That’s why our Government doesn’t want people watching TikTok – it’s unfiltered Democracy in action – real free speech… People speak, people listen and a lot of very good stuff gets elevated. Another thing I realized watching TikTok is that the concept of “Fair and Balanced” is a sham because always having an opposing view on makes everything you hear sound like BS – because an idea doesn’t have time to sink in before someone else tears it apart. That’s on purpose – “THEY” do that to prevent you from having new thoughts.
When you learn a lesson in geography about how it was proven that the world is round – they don’t bring in another teacher right afterwards to tell you it’s actually flat yet that is what happens with pretty much everything we try to learn after school these days – as it is now drummed into our heads that we have to weigh each side equally but, as flat-earthers demonstrate – the other side can be completely unequal and doesn’t deserve to be given equal time – things are actually true or untrue.
Here’s Simon Sinek making an excellent point about Trust and Performance and what’s wrong with Corporate America and, if you watch it, you’ll realize it’s kind of obvious but it’s also something we’ve been trained not to think about – because it’s not in the interest of the people who are currently in charge.
Speaking of the untrustable people who are in charge – The G20 summit in New Delhi concluded with the adoption of the G20 Leaders’ Declaration. The declaration highlighted the main outcomes and commitments of the G20 members on various issues, such as:
- Recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthening global health systems, including supporting the equitable distribution of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, and enhancing pandemic preparedness and response capacities.
- Promoting inclusive and sustainable growth and addressing the challenges posed by climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation, including endorsing the G20 Action Plan on Nature.
- Enhancing international cooperation and multilateralism, and reforming the global governance architecture, especially the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Health Organization.
- Fostering innovation and digital transformation and ensuring a human-centric approach to artificial intelligence, data governance, cybersecurity, and digital taxation.
- Advancing social justice and gender equality and empowering women and girls, youth, and vulnerable groups, as well as promoting quality education, decent work, social protection, and human rights.
The G20 summit also featured several side events and dialogues with various stakeholders, such as civil society organizations, business leaders, think tanks, labor unions, women’s groups, youth representatives, and urban mayors. Some of the notable initiatives launched during the summit were:
- The G20 Global Infrastructure Initiative – which aims to mobilize $3 trillion of private and public investment in sustainable infrastructure projects by 20303.
- The G20 Compact on Africa – which seeks to enhance economic cooperation and development between the G20 and African countries, especially in the areas of trade, investment, energy, health, agriculture, and digitalization.
- The G20 Digital Inclusion Partnership – which strives to bridge the digital divide and promote digital literacy and skills among marginalized populations.
The G20 summit was widely praised for its successful outcomes and constructive dialogue among the leaders. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked all the participants for their contributions and expressed his hope that the G20 would continue to work together for a better future for all. The next G20 summit will be hosted by Indonesia in 2024.
Global Warming – what? Ukraine – where? Taiwan – trick question, it’s part of China. Global Recession – ??? We have one chance to get all the World leaders together each year (actually neither Xi or Putin were there) and tackle our Global issues and none of the important stuff made the agenda. How do we kick the can on Climate Change down the road another year?
1.5 degrees (dark orange) is the “tipping point” at which SCIENCE says the planet will go Thanos on us and 50% of the population will begin to die off. If that red zone on the top of the World begins to spread – there will be very few pockets where human life and human agriculture can comfortably survive the century but hey – that’s 80 years from now so let’s not even think about it in the Wall Street Journal today.
We got our Climate Report Card this weekend and it was a “D” at best. The report underscores the slow progress in addressing climate change and the need for countries to take more ambitious and immediate actions to meet the goals set in the Paris Agreement. While some of the worst-case climate change scenarios from the early 2010s are less likely today, the progress made by countries is limited and not enough to prevent severe consequences of global warming. According to the Report:
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Limited Progress: Despite the 2015 Paris Agreement and voluntary emissions reduction plans from most countries, the efforts made so far are insufficient to avoid catastrophic climate change.
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Temperature Targets: The Paris Agreement aims to limit global temperature increases to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, with an aspiration to stay at 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, current pledges by countries are on track for approximately 2.5 degrees Celsius of warming by 2100, far from the targets.
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Urgent Action Required: To stay within safe warming levels, global emissions need to decrease by about 60% by 2035. Achieving this will require a rapid expansion of clean energy sources like wind, solar, and nuclear power, along with a significant reduction in fossil fuel usage.
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Narrowing Window: The report emphasizes that the window to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is rapidly closing.
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Global Stocktake: The report forms the basis for the upcoming United Nations climate negotiations, known as COP28, where countries will assess progress and consider increasing their climate efforts.
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Disagreements and Challenges: The report avoids singling out specific countries for success or failure, highlighting the ongoing disagreements among nations regarding who should do more to combat climate change. Financial commitments and adaptation support for developing countries are also lagging behind.
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Call for Urgent Measures: The report urgently calls for measures such as tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 and phasing out unabated fossil fuels, but it acknowledges the challenges and shortcomings in global climate efforts.
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Adaptation and Transformational Changes: The report notes that adaptation efforts need to be more transformational, especially considering future threats like freshwater scarcity and ecosystem damage.
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Response to the Report: The big question is how countries will respond to this global stocktake, as it represents a consensus view among nations about the urgent need for climate action.
None of this seems to bother Wall Street – as the S&P is up 68 points (1.5%) from Friday’s close for no particular reason at all. The Nasdaq closed Friday at 15,280 and the Futures (/NQ) are at 15,588 – up 300 points (2%) – also for no reason. This is how we began last week, with a big pop in the Futures followed by a week of selling and now we’re right back to where we were last Tuesday on no volume and no reason – what a coincidence!
It’s options expiration day on Friday and this is the last month of Q3 and then it’s earnings time again, starting with CitiGroup on October 13th but first we have to get past the Fed next Wednesday – and I still think they hike 0.25%.
This week we have some note auctions and we have Small Business Optimism tomorrow, CPI and Business Expectation on Wednesday with PPI and Retail Sales Thursday followed by the always-terrible Empire State Manufacturing on Friday, along with Industrial Production and Consumer Sentiment.
Meanwhile, ahead of the Consumer Sentiment Report, let’s consider this:
That’s Consumers having burned through $2Tn of their savings in the past three years – a rate of about $60Bn/month and they have $200Bn left with 3 months until Christmas and Credit Card Rates are now up at 22% – which is the highest ever recorded. Gee, I wonder what is going to happen?
That’s right, Banks will make a fortune! Credit card debt is not dischargeable in Bankruptcy so borrowing money from the Fed at 5% and lending it to you at 22% (30% if you default), for the rest of your life is good business for the Massers – they don’t even have to buy you first! Why do you think they call it MASTER Card and Visa – because you’ll need one in another country to get away from the debt collectors…
See, both sides – fair AND balanced!
And yes, we still have earnings reports tricking in – not too many we care about but ORCL, LEN, ADBE, MAMA – some of our favorites. MAMA was our Top Trade Alert in June of 2022, along with Credit Card giant, JPM (Chase) and both of them are doing tremendously a year later:
Meatballs outperforming banks – makes sense to me….
