Here's our summary of key economic events overnight that affect New Zealand with news the US and India are both leading the global growth stakes, but one of them (or both?) probably can't maintain the momentum for long. However, both are exceeding what analysts had expected and have done so for some considerable time now. Pessimist had expected that the GFC was the turning point for the US but they clearly got that wrong. Pessimists had thought that Indian corruption would stymie its turn for economic expansion, and that hasn't happened so far either.
First, in the US their manufacturing PMI for November stayed in contraction territory, hardly moving from the prior two months. But their services PMI rose strongly to a much faster expansion, and a 32 month high. There were no inflationary signals in this survey. Business expectations were the highest level since May 2022, reflecting optimism about potential interest rate cuts, stronger economic growth, and pro-business policies.
On the consumer front however, the November University of Michigan sentiment served was down-graded from its 'flash'-reported rise, so that in fact little improvement was evident in the month. These sentiment levels remain about -30% lower than pre-pandemic levels.
And we should probably note that the US Fed balance sheet continued its slow shrinkage and 'normalisation' last week, taking its size back to where it was in May 2020, just after the emergency pandemic response, and down -23% from its peak in mid 2022.
Canadian retail sales rose unexpectedly in October and now for a fourth straight month. Excluding car sales, which were strong in September, a small correction was expected. But in fact the non-car retail activity rose very strongly. Perhaps the recent Bank of Canada interest rate cuts are working? They have trimmed -125 bps since May this year and now have an official cash rate of 3.75%.
Japanese inflation fell again in October, now running at an annual rate of +2.3%. That is sharply lower than the 3% rate they had in August but it is still within their central bank's target range.
And staying in Japan, their November PMI stayed positive, also bolstered by the service sector, but manufacturing output contract less - in fact hardly at all - in November which was a good improvement for them.
In India, they again reported strong expansions in both their factory and service sectors. But worryingly, there are tangible signs of serious over-heating (metaphorically) with cost inflation pressures near extreme levels. Something will break soon. And climate over-heating could also leave the economic situation in a messy place.
In China, a selloff in Chinese stocks deepened on Friday as disappointing tech earnings hurt sentiment already weakened by concerns over Trump’s imminent return.
In Europe, their PMIs were disappointing again, with the expansion in their services sector ending, and it joining the contraction they have had for a while in their factory sector. New orders slipped for a sixth month running. Although modest, the rate of contraction in November was the most marked since January.
In Australia, their November PMIs were again disappointing. Business activity slipped as services activity joined manufacturing output in contraction. The reduction in activity coincided with a slowdown in new order growth while external demand remained subdued. But despite this, business sentiment was resilient as confidence in future conditions reached a 15-month high. Go figure.
The UST 10yr yield is now at just on 4.41% and down -1 bp from yesterday at this time. A week ago it was +4 bps higher. The key 2-10 yield curve is less positive, now by only +5 bps. Their 1-5 curve inversion is now inverted, by -12 bps. And their 3 mth-10yr curve inversion is more inverted, now by -20 bps. The Australian 10 year bond yield starts today at 4.59% and down -3 bps. The China 10 year bond rate is unchanged at 2.08%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is down -5 bps from this time yesterday at 4.67%, and -11 bps lower than this time last week.
Wall Street started its Friday up +0.3% on the S&P500 and up +1.6% for the week. European markets were up about about +0.7% across the board. Tokyo ended its Friday session also up +0.7% on the day, little-changed for the week. Hong Kong ended yesterday down -1.9% and down the same for the week, while Shanghai was down a very sharp -3.1% in Friday trade to be -2.3% lower for the week. Singapore was up +0.2% yesterday. The ASX200 ended up +0.9% in its Friday session for a weekly gain of +1.3%. And the NZX50 ended with a strong daily gain of +2.2% for a weekly rise of +2.8% and the best of the equity markets we benchmark against.
The Fear & Greed Index ends the week having moved back to the 'greed' zone from 'neutral' last week.
The price of gold will start today at US$2705/oz and up another +US$43 from this time yesterday. That makes the weekly gain +US$139 or +5.4%.
