Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from September, 2020

Update: Why Trump won the debate --

 Talk about a shit show where the highlight is "Will you shut up Man!".  Trump made the whole debate about the debate and not about policy!  It's brilliant since Trump knew he could not win based on his program (what he has he will never admit:  Kill Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid).  He made the debate about him being a prick!  and it worked, none of the newspapers talk about policy they all talk about how Trump was "not Presidential" -- news flash -- he doesn't care nor do his supporters. In a sense, it was Trump's opportunity to reach out, but he doesn't care!  His objective is to disenfranchise Democrats, minority and women so that his core support group makes him win (by hook or by crook).    Trump has never followed the script -- and again he confounded his critics and made his supporter happy -- not sure how well it will work with White Suburban Women -- but hey he could not win on the issues (he has no plan) his economic plan was alwa

China to sell its US treasury holdings....Hahahahaha

Sometimes life imitates art, sometimes the news is hyperrealist, and other times it's more like surrealism.  First off, what are China's US Treasury holding?  The answer about US$ 1 trillion (a lot but in reality its only about 4% of the total US debt outstanding) so a lot but not that much either.  Because the amount of US debt outstanding is so high the impact of selling this debt to third parties will have an impact. First, the US Government is under no obligation to buy back its debt, but under what consideration would the treasury do so?  The US treasury values stability of the US dollar -- it goes up a bit and goes down a bit, but it operates in a range.  So the US Treasury may purchase some of its debt to "maintain the value of the US dollar" to do so it will sell other countries treasury bonds( with tons of market effects) and monetize some of these purchases.   What is the impact of China declaring that it wants to sell its US dollar holdings (that's exac

Challenges for the airline industry in the age of Covid-19 (Boeing & Airbus)

 In early March 2020 the world took on a "strangeness" that only the most pessimistic science fiction writer would have considered.  although, looking back at certain movies the wearing of masks has already been predicted.   The past 30 years have been something of a mixed blessing for the airline industry.  In 1985, I flew People Express from NYC to Paris -- ticket price about C$600 for a round trip leaving in early June.  Gasoline was cheap and (trust me) salaries were lower than in 2020.  People Express launched (yeah ok Braniff before them) the cheap and cheerful direct flight to Europe from North America (Iceland Air with a stopover in Reykjavik was even cheaper!).   This was the massive change that was expected by the FAA deregulating the airline industry.  If you could buy or lease an aircraft and find a willing airport operator you could start your airline.  The US (still dominant market) was not ready, main airlines treated their passengers "poorly" with no