Friday 29th of March 2024

the way the economy works...

riches

The central, befuddling economic reality of the United States at the close of 2020 is that everything is terrible in the world, while everything is wonderful in the financial markets.


It’s a macabre spectacle. Asset prices keep reaching new, extraordinary highs, when around 3,000 people a day are dying of coronavirus and 800,000 people a week are filing new unemployment claims. Even an enthusiast of modern capitalism might wonder if something is deeply broken in how the economy works.

To better understand this strange mix of buoyant markets and economic despair, it’s worth turning to the data. As it happens, the numbers offer a coherent narrative about how the United States arrived at this point — one with lessons about how policy, markets and the economy intersect — and reveal the sharp disparity between the pandemic year’s haves and have-nots.

 

Read more:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/upshot/why-markets-boomed-2020.html

higher and higher...

2020′s ‘unprecedented’ market moves

Equities fell sharply in February and March as the Covid-19 pandemic spread outside of China and forced countries into lockdowns that grinded economic activity to a halt. The S&P 500 suffered its most rapid 30% drawdown on record.

But after bottoming out in late March, and amid massive action by the Federal Reserve to shore up the credit markets, stocks rebounded dramatically and have ripped off a series of record highs before the end of year. The latest moves into record territory came amid the rollout of several Covid-19 vaccines and a new economic relief package from Congress.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 43.6% this year, posting its best one-year performance since 2009. The S&P 500 closed 2020 with a 16.3% gain. The Dow rose 7.3% in 2020.

“To use an overused word, this has been unprecedented,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. “We’ve never had to deal with anything like this.”

 

Read more:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/30/stock-market-futures-open-to-close-

the great enema...

 

By Graham Dockery, RT

With vaccine rollouts underway, humanity looks set to win the fight against the coronavirus. But some elites planning a post-coronavirus ‘Great Reset’ don’t want to go back to normal. Here’s what they have planned instead.

As lockdowns and mask mandates became a part of daily life over the last year, politicians the world over asked their citizenry to accept “The New Normal.” The phrase became ubiquitous, but as vaccines inched closer to deployment, that phrase was replaced with a new one, “The Great Reset,” used to describe the monumental changes to human society needed in a post-coronavirus world.

Unveiled in May by Britain’s Prince Charles and the World Economic Forum’s Klaus Schwab, the ‘Great Reset’ is an ambitious plan to create a more equal, cashless, integrated and sustainable global society. World leaders have seemingly signed up to the plan, with its catchphrase, “Build Back Better” featured prominently in incoming US President Joe Biden’s campaign messaging.

Overdue liberalization, or technocratic New World Order? Opinion on the plan is divided between those who think it’s the shot in the arm the world needs, and those who think it will make Cyberpunk 2077 look like a utopian dreamworld. Whatever your opinion, here’s a look at the ‘New Normal’ that awaits in 2021 and beyond.


Vaccine passports for everyone


Even the World Economic Forum (WEF) has acknowledged that issuing citizens with immunity passports, or certificates of vaccination, could prove “controversial.” That hasn't stopped governments toying with the idea though. Britain is “exploring” the idea of creating a digital “freedom passport” database that would only grant access to public places to people who can prove a negative Covid test, while Ireland and Israel have discussed banning the unvaccinated from certain spaces. France may ban the unvaccinated from public transport.

 

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/510860-great-reset-future-society-predictions/

 

 

Gus

 

We've studied this great enema already... As explained in the future never goes according to plan, things can go arse up even with the best of intention. When democracy returns to feudalism, there're always some would-be kings to unseat the top guys. Sociopathy will be rampant (as if it was not at the top already). And like in the 1960s, some people will create alternative societies, like hippies. Some call themselves prepers and have more guns than the local police.

 

Mind you, China has been working on this reset project for years and we, in the West are catching up, while BLASTING THE CHINESE FOR BEING AUTHORITARIAN. Oh yes, but our great reset will be charitably paternalistic for our own good... What do you think the Chinese are doing? Idiots! Should you not understand the system, we'll send you to re-education camps or you may not get a good behaviour stamp of approval. Some Muslim countries are already there: believe or we chop your head off. 

 

For the Western public, the major issue is to avoid running out of toilet paper. 

 

 

 

see also: 

civilisation can only become fuzzier...

 

of over-population...

 

fleecing the rich to save the planet from insanity?...

 

in any democratic ideals, our decisions have to include nature...

 

sharing marbles: the game stops when the others don't have any...

 

when painting kings on horses, painters were not allowed to include horseshit...

 

the two ingredients of a generalised revolution?...it won't happen...

 

still looking to make the beast of democracy work…

 

doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one...

 

is this the end of an era of chaos? (in cartoons and subtext)...

 

the great reset...

 

the ten commandments...

 

trump versus the world: totalitarianism versus authoritarianism...

 

you have been philanthropied: bomb the russians and laud your overlords — the democratic pussy grabbers of social change...

 

fear versus radio caroline...

 

the new world order... who benefits?...

 

life was meant to be easy...

 

when the weather influenced the course of history...

 

 

 

how strange...

 

Elon Musk has become the world's richest person, as his net worth crossed $185bn (£136bn).

The Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur was pushed into the top slot after Tesla's share price increased on Thursday.

He takes the top spot from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who had held it since 2017.

Mr Musk's electric car company Tesla has surged in value this year, and hit a market value of $700bn (£516bn) for the first time on Wednesday.

That makes the car company worth more than Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, GM and Ford combined.

Mr Musk reacted to the news in signature style, replying to a Twitter user sharing the news with the remark "how strange".

 

 

Read more:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55578403

 

 

Read from top.

not sleeping in the same bed...

The world’s wealthiest men Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are embroiled in a battle in front of US regulators over rival satellite internet projects. On Tuesday SpaceX CEO Musk accused Bezos’ Amazon of trying to “hamstring” his system.

The conflict focuses on SpaceX’s efforts to convince the US Federal Communications Commission that it should be allowed to station its Starlink satellites closer to Earth than originally planned. Amazon is among the companies attempting to block the move, saying it would interfere with other satellites.

SpaceX gave the objections short shrift, accusing Amazon of making misleading claims and saying its Project Kuiper network represents “still nascent plans.”

Musk himself waded into the row on Tuesday, taking to Twitter to reiterate that his company is much further down the road in the race to develop the technology. “It does not serve the public to hamstring Starlink today for an Amazon satellite system that is at best several years away from operation,” he said.

 

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/513697-musk-blast-bezos-satellite-internet/