Showing posts with label student loans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label student loans. Show all posts

2016-12-19

MacroView: OECD & Trump: Fiscal Initiatives to Escape Low-growth Trap

MacroView |  ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly review of  macro economic and investing news: 1. OECD & Trump; 2. Confidence higher since Trump election; 3. FOMC rate increase; 4. Dollar strengthens, gold falls; 5. Trump talked, Fed listened; 6. Caveat from Jeff Gundlach; 7. Trump Summit with Tech Leaders; 8. Did Russia Hack the DNC and Clinton campaign? Who cares? 9. Student loans, which lie did they believe? 10. Good investing is boring.
 
MacroView Feature •  OECD and Trump Agree: Use Fiscal Initiatives to Escape Low-growth Trap

Jamie Dimon: Blame Bad Public Policy for Slow Growth

Video above published Dec. 15, 2016: JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon discussed Detroit’s economic recovery and whether the techniques they are using could be replicated elsewhere with Bloomberg’s Megan Murphy.

Make better use of fiscal initiatives to escape low-growth trap, OECD says in latest Global Economic Outlook (OECD.org Nov 28, 2016):
"Among the major advanced economies, activity is expected to accelerate in the United States, due to an assumed easing of fiscal policy, with the economy projected to grow by 2.3% in 2017 and 3% in 2018. The euro area will grow at a 1.6% rate in 2017 and by 1.7% in 2018. In Japan, growth is projected at 1% in 2017 and 0.8% in 2018. The 35-country OECD area is projected to grow by 2% in 2017 and 2.3% in 2018, according to the Outlook.
"With rebalancing continuing in China, growth is expected to continue drifting lower, to 6.4% in 2017 and 6.1% in 2018. India’s growth rates are expected to hover above 7.5% over the 2017-18 period, but many emerging market economies will continue to grow at a more sluggish pace. The deep recession in Brazil is expected to end in 2017, after which the economy will grow at a 1.2% rate in 2018.
"The Outlook draws attention to conditions that create a “window of opportunity” for new fiscal initiatives, as extraordinarily accommodative monetary policy has led to very low interest rates and created fiscal space. A targeted annual increase in public spending of ½ percent of GDP could be financed for several years in most countries without increasing the debt-to-GDP ratio in the medium term. Combining this initiative with structural reforms, and acting collectively across countries, would boost the impact, according to the Outlook.
"“This is not a blank cheque for governments,” Mr GurrĂ­a said. “The OECD is calling for fiscal policy to be used more wisely, with spending targeted at areas that boost growth, like high-quality infrastructure investment, innovation, education and skills, which also make growth more inclusive.” Read the full speech.
The mission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris, France, is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. The OECD's goal is "to build a stronger, cleaner and fairer world." Members and partners of the OECDFor more see:

2.  Consumer, business, CEO confidence higher since Trump election"Americans from all corners of the economy seem to be enjoying the conditions a lot more since the election of Donald Trump. Nearly every measure of consumer, business, or executive confidence has gained in the month since the election, according to Michelle Meyer, chief US economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch."--BusinessInsider.com (P.S. Someone ought to tell Michelle Obama.)

3.  U.S. Federal Reserve FOMC Press Conference LIVE Video Replay 12/14/16The end of a flatline monetary policy?
source: Statista
4.  Dollar Climbs to Strongest Since 2003 on Fed Path; Bonds Drop | Bloomberg.com Dec 15, 2016: "The dollar climbed to the highest level since 2003 against the euro and gold plunged as the prospect of a steeper path for U.S. interest rates filtered through markets."

5. Trump Talked, the Fed Listened: Let’s Shrink the Balance Sheet, Bullard Says | WolfStreet.com

6. Caveat from Jeff Gundlach, December 13, 2016, webcast"... stocks typically rise in the days after an election, just as they have. But they drop after the president is sworn in, as investors realize that he does not have a magic wand to implement everything they are hopeful for ..."

7. Trump Summit with Tech LeadersTechReview: Silicon Valley's Pilgrimage to Trump Tower to Meet Trump.

8. Did Russia Hack the DNC and Clinton campaign? Who cares? If so, was it a good thing Wikileaks.org exposed Clinton & DNC corruption and collusion, including collusion with so-called mainstream media (MSM), the "rigged" Democratic primary against Bernie Sanders, all the conflicts of interest and "pay-to-play" schemes, and foreign government funding of the Clinton Foundation while Hillary was Secretary of State, $200-800,000 per speech fees, and all the other things the Clintons, the Clinton campaign, the Washington establishment, and mainstream media did not want us to know? I think you know the answer.
"Here are two of political history’s great constants: first, countries meddling in the internal affairs of others (both enemies and “friends”); and, second, bogus charges from a faction in one country that foreigners are meddling in its internal affairs to help another faction. Both are poison for any country that wishes to rule itself."--Jeremy Scahill, Jon Schwarz, TheIntercept.com
The WaPo-NYTimes-MSM narrative of Russian election hacking has become so incessant and emphatic that it’s easy to forget that no one has proven the claim. TheIntercept.com's Sam Biddle "sifted the public evidence, most of which comes from private security firms with a vested interest in the outcome, and found questionable assumptions, guesswork, and speculation." See Here’s the Public Evidence Russia Hacked the DNC — It’s Not Enough | TheIntercept.com December 14, 2016:
"It’s very hard to buy the argument that the Democrats were hacked by one of the most sophisticated, diabolical foreign intelligence services in history, and that we know this because they screwed up over and over again."
On the other hand, if you truly want to understand how and why Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election, read How Clinton lost Michigan — and blew the election | POLITICO.com.

