Archives for Macro
Current three way catalytic converters have been in use since the early 1980’s. In brief, they use rhodium at the front end in a low oxygen environment to reduce nitrogen oxides to nitrogen gas and oxygen. This is followed by a more oxygen rich environment, created by oscillating the fuel…
Ray Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates, LP, one of the world’s largest investment managers, in 1975. He has written a number of books, including the best seller “Principles” which outlines his life and work principles and is a foundation of Bridgewater’s success. The Changing World Order was published in March 2020.…
Those who believe the planet will be saved by a switch to “renewable” energy, and that such energy would be “green” perhaps do not understand the true cost of renewables. It is a basic principle of life, and economics, that you “can’t get something for nothing” or “there is no…
In economics a real value is a value that has been adjusted for inflation, whereas a nominal value has not been adjusted. Gold and silver are quoted in USD, which is considered real as the USD is adjusted by the consumer price indices (CPI) produced by the US Bureau of…
A useful snapshot of market value is the trailing price to earnings ratio (P/E). some look at forward P/E’s, but this includes future earnings estimates which may be in error. However, a problem with the standard 12 month trailing P/E is that abrupt market moves can cause a disconnect between…
Since the end of January there have been 4.3m coronavirus cases and 292k deaths. That is a period of a little more than 3 months. The world’s population is about 7.6 billion, 4.3m cases worldwide is about 0.06% of that population. During this coronavirus period total deaths worldwide have been…