Thursday The markets are manifesting an exuberant and giddy blend of hope and fear. The primary cause is the seemingly bottomless credit being pumped into the system. Crypto Mania (CryMan) will end up more famous than Tulip Bulb Mania as an example of group nuttiness. The problem is that either the credit will stop, or that the credit will become greatly … [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...]
A Fair Day’s Work for a Fair Day’s Pay
Friday Society is undergoing a radical transformation that is more profound than the Industrial and Computer Revolutions. These created not only vast amounts of new wealth, but also vast amounts of new jobs. Many of the benefits of those revolutions are still with us, but the jobs have gone; not just new jobs, but a lot of old jobs. Governments in the western world … [Read more...]
The Older you are, the Harder It Gets
Monday Mrs Potter’s prognosis of her problem is correct, but she fails to spot the real cause. It has nothing to do with wanting “young, pretty ones”. Hospitality wages around Australia have priced out any floor staff over the age of around the mid-thirties. Wages have been legislated higher and higher and have accordingly pushed up the necessary level of staff … [Read more...]
The Economy is an Illusion
Wednesday I began my first business aged fourteen, fifty-seven years ago. I’ve seen the ups and downs of the business cycles brought about by our debt-based ‘money’. I survived the recession of 1982 better than most. Prior to right now, that is the worst that I have experienced. Now we have gone beyond the point of recession into the beginnings of a depression. Why … [Read more...]