Category Archives: Investment outlook

Why the Middle Class Benefits from Inflation

Why you should be glad and learn to love inflation.

Odds of US Bank Failures Rise with Office Space Loan Losses, Fed Interest Rate Mismanagement

US bank pain: Loans for urban office buildings come a cropper as they were already suffering other interest rate losses.

Huge Capital Investment Required for U.S. Electric Industry’s Decarbonization

Electric utilities face massive costs to end their use of fossil fuels in power generation. What does that mean for consumers and the public?

Self-Driving Cars Hit the Wall

Self-driving cars have suddenly gone from being depicted as inevitable to likely never happening at scale. Why?

30-Year Treasury Yield Spikes Past 5%, 30-Year Mortgage Rates Hit 8%, Mortgage Applications Plunge

Treasury bond bloodbath, housing Market in deep-freeze, as delusions fade.

Happy Talk About US Slowdown a Recession Warning as China Growth Also Weakening

Recession complacency means things are wobblier than they seem.

$100 Oil Is Bad For The Economy (And For OPEC+)

$100 a barrel oil does not bode well for the economy in the US and even more so around the world. What might the political fallout be?

CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Nicole Musicco Resigns Abruptly, Intensifying CalPERS’ Senior Staffing Instability

CalPERS lurches into a new crisis. The official story of the sudden resignation of CIO Nicole Musicco does not add up. What gives?

How Shareholder Value Fixation Turns AI and Robotics into a Recipe for Failure

New technologies are not the problem. It’s a system distorted by a flawed shareholder value ideology.

My Favorite Recession Indicator: The Next Recession Moves Further Out of Sight

There will be a recession, there’s always a recession eventually. But we’ll just have to keep watching for it.

“Core Services” Inflation Jumps to 2nd Worst Since 1985, “Non-Housing Services” Are Red Hot. Fed’s Job Far from Done

Inflation in the US is still defying the Fed, confirming that the blunt instrument of interest rate increases is not the right tool.

The Scourge of Corporate Financialization: Income Inequity, Employment Instability, Productive Fragility

Stock buybacks, aka corporate financialization, as a mode of predatory value extraction

China Schizophrenia: Jake Sullivan Makes Demands, Press Fulminates Its Ambitions as While Overhyping Current Economic Wobbles

The West’s discomfort over China’s influence and economic stature is sometimes a bit too obvious.

Fed Ponders How Quickly to Try to Inflict More Pain on the Economy to Get Inflation to 2%

Debates inside and outside the Fed as to what it should do next about inflation pick up as its annual Jackson Hole conference approaches.