Hong Kong Demands 民主—Democracy

STORMTROOPERS  (Bloomberg Photo)

UPDATE 15 SEPTEMBER: Political turmoil engulfing this global financial center showed no signs of abating as tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators marched Sunday in defiance of a police ban, with many venting their anger at Beijing just two weeks before China celebrates the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic.

Xi Strikes Back

Fred Dufour | AFP | Getty Images

UPDATE 28 NOVEMBER

Even before Trump signed into law the legislation giving overt support to protests in Hong Kong yesterday, it had become clear that China was “Out of Ammo”. The most feared retaliation, that Beijing would sell its holdings of US Treasuries sending the dollar spinning, has been proven a fallacy. China sold 25% of its US reserves in 2019 without appreciable disruptions in the US economy. The halt of buying soy beans from US farmers has hurt. However, farming safeguards already in place appear to be holding. Finally, the threat to halt export of the so-called rare earth minerals is something Australia has already bested by going shopping somewhere else—Canadian miners take note.

Trump Nails China

TRUMP: THE ART OF A DEAL WITH XI. Photographer: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP Getty Images

Tariffs and free trade agreements are Trump’s way of projecting the power of government over corporations that are American in name, but operate internationally to avoid US taxes. To close the loophole Trump will slap tariffs on goods designed in the USA, but made in China. As a sidebar he gets leverage over his #1 rival, China’s president Xi.

Not Any One Province or Pipeline, All Canadians Should Put the Interests of the Oil Industry First

Suncor Energy oil sands project near Fort McMurray, Alberta, 13 June 2017 (Photo: Larry MacDougal/AP)

Oil from Alberta’s Tar Sands will be worth as much as the sands that hold it, making it difficult to get the oil to market at a competitive price. That day is not far in the offing. Rather than increase pipe-line capacity, lets focus on dropping demand. How many electric cars do we need to get on the road to match the throughput of a pipeline reaching the Burrard Inlet, the home of more than 1 million Canadians? Damian Newman, president of an oil industry public relations firm, fails to factor this calculus in his open letter to all Canadians.

My 2-cents on Climate Change, ‘Smart’ Cities and Global Warming

US PENNY (1943)

It’s a Bizarro World… It is the third week in May and it’s raining in Santa Barbara—VERY Vancouver. The day before at the Mount Shasta Tesla Superchargers I met a Tesla owner reporting he’s paying 1.8 cents per mile in fuel costs. The one-cent coin is no longer legal tender in Canada, where distance is measured in kilometres and volume in litres… But the penny still dropped for this Canadian—driving a gas car in California costs 10¢ a mile. Driving a Tesla costs 5-times less than that!

The Whack-A-Mole Money Laundering Game and the Housing Crisis

BC Finance Minister Carole James and Attorney General David Eby announce government action against money laundering [CBC News photo]

Releasing a government report that states that over CAD $7.4 Billion in money laundering is expected to have taken place in BC last year,  the Attorney General and the Finance Minster made news yesterday with their revelation of illegal monetary practices going unchecked in the province. Yet, they failed to announce a solution to runaway housing prices in British Columbia. With two-thirds or $5 Billion of the illicit cash changing hands in real estate, the report estimates the illegal transactions drove BC housing prices up 5% province wide.

Financial Markets Peak

S & P 500 – Five Year Performance (Bloomberg)

As we approach the Lunar New Year festivities in China all the major western indices are drawing the same picture: it looks like a mountain top. As events unfold China contagion is the only explanation for why the western markets should be trending downward as they anticipate a hard landing in China.

The New Normal

 

Dow Jones Industrial Index

Monday 24 august 2015 12:45 pm EST

This morning felt a bit like 9-11-2001 except that I don’t have CNN anymore—I cut the cable in 2010. Back then I was assessing whether the planes were aiming at the weak point in the towers in order to cause maximum structural damage. The lower the hit, the higher the stress created by the dead load left above the point of impact. The analysis was spot on. The first tower to go down was the one hit lowest. Today, QE (quantitative easing) is being stress-tested although no one on the Street appears to notice.