Juggling Dynamite

As I took my daughter to the mall yesterday to use her gift cards from Christmas, I could not help but notice the 70 to 80% off signs everywhere. Living in a world of too much stuff does offer some savings for consumers. Slashed margins also suggest however ongoing declines and consolidation for retailers, retail real estate, retail construction, consumption taxes, oh yes and GDP that is 70% based on consumer spending totals. But all necessary pain to get rid of the excess inventory and capacity plaguing the global economy today post-credit bubble.

Bargain Fever” Author Mark Ellwood discusses post-holiday retail shopping. Here is a direct video link.

This is a very interesting discussion. I am always fascinated by how brilliant, collaborative, innovative and also incredibly short-sighted and thick we humans can be– all at the same time.

Culture, via language and cooperative behaviour, evolves hand-in-hand with our genes. So says Professor Mark Pagel, one of a new breed of evolutionary biologists using their expertise to shed light on human creativity. In this second part of the Thinking Big video series he discusses with science editor Clive Cookson what his work says about humanity’s past – and future. Here is a direct video link.

Good overview update from Crestmont Research’s Ed Easterling, reminding us that wishful thinking, hopes and all the Fed liquidity in the world cannot change the fact that the secular bear that began in 2000 has much further to go before stock valuations are low enough to launch the next secular bull market once more. See: Nightmare on Wall Street: this secular bear has only just begun.

Money for nothing indeed, as shown in Ed’s chart above, 4 trillion of QE pumping over the past 3 years and counting has only served to reflate bubble prices and suspend the progress needed toward the single digit stock valuations and opportunities that will usher in the next secular boom. Far from saving investors and the economy with their continual interventions, the Central Banks of the world are prolonging the hardship of economic pain and non-productive asset allocation. They need to get out of the way and let free market forces restore investment value.