Hello world
I hope you're all enjoying the Daily Dose so far.
Just to let you know, tomorrow the first "Weekly Dose #001" wil be published !
The weekly editions will focus more on topical debates by diving into subjects with deeper detail, the title of tomorrow's post will be:
Capitalism: A broken system or a violated success?
I hope to see you there as well, Peace Out
""Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't" - Mark Twain
Moxie - force of character, determination or nerve.
Something seems about to break in the American markets...
Sure, yesterday’s US Labor Department jobs report painted a rosy picture: 200,000 jobs were created last month, unemployment is at 4.1% and, in the big surprise of the day, hourly earnings finally grew, by 2.9% over the prior January. While we’re on good news, the Atlanta Federal Reserve thinks US GDP is growing at 5.4%.
Yet, Americans are saving at their lowest rate since 2007. And when Americans reduce their rate of savings, it usually means there’s a recession in the offing. The economy may be booming now, but there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical it will last. Productivity numbers don’t justify the headline growth figures. Many people think the stock market is overvalued and due for a correction.
It has been eight and a half years since the last recession and the natural oscillation of the business cycle suggests we may be due for another one soon.
Indeed, yesterday the stock market had its worst day in two years. Anyone looking at any of the standard models will tell you that the US stock market is overvalued.
There may yet be a “melt-up” in the stock market—a rise in prices that makes these good times feel even more euphoric, for a little while longer. After that though, it’s up to human psychology, bears versus bulls, central bank interest rates, liquidity, debt, and all the other usual suspects, to determine if the market ends up in a crash, and the US ends up in a recession. A recession that will be hard for many ordinary people to weather, given that wages have only just begun to rise, and savings rates have dropped.
And recessions, like stock market panics and the flu, have a nasty tendency to spread across borders, countries, and continents with ease.
There are skeletons in your online closet. Employers are screening the social media history of job seekers for signs of questionable behavior, and the results can be alarming. Oliver Staley (Quartz Reporter) used a new software tool from BrandYourself to plumb his own online past, and discovered that even the most innocuous photos and comments can raise red flags for employers.
Russian oligarchs suspected of corruption. will be forced to account for their luxury lifestyles in the UK in a new crackdown on organised crime, a Government minister has said. Security minister Ben Wallace said the "full force of government" would be brought to bear on foreign criminals and corrupt politicians who use Britain as a haven.
US banks are queueing up to stop customers from buying bitcoin using credit cards , as wild price swings continue on the biggest cryptocurrency. JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America both said last night they will ban the practice, according to CNBC, which could leave customers chasing the big price rises which bitcoin has seen over the past year with big losses. Citigroup also joined in the ban, according to Bloomberg.
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime? Freakonomics will literally redefine the way you view the modern world.
Peace Out, See You Tomorrow
