While speculators in London’s Exchange Alley furiously bid up the price of South Sea Company shares, word came that two dock workers unloading wool were overcome by dizziness.
The Cheshire Cat in Crazytown
Bob Woodward takes his second bite from the Trump apple, with “Rage.” Woodward has completed the interview circuit with his biggest prop being Trump on tape. Trump cooperated and the esteemed author had the president saying what he knew and when he knew it: about the coronavirus, of course.
Protecting Wealth: Under the Mattress vs. FAANG Shares
“The trend could put more Americans on a path to greater wealth and financial security,” Krantz writes, presumably with a straight face. “But it remains to be seen if the beginning investors will stick around for the long haul — or if they'll have the investing skills to avoid losses when stocks take a tumble.”
The Collapse of 2020
“Industrial civilization,” Sale writes, “in other words, is an inherently self-destructive system with limits beyond which it cannot survive, and utterly consumes itself like the self-burning tree of Gambia discovered by Mungo Park.”
Fed and Treasury Sorcery Make Home Price Magic
Tom Blanchard, realtor and president of trade association Las Vegas Realtors, describes the Las Vegas housing market as being “on fire.” Mr. Segall reports, “All told, the market has gained speed as buyers snap up homes from builders and on the resale market, with sellers fetching multiple bids.” Blanchard says simply, “It’s craziness.”
The CARES Act Kicks the Can
What has cloaked the recession is government largesse in the form of the added $600 to weekly unemployment claims. While the juice from that lemon ran dry August 1st, it will be replaced by a $300 or $400 weekly bump once Treasury Secretary Mnunchin gets around to cutting the checks.
Trump Knows What Homeowners Fear
Right or wrong, the president, in this case, knows of what he tweets. Go to any city council meeting when a developer attempts to rezone property for high-density zoning and angry neighbors appear in mass, organized and vocal, not an apron in sight.
Under Water
For decades, buying a house was the American thing to do. Houses always go up in value, it was claimed. Every month’s payment meant some money was going into a sort of savings. Buy as much house as you can afford was the advice, the bigger the house the bigger the gain.
Robinhood's New Normal and Price Discovery
Ah yes, another new normal. “Speculation in the capitalist system performs a function which must be performed in any economic system however organized: it provides for the adjustment of supply and demand over time and space,” wrote Ludwig von Mises in his book “Socialism.”
The Legal Peril of Going Without a Mask
One of my economics professors once told the class, “Freedom is a liability for those who can’t govern themselves,” which means this argument will be thrust into the courts. The rights infringement argument is heading towards, first, statute law, and second, possibly, into a common law brick wall.
Poker: Punishing Delusion
Her story is pure Cinderella in terms of table success, making her book compelling from start to finish. But, “Bluff” is not just a telling of “bad beats,” “bluffs,” and “big pots.” Konnikova weaves plenty of psychology and behavioral economics into her narrative.
Vegas Home Sales Defy Strip's Collapse.
Despite happy talk here and there, Las Vegas, with its dependence on frequent fliers and conventioneers, is in a bad way. During an earnings call for Las Vegas Sands, owners of The Venetian and Palazzo on the Las Vegas Strip, Sands President Rob Goldstein said, “We’re in a world of hurt here in terms of Vegas.”
The Loss of Truth
So while Trump’s true believers require no convincing as to the President’s assertion that Covid-19 will magically go away, his administration is taking control of the information. “The Trump administration ordered hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and send all COVID-19 patient information to a central database in Washington,” reports USA Today.
Mood View From The Top
The Fed is not going to hit the brakes, but could the social mood be changing. The nightly news looks like 1968, could markets follow? In ‘68 it was the Hong Kong flu that killed 70,000 while the stock market peaked. The Vietnam War accelerated, the National Guard killed students at Kent State, the Weather Underground formed, and the Beatles broke up. The stock market then headed down to a 1970 bottom.
Time Preference v. Covid-19
In other words, forget the mask, stay home. Isolation is the only solution. But, after a couple of months of being cooped up at home, many Americans can’t handle it. One wonders why? The answer lies in Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s groundbreaking “Democracy The God That Failed.”
Masking Las Vegas
The constant argument about Covid shutdowns, social distancing and other inconveniences is the government's ham-handed response is killing “the economy.” This brings to mind Margaret Thatcher’s famous quip, “There is no such thing as society,” which, although long since underground, she is still criticized for. “There are only the individuals, families, groups, associations and organizations that make it up,” writes economist William Watson to finish her thought. Likewise, he explains, “there is no such thing as ‘the economy’. There are only the people, groups, associations, etc. that make it up.”
What Company Shares was the Shoeshine Boy Recommending?
Who knew a person can now buy partial shares of Amazon, Tesla, and other modern unicorns. If nothing else, Wall Street thinks outside the box. If you thought Robin Hood wore a pointy hat adorned with a feather, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, turn your calendar. The new Robin Hood allows the rich to steal from the poor.
Pandemic Wagering: Tesla or Table Tennis
If one were looking for clues as to why the stock market has rebounded while daily economic news grows worse, besides the Federal Reserve’s Jerome Powell “flooding of the market” with liquidity, another reason could be the flood of new punters betting on stocks, from high-flying tech shares to dead-in-the-water leisure stocks.
More Taxpayer Money for the Bailout Bowl
In the newest case, the company is struggling before a game has been played. Last August Allegiant Airlines inked a deal with the NFL’s used-to-be-Oakland, used-to-be Los Angeles, used-to-be-Oakland (again) and now, Las Vegas Raiders for the naming rights to the new 65,000 seat and partially taxpayer funded stadium which sits along I-15 in Clark County, Nevada.
Lawyers v. PRC
Eglet’s filing claims, “Shortly after November 17, 2019, the PRC (People’s Republic of China) and the other Defendants knew, or should have known, that COVID-19 was a ‘new’ dangerous, contagious, and deadly virus because many Chinese citizens who contracted the virus were getting very sick, and some were dying. Moreover, DNA samples taken from these very sick and dying people confirmed that this was a ‘new’ virus for which there was no vaccine or cure.”