the markets will be trading at unimaginable levels. Tactical Investor April 2016

Well, the markets have soared significantly higher as expected and corporate debt continues to rise. Corporations are plugging money into share buybacks as this is the easiest way to create the illusion that EPS is rising. It is a win-win game; corporate director’s reward is based on performance. As long as they can create the illusion that earnings are improving their paychecks continue to increase.

One other powerful tool that investors can employ is to pay close attention to mass sentiment. When the masses are nervous, the markets will continue to trend higher. That’s why this bull market is often referred to as one of the most hated bull markets of history. Despite all odds, it has trended higher, and we predicted this would happen as mass sentiment was and is still somewhat negative. Until the masses embrace this crazy bull market, the path of least resistance appears to be in the upward direction.

We expect corporate debt to trade at levels that will make today’s insane levels appear sane one day. As long as Fiat is in play; every major pullback/correction has to be viewed as a buying opportunity. The markets will continue to be manipulated probably until the end of time or until Fiat is eliminated from the equation Therefore until the trend changes, every substantial pullback should be viewed through a bullish lens.

Published courtesy of the Tactical Investor

Wells Fargo exec was fired for not scamming N.J. customers

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Alberto Mancini

Wells Fargo: A Somerset County woman is suing Wells Fargo Bank alleging she was fired for refusing to participate in an alleged scheme similar to the bank’s widespread account scam that led to millions of dollars in federal fines.
Melinda Bini, a former assistant vice president and regional private banker at the Highland Park bank’s branch, says in a recent lawsuit that supervisors instructed her to manipulate accounts and sell banking products or investments that were not the customers’ best interest or without their knowledge.

The lawsuit, filed in Middlesex County Superior Court on April 5, names Wells Fargo and three local bank supervisors.

The Franklin Park woman accuses her former superiors in the suit of running or knowing about alleged banking and investment fraud scheme at the local branch.
A spokesman for Wells Fargo, Kevin Friedlander, said the three supervisors named in the lawsuit are still employed by the bank, but did not comment on the allegations.

“Since this is an ongoing legal matter, we are unable to comment any further on the lawsuit,” Friedlander said in an emailed statement.

Bini, who is a licensed financial advisor hired by the bank in 2002, refused to participate the “unlawful and unethical banking” and was harassed in retaliation, according to the suit.

In April 2016, Bini was fired, a move she said was manufactured by her supervisors for not joining the alleged scheme, according to the suit. Full Story

A New Jersey woman has sued Wells Fargo Bank, saying she was fired for refusing to participate in a scheme to manipulate accounts and sell products that weren’t in customers’ best interest.

Melinda Bini filed a lawsuit in state court in New Jersey on April 5 against the bank and three supervisors from the branch she worked at in Highland Park, NJ.com reported.

In the lawsuit, Bini accused her superiors of running or knowing about the scheme and says she was retaliated against and later fired for refusing to participate. Bini, a former assistant vice president and regional private banker, is seeking her job back and damages.

In September, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to a $185-million settlement with Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency after employees were found to have created as many as 2 million checking, savings and other accounts in customers’ names without those customers’ knowledge or consent.

The tactics, blamed on onerous sales goals, were first uncovered by the Los Angeles Times in 2013.

Kevin Friedlander, a spokesman for the bank, said the company doesn’t tolerate retaliation against employees who express their concerns.

“Our nonretaliation policy makes clear that no team member may be retaliated against for providing information about suspected unethical or illegal activities or possible violations of any Wells Fargo policies,” Friedlander said. Full Story

A former executive at Wells Fargo claims in a lawsuit that the bank fired her because she refused to participate in a scam like the bank’s well-publicized fake account scandal, which led to a $185 million fine after more than 5,000 of the bank’s former employees opened more than 2 million potentially unauthorized accounts to get sales bonuses.

NJ.com has the details:

Melinda Bini, a former assistant vice president and regional private banker at the Highland Park bank’s branch, says in a recent lawsuit that supervisors instructed her to manipulate accounts and sell banking products or investments that were not the customers’ best interest or without their knowledge.