Oil prices are up +US$1.50 to just under US$71/bbl in the US while the international Brent price is now just under US$75/bbl. A week ago these prices were US$67.50 and US$71.50 respectively.
The Kiwi dollar starts today at 58.3 USc and down -30 bps from this time yesterday. A week ago it was at 58.7 USc so a -40 dip since then. Against the Aussie we are -30 bps lower at 89.7 AUc. Against the euro we up +20 bps at 56 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today at just over 68.1, and down another -20 bps from yesterday, down -40 bps in a week.
The bitcoin price starts today at US$99,043 and up +1.9% from this time yesterday. But it is up more than +10% from this time last week. Although its price is still in the 'nervous 90s' and the delay is probably frustrating its fans, the US$100K even is undoubtedly close - still. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been modest at +/- 1.2%.
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88 Comments
One stat caught my attention that could better explain NZ's poor economic health: exports to GDP is running at 24%, which is a long way down from the pre-Covid level of 30%.
Food and fibre is still doing the heavy lifting but services such as travel never fully recovered. Cheap debt and fiscal easing also tipped the economic scales in favour of imports and domestic consumption.
Fuel imports shot up by several millions each year in value shortly after the refinery shut down as we offshored the fairly complex process engineering previously done here.
Hard to imagine an economic recovery in the absence of a trade rebalance. Rate cuts will probably aggravate the problem in the absence of deep structural reforms.
"Fuel imports shot up by several millions each year in value shortly after the refinery shut down as we offshored the fairly complex process engineering previously done here."
That's an interesting one. I thought there were meant to be savings when the consortium of owners, mainly the petroleum companies I understand, decided it was unviable and the Labour govt acquiesced by not offering the refinery a dollar or two and I mean a dollar or two and in a sense nationalise it. It certainly gave Shane Jones an opening in Parliament to hammer Labour on their non intervention around the refinery.
1215h. Only managed to get this clip of SJ on the refinery, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcAzOTRBHDE
Well yes, the fuel companies do save money, the refined fuel is cheaper imported. But the economic activity that adds cost to the crude oil is happening elsewhere so we, the country, pay more.
Exactly, the refinery shutting is one of the main reasons our current account deficit is blowing out. Importing more and more digital and business services is another. We have seen a structural shift. It ain't good.
True.
Also, cheaper for whom? Did fuel at the Z and BP pump get any cheaper for consumers after they turned the refinery into an import terminal? Or are they shipping most of those savings to their parents overseas, delivering a double whammy to our current account balance?
Who cares the future is electric...just need the dinosaurs to get of the stage..
Too bad we're trying to take down a T-Rex with an airsoft.
Electric adoption is going to hit a brick wall. Take a look about when you drive, most people are simply not interested. All the additional charges will start to go on EV's and people will bail out of the market, its already happening. Manufactures are also reneging on going all electric already, its a niche market. The future is smaller, lighter even single seater cars on small turbo petrol engines. I could be driving around something that weighs as little as 500-600kg but while people keep opting to go for 2000kg SUV tanks, why even make them.
Deleted post ...
A statement like this needs a serious engineering and geopolitical analysis lens applied to it. I'll offer a first bite. The state of New Zealand's 240V electrical distribution system is completely inadequate to have high current EV chargers in every second or third household. It was never designed for this industrial level load.
And the money in terms of profits obviously has not been going back into infrastructure. Your electricity price is about to rise again due to that very fact. Sounds like poorly managed businesses to me, you have to at least maintain the "Equipment" to a standard and ideally improve and expand it over time. There needs to be a massive incentivised roll out of Solar, its simply too expensive to upgrade the entire network.
Transfer pricing allows the fuel companies to earn their refining margins in a low tax environment.
I liked your comment, but could they have done that with the refining here also?
I'd like to open a debate about "THE SOURCE OF NEWS". In the last 3 weeks, mostly about the US election and about the war in Ukraine, I've been told by different people that:
- I shouldn't listen to MSM
- I have been following the "wrong news"
- Change the news I'm following.
