Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,
Poor old Karl Marx, tortured by boils and phantoms, was right about one thing: History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.
Thus, I give you the Roman Empire and now the United States of America. Rome surrendered to time and entropy. Our method is to drive a gigantic clown car into a ditch.
Is anyone out there interested in redemption?
With US crude production having rebounded back to near cycle highs in its lagged response to the oil rig count, this week's rebound in the oil rig count (+6 to 750) is notably the largest addition in almost 3 months.
As Bloomberg details, explorers renewed their search for U.S. crude as oil entered a bull market and overseas demand for American supplies flourished.
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The US Economy Is Failing
Paul Craig Roberts
Do the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page editors read their own newspaper?
Back in mid-July, Bank of America chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett wrote "The Most Dangerous Moment For Markets Will Come In 3 Or 4 Months" in which he warned that "further upside in risk assets will create problems later in the year" and concluded that "ultimately, we believe the extremely strong performance by equities and bonds in H1 is very unlikely to be repeated in H2" because "monetary policy will have to tighten to raise volatility, reduce Wall St inflation, and reduce inequality.
Americans' confidence in the economy has waned slightly following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which caused more than $100 billion in damage, pushed up gas prices and spurred a jump in unemployment filings.
Overall, Bloomberg reports that the share of consumers expecting good times financially in the economy fell to 47 percent from 54 percent in August.
Share of consumers judging home-buying conditions as favorable was at five-year low...