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June 29, 2024 Readings
Attempting a new format (that I will probably fiddle with for a week or so) for sharing articles of interest. Below you will find a number of links to those articles. Note that I may add a few before the day ends so check back. Hope this works for everyone… First-Responder Trauma: A New Framework […]
The Anxiety Economy
The Anxiety Economy We’re told to stop being so darn negative even as the tsunami of inequality washes away the beach chairs of the bottom 90%. The disconnect between the happy story of the economy is growing healthily, so all is well and the insecurity and stagnation experienced by the bottom 90% of wage earners has been […]
A Most Dangerous Assumption: Mining the Future to Spend More Today
A Most Dangerous Assumption: Mining the Future to Spend More Today What the cheerleaders are actually claiming is the process of adding zeroes to “money” is limitless, but there are limits on the utility of devaluing currency, too. How prosperous would the world be if we hadn’t collectively borrowed and spent $315 trillion—-333% of global […]
The Crises and Sacrifices Yet to Come
The Crises and Sacrifices Yet to Come The timing of finally embracing risk and sacrifice as the only option left is exquisitely sensitive: finally caving in a moment too late leads to the system collapsing beyond recovery. The sense that we’re approaching a tipping point into a crisis with no easy resolution is pervasive, a […]
Prepare for the Repricing of Risk Globally
Prepare for the Repricing of Risk Globally There are no more “saves” available for the next market meltdown. The past 24 years can be viewed as an era in which risk declined due to the dynamics of globalization and financialization. The ascent of China as “workshop of the world” generated a deflationary wave of lower […]
Our Crisis of Competence
Our Crisis of Competence If this is what passes for competence while we cheerlead “the Roaring 20s”, then our delusion has reached “what looks like a permanently high plateau.” That America is mired in a crisis of competence appears to be yet another issue that can’t be addressed directly as it might upset the narrative control that all […]
Precarious: One Misfortune Away from Insolvency
Precarious: One Misfortune Away from Insolvency As a result, a significant percentage of households that are considered middle-class are one misfortune away from insolvency. We can summarize the changes in our economy over the past two generations with one word: precarity, as life for the bottom 90% of American households has become far more precarious over […]
The Decay of Everyday Life
The Decay of Everyday Life So where does this leave us? We’re on our own. This month I’ve described what can be summarized as The Decay of Everyday Life: the erosion of the fundamental elements of everyday life: work, opportunity, social mobility, security and well-being, which includes civility, conviviality and a functional, competent social-political order. In other […]
The Ghetto-ization of American Life
The Ghetto-ization of American Life Behind the facade of normalization, even high-income lifestyles have been ghetto-ized. Consider the defining characteristics of a ghetto: 1. The residents can’t afford to live elsewhere. 2. Everything is a rip-off because options are limited and retailers / service providers know residents have no other choice or must go to […]
Living on Uneasy Street
Living on Uneasy Street It’s nice to anticipate sunny weather, but it’s a good idea to carry an umbrella just in case the forecasts prove overly optimistic. Yes, the market will rally if World War III didn’t start last night. The market will also rally if World War III does start, because the Federal Reserve will […]
Is There a Road Map for What’s Ahead?
Is There a Road Map for What’s Ahead? One of our primary survival traits is the ability to anticipate the future to avoid threats and reap higher yields. We seek a vantage point to view the road ahead, or even better a road map to what’s ahead. Is there a road map to what’s ahead? An enormous […]
The distinct danger of being naive
The distinct danger of being naive Don’t assume it’ll all be OK or that you alone will be able to evade the consequences of collapse. The writer and commentator Charles Hugh Smith is known for his discussions on global economic trends, the decline of the middle class, and the future of economies around the world. In a post […]
Financial Forecast 2025-2032: Please Don’t Be Naive
Financial Forecast 2025-2032: Please Don’t Be Naive Rather than attempt to evade Caesar’s reach, a better strategy might be to ‘go gray’: blend in, appear average. Let’s start by stipulating that I don’t “like” this forecast. I’m not “talking my book” (for example, promoting nuclear power because I own shares in a uranium mine) or issuing […]
Staving Off Revolution
Staving Off Revolution If the leadership chooses happy-story PR and toothless reforms for show in the hopes it will all blow over, these subterfuges have the potential to push dissatisfaction beyond the point of control. Whatever else we might say or think about the leadership class, they tend to have a keen sense of self-preservation. The […]