What are your thoughts? What is the most reliable, least biaised source of news and why ?
Thanks
Actually regularly on here there are links & attachments that are worthwhile. That is those that are thoughtful and submitted from a “neutral” perspective of course. What I mean is that you can note such as a source and refer back to them in future for the relative topic(s) etc.
"those that are thoughtful and submitted from a “neutral” perspective"
Thanks Foxglove. Isn't "neutral" in the eye of the reader ? Do we not, intentionally or subconsciously, gravitate towards news that validate what we belive in, in the first place ?
Agreed, totally. But non neutrality if you like often appears here to bolster the particular viewpoint of the commenter, often very partisan to say the least, politically. For example the now departed Audaxes posted on here a lot of such material but also a lot of good research and historical fact. As you say it is left to the individual reader to reach their own conclusions accordingly.
"What is the most reliable, least biased source of news and why ?" That's a really good question; it's increasingly difficult to obtain accurate & comprehensive information while avoiding being told what/how to think.
All "news" sources are both a priori & empiricism biased (consciously & unconsciously), much like commentators on Interest (myself included). Some are aware of this & attempt balance, some declare this, some hide behind "opinion".
When the MSM levels of wilful bias & propaganda agenda became outrageous several years ago, I decided that the best approach was obtaining additional information & opinion from a small range of sources (mostly focused on NZ) across the wider distribution of the Overton window & form my own opinions with this wider perspective. For international perspectives I tend to look regularly at BBC, ABC (Oz), ChannelNewsAsia, occasionally Al Jazeera.
Excellent comment. I agree on those sources.
I also like TheGuardian but it often strays into non- objective progressive positions on matters. But I am aware of that bias
You hit the nail on the head about keeping a critical eye to all things and sources.l, and the biases inherent.
I have come to the final conclusion that now everything MSM is biased, its either biased or censored or both.
Agreed, but doesn't the same apply to non MSM ? Why would podcasts or other news be less biased ?
"When the MSM levels of wilful bias & propaganda agenda became outrageous several years ago" ..... that's a big claim. Can you provide some examples?
"wilful bias & propaganda agenda" example.
" Dr Ashley Bloomfield explains. "They're not very effective, after all the virus can also infect you via your eyes - it basically likes to land on mucus membranes - from your eyes it likes to go down your nose anyway - so I think people should not bother with facemasks," he says."
To the MSM you are not the client, the government and the pharma industry are the client.
A child could have googled ocular transmission yet the MSM and government health whipped up a nation of mask nazi's and let Bloomfields 100% about face on masking slide. Ditto for experimental gene therapy etc. etc. I would post MOH links but DC will take them down.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/02/29/face-masks-fly-off-shelves-as-worrie…
Sure. If you believed all through 2023 and early 2024 that Ukraine and Russia were "locked in a stalemate" because that's what the MSM was saying, you were completely misled. Similar to Trump and Harris being "neck and neck in the polls." The actual results are too obvious to hide now. In the former case, alternative voices like (former US Marine and UN arms inspector) Scott Ritter and Col Lawrence Wilkerson (Colin Powell's chief of staff) were spot on and have been for a very long time. In the latter case, the betting markets got it absolutely right and the final election results had Trump busting through the entire "blue wall" of states that the MSM was so fond of.
1983: Ex CIA operative discusses Disinformation campaigns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aemyhNJUAzQ
Ashley Rindsberg’s book, The Gray Lady Winked is a useful book in that it introduces readers to the reality of propaganda, and in doing so enables them to be more prudent in their reliance even on reputable sources when making communications decisions. Rindsberg’s examples cut across time and the political spectrum to show us how the paper of record has systematically misinformed readers, and how there are no serious indications that it has stopped doing so.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23753234.2023.2166857
Well that's a question. My answer would be you have to figure it out yourself (but that might not be helpful since your asking).
My next answer would be find someone who you trust to understand whats happening in the world and ask them.
