Rolling US Economy Into The Shitbin Thread

Wish the moon wasn't the only thing casting a shadow across the country. We got through one, we'll get through the other. #SolarEclipse2017

— Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) August 21, 2017

What's the gist of that FT paywalled article?

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https://www.ft.com/content/bbcde2fa-8688-11e7-bf50-e1c239b45787?desktop=true&conceptId=67e7d2d7-ef1f-3a02-9e07-35726073e2c5&segmentId=d8d3e364-5197-20eb-17cf-2437841d178a#myft:notification:instant-email:content:headline:html

The world’s biggest hedge fund manager is turning more defensive on concerns the political drama in Washington will impair the US government’s ability to function and weigh on already wobbly financial markets.

The move by Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater, which manages about $150bn, comes in a month that has seen the benchmark S&P 500 dipping 1.7 per cent amid Donald Trump’s nuclear brinkmanship with North Korea and White House infighting over the president’s response to neo-Nazi demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Although the S&P 500 closed slightly higher in New York trading on Monday, the fall since the start of August puts it on track for the worst monthly performance in almost a year as a series of “Trump trades” have fizzled out over the summer.

Mr Dalio, who was initially optimistic about the economic impact of Mr Trump’s policy agenda, wrote on Monday that divisions in Washington meant “conflicts have now intensified to the point that fighting to the death is probably more likely than reconciliation”, pointing to the president’s sharply diverging approval ratings among Democrats and Republicans.

The hedge fund manager said Bridgewater was “reducing our risk” because of the likelihood the conflicts will not be “handled well”, arguing that their resolution “will have a greater effect on the economy, markets and our overall wellbeing than classic monetary and fiscal policies”.

Thanks

The world’s biggest hedge fund manager

7'2" and 300lbs

INNN THISSSS COR-NERRRR

for fuck's sake

https://consumerist.com/2017/09/29/chamber-of-commerce-files-lawsuit-to-stop-american-consumers-from-being-able-to-file-lawsuits/

How Dollar General Became Rural America's Store of Choice

Dollar General is expanding because rural America is struggling. With its convenient locations for frugal shoppers, it has become one of the most profitable retailers in the U.S. and a lifeline for lower-income customers bypassed by other major chains.

The more the rural U.S. struggles, company officials said, the more places Dollar General has found to prosper. “The economy is continuing to create more of our core customer,” Chief Executive Todd Vasos said in an interview at the company’s Goodlettsville, Tenn., headquarters.

“We are putting stores today [in areas] that perhaps five years ago were just on the cusp of probably not being our demographic,” he said, “and it has now turned to being our demographic.”

Many popular brands are packaged in small quantities to keep prices under $10 -- generally yielding higher profits per item than bulk goods at such warehouse chains as Costco, which sells half-gallon bottles of cooking oil and 7-pound packages of fresh chicken.

“We are putting stores today [in areas] that perhaps five years ago were just on the cusp of probably not being our demographic,” he said, “and it has now turned to being our demographic.”

too real :(

Take your payday loan check on down to Dollar General!

/trench

Reality as a whole needs posting on the trenchant thread

Student Loan Debt Is Now As Big as the U.S. Junk Market

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/11/trump-welfare-reform-safety-net-288623

this is why i live in canada!

― J0rdan S., Friday, October 19, 2007 6:13 AM (ten years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lets revisit this

that's what xi said

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/10/china-is-reportedly-thinking-of-halting-us-treasury-purchases.html

FUK

You know that $1.4 trillion in unfunded tax cuts the Congress just decided to borrow over the next 10 years in order to do nothing useful? Apparently China doesn't find that idea appealing from the lender's perspective. To paraphrase a famous American, that makes them smart!

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trade-nafta-canada/canada-taking-u-s-nafta-threat-seriously-seeks-to-end-logjam-idUSKBN1F01Y1

the minority party needs to stop being so disrespectful to the president and tow (toe?) the line :(

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/372046-dow-sinks-460-points-after-week-of-losses

Correction was overdue, but down 666 Friday, down another almost 500 right now ...

Yeah, tbh I was surprised the market went as high as it did, yet I'm also scratching my head as to what the catalyst is right now.

in today's markets, it could just be algorithms kicking in

Millions of people reading the business section suddenly became curious about the parts of the paper they usually just throw away.

Fears of inflation?

borrowing an extra trillion or so?

keep seeing "rising wages" cited in subheds

Nigh-imperceptible declines in the stark inequity between the richest and poorest Americans have predictably sent Wall Street into a tailspin.

I'm always skeptical of the daily headline commentary on market moves.

oh noes, americans (allegedly) have more money to spend, what a disaster for the economy

yeah, and if it's that it's just further proof of how decoupled the stock market is from the real economy

January 2018 wage gains were apparently highest since June 2009; but fourth quarter 2017 ones were lower than expected.

the obama crash

Feel like there's an extent to which the health of the stock market is directly related to some unknowable index of how tolerant workers are of being exploited at a given point in time. Rising wages certainly threaten that balance.

Down 1000?

at what point does the emergency kill switch kick in?

1300?

here we go

i love trump is on stage ad-libbing about how great he is while this is happening

7% fall is first circuit breaker. Fall is now close to 6%. https://t.co/CG6VSaHe6f

— John Cassidy (@JohnCassidy) February 5, 2018

this has to be by far the record in dollar-amount drop in one day right?

Market wide circuit breaker info: https://t.co/F67W0z56PD pic.twitter.com/dWGILvv9VM

— Joe Saluzzi (@JoeSaluzzi) February 5, 2018

he's talking about hillary clinton rn

if hillary were president the market would have lost twice as much today

I have a theory that Trump's health and well being are psychically tied to the DJI like Elliott was to ET

God willing.

So good day to finally max my 2017 Roth contributions?

the market has now crashed on each of the past four republican presidents. let's cut taxes some more!

Well, clearly we are not cutting them enough.