The lawsuit, filed in Middlesex County Superior Court on April 5, names Wells Fargo and three local bank supervisors.

The Franklin Park woman accuses her former superiors in the suit of running or knowing about alleged banking and investment fraud scheme at the local branch.

And after Bini refused to take part in the scheme, she claims she was harassed and eventually fired in retaliation.

It should be noted that Bini’s allegations are merely allegations so far. The bank is not commenting on the lawsuit beyond saying that it “does not tolerate retaliation against team members who report their concern.”

The lawsuit is just the latest in a string of bad headlines in the wake of the fake account fiasco. Full Story

China Seeks Foreign Help in Risky Work Finding Oil in Disputed Sea

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Alberto Mancini

South china sea dispute: Beijing is looking for foreign contractors to help find oil and gas under the South China Sea but expects to meet resistance because other governments contest its claims and any discoveries may bring low returns.

China’s state-run China National Offshore Oil Corp. issued a tender last week for foreign companies to join it in exploring for fossil fuels in 22 tracts south of the country’s coastline. The blocks spanning a combined 47,270 square kilometers cover waters contested by Taiwan and Vietnam. Vietnam has been particularly outspoken since the 1970s about its claims.

Complicated matter

Foreign oil companies eyeing the bids, which close in September, probably worry that their ties to the Chinese maritime claim could spoil their reputation among rival South China Sea claimants or that any oil found would be a disputed asset, analysts say.
South China Sea Territorial Claims

“Given the area in question, there are risks around the sovereignty issue,” said Thomas Pugh, commodities economist with Capital Economics in London. “If they enter a deal with China and Chinese firms, they could risk not being allowed to work with other countries in the region who are disputing ownership of the area.”

Disputes over ownership continue

Discoveries themselves could also be contested by other countries, said Raymond Wu, managing director of Taipei-based political risk consultancy e-telligence. Full Story

The Chinese government is looking to foreign businesses to help find oil and natural gas under the South China Sea.

Yet China expects to meet resistance because other countries dispute Chinese territorial claims to much of the sea. In addition, observers say any oil and gas discoveries might not be very profitable.

Last week, China’s state-operated China National Offshore Oil Corporation made an appeal for foreign help. The company said it wants to work with foreign businesses in exploring for fossil fuels in 22 areas south of the country’s coast.

When combined, that represents more than 47,000 square kilometers of territory. The governments in Taiwan and Vietnam also claim those waters. Vietnam has been outspoken about its claims since the 1970s.

Foreign oil companies are now studying the Chinese offer, which closes in September. Experts say the companies may be worried that any work they do for China could hurt their ability to work for other countries. And they say the companies may also be worried that any oil or gas they find could be claimed by China’s neighbors.

Thomas Pugh works for the Capital Economics research service in London. He says if foreign companies start working with “China and Chinese firms, they could risk not being allowed to work with other countries…who are disputing ownership of the area.”

Raymond Wu is the managing director of e-telligence, a Taipei-based service that specializes in political risk. He also notes that any oil and gas discoveries could be claimed by other countries. Full Story

Ant Financial sees rich opportunities

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Alberto Mancini

Ant Financial Services, China’s largest online payment operator, sees mobile wallet applications becoming the next big technology trend in the emerging markets of South America and Africa.
Kenny Man, head of international investment for Ant Financial, said over the next five years, emerging markets including those in South America and Africa will be priority for the company’s global partnerships. A clear trend is emerging whereby mobile wallet applications, and financial transactions done over mobile internet, are set for widespread acceptance in emerging market economies.

Over the past three years Ant Financial, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding has done nine partnerships. Within Asia, Ant Financial has forged partnerships with local companies in South Korea, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Hong Kong, Man said, adding that the company will continue to expand its footprint in the region.
“China has leapfrogged over traditional credit cards to the mobile wallet. That same change will be even more radical and faster in different parts of the world, whereby people will embrace mobile payments,” Man said.
Ant Financial, which just completed a US$14 billion series-C funding round in June from leading investors including Temasek, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Carlyle Group, and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, formally known as GIC, has been increasingly active in expanding its technology and know-how through partnership in emerging Asia. Full Story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AEt2K9xNYg

Ant Financial Services Group said on Monday it will extend its indigenous mobile payment technologies to economies along the Belt and Road Initiative and unveil a number of Alipay-like services this year.

