Why You Should Subscribe To The GEI Newsletter

Written by Econintersect

Every day just after 6 pm New York time, Global Economic Intersection (GEI) members receive a free newsletter containing lede’s (opening paragraphs) of each article posted over the last 24 hours. along with each article’s caption graphic. In just a few minutes members can get caught up on anything of interest to them that has been published on the site. Becoming a member is very easy – the no-cost one-step process will be described shortly. But first keep reading for an even more important reason you should subscribe.

Please share this article – Go to very top of page, right hand side, for social media buttons.

Subscribers also get exclusive access to a 3-day a week column – “What We Read Today”. The column for Wednesday 25 April is reprinted below so you can see the eclectic variety of interesting topics presented and briefly discussed in a typical post.

To subscribe: BECOME A GEI MEMBER – IT’s FREE!

Here is the content of ‘What We Read Today 25 April 2018:

Topics today include:​

• No Joke: Uranus Smells Terrible, Study Says
• No Way Out? Aliens on ‘Super-Earth’ Planets May Be Trapped by Gravity
• 10 Exoplanets That Could Host Alien Life
• Home Sales Overcome Inventory, Price Woes
• March 2018 Headline Existing Home Growth Improved – NOT
• The loanable funds fallacy
• Palantir Knows Everything About You
• Amazing Video from the Surface of a Comet
• Outlook for Bitcoin
• Conservative justices signal willingness to uphold travel ban
• Energy Costs Drive Inflation
• The Call for Criminal Prosecution of Clinton, Comey: Will Media Suppress This Major News?
• Sean Hannity’s real estate venture linked to fraudulent property dealer
• Markets May Trade Sideways Until The Election
• Wage Inflation in the Pipeline
• The late cycle rate hike regime
• Europe and Wars Since World War II
• EU reveals plans to carry out pre-travel checks and €7 charge on UK travellers after Brexit
• ‘Beyond belief’: Brexit app for EU nationals won’t work on iPhones
• A Shocking Lack of Intelligence in Our Missile Strike on Syria
• Why Are Some on the Left Falling for Fake News on Syria?
• Russia Hints at Pause on Rates as Sanctions Throw Off Easing
• India’s Currency shortage spreads to more states, bankers suspect hoarding of Rs 2,000-notes
• 15 theories about why India is facing a cash crunch a year and a half after demonetisation
• North Korea nuclear test site partially collapsed after massive blast: Chinese experts
• And More

Articles about events, conflicts and disease around the world

Global

• Outlook for Bitcoin (TopDown Charts) Speaking of investor perceptions, or more specifically on the issue of sentiment, the chart below shows a composite of Google trends ratings for various search terms (such as “invest in Bitcoin”, bitcoin mining, buy bitcoin, etc). There has been a sharp drop-off in interest, for perhaps obvious reasons.

U.S.

• Conservative justices signal willingness to uphold travel ban (The Hill) Conservative members of the Supreme Court appeared to signal Wednesday that they are inclined to uphold President Trump’s third travel ban, setting the stage for what could be a major victory for the administration. Hearing oral arguments in the blockbuster case, the court grappled with whether Trump has the legislative and constitutional powers to ban travelers from certain countries.
• Energy Costs Drive Inflation (The Daily Shot) Oil prices have been driving inflation expectations higher.

• The Call for Criminal Prosecution of Clinton, Comey: Will Media Suppress This Major News? (TruthDig) Wednesday’s criminal referral by 11 House Republicans of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as several former and serving top FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) officials is a giant step toward a Constitutional crisis. Named in the referral to the DOJ for possible violations of federal law are: Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey; former Attorney General Loretta Lynch; former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe; FBI Agent Peter Strzok; FBI Counsel Lisa Page; and those DOJ and FBI personnel “connected to” work on the “Steele Dossier,” including former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente.

With no attention from corporate media, the referral was sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah John Huber. Sessions appointed Huber months ago to assist DOJ Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz. By most accounts, Horowitz is doing a thoroughly professional job. As IG, however, Horowitz lacks the authority to prosecute; he needs a U.S. Attorney for that. And this has to be disturbing to the alleged perps.

• Sean Hannity’s real estate venture linked to fraudulent property dealer (The Guardian) Sean Hannity’s real estate venture bought houses through a property dealer who was involved in a criminal conspiracy to fraudulently obtain foreclosed homes, according to records reviewed by The Guardian.
• Markets May Trade Sideways Until The Election (The Daily Shot) The US market typically trades sideways ahead of mid-term elections.

• Wage Inflation in the Pipeline (The Daily Shot) The spread between Conference Board’s “Jobs Plentiful” and “Jobs Hard to Get” indices points to a faster wage growth ahead.

