The Neo-Luddites among us

Andrew Moran recently published a good summary of the benefits of automation for the workforce of the past, present, and future. I think most people know these facts intuitively, but there is always a lot of noise and distraction coming from special interest groups who hope you won't notice recognize the truths of economic reality.

The US government has us ever leaning towards socialism with whatever bits and pieces of disconnected truthiness they can gather into a narrative basket. For example, they state how hard it is for a family to live on less than $15/hour, without disclosing that it is precisely their actions that make this impossible in the first place. Years of dollar devaluation have led to dollars being worth pennies. This is the problem that they say they are trying to fix by reducing the value of the dollars you already make even further.

Automation has always been a way to increase productivity, and is naturally a deflationary phenomenon. If you can make 11 widgets for a dollar, when you could only make ten before, you've just increased the value of your dollar. This is the unyielding promise of automation.

Our government and their cronies deploy policies that counteract this natural process. I was stunned when a few years back, the Federal Reserve (a government sponsored enterprise) stated outright that they want to eliminate 2% of each of your dollars' value, on average, every year. This is what they mean when they say they want to target 2% inflation. They are now achieving exactly that with the latest results on inflation. In doing so they limit the ability of people to provide for their families at a lower wage rate.

The surprising thing is this is an overt collusion between government and the banks to induce an extra 2% (or more) tax on everything you buy. Automation, which until now was the one thing you could rely on as a way to improve your life, may not be enough. And that's growing insurance that  the Luddites will soonget another shot at manipulating their victims.

Listing Agent

This morning while I was extracting some bits from the interweb, I came upon a click-bait site, sponsored by KBB  , No, don't click it. It's an inconsequential site that forces you to look through 11 pages to get to the end and find out which is the "best" luxury car under $35,000. You see a lot of sites like this, from "The ten things you should never tell your wife" Or "You won't believe these compromised celebrity pix, especially # 345".

I get it. Really I do.Content writers get paid by the click, so sites will try to raise up their click counts in order to make their money. Usually it takes one or two clicks before you know you've been had.

I wanted to believe. I wanted to believe that Kelley Blue Book, a respected reference resource at one time, would take the high road and give you a straight up article delineating 10 cars worthy of your consideration. But no, this was a waste of time. I figure others, like me would be eager to see if the list held any secrets to reveal from the automotive market. We're all within a few short years of needing another car, and this kind of information might be good for future reference.

Unfortunately, KBB wants you to labor through all eleven slow loading and advertising infested pages. I was one of the unfortunate many who waded through every slide. However, when I saw it was a click bait trap, I decided to make the best of it. I pirated the list.

So, as a public service, I present to you, totally click and ad free, Kelley Blue Books' idea of the 10 best luxury cars under $35,000. Remember, power windows may not be included. Notice that almost half of the vehicles aren't even actually cars, so it's not an honest list. It is however, free; and hey, it's not even my list, so cut me a break.

Without further ado, I present KBBs 10 best luxury cars under $35,000.

10. 2018 Acura TLX
9. 2018 Buick Regal Sportback
8. 2018 Audi Q3
7. 2018 Mercedes CLA
6. 2018 Acura RDX
5. 2018 Mercedes GLA
4. 2018 Cadillac ATS
3. 2018 Audi A3
2. 2018 Lexus NX
1. 2018 Infiniti Q50

Aren't you glad you saved the 11 clicks and minutes of suspense?

Getting Education

Teachers are running protests in Arizona and Colorado, following similar activities in Oklahoma and Kentucky. I think it's time we faced the obvious truth: This isn't working for anybody is it? The kids aren't really getting an education. The teachers aren't really doing what they are there to do.

It's time to send the kids home. Send them home, and have their parents deal with them. Let real solutions emerge from the predicament.

The parents who treat schools as glorified day care, can find better day care, closer to home, and more personalized, at that. The ones who really did want their kids to get an education, well, there's plenty of unemployed teachers, now. Some of them might be good enough to teach, and now only have to deal with students who are properly engaged in the task.

