Juggling Dynamite

Chris Watling does a good job on the laundry list of factors weighing against global stock markets in this clip. While the ever optimistic Schaffrik sprinkles in the usual bullish bites fitting of his job as a cheerleader-in-chief at sell side RBC.

Chris Watling, chief executive officer and chief market strategist at Longview Economics, and Peter Schaffrik, head of European rates and economics research at RBC Capital Markets, discuss global equity markets, the influence of the U.S. economy, and the effect of deleveraging on global growth. Here is a direct video link.

What happens when a Professor of Economics gets his hands on the economic levers of a country in the eye of the financial storm? Yanis Varoufakis’ seven month stint as Greece’s Minister of Finance took him into the heart of the Eurogroup, the IMF, and the continent’s top decision-making bodies. With bluntness and force, he put the case for a different solution to Greece’s ills and accused the country’s creditors of terrorism. Telling Bloomberf “I wouldprefer to cut my arm off” rather than accept a bailout that did not involve debt restructuring, Varoufakis did not make friends among the Eurocrats. Sharing his first-hand view of the global financial system and what is means for ordinary citizens and governments when things go wrong, Yanis Varoufakis discusses his experience at the intersection of politics and economics in theory and practice. Here is a direct video link.

The formal speech lasts for about 20 minutes. The discussion afterwards is also worthwhile.

A comprehensive UK government report on Childhood obesity was released yesterday. The issues and findings are virtually the same in the UK as in North America.

The bottom line is that kids are being set up for potentially lasting disadvantage and inequality by being fed excessive caloric intake by the adults in their lives.  Too many calories, is the primary contributor to obesity today and this is virtually impossible to counter through treatments and physical activity alone.  The costs of not ensuring a healthy level of daily intake are exponential.  Read Childhood obesity–brave and bold action:

“One fifth of children are overweight or obese when they begin school, and this figure increases to one third by the time they leave primary school. Furthermore, the most deprived children are twice as likely to be obese both at Reception and at Year 6 than the least deprived children. Obesity is not only a serious and growing problem for individual children and the wider population, it is also a significant contributor to health inequality.

…Few effective interventions are in place to help those children identified as overweight or obese, making it all the more important to focus on prevention. The recommendations we make in this report have a strong focus on changing the food environment, reflecting the evidence we have heard. The evidence shows that information campaigns aimed at promoting healthier choices generally tend to help those who are already engaged with health, and may therefore only serve to widen health inequalities. Similarly, although physical activity has enormous benefits, regardless of weight, encouraging people to increase their physical activity levels alone is unlikely to have an impact on the obesity crisis. The Government should not lose sight of the clear evidence that measures to improve the food environment to reduce calorie intake must lie at the heart of a successful strategy.”