Expanding the Legacy
Paranoid and Haunted, President Putin Sees Nazis Everywhere
In President Vladimir Putin’s book everybody not excitedly cheering his ‘special military operation’ to liberate Ukraine is a Nazi. If the Russian press is to be believed, the worse of the lot are to be found in Finland and Sweden as those countries mull joining NATO – the new disguise of the Axis Powers. That blonde on platform shoes from Abba? A dancing Nazi. King Carl Gustav XVI? A royal Nazi. Prime Minister Sanna Marin of Finland? A closet Nazi. Her counterpart in Sweden Magdalena Andersson? A wannabe Nazi. The European Union? A conference of Nazis; and, of course, a thoroughly evil collective supporting its Ukrainian co-conspirator and Über Nazi Volodymyr Zelensky.
Investors Head for the Hills to Find a Valley of Tears
In a bear market, nobody can hear you scream. Equity markets are suffering a crash by stealth with reality nibbling away at asset values. Not long after he slipped into his job, Ben Bernanke, the two-term 14th chair of the US Federal Reserve (2006-2014), called quantitative easing – still a novelty in 2008 – a “great experiment that must be tried.” In the years that followed, the Fed duly flooded the market with an estimated $9 trillion.
Seesawing Stock Markets Rattle Investors
And just like that… the party was over. Wednesday’s stock market rally, sparked by the dovish comments of US Federal Reserve Chairperson Jay Powell, not only fizzled out but reversed with Nasdaq suffering its biggest drop since June 2020.
US Federal Reserve Moves with Cautious Resolve
Markets may have disliked what Jay Powell had to say before; however, what he does now proves a bullseye hit – pardon the pun. The US Federal Reserve surprised no one when, at the end of a two-day policy meeting, its Open Market Committee yesterday unveiled a 0.5 percentage point rise in the federal fund rate. It was the first such robust hike in 22 years and the first back-to-back rate rise increase 2006. Usually, the central bank moves in 25 basis point increments.
Warren Buffett Casts a Vote of Confidence in US Stock Market
A perennial favourite of investors, the snow clone ‘What Would Warren Do?’, has an answer. Warren buys oil and other blue chips that show exceptional generosity towards shareholders. Over the first quarter, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway ploughed some $41 billion of its $147 billiion cash pile, mostly insurance float, into the stock market.
President Putin Turns the Screw
This is perhaps not the time to tell the Germans ‘told you so’ as the nation deals with the fallout of the now disproved premises of its unfortunate energy policy. Not only has Germany’s dependency on Russian natural gas turned out to be a geopolitical miscalculation of almost epic proportions, its much touted and hastily executed ‘Energiewende’ compounds the present-day challenges to the point of intractability.
Emmanuel Macron: Visions of Strategic Autonomy
This Sunday, most French voters held their nose as they granted President Emmanuel Macron a second term in office. Faced with an impossible conundrum – how to spark change without upsetting the apple cart – France reluctantly concluded that President Macron represented the lesser of two perceived evils.
Searching in Vain for a Dollar Alternative
The seizure of Russia’s dollar reserves, part of the first wave of sanctions decreed in response to Moscow’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, has a growing legion of pundits wondering if the time has come to look for a new global reserve currency. Some of the more outrageous suggestions suggest a fresh look at China’s renminbi and a renewed appreciation of bitcoin.
Exposing the Wage-Price Spiral Myth
Inflation equates thievery. It erodes the purchasing power of salaries and steals from creditors. Worse, most economists now issue dire warnings about the evils of a ‘wage-price spiral’ which is said to fuel inflation because workers demand compensation for the increased cost of living – essentially seeking to preserve the spending power of their income.
EU Battles String of Calamities
It’s about the only thing missing from a world in turmoil: France going haywire and off the rails. The solid showing of Marine Le Pen at last Sunday’s polls gives plenty of cause for concern. More moderate in her policy proposals and promises than five years ago, Ms Le Pen may no longer seek to extract her country from the European Union Now, she merely aims to undermine it.
