Sunday, September 10, 2017
Another Demographic D-Day is Coming for Japan / Economics / Japan Economy
D-Day.Demographic death day.
Maybe not as bloody as the battlefield in Normandy but equally as devastating in the long term.
And Japan is facing its second one.
Japan’s Baby Boom started to slow down in 1942 coming into World War II and peaked – forever – in 1949 after soldiers came home from war and made a lot of babies.
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Sunday, September 10, 2017
The Rules of Angel Investing From Someone Who’s Tried / InvestorEducation / Learning to Invest
Salesmen rarely make good managers or business owners. But that doesn’t stop them from trying.It used to be a hallmark of American business that successful salesmen were promoted. The logic is obvious. Whatever makes Joe or Amy great at selling the company wares should be emulated by others, thereby making the company more successful.
But selling and managing require very different skills, much like playing a sport and coaching are different.
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Sunday, September 10, 2017
Hurricane Trump Blowing the Debt Ceiling Roof Off / Interest-Rates / US Debt
Of all the absurd Washington pantomimes none has been as reliably entertaining and maddening as the annual debates to raise the debt ceiling. Although the outcome was always a foregone conclusion (the ceiling would be raised), the excitement came when fiscal conservatives bemoaned the perils of runaway debt and “attempted” to exact spending restrictions through threats “to shut down the government,” (which often led to news coverage of tourists being turned away from national parks.) On the other side of the aisle Democrats would rail that the ceiling must be raised “because America always pays her bills.” Lost was the irony that “paying” bills with borrowed money was fiscally responsible, and that raising the ceiling actually enabled America to continue to avoid paying its bills. After these amateur theatrics, the ceiling would be lifted and Washington would go on as if nothing happened. But at least the performance threw occasional light on the nation’s debt problems.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Major Gold Mining Stocks Breakouts / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2017
The gold stocks are off to the races again, with big gains mounting. They just staged major breakouts, shattering a vexing consolidation that had trapped them for an entire year. Such momentum early in gold’s strong season is a very-bullish portent. As higher prices improve both technicals and sentiment, buying begets more buying. With gold-stock prices still quite low in secular terms, their upside remains huge.
Gold stocks are a small contrarian sector without a wide following. So their latest surge has surprised many investors and speculators. But it shouldn’t have. In the markets knowledge is profits, so staying informed about gold stocks’ fundamentals, technicals, and sentiment is crucial. The traders who did their homework this summer and bought in low when few others were willing are now sitting on fat unrealized gains.
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Sunday, September 10, 2017
This Indicators' 30-Year Track Record is Flashing Red for Stocks - Video / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
This Indicators' 30-Year Track Record is Flashing Red for Stocks
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Sunday, September 10, 2017
Only Political Dividing Line Left, Roots Based Politics / Politics / US Politics
Because of the rise of Globalism in the late 20th century the U.S. and Western Europe have recently seen stirrings of nationalist awakenings. Terrorism, turmoil in the Middle East and waves of Muslim refugees have fueled the trend.
Wikipedia says this about Nationalism; “a nation should govern itself, free from unwanted outside interference, and is linked to the concept of self-determination. Nationalism is further oriented towards developing and maintaining a national identity based on shared characteristics such as culture, language, race, religion, political goals or a belief in a common ancestry. Nationalism therefore seeks to preserve the nation's culture. It often also involves a sense of pride in the nation's achievements, and is closely linked to the concept of patriotism.”
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Sunday, September 10, 2017
Are Millennials Better Investors Than Boomers and Gen-Xers? / Stock-Markets / Investing 2017
Shannara Johnson : Poor, spoiled, disadvantaged Millennials.
The myth of the underdog youngster has been going around in the media for years.
He’s the poor schmuck who at age 32 still hunkers down in Mom and Dad’s basement because his post-graduate education only fetches him a position as PhD burger flipper at the Scottish restaurant chain which shall not be named.
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Sunday, September 10, 2017
Custom Built Gaming PC - 2. Quality of Build, What to Check Inside / Personal_Finance / Technology
In part 2 of our buying a custom built gaming PC from an online builder such as OverClockers UK series, we open up the base unit to take a look at the installed components for what to check for in terms of the quality of build before plugging the PC in and booting it up for the first time, because during transit internal connectors can become loose, so it is always a good idea to check everything inside is secure and plugged as this video illustrates, before powering up the machine for the first time.
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Saturday, September 09, 2017
Debt Ceiling Capitulation Spells Trouble Ahead for the Dollar / Currencies / US Dollar
“Frustration” no longer adequately describes what reformers in Congress – along with millions of investors and taxpayers who voted for reform – are feeling. For many, hopelessness is beginning to set in on the prospects for tax, budgetary, and monetary reform following Wednesday’s GOP capitulation on the debt ceiling.
Democrats shamelessly exploited the Hurricane Harvey disaster to couple the $7.85 billion disaster aid package with demands on unrelated issues in the budget. Congress didn’t pay for the bill with offsetting spending cuts, as the Club for Growth and other fiscal conservatives had urged.
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Saturday, September 09, 2017
Deflation and the Markets; are deflationary forces here to stay / Economics / Deflation
Machines are worshipped because they are beautiful and valued because they confer power; they are hated because they are hideous and loathed because they impose slavery. Bertrand Russell
Manufacturing output continues to improve, even though the number of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. continues to decline and this trend will not stop. While some Jobs have gone overseas, the new trend suggests that automation has eliminated and will continue to eliminate a plethora of jobs. As this trend is in the early phase, the momentum will continue to build in the years to come.
