Jack Delano “FOR US, BONDS : Chicago, Union Station” January 1943 The more I read about China, the more chaotic it seems to become, and the more I start to doubt the generally accepted notion that the Communist Party (+PBOC) is in control. If we accept that the politburo has little or no control of the shadow banking system, and that the latter is worth $5.86 trillion, or 69% of Chinese GDP, why would we still assume the politburo controls
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Office of War Information ‘How to identify danger classes’, Newark 1942 Debt Rattle Jan 21 2014 I got a few complaints about the Daily Links disappearing from the front page, so I’ll put them back up there, as well as inside the daily Debt Rattles, where they’ll come with excerpts and my commentary. No problem! Of course there is a grain of truth in saying optimism is a great force in economies, even in life itself. If only we think
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Jack Allison Street scene, NYC: shiny shoes and “dancing on the water” Summer 1938 Debt Rattle Jan 20 2014 China growth numbers (well, estimates) are in, and guess what, opinions are all over the place. It’s better than some estimates and worse than others, but still the lowest this century. Word is that this is the result of changing government policies, but there definitely is lower global demand for Chinese products too. • China growth slowest in 14 years, tipped
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William Henry Jackson Washington Bridge and High Bridge over the Harlem River 1890 There are choices forced upon us by mankind’s “progress” and “development” that closely resemble such metaphorical conundrums as Scylla and Charybdis, Morton’s fork, Sophie’s choice, or in this case pretty much literally the devil and the deep blue river. We, people of the era of progress, tend to deny the existence of such choices and conundrums, because we like to think that if only we put our
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National Photo Co. Federal Clothing Store, Washington, D.C 1925 The time has come. The Automatic Earth has been talking about the inevitability of deflation for years, but the concept only now goes mainstream. Which is a shame, because a lot could have been done to try and mitigate the damage it’s going to do. Although it’s as inevitable as the laws of thermodynamics, the notion that record debts will always lead to record debt deflation is hardly discussed; you have
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Howard Liberman Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Soldier using a barbed wire anchor spike August 1942 Last week, there was a discussion in our comments section about the financial “crunch”, the big kahuna, and how it still has not happened despite our insisting it is inevitable, with people saying things like: ‘but the stock markets are way up!’, and ‘in my area home prices are up 30%’. As much as I understand the sentiments, at the same time I don’t really. Certainly
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National Photo Co. “Dog Funeral, Washington DC” 1922 Hi, Sorry, no article(s) today, my MacBook died earlier today. I’m writing this from a very old one I’m trying to restore to some kind of functional health, but it has severe limitations, it’s definitely on life support, no battery for one thing. I have no choice but to try and get a new one tomorrow, and that’s the last thing we need here at TAE these days, major expenses; we’re only
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Detroit Publishing Co. Smallest News & Post Card Stand In New Orleans 1906 I thought it would be a good idea to occasionally do a re-run of an article from the vast Automatic Earth archives over the weekends. We have gained a lot of new readers, after all. Since this one was published exactly 3 years ago, on 1-11-’11, it seems fitting for that reason alone. But also because the topic is as relevant today as it was then, and
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Dorothea Lange “Mr. Dougherty and kid. Warm Springs, Malheur County, Oregon” October 1939 David Holmgren, for whom I have the utmost respect, is best known as one of the co-originators of the permaculture concept. Permaculture is an ecological design method for regenerative agriculture, where the principles of natural systems are employed in order to create a self-sustaining means for food production while building soil fertility. I am increasingly involved with permaculture (teaching it in Belize this February), as it represents
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Detroit Publishing Co. “Loop the Loop at Coney Island, New York” 1903 Since I wrote “The Taper And The China Credit Power Struggle Squeeze” on Dec 29, I have of course kept on reading up on China, and thinking about what I read. And I got to say, it keeps getting murkier and scarier at the same time. What I suggested in that article is that, although nobody I’ve seen talks about it, I’m convinced there’s a political struggle afoot
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