López Obrador has won Mexico but its political system is flawed as is most parliamentary type systems. It allows for coalitions to be formed from very different parties. The French have a run off with the two highest winning candidates thus forcing the people to choose between the two. The problem with the Mexico election […]

Asia certainly showed its distain after the disappointing close on US markets. Japan, India and ASX all opened lower, but reassuringly they were the days lows. The Nikkei spent much of the day recouping lost ground and with the help of a weaker currency., finally finished marginally positive. The SENSEX did not fair so well, […]

For decades, people have been complaining that Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) were unconstitutional. They are simply employees and they do not even have to have a law degree. Yet these people have been ruling against citizens and supporting their agencies, reducing any Due Process of Law to a joke. Previously, Administrative Law Judge, George Painter, recognized the […]

Markets really are unsure of what to believe and what to follow! First, they react negatively to the additional tariffs storey and then they bounce because it may have been a false start. Today we saw the Nikkei recover much of the early morning losses to substantiate a positive close. Having seen the index open […]

QUESTION: Do you agree that a democracy will never last because the people will vote themselves other people’s money? Do you support Trump or are you against him? Sometimes to agree and others you disagree. Or are you just between the two extremes? VE ANSWER: First, a democracy has been always temporary in nature, this is […]

QUESTION: It certainly seems that the cryptocurrency world has its flaws and may even be worse than traditional bank accounts and credit cards. They keep getting hacked. So they are trying to defeat central banks but may be running into the arms of scammers and thieves. I read one guy even claimed Bitcoin would be […]

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; Just to clarify, a continued rate hike in dollars will send Emerging Market debt into chaos and possibly default. Is this both public and private? Thank you. You are a voice in the wilderness PK ANSWER: Oh yes. Both public and private emerging market debt raised money in dollars. A 2% increase […]

Another poor day for the major Chinese markets, yet a continued recovery for Japan. Again, we see Shanghai and the Hang Seng under perform the periphery, as concerns surrounding the US/China trade talks play on investor minds. Both core China markets closed down 1.3% and are lower in late US trading following the continued weak […]

Many countries charge you for goods you buy overseas not just Canada. One of our girls in Germany was called down to pay tax on clothes her mother bought and sent her for Christmas. One Canadian friend visited and left his coat. I mailed it back to him and they demanded an import duty. Trump’s […]

May was an important turning point in Southeast Asia. The corruption that has engulfed the previous Malaysian government centered around a sovereign wealth fund involving Goldman Sachs has rocked the entire Malaysian peninsula. The national debt, which was believed to have been $170 billion, appears to be more like $250 billion of 80% if the national […]