The plan marks the company’s accelerated pace in expanding globally, adding to the existing five Asian markets where the financial technology powerhouse has announced investment plans since 2015.

“Technology exports will effectively save five to eight years’ time of our local partners in developing new technologies and conducting feasibility tests,” said Jia Hang, senior director of international business at Ant Financial.

The firm is counting on partners outside China to bring its model of online finance and local services to emerging Asian markets, where a substantial number of the population have no access to banking services and are underserved by traditional financial institutions.

Through strategic investments, the company can tap into the vast resources of one of the world’s most populous regions, Jia noted.

For instance, its investment in Thailand’s Ascend Money, an arm of the agricultural-to-telecom conglomerate, can give them access to local users and merchants.

In its latest overseas move, Ant Financial linked up this month with Indonesia’s second-largest media firm Emtek to form a payment platform within BlackBerry’s messaging service, which covers 63 million users in the country. Full Story

Ten years ago, Alipay was just a rapidly growing online payments service. Today, Alipay is the modern gateway to Ant Financial’s ecosystem of financial services, from wealth management and insurance to lending and credit scores.

Ant Financial was initially launched to support online payments. Today, it’s the largest fintech player globally.

As the financial affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, Ant Financial encapsulates a fintech ecosystem that starts with its dominant mobile payments service, Alipay, and expands into credit scoring, wealth management, insurance, and lending.
At $150B, the current valuation of Ant trumps the market capitalizations of leading financial institutions around the world, from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to Banco Santander and The Royal Bank of Canada.
As China undergoes a cashless revolution, many view Ant as a mobile payments company.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AEt2K9xNYg

But Ant — which today counts nearly 600M Alipay users, plus 110M+ Alipay partners across 15 countries — is much bigger than payments alone.

100M+ users use all 5 of Ant’s key functions, meaning that they not only use Ant’s payments function to make everyday purchases, but also use Ant to take out loans, buy insurance, check credit scores, and invest assets in Ant’s money market fund — Yu’e Bao.

That’s not to say Ant doesn’t face its share of challenges. In the last year, Chinese regulators have clamped down on China’s burgeoning fintech sector. Full Story

IMF: Global Economic Growth Speeds Up a Bit

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Alberto Mancini

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the global economic outlook is “brightening,” but warns that “protectionism” and geopolitical tensions could hurt economic growth.

The IMF published the report Tuesday, ahead of this week’s gathering of top economic officials from around the world for meetings of the World Bank and the IMF.

The IMF’s Maurice Obstfeld told journalists that global growth will probably accelerate from a 3.1 percent annual rate in 2016 to 3.6 percent in 2018. He says commodity prices have “firmed” since early last year, but at a relatively low level. That leaves commodity exporters in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America with challenges. He also says bad weather and civil unrest mean several low-income nations face mass starvation.

In the report, economists say there are many “downside risks” including political pressure to restrict trade, which they argue will hurt rather than help growth. The report’s authors say slow and unequal income growth, meager growth in productivity, the financial crisis, and other problems have generated political support for “zero-sum” approaches to trade. Obstfeld says nations that pull out of the multilateral trading system could suffer a “self-inflicted wound.”

