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Does the Market Need a Heimlich Maneuver? November 21, 2018 For all we know, the panic selling is Wall Street's way of forcing the Fed's hand: stop with the rates increases already or Mr. Market expires.
Markets everywhere are gagging on something: they're sagging, crashing, imploding, blowing up, dropping and generally exhibiting signs of distress. Does the market need a Heimlich Maneuver? Is there some way to expel whatever's choking the market? So what's choking the market? There are a number of possibilities: somewhere near the top of most observers' lists are: rising interest rates, weakening credit growth in China, the slowing of China's economy, trade wars, European uncertainties, currently centered around Italy but by no means restricted to Italy, Japan's slowing economy, an over-supply of oil, the rolling over of global real estate markets, geopolitical tensions and various technical signals that suggest the 10-year Bull market in just about everything financial is ending. That's a lot to gag on. Take a quick glance at the effective Fed funds rate chart below: the Fed funds rate is up, up and away, accelerating to the moon. No wonder Mr. Market is holding his throat and making panicky motions of distress. Which is worse--too much oil or a scarcity of oil? Depends on who you ask. Suppliers are panicking with prices pushing $50/barrel while consumers were anxious when prices pushed $80/barrel. Who can perform the Heimlich Maneuver on Mr. Market? The European Central Bank has been "doing whatever it takes" for 6+ years, and the central banks of Japan and China have had the pedal to the metal of credit expansion / asset purchases for years. That pretty much leaves the Federal Reserve as the only rescuer who has a chance to perform the Heimlich Maneuver, which in this case would be some forceful ejection of the fear that the Fed will keep raising rates aggressively even as Mr. Market is writhing on the floor gasping.
For all we know, the panic selling is Wall Street's way of forcing the Fed's hand: stop with
the rates increases already or Mr. Market expires.
And as we all know, Mr. Market is everything to those managing perceptions of the economy.
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This is the most important book I have written. It started when I asked myself a question: when we dream of the future of our society, are we hoping for the right things? The current conventional-wisdom view of our soon-to-be future is rose-tinted: automation will free millions of people from the drudgery of work, then by taxing the robots doing all the work, we can pay everyone Universal Basic Income (UBI), enabling a life of leisure and artistic pursuit for all. The result: A future of Universal Happiness. But is this accurate? Is this what UBI is actually capable of doing? More importantly, is this what we want? And even more importantly: will this “future” be our best future? Will it account for and manage the practicalities of work, money and automation, given the limits of endless growth on a finite planet? Money and Work Unchained drags the now-popular concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) from the shadows of Pundit blather into a harsh, illuminating light, and in doing so presents an entirely new view of the future that upends our conventional, foundational, understanding of work and money. This book lays out a practical pathway that realigns work, money and human fulfillment into a sustainable system that sheds the inequalities and injustices of the status quo in favor of a human-scale way of living. And – it gives us a future to truly hope for. Kindle ebook $9.95, print $20)
Recent entries: Does the Market Need a Heimlich Maneuver? November 21, 2018 Hell Hath No Fury Like a Liberal Scorned: The Media Turns on Facebook and Google November 19, 2018 The Political Rebellion Gathers Momentum November 17, 2018 Does Any of This Make Sense? November 16, 2018 The Implicit Desperation of China's "Social Credit" System November 14, 2018 Understanding the Global Recession of 2019 November 12, 2018 Why Are so Few Americans Able to Get Ahead? November 9, 2018 Is This "The Most Important Election of our Lives" or Just Another Distraction? November 6, 2018 Turn Off, Tune Out, Drop Out November 5, 2018
What's Behind the Erosion of Civil Society?
November 2, 2018
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