The big problem is the world is complicated and most journalist and editors are not that skillful to stay on top of things. They will all get things wrong or repeat a wrong thing from someone else, maybe realize later it was not so factual and then carry on the lie to preserve credibility. Everyone is going to find safe narratives that are not completely factual and focus on wrong details to properly inform you and stick to them. Or, just cave to pressure and straight up lie to you. (interest excluded)
Just find something you feel you can trust and hope it's not misleading you too much. Anyone expressing too much TDS is probably not that person.
Thanks Tim.
find something you feel you can trust and hope is not misleading you
Fair advice. I wonder though, if we will not "trust" news that confirm what we belive or want to believe in the first place ?
"Confirmation bias" is definitely a thing: just have to remember to be aware of the potential
Posted in wrong place
You have to look inside your self and realize it's not trust but something else, I guess.
It is the lies people tell themselves. The constant internal monologue that we all have which tells us stories to justify what we "believe", taking bits from here and there to which we weave a story that makes us feel good or justifies our beliefs.
All of it I consider rubbish - we don't get all the facts , the nuances , the distortions etc.. .
I agree with you BR, so, what's the best source of news to get the least biaised info ?
Go for a a selection of MSM, they will balance out. e.g. The Guardian and the Telegraph. Fox and CNN, Reuters Al Jazeera, BBC a d El Mundo. In NZ Business Desk, Stuff, Spinoff and NZ Herald.
If you read how things are reported in each you'll tend to get balance but the MSM has to report facts not misinformation. Just be aware that some articles in MSM are not journalism but opinion. Opinion pieces (even in MSM) can contain misinformation as they are not held to journalistic standards.
"...the MSM has to report facts not misinformation"
Many of the MSM are quite selective about which facts they choose to report.
Suggest actually, on the other side, which facts they choose not to report is more telling. The old courtroom classic “you lie by omission.”
Could you not find any outrageous examples of wilful bias and propaganda agenda kiwi?
"Go for a a selection of MSM, they will balance out."
No, on the most important stuff that will most effect your lives in the background they will all use the same safe sources or talking points (for them) that don't get them into trouble and quote each other. Pick whatever MSM source tries their best to hold on their credibility and at least tries towards the end of the article or piece to suggest that the headline may not be completely factual. If you must trust one.
Go for a a selection of MSM
Thanks, I tend to agree with you Agnostium.
Depending on what news you are actually looking for Ground News is a good tool for getting multiple news reports on a topic with both left , central and right views.
I tend to canvas a bunch of sources, discard as much opinion as I can, and assume the remaining consensus is somewhere close to the truth.
This is becoming increasingly fraught as algorithms further corrupt authors of information.
Good point: AI is now making its presence known in obvious & not so obvious ways & its only scratching the surface of an embedded ubiquitous future
I've seen a few of the sources I follow falling into the trap, there's a distinct difference between generating content for algorithm capture, vs generating content based on objective validity.
The same goes to an extent with having a voting option on comments.
The ramifications on human thought and behaviour are pretty dire.
That's the big issue of our time - how does one obtain unbiased news - where to go to get reporting of the facts only.
Media is powerful, they decide what topics are news (the topics they choose to report on and the issues they decide to emphasis) and use lots of adjectives in their articles which generally make it obvious which side of the argument the reporter/news editor is on.
For example the "Worlds of Journlism Study 2.0 for NZ (see Politics graph bottom o6 page 6)
https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/82228004-cb16-4269-a778-c4f1ceeb757a/d…
shows that about 90% or so of journalists in NZ are left leaning.
I have seen elaborate arguments by Journalists saying that this does not lead to bias reporting.
However, the issue is that that someone with a particular political orientation probably does not understand the other side and therefore does not have the knowledge to ask questions or able identify the issues from the other perspective.
I don't know what the answer is, other than to obtain news and views from many sources - MSM being but one source (an increasing small source for news).
I would have thought it possible to be able to measure neutrality in reporting, and at least make the funding for the state owned media dependent on a neutrality measure (e.g. RNZ funding made iproportional to a measure of neutrality).
Well I’ll dip my toe in the water and suggest Zero Hedge – they definitely lean to the right, they can get painful by getting carried away celebrating fails of the left leaning press/politicians or anything ‘woke’ etc – most of that stuff needs to be taken with a grain of salt etc.
