Archive - May 2015 - Story

Presented with no comment whatsoever...

This psychology of mass delusion now dominates housing, stocks and bonds: not only is this not a bubble, the expansion will continue forever. History, however, suggests otherwise: all bubbles burst, period.

This is the first generation of young Americans that our government systemically disfavors and the first generation whose prospects are lower than those of their parents. Their parents and grandparents have put them in the hole.

Robbed? Cheated? Scammed? Flimflammed? Rolled? Take your pick.

"The weapons appear to have been discarded as Officers arrived and some hastily hidden. The have been found in sacks of chips, stuffed between bags of flour, stuffed into the bench seating, hidden in shelves, thrown into trash cans, placed in the kitchen stoves, discarded on floors and even so far as to attempt to flush a handgun down a commode."

It appears the frauds, falsehoods, and f##king fallacies are all being exposed at the same time. While we have noted three companies that have collapsed in the last week - destroying their billionaire owners' wealth in the process - it appears the Chinese capital destruction virus has spread to Germany. Joyou AG - a Chinese affiliate of German bathroom manufacturer Grohe - has collapsed from record highs a week ago to 0, pending bankruptcy, after admitting balance sheet manipulation.

The rising risk to the housing recovery story lies in the Fed's ability to continue to keep interest rates suppressed. It is important to remember that individuals "buy payments" rather than houses. With each tick higher in mortgage rates so goes the monthly mortgage payment. With wages remaining suppressed, 1 out of 3 Americans no longer counted as part of the work force or drawing on a Federal subsidy, the pool of potential buyers remains tightly constrained. While there are many hopes pinned on the housing recovery as a "driver" of economic growth in 2015 and beyond - the lack of recovery in the home ownership data suggests otherwise.

One quick look at Shake Shack's "fundamentals", irrelevant as they may be in this market, put the company's valuation per restaurant in perspective not only to such established fast food names as McDonalds, but other recent "hot" restaurant debuts.

When it comes to world traveling, nothing beats the sights and sounds of Pakistan. While traveling through the country, you might stumble upon a Navy SEAL mission to kill the most wanted terrorist in the world, get acid thrown in your face, or earn a diploma from a fake American university.

"Protesters hailing from as far away as Kansas City and New York City participated in a demonstration at McDonald's Oak Brook headquarters Wednesday, urging that hourly wages for the burger giant's front-line workers be increased to $15 an hour", the Chicago Tribune reports. Police estimated the crowd at about 2,000 people. Organizers had projected that upward of 5,000 would participate in the demonstration.

In most of the 34 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development the income gap is at its highest level in three decades, with the richest 10 percent of the population earning 9.6 times the income of the poorest 10 percent. "We have reached a tipping point. Inequality in OECD countries is at its highest since records began,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria.

As goes oil... so goes US equities...

For the 5th month in a row, Kansas City Fed missed expectations by an inmcreaisngly large amount. May's -13 print is the worst since April 2009, and is the biggest drop since 2009. Every single individual component also tumbled led by orders, backlog, number of employees and average workweek. Firmly in recession territory, the respondents comments are stunningly reminiscent of the great recession (or depression)...

Yesterday China's richest man, Li Hejun, lost more than half his fortune when his solar company stock suddenly crashed over 50%. Overnight it happened again, and Hong Kong’s securities regulator, warned other investors to exercise "extreme caution," as Hong Kong's best-performing stocks this year are crashing in a serial, tulip-like manner. And another billionaire was promptly wiped out: Pan Sutong started the day engorged with wealth after his companies Goldin Financial and Goldin Properties had risen 300% this year. By the close he had lost 60% of his wealth!

"Six years after the recession ended, many U.S. states are hard pressed to balance budgets because of a sluggish recovery and their own policy decisions and in fact, thirty-two states faced budget gaps in fiscal 2015 or 2016 or both." Bloomberg reports. Indeed, state and local governments are so broke that "even Republican governors loath to raise taxes have proposed higher levies."