Monthly Archives: August 2015

Liberland: utopian tax-free micronation or state of mind?

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“Tucked away on the banks of the Danube is the tiny, would-be country of Liberland. The former Czech politician who declared himself its founder and president says it is a legitimate and viable state and is pushing for international recognition. But Vit Jedlicka is facing tough opposition fromSerbia and Croatia, who have been in dispute over the territory since the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.  Undeterred, Jedlicka has been issuing Liberland passports and appointing ambassadors in his quest to carve out a new nation in the Balkans. He has even set up a national airline.”

http://www.euronews.com/2015/07/22/liberland-utopian-tax-free-micronation-or-state-of-mind/

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Inside ‘Liberland,’ the Place of No Taxes Where Crowdfunding Rules

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“Liberland, or the Free Republic of Liberland to give it its full title, is a would-be sovereign state founded April 13 by Vit Jedlicka and two fellow libertarians. Its total area of approximately seven square kilometers would make it the third smallest sovereign state in the world, after the Vatican and Monaco. It’s sandwiched between Croatia and Serbia on the western bank of the Danube River. The objective is to build a country where honest people can prosper with minimal interference from a centralized government. All taxes will be voluntary, and the nation’s services – such as power, healthcare and waste disposal – will be run either by private enterprises or through crowdfunding campaigns.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-21/inside-liberland-the-place-of-no-taxes-where-crowdfunding-rules

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The Stocks China’s Rescue Fund Is Buying

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“CSF’s silence on its strategy means the full picture is unclear. The agency is, however, leaving behind a few clues. Thanks to Chinese disclosure rules for large shareholders, exchange filings reveal the stocks in which CSF has built a major stake.  The disclosures show a preference for large-cap companies, and a particular affinity for railway shares. Outside that industry, CSF has positions in health care, food and technology stocks. The agency may also be investing through intermediaries, with the state-run China Securities Journal reporting last week that it plowed the equivalent of $32 billion into mutual funds.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-09/here-s-what-china-s-rescue-fund-is-buying-to-end-the-stocks-rout

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China Slashes U.S. Debt Stake by $180 Billion, Bonds Shrug

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“To get a sense of how robust demand is for U.S. Treasuries, consider that China has reduced its holdings by about $180 billion and the market barely reacted.  Instead, other sources of demand are filling the void. Regulations designed to prevent another financial crisis have caused banks and similar firms to stockpile highly rated assets. Also, mutual funds have been scooping up government debt, flush with cash from savers who are wary of stocks and want an alternative to bank deposits that pay almost nothing. It all adds up to a market in fine fettle as the Federal Reserve moves closer to raising interest rates as soon as next month.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-09/china-slashes-u-s-debt-stake-by-180-billion-and-bonds-shrug

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Former Fed chief Alan Greenspan warns of bond market bubble

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“Alan Greenspan, who served as Fed chairman between 1987 and 2006, told Bloomberg: ‘I think we have a pending bond market bubble.  If we merely substitute the structure of equity prices, and we have the price of bonds, and instead of expected equity return we have expected interest rate return, that price earnings ratio is in an extraordinary unstable position.’ Mr Greenspan, who has been criticised for fuelling the US housing bubble by keeping rates down in the early 2000s and failing to keep a closer eye on banks, said behavioural economics was playing a central role in investor decision making.  Mr Greenspan also said oil prices had further to fall.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11794357/Former-Fed-chief-Alan-Greenspan-warns-of-bond-market-bubble.html

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The Oil Crash Has Caused a $1.3 Trillion Wipeout

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“It’s the oil crash few saw coming, and few have been spared as it erased $1.3 trillion, the equivalent of Mexico’s annual GDP, in little more than a year.  State pension funds and insurance companies have also been hard hit. Investment advisers, who manage the mutual funds and exchange-traded products that are staples of many retirement plans, had $1.8 trillion tied to energy stocks in June 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.  The California Public Employees Retirement System, a $303 billion fund that provides benefits to 1.72 million people, owned a $91.8 million slice of Pioneer Natural Resources Co. in June 2014.  Calpers’ stake has lost about $40 million in market value.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-04/the-oil-crash-has-caused-a-1-3-trillion-wipeout

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Tesla is losing over $4,000 on each car it sells

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“Tesla is losing over $4,000 on every sale it makes of its Model S car, according to a report on its most recent financials by Reuters. That brings the loss between April and June of this year to a whopping $359 million.  In response to this, the car manufacturer has been forced to cut its production budget for 2015-2016. However, the company’s founder Elon Musk has promised investors that by the first quarter of next year, his company will have made enough money to move into the mass production of its affordable Model E, which is expected to cost approximately $35,000.  It’s an ambitious deadline and it will certainly be interesting to see if Musk can stick to it.”

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/08/10/whats-that-musk/

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Asia’s $800 Billion Nuclear Splurge to Unlock Uranium Motherlode

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“A nuclear-power boom in Asia that’s set to drive up uranium prices is triggering a resurgence in mining in Australia, home to the world’s largest reserves.  Almost $800 billion of new reactors are under development in the region, driven by China and India where demand is climbing for the emission-free energy.  The value of uranium plunged in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. Now, with contract prices forecast to jump more than 60 percent, suppliers in Australia are planning about half a dozen new mines.  China will need the equivalent of about 1,000 nuclear reactors, 500,000 wind turbines or 50,000 solar farms as it steps up its fight against climate change.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-07/asia-s-800-billion-nuclear-splurge-to-unlock-uranium-motherlode

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Japan Returns to Atomic Club With Restart Amid Public Opposition

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“Japan is rejoining the group of nations using atomic power as it sweeps aside public opposition and fires up one of the reactors shuttered for safety upgrades after the Fukushima nuclear disaster more than four years ago.  The initial reaction of Japan’s government after Fukushima was the same as Germany’s — phase out nuclear power. When elections then put Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in charge, this policy was changed. The economics show one of the reasons.  The loss of nuclear forced Japan to switch on power plants running on fossil fuels. As a result, import costs for liquefied natural gas, coal and oil ballooned causing four years of trade deficits that hit a record $103 billion last year.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-10/japan-returns-to-atomic-club-with-restart-amid-public-opposition

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The Oil Patch Will Rise Again

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“While we tend to have a Western-centric view of the world — and thus may end up with the impression that oil demand is declining — the truth is quite different.  Global oil consumption increased by an average of 900,000 bpd annually over the last decade, rising in 18 of the past 20 years. Demand did decline in member countries of the OECD — the grouping of the world’s developed countries. But demand growth in developing countries overwhelmed the declines in the developed world. In just the past five years, demand in developing countries has increased by an average of 1.6 million bpd annually — and just recently surpassed that in the developed world.”

http://www.investingdaily.com/23281/the-oil-patch-will-rise-again-2/

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