It's time to re-roll education and how it is done.

Exodus

They say The Donald can't take a joke, since he skipped out of the White House Correspondent's Dinner, a charity event. Well, apparently, there weren't any jokes; just some tired lefty whining points. Everybody has lost their flipping sense of humor.

They've also lost their grip on reality. Honestly, I can't see how anyone could conclude that voting for a democrat is an improvement. I think political discourse has devolved to the point where we just need to all go our separate ways. Another point for broad secession.

I see where a Grand Exodus from the Blue States will commence as a result of the crazy new tax laws. Nothing against people leaving California, Illinois, and New York for Nevada, Texas, and Florida. It will spark some long needed changes to tax policies in those states. One thing to keep in mind, though: It would have only taken 800 more progressives moving to Florida to put an Al Gore into the oval office. If we think things are bad now, what happens when Florida, Nevada, and New Mexico turn back to the dark side.

Candace for President

If this is "Far right", then bring on much more of it.

Jim Kunstler has a good take the "Victim Cartel" machine called the Democratic Party, and where they may be headed now.

Weekend Update

It's been a while. So how is everybody? I've been remiss in my duties of keeping my loyal readers informed on socio-economics, politics, and other lurking dangers. So, I thought maybe I'd cover ten topics briefly, which should tide us over until the new year, or perhaps even until the next crisis.

1. Net neutrality 

I don't even know why I lead with this one, it's such a non-event. Maybe to get me warmed up. Net Neutrality was cooked up by prior-administration n'er-do-wells, as a way to put government bureaucrats squarely in the middle of all internet transactions. It's a recipe for government control of the means of communication. It had nothing to do with neutrality. Neutrality is just a nice word they tacked on to make people think it was worth doing.

Like most of the Obama Administration Overreach, it was mowed down by a refreshing regulatory rollback courtesy of Donald J. Trump. Things like this make me optimistic.

2.  Bitcoin

So, what is it worth?

I see it as largely a play on transactional efficiency. Right now, Visa and Mastercard get what, 3%? If bitcoin owners can loan out their bitcoins to facilitate the cost of transactions, they can make a return on their investment. That is, if they can figure out how to monetize their asset. Let's say that they do find a way to monetize by charging transaction fees of 1%.

I've noted that there's about $2B/ day in bitcoin transactions. Maybe that goes up. Probably does. But at the current rate, a 1% monetization yields about 2-1/2% per year on all the outstanding bitcoins.. Not bad, but not killing it.

They have to figure out some way to monetize it, and I don't see how it does better than Visa/Mastercard in the near term. So, is it worth $20K/coin? 

Maybe, if you like <5 1="" and="" can="" doesn="" down.="" figure="" font="" government="" how="" if="" it="" joe="" nbsp="" out="" per="" price.="" rent="" returns.="" shut="" sixpackcoin="" t="" the="" they="" to="" transaction.="" undercut="" yield="">

Yeah, I don't see $20K of value there, even if you ignore the risks.

3.  Harassment 

Blowback is a bitch. The people who point the fingers call the kettles black, etc. Had to laugh at Al Franken (for the first time in 20 years). He's been a sexist clown for hire through both of his careers, and it was time for him to go. Conyers should have been out in 1994, but, well, Detroit. 

Roy Moore wasn't my idea of a senator, but Doug Jones isn't exactly Everett Dirksen, either. Anybody care to tally whether more democrats than republicans are involved? That's one difference between the two parties, anyway.

4.  North Korea

See The Mouse That Roared

5. The GOP Tax Bill

Really, really bad tax policy for the economy. Adds 1.5 T to the already suffocating national debt. Steals another obscene sum of money from future generations. A blown opportunity to end tax subsidies for inflated real estate markets. Subsidizes high tax states. 

