Pivotfarm's blog

Due to technical issues, the following CME Globex Futures and Options markets have been halted: 

Some out there were waiting on the International Monetary Fund’s new World Economic Outlook report to be issued today. Some were waiting. Most didn’t care, since it was going to contain a tissue of inter-woven statements that probably say what we have already been thinking (at least we could have hoped that they might be that honest) about the dire straits of the world economy.

What is there in this world that is transparent? Is there anything left? You just need to take a look around you. The growing number of corruption cases, the people that embezzle, fraudulently take, borrow, beg and steal at whim.

So, they might be on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean, but the Europeans and the Americans have one thing very much in common.

Surprise, surprise!

European leaders may have felt a momentary brief lapse in the wary feeling of disdain that has existed between them for years now, but that was once exacerbated by the financial crisis and the entire PIGS- story that ensued, with the debt crisis.

London’s cobbled and quaint streets are no longer paved with gold as their fictitious character, Dick Whittington might have once believed in fairytale land. But, they certainly do attract the golden billionaire boys from around the world these days as London gets to the top position in the places to have a pad; but you don’t necessarily need to live there!

Are any of the leaders at the heads of the Western world ‘statesmen’ in the true sense of the word? Do any of them, from Cameron, to Obama, via Merkel and Hollande have any idea what the definition of such an illustrious, historically-based politician means?

The markets are speculating that Vladimir Putin will have to set up some form of capital control in order to stem the flight of capital from his country. It was already happening before the crisis in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea. But, now it is set to get worse and an estimated $70 billion is the figure that is being mentioned

What exactly is happening in this globalized world? What’s happening in the world that one day somebody constructed in which everybody had access to everybody’s private life via social networks and even some had access to it through special programs that they gave fancy names to like Prism and the President’s Surveillance Program?

Spending just $3.33 on US-produced goods every year by every person in the USA would create 10,000 jobs. We obviously don’t have that much money to spend or we don’t care

Investors will be fleeing Europe, they’ll be moving from Russia, getting far away from the USA as they can get and they’ll be going where the sun shines longer: Africa. Why? Simply because it’s worth it and the investment prospects there are far greater than they are anywhere else right now.

As Putin rejoices at his new-found wealth in Crimea after it was annexed (in a duff referendum where there was either ‘now’ or ‘later’ up for grabs to join the Russian Federation), the USA is wiping its tears with things that are closer to home and causing a great deal more grief than far off Ukraine. 

Computer programs are obsolete before they even get put on the market and it’s been that way for years now. There’s also the added bonus of actually making sure that the buyers keep buying and always want the latest. 

Waste is a many splendid thing that in all circumstances we attempt to reduce and get rid of, shunning it like a pariah. Well, perhaps almost all circumstances. There are times when waste is just the by-word for government these days. But, are we all equal in the quantity of waste that is generated in our countries’ governments?