Juggling Dynamite

Lower energy costs + reduced carbon emissions = smart on every level.  Most of all, seeing smart systems in action along with adults who care enough to lead change,  gives children much needed hope for a sustainable future.

This project at Kew Beach Public School in Toronto is a is a community-owned solar rooftop array.  Solar panels mounted on the roof of the school create a 225-panel, 72 kW installation that, in combination with the school’s existing solar installation, generate and inject in the local grid the equivalent to one third of the school’s annual electricity use. The electricity is sold back to the grid with a portion of the funds being used to support green initiatives and eco-activities within the school and community.

Time for all schools and government buildings and to get with the program.  The world needs good growth and jobs that increase productivity and bring lasting benefits.  This is a no-brainer.  Here is a direct video link.

Fed Chair Yellen and her colleagues are fantasizing about ‘running the economy hot’.  As if central banks at zero rates, had that kind of power.

The trouble is that a secular downturn in global demand–caused by debt hangover, years of malinvestment in non-productive assets, aging demographics and low yields–are thwarting hopes and dreams of inflation topping 2%+. This is not the good old days, when plain old cutting rates spurred more consumption. Today low yields are having the opposite effect–causing people to spend less and save more.

The bond sell off in the past month, has created another buying opportunity for the highest quality North American credits (ie., government issues 1-10 years). The same cannot be said for corporate debt, where credit risk is likely to spike as the economy and sales weaken further, and an increasing number of over-levered, unprepared companies struggle to stay in the black.  At least governments can increase taxes when times get tough, companies don’t have that option.

Here is a big picture look at the US 10 year Treasury yield since 2005.  With the falling trend since 2007 still in tact (purple line) the back up from all time lows since July is no break out.  If the 1.80-2.0 range proves resistance, the lower for longer thesis will be confirmed once more.  The Bank of Canada is struggling with monetary impotence as well, see: Poloz poised to mark down recovery, stand pat on rates.

Steven Major, global head of fixed income research at HSBC, and David Bloom, global head of FX strategy at HSBC, discuss their view of lower Treasury yields in 2017. Here is a direct video link.

Before arguing in favor of either leading Presidential candidate, thinking people should watch this new documentary available on Netflix from the director of Selma.  Both Trump and the Clintons appear in this story as status quo actors.  A flawed system needs fresh thinking, reform and ethical leadership, if America is to fulfill its promise and dreams.

The title of Ava DuVernay’s extraordinary and galvanizing documentary 13TH refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” The progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry is laid out by DuVernay with bracing lucidity. With a potent mixture of archival footage and testimony from a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men, DuVernay creates a work of grand historical synthesis.  Here is a link to the trailer.