Overestimates economic growth (which can't be much greater than productivity growth (%) plus population growth (2%)). There is no 5% in the next year, much less the next ten years in a row.

6. The Fed

The Federal Reserve is an institution owned and run by the banks. It is run for the banks and for the people who profit the banks. It should be dissolved. If the doors were closed tomorrow, things would rapidly improve.

7.  Kneeling Football Players

Nobody cares. About them, their cause, or any other aspect of their individual lives. Real football fans aren't watching the sidelines. But there are fewer real football fans than ever before. That's the real problem.

America First

"If he was thinking he could scare us with the sound of a dog barking, that's really a dog dream" North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told reporters in New York adding that Trump’s warnings are just a nonsensical “dog dream."

You know I've been openly critical of Trump and his policies here. My fondest hope has been that he accidentally gets some things right.

I do acknowledge that when one of his policies both aligns with reality, and it moves us towards a better world, we should applaud it. He probably doesn't understand why it works, though .

America First seems to be one of those policies. I believe that a good government is a selfish one. I've never liked the idea of "president as leader of the free world". Screw that. We have enough trouble managing our own affairs. I totally endorse the idea that we shouldn't have to carry any water for Japan, Saudi Arabia, or East Timor. Trump's job is to preserve the interests of the USA. Period. The more these other countries do for themselves, the better for everyone. America First, if it really is policy, is good policy, because it puts our resources where they belong: in the defense of our best interest. Nothing more, nothing less.

What leads me to believe that the Donald does not really believe it himself, though, is this insane sabre rattling he is engaged in with  "Little Rocket Man". If he believes in America First, what good does it do to take pot shots at Pyongyang? That is, unless he happens to think that the interests of the USA are met by using up expensive ordinance, to the benefit of the military industrial complex.

America is not served when we spend blood and treasure for another country. We might loudly proclaim that it's better to fight in the Iraqi desert than in our own backyards. But it's impossible to justify fighting over a piece of Iraqi desert, if you stop to think about it.

Similarly, America First is not being served when we conduct trade wars. Sanctions, embargoes, tariffs, and restrictions hurt all of us, and our trading partners. Our only weapon is the dollar's status as the world's reserve currency, and the only two outcomes are higher prices and accelerating de-dollarization. The end result is less strength for America. We should be kicking down barriers to trade, not putting up new ones.

Finally, America is not served by building arbitrary walls either. Attracting new blood is our best hope of working through a demographic malaise the likes of which has already afflicted Japan and will slowly strangle us. No, we don't have to invite over thousands of new dependents, but we do have to put some real taxpayers back into the system, if for no other reason than to start covering LBJ's bad bets.

So, the Donald is still light years away from restoring a decent economy. What he proposes will have an opposite effect of what he promises. In that sense his results will be like that of most politicians. "If you like your doctor", for example, or "peace in our time". America First should be America First, and that means we should stop fighting other countries' wars, and figure out how to improve their lives (and ours); through free trade, and sensible immigration. 

What Actually Happened?

I'd like someone to write a book about how we all were once able to ignore misguided, petulant, dishonest, obnoxious, and noisy people; and now all of a sudden we have to pick one of them to be president? What happened, indeed?

Ask the Wizer, Summer edition

So a good friend asked why I had not been updating this blog recently. I replied that I had already closed the book on the Donald, that the national debt was still 20T and the stock market was in a bubble. What more was there to say?

His response: "What Bubble?". I now see that my work here is not yet done.

I recently spent some coin, sweat, and tears learning all about finance, including the workings of capital markets, and have formed some persistent opinions about asset values. Basically, this is an area I feel at least nominally qualified to comment on. I will spare the usual policy indictments and accusations of malfeasance at the Fed and at the treasury; to arrive at a reasonable estimate of what the market is worth, just as sort of a reality check.

