TRENDS ON THE ECONOMIC AND MARKET FRONT
REMOTE WORKERS ALSO FEEL REMOTE FROM EMPLOYER’S MISSION
The proportion of remote workers who feel connected to their company’s mission or purpose slipped from 32 percent to 28 percent year over year, according to a Gallup survey of 9,000 employees this spring and summer.
ECONOMIC UPDATE – MARKET OVERVIEW
The facts are there for all to see. Across the globe, the rich are getting richer as the plantation workers of Slavelandia get poorer. And to make a bad situation worse, the era of Dragflation, where economies go down and inflation rises, has just begun.
AS INFLATION SLOWS, PROFITS FALL TOO
After-tax corporate profits in this year’s second quarter were 9.4 percent below those of a year earlier, the U.S. Commerce Department reported in late August, although companies listed in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index showed only a 2.9-percent decline in earnings per share, data service Refinitiv said.
U.S. JOB MARKET “AT AN IDEAL CRUISING ALTITUDE,” ANALYSTS SAY
With 187,000 new jobs in August, the U.S. labor market is in a sweet spot, economists say.
U.S. HOME PRICES ON THE RISE
In May, home prices fell in their steepest monthly drop since 2012, as we reported in “U.S. Home Prices Fall By Most Since 2012” (27 Jun 2023), U.S. home prices began rising again.
U.S FACING A REAL ESTATE “DOOM LOOP
From 2015 into 2022, small and regional banks nearly doubled the value of their loans against commercial real estate, amassing...
FEDS PRESSURE BANKS TO INCREASE LIQUIDITY
In the wake of three bank failures last spring, and as the commercial real estate bust continues to unfold, federal bank regulators are pressing small and regional banks to add to their liquidity, Bloomberg reported.
TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT
SPOTLIGHT: EUROPE GOING DOWN
The HCOB purchasing managers index (PMI), which measures business activity across the 19-country Eurozone, sank to 47 in August, its lowest in 33 months, after the ongoing slump in manufacturing was joined by an unexpected contraction in services.
CENTRAL BANKERS SEE A LOW-GROWTH FUTURE BURDENED BY DEBT, GEOPOLITICAL STRIFE
Governments, businesses, and households are toting record levels of debt. The world’s trading network is shattering along geopolitical faultlines. The world’s economy is precariously close to a recession and, at best, will grow so slowly that emerging nations may forfeit years of potential gains.
WHEN THE ECONOMY FALLS JOBS GO WITH IT
Welcome to the second year of our listing the loss of jobs. As we have detailed, there is a global economic contraction underway that will worsen in the Northern Hemisphere as the summer ends and the reality of winter life begins to set in. In the U.S. the employment numbers are already weakening.
GLOBAL GROWTH WILL SLOW IN 2024
This is old news to Trends Journal subscribers, but it's making headline news now! After exceeding expectations this year, thanks to tight job markets and consumers’ continued shopping, growth among the worlds’ leading economies will slow next year, many economists now expect.
INTEREST RATE HIKES HAMPER GROWTH FOR 12 YEARS, FED STUDY SAYS
Central banks’ interest rate increases slow broader economic growth for at least 12 years, according to a new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
DE-DOLLARIZATION “IRREVERSIBLE”
The dollar’s loss of its central role in the world’s economy is “an objective and irreversible process,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told the BRICS summit on 5 September.
WEAKNESS IN RETAIL SALES AND CHINA’S ECONOMY SINKS SHIPPERS
The shipping industry has entered its peak season, the time when retailers are expecting their holiday inventories of clothing, decorations, electronics, toys, and other items.
CANADA’S ECONOMY SHRINKS IN SECOND QUARTER
Canada’s economy contracted by 0.2 percent in this year’s second quarter, Statistics Canada reported.
TOP TREND 2023, OFFICE BUILDING BUST: TENANTS SIGNING MORE OFFICE LEASES BUT FOR LESS SPACE
In this year’s second quarter, U.S. businesses signed new leases for about 97.5 million square feet, approaching twice the 57.4 million that marked the low point during the COVID War, data service CoStar reported.
SPOTLIGHT: CHINA’S ECONOMIC STRUGGLE
Last month, the value of China’s exports was 8.8 percent below that of a year earlier, the government announced, marking the fourth consecutive month of reduced sales abroad.
SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
As we had long forecast, the higher central banks raise interest rates, the lower the Merger and Acquisition trend… which hit record highs at the height of the COVID War in 2021 when interest rates sank and governments pumped in countless trillions to artificially prop up sinking economies.
UKRAINE WAR TREND UPDATE
ZELENSKY’S FAVORITE OLIGARCH ARRESTED IN ANTI-CORRUPTION DRIVE
When it comes to Ukraine, all roads lead to corruption and Volodymyr Zelensky is leading the charge.
TOP UKRAINIAN OFFICIAL AGREES WITH CELENTE: WWIII HAS BEGUN
Aleksey Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told a forum last week that the conflict in Ukraine is not a border war with Russia, but rather the “active phase” of WWIII.