The IMF says in many cases, wages have not kept up with rising productivity, and labor’s share of national incomes has dropped. These experts urge policymakers to do more to ensure that the gains from growth and trade are shared more widely. Full story

The IMF said on Monday it expects global growth this year of 3.5 per cent, down from 3.7 per cent in 2018 and from the 3.7 per cent it had forecast for 2019 in October.
“After two years of solid expansion, the world economy is growing more slowly than expected and risks are rising,” said Christine Lagarde, the IMF managing director, as she presented the new forecast at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The fund left its prediction for US growth this year unchanged at 2.5 per cent – although a continuation of the partial 31-day shutdown of its federal government poses a risk. The IMF trimmed the outlook for the 19 countries that use the euro currency to 1.6 per cent from 1.8 per cent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhrC2_Hak08

Growth in emerging-market countries is forecast to slow to 4.5 per cent from 4.6 per cent in 2018. The IMF expects the Chinese economy – the world’s second biggest – to grow 6.2 per cent this year, down from 6.6 per cent in 2018 and slowest since 1990.
The World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development have also downgraded their world growth forecasts. Full Story

United Airlines CEO: No one will be fired in passenger-dragging incident

Posted on January 29, 2021 by Alberto Mancini

United Airlines will not fire employees involved in the recent dragging of a passenger from his seat, an incident CEO Oscar Munoz on Tuesday called “a system failure.”

Executives of the Chicago-based airline sought to assure investors that United is working to learn from the recent uproar over viral videos of Chicago Aviation Department security officers dragging Dr. David Dao from a Louisville-bound flight. Dao was removed from the plane at O’Hare International Airport after he refused to give up his seat to make room for airline employees.

“This is a true learning opportunity and will ultimately prove to be a watershed moment for our company as we work harder than ever to put our customers at the center of everything we do,” Munoz said on a conference call discussing the airline’s quarterly earnings.

There was “never consideration” of firing an employee over the incident, he said.

The airline is reviewing policies around handling oversold flights to prevent similar incidents, including talking to some passengers and employees about how the airline can take a more “commonsense approach,” Munoz said.

[Most read] 1 killed during attempted car theft, 5 others arrested after high-speed police chase from Gurnee to Near West Side of Chicago »
It’s too soon to say whether the April 9 incident has affected customers’ willingness to travel with United, particularly since it happened during the week before Easter, when the airline typically sees fewer passengers, executives said. Full Story

United Continental CEO Oscar Munoz said Tuesday that no one will be fired for the airline’s recent debacle involving a passenger being dragged off an overbooked flight.

“The buck stops here. And I’m sure there was lots of conjecture about me personally,” the apologetic CEO said on the company’s earnings call Tuesday. “Again, it was a system failure across various areas, so no, there was never a consideration for firing an employee.”

The company has been embroiled in controversy ever since a video surfaced of Dr. David Dao being dragged off an overbooked flight in Chicago.

The fiasco has hurt shares of United Continental, which dropped about 4 percent on Tuesday, despite the company reporting better-than-expected earnings late Monday.

Munoz once again apologized for the confrontation, saying, “The incident on Flight 3411 has been a humbling learning experience for all of us here at United and for me in particular. In addition to apologizing to Dr. Dao, as well as all of the passengers aboard, I also want to apologize to all our customers. You can and should expect more from us and as CEO, I take full responsibility for making this right,” he added during Tuesday’s conference call.

Munoz reiterated that United will make policy changes, including not using law enforcement to take passengers off a flight unless there is a security issue and requiring that crews be booked at least an hour before takeoff. Full Story

What is quantitative easing?

Posted on January 27, 2021 by Alberto Mancini

What is quantitative easing? We are entering a new paradigm; get used to forever Quantitative Easing – QE, though it will be given other names along the journey to make it appear more palatable. The US and by default worldwide debt is set to soar to preposterous levels; get used to it and embrace this fact for nothing has changed since we got off the Gold standard and nothing will change until the system collapses, though waiting for that day might prove to be fatal as the masses are completely asleep.

If a national debt of almost $22 trillion is shocking to some; imagine how they will feel when the debt soars to $100 trillion. Many might say no way in hell that is going to come to pass. Take a look at the national debt numbers in the early 1900s. Go back to 1900 and then fast forward to the present. Once upon a time, our national debt was less than 1 million USD.

Now if you told people back then it would be at $22 trillion one day; would the reaction not be the same? We will go on record to state that there is a good chance that worldwide debt will surge to $1000 trillion before the masses discover the emperor is naked, fat, bald and ugly; until then they will continue to believe he is a handsome prince. It currently stands at $247 trillion.

