Juggling Dynamite

Danielle was a guest with Kerry Lutz on The Financial Survival Network talking about recent developments in the world economy and markets.  You can listen to an audio clip of the segment here.

The sharing economy has not been born solely out of efficiency, it’s also largely a matter of necessity. Declining incomes and profits make it a major money saver for the shrinking middle class. Whether it’s AirBNB for travel, Uber to get where you’re going or Citibikes to use a bicycle in the City, it just makes so much sense. And we haven’t seen anything yet. It’s going to really take off soon once self-driving cars really hit the market.

Here is the Global Dow 150 Index chart that I reference in this discussion as having just retouched its 2007 peak.

Here is earnings per share (in black) showing flat since 2014 ,while the S&P (blue) has increased.

Further to the Tesla-accelerated-ongoing and now inevitable death of ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles, German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week said that a ban on ICE cars by 2030 was being considered for Germany.  This follows recent announcements that France will outlaw the sale of all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, India by 2030 and the Netherlands and Norway by 2025.  See:  Merkel looks to electrification as future of German auto industry. The EV race is on all around the world:

This is a significant step in an EV direction that could lead to massive changes in the German auto industry. In particular, she stated that “a ban of ICE cars could be an option.” Such policy would not come till October — after the election — but the change in rhetoric was surely not taken lightly.

Merkel also slammed the German auto industry for past actions to deceive regulators and consumers, and she put the pressure on them to clean up their image through genuine change.

“Large sections of the auto industry have gambled away unbelievable amounts of trust,” she stated in her speech in Dortmund. “This is trust that only the auto industry can restore. And when I say ‘the industry’ that is the company leaders.”

The daily spectacle of Mr. Trump is proving very effective in distracting and diverting public attention, allowing the financial cartel to continue their self-serving work of queering public policies in their favor.  To wit:

The current regulatory agenda of the Securities and Exchange Commission, published in July, removed more than a dozen proposals related to Dodd-Frank, including the plan to restrict bonuses. See: Trump admin chips away at post-crisis Wall Street rules.

Obviously they don’t want anything restricting bonuses paid to the banking sector.  As shown here, financial deregulation and leaping relative pay in finance have gone hand in hand since the 1980’s.  Both have now eclipsed the extremes that helped usher in the Great Crash of ’29 and decades of suffering thereafter.  Very profitable for them indeed.  Crushingly expensive for the rest of us.  And will be again, no doubt.