However in terms of news from Ukraine/Russia – and there are a couple of those articles on the front page at the moment – I expect they are reasonably factual. [I'm aware that wikipeda and google have tried to smear ZH in the past suggesting links to Russia - I suggest people read the articles and decide for themselves]
However as others have said – you need to review various sources. I’m happy to learn of other sources.
The following article is not directly related but it is important and raises questions about the independence of lot of mainstream media.
That's a bit weird. So you will believe ZH when it confirms your bias, but reject when it doesn't. That implies your bias is your anchor, and you only call it 'news' when it confirms what you want to hear. You are a prime social media / AI target..
So you will believe ZH when it confirms your bias, but reject when it doesn't.
I'm a ZH fan David and admit to using it as a confirmation bias safety blanket. That being said, it seems to me that the ZH target reader is pretty good at filtering and raising relevant questions. Some of the comments can be wildly entertaining and intelligent.
Hmm, the comment section is sometimes intelligent and sometimes downright racist.
It's amazing isn't it, people showing their natural evolutionarily developed in-group preferences.
Yikes, where to begin. Are you suggesting that once we use a source of information regularly then most people would believe/trust everything they produce? I don't think so. ZH produce some articles themselves and have a range of contributors - a further reason to judge each article on it's own merits. Perhaps I have misinterpreted your comment, however to cut to the chase - I have no social media accounts.
.
See if any MSM reports the following Gallup poll.
https://x.com/MarkAmesExiled/status/1859044490343747688
A majority of Ukrainians want their government to negotiate an armistice as soon as possible. Against Ukrainians are their so-called “supporters” in the elite US/EU media, think tank and political class, who continue pushing Ukraine to fight to the last Ukrainian.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/653618/war-rally-fades-ukraine-leadership.aspx
Did you actually read that Gallup result? It doesn't support the Russophile's conclusion. Most Ukrainians still don't want to be taken over by Russia, despite Trump pressure.
Perhaps this clarifies Ukrainian feelings better
https://news.gallup.com/poll/653495/half-ukrainians-quick-negotiated-en…
Of course wanting negotiations and ending up giving up a lot of territory has elicited a similar answer, give up some.
Much appreciated Nigelh, I made the mistake of being in a hurry to add a link, sloppy...
https://x.com/MarkAmesExiled/status/1859044490343747688
I've read Mark Ames for years, going back to his days at expat Moscow newspaper The Exile with Matt Taibbi in the 00s. Great writer about geopolitics in a non-dry academic way. Even back then, Ames and Taibbi were exposing the NYT fakers. Truly glorious but of course establishment people would only read their work when nobody else was looking.
Trivia question: What is the Aotearoa connection to The Exile?
Willem Middelkoop (a commodity fund investment manager) sends a weekly email with articles/links, it was one of those.
Incorrect. I'm talking about the now defunct Exile. Not the answer, but they once wrote an amusing article featuring a Kiwi diplomat pushing dairy in the Russian market. By all accounts, an unremarkable man who had a knack of being acquainted by Slavic beauties.
Well Sam Neill did audition for James Bond in From Russia with Love, but probably not the answer you're looking for.. ;-D
Sam rehearsed Bond in "Reilly, Ace of spies" in the early 1980s, an underated performance
I did quite a bit of work with an English polyglot. (French, German, Dutch, Russian, Spanish, Portugeuse, English and a few others, including Mandarin which he's learning now. Awesome singing voice - I wonder if that helped.)
His view was startling: each language's MSM is biased but put them all together and the picture becomes clearer. So I started reading French newspapers and their financial press. To say I was startled would be an understatement. Those countries with 'old empires' cover many of the countries we seldom hear about in NZ. I now use various free translation services to read in other languages, mainly Spanish, German, Russian and Mandarin. (Will add Hindi soon. Indian press isn't that great IMO - think Fox News.)
Ça c'est très impressionnant !