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Saturday, September 09, 2017
Gold Has 2% Weekly Gain,18% Higher YTD – Trump’s Debt Ceiling Deal Hurts Dollar / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
– Gold hits $1,355/oz as USD at 32-month low -concerns about Trump, US economy
– Silver and platinum 2.3% and 1.2% higher in week; palladium 3% lower
– Euro Stoxx flat for week – S&P 500, Nikkei down 0.65% and 2.2%
– Geo-political concerns including North Korea, falling USD push gold 2.1% in week
– Gold prices reach $1,355 this morning following Mexico earthquake
– Safe haven demand sees gold over one year high, highest since August 2016
– Silver touches $18.24 – highest level since April 2017
– Goldman, BoAML and Deutsche Bank all warn re markets this week
Saturday, September 09, 2017
Will Gold Break Out of Sideway Trading? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
Since July 11, gold has been in a short-term upward trend. The yellow metal has gained more than 8 percent since then until the end of August, mainly thanks to the depreciation of the U.S. dollar, as one can see in the chart below.
Chart 1: Gold prices (yellow line, left axis, London P.M. fix) and the U.S. dollar index (red line, right axis, trade weighted index against major currencies).
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Saturday, September 09, 2017
12 Reasons Why I Started Investing in Uranium Stocks / Commodities / Uranium
In the 2001–2006 timeframe.. that was easily — and this is a poor pun — the most explosive bull market I have ever seen in my career. I remember there were 5 uranium juniors, 5 companies worldwide where the management teams had a deep enough memory to be able to spell uranium. And over the course of that bull market, the poorest performer of those 5 juniors ran 22:1. The best performer in that market, Paladin Uranium, ran from a bottom of 1 penny to a high of $10. The single oddest experience of my financial career. Rick Rule
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Saturday, September 09, 2017
Sheffield's Best Street Tree, Chelsea Road Elm Tree to be Felled / Local / Sheffield
The Labour run Sheffield city council has decided to fell Sheffield's best street tree, the Chelsea Road Elm that had been awarded England's second best tree of the year award by the Woodland Trust. This is despite repeated promises that it would not be felled, but with Amey's initial tree felling tranche of felling 6000 street trees nearing completion, so now those trees that previously had been deemed to have been saved are now set to be felled.
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Friday, September 08, 2017
Silver: The Red-Headed, Freckle-Faced Stepchild / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
Silver has lagged behind gold, says precious metals expert Michael Ballanger, who explains why he believes that is about to change.
In grade school, I had a classmate named Craig McVeigh who was easily one of the most maligned kids in the school because as a big lad standing a full hand width taller than anyone and weighing thirty pounds more than anyone, he was never allowed to play in any sports that involved physical contact. Craig was fair, with bright, curly red hair with freckles adorning most of his exposed skin. Most of all, this lumbering giant of a boy was decidedly unlucky. He couldn't catch a break with a butterfly net and a Geiger counter. In class, the kids would be stirring up trouble by firing spitballs at him and at after what felt like an eternity of pelting the poor guy, Craig would finally rear up with his lunch straw and begin to return fire at EXACTLY the precise second that the teacher took notice of the skullduggery and sure enough, Big Craig would be ordered to the corner of the room or out in the hall to await further punishment. On another occasion, a few years later in high school, we were engaged in underage beer drinking at the Claireville Dam and since our ride had left early, we loaded all of the empty bottles into Craig's old Ford pickup truck and then left to retrieve another load when we suddenly saw flashing lights and ran back to see Craig being carted off for carrying open alcohol in his vehicle. The fact that the poor slob was a non-drinker made it doubly bad but the fact remained that Craig McVeigh was one unlucky human being and one that resembled with great alacrity the current state of the silver market.
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Friday, September 08, 2017
The Stock Market, Mood Swings, and Your Investments - Video / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
Investor sentiment pursues the "hot opportunity." But history shows it's better to use sentiment as a contrary indicator.
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Friday, September 08, 2017
Object Lesson: War on Cash Backfires on India’s Economy / Politics / War on Cash
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a surprise attack on cash in late 2016. He gave Indians a few days to convert the two largest denomination bills then circulating to bank deposits, after which point any undeposited notes would become worthless. The move was intensely controversial. Transactions completed using cash represented the vast majority of economic activity in the country.
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Friday, September 08, 2017
If America exits the Paris Accord, climate risks will intensify for emerging Asia / Politics / Climate Change
Even before Irma and its successors, Typhoon Hato and Hurricane Harvey caused massive devastation from the US to Asia. If America will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, emerging Asia will pay the highest price.As I left Manila, tropical storm Isang passed the Batanes area in northern Philippines. When I flew to Guangzhou, the low-pressure area morphed into a tropical depression southeast to Taiwan and then into a typhoon in the South China Sea. On August 23, Hato’s eye was directly over Hong Kong as rapid intensification turned it into a category 3-equivalent typhoon. Days later, Hato had left behind 26 people killed, and damages amounting to $1.9 billion in mainland China.
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Friday, September 08, 2017
Copper, Oil, Gold and US Stocks: Markets Big Picture Status / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2017
Sometimes I like to trot these lumbering monthlies out so we can quiet everything down and see where various markets are slowly heading.
First of all, as I go down with my ‘strengthening US dollar’ ship*, I also mal-projected copper’s upside. I’d felt that $3/lb. would cap Doctor Copper because it is very clear lateral resistance at a handy 38% Fib retrace.**
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Friday, September 08, 2017
Gold Soars Above $1300 as Concerns Mount / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
By EWFHendra : Gold has tested $1300 level 3 times since April and it finally broke above the level on Monday and rose to the highest level this year. The trigger of the break seems to be the North Korea firing a ballistic missile over Japan, which boosts the safe haven demand. The yellow metal then extended the rally to 11 month high after North Korea nuke test. Gold’s strength, however, can not be attributed to just one event, but rather over a series of concerns which start to build a wall of worry among investors.
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