Saturday The disconnect between the real market, including amongst other things, the design, manufacture, marketing and exchange of goods and services, and the stock exchange, has never been greater. Were the ramifications not so disastrous, the divergent trajectories of the two would be amusing. The stock market continues to soar, because the Fed creates billions … [Read more...]
Regulation Strangulation 2
Tuesday The paradigm shift that is underway in western civilization is composed of minor trends. The distinguishing feature of all these trends is that they are negative. One of the trends is unemployment; it rises inexorably. The free market of yesteryear created businesses; those businesses supplied not only products, but also jobs. It takes a degree … [Read more...]
Early Retirement
Monday I see another report about a young couple that have surmounted the work trap and managed to retire by the age of forty. Well, actually, I didn’t read the article, but that is what I surmise from the headline. From the number of such headlines I would assume that it is an aspiration in the peculiar zeitgeist that passes as the modern world. Why would … [Read more...]
Between Scylla and Charybdis
Wednesday The situation of being between Scylla and Charybdis is a state that small business knows well. It is otherwise known as being between a rock and a hard place. The simple truth that ‘people build civilizations and governments destroy them’ seems terribly hard for people to grasp. Yet, it is profoundly obvious. It is private business that is the … [Read more...]
Australian Employment
Thursday I pulled this graph out of an article that expressed concerns about the downtrend in Australian jobs. The graph shows job ads and, understandably, it has proven a reliable indicator for future employment trends.The article didn’t mention the cause of the drop. The Liberal Party dropped a vote-winning Prime Minister in a palace coup and elevated a left-wing … [Read more...]