The Institute for Supply Management’s October purchasing managers index (PMI) for the U.S. service sector climbed to 56.0 from 54.9 in September, giving it the highest rating since July 2022.
ECONOMIC UPDATE—MARKET OVERVIEW, SPECIAL REPORT: THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND THE U.S. ECONOMY
Donald Trump told voters that under his economic policies, “incomes will skyrocket, inflation will vanish completely, jobs will come roaring back, and the middle class will prosper like never before.”
MAGA-IZING THE MARKETS…GOLD AND ESPECIALLY SILVER REMAIN THE BEST LONG-TERM TRADES ON EARTH
Now that the Presidential Selection has been made, Wall Street, (especially MEGA Banks), corporate insiders, investors, traders, and the global cryptocurrency markets are simply WAY BEYOND ECSTATIC! (Perhaps MEGA banks should now be called MAGA banks?)
GLOBAL INCOME INEQUALITY ON THE RISE
Ninety percent of the 164 countries in a new study are enacting economic policies “highly likely to increase economic inequality,” according to study authors Oxfam and Development Finance International.
MIND-VASION: INDOCTRINATION GOING FROM OUTSIDE-IN, TO INSIDE-OUT
Generative AI and sophisticated new brain targeting technologies, together with defeats suffered by authoritarian elites in molding opinions of citizens, is setting the stage for a different species of mind manipulation.
IT REALLY IS “THE ECONOMY, STUPID”
The Trends Journal got it wrong. We had forecast that since the Republicans did not do well in the mid-term election despite inflation skyrocketing and President Biden’s poll ratings tanking because of the abortion issue, Harris—who is pro-abortion—would defeat Donald Trump, who has bragged that “I was able to kill the Roe vs. Wade” that protected abortion rights.
TRUMP ELECTION A WIN OR A LOSS FOR ISRAEL
On one side of the Israel War equation, Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. will be a serious blow to Israel’s security and will be proven a disaster for Palestinians in the region, according to a Middle East scholar.
Global Economy
ECONOMIC BRIEFS
Americans’ mood about the economy rose in early November to its brightest in six months, according to the University of Michigan’s monthly survey of consumers’ moods and views.
SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
Private equity firms Energy Capital Partners (ECP) and KKR have entered a partnership to invest a combined $50 billion to build data centers and energy supplies for them to support the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI).
SPOTLIGHT: CHINA’S ECONOMIC MISERY
China has completed arrangements to open a $1.4-trillion fund for local governments engulfed by debt.
The funds to help local governments clear “hidden” or off-book debt will be available until 2029, officials announced at an 8 November press briefing.
The Israel War
LEBANON DEATH TOLL
The death toll in Israel’s offensive in Lebanon hit 3,287 on Tuesday, with an additional 14,222 people being injured in Israeli airstrikes and raids across the country.
GAZA DEATH TOLL
The IDF killed at least 43,665 in Gaza and injured 103,076 since its genocide began last year. At least 11,000 people are missing. About 70 percent of the victims have been women and children, according to the UN.
TRUMP ELECTION A WIN OR A LOSS FOR ISRAEL
On one side of the Israel War equation, Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. will be a serious blow to Israel’s security and will be proven a disaster for Palestinians in the region, according to a Middle East scholar.
AI
AI STILL LIKES WHITE JOB APPLICANTS BEST
Despite developers’ assurances to the contrary, AI models still rank job candidates with “White-sounding” names ahead of those with more ethnically linked monikers, according to a new study from the University of Washington.
AI COMES TO THE AID OF BIODIVERSITY
In late October, an estimated 15,000 people met in Colombia for COP16, the 16th annual meeting of the 150 nations that signed the Convention on Biodiversity intended to protect species from extinction.
DON’T USE AI TO SPY ON WORKERS, AGENCY WARNS
Employers could find themselves in legal trouble if they use AI and algorithmic programs to surveil their workers, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) warned in a public statement.
Hi-Tech Science
NANOPLASTICS IN YOUR BODY CAN INTERFERE WITH A COMMON ANTIBIOTIC
Nanoplastic particles—pieces smaller than a thousandth of a millimeter or four thousandths of an inch—have been found to block the effects of some antibiotics and could worsen the rising crisis of antibiotic resistance.
SCIENTISTS MAKE SYNTHETIC GENES THAT WORK LIKE REAL ONES IN LIVING CELLS
A team of scientists from the University of California Los Angeles and the University of Rome Tor Vergata have made genes that work the same as nature’s own versions.
VTOL FLYING FIRST AID STATION TRAVELS AT 288 MPH
Jump Aero, a California startup, has booked the first commercial orders for its JA1 Pulse, a flying first-aid station that can be airborne in less than a minute and is designed to reach any remote or wilderness location within 30 miles in no more than 10 minutes.