Smart: Mercedes pulls out of DTM race series to focus on Formula E

Posted on July 25, 2017 by Danielle Park

Pennies are dropping every week now, that the future of transport is electric.  It’s smart to embrace the opportunity and enormous full-cost savings this will bring to households, businesses and governments.  Kicking fossil fuels is about improving our health and lowering expenses. It’s also about guilt free sweet rides, that move like silent lightening, without degrading our air quality.

For all their technological prowess and leadership over the years, German automakers have been surprisingly slow on making the turn here.  Good to see them finally catching on.   Today Mercedes announced it’s pulling out of the German Touring Masters (DTM) European race series at the end of 2018 and entering the Formula E electric open-wheeler championship for the 2019-2020 season.  See, Mercedes will quit DTM in 2019 to race in Formula E:

Mercedes has been involved in DTM heavily since the late 1980s, and was a core participant in the series when it was relaunched in the year 2000. The manufacturer’s decision to leave means only BMW and Audi will remain once the 2019 season comes around.

It seems Mercedes is focusing its efforts on Formula E instead, confirming an entry into season six of the all-electric single-seater series. Both BMW and Audi have also confirmed a factory entry into the sport. The trio will join teams backed by DS, Jaguar, Faraday Future, and NIO.

Where does that leave DTM? Can Audi and BMW support the entire series? Are they willing? Will they even be around the series in 2019, or will they also focus energies on their Formula E efforts and continue to wind down other racing involvement? This could be the first domino in a chain reaction for DTM.

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Deeply flawed economic models need to change

Posted on July 25, 2017 by Danielle Park

Good discussion here on economic reality. One caveat: when asset managers speak of moving capital from Europe and China to US stocks and ‘more conservative’ sectors as defensive in bear markets, they mean they hope and expect that US equities will drop less than other developing market securities, ie., maybe -50% rather than -70%. Individuals must decide for themselves whether they consider that type of ‘out-performance’ worthwhile.

The Western economic system is deeply flawed with countries such as the U.S. and Britain contributing to the lowest quality economic recovery the world has ever seen, Chris Watling, chief executive of Longview Economics, told CNBC on Friday.

“The economic model is deeply flawed and the system in the west is deeply flawed, particularly in the English speaking part of the world and it needs to change,” Watling said.

“I think this is undoubtedly the lowest quality economic recovery we have seen globally… full stop,” he added.  Here is a direct video link.

Build-up of debt from loose monetary policy conditions: Longview from CNBC.

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Exchanges and fundcos still selling investor trust to trading Piranhas

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Danielle Park

An update on our broken markets…

Brad Katsuyama, CEO of IEX, the company that was the focus of Michael Lewis’s best-selling book “Flash Boys,” talks to MarketWatch about the overlooked dangers to investors that U.S. stock exchanges pose. Here is a direct video link.

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