First, most of the known methods of calculating the objective worth of the market try to determine the relationship between Asset prices and Gross Domestic Product. Below is one such chart. Yes, it is possible to "game" a chart like this, but I wanted to get it out there just to get your attention. When the market is high relative to GDP, then it becomes harder to see where the growth is going to come from.






This next chart shows the relationship between Fed money printing and the stock market. The recent news is that the Fed is going to start retiring the bonds created with this money, so the balance sheet reduction will likely have a negative effect on the stock market.



For exhibit "C", I'd like to point out the CAPE market indicator, which prices a stock based on ten years worth of earnings, Has now blown past 30. This means, among other things, that it will take over 30 years to return your money and that likely earnings going forward are at best in the 2 to 2-1/4% range. That is, unless you see the market decline to more normal ratios. Then you might see some growth....after losing 40% of your principal.

The thesis for continued upward trajectory of the S&P from here is that historic growth and productivity improvements will continue into the future. The trends that make that a troublesome expectation are:

1.  Higher interest rates, stemming from the return of bonds to the market.
2.  Higher interest rates, stemming from the FOMC target rate increases.
3.  Reduction in spending by the unemployed, the retired, and the dislocated.
4.  Earnings shortfalls in a growing number of industries.
5. Government spending shortfalls due to rising interest on the 20 Trillion debt.

In addition, the speculative jump in stock prices will reverse when it becomes apparent that the Trump repatriation of overseas funds, the tax reform, and the Obamacare spending reductions are not going to happen.

Want some more charts?

Here's one of my favorites. While there might be 2% to be had in the market today, there might not be 2% available over the next 12 years. Unless you're talking about -2%



Finally, every good bubble needs a pin to pop it. I nominate thois one:

For more info on that, look up the subprime auto loan market.

A great many indicators are flashing red today, and this is the high priced market even Warren Buffet wouldn't want to buy into. The risk of a serious drop in the S&P should be viewed as extremely likely.

I call that a bubble.

The Trump Era, already bookended

I'm no fan of The Donald. I'm often accused of that crime, because I freely show that I'm also no fan of the rest of the plunder class, either, which includes all but a handful of congress.

In February 2016 , well before the primaries ramped up, I posted this:

It's not supposed to be this important a job anyway. I bet if Trump would simply read the job description, he would immediately withdraw.

So now comes news that he finds the job "hard" The job is hard, but they make it harder by trying to "run things" Of course it's hard, Donald. You are making it hard. Stop it!

The federal government in this country has a very simple job. Oversee essential services, protect our borders, negotiate foreign treaties, and ....that's it. Everything else is supposed to run itself. Easy, right? The gig is limited in scope, and yes, he should be able to do it and his regular job at the same time.

Instead, Trump thinks he's in charge of health care all of a sudden. How did he make that leap of logic? The dope who held the office before him let them put his name on it. Not his only mistake, but a big one. Trump should not claim ownership of every piece of garbage bill this congress spits out; it's only going to define him badly. But maybe it's too late to change anything. Seriously. 100 and what, 10 days in, I can put a wrapper on this presidency:

In March 2016, I summarized the Trump proposition this way.

From appearances, here is a guy who transcends ideology, will address the festering issues of the economy, play tough guy with our enemies, and finally shake up the status quo in Washington. 

Instead, what we will get is a guy who has no ideology because he has no principles, has not a single idea of what it takes to fix an economy, totally misunderstands the aims of a foreign policy, and is one of the main contributors to the problem of cronyist Washington.

I had it written over a year ago, when no one else was bothering to predict the results of a Trump presidency. The transformation is complete. Brandon Smith gives a few more insights into the flippage. All I know is it was clear to those of us paying attention. Of course, if the electorate had been paying attention, we would have been out of this mess a hundred years ago. It makes the previous 100 days seem inconsequential.

Anyway, as I did with Obama's presidency, I'm calling it early. There's nothing more to say about the Trump administration (and while I'm calling things, I am predicting that he will not run for a second term. Then we can get on with the peoples' business of making America "Great" again.