• The late cycle rate hike regime (Credit Writedowns) Just last week, Fed officials were defending their policy stance given a renewed flattening in the yield curve. The fear was that the economy was rolling over and that the Fed’s stance would exacerbate the problem. The Fed said flattening was typical of rate hike regimes and was no cause for concern.

And, indeed, the 1990s was just as flat for the entire late 90s bull market. I said the Fed and other central banks would look past recent economic slowing and continue to raise rates.But as this week began, all of that was out the window. Interest rates have skyrocketed, climbing even more on the long end of the curve than the short end. And yesterday equities sold off hard. While this may seem like a case of market whiplash, it’s not. It’s what should be expected in a late cycle rate hike regime.

EU

• Europe and Wars Since World War II (The Daily Shot)

UK

• EU reveals plans to carry out pre-travel checks and €7 charge on UK travellers after Brexit (City A.M.) British travellers to the EU could be subject to pre-travel authorisation costing €7 each time, according to a new agreement reached in Brussels today.
• ‘Beyond belief’: Brexit app for EU nationals won’t work on iPhones (The Guardian) A mobile phone app for EU nationals seeking to stay in the UK after Brexit – claimed to be as user-friendly as “an online account at LK Bennett” – will not work on iPhones, Home Office officials have admitted.

After arriving late for a meeting in Brussels to reassure MEPs of the efficiency of the British government, officials from Amber Rudd’s department conceded that a key function on the app would not work on the phone brand used by more than half of the adult population in the UK.

Catherine Bearder, a Liberal Democrat MEP who attended the meeting, said one Home Office official had suggested applicants could “borrow someone else’s” phone to complete the registration. “It is beyond belief,” Bearder told reporters.

Syria

• A Shocking Lack of Intelligence in Our Missile Strike on Syria (TruthDig) Hat tip to Roger Erickson. See also next article. Reports of a chemical attack in Syria have generated controversy and conflicting claims about what happened and who was responsible. The April 7 event is still under investigation.

There is one major problem with the information provided by these briefings: It is exclusively drawn from assessments, not fact. When one examines the basis for these assessments, it becomes clear that there was a shocking lack of intelligence available to sustain the predicate used to justify the U.S.-led attack on Syria – that the Syrian government possessed, let alone used, chemical weapons in the city of Douma on April 7.

There is a dearth of information about the specific intelligence information used by the United States, France or the United Kingdom to back up their collective claim that Syria used chemical weapons against Douma on April 7.

• Why Are Some on the Left Falling for Fake News on Syria? (TruthDig) See also preceding article. Reports of a chemical attack in Syria have generated controversy and conflicting claims about what happened and who was responsible. The April 7 event is still under investigation.

There is a deepening rift within the American left over the war in Syria. It is unfortunate that this rift is eclipsing actual activism to stop the suffering of Syrians. But since apparent support for Bashar Assad and Vladimir Putin is so strong among some sectors of the left, it is worth tackling the debate if only to try to get past it and on to the more urgent job of shining a light on the plight of Syrians and considering nonmilitary alternatives to ending the complex war.

Russia

• Russia Hints at Pause on Rates as Sanctions Throw Off Easing(Bloomberg) Russia’s central bank is backing down from its guidance for faster cuts in interest rates this year after the latest round of U.S. sanctions jolted the ruble and threatened to touch off inflation.

India

• Currency shortage spreads to more states, bankers suspect hoarding of Rs 2,000-notes (The Times of India) Hat tip to Sanjeev Kulkarni. The shortage of currency reported in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh in the past few weeks has spread to a few more states, news agencies reported on Monday. The shortage is being felt despite currency in circulation crossing the pre-demonetisation level. Sanjeev comments that the replacement of the old smaller denominations of currency with new larger denominations has simply made monetary hoarding easier. Meanwhile ATMs are out of service because there is no money to put in them. See also next article.
• 15 theories about why India is facing a cash crunch a year and a half after demonetisation (Scroll.in) Hat tip to Sanjeev Kulkarni. From ATM logistics to deliberate lack of currency supply to Nirav Modi, there are many explanations for the shortage. In various statements, government officials have pointed the blame at an “unusual spurt” in currency demand, although they have yet to convincingly explain the reasons behind that spike and why it has come now.

North Korea

• North Korea nuclear test site partially collapsed after massive blast: Chinese experts (The Times of India) There may be a non-altruistic reason for Kim to declare a suspension of nuclear testing. Chinese seismologists have concluded that North Korea’s underground nuclear test site has partially collapsed following a massive bomb blast last year, making it unusable.

