Assets of the 10 largest central banks have surged from $7 trillion in 2006 to $23 trillion today, according to Renaissance Capital. That’s equivalent to 29 percent of global-stock-market capitalization, or 43 percent of the world’s tradable fixed-income securities. And, as a result of leading central banks’ massive purchases of bonds and other securities since the Panic of ’08, they...
Cities get smart
Half the world’s population lives in cities, the World Health Organization says. The proportion is expected to reach 70 percent by 2050. To make these ever-expanding human hives livable as well as affordable, the efficient flow of services and resources in the city has to be perfected. That level of intelligence has eluded people. But it hasn’t stumped the Internet...
Trend Forecast
While US equity markets have continued to rally, primarily due to corporate earnings, there is concern it may not sustain if the Trump administration fails to stimulate the economy by lowering taxes, cutting regulations, trimming the budget and investing in infrastructure. While there is consensus the White House is in disarray, and Congress is too divided to take decisive measures,...
Trend Forecast
Should the Federal Reserve significantly raise interest rates and the dollar regains its losses, gold could sustain a $100 to $150 downside risk. On the upside, when gold breaks above $1,400 per ounce and maintains growth in the high $1,400 range, we forecast it will rapidly spike to $2,000.
Trendpost
With cities growing relentlessly, municipal governments have no choice but to enlist artificial intelligence, data analytics, remote sensing and Cloud communications to make urban centers not only habitable, but also affordable and efficient. Deft management of resources and waste will stretch city budgets and improve urbanites’ quality of life. Creative entrepreneurs will find lucrative niches as cities’ systems need to...
America’s shadow: Donald Trump
There was no better-suited stage to reflect just how deep America’s collective smarts, dignity, self-pride and morality had sunk than Presidential Campaign 2016. United States elections, especially presidential elections, once were a cherished tradition. They were ripe with optimism that our next leaders would reflect in principle and practice the moral, freedom-loving tenets on which the country was founded. They...
Trendpost
The Obama years ended with him vigorously campaigning for Hillary Clinton in her race against Donald Trump. No president in history campaigned harder for his potential successor than Obama did, pleading with voters to support Clinton and, thus, endorse his legacy. His campaigning capped off the stunning failure of war-hawk and pseudo-liberal Clinton to generate enough enthusiasm to beat what...
Mind meld
Uniting organic computers – our brains – with their electronic counterparts has moved farther from science fiction and closer to reality, thanks to recent bioengineering innovations. The first is an artificial synapse, devised by researchers at Stanford University and Sandia National Laboratories. Since synapses are mainly empty space, why is this a big deal? Because synapses are the places in...
Trendpost
The combination of artificial intelligence, microelectronics and brain research is blurring the line between human being and intelligent machine. Assistive or therapeutic technologies will be the pioneering applications; then, market demand will drive more and more sophisticated uses outside of medicine. Mapping the brain and learning how to target electrical pulses to specific regions could transfer knowledge between minds or...
Biodegradable plastic
What if plastics could be made from biodegradable material? Just throw the old water bottles and fast-food cutlery in the garbage; bacteria at the dump will eat them, in short order, down to harmless substances. That goal is still elusive. But we’re getting closer. The first big step came more than a decade ago when scientists figured out how to...