‘SPRING OFFENSIVE’ TURNS TO ‘FALL OFFENSIVE’: ZELENSKY TELLS WEST TO IGNORE REALITY
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters earlier this month that his forces are on the move, despite what critics have said about the country’s counteroffensive that wasn’t.
PUTIN CALLS UKRAINIAN COUNTEROFFENSIVE A FAILURE
Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters earlier this month that it is not accurate to call Ukraine’s counteroffensive a slow-moving effort and called it a failure.
NYT ADMITS THAT PEACE IS PROHIBITED IN UKRAINE, JUST MORE WAR IS ALLOWED
The New York Times ran a story earlier this month that summed up what The Trends Journal has been saying since the start of the Ukraine War: no talk of compromise is allowed unless Ukraine achieves all of its goals against the much larger Russian army.
KIRBY: GET IN LINE! CRITICIZING UKRAINE’S COUNTEROFFENSIVE IS NOT HELPFUL
John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesman, told reporters last week that criticizing Ukraine’s counteroffensive does not serve any purpose.
RUSSIA SAYS ITS SARMAT ICBM HAS BEEN PUT ‘ON COMBAT DUTY’
Russian media outlets reported last week that Moscow has placed the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile “on combat duty” amid heightening tensions with the West over the Ukraine War.
WESTERN OFFICIALS CONTINUE TO SELL LIE THAT RUSSIA HAS LOST
In an effort to keep up support for Kyiv, Western officials are continuing to tell news outlets that Russia has somehow lost on the ground in Ukraine.
ELON MUSK MAY HAVE SAVED THE WORLD FROM NUCLEAR WAR, PAYS THE PRICE
Elon Musk, the Tesla billionaire who has irked the mainstream news media for taking a pragmatic stance on Ukraine, may have prevented WWIII by cutting off Kyiv from accessing his Starlink internet over Crimea—and preventing a major escalation.
EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WANT NO PEACE IN UKRAINE: NAZI TIME?
There’s a growing sense in the West that the war in Ukraine is not going well for the West, and Eastern European countries—the loudest “supporters” of Kyiv—are fearful of the reality that Russia could emerge from the conflict much stronger and more assertive in the region.
FEATURED TRENDS GUEST ARTICLE by John & Nisha Whitehead
THE NEXT CRISIS IS ANYONE’S GUESS, BUT THE GOVERNMENT IS READY TO LOCKDOWN THE NATION
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”—H.L. Mencken
FEATURED TRENDS GUEST ARTICLE by Dr. Joseph Mercola
‘PURE GARBAGE’: SCHOOL CAFETERIAS START SERVING UP BIG FOOD’S LUNCHABLES
The quality of school lunches has been deteriorating for decades, and it just got another downgrade.
As reported by CNN, two Kraft Heinz ready-to-eat prepackaged Lunchables are being added to K-12 school lunch programs across the U.S. as of this fall semester.
TRENDS IN TECHNOCRACY by Joe Doran
WAR AGAINST THE NATURALLY HUMAN CONTINUES: WIRED PUSHES IDEA THAT DESIRING BIOLOGICAL CHILDREN IS “IMMORAL”
“Most people say they want their kids to be their own genetic offspring—but such a desire is in conflict with other evolving values around parenting and family.”
PAST TIME TO RESPOND TO TERM WARFARE
Political and social coercion is often largely carried out by winning debates before they even start, via defining the terms used.
Words are used to negatively define opponents and win the argument by their simple embodiment of some perceived good or truth.
THIS WEEK IN SURVEILLANCE
It’s hard to parody the dystopian control-freak technology ambitions of Government entities, as two recent stories underscore.
TRENDS IN CRYPTOS
SEC WANTS IMMEDIATE HALT ON RIPPLE SALES
As the U.S. banking system, and an unknown ocean of derivatives investments teeter on the edge of a cataclysm, the SEC seems more concerned than ever with…Ripple?
TRENDS IN GEOPOLITICS
NIGER: FRENCH FORCES ARE PREPARING ‘INTERVENTION’ AFTER COUP
Niger’s new leadership—that has been in place after the July coup in the former French colony—has accused Paris of amassing forces and military equipment in nearby countries—raising the risk of a military intervention that could further destabilize the country.
THE RISING SUN: JAPAN TO SPEND RECORD $53 BILLION ON DEFENSE
Japan, the U.S.’s WWII enemy who bombed Pearl Harbor and killed tens of millions across Asia, will spend $53 billion in 2024 to beef up its military in the perceived threat of China and North Korea—much to the delight of Washington.
ROMANIA SAYS PARTS OF RUSSIAN DRONE FELL ON TERRITORY, AFTER FIRST DENYING
It didn’t take long for Romania to change its tune.
KEVIN MCCARTHY, WHO DOESN’T KNOW DICK SHIT ABOUT NUCLEAR WASTE, BLAMES CHINA FOR RAISING CONCERNS OVER JAPAN’S TOXIC DUMP INTO PACIFIC
Kevin McCarthy, the U.S. House of Representatives speaker with about as much knowledge on nuclear waste as your mailman, visited Japan this week and endorsed Tokyo’s move to dump toxic waste from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific, and criticized China for raising concerns.
