Adventures in Currency Debasement

Posted on January 27, 2017 by MN Gordon

The U.S. dollar, as measured by the dollar index, has generally gone up since mid-2014.  The dollar index goes up when the U.S. dollar gains strength (value) against a basket of currencies, including the euro, yen, pound, and several others.  Conversely, the dollar index goes down when the U.S. dollar loses value.

Between July 30, 2014 and December 28, 2016, the dollar’s value, as measured by the dollar index, increased from 79.78 to 103.30 – or 29 percent.  Since then, the dollar index has dropped to about 100.  In addition, President Trump has said that the dollar is “too strong” and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has called the dollar “excessively strong.”

President Trump wants a weaker dollar to help with his program of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.  The rationale is simple enough.  A weaker dollar should make U.S. exports more attractive on international markets.  Similarly, a weaker dollar should make foreign imports more expensive for U.S. consumers so they’ll buy products Made in USA. Continue reading →

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The Right Stuff

Posted on January 20, 2017 by MN Gordon

“You boys know what makes this bird go up?  Funding makes this bird go up.  That’s right.  No bucks, no Buck Rogers.” – Gordon Cooper and Gus Grissom, The Right Stuff (film)

Pledges for Trump

Things are looking up for the United States economy in 2017.  You can just feel it.  Something great is about to happen.

Earlier this week, for example, after meeting with the incoming President, Bayer and Monsanto announced they will spend at least half of their agriculture research and development budget – approximately $8 billion – in the U.S. over the next six years.  It’s estimated the combined efforts of these two companies will add 3,000 new U.S. high-tech jobs.

Wal-Mart and General Motors also made job and investment pledges for Trump.  Wal-Mart said they’ll add 10,000 jobs this year.  General Motors announced $1 billion in investment, which would generate 1,500 U.S. jobs.

Following these pledges, Trump tweeted: Continue reading →

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Trump’s Plan to Close the Trade Deficit with China

Posted on January 13, 2017 by MN Gordon

Jack Ma is an amiable fellow.  Back in 1994, while visiting the United States he decided to give that newfangled internet thing a whirl.  At a moment of peak inspiration, he executed his first search engine request by typing in the word beer.

The search results had such a profound impact on Ma that he returned home to China and immediately started his first internet business.  After several tries he hit it big with Alibaba.  So much so that he’s accumulated a net worth of $27.1 billion USD – over 7.3 times more than President-elect Trump.  Not a bad rags to riches story for a poor Chinese school teacher.

Indeed, Ma takes a shrewd, yet casual, approach to business.  Back in 2014, he got a little sozzled up and bought China’s most popular soccer team from fellow Chinese billionaire Hui Ka Yan.  All in all, the soccer team purchase only cost Ma $192 million.

“By accident I got him drunk,” recounted Yan, of how the deal went down with Ma.  “I told him my Evergrande soccer team is planning to issue shares and raise money to support strategic development, will you join?  He said I will.  We finished it in 15 minutes.” Continue reading →

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The Great El Monte Public Pension Swindle

Posted on January 6, 2017 by MN Gordon

There are places in Southern California where, although the sun always shines, they haven’t seen a ray of light for over 50-years.  There’s a no man’s land of urban blight along Interstate 10, from East Los Angeles through the San Gabriel Valley, where cities you’ve never heard of and would never go to, are jumbled together like shipping containers on Terminal Island.  El Monte, California, is one of those places.

How El Monte came to be is a story shared with many of its adjoining San Gabriel Valley cities.  Boom, bust, and rapid transformation from an agricultural area to working class artery of a burgeoning megalopolis, vomited out a multitude of enduring mistakes.  Many of them will never be rectified.

When El Monte was incorporated as a municipality in 1912, the prospects for the place must have seemed limitless.  Here was open and fertile land, ideally situated in a low valley between the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo Rivers.  Equally important, it was ideally situated just several miles from the budding City of Los Angeles. Continue reading →

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