Economy

Drug and Alcohol Deaths at U.S. Workplaces Soar (sign in required, LesPhelps)

The number of U.S. deaths at work from unintentional drug and alcohol overdoses jumped more than 30% in 2016, according to new government data, showing that the nation’s struggle with a deadly opioid epidemic is migrating to the workplace.

The Coming Fiscal Derailment – Why FY 2019 Will Sink The Casino (thc0655)

As detailed below, Uncle Sam’s borrowing requirements are likely to hit $1.25 trillion or more than 6% of GDP in FY 2019 owing to the fact that the tax bill is so heavily front-loaded and the GOP’s wild spending spree for defense, disasters and much else.

Needless to say, this impending bond market collision has not fazed the dip-buyers in the slightest. Financial markets are in the blow-off stage of the third great central bank bubble of the present era and are therefore entirely in the grip of momentum chasing robo-machines and day traders. The latter are processing price action alone—-to the complete exclusion of a swelling tide of facts and threats which sharply contradict the bullish mania of the moment.

Twelve Days in Xinjiang: How China’s Surveillance State Overwhelms Daily Life (sign in required, lambertad)

Security checkpoints with identification scanners guard the train station and roads in and out of town. Facial scanners track comings and goings at hotels, shopping malls and banks. Police use hand-held devices to search smartphones for encrypted chat apps, politically charged videos and other suspect content. To fill up with gas, drivers must first swipe their ID cards and stare into a camera.

Big Science: Part 4 (Jesper A.)

In chapter seven of This Changes Everything, the author asks if capitalism can save capitalism. This seems to be a working model for Naomi Klein, in a twist Soros it seems is thinking that too (reflexivity). The question for cybernetics, and systems-thinking is the sociology of sociology, the investigations of Bourdieu are half-systemic only. See further for these complicated things in the critical afterword. The marxist notions of change have been helpful to the sciences, and this might be one line of argument, another which I find more useful is the science of science itself. We may explain it this way; ethnography invented the passionate observer, what ethnography calls participatory observer perspectives, we must not disband critically observing science (one step beyond Descartes).

Gold EFPs: Absolute Proof That Paper Gold Is A Fraud (goldrunner1)

The EFPs and PNTs plunge the Comex operations into even greater opacity – likely intentionally. In all probability, the EFPs and PNTs are used to bridge the gap between the amount of gold (silver) that needs to be delivered and the amount of gold (silver) that is available to be delivered. The settlement of the contract occurs outside of the Comex. These contract settlement devices further enable the ability of the western Central Banks to execute the successful manipulation of the gold (silver) price.

Here’s Where to Look for 2018 Profits (Tiffany D.)

Tax reform is one piece of the puzzle. It promises to free up billions in corporate cash held in overseas accounts, and lower the corporate tax rate to 21%.

The attitude of American consumers is another component. Consumer spending hit a one-month record not seen since 2009, when the U.S. economy was just emerging from the recession and financial crisis.

The World’s Biggest Offshore Boom Is Accelerating (Michael K.)

The investment announcements are significant because Brazil is picking up momentum after years of disappointment. Petrobras had to repeatedly downgrade its forecast for production growth, succumbing to a future of more modest ambitions. The state-owned oil company can claim the mantle of the most indebted oil company in the world, a debt pile that once vastly exceeded $100 billion.

Can New Mexico’s ancient irrigation canals survive a changing climate? (jdargis)

Santa Cruz de la Cañada is home to dozens of small farms like this. Although most are not as diverse as Bustos’, nearly all sidle up to an acequia. From the Taos Valley in the north to Albuquerque and other communities farther south, there are more than 1,000 of the canals in the state irrigating some 12,000 family farms. Acequias have been crucial to life, and to a way of life, in New Mexico for centuries. But now they face a range of problems, from climate change to changing economic and cultural realities, that threaten their future and the livelihoods and traditions of the people who depend on them.

Gold & Silver

Click to read the PM Daily Market Commentary: 12/20/17

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