Interesting comment about Indian press. I occasionally watch First Post, Palki Sharma, in English. Quite a different and useful perspective compared with Western media, both MSM and other Western online news outlets.
I don't know if it appeared in any NZ media but was quite surprised to hear about the Khalistani demo in Akl in the last 10 days or so from First Post. India very touchy about Khalistani seperatists, especially with the on going stoush with Canada, specifically Trudeau. Based on non intervention by NZ in the demo because I think it was legit, you can kiss good buy to any Indian trade deal for at least a year and maybe even longer.
I watch First Post as well, in an attempt to purposely hear non-western news. I agree this Indian news channel offers a different perspective on things. I have even watched some RT (Russia Today) news, especially when overseas, as they're on mainstream TV in Indonesia, but banned from You Tube. I find most of the news fairly neutral, but then there are a few pieces that are really blatantly inaccurate and pro Russia. I like Al Jazeera as well as a non-western news outlet.
Thanks for the many replies. I didn't want to taint other people's views with my own, so I did not share my opinion in my original post. I'd like to share my view now though:
I struggle with the idea that one should move away from Mainstream media in favour of podcasts (on YouTube for example). Whilst MSM is not perfect, the journalists have studied their profession, and most MSM outlets can be sued for defamation in case of spreading fake news. Therefore, to me, this should mean that MSM news should be more neutral, less biased and less fake than news by any Joe Bloggs (or Joe Rogan for that matter).
I'm happy to hear counterpoints ?
The counterpoint is why most of us are here. Many have long rejected the steady diet of unquestioning (and sometimes completely unknowledgeable) MSM adoration of whatever some big bank economist has to say or whatever fad the latest real estate or finance spruiker is pushing. Not to mention the impractical plans which keep emanating out of Wellington. Much of the MSM reporting of which varies wildly between being merely incomplete to more often than not being utterly misleading or supine.
Personally, I do not read Interest because I reject MSM, my reason is simply that I find Interest a great site for financial information to help me make money.
What is the most reliable, least biased source of news and why ?
That is very hard to answer.
We have seen less than factual reporting many times before. Eg Justification for the Iraq war was because Saddam had weapons of mass destruction - not that those weapons were found.
As Denzel said (one of the few good people, that has survived Hollyweird) said of the MSM......pick your poison.
"Read the news and be misinformed or don't read it and be uninformed".
Denzel Washington Blasts the Media on Dishonesty and 'Fake News'
Best to read it all, know they have bias, back test the story and use your experience and intelligence, to know what is real.
Good on Denzel, however distrust in media has been around a while.
“If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.”
― Mark Twain
This quote I think sums up the state of the news in all it's forms. There is what you think is the "truth", what someone else thinks is the "truth" and what is true.
Yes you can be easily find yourself not thinking enough about your reading. For years I followed William Safire’s columns at the NY Times. Seemed to be a conservative amongst liberals and lazily mistook that for balance. As well he was certainly articulate, entertainingly caustic and wrote fairly convincingly. Got into an amicable discussion with an American attorney in transit at an airport. He declared himself as an entrenched conservative but a total lightweight compared to Safire. Took me through a few what he called “Safire’s misfires.” An eye opener, a lesson well learnt.
Anyone seen the new Jaguar rebranding advertisement? They’re having a bit of a Bud Light moment. Honestly who comes up with this? A major rule in business is to know the customer. Who does this appeal to? No one that buys jags.
https://youtu.be/rLtFIrqhfng?si=-mFDqxFngyLZMxGm
Well there is a Jaguar Organic Soap on the market. Maybe they got their clients mixed up?
Jaguar fumbled and dropped it while Volvo hit a six. Meet the new Volvo EX90
When I was traveling in a lot of developing countries in the 1990s, I found the Christian science monitor to be one of the best newspapers. Avaliable everywhere, I don't remember a particular religious slant, I probably just skipped reading those sections.
Then in Ghana I came across a treasure trove of news, a load of week old and older British newspapers been sorted for recycling on the side of the street. For a few cents, I had a few days of reading. It ain't old news if you haven't read it.
