Archive - Feb 9, 2015

"Enjoy the party, but dance near the door."

A measles outbreak in the U.S. has prompted a national debate over vaccinations, a debate that quickly turned ugly baby vaccinebecause both sides think they are protecting their children from harm. Some parents say that they should have the right to refuse vaccines if they think it is in their children’s best interest, while others argue that ill-informed parental views can be overridden by the State if the public health is at stake. When argued on the traditional battleground, the problem has no solution. As with school prayer, immigration policies, parade permits for controversial groups, or allowing the homeless in “public” libraries, here too there is no way to solve the problem except by letting private property owners set the rules on their land.

In some countries, the 'solution' the state chooses for its ignominous billionaire class of inequality-garnering, economy-wrecking individuals is to either a) turn one's back for a brief enough moment as to allow the tyrant to leave the country in search of a golden beach upon which to lament how great a trade being long European bonds would have been' or b) enhance their wealth further on a quid pro quo basis. In China, the 'treatment' for corrupt billionaires who love casinos, cigars, and luxury cars is much simpler... execution.

And yet, perhaps in asking for a Federal Reserve bailout of Greece, everyone's favorite Vermont socialist does make some sense: after all if the Fed is bailing out European banks, and just European banks, on an ad hoc basis, and usually quite well hidden (see for example: "How The Fed's Latest QE Is Just Another European Bailout"), does it really matter if the Fed spends what amounts to one daily POMO amount to save some 11 million Greeks?

China’s stock market is on fire but its economy is cooling off.  Can the divergence last? And what’s next for China? Stay tuned to find out.

2015 has been marked by increasing volatility, prompting Third Point's Dan Loeb to characterize this as a “haunted house market” where a new scary event lurks around each corner. Out of this year’s 25 trading days, 22 have had intra-day moves in the market of more than 1%..."Avoiding dramatic downside in individual names and sizeable losses during inevitable sell-offs will be key to succeeding in this market and navigating successfully through the haunted hallways of 2015."

For the 34th month in a row, Chinese Producer Prices (PPI) fell YoY (dropping 4.3%, missing expectations of a 3.8% deflation). This is the biggest YoY drop in prices since October 2009 led by a 9.9% plunge in fuel costs. Chinese Consumer Prices are also showing continued deceleration with a 0.8% rise YoY (missing expectations of a 1.0% rise YoY) - the weakest CPI low-flation since November 2009. Great news for the average Chinese person is that food prices rose at the slowest pace in years (and even better the cost of alcohol & tobacco fell YoY again).

The biggest story in the tech world today is the revelation that Samsung’s Smart TV can and will listen to your conversations, and will share the details with a third party. Yes, you read that right. Here’s the actual language from the privacy policy itself: “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.” Naturally, this has freaked people out and led to multiple comparisons to 1984 and the ubiquitous Big Brother.

Raging against its German creditors, the new Greek government is demanding reparations for Nazi-era depredations. Herewith - from Jim Grant’s archives - some timely context both for the Greek negotiating position and the underlying monetary issues.

With China devaluation looming as the great unspoken Black Swan trade, and on the heels of the Swiss National Bank folding on its 'peg', we thought a quick glance at the world's "pegged" currencies would be useful as a guide to where the next shoe (and pant legs) will drop. With global FX implied volatility at EU crisis highs, the markets clearly expect more to come...

The future of Europe now depends on something apparently impossible: Greece and Germany must strike a deal.

Only the people of Japan and Spain trust their government less than the people of the U.S. trust our government. The confluence of government and business has created a corporate fascist surveillance state. Trust in government, politicians, bankers, and the media is plummeting.

... And all of this takes place in broad daylight, in front of the entire American population, which is too bored, too lazy, and far too distracted by collecting the government handout equivalent of plastic beads, spending on 99 cent apps and watching the Grammys to care.

Controlling (stabilizing) today’s perception of tomorrow’s economic strength attached to (and thus backing) the USD is the Fed mandate. For if we lose control of today’s false perception well then god only knows what tomorrow’s given value may be. This is the absolute ‘mandate’ of central banking.