It used to be rare that regulators in Washington D.C., and money men on Wall St. would find common cause, but that has changed in an era when the government is so big, its subsidies alone drive the profits of many businesses. Big Wall St. firms like BlackRock have found a way to turn Washington into a profit machine. The Biden administration is loaded with former BlackRock employees. Do you think they left their high-paying jobs on Wall St. to do what's best for the farmers of Iowa or the fishermen of Maine? No, they came to Washington to grease the skids for policies that will make … [Read more...]
Post-Pandemic: Oil Demand Expected to Rise Quickly
With parts of the world reopening, oil demand is heating up, and as the pandemic subsides, the IEA expects rising demand will accelerate. The FT reports: Oil demand is expected to exceed pre-coronavirus levels by the end of 2022, the International Energy Agency said on Friday, with the body calling on world producers to “open the taps”. Consumption declined by a record 8.6m barrels a day last year as coronavirus raged around the world. It is expected to rebound by 5.4m b/d this year as vaccines are rolled out and countries open up again. In 2022, the IEA expects a further 3.1m b/d … [Read more...]
EGO: BlackRock CEO Goes Woke with Investor Money
You have read about Larry Fink using your money for everything but profit. His use of ESG investing, i.e. using investor funds like a piggy bank to push his environmental and social agenda, hurts Fink's trustworthiness. It's not about investors, it's about Fink's ego. At Real Clear Markets, Peter Flaherty has written a brutal takedown of Fink and his self-promotional behavior. He writes: Last week, Exxon Mobil, one of the world's largest publicly traded international oil and gas companies, lost a critical board fight with Engine No.1, a “woke” small investor group. The win was predictably … [Read more...]
SEC to Review Payment for Order Flow
In the FT, Philip Stafford reports on a review of a number of issues currently facing markets, including payment for order flow. He writes: The top US stock market regulator is looking to change the rules around share trading, including fees paid by large Wall Street groups to handle customers’ orders, after January’s explosion in “meme stocks” highlighted what he called “inefficiencies” in the market. Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said on Wednesday that he had asked the agency’s staff to make recommendations to amend a host of market structure rules — an … [Read more...]
An Economic Recovery Like No Other
The current economic recovery is like no other recovery on record. Economic activity is snapping back much faster than it ordinarily would. The reason for this is that the recession was also like no other. The severe economic contraction last Spring was man-made. There wasn’t an overheating of inflation or some other imbalance in the economy that acted as a catalyst for the downturn. Government edicts to shut down businesses and social distance caused the recession. It is no wonder then that only a few quarters into the recovery, businesses are being formed at the fastest pace on record … [Read more...]
You Invest, They Win: America’s Woke Money Men
While Joe Biden wants to raise your taxes, even when you're dead, the woke hedge fund and endowment managers are reaping the rewards of their special treatment. They're using your money for everything but what you need, profit. In a lengthy piece at The American Mind, J.D. Vance, (author of Hillbilly Elegy, and probable candidate for Senate in Ohio where he grew up and runs his business) explains how endowments and funds avoid taxes and use that subsidy as ammunition to attack America itself. He writes: Finally, the allocators of capital themselves are going woke. Across our country we have … [Read more...]
Biden Is Planning To Rob the Dead
Americans know that Joe Biden wants to raise their taxes, but they might not realize he'll be coming for their money even after they're dead. In The Wall Street Journal, Richard Rubin and Rachel Louise Ensign outline Biden's plan, writing: President Biden has proposed raising the top capital-gains tax rate to 43.4% from 23.8% and taxing appreciated assets at death as if they had been sold. Under current law, appreciated assets held until death escape the income tax. Heirs pay capital-gains taxes only when they sell and only on gains since the prior owner’s death. Tax lawyers are looking … [Read more...]
Former Head of Fed Market Analysis: High Inflation Will Cause Problems
The former head of monetary and financial market analysis at the Fed, Brian Sack, has warned that higher inflation will be a problem for the Central Bank. Bloomberg reports: The economist who helped change the way the Federal Reserve assesses long-run inflation expectations says their current level means the central bank needs to start laying the groundwork for shrinking its massive bond-buying program. As head of monetary and financial market analysis at the Fed Board of Governors almost two decades ago, Brian Sack and his colleagues championed the use of a forward measure of inflation … [Read more...]
If This Man Thinks Inflation is Back, Worry
You have been telling me about the inflation you're seeing in your life. It's not good. Inflation can throw all the calculations of a well-planned retirement into chaos. Even people who are still working need to readjust in the face of higher prices. When those old dollars you saved after working hard aren't worth as much as you'd thought they'd be, life gets trickier. Now, Roger Bootle, the man who officially declared inflation dead in a 1996 book title The Death of Inflation: Surviving and Thriving in the Zero Era (no relation to my monthly Survive & Thrive newsletter, which you can … [Read more...]
California Losing Most Residents to Texas and Arizona
New data from the IRS adds some detail to what America already knew from the Census--people don't want to live in California anymore. On net, California lost more taxpayers and dependents than any other state between 2018 and 2019. Eight million people left the state during that time, with 165,355 fewer moving in, making for the state's largest loss. Those numbers don't even include the mass exodus caused by COVID-19. Texas and Arizona were the most popular destinations for California refugees. Cole Lauterbach reports for Just the News: Texas was the primary destination for California … [Read more...]
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