Clarida hints at the Forever QE reality

In a Feb. 22 speech, Clarida acknowledged no doubts. He said that radical monetary policy has worked, that it will continue to work, and that it may well become more radical. He contended that low-interest rates are here to stay and that new policy “tools” must be sharpened and kept at the ready. As to potential adverse consequences of administered rates and the mind-control games meant to “anchor” our collective expectations of the future, he mentioned none.

Certainly, rates are astoundingly low—Bank of America Merrill Lynch recently was able to count $11 trillion of bonds worldwide quoted at yields of less than zero. Clarida said that the decline in the so-called neutral rate of interest “is widely expected to persist for years.” Full Story

Stories like this barely receive much media attention, and the masses are too busy dealing with the problems on reality TV or being misdirected by highly politicised B.S. News that only serves to allocate even more time to trivial matters. These developments indicate that developed nations like the US and most of western Europe will become increasingly hostile places to live in. This topic is beyond the scope of this publication, but the trend is in place, the US is no longer the bastion of Freedom and will soon not make it even to the top 10 of the best places to live in.

In The Forever QE Era; strong corrections have to be embraced

In terms of the stock market, until the Fed changes its mind, all sharp corrections have to be viewed as buying opportunities, and backbreaking corrections have to be placed in the category of “once in a lifetime events”, provided of course the trend is positive. That is what we are here for; to inform you if the trend is positive (Up) or negative (down). The world is going to witness a Fed that has decided to make a cocktail of Coke, Heroin, Crack and Meth and take it all in one shot. Imagine what a junkie on this combination of potent drugs is capable of doing, and you will have an idea of where the Fed is heading in the years to come.

Now the Gold bugs will cry “I told you so”. Our response to this statement; not so fast little bugs. While precious metals will do well, we think stocks in key sectors (and we are not referring to Gold stocks) will pulverise the precious metals sector in terms of returns. One such area is robots (particularly Sex-bots) and AI.

Courtesy of Tactical Investor

Random views on QE

What is Quantitative Easing?

Quantitative easing is an unconventional monetary policy in which a central bank purchases government securities or other securities from the market in order to increase the money supply and encourage lending and investment. When short-term interest rates are at or approaching zero, normal open market operations, which target interest rates, are no longer effective, so instead a central bank can target specified amounts of assets to purchase. Quantitative easing increases the money supply by purchasing assets with newly created bank reserves in order to provide banks with more liquidity.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Quantitative easing, or “QE,” is the name for a strategy that a central bank can use to increase the domestic money supply.

QE is usually used when interest rates are already near 0 percent and can be focused on the purchase of government bonds from banks.

QE programs were widely used following the 2008 financial crisis, although some central banks, like the Bank of Japan, had been using QE for several years prior to the financial crisis. Full Story

Quantitative Easing Explained

Quantitative easing is a massive expansion of the open market operations of a central bank. It’s used to stimulate the economy by making it easier for businesses to borrow money. The bank buys securities from its member banks to add liquidity to capital markets. This has the same effect as increasing the money supply. In return, the central bank issues credit to the banks’ reserves to buy the securities.

Where do central banks get the credit to purchase these assets? They simply create it out of thin air. Only central banks have this unique power. This is what people are referring to when they talk about the Federal Reserve “printing money.”
Lower interest rates allow banks to make more loans. Bank loans stimulate demand by giving businesses money to expand. They give shoppers credit to purchase more goods and services.

By increasing the money supply, QE keeps the value of the country’s currency low. This makes the country’s stocks more attractive to foreign investors. It also makes exports cheaper.

Japan was the first to use QE from 2001 to 2006. It restarted in 2012, with the election of Shinzo Abe as Prime Minister. He promised reforms for Japan’s economy with his three-arrow program, “Abenomics.”
The U.S. Federal Reserve undertook the most successful QE effort. It added almost $2 trillion to the money supply. That’s the largest expansion from any economic stimulus program in history. Full Story

Why do we need quantitative easing?

