Brexit Marks The Start Of An Anti-Globalization Era

Dr. Yoon Young-kwan – Populism, nationalism and xenophobia all contributed to the victory of the “leave” campaign in the United Kingdom’s recent referendum on membership in the European Union. But these forces float on the surface of a larger sea change: a fundamental shift worldwide in the relationship between the state and the market.

Since the birth of modern capitalism, these two frameworks of human activity have generally been at odds. While the market tends to expand geographically as its participants pursue economic benefits, the state seeks to keep orderly everybody and everything within the territory it controls. A merchant may recognize market opportunities in a foreign country, but he will run into the state — most immediately, that country’s immigration authorities — if he pursues them.

How to reconcile the tension between the market and the state is the central concern of political economy today, just as it was for Adam Smith in the 18th century, Friedrich List and Karl Marx in the 19th century, and John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich von Hayek in their long debate on the topic through the middle decades of the 20th century.

Let’s consider two hypothetical extremes in the state-market relationship. The first is a seamless global market in which individuals can maximize their material benefits without any state intervention. The problem with this scenario is that you may live in a country that is vulnerable to all the negative consequences of no-holds-barred globalization, such as currency devaluation, labor exploitation, the flouting of intellectual property laws and so forth.

The other extreme is a world comprising entirely isolated autarchic states, where individuals are protected from external economic forces and the state has full autonomy over domestic affairs. In this scenario, you will have to forgo all the well-known economic benefits of the global division of labor.

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Gold And Silver At Significant Support. New “Story” Developing

Michael Noonan – With the holiday weekend, the focus will be on charts only for, ultimately, they reveal the truest story of what is developing in any market.  There is one more trading day in May, next Tuesday, but we are using ending data from Friday, the 27th, for the monthly charts.

The rally in both gold and silver has been a significant change in market behavior, and these changes are telling the world that the decline from 2011 may have  ended. We note the ending action at 1, on the monthly chart.  Besides the obvious support and resistance areas, what stands out are the two high volume months when price closed lower each time, once in March, and now for May.

Volume is the energy behind every move.  Without it, no trend can be sustained.  Always remember, exceptionally large volume is when smart money movers are in action, either covering old or taking new positions, in the market.  It is during these high volume events that one can see the “footprints” left behind by smart money movers.  We define “smart money” as those who move and influence market direction, to keep it simple.

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February Heralding End Of Down Trend?

marketMichael Noonan – Applying market logic:

We often state that the market is replete with logic, even for those who do not know how or do not like to look at charts to explain the markets.  Charts that explain developing market activity have been superior to all fundamental analysis over the last several years. For us, that statement would include for as long as charts have been maintained, starting with Japan’s rice market, a few hundred years ago.

Most market participants have some [unrequited] need to have fundamentals be the driving force behind their market comprehension.  [See the stock market top from 2008 and the ongoing follow-up by fundamentalists who were unable to comprehend how their world of value investing had just been turned upside down.  As an aside, charts were flashing a major sell signal after the top but well before the collapse].  We digress…not really.  The point is valid.

There have been many calls over the past few years for a bottom in gold and silver, yet none ever materialized.  Just like in advertising, the same old products are repackaged as “new and improved,” those so-called gold/silver pundits simply ignore their past and call for yet another bottom.  People have short memories, except for when their accounts have suffered from believing and acting upon past false calls, and everyone is hungry to be among the first to participate in the final bottom that begins a trend reversal.

We are putting ourselves out as viewing February as perhaps signaling a potential turn in trend for gold and silver, and if true, it would mark December 2015 as a bottom.  We leave the door open for the possibility of yet another new low, not as wiggle room or talking out of both side of our mouth, as it were, but regular readers of our commentaries know we like to see confirmation of any market call.  Without confirmation, there can be no change, and to date, there has been nothing to confirm a bottom in PMs.

The significance of February is its decided change in market behavior on the monthly and weekly charts.  The significance of the monthly and weekly charts is that both are more controlling for trend direction and, as a consequence, require more time to turn.  Neither are used for market timing, the daily serves that purpose.  If there is to be a change in trend, it will show up on the daily before the weekly and monthly.

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The ‘Clinton Bubble’: How Clinton Democrats Fostered the 2008 Economic Crisis

To see the first half of the chapter from which this Truthdig excerpt was taken, click here.


marketRobert Scheer – Since the collapse happened on the watch of President George W. Bush at the end of two full terms in office, many in the Democratic Party were only too eager to blame his administration. Yet while Bush did nothing to remedy the problem, and his response was to simply reward the culprits, the roots of this disaster go back much further, to the free-market propaganda of the Reagan years and, most damagingly, to the bipartisan deregulation of the banking industry undertaken with the full support of “liberal” President Clinton. Yes, Clinton. And if this debacle needs a name, it should most properly be called “the Clinton bubble,” as difficult as it may be to accept for those of us who voted for him.

Clinton, being a smart person and an astute politician, did not use old ideological arguments to do away with New Deal restrictions on the banking system, which had been in place ever since the Great Depression threatened the survival of capitalism. His were the words of technocrats, arguing that modern technology, globalization, and the increased sophistication of traders meant the old concerns and restrictions were outdated. By “modernizing” the economy, so the promise went, we would free powerful creative energies and create new wealth for a broad spectrum of Americans—not to mention boosting the Democratic Party enormously, both politically and financially.

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Best, Most Reliable Answers Come From The Market – And You

Michael Noonan – Almost everyone is searching for answers about what to do in the stock market. The two best sources are the market itself, and the second source will surprise many, but it is you! No one has a greater vested interest in your financial interests than you when it is your money on the line, at risk. The inherent problem with this simple solution is that few ever consider either source as the best solution.

Wall Street, such a big mystery. Not really. The only mystery about Wall Street is the thieves who run it. Like the Wizard of Oz, Wall Street does not want you to look behind the curtain to discover all of the fraud, the greed, and the purely self-motivated financial interests that are opposite to yours.

The S&P used to be our staple for market commentaries. However, once the government and central banks took over, starting with POMO [Permanent Open Market Operations], we stopped recommending the buy side of the market to not abet the overt market manipulation to keep people trapped in stocks and simple stopped writing articles.

We did the same thing in the gold and silver markets. Once it become so apparent that the elite’s central bankers were totally manipulating gold and silver to eliminate competition to their fiat Ponzi scheme, we stopped recommending any trading on the short side in PMs, again, not to abet what would otherwise be considered criminal activity. Continue reading