Juggling Dynamite

Oppenheimer & Co.’s Fadel Gheit discusses the collapse in oil prices and the probable impact of lifting sanctions on Iran. Here is a direct video link.

China is a particularly garish example of central planning and finance theory gone completely bonkers, but it is also a study of human behavior and prominent thinking in varying degrees, everywhere today. Andy Xie is a rare economist: schooled and still wise enough to connect the dots: “Every cycle you lose money quicker than the last.”

Andy Xie, an independent economist, talks about China’s measures to reverse the stock market rout that began last month.Here is a direct video link.

As Nick Hanauer so ably points out, a few people getting exorbitantly wealthy for short periods on asset bubbles that repeatedly implode is no way to create sustainable jobs and economic growth. In the end, bubble prices crash again, and the world is left farther behind with piles of worthless iou’s.

But re-engineering the power grid and building out renewable energy and electric transportation that the world desperately needs? Now that’s a job creator. As shown in this chart, $1 million invested in renewable technologies creates many more good paying jobs than a million invested in older, more polluting industries like natural gas and coal.

Also to learn more about driverless auto technology, and why it is a life saving revolution that is here to stay and increase human efficiency, watch, TED: How a driverless car sees the road.