Going back to the 'USA is Exceptional' meme- yes this is true! But it's not necessarily a good thing (just like, being positive isn't always good, for example it's not good to be HIV positive). USA has the highest per capita prison population - and is exceptional in a number of areas. USA is number one in terms of real GDP, and last in many other terms. One thing that the USA is last in - FX.
The Day Earth Was Murdered
Paul Craig Roberts
“Change you can believe in” disappeared in the early days of the Obama regime as the same Washington insiders filled the new government’s ranks. David Brooks sung the praises of those who made change impossible: “the best of the Washington insiders, Achievetrons who got double 800s on their SATs.”
Following two days of utter chaos in Washington D.C., the Republicans in the House have finally called it quits and laid to rest, at least for now, efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. The bill was pulled shortly before voting was set to begin at 3:45PM EST.
'Reflation'-themed fund-flows are fading fast (with equities, cyclicals outflows accelerating), and 'higher rate beneficiaries'-linked bond flows (bank loans, HY, inflation protected) slowing to multi-month lows. As RBC's head of cross-asset strategy, Charlie McElligott notes, their model shows the ETF inflow story is no longer a price-driver of short term stock market pricing... "it's a new regime."
McElligott notes the following three key themes remain:
The Fed's most recurring lament over the past 8 years, ever since the Financial crisis, is that there has been no measurable inflation in the US economy when using such conventional indicators as CPI, even though according to recent measurements by PriceStats real inflation, not the BLS' seasonally-adjusted, goalseeked and politically convenient mutant, is now running at a blistering 3.6%, the highest in five years.