The aim of QE is simple: by creating this ‘new’ money, we aim to boost spending and investment in the economy.
We are tasked with keeping inflation – rises in the prices of goods and services – low and stable.

The normal way we meet our inflation target is by changing Bank Rate, a key interest rate in the economy.

When the global recession took hold in late 2008, we quickly lowered Bank Rate from 5% to 0.5% to support the UK’s economic recovery. Lower interest rates mean it’s cheaper for households and businesses to borrow money – which encourages them to spend and invest, whether that’s a family buying a new car or a company wanting to build a new factory.

But there’s a limit to how low interest rates can go. So when we needed to act to boost the economy, we turned to another method of doing so: we introduced quantitative easing. Full Story

The Boom And Bust Cycle: Fiat

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Alberto Mancini

The Boom and Bust Cycle: Opportunity Knocking?

Remember that when the markets eventually correct, this correction will be broadcasted as a crash (that’s the name of the game; scare the hell out of the masses) and it will be blamed on Trump. No, we are not getting sentimental on Trump. In reality, each president has only so much room to do what it is good for the people; most presidents don’t even use this little leeway they are given but focus on themselves. As long as Fiat is around, every president will be bought and paid for. The big players have trillions at their disposal, so the dream of finding a great leader is just that, a “big dream”. Mass psychology covers the aspect of mass manipulation very well and how the top players go out of their way to create situations that will alter the masses angle of observance. Alter the angle and you alter the outcome by altering what the masses deem to be true or false.

Freedom is an Illusion

You are only free to do things that you are allowed to do, and this includes the president. Reflect on that we will expand on it later; we already provided you with a big hint. In case you missed the hint is “fiat money”. At the tactical investor, our focus is on dealing with reality and spotting new trends. Everything else falls into the idle gossip category. It might feel good to rant and rave about stuff like this, but it is a waste of energy. The focus should be on finding a way to play with the hand that you have been dealt.

The markets follow the same path; until Fiat is eliminated this talk about the world coming to an end is nothing but rubbish. All those self-proclaimed masters of wisdom are either dead, dying or becoming highly irrelevant. Focus on the trend for that is all that matters; it is the only way to maintain your health and your wealth.

This market will experience many corrections in the years to come, some will be mild, some will be strong, and some will appear to be devastating. If you follow the trend, you will know when to move into cash and when to jump in. From a “super trend perspective” every back-breaking correction (emphasis on back-breaking) should be viewed as a long-term buying opportunity.

Trump’s presidency has made for some entertaining Moments

Overall the Trump presidency has made for some pretty damn good free entertainment; it is quite amusing to watch the other side react and equally amusing to watch the nonsense the Trump Team can come out with at times to defend their position. As time passes by, it appears that Trump is focussing more on himself than on making the country great. Who knows, he might suddenly change direction; he has a habit of doing the unexpected.

From a psychological perspective, you should hope that some shock announcement is made regarding “Trump”; it will scare the hell out of the masses, and the market will drop like a rock creating a lovely buying opportunity.

The press has always gone out of its way to twist the news and sell the masses rubbish, especially when it comes to the financial markets. However, the veil has fallen completely after Trump won the presidency. The utter garbage they focus on illustrates that IQ is no longer a pre-requisite. We would not be surprised to find out if most of those individuals who pass for reporters have an IQ that is slightly above 70. An IQ of 70 equates to that of a retard. However, on the flip side imagine how difficult it would be if everyone were a genius, so be grateful for these penguins, as their reality is based on what they read. They make trading the markets infinitely easier as their behaviour is predictable.

From an Investment perspective- Trump Administration is bullish for the markets

Trump is bombastic, so he will go out of his way to say things that will shock the markets but as the primary trend is bullish, these pullbacks ranging from mild to wild should be viewed through a bullish lens.

The Fed via fiat money indirectly controls the media; the press through the garbage they print and pass of as news control the masses. You could not ask for a better setup of mind control; the masses think they are free, but they are not; they are free to make decisions in areas that do not matter. Look around slowly and determine for yourself if they are free.

