Archives for October, 2014
Concrete and steel, along with abundant cheap energy, are the bedrock of industrial society. The most important raw materials for concrete and steel are cement and iron ore. The chart below shows all you need to know about Chinese industrial growth. The world had never seen such rapid industrialisation as…
This week China reported quarterly gross domestic product (“GDP”) growth of 7.3%, compared with the third quarter last year. The government target was 7.5% – so well done China. Here in Australia, this result was considered “supportive for commodities” (such as iron ore and coal) and led to a rise…
The US Federal Reserve (“FED”) has published comics for many years, usually directed towards children and students. The comics are designed to educate, but the main theme is “without the FED we would be ruined”. The image below is called “the road to success” (no joke), and illustrates how they…
John Exter (1910 to 2006) was a highly regarded American economist. He spent the early part of his career, until 1959, on the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve. He is perhaps best remembered for creating “Exter’s Pyramid” in the 1970’s. John Exter Exter’s Pyramid below classifies asset classes…
It is widely accepted that the size of the US military, and the ridiculous number of military bases worldwide (according to the Pentagon there are around 5,000 bases in total with around 600 overseas), is to support the petrodollar. Presumably, petrodollar support would also apply to the current wars in…