"People believe the news they want to ... The establishment is up for grabs."
--Lefsetz.com

9.  Which lie did they believe?--"Free government money, just sign here" or "With all the money you'll be making after college, the student loans won't be a problem"--Home ownership for those under 30 shrinks while student debt keeps growing:
Millennial (under age of 30) Home Ownership Shrinks as Student Loan Debt Grows

•  One More Thing: Good investing is boring
"If investing is entertaining, if you're having fun, you're probably not making any money. Good investing is boring."--George Soros
“Good investing is usually quite boring.”--Adam Nash, CEO of Wealthfront

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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2016-11-01

Entrepreneur and VC Peter Thiel speaks at The National Press Club (video)

Peter Thiel speaks at The National Press Club:

Streamed live October 31, 2016: Billionaire venture capitalist and entrepreneur Peter Thiel has rocked Silicon Valley with his support for Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump. Thiel discusses his political endorsement and the 2016 election at a National Press Club speakers newsmaker event on Monday Oct. 31. He also discusses the Gawker case and his Libertarian philosophy.

Thiel, who co-founded PayPal (paypal.com) and Palantir Technologies Inc. (palantir.com), endorsed Trump at the Republican National Convention in July and pledged a $1.25 million campaign donation in support of the candidate.
See also: 
•  Student LoansPeter Thiel's support of Trump and reaction among the Thiel fellows | BusinessInsider.com: "... The rising mountains of student debt is one reason Thiel started the fellowship program — and it's one of the marquee reasons he supports Trump. During his speech on Monday, Thiel said he's voting for Trump partly because millennials are "stuck" in a "broken system." "Our youngest citizens may not have huge medical bills, but their college tuition keeps on increasing faster than the rate of inflation, adding more every year to our $1.3 trillion dollar mountain of student debt," Thiel said. "America has become the only country where students take on loans they can never escape, not even by declaring bankruptcy. Stuck in this broken system, millennials are the first generation who expect their own lives to be worse than the lives of their parents." It's a message that has stuck a chord with a lot of millennials. William LeGate, a 2013 Thiel fellow, found that only some of his friends on the West Coast really questioned Thiel's ties to Trump. In his hometown of Atlanta, no one has asked his opinion of it, he said. Instead, some friends have asked about one of his investors' support of Hillary Clinton ..."

•  Establishment media bias against Trump is rampantCNN quietly edits incorrect Trump story, only adds editor's note after media report | BusinessInsider.com"CNN on Sunday incorrectly reported that Donald Trump encouraged his supporters to vote multiple times, then quietly amended its online story when it became apparent the claim was not true."

•  Five takeaways from the latest WikiLeaks releases | Oct 30, 2016 | TheHill.com:
  1. Democrats are on edge about what will come next 
  2. There are renewed calls to shutter the Clinton Foundation
  3. Bill Clinton's consulting firm confirmed emails authenticity 
  4. The Clinton campaign’s pushback hasn’t worked 
  5. Embarrassing infighting has spilled into the open 

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2016-10-17

MacroView: Gradually and Then Suddenly, How Markets & Companies Fail

MacroView | © DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly review of  macro economic and investing news:

MacroView Feature  •  Sometimes you don’t exactly notice how bad things really are. It’s not always as apparent as it would seem.--Sarah Dunn

Gradually and Then Suddenly: In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, one character asks another how he went bust. The response is a classic: “Two ways, gradually and then suddenly." That's how companies, governments, pension funds, and individuals often fail:
"And it’s how conditions in complex markets shift as well. The underlying circumstances that shape the environment in which you operate can evolve at a snail’s pace, and then shift quickly, either as new actions are introduced, or as the agglomeration of changes reaching a tipping point."--strategy-business.com
Wilbur Ross: U.S. Recession Likely in Next 18 Months:

Video above published on Oct 14, 2016: Billionaire distressed-debt investor Wilbur Ross, chairman of WL Ross & Co., comments on U.S. financial markets and the possibility of a recession. He speaks during an interview with Bloomberg's Matt Miller and Scarlet Fu on "Bloomberg Markets."

