So, finally new set of influencers have been announced by steemhunt and I am happy to say that I made it to the list. Influencers are responsible for upvoting undervalued hunts and believe me it is a tough job. However, steemhunt has also announced a change - From next week onward, anyone can be an influencer. No more applications and the field is open for anyone to showcase their talent of finding cool products. Also, you earn a neat little influencer badge against your name on steemhunt platform.
That's that. But what the hell is going on with S&P 500. US equity markets have lost their entire gains of the year during last month till this week. Bears are not only affecting the crypto markets, but also traditional markets. As someone who loves following what goes on in financial markets, there is some big volatility uptick that has happened lately. Fears that US Fed's rate tightening cycle will cool of the economy have taken a strong grip on the markets.
The problem is that governments around the world learnt nothing from 2008. Greed continued to thrive. It was first bailed out by public money and later, easy monetary conditions globally have created massive asset bubbles. Debt shifted from banks, to govt., public and corporates and the rich simply got richer through dividend and company sponsored share buybacks. Even though US is reporting full employment, govt debt has gone through the roof and inflation is nowhere in sight. A large portion of the labour force has been wiped out, as demonstrated by the Labour force participation. If you look at increase in average hourly earnings in the US, you will also notice that growth in earnings of senior level employees has far outpaced the average population. Wealth Gap has increased, made worse by in-your-face display of wealth on social media.
Moreover, if studies are to be believed, and if one takes into account the off-balance sheet liabilities of the US Fed, US is currently sitting on 165 trillion US$ of debt. This is mostly pension. And how will it be funded? what happens when baby boombers who are now reaching retirement age get knocked off the labour force? Millenials pay off their pension. Not only are we staring at a weaker economic outlook, we are also looking at a generation with little to no savings to pay for the retirement of baby boomers. BREXIT, and TRUMP imo are a result of the pent up frustration in people from seeing their standard of living decline. I wonder what will happen next.
Europe seems to be dealing with its own set of problems. Theresa May did today, what can only be termed as utter embarrassment. Delayed the parliamentary vote on BREXIT to save face. The cable tanked from 1.27is to 1.25. The outlook remains gloomy.
China, anyway has been involved in a trade war with US. Their debt pile has always been a concern for the world. India today witnessed a resignation from its Central Banker. The central bank autonomy is in question there. And I wonder whether the govt think of the implications of what it is doing and what kind of message is it sending to investors worldwide.
2018 is about to end leaving a lot of people worried. However, this kind of nonsense is great. As a crypto investor, I think this is all good. Dumb governments, crony capitalism, political arrogance are all great for the world to see why decentralized systems are great. With continued development that makes usage easier and the promise of fair play for all, eventually the world has to move towards crypto.