Juggling Dynamite

Danielle was a guest today with Jim Goddard on Talk Digital Network talking about recent developments in the world economy and markets.  You can listen to an audio clip of the segment here.

Noam Chomsky is considered one of America’s most important thinkers [make American think again!], critical minds, and voices of dissent.  His ideas have been the subject of the 1992 documentary “Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media” and Michel Gondry’s “Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?” The more recent 2015 documentary “Requiem for the American Dream” is now available on Netflix and iTunes and offers some useful insight and historical context on the forces that have brought the world to a present crossroads.  Also relevant context for the present American election cycle. Worth watching.

In his final long-form documentary interview – filmed over four years – Chomsky unpacks the principles that have brought us to the crossroads of historically unprecedented inequality. Tracing a half-century of policies designed to favor the most wealthy at the expense of the majority, Chomsky lays bare the costly debris left in its wake: the evisceration of the American worker, disappearance of the living wage, collapse of the dream of home ownership, skyrocketing higher education costs placing betterment beyond reach or shackling students to suffocating debt, and a loss of solidarity that has left us divided against ourselves.

Profoundly personal and thought provoking, REQUIEM is a potent reminder that power ultimately rests in the hands of the governed – and is required viewing for all who maintain hope in a shared stake in the future.  Here is a direct link to the trailer.

Revelations, negative revisions and write-downs are mounting in a broad range of firms that have been depending on financialization and accounting maneuvers to keep ‘beating’ targets over the past few years. The names may be different but the behaviors and gimmicks are all very familiar. Whether it be bank customers getting talked into ‘higher-yield product’ like collateralized deposits as a (precarious) place to put their savings [again] (see: Wall Street’s latest retail fleecing product exposed–structured CDO’s), or insider-trading and kickback schemes revealed (see: Former Amaya CEO was involved in kickback scheme, watchdog says), emissions-fraud at major car companies, or  Suspect sales at Fiat Chrysler, this epidemic of deceit and recklessness has been one for the many storied books of financial scandal. Here is a taste of the Chrysler Fiat revelations coming to the fore:

“…Fiat Chrysler has impressed over the years with its steadily rising sales. The automaker’s monthly results, with their drum-like beat of incremental increases, evoke an earlier era when many U.S. companies engineered their earnings to surpass expectations by pennies to please Wall Street.

Investigators are examining whether Fiat Chrysler improperly adjusted monthly numbers to show growth over the prior year, a person familiar with the matter said. They are looking into allegations the company ordered dealers to create false vehicle purchases, some of which were made in the names of friends and relatives of salespeople, including underage family members, the person said.” See: Suspect sales at Fiat Chrysler could be bad news

The recalculation so far, means that the automaker’s previously reported sales-growth streak actually ended three years ago in 2013.  For many companies and assets, the repricing needed will wipe out many years of apparent gains.