The chart below compares Per Capita GDP growth in the US since 1994, with Median Household Income. Both tracked upward until 1999, at which point median household income plateaued. The two have diverged ever since. This chart clearly shows that the rich have got richer and the poor have got…
Coal and iron ore are Australia’s two biggest exports. In 2013 iron ore exports earned $69 billion and coal $40 billion, 26% and 15%, respectively, of total exports. Unsurprisingly then, price declines in either commodity result infront page news here in the Land Down Under. Read more about iron ore…
The global warming/climate change meme has taken a beating of late. The evidence is now overwhelming that there has been no rise in global temperature for the past 15 to 20 years. Political classes are now losing interest in warmist fear, to be followed by cutbacks in funding. The Arctic ice…
Last week, Mario Draghi, who runs the European Central Bank (“ECB”), took action to lower the Euro exchange rate. Interest rates will be cut to 0.05% and money held by the ECB will attract -0.2%. The ECB will also start purchases of asset-backed securities and bonds. The objective was to…
There are generally considered to be two schools of economic thought concerning gold: the Keynesians and their fellow travellers consider gold to be “a barbarous relic”, in Keynes’ words. The other side, such as the Austrian school, considers that gold (and silver) are real wealth. In a debate during the Great…
Many economists believe that a measure of global shipping activity, such as the Baltic Dry Index, is a reliable economic indicator. The primary reason is they believe that the supply of ships is inelastic and thus movements in the index are a measure of demand only. They also often believe…