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Down Morning Hasn't Broken the Uptrend Yet


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This is from Bloomberg:

‘Huge, Missing and Growing:’ $65 Trillion in Dollar Debt Sparks Concern

“There is a staggering volume of off-balance sheet dollar debt that is partly hidden, and FX risk settlement remains stubbornly high,” said Borio, head of the monetary and economic department at the BIS.

Hmmm... what could go wrong?

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1 hour ago, DrStool said:

You've obviously never lived in the US. You can't walk the streets anywhere in safety. There's no public transit to speak of outside the major cities. Most people live in suburbs and live most of their lives in their cars. I mean, you really spend half your life in a car. Unless you live in one of the few big old cities, you can't walk to the grocery store. There are no neighborhood bakeries. No neighborhood pharmacies. No neighborhood hardware stores. 

You literally can't walk to anything. Not even to get a liter of milk, or a beer at the neighborhood bar. Unless you live in New York, Philly, Boston, DC, or Chicago. And if you are middle income you can't live in those places. You need a 6 figure income, multi-six figures in NY, Boston, and DC. The US just is not affordable for middle income people.  It's not safe, and healthcare is a roulette game. 

Creative architecture is limited to the big cities. Charm is limited to the big cities and country villages of the northeast. There are no public market places outside of a couple in Philly and Seattle. I don't count Eataly. 

But sure if you love drive up Starbucks windows and Super Walmarts and their parking lots, yeah, the US is great. 

You're just 100% right.

I remember when I was 20 years ago in Laughlin, Nevada and work two full time jobs during vacation perdioon my J1 visa based on so called Work and Travel programs for students. so i was working my ass off during graveyard and day shift and just was walking to motel where 6 of us could sleep on two kinds bedrooms (to save cash). So i was walking like 3 miles fr Casino to motel and people were honking on me like i was suppose to be homeless cause i didnt have car. So america is about cars, long distance etc. And its a different lifestyle, i prefer walking, grab a coffe downstairs, buy groceries at the same street etc.

My bro lives in Chicago at suberbs and its all about cars. There is not even one shop within like 1 mile from his home. amd everyone got two cars (on loans) amd mortgage.

So basically its not only about safety but its a little bit also about walking/metro etc.

But to be honest Europe also has its problem - there are also districts which u should not visit in Paris. But its still better for the middle class.

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1 hour ago, DrStool said:

You've obviously never lived in the US. You can't walk the streets anywhere in safety. There's no public transit to speak of outside the major cities. Most people live in suburbs and live most of their lives in their cars. I mean, you really spend half your life in a car. Unless you live in one of the few big old cities, you can't walk to the grocery store. There are no neighborhood bakeries. No neighborhood pharmacies. No neighborhood hardware stores. 

You literally can't walk to anything. Not even to get a liter of milk, or a beer at the neighborhood bar. Unless you live in New York, Philly, Boston, DC, or Chicago. And if you are middle income you can't live in those places. You need a 6 figure income, multi-six figures in NY, Boston, and DC. The US just is not affordable for middle income people.  It's not safe, and healthcare is a roulette game. 

Creative architecture is limited to the big cities. Charm is limited to the big cities and country villages of the northeast. There are no public market places outside of a couple in Philly and Seattle. I don't count Eataly. 

But sure if you love drive up Starbucks windows and Super Walmarts and their parking lots, yeah, the US is great. 

I know all that, I just wanted to get confirmation from you 😂

Seriously: What you wrote are xact by 100% the prejudices I hear in Germany about the US since I was a kid. Qulte amazing that you confirm them.

I read an article over 20 years ago about a guy who tried to WALK thru LA from North to South. He didn‘t make it to South Central (where he would have been murdered 😂) it was not possible cause there are no sidewalks in parts of LA. No human being ever tried before what that brave man did 😂. See, LA was built AFTER the car industry emerged. In Europe it is just the opposite and even here many mistakes were made in city planning espacially in the 60s, were new big streets were built which satisfied the need of the car driver and not that of the urban citizen.