Sit down and watch the show for are things about to get more interesting and nuttier at the same time. We suspect a lot more heads will roll and the cries of rage and frustration will soar to heights never seen before. Market Update May 19, 2017

Bottom line

All massive corrections should be viewed as buying opportunities provided the underlying trend is up (bullish). The stronger the deviation from the norm the better the opportunity

Courtesy of Tactical Investor

Random views on Boom and Bust Cycle

What is Boom And Bust Cycle
A boom and bust cycle is a process of economic expansion and contraction that occurs repeatedly. The boom and bust cycle is a key characteristic of today’s capitalist economies. During the boom the economy grows, jobs are plentiful and the market brings high returns to investors. In the subsequent bust the economy shrinks, people lose their jobs and investors lose money. Boom-bust cycles last for varying lengths of time; they also vary in severity.
BREAKING DOWN Boom And Bust Cycle
Since the mid-1940s, the United States has experienced several boom and bust cycles. Why do we have a boom and bust cycle instead of a long, steady economic growth period? The answer can be found in the way central banks handle the money supply.
During a boom, a central bank makes it easier to obtain credit by lending money at low interest rates. Individuals and businesses can then borrow money easily and cheaply and invest it in, say, technology stocks or houses. Many people earn high returns on their investments, and the economy grows.
The problem is that when credit is too easy to obtain and interest rates are too low, people will overinvest. This excess investment is called “malinvestment.” There won’t be enough demand for, say, all the homes that have been built, and the bust cycle will set in. Things that have been overinvested in will decline in value. Investors lose money, consumers cut spending and companies cut jobs. Full Story

Boom and Bust Cycle, What Causes It, and Its History

The boom and bust cycle is the alternating phases of economic growth and decline. It’s how most people describe the business cycle or economic cycle.

In the boom cycle, growth is positive. If the gross domestic product growth remains in the healthy 2-3 percent range, it can stay in this phase for years. It accompanies a bull market, rising housing prices, wage growth, and low unemployment.

The boom phase doesn’t end unless the economy is allowed to overheat. That’s when there’s too much liquidity in the money supply, leading to inflation. As prices rise, irrational exuberance takes hold of investors. The GDP growth rate grows above 4 percent for two or more quarters in a row. You know you’re at the end of a boom phase when the media says the expansion will never end and when even the grocery clerk is making money from the latest asset bubble.

The bust phase is like life in the Middle Ages. It was brutish, nasty, and mercifully short. It usually lasts only 18 months or less. GDP turns negative, the unemployment rate is 7 percent or higher, and the value of investments falls. If it lasts more than three months, it’s a recession. It can be triggered by a stock market crash, followed by a bear market.

A stock market crash can cause a recession. As stock prices fall, everyone loses confidence in the state of the economy. When investors don’t feel confident about the future outlook, they pull out their investments. Full Story

Causes of Boom and Bust Cycles

Boom and bust economic cycles involve:

Rapid economic growth and inflation (a boom), followed by:

A period of economic contraction / recession (falling GDP, rising unemployment)

Causes of boom and bust cycles

1. Loose Monetary Policy

If monetary policy is too loose, it means real interest rates are too low given the state of the economy, e.g. UK economy in late 1980s. Loose monetary policy reduces the cost of borrowing and mortgage payments (increasing disposable income). This will cause a rise in investment and consumer spending. This rise in aggregate demand can cause excessive growth in the money supply and cause economic growth to be above the long run trend rate.
In the post-war period, the UK has had a long run trend rate of around 2.5%. This means that typically, productive capacity (AS) increases by about 2.5% a year. If interest rates are kept low, aggregate demand (AD) will increase much faster then the rate of productive capacity and economic growth will be too high. If economic growth is substantially above the long run trend rate, we will tend to see:

Rising inflation. Demand grows faster than supply. Therefore firms put up prices.
Wage inflation. Due to high demand for labour, there will be labour shortages leading to wage inflation. Full Story