Gradually and then suddenly?
•  Goldman Sachs Sees Shock Potential for U.S., European Stocks | Bloomberg.com"Political risks, exacerbated by a weak economy in Europe and high stock prices in the U.S., make those markets vulnerable to declines in the next three months. The firm projects that the S&P 500 Index and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index will each drop by about 2 percent by December." See also Goldman Tells Clients To Go To Cash As "Growth Shocks" Are Coming | ZeroHedge.com.

•  Next European bank bombshell: DoubleLine’s Jeffrey Gundlach dropped a new name to worry about on the European bank front. He says if “push comes to shove,” the German government will support Deutsche Bank. “But what about Credit Suisse, which has shown a similar decline in stock price? Who’s there to bail them out?”--MarketWatch.com. Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo is matching Credit Suisse’s year-to-date losses. Spain’s Banco Popular is down 60% year-to-date. Gundlach has also said the ECB’s negative-interest-rate policy is running the risk of bankrupting its lenders, and Deutsche is a poster child for this: “You cannot save your faltering economy by killing your financial system.”

•  Rail Freight Gets Clocked from all Sides in this Economy | Wolf Street: "Total US freight rail traffic, as measured in carloads and intermodal units, fell 6.1% in the week ended October 8, from the same week last year, the Association of American Railroads reported today. It was down 10% from the same week two years ago." See also: Freight Rail Traffic Plunges: Haunting Pictures of Transportation Recession | Wolf Street.

•  ‘Bulletproof’ Public Pensions | NYTimes.com"The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or Calpers, said Loyalton had 30 days to hand over $1.6 million, more than its entire annual budget, to fund the pensions of its four retirees. Otherwise, Loyalton stood to become the first place in California — perhaps in the nation — where a powerful state retirement system cut retirees’ pensions because their town was a deadbeat." See also The state government pension crisis: You will be made to care | Washington Examiner.

•  Sheila Bair called the financial crisis but her new nightmare is student loans"The problem is much worse," Bair replied. "The percentage of [former] students in distress on their student loans is significantly higher than we saw during the subprime crisis."--Bloomberg.com

•  Chinese Property Owners are in for a Very Rude Awakening, but the Damage Will Reverberate around Globe --WolfStreet.com: "The biggest bubble in history." See also: Wall St. Tumbles After China Trade Report Disappoints | NYTimes.com 13 Oct 2016: "Data showed that China’s exports last month fell 10 percent from a year earlier in dollar terms, compared with a 2.8 percent fall in August."

•  Starbucks held $1.2 billion in customer funds loaded onto Starbucks cards and its app as of Q1 2016, according to MarketWatch.com based on data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Starbucks holds more money than some banks hold in deposits. But Starbucks doesn't have to worry about the most powerful man in banking, Fed governor Daniel Tarullo, who heads the Fed’s Committee on Bank Supervision. Tarullo took office at the Fed in 2009 at a moment of broad public support for a more aggressive tack and has pressed that advantage ever since. His influence ranges over everything from corporate strategy to how many billions of dollars banks must maintain in capital. Through the stress tests he championed to evaluate how banks might fare in another market shock, the Fed wields control over whether banks can raise the dividends they pay to shareholders--WSJ.com. See also: “All organizations with sales goals are going to be susceptible to falsified sales records,” said Kane, who worked at Wells Fargo in the 1980s and ’90s before founding Kane Bank Services, which focuses on bank sales practices.--LATimes.com

•  Canada’s Big Bet on Fiscal Stimulus Drawing Global Attention: "Trudeau’s move to lean on infrastructure spending to boost growth is regaining currency"--WSJ.com

•  Week ahead: U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump hold their final debate in Las Vegas on October 19, 2016, 9:00-10:30 pm EDT. The moderator is Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, who will question each nominee. Watch LIVE online here. See also: Glenn Greenwald: WikiLeaks Emails Clearly Show Serious Media Impropriety | Mediaite.com and In the Democratic Echo Chamber, Inconvenient Truths Are Recast as Putin Plots | TheIntercept.com by Glenn Greenwald: "... The tactics they [Democrats] are now embracing will endure past the election, making them worthy of scrutiny. Those tactics now most prominently include dismissing away any facts or documents that reflect negatively on their leaders as fake, and strongly insinuating that anyone who questions or opposes those leaders is a stooge or agent of the Kremlin, tasked with a subversive and dangerously un-American mission on behalf of hostile actors in Moscow. To see how extreme and damaging this behavior has become, let’s just quickly examine two utterly false claims that Democrats over the past four days — led by party-loyal journalists — have disseminated and induced thousands of people, if not more, to believe ..." See also: It’s Official: This Election Is Driving Americans Nuts | Bloomberg.com and Most "news" is misinformation | DomainMondo.com.

One more reading recommendation:
•  "In order for investors to beat the performance of an index fund they must have a view that is different than the crowd and they must be right about that different view."--A Half Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Robert Cialdini’s book “Influence” | 25iq/com

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


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