Check-up on the Economic Front

20 Tamuz 5772

When we monitor the progress of a mother in labor, it's not because we enjoy her suffering, but because by doing so, we can get a pretty good idea of how long the labor will last. Everyone can take comfort from the fact that although it will surely get worse before it gets better, the end of the labor will certainly come and the joy of the birth will be a cause for great celebration.

It's the same with monitoring chevlei Mashiach - the birthpangs of the Messiah. Everything going on in the world today is part of chevlei Mashiach. And that's why it's so painful!

A Crumb of Comfort for Investors

This year, investors have been gobbling up US treasuries in a desperate effort to search for safety. But would they have done better to grab Australian sovereign debt or Singaporean bank bonds, as a shield against political incompetence in a fractious world?

If the wealth management arm of Merrill Lynch is to be believed, the answer could be “yes”. This month, the US broker is quietly circulating a memo which tells its affluent clients to reposition themselves — and their portfolios — for a fundamental geopolitical shift.

During much of the late 20th century, the broker says, the world was shaped by American-dominated institutions, such as the Group of Seven wealthiest nations. But during the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, it became clear western dominance was crumbling, and the focus moved from the G7 to the G20, which includes emerging markets such as China.

But now the G20 is looking impotent too; thus the world is trapped in a scary limbo. China and the other emerging powers are wary of taking a leadership role, but the west is declining. The net result then, is that nobody is in charge; it is an unstable “G-zero” world,....

Many people have wrongly assumed that the Age of China was being birthed - that the Asian Giant would take over from the decaying, declining West, and now that China's beginning to show signs of economic weakness, they're looking around and seeing ... nothing!

...today, as Merrill Lynch notes, there is no dominant bloc or power; nor (though the broker does not spell this out) is there vision or mission. Inside the US, politicians still cite the American dream; but no one today quips that US leaders could form a “committee to save the world”, or even the eurozone, And in Europe, politics is being driven not by any positive vision, but a terror of collapse. Fear, not mission, is the order of the day.

See the rest here.

What a shock it's going to be when Israel rises to world power with Mashiach at the helm. The Age of Mashiach is upon us!

One more item of note:

Dr Doom: My 'perfect storm' is happening now

A “perfect storm” of economic factors is taking place at the moment, according to leading economist Nouriel Roubini.

Earlier this year, the Roubini Global Economics founder told the Skybridge Alternative Conference that he expects four elements to convene that will knock back the global recovery in 2013.

These factors are the US economy falling back into recession, the eurozone starting to break up, a slowdown in China and other emerging markets, and increased risk of conflict in Iran, CNBC reported.

Talking on Twitter this morning, Roubini said: “[The] 2013 perfect storm scenario I wrote on months ago is unfolding: EZ crisis, US stall speed, China hard landing, EM stall, MidEast time bomb.”

Read the rest here.

Whenever you see the words "perfect storm," you can be sure that there is a Heavenly "hand" behind it.