That, and the" this is London " on the shortwave radio.
The msm term hadn't been heard of back then.
It's costing AUD122 million to fix a pool in North Sydney. Adult ticket prices to go for a swim are $6.50. Seems to me that if it costs this much just for maintenance, ticket prices should be closer to $100 minimum.
North Sydney residents’ rates could double as the estimated cost to rebuild their storied Olympic pool soars past $100 million, prompting the NSW local government minister to urge a rethink on whether councils should take on such large infrastructure projects.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/crisis-point-north-sydney-council-r…
Yes only let the rich swim....
It's a pity that the NSW govt can't spend into existence to the same extent as the federal govt. They have to claw financial resources somehow.
Would you buy NSW bonds? I guess the RBA could buy them.
All the States (well aside from Vic) are so resource rich that there is no limit to the folly they can fund. NSW still mine a lot of coal as well, however we would rather swim in virtuosness than a beautiful pool so more fool them (lolz).
Actually, I think the Ponzi - land tax and stamp duties - is greater than mining royalties for the NSW govt. For some reason, it's difficult to find total state revenue from mining.
NSW state govt is awfully corrupt.
This is something I like about the US - the ability of states to challenge the federal govt apparatus.
In a quest for sound money, a Texas lawmaker has filed two bills that, if passed, would create gold and silver-backed transactional currencies, backed 100% by the underlying asset, that would serve as legal tender in the state.
According to a report from the Tenth Amendment Center, Texas State Representative Mark Dorazio filed House Bill 1049 and House Bill 1056 on November 12, two bills with similar language that would add provisions to different sections of the Texas legal code.
https://www.kitco.com/news/article/2024-11-22/texas-proposes-gold-and-s…
In the last few years Texas repatriated it's gold holdings from the Fed to keep it in a secure Texas facility. I wonder why.
The Lone Star state.Nothing bigger except for Alaska. Way back General Philip Sheridan on declining the governorship post the civil war declared something like - why if I had a choice of Texas or hell, I would live in hell and rent out Texas.
Hell would be hotter than Texas. It's not the perfect place to live but they do well on housing and taxation. Interestingly, bilingualism is normal in Texas because of the high Latino population and many non-Latinos have a handle on Spanish. Far more pragmatic language skills than our woke approach to Maori.
And the food rocks.
You will be looking forward to NZ being divided into 4 states, with a very small federal set up. It’s going to be epic.
Undoubtedly then, if the French in the 19th century, really had had a chance to claim Akaroa and the rest of the South Island whilst at it, and had done so, the dynamics of this far flung outpost at the south east end of the line would be obviously rather different today and likely a lot more colourfully so to boot? I mean just like the Guyanas it could have been the British and French Zelandes. And before all the colonially oppressed leap onto that, it is just kidding.
XRP has now climbed past the ol' rat poison's 2024 appreciation by a substantial proportion.
157% vs 133%.
What I find amusing about this is that it confounds all the recognized crypto commentators and experts. Those with less ego will understand that it's simply a fat tail event.
The following links are above my pay grade but they seem important - we'll see.
The Newsweek article notes comments from Arnaud Bertrand. The first part of a tweet from Arnaud is below.
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1859446480198828360
https://www.newsweek.com/china-news-weaken-us-dollar-bonds-1989924
The story around China issuing USD-denominated sovereign bonds in Saudi Arabia is generating an enormous amount of buzz in China, and could potentially be immensely important. I strongly suspect it's a message to the upcoming Trump administration. Let me explain what seems to be going on.
On the face of it, it's not a major story: China issued $2 billion in USD-denominated sovereign bonds in Saudi Arabia, which means that investors lent USD to the Chinese government that they promised to pay back. That's what a bond is. So far, relatively boring.
The first somewhat interesting aspect of it is that the bonds were oversubscribed by almost 20x (meaning $40+ billion in demand for $2 billion worth of bonds), which is far more demand than usual for USD sovereign bonds. Typically US Treasury auctions see oversubscription rate between 2x to 3x so there obviously seems to be very strong market appeal for China's dollar-denominated debt.
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