 

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thats also true

When i was coming from Casinos in Laughlin to Motel on foot i had to walk via land, i mean there was no sidewalk. really.  I was amazed and later on for the most time took casino bus for personel (mostly Mexicans) from Casino to Motel.

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4 minutes ago, SiP said:

You're just 100% right.

I remember when I was 20 years ago in Laughlin, Nevada and work two full time jobs during vacation perdioon my J1 visa based on so called Work and Travel programs for students. so i was working my ass off during graveyard and day shift and just was walking to motel where 6 of us could sleep on two kinds bedrooms (to save cash). So i was walking like 3 miles fr Casino to motel and people were honking on me like i was suppose to be homeless cause i didnt have car. So america is about cars, long distance etc. And its a different lifestyle, i prefer walking, grab a coffe downstairs, buy groceries at the same street etc.

My bro lives in Chicago at suberbs and its all about cars. There is not even one shop within like 1 mile from his home. amd everyone got two cars (on loans) amd mortgage.

So basically its not only about safety but its a little bit also about walking/metro etc.

But to be honest Europe also has its problem - there are also districts which u should not visit in Paris. But its still better for the middle class.

You can‘t live in ANY banlieue in France. No go areas. And Marseille is not a French city but the capital of the Maghreb.

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2 minutes ago, SiP said:

thats also true

When i was coming from Casinos in Laughlin to Motel on foot i had to walk via land, i mean there was no sidewalk. really.  I was amazed and later on for the most time took casino bus for personel (mostly Mexicans) from Casino to Motel.

Sounds like quite the adventure! 😂

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2 hours ago, Jimi said:

Can't speak for the entire country, only the local region.

Went to see music with some friends in Oakland Saturday night. As we walked back to the car, I noticed the constant shattered car glass along the sidewalk. I pointed it out to my friends and said, "Urban ice"... because in the streetlights, it looked like a stream of tiny ice cubes, and revealed car after car had been broken into at some recent point in time.

And, of course, when we arrived back to the car, its window was also shattered.

It's chronic here:

San Francisco saw a 39% increase in car break-ins from 2020 to 2021, growing from 14,859 to 20,663, according to San Francisco Police Department statistics. 

https://www.kron4.com/news/the-crazy-lengths-sf-drivers-are-going-to-prevent-car-break-ins/

That's 56 cars per night on average.

Symptomatic of broader civil deterioration - the wealth disparity, the tent-cities filled with homeless, junkies shooting up on the streets, demonization of & retreat from law enforcement.

San Francisco has the highest overall crime rate of the 20 largest cities in the United States, easily exceeding the crime rates of the five largest cities (seen above)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11161049/Shocking-new-images-reveal-extend-homelessness-San-Francisco.html

Los Angeles dealing with similar issues.

There's a reason why people are abandoning the state.

https://www.thecentersquare.com/california/u-haul-couldnt-meet-demand-of-outgoing-californians-in-2021-report-finds/article_6b7a2706-6d91-11ec-9f93-ebc747ee6d65.html

Only time I remember it being worse was during the crack epidemic, when gangs killed one another for territory, and the ghoulish crackheads would shake pedestrians down for money.

The crime rate is beyond comprehension.

„Demonization of & retreat from law enforcement“ like you wrote is a major problem and cause for violence.

Maybe Daley‘s shoot to kill order wasn‘t that wrong at all, but well, hes a facist, right? 😉

 

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Electric transport is the way to go here: electric bikes, scooters, tricycles ... all the bike paths are being widened to take on more traffic.  Probably a while before vehicles are electric but it will happen in the next 5 years imo.  Not too much night noise as it's a mining town and day shift starts at 6am. 

Would consider US too dangerous (already commented on above) and I think UK/Europe vulnerable: too many people and too dependent on imported food. 

The main weakness locally is water.  Currently it's pumped 600 km via pipeline and is a mix of fresh and desalinated water. The climate is typical desert: hot in summer, cold in winter but quite survivable should infrastructure fail.  There's a big push on for renewable sources of power now so fossil fuel dependence should dwindle.

 

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