Juggling Dynamite

Ever noticed how many people are walking around with sugary drinks in their hands?

The picture below gives a sense of the sugar drug being consumed in each.  Then there are all the sugar-heavy coffee concoctions people are hooked on as well.

The health costs are astronomical, especially for our next generations. See: CDC, health, youth obesity facts:

• Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.  In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.

• Children and adolescents who are obese are at greater risk for diabetes, bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem.

• Children and adolescents who are obese are likely to be obese as adults and are therefore more at risk for adult health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.

Initial Public Offerings (IPO’s) are for insiders and early investors who bought low to cash out by selling high to the retail crowd while the brokers make eye-watering commissions in the process.  Tom Keene’s comments here that this is “a completely changed environment” is laughable.  IPO’s were always thus, and the business media have always been happy to help their sponsors move product on to the gullible public

Initial Public Offerings in the United States are trailing levels from 2014 as investors find smaller returns on offerings and companies opt for rounds of private funding over entering the public market.  Here is a direct video link.

It is quite simple: punish actors not faceless corporations and follow the chain of command up to the highest paid executives and their legal and accounting advisers. We did this following financial fraud epidemics in the 1930’s, 1980’s and to some extent the early 2000’s following the tech wreck. The so called ‘smartest guys in the room’ (cough) can’t extract grotesque compensation based on profits made (after government bailouts) and then also deny responsibility for crimes committed in creation of those profits.

Chris Whalen had some refreshingly sensible comments on these issues this morning:

Chris Whalen, senior managing director at Kroll Bond Rating Agency, talks about the need for criminal prosecution of bankers and the Federal Reserve’s role in bank regulationHere is a direct video link.

More here:  the Fed’s zero rate policies have taken a trillion a year of income from savers. All to unfairly and temporarily reflate bank profits (just until they implode again): not a good trade for the 99.9%. Here is a direct video link.