Consumer confidence at Highest since.......

A recent correction has wiped out all of 2018's gains in the S&P and the Dow


• The S&P 500 is down 10 per cent, a technical correction 
• The Dow is fell 245 points Monday and is lower than it was before the Trump tax cuts
• Trump wrote amid turbulence it was 'taking a little pause'....i.e tanking..

President Donald Trump addressed the October stock market swoon on Tuesday, describing its 9 percent decline as "a little pause."


"There are no shortage of worries for investors," wrote Joe Quinlan, head of CIO Market Strategy at Bank of America, U.S. Trust on Friday. "And then there's the mother of all fears: now fragile global equity markets and the sinking feeling that the great bull market in U.S. equities appears to have exhausted itself."

While Mr. Trump may be proved correct that October's market decline will be brief, the market is notoriously difficult to predict. Regardless, some economists point to an expected slowdown in the GDP growth rate as a headwind for investors, with Capital Economics predicting the S&P 500 will shed 15 percent of its value from its recent peak. 

CBS

Moz not sure how you can even explain even  the basics to poor Brycy. 

Good to also see the debt to GDP ratio dropping. Cant but wonder if the Fed has acted to assist the demonrats.

America will win big time provided the GOP retain Congress. Watch what happens to GDP growth as Trump straightens out trade imbalances! Win, Win and win some more.

...haha "taking a pause"...that's some admission coming from the king of spin himself..

...'markets go up or down'..... yr kidding me lol...surely you jest ..

SB

There were some interesting remarks recently made by Tito Mboweni - the new Minister of Finance.  He was previously Governor of the Reserve Bank and then went into private business,

He was talking about two issues -

*   the bankruptcy of the state companies like Eskom,  Prasa, SAA, Denel, SABC etc; 

*   the very real death trap SA Government Hospitals have become; and

*   the serious problems encountered by virtually all Government Departments.

Most of the problems have been caused by deep-rooted looting by insiders and the finances of the country  is being destroyed systematically.   There is a number of Commissions of enquiry on the go and the scandals are coming out thick and fast.

However, Mboweni sees the things differently from the road the ANC has been going the past decade and may not last within the ANC himself.  He spoke about -

*   the lunacy of land usage iro of the land bought by the state in the past and handed over to Blacks which land has become unproductive - even in the area where he himself is farming, often in partnership with major White farmers;

*    the bringing in of partners with financial viability and in expertise in running hospitals - especially bearing in mind that private hospitals in SA are functioning as some of the top class hospitals in the world; and 

*    the need to re-position the state corporations - a soft term to get going on selling off or disposing of non-viable corporations costing the Government billions every year in loan guarantees.

In the main he believes in some socialist tendencies of "big" Government actually self-destructing institutions they set up to help the poor and the needy,   That means that social programmes should be run in partnership with the private sector,           

I firmly believe that is the way to go.   I have always maintained that public servants all over the world functions the same - whether they operate in London, Washigton, Moscow, Peiping, Caracas, Brazilia  or Pretoria.   They have barrel vision and in many cases use state money to enrich themselves.   

I have been involved in an exercise where the other way was followed - namely the concessioning/privatization of the water and sewerage services of the then Dolphin Coast Municipality.   It was the first such action in SA and the result was a major success, but unfortunately not repeated elsewhere in SA.    The service became a major success and helped the Municipality in providing infrastructure to lead to an expansion rate of 14% in the economic development of the area over the succeeding decade.   Rates and tariffs are determined by the Municipal Council in co-operation with the Concessionaire - with a marker that the concessionaires net profit should not exceed 15% per annum.   Fact is the rate increases normally were actually in par with or even lower than inflation rates.

However, back to what Mboweni said about State Hospitals in particular,  He wanted to go into partnership with private hospital owners to allow them to run state hospitals on a viable basis.   Easier said than done - the trade unions will have a fit - but the death trap situation would largely evaporate.

To my mind the Governments around the world will assist all their residents by going that way,   The idea that Government on its own can run countries and especially services to the poor and needy to my mind leads to the present situation where the elite liberals and socialists create heaven for themselves and hell for the ordinary people in the countries all around the world.  I am not surprised that there is a world wide tide tendency against the governing elite all over the world.