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The American Economy in Four Words: Neofeudal, Extortion, Decline, Collapse
The American Economy in Four Words: Neofeudal, Extortion, Decline, Collapse Our society has a legal structure of self-rule and ownership of capital, but in reality it is a Neofeudal Oligarchy. Now that the pandemic is over and the economy is roaring again–so the stock market says–we’re heading straight back up into the good old days […]
How We Got Here: the Global Economy’s 75-Year Stumble to the Precipice
How We Got Here: the Global Economy’s 75-Year Stumble to the Precipice Not only will there not be a recovery, but there can’t be a recovery, as those brittle extremes have been lost for good. How did the global economy end up teetering on a precarious financial precipice? To formulate a cogent answer, let’s take a […]
The New Normal: Extremes of Neofeudalism, Incompetence, Authoritarianism and Relocalization
The New Normal: Extremes of Neofeudalism, Incompetence, Authoritarianism and Relocalization The pendulum swung to an extreme of globalization, financialization, centralization and monopoly, all of which created extreme systemic fragility. Here’s what to expect in the rapidly evolving New Normal: extremes become even more extreme as the status quo attempts to force compliance with its last-ditch schemes […]
Is Data Our New False Religion?
Is Data Our New False Religion? In the false religion of data, heresy is asking for data that is not being collected because it might reveal unpalatably unprofitable realities. Here’s how every modern con starts: let’s look at the data. Every modern con starts with an earnest appeal to look at the data because the con artist has assembled […]
Our Wile E. Coyote Economy: Nothing But Financial Engineering
Our Wile E. Coyote Economy: Nothing But Financial Engineering Ours is a Wile E. Coyote economy, and now we’re hanging in mid-air, realizing there is nothing solid beneath our feet. The story we’re told about how our “capitalist” economy works is outdated. The story goes like this: companies produce goods and services for a competitive marketplace […]
Unstoppable: The Greatest Depression and the Reverse Wealth Effect
Unstoppable: The Greatest Depression and the Reverse Wealth Effect We are entering The Greatest Depression because there is no exit. I’ve endeavored to explain why The Greatest Depression is unstoppable in recent posts: The Covid-19 Dominoes Fall: The World Is Insolvent March 16, 2020 Pandemic Pandemonium: The Tides of Globalization and Financialization Reverse March 31, 2020 Here’s […]
First the Deflationary Deluge of Assets Crashing, Then the Tsunami of Inflation
First the Deflationary Deluge of Assets Crashing, Then the Tsunami of Inflation Once the pool of greater fools dries up, stocks crash regardless of what the Fed does or bleats. The conventional view is the Federal Reserve creating trillions of dollars out of thin air will trigger inflation. Not so fast. Yes, creating trillions of dollars out of […]
This Sucker’s Going Down: The Destruction of Demand
This Sucker’s Going Down: The Destruction of Demand Demand based on debt, unfulfilled promises and unaffordable habits is burning down. The first-order effect of the lockdown was demand destruction as shelter-in-place orders and business closures restricted consumers’ ability to spend. The second-order effect will be the permanent destruction of demand because people will realize they’re better off […]
Our Fate Is Sealed, Vaccines Won’t Matter: Four Long Cycles Align
Our Fate Is Sealed, Vaccines Won’t Matter: Four Long Cycles Align A Covid-19 vaccine, or lack thereof, will have zero effect in terms of reversing these cycles. Call it Fate, call it karma, call it what you will, but the cycles have aligned and nothing can stop the unraveling of all that was foolishly presumed […]
Globalization and Financialization Are Dead, and so Is Everything That Depended on Them
Globalization and Financialization Are Dead, and so Is Everything That Depended on Them Financialization was never sustainable, and neither was the destructive globalization it enabled. All the happy-story analogies to past pandemics being mere bumps in the road miss the mark. A popular claim is that the 1918-1919 flu pandemic killed millions but no biggie, the […]
The Collapse of Main Street and Local Tax Revenues Cannot Be Reversed
The Collapse of Main Street and Local Tax Revenues Cannot Be Reversed The core problem is the U.S. economy has been fully financialized, and so costs are unaffordable. To understand the long-term consequences of the pandemic on Main Street and local tax revenues, we need to consider first and second order effects. The immediate consequences of […]
The Way of the Tao Is Reversal
The Way of the Tao Is Reversal As Jackson Browne put it: Don’t think it won’t happen just because it hasn’t happened yet. We can summarize all that will unfold in the next few years in one line: The way of the Tao is reversal. This is the opening line of Chapter 40 of Lao Tzu’s 5,000-character […]
This Isn’t Just Another Crash
This Isn’t Just Another Crash Like addicts who cannot control their cravings, financial analysts cannot stop themselves from seeking some analog situation in the past which will clarify the swirling chaos in their crystal balls. So we’ve been swamped with charts overlaying recent stock market action over 1929, 1987,2000 and 2008 — though the closest […]
Bailouts Can’t Save This Fragile System
Bailouts Can’t Save This Fragile System It’s obvious the global economy is painfully fragile. What is less obvious is the bailouts intended to “save” the fragile economy actually increase its fragility, setting up an inevitable collapse of the entire precarious system. Systems that are highly centralized, i.e., dependent on a handful of nodes that are […]