GERMANY’S 2024 BUDGET TAKES AIM AT MIDDLE CLASS AS COUNTRY WAGES WAR AGAINST RUSSIA
Berlin has declared war on Russia and on the average German.
WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, THEY TAKE YOU TO WAR: ISRAEL, U.S. PRACTICE STRIKING IRANIAN TARGETS
The U.S. and Israel are preparing to come together—once again—to practice attacking Iranian targets in the next few months that will simulate responding to a multi-front missile attack from Iran and separate attacks on nuclear facilities, according to a report.
GABON BECOMES LATEST FORMER FRENCH COLONY TO HAVE PRESIDENT OUSTED IN COUP
The anti-French dominos continue to fall in Africa, with Gabon’s military staging a coup last month to oust President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose family has ruled the country for 55 years—enriching themselves while using its close ties with Paris to maintain power.
NETANYAHU’S GOVERNMENT CONTINUES ITS WAR ON PALESTINIANS
As protests continue in Israel in opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reform package, his government is continuing to carry out attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
TRENDS-EYE VIEW
BIDEN ADMIN TRAMPLED FIRST AMENDMENT, 5TH CIRCUIT AGREES
The Missouri vs. Biden court case continues to affirm that the Biden administration owes its “success” and likely its existence, to a concerted destruction of Constitutionally protected free speech opposition.
U.S. EXPERIENCING ‘CRISIS OF EARLY DEATH’
The U.S. is losing more than a million young and working-age adults compared to other high-income countries, which researchers said is “unprecedented in modern times.”
GERMAN BROADCASTER FIGHTS TO KEEP MAKING COUNTRY FAT
Thomas Rabe, the head of RTL Group, Germany’s largest private broadcaster, has clashed with the government over its move to strictly limit junk-food advertising during programming that usually attracts a lot of children viewers.
TRENDS IN HI-TECH SCIENCE by Ben Daviss
NEW TECHNIQUE TURNS CANCER CELLS INTO MUSCLE CELLS
An experiment led by scientists at Cold Springs Harbor National Laboratory has transformed cancer cells into muscle cells.
AN ENZYME THAT MAKES ELECTRICITY FROM AIR
Scientists at Australia’s Monash University have isolated an enzyme in a common soil bacterium that pulls hydrogen from air and uses it to make an electric current.
“LIVING MATERIAL” CLEANS WATER, THEN DISAPPEARS
At the University of California San Diego, researchers have 3D-printed an “engineered living material” that neutralizes organic pollutants in water, then can be dissolved by a common nontoxic compound.
TRENDS IN AI
AI’s “QUICK AND EASY” DISINFORMATION MACHINE
An anonymous, self-described “cybersecurity professional” built an AI in the course of a few weeks for the purpose of spreading fake news and other forms of disinformation.
BRITISH CYBERSECURITY EXPERTS WARN ABOUT AI’S DANGER TO ORGANIZATIONS
Experts at the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have warned organizations that chatbots can still be easily fooled into ignoring their behavioral guardrails or tricked into saying or posting incorrect, offensive, or damaging information.
HACKS ARE INCREASING. THANK AI FOR THAT.
Experts said AI will create more jobs. Hacking seems to be one of those lucky professions.
META AND CARNEGIE MELLON PUT AI INTO ROBOTS THAT NOW LEARN LIKE TODDLERS
Toddlers learn by wandering around their environments, picking things up, and playing with them to see what they’re for and how they work. Now Meta and Carnegie Mellon University’s renowned robotics department have collaborated to make robots that learn the way three-year-olds do. They named the AI “RoboAgent”.
SENATE LEADER SCHUMER CONVENES “AI 101” COURSE WITH TECH LEADERS
U.S. senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has planned nine “AI Insight Forums” to educate senators about AI, starting this week.
U.K. WILL HOST “AI SAFETY SUMMIT” IN NOVEMBER
Not to be outdone by Yanks, on the first two days of November the U.K. will host a global “AI Safety Summit” to explore realistic options for regulating AI.
SCAMMERS USE AI TO STEAL YOUR MONEY
Thieves are using AI’s increasing skill at cloning people’s voices to steal money from bank accounts.
AI: PRODUCTIVITY SOARS WHILE PUTTING KNOWLEDGE WORKERS AT RISK
The combination of generative artificial intelligence and machine learning could as much as double U.S. economic productivity and add trillions of dollars to global GDP after a decade of greater and greater adoption, some analysts have predicted.
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS OFFICES WRESTLE WITH THE PRESENCE OF AI
The all-important college admissions essay has long been a screen for college admissions offices. How thoughtful is the applicant? How articulate? What is the applicant’s character, the person’s goals and values?
AI HELPS LANDLORDS GO GREEN
Owners of retail and office space are finding that they can charge premium rents for “green” locations that are more energy-efficient, have more natural light and better air circulation, and meet the increasingly stringent environmental codes cities are adopting.