Juggling Dynamite

Naysayers be damned: more status quo disruption and forward thinking from Elon Musk. This is the kind of innovation that can take America and the world back to a sustainable model of existence. A zero-emission, solar powered (free energy) rapid transit tube–leaving more time and money for everything else.

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk wants to revolutionize the way travelers reach their destinations, reports CNBC’s Phil LeBeau. And Rod Diridon, Mineta Transportation Institute, discusses the future of transportation. Here is a direct video link.

With fiscal drag (not stimulus) in 2013, and no new monetary magic planned, the economic growth forecast by many over the next 12-24 months is dependent on a hand off to the real economy. But without wage growth to support greater consumer spending, and without increased consumer demand to support business investment, the next runner to grab the economic baton is not evident.

CNBC’s Rick Santelli reports the latest retail numbers were near expectations, while the import-export data was a little light. Here is a direct video link.

China’s economy has become the second largest in the world, but its rapid growth may have created the largest housing bubble in history. Here is a direct video link.

During the global consumer credit bubble from 2002-2007, China received an unprecedented surge of cash flow from our “dumb” consumer levered-spending across the developed world. What did they do with all that suddenly found wealth? What most humans do in such circumstances: they made a bunch of bad and unproductive spending choices. In 2008 when the cash flow bubble from exports finally burst, the Chinese government responded with more bad decisions, levering up to try and reignite hyper-growth in the economy. Now 5 years later, western cash flow has not come back, and the Chinese economy is slumping neck deep in a domestic debt bubble of its own making. While it was the country that rolled out the relatively largest stimulus package during the 2008 Great recession, China is not now able to rescue the global economy in the next leg of the post-credit bubble recession.