Other Scientific, Health, Political, Economics, and Business Items of Note – plus Miscellanea

• No Joke: Uranus Smells Terrible, Study Says (Live Science) Uranus smells like rotten eggs, and that is not a joke. A new study finds that the seventh planet from the sun has an upper atmosphere flush with hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide is a gas best known for its repulsive smell; the gas emanates from sewers and volcanoes on Earth, explaining why some hot springs, which are fed by geothermally heated water, smell like breakfast gone bad. Astronomers have now discovered that the gas is common in the cloud tops of Uranus. That hydrogen sulfide composition is different than what is found in the upper atmospheres of Uranus’ fellow giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, where ammonia dominates
• No Way Out? Aliens on ‘Super-Earth’ Planets May Be Trapped by Gravity(Space.com) See also 10 Exoplanets That Could Host Alien Life. “Super-Earth” planets are giant-size versions of Earth, and some research has suggested that they’re more likely to be habitable than Earth-size worlds. But a new study reveals how difficult it would be for any aliens on these exoplanets to explore space. To launch the equivalent of an Apollo moon mission, a rocket on a super-Earth would need to have a mass of about 440,000 tons (400,000 metric tons), due to fuel requirements, the study said. That’s on the order of the mass of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Study author Michael Hippke, an independent researcher affiliated with the Sonneberg Observatory in Germany said:

“On more-massive planets, spaceflight would be exponentially more expensive. Such civilizations would not have satellite TV, a moon mission or a Hubble Space Telescope.”

• Home Sales Overcome Inventory, Price Woes (Realtor Mag) Inventory shortages and pressing affordability issues didn’t suppress home sales activity in March. Total sales of existing homes, including single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and co-ops, increased 1.1% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.6 million, according to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). However, home sales are still 1.2% below a year ago. Steven Hanson doesn’t agree with the NAR headline. See March 2018 Headline Existing Home Growth Improved – NOT.

• The loanable funds fallacy (Lars P. Syll) Prof. Syll has a cogent review of the travesty hoisted on generations of economics student (and unfortunately still used by many professional economists and financial sector practitioners). An excerpt:

It is a beautiful fairy tale, but the problem is that banks are notbarter institutions that transfer pre-existing loanable funds from depositors to borrowers. Why? Because, in the real world, there simply are no pre-existing loanable funds. Banks create new funds – credit – only if someone has previously got into debt! Banks are monetary institutions, not barter vehicles.

In the traditional loanable funds theory – as presented in mainstream macroeconomics textbooks – the amount of loans and credit available for financing investment is constrained by how much saving is available. Saving is the supply of loanable funds, investment is the demand for loanable funds and assumed to be negatively related to the interest rate. Lowering households’ consumption means increasing savings via a lower interest.

That view has been shown to have very little to do with reality. It’s nothing but an otherworldly neoclassical fantasy.

• Palantir Knows Everything About You (Bloomberg) Founded in 2004 by Peter Thiel and some fellow PayPal alumni, Palantir cut its teeth working for the Pentagon and the CIA in Afghanistan and Iraq. The company’s engineers and products don’t do any spying themselves; they’re more like a spy’s brain, collecting and analyzing information that’s fed in from the hands, eyes, nose, and ears. The software combs through disparate data sources – financial documents, airline reservations, cellphone records, social media postings – and searches for connections that human analysts might miss. It then presents the linkages in colorful, easy-to-interpret graphics that look like spider webs. See graphic below for what a Palantir relationship diagram might look like for the company’s founder.

U.S. spies and special forces loved it immediately; they deployed Palantir to synthesize and sort the blizzard of battlefield intelligence. It helped planners avoid roadside bombs, track insurgents for assassination, even hunt down Osama bin Laden. The military success led to federal contracts on the civilian side. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services uses Palantir to detect Medicare fraud. The FBI uses it in criminal probes. The Department of Homeland Security deploys it to screen air travelers and keep tabs on immigrants.

Click for large image.

• The Truth Behind This Amazing Video from the Surface of a Comet (Live Science) Remember Rosetta? That comet-chasing European Space Agency (ESA) probe that deployed (and accidentally bounced) its lander Philae on the surface of Comet 67P? This GIF is made up of images Rosetta beamed back to Earth, which have been freely available online for a while. But it took Twitter user landru79 processing and assembling them into this short, looped clip to reveal the drama they contained. ​

As several astronomers and casual observers pointed out in the replies to landru79’s original tweet, the “snowstorm” depicted almost certainly isn’t a true snowfall of the sort experienced on Earth and other planets. Instead, there are likely two or three different phenomena creating the snowy effect.

Up close to the camera, dust particles backlit by the sun are likely moving around, mimicking the look of snow on Earth. Cosmic rays may also be creating snow-like artifacts on the images. And those dots in the background, that appear to be falling straight down and disappearing behind the cliff? Those appear to be stars, which look like they’re falling because the comet is rotating as it orbits the sun every 6.5 years.

The clip has also been sped up a great deal, enhancing the drama.