Esther Bubley Passengers on Memphis-Chattanooga Greyhound bus 1943 I think I’ve never understood the American – and international – fascination with money, with gathering wealth as the no. 1 priority in one’s life. What looks even stranger to me is the idolization of people who have a lot of money. Like these people are per definition smarter or better than others. It seems obvious that most of them are probably just more ruthless, that they have less scruples, and that
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Marion Post Wolcott Negro woman carrying laundry between Durham and Mebane, NC 1939 • The Committee To Destroy The World (Michael Lewitt) • Our Current Illusion Of Prosperity (Mises Inst.) • Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think (Scientific American) • Burning Down The House: Land, Water & Food (Eastwood) • The Warren Effect: Here Is A Bluff That Needs To Be Called (Esquire) • Companies Go All-In Before Rate Hike, Issue Record Debt In Q1 (Zero Hedge) •
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NPC Pennsylvania Avenue storefront view, Washington DC 1921 • Americans Just Aren’t Spending (CNN) • The Glory Days of Private Equity Are Over (WSJ) • Japan’s Newest Export: Deflation (Pesek) • The Oil Price Slump Is Fuelling Financial Instability Globally (Satyajit Das) • ‘A Lot More Easing’ Coming From China Central Bank (CNBC) • Iceland Looks At Ending Boom And Bust With Radical Money Plan (AFP)
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Gottscho-Schleisner Plaza buildings from Central Park, NY 1933 Who knew that the revolution would start with those radical Icelanders? It does, though. One Frosti Sigurjonsson, a lawmaker from the ruling Progress Party, issued a report today that suggests taking the power to create money away from commercial banks, and hand it to the central bank and, ultimately, Parliament. Can’t see commercial banks in the western world be too happy with this. They must be contemplating wiping the island nation off
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Dorothea Lange Butter bean vines across the porch, Negro quarter, Memphis, Tennessee 1938 • The US Economy Is Showing Cracks (CNN) • Greek Construction Sector Crumbles By 80% In Just Five Years (Kathimerini) • Bernanke: I Didn’t Throw Seniors Under The Bus (MarketWatch) • The Fed’s Startling Numbers on Student Debt (Simon Black) • The Fed’s ‘Repression’ Has Cost Savers $470 Billion (MarketWatch) • Low US Consumer Spending Points To Slow First Quarter (MarketWatch) • Jumping On Junk: Investors Crazy
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John M. Fox “The new Hudson” 1948 • How The Fed Is ‘Screwed,’ And What Happens Next (CNBC) • Cinderella’s New Moral: Be Rich Or Be A Pumpkin (Lynn Stuart Parramore) • The ECB’s Put – Explained By Draghi (CNBC) • Angola Joins Venezuela Among Biggest Losers Of Oil’s Tumble (CNBC) • China’s Developers Face More Price Pain (FT) • China Central Bank Governor Calls For Vigilance On Deflation (Reuters) • Greece Says Not Backing Down On Debt Relief Goal
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Gottscho-Schleisner Fulton Market pier, view to Manhattan over East River, NY 1934 Increasingly over the past year or so, when people ask me what I do, and that happens a lot on a trip like the one I’m currently on in the world of down under, I find myself not just stating the usual ‘I write about finance and energy’, but adding: ‘it seems to become more and more about geopolitics too’. And it’s by no means just me: a
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Unknown Butler’s dredge-boat, sunk by Confederate shell, James River, VA 1864 • QE Will Permanently Impair Living Standards For Generations To Come (Guggenheim) • Fed Chases Equilibrium Phantom, Has Not Learnt From The Crisis (Steve Keen) • Fears Of A New Global Crash As Debts And Dollar’s Value Rise (Guardian) • Investors Flee Market At Crisis-Level Pace (CNBC) • China Banks on Sharing Wealth to Shape New Asian Order (WSJ) • China Wants To Compel US To Engage It As
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Lewis Wickes Hine Child labor at Gorenflo Canning Co., Biloxi, Mississippi 1911 • Yellen Sees Gradual Pace of Rate Increases Starting This Year (Bloomberg) • Housing Contribution To US GDP Lowest In Post-War Era (Zero Hedge) • The Bottom’s Not In – This Market Is Dumber Than A Mule (David Stockman) • Greek Crisis Nears A Turning Point (MarketWatch) • Austerity Is Greece’s Only Hope (Hans-Werner Sinn) • Varoufakis Denies Resignation, Greeks Accused Of “Gambling” Away Trust (Teleg.) • Alternate
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Wyland Stanley Pedestrians ascending steep grade, San Francisco 1935 Speculation and expert comments are thrown around once more – or still – like candy on Halloween. Let me therefore retrace what I’ve said before. Because I think it’s really awfully simple, once you got the underlying factors in place. But first, if one thing has become obvious after Syriza was elected to form a Greek government on January 25, it’s that the party is not ‘radical’ or ‘extremist’. Those monikers
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